him and be regenerated and adopted by him into the number of his Children and of the Children of God Ioh. 1. 12. Heb. 2. 10 13 14. for he was cut off h To wit by a violent death And this may be added as a reason both of his exaltation and of the blessing of a numerous posterity conferred upon him because he was willing to be cut off for the transgression of his People and as it followeth v. 10. made his soul an offering for sin Christs death being elsewhere declared to be the only way and necessary means of obtaining both these ends Luk. 24. 26 46. Ioh 12. 24 32 33. Philip. 2. 8 9. But these words may be rendred although he was cut off to fignifie that his death should not hinder these glorious effects out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people †Heb. was the stroke upon him was he stricken i This is repeated again as it was fit it should be to prevent mens mistakes about and stumbling at the death of Christ and to assure them that Christ did not die for his own sins but only for the sins and salvation of his People â—… These words are understood either 1. Of Christs Humiliation or Suffering and then the words are to be thus rendred He was taken away to wit out of this Life as this word is used Psal. 31. 13. Prov. 1. 19. and elsewhere he was put to death by distress or violence or tyranny as this word is used with this Preposition before it Psal. 107. 39. and judgment by oppression and violence under a form and pretence of Justice Or rather 2. Of Christs Exaltation because of the following clause which is not unseasonably mentioned in the midst of his Sufferings to take off the scandal which might have arisen from Christs Sufferings if there had not been a prospect and assurance of his victoriousness over them and his Glory after them and so the words may be rendered He was taken up or taken away freed or delivered from prison i. e. from the Grave which being called an house Job 30. 23. and a pit in which men are shut up Psal. 69. 15. may fitly be called a prison or from distress or affliction or oppression from the power and malice of his Enemies and from the torments of his own Soul arising from the sense of Mens sins and Gods displeasure and from judgment i. e. from all the sufferings and punishments inflicted upon him either by the unrighteous judgment of men or by the just judgment of God punishing him for those sins which he had voluntarily taken upon himself or which is the same thing from the sentence of Condemnation and all the effects of it for in this sense judgment is very commonly taken both in Scripture and other Authors 9 And he made his grave with the wicked k And although he did not die for his own but only for his Peoples sins yet he was willing to die like a malefactor or like a sinner as all other men are and to be put into the grave as they used to be which was a farther degree of his Humiliation He saith he made his Grave because this was Christs own act and he willingly yielded up himself to death and burial And that which follows with the wicked doth not note the sameness of place as if he should be buried in the same Grave with other malefactors but the sameness of condition as when David prayeth Psal. 26. 9. Gather not my soul to wit by death with sinners he doth not mean it of the same Grave but of the same state of the dead and with the rich l This passage is thought by many to signifie that Christ should be buried in the Sepulchre of Ioseph who is said to be both rich Mat. 27. 57. and honourable Mark 15. 43. which they conceive to be intimated as a token of Favour and Honour shewed to him Which to me seems not probable partly because this disagrees with the former clause which confefsedly speaks of the dishonour which was done to him and partly because the burial of Christ whatsoever Circumstances it was attended with is ever mentioned in Scripture as a part of his Humiliation Act. 2. 24. 27. And it seems more reasonable and more agreeable to the usage of Holy Scripture that this clause should design the same thing with the former and that by rich he means the same persons whom he now called wicked not as if all rich men were or must needs be wicked but because for the most part they are so upon which ground riches and rich men do commonly pass under an ill name in Scripture of which see Psal. 37. 16. 49. 6. Luk. 6. 24. 18. 24. Iam. 1. 11. 5. 1. in his †Heb. deaths death m Heb. in or at or after as this particle is frequently taken as hath been already noted his deaths for Christs death might well be called deaths in the plural number because he underwent many kinds of death and many deadly dangers and pains which are frequently called by the name of death in Scripture of which instances have been formerly given and he might say with no less truth than Paul did 1 Cor. 15. 31. I die daily and 2 Cor. 11. 23. I was in deaths oft because he had done no violence neither was any * 1 Pet. 2. 22 1 Ioh. 3. 5. deceit in his mouth n This some suppose to be added as a reason of the last branch of the foregoing clause why God so over-ruled matters by his providence that Christ should not be buried in the same Grave or in the same ignominious manner as malefactors were but in a more honourable manner in Iosephs own Tomb. But the last part of the foregoing clause cannot without violence be pulled asunder from the former wherewith it is so closely joined not only by a Conjunction copulative and but also by being under the government of the same Verb And therefore this latter clause of the verse if thus rendred must be added as the reason of what is said to be done in the former And so the sense of the place may be thus conceived This was all the reward of the unspotted Innocency of all his words and actions to be thus ignominiously used But these words may well be and are otherwise reâ—…dred both by Jewish and Christian Interpreters either thus although he had done c. or rather thus not for as these two same particles placed in the very same order are rendred by our Translator and others Iob 16. 17. any violence or injury or iniquity which he had done nor for any deceit which was in his mouth not for his own sins but as hath been said before for his Peoples â—…ins In which Translation there is nothing supplied but what is most frequent in Scripture use 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him o But although
or the grapes of that year which are in this like the Nazarites hair not cut off by thee but suffered to grow to the use of the poor for it is a year of rest unto the land 6 And the sabbath h i. e. The growth of the Sabbath or that fruit which groweth in the Sabbatical year See on Levit 23. 38. where the word Sabbath is taken in the like sense of the land shall be meat for you for thee and for thy servant i For all promiscuously to take food from thence as they need it and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for the stranger that sojourneth with thee 7 And for thy cattle and for the beast that are in thy land shall all the increase thereof be meat 8 And thou shalt number seven †Or weeks sabbaths of years unto thee seven times seven years and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years 9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet †Heb. loud of sound of the jubilee k Which signified the true liberty from our spiritual debts and slaveries to be purchased by Christ and to be published to the World by the sound of the Gospel to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month l Which was the first month of the year for civil and worldly affairs which were mainly concerned in the Jubilee And therefore it began in that moneth and as it seems upon this very tenth day when the trumpet sounded as other feasts generally began when the trumpet sounded * chap. 23. 27. in the day of atonement m A very fit time that when they fasted and prayed for Gods mercy to them in the pardon of their sins then they might exercise their Charity and kindness to men in forgiving their debts which is the true fast as is noted Isa. 58. 6. and to teach us that the foundation of all solid comfort and joy must be laid in bitter Repentance and atonement for our sins through Christ. shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year n By which it seems most probable that the year of Jubilee was not the forty and ninth year as some learned men think but precisely the fiftieth year Which may appear 1. Because the Jews account it so which is confessed by the adversaries of this opinion who say that the Iews erre in the computation of the Iubilee as they do in Christ the great end and antitype of the Iubilee But it is not probable that the Jews should universally erre in a matter of constant practise among themselves especially when there was nothing of interest or prejudice in the case as there was in reference to Christ. 2. Because it is expresly called the fiftieth year here and ver 11. that fiftieth year which was not true if it was but the nine and fortieth year It is said it is called so popularly and it was so if you take in the foregoing Jubilee But it must be remembred that there was not yet any foregoing Jubilee but the very first of the kind is expresly called the fiftieth year which in truth it was not if the Jubilee was ended ere the fiftieth year began 3. From the common course of computation The old weekly Sabbath is called the seventh day because it truly was so being next after the six days of the week and distinct from them all and the year of release is called the seventh year ver 4. as immediately following the six years ver 3. and distinct from them all And therefore in like manner the Jubilee must needs be called the fiftieth year because it comes next after seven times seven or forty nine years ver 8. and is distinct from them all From ver 11 12. where it is said ye shall not sow nor reap c. For it is the Iubilee c. which looks like a vain and useless repetition if this year were but one of the seven years for this very command was given concerning every seventh year ver 4. but if this year of Jubilee was as indeed it was a year distinct from and coming after the seven sevens of years then this repetition and application of that command to it was highly necessary because otherwise it might seem hard and unreasonable that they should forbear sowing and reaping two years together which hereby they are commanded to do Two things are objected against this 1. That the Jubilee was onely a revolution of forty nine years But that seems a great mistake for it is most expresly distinguished from them all and by way of distinction called the fiftieth year therefore surely none of the forty nine 2. The difficulty propounded v. 20. concerns onely the 7th year whereas it had been a greater difficulty if it had been extended to the Jubilee and the Jubilee had been another vacant year coming next after the seventh year But though the difficulty was greater for the Jubilee yet it was more frequent for the seventh year and the resolution of the one made the way plain for the satisfaction of the other For as God promised so to bless every sixth year that it should bring forth fruit for three years ver 21. so when the case was extraordinary as in the Jubilee it was but reasonable to expect an extraordinary blessing from God upon that sixth year which went next before the last of the seventh years or the forty ninth year that it should then bring forth fruit for four years and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof o Understand such as were Israelites principally to all servants even to such as would not and did not go out at the seventh year and to the poor who now were acquitted from all their debts and restored to their possessions it shall be a jubilee p So called either from the Hebrew word Iobel which signifies first a ram and then a rams horn by the sound whereof it was proclaimed or from Iubal the inventour of Musical instruments Gen. 4. 