for us that is let us violently break in upon it or thorough it and surprize it and make it ours Yet some think that because the great design which they had in their thoughts was the besieging of Jerusalem therefore the breach here intended was the making a breach in the walls thereof at which they might enter and take the City and others understand it of making a breach or division amongst the inhabitants of the land or City that being likely to tend much to their advantage and others of dividing the land betwixt them each of them taking that part which lay most convenient for them But the first Exposition I conceive is the best and most agreeable to that which follows Let us make a breach therein for us and set a King in the midst of it even the son of Tabeal for this man they intended doubtless to set up as a Viceroy or a Tributary-King over the land and one that should hold the Kingdom of them and be wholly at their disposing But now who this son of Tabeal was is altogether uncertain that which is said by some of his being a Syrian and by others of being some eminent man of the Israelites that was a known enemy to the house of David are but meer conjectures But see the foregoing Note Ver. 7. Thus saith the Lord God It shall not stand neither shall it come to pass That is Though they have with such proud and bold confidence resolved before hand that they will thus dispose the Kingdom of Judah and subject it to themselves yet this which they have thus determined shall not take effect and be established as they have determined it shall be So far shall they be from making the Kingdom of Judah theirs as they have resolved that they shall not be able to effect that which they have determined concerning their taking of the City Jerusalem all they attempt herein shall come to nothing Ver. 8. For the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin As if he had said Damascus is the Metropolis or head-city of Syria and Rezin is the King and Head of Damascus these are the bounds which God hath set them and beyond these bounds they shall not extend their power The design they have in hand for the enlarging of their Dominions shall not prosper Neither shall Damascus become the head of Judea by having dominion over that land nor shall Rezin become King of Jerusalem as he makes account to be but Judah and Jerusalem shall continue under the Government under which God hath set them And indeed most fully was this made good within a short time when the Assyrian called into the help of Ahaz took Damascus and carried the people of it captive to Kir and slew Rezin 2 King 16.9 And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people That is And the people of Ephraim the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes shall be within threescore and five years so broken in pieces notwithstanding their great confidence in their present confederacy with Rezin and his Syrians that they shall no longer be a people that is a distinct State and people living apart by themselves in their own land and under their own Laws and Princes and Government But now the great question is how these threescore and five years must be reckoned after which the Israelites were to cease to be a people and that because the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser King of Assyria and his carrying away of the Ten Tribes out of their native Country into his own dominions was in the ninth year of Hoshea which was the sixth of Hezekiah See the Notes 2 King 17.5 6. Now if we account from the beginning of Ahaz his reign to that Captivity of the Israelites that makes in all but two and twenty years for Ahaz reigned in all but sixteen years 2 King 16.2 to which adding the six years of Hezekiah his son in whose sixth year this great calamity befell the Ten Tribes the whole amounts I say to no more than two and twenty years And yet because the Kings of Syria and Israel had before this severally invaded the land of Judah in Ahaz his time as is noted before ver 1. therefore it is most probable that Isaiah Prophesied this in the third year of Ahaz and then from thence to Shalmanesers carrying away the Israelites captive there could be no more than about twenty years The most ordinary answer that is given by Expositors for the resolving of this hard question is that these threescore and five years are to be numbred not from the time when Isaiah spake these words but from the time when the Prophet Amos did first foretell this utter destruction of the land and people of Israel which that he did very expresly is evident in many places of his Prophesie And indeed it is clear that Amos began to Prophecy two years before the Earthquake in the days of Uzziah Amos 1.1 of which there is also mention made Zach. 14.5 Ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the Earthquake in the days of Uzziah Now if this Earthquake was in the seven and twentieth year of Uzziah's reign as the Jewish Writers affirm it was just about the time when Uzziah was smitten with a leprosie then it follows that Amos began to Prophecy in the five and twentieth year of Uzziah from whence if we begin the account of the time prefixed by Amos for the utter ruin of Israel there will be seven and twenty years left behind of the reign of Uzziah for he reigned in all two and fifty years 2 King 15.2 To which if we add the sixteen years of his Son Jothams