the Child she hath brought forth And indeed this doth notably set forth the wonderful love of Christ to poor Sinners in that he is satisfied with their Salvation as having therein obtained that only thing which above all things he earnestly desired by his knowledge shall my righteous Servant justifie many that is by their knowing him and believing on him according as the like expressions are used else-where Joh. 17.3 and Phil. 3.8 for he shall bear their iniquities that is the guilt and punishment of their iniquities See the Notes above ver 4.5 Ver. 12. Therefore c. That is Seeing he hath done me such faithful Service not sparing to lay down his own Life that he might bear the punishments due to poor Sinners and satisfie my Justice on their behalf Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the Spoil with the strong where the same thing is intended in both expressions only in the first the Fathers donation of that which is here promised is set forth and in the second the Lord Christs possession and enjoyment of that which his Father had assigned to him Some would have the intention of the words to be the same as if it had been expressed thus I will divide him great ones or I will divide great ones to him for a portion and he shall divide him a spoil amongst the strong or he shall divide the strong for a spoil And accordingly they would have the meaning to be either 1. That Christ should vanquish and subdue and spoil all his great and strong Adversaries Satan and the World as the Apostle expresseth his triumphing over the Powers of Darkness at his Death Col. 2.15 And having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly Or 2. That he should bring the Great Princes and Potentates of the World and the famous wise and learned men that were amongst the Nations of the World to stoop and submit to his Scepter But according to our Translation I conceive the meaning must needs be That after Christs vanquishing his Enemies he should divide the spoil as other great and mighty Conquerours are wont when they have overcome their Enemies in Battel to divide the spoil amongst their followers And if we so understand the words then by Christs conquered Enemies must be meant Satan Sin Death and Hell together with the wicked of the World who were all overcome and vanquished by the Death of Christ and by the portion and spoil he should have as the effect and reward of his Conflict and Victory may be meant 1. And principally The many Souls all the World over that should be rescued out of that Spiritual bondage under which they lay and brought into subjection to Christ See the Notes Psal 2.8 and 68.19 2. The riches of the Kings and great ones and the learning and wisdom of the wise men of the World who being Converted should dedicate all that they had to the service of Christ And 3. That transcendent Honour and Glory whereto Christ should be exalted All which he may be said to divide in regard his Church and People are made sharers with him in them all And indeed there are some Expositors that by the great and the strong with whom Christ divided the spoil do understand both the Apostles and others that should preach the Gospel and likewise those violent ones of whom our Saviour spake Matth. 11.12 that took the Kingdom of Heaven by force As for the following words therein the reason of this is further set forth because he hath poured out his Soul unto Death that is he willingly with all his Soul gave up himself to suffer Death for Mans Redemption and he was numbred with the Transgressors to wit in that they esteemed him such an one and Accused him Prosecuted Arraigned and Condemned him as such an one yea the worst of such in that they chose rather to have Barabbas a Thief and a Murderer to be let loose than him and so likewise in that he was put to the same Death that Malefactors used to suffer and in the same place where such were ordinarily wont to be Executed and at the same time together with others yea in the midst betwixt two Thieves as the chief of Transgressors so that the Evangelist saith expresly that therein this Prophecy was fulfilled Mark 15.27 28. and he bare the Sin of many See the Notes before ver 4.5 6. and made intercession for the Transgressors to wit even those wicked wretches by whom he suffered in that Prayer of his upon the Cross Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luke 23.34 But it may include also his work of Mediation as our Priest and his Intercession for poor Sinners that should be brought to believe in him both whilst he lived upon Earth Joh. 17.20 Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word and now that he sits at the right hand of his Father in Heavenly Glory Heb. 7.25 CHAP. LIV. VERSE 1. SIng O barren c. Some conceive that this is spoken to the Church of the Jews in Babylon The Prophet say they foreseeing that the People of the Jews that seemed for the present to be in the Estate of a married Wife prosperous and comfortable injoying Gods presence in his Temple-worship and bringing forth daily a new Generation whom God owned for his Children should e're long when they were carried Captives into Babylon be in the condition of a barren Woman cast off as it were by God in a wasting and dying Estate and not likely to bring forth a Posterity whom God would own for his Children he doth here for the comfort of the Faithful give them a promise that after this she should bring forth a more numerous Issue to God than ever she had done Yet though this they say began to be fulfilled at the