21. because it was celebrated with Musick and all expressions of joy unto you and ye shall return every man unto his possession q Which had been sold or otherwise alienated from him This Law was not at all unjust because all buyers and sellers had an eye to this condition in their bargains but it was necessary and expedient in many regards as 1. To mind them that God alone was the Lord and owner and proprietor both of them and of their lands and they onely his Tenants and Farmers a point which they were very apt to forget 2. That hereby Inheritances Families and Tribes might be kept entire and clear until the coming of the Messias who was to be known as by other things so by the Tribe and Family out of which he was to come And this accordingly was done by the singular
or many families for the women took care for the bread and food of all the family shall bake your bread in one oven and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight c This is a sign and consequence both of a famine and of the baking of the bread of several families together in one oven wherein each family took care to weigh their bread and to receive the same proportion which they put in Compare Ezek. 4. 1â—… and * Micah 6. 14. Hâ—…g 1. 6. ye shall eat and not be satisfied 27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me but walk contrary unto me 28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury d Or in fury of rashness or carelesness with you or among you like a raging lion breaking into a multitude of people and destroying all he meets with promiscuously or without any distinction both righteous and wicked together as is threatned Ezek. 21. 3. Or in fury of contrariety or meeting with you or against you like a man that meets his enemy in the fury of battel and I even I will chastise you seven times for your sins 29 * Deut. 28. 53. Ezek. 5. 10. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons e Through extreme hunger See Lam. 4. 10. and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat 30 And I will destroy your high places f In which you will sacrifice after the manner of the Heathens See Levit. 19. 26. Numb 33. 52. and * 2 Chro. 34. 7. Ezek. 6. 4 5 13. cut down your images g Or Your images of the Sun made for the honour and worshipping of the sun and having some resemblance to it See 2 Chron. 34. 7. Under this one kind of Idolatry famous and frequent in those times and places he contains all the rest and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols h So he calls them either to signifie that their Idols how specious soever or glorious in their eyes were in truth but lifeless and contemptible carcases having eyes but see not c. Psal. 115. 5. or to shew that their Idols should be so far from helping them that they should be thrown down and broken with them and both should lie together in a forlorn and loathsome state and my soul shall abhor you 31 And I will make your cities waste and * Lam. 1. 10. Ezek. 9. 6. and 21. 7. bring your sanctuaries i Either 1. Gods Sanctuary called Sanctuaries here as also Psal. 73. 17. and 74. 7. Ier. 51. 51. Ezek. 28. 18. because there were divers appartiments in it each of which was a Sanctuary or which is all one an holy place as they are severally called And your emphatically not mine for I disown and abhor it and all the services you do in it because you have defiled it Or 2. The Temples built by you to Idols therefore called their Sanctuaries in opposition to Gods Or 3. Your Synagogues But the first is most probable because he speaks of the place where they used to offer their sweet odours here following unto desolation and I will not smell k i. e. Not own or accept them See Gen. 8. 21. Isa. 1. 11 c. the savour of your sweet odours l Either of the incense or of your other sacrifices which when offered with faith and obedience are very sweet and acceptable to me 32 And I will bring the land into desolation and your enemies which dwell therein m Having driven you out and possessed your places shall be astonished at it n See Lam. 5. 12. 33 And * Deut. 4. 27. and 28. 62 64. I will scatter you among the heathen and will draw out a sword after you o The sword shall follow you into strange lands and you shall have no rest there and your land shall be desolate and your cities wast 34 * 2 Chron. 36. 21. Then shall the land ‖ Or accomplish See Job 14. 6. enjoy her sabbaths as long as it lieth desolate and ye be in your enemies land even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths p Either 1. because it shall be rid of you who were the unprofitable and heavy burdens thereof under whom it in a manner groaned Or rather 2. because it shall now enjoy those Sabbatical years of rest from tillage which you through covetousness oft-times would not give it as the next verse informs us though God commanded it Levit. 25. 4. 35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest because it did not rest in your sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it 36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness q The word notes a tenderness and softness of mind whereby they are disenabled from bearing the present miseries and are in continual dread of further and sorer miseries into their hearts in the lands of their enemies and * Prov. 28. 1. the sound of a †Heb. driven shaken leaf shall chase them and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword and they shall fall when none pursueth 37 And * Isa. 10. 4. they shall fall one upon another r As souldiers use to do when their ranks are broken and they forced to flee away hastily from their pursuers as it were before a sword when none pursueth s Your guilt and fear causing you to imagine that they do pursue you when indeed they do not and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies 38 And ye shall perish among the heathen and the land of your enemies shall eat you up 39 And they that are left of you * Ezek. 4. 17. 6. 9. 20. 44. 24. 23. 33. 10. 36. 31. Hos. 5. 15. shall pine away t Be consumed and melt away by degrees through diseases oppressions griefs and manifold miseries in their iniquity in your enemies lands and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them 40 If they shall confess u Heb. And they shall confess where our translation and many others understand the particle if which is also wanting and understood Exod. 4. 23. Mal. 1. 2. and 3. 8. So here And if they shall confess c. But there seems no necessity of any such supplement but these and the following words may be taken as they lye in their plain and proper signification to this purpose ver 40. And through the heaviness and extraordinariness of their affliction their consciences will force them to confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their trespass which they have trespassed against me i. e. with their prevarication with me and defection from me to Idolatry which by way of eminency he calls their trespass and that also they have walked contrary to me v. 41. and that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them
answer and say * 1 Cor. 14. 1â—… Amen r i. e. So let it be I wish this curse may befal me if I be guilty of this crime See Numb 5. 22. Ier. 11. 5. 16 * Exod. 20. 12. 21. 1â—… Cursed be he that setteth light s Or despiseth in his heart or reproacheth or curseth to wit secretly as before for if the fact was notorious it was punished with death Levit. 20. 9. by his father or his mother and all the people shall say Amen 17 * chap. 19. 14. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbours land-mark t To wit designedly to defraud his neighbour or enlarge his own portion and all the people shall say Amen 18 * Lev. 19. 14. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way u That misleadeth simple souls giving them pernicious counsel either for this life or for the next and all the people shall say Amen 19 * Exod. 22. 21 22. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger fatherless and widow and all chap. 10. 18. the people shall say Amen 20 * Lev. 18. 8. Cursed be he that lieth with his fathers wife because he uncovereth his fathers skirt x See Deut. 22. 20. and all the people shall say Amen 21 * Lev. 18. 23. Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast and all the people shall say Amen 22 * Lev. 18. 9. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother and all the people shall say Amen 23 * Lev. 18. 17. and 20. 14. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law and all the people shall say Amen 24 * Exod. 20. 13. and 21. 12 14. Lev. 24. 17. Numb 35. 31. Cursed be he that smiteth y i. e. Killeth as that word is oft used his neighbour secretly and all the people shall say Amen 25 * Exod. 23. 8. chap. 10. 17. and 16. 19. Ezek. 22. 12. Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person and all the people shall say Amen 26 * â—…er 11. 3. Gal. 3. 10. Cursed be he that confirmeth not z i. e. Performeth not for he that transgresseth doth in some sort destroy and make void the law of God as to the main end for which it was given even to the regulation of his life and actions and as far as lies in him disanuls the authority and force of Gods law all the words of this law to do them and all the people shall say Amen CHAP. XXVIII 1 AND it shall come to pass * Lev. 26. 