reign 2 King 15.33 and the sixteen of Ahaz 2 King 16.2 and six of Hezekiah in the sixth year of whose reign Samaria was taken by the Assyrians 2 King 18.10 these make in all just threescore and five years Yea and the same account of years they make up also by reckoning the years of the Kings of Israel for Amos they say began to Prophecy in the seventeenth year of Jeroboam the second who reigned in all forty and one years 2 King 14.23 and if so then he reigned four and twenty years after Amos Prophesied the Captivity of Israel to which adding the ten years of Menahems reign 2 King 15.17 not accounting the short reigns of Zachariah and Shallum which made up together but seven months and the two years of Pekahiah 2 King 15.23 and the twenty years of Pekah 2 King 15.27 and the nine years of Hoshea in whose ninth year Samaria was taken by the Assyrians 2 King 17.6 this also makes just threescore and five years And whereas it may seem strange that Isaiah should speak of the destruction of the Israelites after threescore and five years only because Amos Prophesied of their destruction so many years before it came to pass to this it is answered that Amos did not only
from the blasphemous Aspersions of the Assyrian and for my Servant Davids sake that is For the love I bear to his seed for his sake and that I may make good the promise I made to him and not because the inhabitants of Jerusalem have deserved any such favour at mine hands But see the Note 2 King 19.34 Ver. 36. Then the Angel of the Lord c. In 2 King 19.35 it is And it came to pass that night which makes it more than probable that this was done the very night after the foregoing promise made Hezekiah concerning the Destruction of Sennacheribs Army and the deliverance of Jerusalem that the Angel of the Lord went out to wit from Heaven or from the Lord as it is said 2 Chron. 32.21 That the Lord sent an Angel and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand See the Note 2 King 19.35 Why this was done in the night we may easily conceive namely that this Judgment might come upon them the more suddenly and with greater terror and so likewise why it was done by an Angel to wit that they might clearly see that it was by the immediate Sword of God for the horrible contempt they had cast upon him for which see the Note Chap. 31.8 A more difficult question is Where the camp of the Assyrians was when the Angel made this slaughter amongst them Now though concerning this we may upon clear grounds determine 1. That it was in the land of Judah according to that Chap. 14.25 I will break the Assyrian in my land and upon my mountains tread him under foot for which see the Note there And 2ly That Sennacherib had not then besieged Jerusalem for above ver 33. it is expresly said That he should never do that yet in what particular place he lay encamped with his Army I find no where expressed Some think it was at Libnah where Rabshakeh found him ver 8. when he went back to him from Jerusalem And again others hold that it was at Nob a Town not far from Jerusalem which I judge the more probable because Chap. 10.32 where our Prophet seems to describe the manner of Sennacheribs marching from one place to another when he went up against Jerusalem Nob is mentioned as the last place where he pitched his Camp and from thence it is said That he shaked his hand against Mount Zion as by way of threatning that he would now presently be with her See the Note in that place So that I say it is most probable that whilst Sennacherib made a stand there that he might put all things in a readiness for the siege of Jerusalem there it was that his Army was miraculously destroyed by an Angel Only withal it is most likely too which others say That this slaughter was made not only in Sennacheribs Camp wherever it was but also amongst those forces which Rabshakeh had from the first left to block up Jerusalem And accordingly of both places that must be understood which followeth and when they arose early in the morning that is The Inhabitants of Jerusalem that looked every moment for the coming of Sennacherib or rather those few of the Assyrians that God would have escape the sword of the Angel and behold they were all that is Their whole Army in a manner dead corpses that is Not sick and dying but stark dead By what manner of death they were destroyed it is no where expressed only some places elsewhere in this Prophecy seem to import That a mighty and terrible tempest fell upon the Camp of the Assyrians at that time when this Havock was made amongst them for which see the Note Chap. 30.30 Ver. 37. So Sennacherib King of Assyria departed and went and returned and dwelt at Niniveh That is He with those few that were not slain by the Angel fled away home into their own Country And thus God was pleased to order it by his providence that he should escape and not fall by the Sword of the Angel 1. That he might to his greater confusion see the dreadful power of the God of Israel whom he had despised and blasphemed clearly discovered in that strange and horrid Judgment which he found executed upon his Army 2ly That he might to his exceeding vexation flee back in so disgraceful a manner the very way that he came See the Note before ver 34. And 3ly that he might be reserved to a death far sadder in many respects than that of his being slain by the Angel as is related in the following