return of the Jews out of Babylon it was not fully accomplished till the days of the Gospel But because the Apostle Gal. 4.26 27. doth plainly cite this Prophecy as accomplished in the days of the Gospel Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all for it is written and we must know that the place is rendered as it is in the Septuagint Rejoyce thou barren that bearest not break forth and cry thou that travellest not for the desolate hath many mo Children than she that hath a Husband therefore I think that others do better hold that by the barren here is meant the Church of the New Testament consisting both of Jews and Gentiles but primarily with respect to the Jews out of whom the first-Fruits of the Church of the New Testament were gathered and into whose Body the Converted Gentiles were ingrafted and so became one Church of God together with them and accordingly that in the following words wherein the reason is given why she is called upon to break forth into so
and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust As for the last words and his rest shall be glorious some understand this of Christs death and burial to wit how ignominious soever his death should be to him in the sight of the world yet he should be then and thereby exceedinlgy glorified according to that which he said when he was preparing himself to dye Joh. 17.1 Father the hour is come glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie thee And indeed it cannot be denied but that this Rest of his was glorious first because he then overcame all the powers of darkness and 2ly because his name was then highly honoured by the great and wonderful things that were done at his Death and the eclipsing of the Sun c. and especially by his Resurrection honoured with the apparition of Angels and many miraculous passages and by his triumphant Ascension into Heaven and 3ly because of the great Glory given him by the Chuch for that great work of their Redemption But yet I do rather conceive that the meaning of these words in this place is either that the Rest and Peace of his Church would be very glorious or else that his Church the place where he had determined to settle his perpetual residence according to that Psal 132.13 14. The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his habitation this is my Rest for ever c. and that Matth. 28.20 Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world and the people upon whom he had setled his love and favour should be very glorious to wit in regard of the glorious signs and effects of his presence amongst them in the abundant knowledge and eminent holiness that should be wrought in them by his word and Spirit and in the great and wonderful things that should be done amongst them for their deliverance and safegard And herein there seems to be an Allusion to that which is often formerly said That the Tabernacle and Temple was filled with the Glory of God See Exod. 40.34 35. Lev. 9.23 and 1 King 8.11 And see also the Note before Chap. 4.2 4. Ver. 11. And it shall come to pass in that day c. In the foregoing verse the Prophet foretold the Conversion of the Gentiles here now he adds that at the same time the Jews should also be converted And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time c. Some understand the first deliverance here intimated to be that of the Israelites out of Egypt and the second here promised to be that of the Jews out of Babylon But because the Jews that were delivered out of Babylon were for the generality only of the two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin and here the Prophet speaks of the deliverance of his people of all the Tribes from all parts of the World and that too in the days of the Messiah that ensign that should be lifted up whereof he had spoken in the foregoing verse I rather think that this is meant of their deliverance by Christ from the spiritual Bondage of Satan Sin Death and Hell to wit that as the Lord did once before with an out stretched arm deliver the Israelites out of Egypt by the Ministry of Moses so he would the second time with great zeal again set himself to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left that is to bring home to himself by Christ those of his ancient people the Jews which shall there remain undestroyed amongst the Gentiles as being still mindful of the Covenant he had formerly made with them And this was partly accomplished in those many thousands of Jews Act. 21.20 though but a remnant in comparison of the whole body of the Nation that were by Christ and his Apostles won to embrace the Faith of the Gospel and shall be more fully performed when the main body of the residue of that Nation shall in the last days be brought in to Christ of which the Apostle speaks clearly Rom. 11.25 26. And indeed because the Prophet doth in this place first foretel the gathering in of the Gentiles to Christ in the foregoing verse and then doth here after that add this concerning the bringing in of the Jews therefore many learned Divines have thought that it is that last Conversion of the Jews that is here principally intended by the Prophet As for the places here mentioned from which the believing Jews should be gathered from Assyria and from Egypt and from Buthros and from Cush and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the Islands of the Sea it is hard clearly to determine what all these Countrys are It may suffice us to know that upon the grievous miseries that were brought upon this people first by the