3. If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day that the LORD thy God will set thee on high a i. e. Advance and honour thee with divers priviledges and blessings as it here follows above all nations of the earth 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee b Those blessings which others greedily follow after and oft-times never overtake they shall follow after thee and shall be thâ—…own into thy lap by my special kindness if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city and blessed shalt thou be in the field 4 Blessed shall be * Gen. 49. 25. Psal. 12â—… 3. the fruit of thy †Heb. â—…lly body and the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattel the increase of thy kine and the flocks of thy sheep 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy ‖ Or dâ—…ugh or 〈◊〉 store c i. e. It shall always be well replenished and the provision thou hast there shall be preserved for and in due time brought forth to thy use and service See Deut. 26. 2 10. 6 * Psal. 121. 8. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in d i. e. In all thy affairs and administrations which are oft expressed by this phrase as Numb 27. 17. Deut. 31. 2. 2 Sam. 3. 25. 2 Chron. 1. 10. Act. 1. 21. and 9. 28. and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out d i. e. In all thy affairs and administrations which are oft expressed by this phrase as Numb 27. 17. Deut. 31. 2. 2 Sam. 3. 25. 2 Chron. 1. 10. Act. 1. 21. and 9. 28. 7 The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face they shall come out against thee one way and flee before thee seven wayes e i. e. Many ways as is usual when an army is totally overthrown and dissipated 8 The LORD shall command f i. e. Shall by his soveraign and powerful providence give it even when it seems furthest from thee and not likely to come to thee without a word of command from God himself the blessing upon thee in thy ‖ Or barns store-houses and in all that thou settest thine hand unto and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee 9 * Exod. 19. 5 6. The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself g i. e. Shall confirm and establish his covenant with thee by which he separated thee to himself as an holy and peculiar people and shall publickly own thee for such as it follows ver 10. as he hath sworn unto thee if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God and walk in his wayes 10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the Name of the LORD h i. e. That you are in deed and truth his people and children See Deut. 14. 1. and 26. 18. For to be called oft-times signifies to be as Isa. 47. 1 5. and 56. 7. Mat. 5. 9 19. and 21. 13. * Gen. 21. 22 23. and 26. 28. and they shall be afraid of thee 11 And * chap. 30. 9. c. the LORD shall make thee plenteous ‖ Or for good in goods in the fruit of thy †Heb. belly body and in the fruit of thy cattel and in the fruit of thy ground i The same things which were said before are repeated to shew that God would repeat and multiply his blessings upon them in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee 12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure k To wit the heaven or the air as it here follows which is Gods storehouse where he treasures up rain or wind or other things for mans use See Iob 38. 22. Psal. 33. 7. the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season and to bless all the work of thine hand and * chap. 15. â—… thou shalt lend unto many nations and thou shalt not borrow 13 And the LORD shall make thee the head
for I know their imagination which they †Heb. do go about even now c Either their inward inclinations to Idolatry which they do not check as they ought but rather entertain with delight and some of them do not onely cherish it in their hearts but as far as they can and dare secretly practise it as may be gathered from Amos 5. 25. Act. 7. 43. or their secret purposes to allow themselves therein when they are settled in their land which were clearly known to God though it may be not fully evident to themselves before I have brought them into the land which I sware 22 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day and taught it the children of Israel 23 And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge and said * Josh. 1. 6. Be strong and of a good courage for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them d This wickedness of theirs which I now foresee and foretell shall not hinder me from bringing them into Canaan and I will be with thee 24 And it came to pass when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book until they were finished 25 That Moses commanded the Levites e i. e. The Priests ver 9. who also were Levites which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD saying 26 Take this book of the law and put it in the side f i. e. In the outside in a little chest fixed to it for nothing but the Tables of stone were contained in the Ark 1 King 8. 9. Here it was kept for greater security and reverence of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God that it may be there for a witness against thee g i. e. Against thy people to whom he here turns his speech that they might be more affected with it 27 For I know thy rebellion and thy stiff-neck behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye have been rebellious against the LORD and how much more after my death 28 Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes and your officers that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to record against them 29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt your selves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you and evil will befall you in the later dayes because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands 30 And Mosesspake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song until they were ended CHAP. XXXII 1 GIve * chap. 4. 36. 30. 19. Psal. 50. 4. Isa. 1. 2. Jer 2. 12. 6. 19. ear O ye heavens a Either 1. Angels and men Or 2. You lifeless and senceless creatures heaven and earth which he calls upon partly to accuse the stupidity of Israel that were more dull of hearing than these and partly as witnesses of the truth of his sayings and the justice of Gods proceedings against them and I will speak and hear O earth a Either 1. Angels and men Or 2. You lifeless and senceless creatures heaven and earth which he calls upon partly to accuse the stupidity of Israel that were more dull of hearing than these and partly as witnesses of the truth of his sayings and the justice of Gods proceedings against them the words of my mouth 2 * Isa. 55. 10 11. 1 Cor. 3. 6 7 8. My doctrine shall drop as the rain b Look what effect rain and dew have upon herbs and grass which they make fresh and fragrant and growing the same effect I may justly expect and hope that my discourse wil have upon your hearts i. e. to make them soft and pliable and fruitful Or this may be a prayer Let my doctrine drop c. O that it might do so that my discourse might not be lost upon you but be profitable to you the future tense of the indicative mood being put for the imperative mood as is usual my speech shall distill as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass 3 Because I will publish the Name of the LORD c i. e. His glorious excellencies and righteous and worthy actions by which he hath made himself known as a man is known by his name and by which it will appear both that there is no blame to be laid upon him whatsoever befals you and that it is gross madness to forsake such a God for dumb Idols and meer vanities ascribe ye greatness unto our God d As I am about to publish the great power and Majesty and glory of God so do you also own and acknowledge it as you have reason to do or do you attend to the words which God hath commanded me to speak to you in his Name with that diligence reverence and godly fear which the presence of so great and glorious a Majesty calls for 4 He is the rock e Or a rock as for the stability and everlastingness of his nature and invincibleness of his power so also for his fixedness and immutability in his counsels and promises and wayes so that if there shall be a sad change in your affairs from an high and prosperous to a calamitous and deplorable condition as there will be remember this proceeds from your selves and from the change of your ways and carriages towards God and not from God in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of change Iam. 1. 17. his work is perfect f All his works and actions are unblameable as being perfectly wise and righteous as it follows for all his wayes are judgment g All his administrations in the world and particularly all his dealings with you are managed with judgment and justice a God of truth h Constant to his promises you cannot accuse him of any levity or unfaithfulness towards you to this day and without iniquity just and right is he 5 †Heb. he hath corrupted to himself They i i. e. The Israelites as the following words manifest have corrupted themselves k This phrase sometimes in Scripture notes sin and sometimes destruction And so the sense may be either 1. Their wickedness is not from God but from themselves and their own choice they have wilfully and industriously depraved themselves and sold themselves to sin Or rather 2. Their destruction is not from God who is just and true c. as was now said but wholly and solely from themselves and from their own wickedness as it here follows ‖ Or that they are not his children that is their blot their spot is not the spot of his children l i. e. Their blemishes or sins are not committed through ignorance or frailty or surprizal as good men sometimes sin but they