verse As for Nineveh that was at present the chief City of Assyria See Gen. 10.11 that strong hold whereunto the Prophet had before foretold he should flee See the Notes Chap. 31.8 9. Ver. 38. And it came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god that Adramelech and Sharezer his Sons smote him with the Sword c. As the Prophet Isaiah had before foretold it should be ver 7. And some conclude from the Apochryphal Book of Tobit Chap. 1.21 That it was not above five and fifty days after the Destruction of his Army in Judea that this was done However just it was with God that he that had blasphemed the true God should find his Idol-god unable to defend him and they escaped into the land of Armenia and Esarhaddon his Son reigned in his stead who is also called Asnappar Ezra 4.10 and Tobit 1.21 Sarchedonus and by other Writers as some conceive Sardanapalus in whose days ten years after Sennacheribs death the Chaldeans overcame the Assyrians by Merodach their King CHAP. XXXVIII VERSE 1. IN those days was Hezekiah sick unto death c. See the Notes 2 King 20.1 Because ver 6. there is a promise made of delivering the City Jerusalem from the King of Assyria therefore many learned men think that Hezekiahs sickness was before the ruin that fell upon Sennacherib and his Army But the series of the History is clear and how that promise ver 6. must be understood See the Note 2 King 20.6 Ver. 2. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord. To wit As still trusting in the goodness and fatherly love of God to him notwithstanding he had heard so severe a Sentence so absolutely pronounced against him from the Lord. But see the Note 2 King 38.2 Ver. 3. And said Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight c. As if he had said And therefore do not cut off my life in the midst of my days That this was that which by these words of his he intended to beg of God is evident because in that promise that is afterward made to him ver 5. of lengthning out his days God is said to grant him that which he had prayed for And therefore we may well think that the reason why he did
another that is to purchase several houses and several fields That which the Prophet condemns is their insatiable covetousness that they never had enough but were still seeking to enlarge their possessions not caring how unjustly they did it by fraud or violence wresting other mens possessions from them And because by the Law of God it was unlawful for the Jews to alienate their lands from one Tribe to another see Levit. 25.23 Numb 36.7 it may well be that this encroaching upon other mens possessions is here amongst others intended see the Note 1 King 21.3 Till there be no place that is say some Expositors till there be no place left which they have not gotten into their possession or rather till there be no place left for their poor neighbours to dwell near them as if the land had been given only for them to dwell in which is implied in those last words That they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth Ver. 9. In mine ears said the Lord of hosts c. That is the Lord spake this which I shall now tell you in my hearing which agreeth with that expression of our Saviours Luk. 4.21 This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears or The Lord revealed it secretly to me by the inspiration of his Spirit Yet many translate it as it is in the Margent of our Bibles This is in mine ears saith the Lord of hosts and then the meaning must needs be that the cry of their oppressions in joining house to house c. as he had said in the foregoing verse or the cry of those that were oppressed by them was gone up into the ears of the Lord though they thought he regarded it not And it may well be that from hence the Apostle James borrowed that expression of his Chap. 5.4 Behold the hire of your labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud crieth and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath that is the Lord of hosts See also the Note Ezra 9.6 Of a truth many houses shall be desolate even great and fair without inhabitant to wit because their owners should be slain or carried into captivity which was fully accomplished at the Chaldeans taking of Jerusalem when after a great slaughter amongst all sorts of people the Princes Nobles and rich men were carried captive into Babylon and so no body was left to dwell in their stately houses And this is mentioned as a punishment proportioned to their sin in joining house to house as was before said All the benefit they should reap by the multiplying and enlarging their houses in such a way was that they should be taken away from the enjoying of them and their houses should be left desolate and without an inhabitant It is expressed in the Hebrew with a conditional particle If many houses shall not be desolate c. But this is an Emphatical form of swearing usual in the Scriptures wherein somewhat is left to be understood by those that hear it which is not expressed It is as if the Lord had said If this comes not to pass as I have said let not me be owned for the true God or let me not be deemed a just God a God of truth c. And therefore it is well rendered in our Translation Of a truth many houses shall be desolate c. Ver. 10. Yea ten acres of Vineyard shall yield one bath c. Which was about eight gallons see the Note 1 King 7.26 so that an acre