Assyrians and afterward by the Babylonians many of them did of their own accord leave the Land of Judea and flee into Egypt of which Pathros seems to have been one particular Province Jer. 44.1 15. See Jer. 43.57 and 44.27 28. and so likewise into other Countrys and that many of them that were carried away Captives by the Assyrians and Babylonians might by them be sold to other Nations and so be dispersed all the world over And evident it is in Scripture that all those Countrys that bordered upon the Sea and were divided from them by the Sea were by the Jews usually called the Islands of the Sea Jer. 47.4 See also the Note Gen. 10.5 Ver. 12. And he shall set up an ensign for the Nations c. See the Note before ver 10. But this I conceive is a farther Explanation of what was said in the foregoing verse concerning the Conversion of the Jews and therefore by saying that the Lord should set up the ensign of the Gospel for the Nations either the Prophet intended that the Jews should be gathered in hereby to the Church from the Nations amongst whom they were dispersed or else that the Nations should hereby be summoned to bring in the Jews unto Christ or at least that the Jews should be converted by the preaching of the Gospel together with other Nations for that the Prophet doth principally here speak of the Conversion of the Jews And therefore by saying that the Lord should set up the ensign of the Gospel for the Nations either the Prophet intended that the Jews should be gathered in hereby to the Church from the Nations amongst whom they were dispersed or else that the Nations hereby should be summoned to bring the Jews unto Christ or at least that the Jews should be converted by the preaching of the Gospel together with other Nations for that the Prophet doth principally here speak of the Conversion of the Jews is evident by the following words and shall assemble the out-casts of Israel See the Note Psal 147.2 and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of
Cor. 3.14 Some I know by this destroying the face of the covering cast over all people do understand Christ's destroying Death and that in the expression here used there is an Allusion to the Face-cloth wherewith the faces of dead men are wont to be covered Joh. 11.44 or to the custom of covering the faces of condemned Malefactors see the Note Esth 7.8 But this of Christ's destroying Death is added in the next verse and the former therefore is rather here intended namely the freeing of his people from that ignorance under which they lay by Nature by the enlightning of the Gospel which was signified by the rending of the Veil of the Temple at the Death of Christ And all this is said should be done in this mountain as before not only because it should be done in the Church made up both of Jews and Gentiles but also because the Gospel whereby this was to be done was at first to go out of Mount Zion See the Notes Chap. 2.3 Ver. 8. He will swallow up death in victory c. That is He will destroy Death for ever as the word in the Original here translated in victory doth properly signifie so that it shall never more prevail over his redeemed ones but Christ shall reign this his last Enemy being destroyed for ever and ever Now though this was done partly by the Death of Christ whereby he abolished Death 2 Tim. 1.10 having by his suffering Death delivered his people â—â—om that Death which their sins had deserved Heb. 2.15 yet it shall chiefly bâ— accomplished at the Resurrection of the just when they shall pass into Lifâ— Eternal after which there shall be no more death Rev. 21.4 for so the Apostâ—â— saith expresly 1 Cor. 15.54 When this corruptible shall put on incorruption and thâ— mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass that Saying â—â—at is written Death is swallowed up in victory And the like may be said of thâ— following words And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces to wit of his people even as a tender Mother wipes away the tears of her weeping little Child For though God doth this partly by the comforts of his Word and Spirit here yet it is not completely done till they be taken up into Heaven to which estate therefore this passage is applied by St. John Revel 7.17 and 21.4 And so likewise in the next clause And the rebuke or reproach of his people shall be taken away from off all the earth the meaning is that God would free his people from that extreme scorn and contempt which was cast upon them all the world over and from the worlds base and despightful usage of them in their continual afflicting and persecuting of them as if they were a people not worthy to live upon the face of the earth But now the accomplishment of this here principally intended is the exceeding Glory whereunto God's people shall be advanced in Heaven For when God shall take them into this blessed and glorious condition then indeed all the Inhabitants of the earth shall be effectually taken off from that vile and base esteem which they formerly had of them Many good Expositors do I know apply all this to the deliverance of God's people out of Babylon But it is only as looking upon that as a Type of this far greater deliverance promised to God's redeemed ones in and through the Lord Christ Ver. 9. And it shall be said in that day c. That is In that day when these Promises shall be accomplished the people of God shall say to wit with wonder and exceeding great joy for this is as it were the language of the Guests at the Feast mentioned before ver 6. Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us c. Which may be understood 1. in the Type of the rejoycing of God's people at the Lord 's delivering them out of Babylon which they had long expected and came at last to pass according to God's Promise and their earnest expectation And taking it thus observable it is that in this expression of their present joy and confidence in God they do withal covertly judg and condemn themselves because before their being carried into Babylon by their disobeying God's Laws and seeking to foreign Princes for help in their dangers they had not carried themselves towards the Lord as now they found they should have done Or 2. of the people of God's owning Christ at his coming in the flesh and embracing him by Faith when tendred to them in the Gospel as the true God their Lord and Saviour long ago promised them with great joy because of the peace made by him between God and them Or 3. of the Churches triumphing in Christ when he shall come to judge the world and to receive them into his Kingdom of Glory Ver. 10. For in this Mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest That is His powerful Providence shall be constantly and continually over his Church to protect and bless them See the Note Psal 80.17 It is the same in effect with that of our Saviour Mat. 28.20 And lo I am with you alway unto the end of the world And Moab shall be trodden down under him c. That is under his feet Psal 110.1 Moab is here particularly mentioned because none were more constantly and more fiercely bent upon doing mischief to God's people than they were but under these by a Synecdoche all the wicked enemies of his people are intended Even as straw is trodden down for the dunghil to wit the worst of the straw not fit to be reserved for any other use The word which we render trodden down some translate threshed and accordingly they read this verse thus And Moab shall be threshed under him even as straw is threshed in Madmenah and then take Madmenah to be a City of Moab called Madmen Jer. 48.2 and hold that because this City being scituate in a rich Corn-country where there was abundance of straw which was the less regarded thence the Prophet useth this expression here of straw threshed in Madmenah Ver. 11. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim c. Some hold that this is spoken of Moab with relation to the last words in the foregoing verse to wit That as the Swimmer stretcheth forth his hands to swim so he being trodden down by his enemies should in the midst of them stretch forth his hands to beg for mercy both of God and his enemies Or that he should though in vain strive with all possible endeavours to save himself from utter ruin even as a ship-wrack'd man being fallen into the Sea laboureth with all his might by swimming to escape drowning But clearly as I conceive this is spoken of God That he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth
not go on and express this in his Prayer was because he was not able to speak any longer for weeping as it is immediately added in the Text and Hezekiah wept sore And so what he could not or perhaps was afraid to ask in words because it was contrary to what God had said should be his tears spake and God heard them But see the Note 2 King 20.3 Ver. 4. Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah saying To wit as it is expressed in the Book of Kings afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court so near was the sick bed of this good King to the Throne of God in Heaven even his sighs and groans God heard and was presently careful to have him comforted with a promise of longer life and that for the better strengthning of his faith by the same Messenger that had made known to him the Sentence of Death that God had pronounced against him But see the Note 2 King 20.4 Ver. 5. Go and say to Hezekiah Thus saith the Lord God of David thy Father c. By these words he makes known to Hezekiah that he was mindful of the Covenant he had made with David concerning his continuing of the Kingdom of Judah to his Posterity I have heard thy Prayers I have seen thy tears behold I will add to thy days fifteen years that is To the days thou hast already lived In 2 King there is another particular inserted in the promise here made to wit That on the third day he should go up to the House of the Lord. But for this and the following verse see the Notes 2. King 20.6 Ver. 7. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord c. In 2 King 20.8 It is said that Hezekiah desired a sign of the Prophet Isaiah to assure him that this which he had promised him should certainly be which the Prophet hath likewise noted in the close of this Chapter and that hereupon God by the Prophet made him this promise of a sign for which see the Note there Ver. 8. Behold I will bring again the shadow of the Degrees which is gone down in the Sun-dial of Ahaz ten degrees backward c. In 2 King 20.9 10. it is said that when Hezekiah desired a sign of Isaiah for the strengthning of his faith the Prophet tendered to him two different signs leaving him to his choice which of them he would take namely That the shadow on the Sun-dial should either go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees and that when Hezekiah answered That it was a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees and desired rather that the shadow might return backward ten degrees for all which see the Notes in that place hereupon this promise was made him of bringing back the shadow ten degrees the