This being a land flowing with hony Exod. 3. 8 17. where the bees made hony even in woods as 1 Sam 14. or in the holes of rocks or in the trees that grew upon or among rocks and oil out of the flinty rock k The olive trees grow and fructifie most in rocky or hilly places 14 Butter of kine and milk of sheep with fat of lambs l For though the fat wherewith the inward parts were covered was not to be eaten by them but offered to God Lev. 3. 9 10. yet that fat which was fast joyned to and mixed with the flesh they might eat as the Iewish Doctours note and rams of the breed of Bashan m A place famous for excellent cattel Numb 32. 4 33. and goats with the fat of kidneys of wheat n i. e. With the finest of the grains or kernels of wheat compared to kidneys for their shape and plumpness and largeness Compare Psal. 81. 16. and 147. 14. and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape o Wine not mixed with water but pure as it comes from the grape which was of a red or bloody colour See Psal. 75. 8. Isa. 27. 2. 15 But * Isa. 44. 2. Jesurun p i. e. Israel as is agreed by Christian and Iewish Interpreters whom he calls right or upright or righteous as the word signifies not that they were so indeed but partly by way of instruction to mind them what they professed and promised and ought to be and partly by way of exprobration to shew them how unlike they were to the people of God which they pretended to be and what a shame it was to them to degenerate so much from their name and profession waxed fat and kicked q As well fed and wanton cattel use to do he grew insolent and rebellious against God and against his word and spirit * Neh. 9. 25. Jer. 2. 7. and 5. 7. Hos. 13. 6. thou art waxen fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness r Which is here rightly understood and supplied by comparing this place with Iob 15. 27. Psal. 17. 10. then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation 16 They provoked him to jealousie s i. e. To anger and fury for jealousie is the rage of a man Prov. 6. 34. And withall it implies the ground of this anger to wit their falseness to God whom they had owned and accepted as their husband and their spiritual whoredom with other Gods with strange gods with abominations provoked they him to anger 17 * Lev. 17. 7. Psal. 106. 37. 1 Cor. 10. 20. Rev. 9. 20. They sacrificed unto devils t i. e. Unto Idols which the Devils brought into the World in opposition to God in and by which the Devils oft-times manifested themselves unto men and gave them answers and received their worship Compare 1 Cor. 10. 20. The Gentiles pretended to worship God in these Idols and the Devils which inspired them deluded the nations with false pretences that they were a sort of lower Gods Moses therefore takes off this mask and shews the Israelites that these pretended Gods were really Devils those great enemies of mankind and therefore that it was the height of madness to honour or worship them ‖ Or which were not God not to God u This he saith either because though at first they joyned God and Idols together in worship yet at last they quite forsook God and adhered to Idols onely or because God utterly rejected those sacrifices which they offered to him together with Idols and took them for no sacrifices See 1 Cor. 10. 21. to gods whom they knew not x Or who never knew them i. e. never shewed any kindness to them or did them any good for so words of knowledge are oft used as Psal. 1. 6. Hos. 13. 5. to new gods that came newly up y Not simply or absolutely for some of these Gods had been worshipped for many generations and had a fair pretence of long antiquity but comparatively to the true God who is the antient of dayes Dan. 7. 9. and who was worshipped from the beginning of the world To this original and first antiquity Moses recals them as also our Saviour doth recal the Iews to the first institution Mat. 19. 8. And therefore we may safely follow both their patterns in despising all pretences of antiquity which are contrary to Gods first institutions contained as all confess in the holy Scriptures whom your fathers feared not z i. e. Served not worshipped not but justly despised and abhorred them 18 Of the Rock a i. e. Of God one of whose titles this is above ver 4. Isa. 44. 8. or of Christ who is called the rock 1 Cor. 10. 4. whom the Israelites are said to have tempted there ver 9. that begat thee b i. e. Who hath adopted you to be his people and hath shewed as much care and kindness to you as if he had begotten you thou art unmindful and hast forgotten God that formed thee 19 And when the LORD saw it he ‖ Or despised abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters c Because of their sins whereby they provoked him to anger Or by reason of his great and just anger against them he abhorred or reprobated or cast off his sons and his daughters for such they were by calling and profession but not in truth and reality ver 5. 20 And he said I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be d I will see and observe what will be the issue of all this what will become of them at last but this God doth not see onely by way of speculation but practically i. e. considers with himself what he shall do with them and how he shall punish them and sees what he will or purposes to do A speech after the manner of men Or I will see is put for I will make them and others to see what the fruit of such actions shall be Hebrew verbs in Cal do ofttimes take the signification of Hiphil for they are a very froward generation * Isa. 30. 9. children in whom there is no faith e Persidious that have broken their covenant so solemnly made with me 21 They have moved me to jealousie with that which is not god they have provoked me to anger with their vanities and * Hos. 1. 9. Rom. 10. 19. I will move them to jealousie with those which are not a people f i. e. With the Gentile or Heathenish nations who are none of my people who scarce deserve the name of a people as being without yoke without the knowledge and fear of God which is the foundation of all true policy and government and without righteous and necessary laws and many of them are destitute of all government and laws and
station into which they came from the wilderness of Sinai Numb 10. 12. all this verse may belong to Gods appearance in mount Sinai where that glorious light which shone upon mount Sinai directly did in all probability scatter its beams into the adjacent parts such as Seir and Paran were and so this is onely a Poetical and Prophetical variation of the phrase and expression of the same thing in diverse words and Gods coming or rising or shining from or to or in Sinai and Seir and Paran note one and the same illustrious action of God appearing there with ten thousands of his Saints or holy Angels and there giving a fiery law to them as it here follows And this interpretation may receive some strength from Hab. 3. 3. where this glorious march of God before his people is remembred onely Teman which signifies the South is put for Seir which is here possibly to signify that that Seir which is here mentioned was to be understood of the Southern part of the country of Seir or Edom which was that part adjoyning to the Red Sea Others refer this of Seir to the brasen Serpent that eminent type of Christ which was erected in this place unto them he shined forth from mount Paran g A place where God eminently manifested his presence and goodness both in giving the people flesh which they desired and in appointing the 70 Elders and pouring forth his Spirit upon them Num 11. Though the exposition mentioned in the foregoing branch may seem more probable and he came with †Heb. holy myriads or ten thousands So Gr. See Jude v. 14. ten thousands of Saints h i. e. With a great company of holy Angels Psal. 68. 17. Daâ—… 7. 10. which attended upon him in this great and glorious work of giving the law as may be gathered from Act. 7. 53. Gal. 3. 19. Heb. 2. 2. and 12. 22. from his right hand i Which both wrote the law and gave it to men An allusion to men who ordinarily write and give gifts with their right and not with their left hand went †Heb. a fire of Law a fiery law k The law is called fiery partly because it is of a fiery nature purging and searching and inflaming for which reasons Gods word is compared to fire Ier. 23. 29. partly to signify that fiery wrath and curse which it inflicteth upon sinners for the violation of it 2 Cor. 3. 7 9. and principally because it was delivered out of the midst of the fire Exod. 19. 16 18. Deut. 4. 11. and 5. 22 23. for them 3 Yea he loved the people l i. e. The tribes of Israel which are called People Gen. 48. 19. Iudges 5. 14. Act. 4. 27. The sense is This Law though delivered with Fire and Smoke and Thunder which might seem to portend nothing but hatred and terrour yet in truth it was given to Israel in great love as being the great mean of their temporal and eternal Salvation And although God shews a general and common kindness to all men yet he loved this people in a singular and peculiar manner all his saints m All Gods Saints or holy ones i. e. his People as they are now called the people of Israel who are all called holy Exod. 19. 6. Num. 16. 3. Deut. 7. 6. Dan. 7. 25. and 8. 24. and 12. 7. because they all professed to be so and were obliged to be so and many of them were such Though some appropriate this to the true Saints in Israel are in thy hand n Or were in thy hand i. e. under Gods care to protect and direct and govern them as that phrase signifies Numb 4. 28 33. Ioh. 10. 28 29. These words are spoken to God and for the change of persons his and thy that is most frequent in the Hebrew tongue See Dan. 9. 4. This clause may further note Gods kindness to Israel in upholding and preserving them when the fiery law was delivered which was done with so much dread and terrour that not onely the people trembled and were ready to sink under it Exod. 20. 18 19. but even Moses himself did exceedingly fear and quake Heb. 12. 21. But in this fright God sustained both Moses and the people in or by his hand whereby he in a manner hid and covered them that no harm might come to them by this terrible apparition and they sat down at thy feet o Like Scholars to receive instructions and counsels from thee He alludes either 1. To the manner of disciples among the Jews who used to sit at their masters feet Luk. 10. 39. Acts 22. 3. See also Gen. 49. 10. 2 King 4. 38. But it is doubtful whether this custom was so antient as Moses Or 2. To the place where the people waited when the Law was delivered which was at the foot of the mount every one shall receive of thy words p The people easily understood from the foregoing words did or will receive or submit to thy instructions and it commands This may respect either 1. The peoples promise when they heard the Law that they would hear and do all that was commanded Deut. 5. 27. Or 2. The peoples duty to do so 3. The peoples priviledge that they were admitted to receive so great a priviledge as the words and Laws of God were 4 Moses commanded us a law q Moses speaks this of himself in the third person which is very usual in the Hebrew language even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob r The Law is called their Inheritance partly because the obligation of it was hereditary passing from Parents to their Children and partly because this was the best part of all their inheritance and possessions the greatest of all those gifts and favours which God bestowed upon them 5 And he was * See Gen. 36. 31. chap. 32. 15. king s Moses was their King not in Title but in reality being under God their supream and uncontroulable Governour and Lawgiver Though the word oft signifies onely a prince or chief Ruler as Iudg. 19. 1. Ier. 19. 3. and 46. 25. in Jeshrun t i. e. In Israel so called Deut. 32. 15. when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together u When the Princes and People met together for the management of publick affairs Moses was owned by them as their King and Lawgiver and he directed and ruled them as their superiour This he saith to shew that the people approved of and consented to the Authority and Laws of Moses 6 Let Reuben live and not die and let not his men be few x Though Reuben deserve to be cut off or greatly diminished and obscured according to Iacobs prediction Gen. 49. 4. Yet God will spare them and give them a name and portion among the Tribes of Israel and bless them with increase of their numbers 7 And this is the blessing