of ground planted with vines should not yield to the owner one whole gallon of wine And the seed of an homer which was much about our bushel shall yield an ephah and that was Ezek. 45.11 the tenth part of an homer and therefore consequently the meaning must needs be that their land should not yield them above the tenth part of the seed that was sown in it Indeed Exod. 16.36 it is said expresly that an homer is the tenth part of an ephah But therefore I conceive the Omer and the Homer were two different measures as indeed they are differently also written in the Hebrew The Omer was a smaller measure the tenth part of an Ephah but the Homer was a far greater measure the same with the Bath Ezek. 45.11 containing ten Ephahs and therefore it was a very heavy curse of God upon their land when they should reap but one Ephah where they had sown an Homer which was ten Ephahs As in the foregoing verse the desolation of their houses was allotted as the punishment of their joining house to house so here the barrenness of their land is threatned as a just and fit reward of their laying field to field yet it may be also added as the cause why their houses should be left desolate And besides this is inferred fitly upon the foregoing Parable Because God had lost his cost and labour bestowed upon them that were his Vineyard therefore they should lose the cost and labour they bestowed upon their lands and Vineyards Ver. 11. Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning to follow strong drink c. To wit as pursuing it with all eagerness being never well till they be at it see the Note Eccles 10.16 That continue until night which is in the Original until twilight and so the meaning may be that they sate at it either from morning to evening or from morning to morning till wine inflame them to wit with unnatural heat and so instead of quenching increaseth their thirst and so they many times fall into burning fevers and are as it were set on fire with anger and fury and inflamed with burning lusts See Prov. 23 29-33 Ver. 12. And the harp and the viol the tabret and pipe and wine are in their feasts c. That is they give up themselves wholly to these carnal delights not minding the Lord nor their duty to him The things here named were not mentioned as evil in themselves but it is their excess herein and their abuse of them that is here condemned And therefore it follows but they regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands that is his judgments to wit either those which God had already brought upon their land for it is most probable that this was spoken when in the days of Ahaz the Syrians Pekah and the Philistims had made great havock in Judea yea when the Ten Tribes were already carried away captives into Assyria And we see the Prophet Amos condemns the same jollity upon this very ground of their not laying to heart the sad calamities that were befallen the Ten Tribes But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph Amos 6.6 Or else those which did at this time hang over their heads which God had threatned by his Prophets and to which he had already begun to make way which seems most probable because
is that for which the Prophet here terms them rebellious children a Rebellion of all other most execrable Chap. 1.2 I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me not so much because they had rebelled against the King of Assyria or Babylon concerning which see the Note 2 Kings 18.7 as because they were rebellious against Gods command whose children they professed themselves to be and that particularly in this business of their seeking to Egypt for help as appears by the following words Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me which is said either because in their streights they consulted amongst themselves what to do but never asked advice from God by enquiring of Gods Prophets or otherwise or else because they were so far from that that they therein disobeyed the command of God by his Prophets And to the same purpose is that which follows and that cover with a covering but not of my spirit that is that seek to shelter themselves against approaching storms and to possess the people with great hopes that they shall be covered and sheltered from them but it is not by means which I approve of and which I by my Spirit in the mouth of my Prophets have advised them to it is not by turning to me by repentance and by calling on me for counsel and help but by ways of their own projecting yea contrary to what I have commanded see the Notes Chap. 4.5 6. and 28.15 20. that they may add sin to sin that is that to their sin in revolting from those Heathen Kings to whom they had yielded themselves to be Tributaries see 2 Kings 18.7 did now add the sin of neglecting God and fleeing to Egypt for help Or that to their sin in calling in the Assyrians to their help formerly in the days of Ahaz 2 Kings 16.7 did now add this sin of running to Egypt to desire their help against the Assyrians Or rather that to the wickedness wherewith they had provoked God to bring the Heathen upon them they might add this new sin of seeking to shelter themselves from this vengeance of God by unlawful ways Ver. 2. That walk to go down into Egypt c. It was usual with this people when they were in danger of being invaded by any foreign enemies to fly to Egypt for help Thus Hoshea sent to the King of