accomplishment whereof is related in the next words so the Sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it was gone down to wit after the Prophet had prayed that it might be so for this is expresly inserted 2 King 20.11 And Isaiah the Prophet cried unto the Lord and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward c. for all which see the Notes there Yet withal this also is here observable that those words so the same returned ten degrees may well induce us to think that the miracle now wrought was not as some would have it in the going back of the shadow in the Dial of Ahaz whilst the Sun kept on its course but in the retrograde motion of the Sun it self And indeed how else could they in Babylon take notice of this Wonder See the Note 2 King 20.12 And beside the Analogy between the sign and the thing signified depends much upon this Princes are in their Kingdoms as the Sun in the World The bringing back therefore of the Sun when it was hasting to its setting and the lengthning of the day thereby beyond its natural time was most fit to signifie that after the same manner how impossible it might seem considering the desperateness of his disease and the Sentence of Death by God himself pronounced against him Hezekiah should be brought back from the Grave whither he was posting and his life be lengthned out beyond expectation Ver. 9. The writing of Hezekiah King of Judah when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness That is The Song of Thanksgiving which he composed and committed to writing even as his Father David used to do intending to leave it to posterity as a Monument of his own fainting heart in the time of Gods mercy in recovering him out of his sickness and his hearty thankfulness for it Ver. 10. I said in the cutting off of my days c. That is When I perceived partly by the violence of my sickness but especially by the sentence of death which the Prophet had pronounced against me that God was now hewing me down in great displeasure I began to think within my self or I concluded fully within my self as I lay upon my sick bed I shall go to the gates of the grave that is I am now a dead man See the Note Psal 9.13 I am deprived of the residue of my years that is the years I might have lived by the ordinary course of nature Thus in the first place he acknowledgeth his own weakness and the terrors wherewith he was surprized when he saw himself likely to be cut off by an untimely death in the flower of his age the reasons whereof see before in the Note 2 Kin. 20.3 the more hereby to magnifie the mercy of God to him in his recovery Ver. 11. I said c. See the foregoing Note I shall not see the Lord to wit in his Temple See the Notes Psal 27.4 and 42.2 even the Lord it is twice repeated to set forth how vehemently he was afflicted herewith in the land of the living see the Note Psal 27.13 And indeed his particular expressing of this when he desired a sign of his recovery ver 22. What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord doth plainly show that this was one main thing that troubled him when he lay under the terrors of Death I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the World that is I shall no longer live amongst the Children of men here in this World Or as I shall no more behold God in his Ordinances so I shall also be cut off from the Communion of the Church of the living and so I shall not do that good to the people of God that were under my charge that I desired to do Ver. 12. Mine age is departed c. The time of my life and abode here in this World is at an end and gone and is removed from me as a Shepherds tent who use not to stay long in a place but to remove their tents from one place to another See the Note Job 27.18 I have cut off like a Weaver my life
and Gods great goodness to him in raising him upon his Prayers to him so speedily out of so sad a Condition he would be careful to walk all his days as became a true Penitent softly that is Pensively and mournfully as to his bewailing the sins wherewith he had displeased God or softly that is Warily and circumspectly as to his care for the avoiding of every thing whereby he might offend and displease him for the time to come Neither indeed can I see how this last clause as it is in our Translation can be any other way probably understood Ver. 16. O Lord by these things men live c. This verse is several ways translated by Interpreters But according to our Translation the meaning is clearly this O Lord by thy favour and promises by the word of thy command and by thy providence accomplishing what thou hast spoken is the life of men continued to them or prolonged as thou pleasest yea even to those that were at the brink of the Grave or that haply had before the sentence of Death pronounced against them for this is spoken with reference to that in the foregoing verse he hath both spoken unto me and himself hath done it See the Note Deut. 8.3 and in all these things is the life of my spirit that is And by these things doth my soul still continue within me chearfully and comfortably enlivening my body so wilt thou recover me and make me to live that is And so by thy will it is that I am recovered and do live or so thou wilt perfect the work of my recovery which thou hast begun and make me to live that remainder of years thou hast appointed for me Ver. 17. Behold for peace I had great bitterness c. Or on my peace came great bitterness that is When I was healthful and well and had not the least fear of any distemper of sickness