wroth with the whole congregation of Israel s With you for doing so and with us for suffering or not punishing it 19 Notwithstanding if the land of your possession be unclean t If you apprehend it to be so for want of the Tabernacle and Altar there as the following words imply if you now repent of your former choice in preferring the worldly commodities of that Country before the advantage of Gods presence and favour and more frequent opportunities of his Service then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the LORD wherein the LORD's tabernacle dwelleth and take possession among us u We will readily resign part of our possessions to you for the prevention of this sin and mischief wherein they shew great zeal for Gods honour and great pity and charity to their Brethren but rebel not against the LORD nor rebel against us in building you an altar beside the altar of the LORD our God u For all the tribes were united in one Body Politick and made one Commonwealth and one Church and each Tribe was subject to the Laws and Commands of the whole Society and of the Chief Ruler or Rulers thereof so its disobedience to their just commands was properly Rebellion against them 20 ‡ Chap. 7. 1 5. Did not Achan the son of Zerah x i. e. One of his Posterity Ios. 7. 17 18. commit a trespass in the accursed thing and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel and that man perished not alone y But brought destruction upon his whole Family and part of our Forces sent against Ai. in his iniquity z Or for his sin of which see Ios. 7. 24. 21 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel a Either First properly each was a Governour of a thousand for there were among them divers Rulers some of Tens some of Hundreds and some of Thousands or rather Secondly improperly and indefinitely i. e. of the People of Israel which consist of so many Thousands more than you whose Authority therefore you owe a reverence to For by comparing v. 14. these seem to be greater Persons than those that were Rulers of thousands 22 The LORD God of gods b That Iehovah whom we no less than you acknowledge and adore as the God of gods infinitely superiour to all that are called Gods The multiplying of his Titles and the repetition of these words shew their zeal and earnestness in this matter and their abhorrency of the very thoughts of it the Lord God of gods he knoweth c To him we appeal who knoweth all things and the truth of what we are now saying and Israel he shall know if it be d Not onely our present words but our future and constant course shall satisfie all Israel of our perseverance in the true Religion d If this have been done by us with such design or in such a manner in rebellion or if in transgression against the LORD save us not this day e Thou O Lord to whom we have appealed and without whom we cannot be saved or preserved save us not from any of our Enemies nor from the Sword of our Brethren It is a sudden Apostrophe to God usual in such vehement speeches 23 That we have built us an altar to turn from following the LORD or if to offer thereon burnt-offering or meat-offering or if to offer peace-offerings thereon let the LORD himself require it f i. e. Call us to an account and punish us for it as that Phrase is oft used as Deut. 18. 19. 1 Sam. 20. 16. Iob 10. 6. Psal. 10. 13. 24 And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing saying ‡ Heb. tomorrow In time to come your children might speak unto our children saying What have ye to do with the LORD g You have no relation to him nor interest in him or his Worship God of Israel 25 For the LORD hath made Jordan a border between us and you h To shut you out of the Land of Promise and consequently from the Covenant made between God and our fathers ye children of Reuben and Children of Gad ye have no part in the LORD i Nothing to do with him no right to serve him or expect favour from him See the like Phrase 2 Sam. 20. 1. Ezra 4. 8. Ioh. 13. 3. so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the LORD 26 Therefore we said Let us now prepare to build an altar not for burnt-offering nor for sacrifice 27 But that it may be * Gen. 31. 48. Chap. 24. 27. vers 34. a witness between us and you and our generations after us that we might do the service of the LORD before him k That we and ours may have and hold our Priviledge of serving and worshipping God not upon this Altar but in the place of Gods presence in your Tabernacle and upon your Altar with our burnt-offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace-offerings that your children may not say to our children in time to come Ye have no part in the LORD 28 Therefore said we That it shall be when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come that we may say again Behold the pattern l An exact representation and resemblance of the Altar of the LORD which our fathers made not for burnt-offerings nor for sacrifices but it is a witness between us and you m That we both serve one God and approve and make use of one and the same Altar 29 God forbid that we should rebel against the LORD and turn this day from following the LORD to build an altar for burnt-offerings for meat-offerings or for sacrifices besides the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle 30 And when Phinehas the priest and the princes of the congregation and heads of the thousands of Israel which were with him heard the words that the Children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spake Heb. it was 〈◊〉 in their eyes it pleased them n They were fully satisfied with this answer 31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben and to the children of Gad and to the children of Manasseh This day we perceive that the LORD is among us o By his gracious presence and preventing goodness in keeping you from so great an offence and all of us from those dismal calamities that would have followed upon it because ye have not committed this trespass against the LORD ‡ Heb. then now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the LORD p i. e. From the Wrath and dreadful Judgments of God by avoiding that Sin which would have involved both you and
LORD smote Benjamin before Israel and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men i This is the Total Sum whereof the particulars are related v. 44 45. and for the odd hundred not there mentioned they were killed in other places not their expressed all these drew the sword 36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah 37 And the liers in wait hasted and rushed upon Gibeah and the liers in wait ‖ Or made a long sound with the trumpet drew themselves along k Or extended themselves i. e. whereas before they lay close and contracted into a narrow compass now they spread themselves and Marched in Rank and File as Armies do Or marched or went Heb. drew their Feet So this Verb is oft used as Gen. 37. 28. Exod. 12. 21. Iudg. 4. 6. Iob 21. 33. and smote all the city with the edge of the sword 38 Now there was an appointed ‖ Or time sign between the men of Israel ‡ Heb. with and the liers in wait that they should make a great ‡ Hebr. elevation flame with smoke to rise up out of the city 39 And when the men of Israel retired in the battel Benjamin began ‡ Heb. to smite the wounded to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons for they said Surely they are smitten down before us as in the first battel 40 But when the flame began to rise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke the Benjamites looked behind them and behold the ‡ Heb. the whole consumption flame of the city ascended up to heaven 41 And when the men of Israel turned again the men of Benjamin were amazed l Because of their great disappointment and the present danger wherewith they were surrounded on every side for they saw that evil ‡ Heb. touched them was come upon them 42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness but the battel overtook m i. e. The Men of Battel or War The abstract for the concrete as Poverty 2 King 24. 14. Pride Psal. 36. 11. Deceit Prov. 12. 25. Dreams Ier. 25. 9. Election Rom. 11. 7. are put for Persons that are Poor Proud Deceitful Dreamers Elect. them and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them n So the sence may seem to be this That the Israelites did not only kill the Inhabitants of Gibeah and all the Benjamites that came into the Field against them 600 excepted but in the midst of them or together with them they killed also the rest of the Benjamites who when they saw their Army was wholly Destroyed made haste to flee out of their several Cities or Towns that so they might escape the Sword which was coming towards them But the words may be rendred thus And them who were of the other cities to wit of Benjamin i. e. who abode in their own Cities and did not go up to Gibeah they Destroyed in the midst of them i. e. in their several Cities or in the midst of it i. e. of every City for so it is said v. 48. where it is said That they smote the men of every City But this I submit to the Learned 43 Thus they enclosed the Benjamites round about and chased them and trode them down ‖ Or from Manuchah c. with ease o Without great difficulty Now that God gave them his presence and assistance they easily did that which before they found too hard for them Or unto Menuchah or as far as Maâ—…uchah a place so called See 1 Chron. 