Egypt 2 Kings 17.4 And thus it seems in Zedekiah's time they had procured the King of Egypt to come and help them against the Chaldeans Jer. 37.5 7. and after the Chaldeans had carried the Jews into Babylon they that were left in the land of Judea fled into Egypt to shelter themselves Jer. 43.5 7. But yet I rather think that here the Prophet speaks of what was done in his own time when Sennacherib invaded Judea and sent his Captains to besiege Jerusalem For though in the story there be no express mention of their sending then to Egypt for aid yet because we find before that Isaiah had forewarned the Jews of their folly in resting at that time upon the aid of the Egyptians see the Notes Chap. 20.1 6. And because in the latter end of this Chapter ver 31. there is a prediction for the comfort of the faithful of the Assyrians dâ—wnfall it seems most probable that Hezekiah's Princes did at that time send secretly to the Egyptian to procure him to come in to their aid and that perhaps not without Hezekiah's consent and that hereupon our Prophet did denounce this wo against those that walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth see the foregoing Note to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh of whose exceeding Puiffance and power it seems they had a very high opinion and to trust in the shadow of Egypt see the Note Chap. 18.1 And indeed how unlawful it was for them to seek to Egypt for help especially see the Notes Deut. 17.16 Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame c. To wit when they should find that instead of helping them they should not be able to defend themselves against the Assyrians see the Note Chap. 20. ver 1 6. Ver. 4. For his Princes c. That is Hezekiah's were at Zoan see the Note Chap. 19.11 and his ambassadours came to Hanes elsewhere called Tahapanes Jer. 2.16 and Tahpanhes Jer. 43.7 This is spoken in a way of derision to set forth how eager and busie they were to seek for help from Egypt to no purpose at all Ver. 5. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them c. See the Note above ver 3. Ver. 6. The burden of the beasts of the South c. By the beasts of the South here are meant either the young asses and camels afterwards mentioned on which the Jews carried the great Treasures and Gifts wherewith they meant to hire the Egyptians to come and aid them against the Assyrians into Egypt and thorough the Desart by which they were to go into Egypt both which lay South-ward from the land of Judea as upon the same account Jer. 13.19 the Cities of Egypt are called the Cities of the South Or else the Jews themselves who are termed beasts either because like so many beasts they travelled along South-ward with burdens on their backs the great presents they had provided for the Egyptians or because they were so brutishly foolish as to disobey and forsake God that they might seek help from Egypt And accordingly in these words The burden of the beasts of the South the intent of the Prophet might be only to shew that he would now declare how in seeking to procure aid from Egypt these beasts of the South went with great burdens on their backs as Chap. 46.1 he tells us how the Babylonian Idols were a burden to the weary beast that carried them Or else which most Expositors hold by the burden of the beasts of the South is meant a heavy Prophecy denounced against the beasts that went laden with great burdens of Treasure South-ward from Judea into the land of Egypt see the Note Chap. 13.1 And it may be taken as spoken with reference to that which went before or that which follows after and that in a way of descanting upon the word burden as if the Prophet had said Since you will needs go with such burdens of Treasures into Egypt to get Auxiliary Forces from thence for your defence lo I tell you of another kind of burden that God hath provided for you The burden of the beasts of the South that is a burdensome Prophecy concerning the beasts of the South But however if we understand this Prophecy as denouncing evil against the beasts on which they carried their Presents for Pharaoh we must know that hereby his aim is to inveigh against the Princes themselves that went along with them deriding their folly and madness in taking so much pains and being at so much
12.4 and to the Holy one of Israel see the Note Chap. 12.6 because he hath glorified thee to wit by the great things he hath done for thee and particularly by enlarging thy Church by the access of the Gentiles But see the Notes before ver 5 6 7. Ver. 10. And the Sons of Strangers shall build up thy Walls c. This in the type was accomplished when at the Jews return from Babylon the forreign Nations did afford them Free-will-offerings towards the building of their City Jerusalem and the Temple being encouraged thereunto by the Proclamation of Cyrus see the Note Ezra 1.4 notwithstanding the opposition that was made against them herein by the Samaritans at their return home yet thus far by the help afforded them by strangers this Prophecy was fulfilled and likewise when the Proselytes of other Nations returning with them did join with them in repairing both their City and Temple and the like may be said of the following words and their Kings shall minister unto thee that was accomplished in the favour afforded the Jews by Cyrus and some of his Successors But now in the Antitype this was clearly