that was coming upon me yea when by Gods miraculous destroying the Assyrian Army both my self and the whole Kingdom seemed to be in a way of setled peace and thereupon I began to promise my self that I should now live the remainder of my days in prosperity and peace on a sudden I was surprized with this bitter affliction but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption that is Out of thy fatherly love to me See the Note Psal 3.2 thou wert pleased to recover me even from the very grave for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back to wit as things loathsome to thee which yet thou wert pleased to forget and forgive so as never to charge them upon me And Hezekiah that had before alledged that he had walked before God in truth and with a perfect heart and done that which was good in his sight ver 3. doth yet withal acknowledg here That his sins had been many and the cause why God had visited him with his late dangerous sickness and doth not so much rejoyce in his recovery as in Gods love and pardoning mercy which was better than a thousand lives to him Ver. 18. For the grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee c. See the Notes Psal 6.5 and 30.9 and 115.17 Hereby Hezekiah intends to intimate that he knew that Gods end in restoring him to his former health was That here in this World he might set forth his praise and that this therefore he would certainly do yea that upon this account he chiefly rejoyced in his recovery Ver. 19. The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day c. The repetition of this word the living the living is very Emphatical and amongst other things doth clearly discover how full of joy his heart was upon the thought of this that by his recovery he should have so fair a season afforded him to speak good of Gods name the fathers to the children shall make known thy truth that is Thy faithfulness in performing thy promises as thou hast now done unto me they shall teach their Children what great things thou hast done and how they ought upon such occasions to extol thy name and so thy Praises shall be continued from Generation to Generation yea these words may seem probably to imply that Hezekiah had it now in his thoughts that by Gods gracious lengthning out of his days he might come to have a Son to succeed him in his Throne whom he might instruct to live to Gods praise and glory Ver. 20. The Lord was ready to save me therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments c. That is I will do it with and in the publick Assemblies of thy people as indeed Hezekiahs recovery was a great blessing and a just cause of thankfulness to all the people and he saith we will sing my songs either as intending the Psalms which he meant to compose or else those Psalms of Thanksgiving which he and the people used to sing upon such occasions Ver. 21. For Isaiah had said Let them take a lump of figs c. See the Note 2 King 20.7 Ver. 22. Hezekiah also had said What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord See the Note above ver 7. In 2 King 20.8 it is What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day But the last clause is here only mentioned because this implies how earnest his desires were that he might go up to the Temple to praise God for his recovery CHAP. XXXIX VERSE 1. AT that time Merodach-Baladan the Son of Baladan King of Babylon sent Letters and a present to Hezekiah c. To wit by the consent and advice of his Princes whence it is that these Messengers are called the Embassadors of the Princes of Babylon 2 Chron. 32.31 But see the Notes for this whole passage 2 King 20.12 c. Ver. 2. And Hezekiah was glad of them c. To wit as being vain-gloriously joyed with thinking how renowned he was become even in remote Countries and withal haply as chuckering himself with a conceit that by the friendship of this King of Babylon he should be the safer for the future from any further Invasion of the Assyrians and if this were so it must needs argue that he was not so confident in Gods protection as the remembrance of Gods late miraculous Deliverance of him from the Assyrians might well have made him But for this and that which follows and shewed the house of his precious things See the Note 2 King 20.13 Ver. 3. What said these men and from whence came they unto thee c. This the Prophet demanded of the King not because he knew not who they were and whence they came but that by the Kings answer he might take occasion to deliver the Message which God had given him in charge As for his answer They are come from a far Country c.
as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 8.4 We know that an Idol is nothing in the World that is As to yâ—â—r being that which men would pretend you to be gods all your Deities depend meerly upon the phancy and imagination of those that worship you And much to the same purpose is that which followeth and your work of nought that is your Workmanship the shape or figure which men put upon you is nothing worth or hath nothing divine in it or your work is of nought that is you can do nothing neither good nor evil But now the whole verse may be read as it is in the Margin Behold ye are worse than nothing to wit because so much wickedness was committed in them and your work worse than of a viper that is say some as having your original from the Devil or you not only do no good but indeed you do much mischief to those that worship you Ver. 25. I have raised up one from the North and he shall come c. Having in the foregoing verses