2. 52. Ier. 51. 59. ‡ Heb. unto over against over against Gibeah towards the sun-rising 44 And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men p To wit in the Field or Battel all these were men of valour 45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon and they gleaned q i. e. They cut off the remainders in the pursuit and spared none A Metaphor from those who gather Grapes or Corn so clearly and fully that they leave no relicks for those who come after them of them in the high-ways five thousand men and pursued hard after them unto Gidom and flew two thousand men of them 46 So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand r Besides the odd hundred expressed ver 35. but here only the great number is expressed the less being omitted as inconsiderable which way of numbring is frequent in Scripture as Iudg. 11. 26. 2 Sam. 5. 5. and in other Authors and in vulgar use as when they are called the 70 Interpreters who in truth and exactness were 72. Here are also a thousand more omitted because here he speaks onely of them who fell in that third day of Battel See on v. 15. men that drew the sword all these were men of valour 47 * Chap. 21. 13. But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon and abode in the rock s In a Cave within that Rock where they Fortified themselves and fetched in Provision as they had opportunity which they could easily do when the heat of the Battel was over and the Israelites were not solicitous to pursue them further Rimmon four months 48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin t Having destroyed those that came to Gibeah and into the field now they follow them home to their several habitations and smote them with the edge of the sword as well the men u Comprehensively taken so as to include women and children If this seem harsh and bloody either it may be ascribed to Military Fury or rather it may be justified partly from that high guilt brought upon the whole Tribe in which it is no wonder if their Infants suffered which was not unusual in such cases as Numb 31. 17. 1 Sam. 15. 3. Iâ—…s 7. 15. partly from that Command of God in a Parallel case Deut. 13. 15. and partly from that Solemn Oath by which they had Anathematised or devoted to Death all that came not up to Mizpeh Iudg. 21. 5. which none of the Benjamites did for which cause also they destroyed all the Men Women and Children of Iabesh-Gilead Judg. 21. 10. of every city as the beast and all that ‡ Heb. was found came to hand also they set on fire all the cities that ‡ Heb. were found they came to CHAP. XXI NOw the men of Israel had sworn a In the beginning of this War after the whole Tribe had espoused the quarrel of the Men of Gibeah Iudg. 20. 13 14 in Mizpeh saying There shall not any of us
Dreams it is but reasonable to allow something extraordinary For who can doubt but God may so clear up and assist a mans reason in his Dream that he may have a true and strong apprehension of some things which also may make a sutable impression upon the will or affections and consequently such acts of the Soul may be Moral acts and regardable by God and men And this might be a kind of exstatical rapture whereby his Soul might be as it were carried out of his Body as St. Paul's was 2 Cor. 12. 3. for a season in which case both his reason might clearly and distinctly apprehend Gods mind and his Gracious offer and his Will might make a free choice of Wisdom which therefore might be accepted and rewarded by God Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great ‖ Or bounty mercy according as he walked before thee in truth q Either First Sincerely and without dissimulation But that is more fully expressed in the following words in uprightness of heart Or rather Secondly in the true Worship and Service of God in the profession belief practice and defence of the truth or of the true Religion or of Gods Will or Word which is called truth Prov. 23. 23. Ioh. 17. 17. Gal. 3. 1. So truth here contains all his duties to God as righteousness doth his duties to men and uprightness the right manner of performing both sorts of duties and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee r i. e. In thy Judgment to whom alone his heart was known and to whom he oft appealed as the witness of his Integrity and with respect to whom he performed all his duties even to men and thou hast kept s Or reserved that which thou didst not reserve for Saul whose Posterity thou didst cut off from the Kingdom for him this great kindness that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day 7 And now O LORD my God thou hast made thy servant king in stead of David my father and I am but a little child s So he was in Years not as if he were now but twelve Years old as many gather from this name of Child for that name is given to Ishmael when 18 Years old Gen. 21. 14 15 and to Rehoboam when 41 Years old 2 Chron. 13. 7. where the word is the same in the Hebrew and before this time David calls him a wise man chap. 2. 9. but he was now not above 20 Years old and withal which he principally intends he was raw and unexperienced as a Child in State-Affairs and altogether unfit for so hard a task I know not how to go out or come in t i. e. To govern my People and manage Affairs as that Phrase signifies Num. 27. 17. Deut. 31. 2. Ios. 14. 11. 8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people u i. e. Is set over them to rule and guide them A Metaphor from the Overseer of divers Workmen who usually is in the midst of them that he may the better observe how each of them dischargeth his office which thou hast chosen x Thy peculiar People whom thou takest special care of and therefore wiltst expect a more punctual account of my Government of them a great people that cannot be numbred nor counted for multitude 9 * â—… Chr. 1. 1â—… Give therefore thy servant an ‡ Heb. 〈◊〉 understanding heart y Whereby I may both clearly discern and faithfully perform all the parts of my duty for both these are spoken of in Scripture as the effects of a good understanding and he that lives in the neglect of his duties or the practice of wickedness is called a Fool and one void of understanding to judge z Or govern as that word is used Iudg. 3. 10. and 4. 4. Psal. 7. 8. and 67. 4. Isa. 2. 4. and 16. 5. thy people that I may discern between good and bad a To wit in Causes and Controversies among my People that I may not through mistakes or prejudices or passions give wrong Sentences and call evil good or good evil for who is able b Of himself or without thy Gracious assistance to judg this thy so great a people 10 And the speech pleased the LORD c How such a Dreaming-prayer could please God see in the notes on v. 5 and 6. that Solomon had asked this thing 11 And God said unto him Because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked for thy self ‡ Heb. 〈◊〉 days long life neither hast asked riches for thy self nor hast asked the life of thine enemies d That God would take away their lives or put them into thy power to destroy them but hast asked for thy self understanding ‡ Heb to 〈◊〉 to discern judgment 12 Behold I have done according to thy word e I have granted and do at this present grant unto thee thy desire And accordingly at this time God did infuse into him a far higher degree and greater measure of Wisdom than he naturally had lo I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart f i. e. Wisdom to govern thy People to know and do thy several duties which was the thing that Solomon desired v. 7 9. and the effects whereof here follow v. 16 c. and withal all Divine and human Wisdom the knowledge of all things of all the Arts and Sciences as may be gathered from 1 King 4. 29 c. and that in a far greater proportion than by his years and the time he could get for his study could possibly produce so that there was none g Either no King or rather no man for he is herein preferred not onely before all Kings but before all men chap. 4. 31. no meer man since the fall equalled him to wit in universal knowledge and especially in the art of well governing his People like thee before thee neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee ‖ Quest. Did not the Apostles excel him Ans. They did not in Natural and Political knowledge but onely in the knowledge of the mysteries of Faith which were more freely and more fully imparted in those times the ignorance whereof was no disparagement to Solomon's Wisdom because they were not discoverable by any Creature without Divine revelation which God saw fit not to afford in Solomon's time I know no inconvenience in affirming that Solomon's Natural capacities were higher than any of the Apostles and Solomon had a more comprehensive knowledge of all things known in that Age than the Apostles had in all the discoveries of their Age. 13 And I have also * Mat. 6. 〈◊〉 given h Either First I have granted and decreed to give for words signifying action are oft put onely for the purpose of the action Or rather Secondly I will give as it is expressed in the Parallel place