fulfilled when God raised up even amongst the Gentiles Learned Men that by their preaching and writing and Princes that by their bounty and favour should much promote the Edification of the Church and advance her strength and glory see the Note Chap. 49.23 for in my wroth I smote thee but in my favour have I had mercy on thee This was spoken of the Jewish Church whom for their sins God did often sorely afflict for a time but afterward of his Free-grace shewed favour to them both in their deliverance out of Babylon and in that greater Mercy of their Redemption by Christ Ver. 11. Therefore thy Gates shall be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night c. To wit that the Gentiles may from every side come in and join themselves in one Church with thee none being excluded that shall in a right manner tender themselves and that they may by night as well as by day bring in their Wealth to thee And indeed that this is intended appears by the following words which are added to explain that which went before that men may bring unto thee the forces or wealth of the Gentiles see the Note above ver 5. and that their Kings may be brought that is that not only the common sort of People but even their Kings also who are usually fierce and not easily won this way or that to do any thing contrary to their own Wills may be brought in to thee to stoop to the Gospel and Scepter of Christ And indeed the word here used in the Original may be understood either of their being brought in to the Church in the State and with the attendance of Kings or of their being brought in as Captives subdued by the Preaching of the Gospel to stoop to the yoke of Christ see the Note Psal 149.8 Even this also indeed some understand of the Type As namely that it is said that the Gates of Jerusalem should stand open continually c. to imply the great confluence of the Nations round about thither upon the Jews return thither from Babylon and of the readiness both of the People and their Kings to contribute liberally to their help But we may easily see how much more clearly this suits with the coming in of the Gentiles upon the Preaching of the Gospel And as for the Evangelist St. John's citing this place Rev. 21.25 to set forth the peace of the Church triumphant in Heaven the ground of that is only because the Apostle knew that the Prophet speaks here of that Glory of the Church of Christ which shall be perfected in the Kingdom of Heaven Ver. 12. For the Nation c. As if he had said nor shall these thy open Gates endanger thee by letting in thine Enemies upon thee for the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee that is all People that will not submit to the Gospel and Scepter of Christ erected in thee shall perish c. that is shall everlastingly perish Nor can this indeed be any way well understood of the Church of the Jews returning out of Babylon but with respect to what she should come afterward to be in the days of the Gospel Ver. 13. The Glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee c. That is that all Cedars and other goodly Trees which make Lebanon look so Gloriously shall be brought in to thee the Firre-tree and the Pine-tree and the Box together see Chap. 41.19 to beautifie the place of my Sanctuary to wit the Temple at Jerusalem see Ezra 7.27 and I will make the place of my Feet glorious that is my Foot-stool my Temple as is before said for though the Ark is in some places more especially called Gods Foot-stool for which see the Notes 1 Chron. 28.2 and Psal 99.5 yet the Temple is else-where also called Gods Foot-stool as in Lam. 2.1 where the destruction of the Temple is thus set forth That the Lord remembred not his Foot-stool in the day of his anger and so likewise Ezek. 43.7 So that in the Type the rebuilding and beautifying of the Temple after their return from Babylon is clearly here meant see Ezra 3.7 But in the Antitype it is certainly meant of the edifying of the Church of Christ his Spiritual Temple and Foot-stool his setled dwelling-place and God here promiseth a continual supply of whatever might tend to the strengthening and adorning of it Ver. 14. The Sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy Feet c. Though there was some dark shadow of the accomplishment of this in the great respect and honour which was yielded to the Jews after their return from Babylon by many Nations with their Kings that had formerly been their bitter Enemies yet the full and clear accomplishment of it was in the great honour which the Gentiles and their Kings should yield to Christ and his Church see the Note Chap. 49.23 and they shall call thee the City of the Lord c. that is they shall own the special interest which thou hast in God being convinced by his appearing so wonderfully for thee Ver. 15. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated so that no man went through thee c. That is disregarded and in a desolate condtion see the Notes Chap. 3.26 and 3.11 12. I will make thee an eternal excellency or a lasting excellency that is I will bring thee into a most excellent and glorious estate and this I conceive must be understood of the Jewish Church from the time of her deliverance out of Babylon till she came to be made glorious by becoming the Spouse of Christ and so on forward unto the end of Christs Kingdom It is meant of the Spiritual excellency of the Church here and of