derided the Vanity of the Heathens Idol-gods by challenging them to foretel future things or to do good or evil neither of which it was sure they could do here now by both those evidences God doth again assert himself to be the only true God namely because he had foretold and doth here again foretel the great things he would do for his people in future times I have raised up one from the North that is I have determined he shall be raised up c. and he shall come from the rising of the Sun shall he call upon my name it is a very difficult place and therefore Expositors differ much in their Judgments concerning the person here intended First some understand this one to be the Chaldean or Nebuchadnezzar their King who are usually said in the Prophets to have come from the North as we see Jer. 1.13 15. and so in many other places and yet it might be withal said that from the rising of the Sun that is from the East he should call upon Gods name because Chaldea as some say lay North-east from Judea and because Nebuchadnezzar did there acknowledg the God of Israel to be the most High God that ruleth and governeth the whole World and spake very honourably of him See Dan. 3.26 28 29. and 4.34 37. and to his great Victories not only over Judea but likewise over many other Nations that in the last words may well be applied and he shall come upon Princes as upon mortar c. that is He shall subdue them and trample upon them as easily as Mortar is trodden under mens feet Secondly others understand the first clause I have raised up one from the North and he shall come as is before said of the Babylonians that from the North were called against Judea and the second clause from the rising of the Sun shall he call upon my name of Cyrus who was raised up of God against Babylon and whose people say they lay Eastward of Babylon And thus they conceive that two great changes are here foretold which none at this time could have imagined to wit 1. That God would raise up the Babylonians in the North that should become a mighty Empire and should be a sore scourge to Judea and carry away Gods people Captives into a strange Country And 2ly that the Medes and Persians should afterwards from the East break in pieces the Empire of Babylon and dismiss the Jews from their Captivity And indeed against this Exposition there can be nothing well objected but that in our Translation both clauses seem apparently to speak of one and the same person I have raised up one from the North and he shall come from the rising of the Sun shall he call upon my name Thirdly others therefore do rather understand both clauses of Cyrus who came against Babylon with an Army of Medes that lay more northerly from Babylon and Persians that lay more easterly to it and therefore is here said to be raised up of God from the North and from the rising of the Sun and trampled the Princes of that great Empire like mortar under his feet and may well be said to have called upon Gods name with reference to that Proclamation of his Ezra 1.2 when he gave liberty to the Jews to return into their own Country wherein he did plainly acknowledge the Lord Jehovah the God of Heaven to be the Author of all his Victories But fourthly others hold and I think most probably that God doth here again assert as an evidence of that his Omniscience and Omnipotency which could not be found in the Idol-gods that which he had said before ver 2. concerning his calling of Abraham and in him his Posterity out of Chaldea which lying North-east of Palestina it is therefore said that God raised him from the North and from the rising of the Sun and making them victorious over so many Nations And thus under this seed of Abraham even Christ also may be comprehended who should subdue all his peoples spiritual enemies Sin Death and the Devil the Prince of the World and by the preaching of the Gospel bring all Nations to the obedience of the Faith or rather the Church of Christ the true seed of Abraham who should be gathered from all quarters of the World for though the North and East are only mentioned as in like manner the East and the West Matth. 8.11 under these all other parts are comprised as we find it more fully afterwards expressed Chap. 43.5 6. I will bring thy seed from the East and gather thee from the West I will say to the North Give up and to the South Keep not back and should serve God and call upon his name and so by his aid and assistance should subdue all their enemies and tread them under their feet Ver. 26. Who hath declared from the beginning that we may know c. That is Who of all your Idol-gods hath from their first beginning or long before as it is in the following branch foretold things to come as I have done in those things that I have foretold concerning Abraham and his seed See the foregoing Note or particularly concerning their deliverance out of Babylon that we may know to wit which of them it is that hath so done or what the things are which he did so foretel and whether they came to pass accordingly and so whether he be indeed a God as he is pretended to be and before time that we may say He is righteous that is who of your Idol-gods have before time made known such future things that we may acknowledg that he hath rightly foretold them and that he is to be justified and allowed of in his claim to a Godhead And this indeed agreeth with that expression of our Saviours Wisdom is justified of her Children Mat. 11.14 yea there is none that sheweth that is There is never an one of their Idols that ever did