all but those here following in whom he put most trust But this Chapter is almost all taken out of 2 Kings 11. where it is explained Azariah the son of Jeroham and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan and Azariah the son of Oben and Maasejah the son of Adajah and Elishaphat the son of Zichri into covenant with him 2 And they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah b Partly because they could do this without any suspicion upon pretence of some solemn Feast which time it is probable was chosen for this purpose and partly because he knew them to be well affected to the cause of God and the King to which they were obliged by the the two firmest ties Conscience and Interest and the chief of the fathers of Israel c i. e. Both of the two Tribes and of the ten Tribes all which are called Israel and he useth the name of Israel rather than that of Iudah because there were now great numbers of the other Tribes incorporated with Israel and these he estemed more faithful than many of Judah having given better proofe of the truth of their Religion than they and therefore he pick't out of the chief men of the other Tribes as well as of Judah and Benjamin and they came to Jerusalem 3 And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God and he said unto them Behold the kings son shall reign as the LORD hath * â—… 〈◊〉 12. 1 〈◊〉 â—…4 〈◊〉 said of the sons of David 4 This is the thing that ye shall do A third part of you entring on the sabbath of the priests 〈◊〉 6. 16. 〈◊〉 and of the Levites shall be porters of the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doors d Both that of Shur 2 Kings 11. 6. and other doors adjoyning or leading to it 5 And a third part shall be at the kings house and a third part at the gate of the foundation e At the East-gate thought to be so called because it stood lower than the rest of the doors at the foot of the steps by which they went up from the Kings house to the Temple and all the people shall be in the courts f Either 1. in the two Courts and so by the People he understands as well the generality of the Levites who had no particular stations allotted to them as their Brethren had v. 4 5. which were to be in the Priests Court as the People who were in the Court of the people Or 2. in the Court of the People which may be called Courts the plural number being put for the singular in regard of great amplitude and divers quarters and partitions into which it was or might be divided as the Temple is called Sanctuaries because of its division into divers parts Levit. 26. 31. of the house of the LORD 6 But let none come into the house of the LORD g Strictly so called as it is distinguished from the Courts into which others were permitted to come v. 5. to wit into the Holy place save the priests and they that minister of the Levites h They who are to minister in course or by my present appointment they shall go in for they are †〈◊〉 leliness 〈◊〉 â—…1 6. holy but all the people shall keep the watch of the LORD i i. e. Of the House of the Lord as the phrase may be filled up out of this place and 2 Kings 11. 6. The sence is Let them stand in their Court to prevent and oppose any person who shall endeavour violently to break into the house to seize upon the King or to disturb their present work which he expected Athaliah and her complices would do 7 And the Levites shall compass the king round about every man with his weapons in his hand and whosoever else cometh into the house he shall be put to death but be ye with the king when he cometh in and when he goeth our 8 So the Levites and all Judah did according to all things that Jehojada the priest had commanded and took every man his men that were to come in * on the sabbath with them that were to go 〈◊〉 on the sabbath for Jehojada the priest dismissed not the courses 9 Morcover Jehojada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears and bucklers and shields that had been king Davids which were in thâ—… house of God 10 And he set all the people every man having his weapon in his hand from the right †Heb 〈◊〉 side of the †Heb. â—… temple to the left side of the temple along by the altar and the temple by the king round about 11 Then they brought out the kings Son and put upon him the crown and * Deut. 17. 18. gave him the testimony and made him king and Jehojada and his sons k And Zechariah among the rest whom afterwards he ungratefully slew ch 24. 21. anointed him and said †Heb. Let the King live God save the King 12 Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king she came to the people into the house of the LORD 13 And the looked and behold the king stood at his pillar at the entring in and the princes and the trumpets by the king and all the people of the land rejoyced and sounded with trumpets also the singers with Instruments of musick and such as taught to sing praise Then Athaliah rent her clothes and said †Heb. Conspiracy Treason treason 14 Then Jehojada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host and said unto them Have her forth of the ranges and whoso solloweth her let him be slain with the sword For the priest said Slay her not in the house of the LORD 15 So they laid hands on her and when she was come to the entring of the horse-gate by the kings house they slew her there 16 And Jehojada made a covenant between him l i. e. The Lord as is sufficiently implied in the end of this 〈◊〉 and plainly expressed 2 Kings 11. 17 Or between himself that the people might see that he brought them under no bond but what he would take upon himself and between all the people and between the king that they should be the LORDS people m i. e. That every one in his place and station would maintain the Law and Worship of God and root out all false Worship which they did in the next verse 17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal and brake it down and brake his altars and his images in pieces and * Deut. 13. 9. slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars 18 Also Jehojada appointed the offices of the house of the LORD by the hand n Or as it is in the Hebrew put the offices of the house of the Lord into
his vehement desire and longing for that blessed time and state The reins are oft put for earnest desires or affections whereof they are supposed to be the seat as Iob. 38. 36. Prov. 23. 16. And men are oft in Scripture said to be consumed or eaten up or the like by ardent affections as Psalm 69. 19. 84. 2. and 119. 81 82. Iohn 2. 17. 28. But a Or Therefore because this is my case and my â—…aith and hope in God ye should say b So the Future is used Potentially as it is Obad. v. 12. and the sense is It would become you or it is your duty upon this account to say Or you will say i. e. Either 1. I hope you will say so and that you will be more moderate in your censures and expressions concerning me as being convinced and sweetned by this sincere and solemn profession of my Faith and Hope Or 2. Peradventure you will say to wit by way of excuse for your selves why persecute we him c So it is a correction of themselves seeing things are thus with him we are blame-worthy that we have persecuted him with such bitter Invectives and we will do so no more Or wherein or how for so that Particle is sometimes used as the Learned observe do we persecute him as â—…e chargeth us v. 22. He accuseth us falsly and without cause given on our parts So it is an Apology for their hard speeches against him which Iâ—… puts into their mouths as their exception to his charâ—…e which he mentioned v. 22. and upon that occasion falls into a most serious and pathetical exclamation v. 23 24. and into a most solemn declaration of his Faith in God his Redeemer v. 25 26 27. and after that digression he resumes the former matter and â—…ere propounds an Objection to which he gives a severe Answer which may seem to suit much better with this than with the former Exposition ‖ 〈…〉 seeing the root of the matter is found in me d These words contain either 1. a Motive or Reason why they should correct themselves for persecuting him and desâ—…st from it because saith Iob the root of the matter or word is in me The root notes the occasion or the foundation or the truth and substance of a thing And by this matter or word may be meant either 1. that famous profession of his Faith and Confidence in God v. 25 26 27. which saith he I have not uttered vaingloriously or hypocritically but from my very heart wherewith I believe what I have spoken with my mouth as is said upon another occasion Rom. 10 9 10. This Word or Faith is rooted in mine heart as it should be Matth. 13. 21. Col. 2. 7. I am no Hypocrite as you asperse me but an upright person having a root of true Religion in me which therefore should allay your Censures and make you willing to bear with some circumstantial defects or mistakes in my discourses or miscarriages into which my passion and pain might transport me and make you repent of your cruel usage of a truly good man But although Iob had this root in his heart yet this was doubâ—…ed of and not discernable by Iob's Friends and therefore could be no argument to them Possibly it might be better to understand by this root of the word to wit of God's word which is oft called the word by way of eminency the foundations or fundamental Truths of Divine Doctrine which Iob held as appeared by this glorious Confession howsoever he might err in the matter of Controversie with them which being a difference in lesser things they should mildly have born with it and not aggravated it and traduced him as if thereby he had renounced God and the very Principles of Religion as they did Or 2. the word or thing under debate among them So the sense may be this The root or truth of the thing deâ—…ated by us is with me i. e. is on my side Your discourses and arguments have no truth nor solidity in them as mine have You speak whatever cometh into your minds and mouths but my discourses are rooted or grounded upon sound knowledge and deep consideration But this was no convincing answer for they could easily retort the same thing upon him again and their affirmation might seem as good as his for it was only a begging of the thing in question Or rather 2. a desâ—…nce of themselves and of their former sharp and severe discourses which Iob called Persecution v. 22. And having made a short but vehement and important digression v. 23 c. he returns to the main question between them here And the sense of this Verse with submission to better judgments seems to me to be plainly this But ye will say i. e. I know will object against my Charge How or wherein or why do we persecute him Why doth he charge us with so black a Crime seeing or for as Vâ—… is oft used the root i. e. the Foundation or Cause or occasion of the word i. e. of those words or passages of ours which are so ill taken or of the matter i. e. of the thing now debated among us is in me i. e. Iob gives the occasion to it by his boisterous passions and wicked expressions against God which we neither can nor ought to endure but are to be sharply reproved And so this Verse contains their Objection or Apology which Iob puts into their mouths to which he makes a sharp and suitable reply in the following Verse 29. Be ye afraid of the sword e i. e. Of some considerable judgment to be inflicted on you which is called the sword as Deut. 32. 41. and oft elsewhere Do not please your selves with such pretences and crafty evasions as if the blame were wholly in me not in you God will not be mocked by you He sees and will punish your most unrighteous and uncharitable judgment of me and dealing with me for wrath bringeth the punishment of the sword f For that wrath or fury which is in your hearts and breaks out of your lips against me doth deserve and will certainly bring upon you 〈◊〉 punishment Heb. punishments or iniquities but iniquity is oft put for punishment of the sword i. e. a dreadful judgment from God Or without any supplement except that which is generally understood for wrath that sin of wrath or rage against a man especially against one in affliction is an iniquity Heb. iniquities the Plural number being used by way of aggravation as Psalm 73. 22. and elsewhere Or of the iniquities the Hebrew prefix Meâ—… being here understood as it is in many other places of the sword i. e. one of those iniquities which use to be or are fit to be punished by the sword i. e. by some eminent judgment as Iob 31. 19. An iniquity of the judges is an iniquity to be punished by the judges as our Translation hath it that ye may know
is in his Presence and under his Providence So far am I from imagining that God cannot see through a dark Cloud as you traduced me Chap. 22 13. that I very well know that even Hell it self that place of utter darkness is not hid from his sight k i. e. The place of destruction as it is also used Prov. 15. 11. by a Metonymy of the Adjunct l To wit such as to keep it out of his sight 7. * Chap. 9. 8. Psal. 104. 2 c. He stretcheth out the North m i. e. The Northern Pole or part of the Heavens which he particularly mentions and puts for the whole visible Heaven because Iob and his Friends lived in a Nothern Climate and were acquainted only with that part of the Heavens the Southern Pole and parts near it being wholly unknown to them The Heavens are oft and fitly said to be spread or stretched out like a Curtain or Tent to which they are resembled over the empty place n To wit the Air so called not Philosophically as if it were wholly empty but popularly because it seems to be so and is generally void of solid and visible bodies and hangeth the earth upon nothing o Upon its own Center which is but an imaginary thing and in truth nothing Or upon no Props or Pillars but his own Power and Providence Which is justly celebrated as a wonderful Work of God both in Scripture and in Heathen Authors 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds and the cloud is not rent under them p This also is a miraculous Work of God considering the nature of these Waters which are fluid and heavy and pressing downward especially being oft-times there in great abundance and withal the quality of the Clouds which are thin and loose bodies of the same nature with Fogs and Mists upon the Face of the Earth and therefore of themselves utterly unable to bear that weight and to keep up those Waters from falling suddenly and violently upon the Earth 9. He holdeth back q i. e. To wit from our view that its lustre and glory should not reach us and so dazle our sight he covereth it with a Cloud as the next words explain it Or He holdeth fast or binds together or strengthens it that it may be able to bear that burden the face of his throne r Either 1. this lower Air which is as the Face or open part of the Heavens which is often called God's Throne as salm 11. 4. Isa. 66. 1. Amos 9. 6. Or 2. the appearance or manifestation of the Heaven of Heavens where he dwelleth whose light and glory is too great for mortal eyes which therefore by Clouds and other ways he hides from us and spreadeth his cloud upon it 10. * Ps. 33 7. 104 9. He hath compassed the waters s To wit of the Sea for of the upper Waters coming out of the Clouds he spake before with bounds t Which are partly the Rocks and Shores and principally God's appointment made at the first Creation and renewed after the Deluge Gen. 9. 11. 15. that the Waters should not overwhelm the Earth See Iob 38. 8 10 11. Psalm 104. 3. Ier. 5. 22. †Heb. until the end of light with darkness until the day and night come to an end u i. e. Unto the end of the World for so long these Vicissitudes of Day and Night are to continue Gen. 8. 22. 9. 9 c. Ier. 5. 22. 31. 35 36. 11. The pillars of heaven x Either 1. those Mountains which by their height and strength may seem to reach and support the Heavens as the Poets said of Atlas for this is a Poetical Book and there are many Poetical expressions in it These tremble sometimes by force of Earthquakes or by God's glorious appearance in them as Sinai did Or 2. Holy Angels but they are not subject either to trembling or to God's rebuke Or 3. the Heavenly Bodies as the Sun and Moon and Stars which as they may seem in some sort to support so they do certainly adorn the Heavens And we know Pillars are oft made not for support but only for Ornament as the two famous Pillars of the Temple Iachin and Boaz 1 Kings 7. 21. And these oft-times seem to tremble and be astonished as in Eclipses or Tempests and terrible Works of God in the Air by which they are frequently said to be affected and changed because they seem so to us and many things are spoken in Scripture according to appearance See Isa. 13. 10. 24. 23. Ioel 2. 10 31. Mat. 24. 29. c. Either 1. when God rebuketh them for God is sometimes said in Scripture to rebuke the lifeless Creatures which is to be understood figuratively of the Tokens of God's anger in them Or 2. when God reproveth not them but men by them manifesting his displeasure against sinful men by Thunders or Earthquakes or prodigious Works tremble and are astonished at his reproof y. 12. * Isa. 51. 15. He ‖ Or stilleth Chap. 38. 11. divideth the sea z He speaks either 1. of God's dividing the Red-sea for the Israelites to pass over And consequently the Hebrew word Rahab which here follows and is translated pride or the proud is meant of Egypt which is oft called Rahab as Psalm 87. 4. 89. 10. Isa. 51. 9. But it seems most probable that that Work was not yet done and that Iob lived long before Israels coming out of Egypt Or rather 2. of the common Work of Nature and Providence in raising Tempests by which he breaketh or divideth the Waves of the Sea by making deep Furrows in it and casting up part of the Waters into the Air and splitting part of them upon the Rocks and Shores of the Sea with his power and by his understanding a i. e. By his wise Counsel and administration of things so as may obtain his own glorious ends he smiteth thorough †Heb. pride the proud b Either 1. the Whale which is called King over all the children of pride Job 41. 34. and which is sometimes by force of Tempests cast upon the shore Or rather 2. the Sea which is fitlâ—… called proud as its Waves are called Iob 38. 11. because it is lofty and fierce and swelling and unruly which God is said to smite when he subdues and restrains its rage and turns the storm into a calm 13. By his * Psal. 33. â—… spirit c Either 1. by his Divine Vertue or Power which is sometimes called his Spirit as Zach. 4. 6. Mat. 12. 28. Or 2. by his holy Spirit to which the Creation of the World is ascribed Gen. 1. 2. Iob 33. 4. Psalm 33. 6. he hath garnished the heavens d Adorned or beautified them with those glorious Lights the Sun and Moon and Stars his hand hath formed the †Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bâ—…r
Isa. 27. 1. crooked serpent e By which he understands either 1. all the kinds of Serpents or Fishes or Monsters of the Sea Or 2. the most eminent of their kinds particularly the Whale which may be here not unfitly mentioned as it is afterwards more largely described amongst the glorious Works of God in this lower World as the garnishing of the Heavens was his noblest Work in the superiour visible parts of the World Or 3. an Heavenly Constellation called the great Dragon and Serpent which being most eminent as taking up a considerable part of the Northern Hemisphere may well be put for all the rest of the Constellations or Stars wherewith the Heavens are garnished Thus he persisteth still in the same kind of God's Works and the latter Branch explains the former And this sense is the more probable because Iob was well acquainted with the Doctrine of Astronomy and knew the nature and names of the Stars and Constellations as appears also from Chapter 9. 9. and 38. 31. 14. Lo these are parts f Or the extremities but small parcels the outside and visible work How glorious then are his invisible and more inward Perfections and Operations of his ways g i. e. Of his Works but how little a portion is heard of him h i. e. Of his Power and Wisdom and Providence and Actions The greatest part of what we see or know of him is the least part of what we do not know and of what is in him or is done by him but the thunder of his power i Either 1. of his mighty and terrible Thunder which is oft mentioned as an eminent work of God as Iob 28. 25. 40. 9. Psalm 29. 3. 77. 18. Or 2. of his mighty Power which is aptly compared to Thunder in regard of its irresistible force and the terrour which it causeth to wicked men This Metaphor being used by others in like cases as among the Grecians who used to say of their vehement and powerful Orators that they did thunder and lighten and in Mark 3. 17. where powerful Preachers are called Sons of Thunder who can understand CHAP. XXVII 1. MOreover Job †Heb. 〈◊〉 to take 〈◊〉 continued a When he had waited a while to hear what his Friends would reply and perceived them to be silent his parable b His grave and weighty but withal dark and difficult discourse such as are oft called Parables as Numb 23. 7. 24. 3 15. Psal. 49. 4. 78. 2. Prov. 26. 7. and said 2. As God liveth c He confirms the truth and sincerity of his Expressions by an Oath because he found them very hard to believe all his professions who hath taken away my judgment d Or my right or my cause i. e. who though he knows my Integrity and Piety towards him yet doth not plead my cause against my Friends not will admit me to plead my cause with him before them as I have so oft and earnestly desired nor doth deal with me according to those terms of Grace and Mercy wherewith he treateth other men and Saints but useth me with great rigour and by his soveraign Power punisheth me sorely without discovering to me what singular cause I have given him to do so and the Almighty who hath †Heb. 〈◊〉 my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vexed my soul 3. All the while my breath e Which is the constant Companion and certain sign of Life both coming in with it Gen. 2. 7. and going out with it 1 Kings 17. 17. Psal. 146. 4. Or my Soul or Life is in me and ‖ That is 〈◊〉 breath 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit of God f That Spirit or Soul which God breathed into me Gen. 2. 7. and preserveth in me Or rather the breath of God i. e. which God breathed into me which eminently appears in a mans nostrils is in my nostrils 4. My lips shall not speak wickedness nor my tongue utter deceit g I will speak nothing but the truth with all plainness and impartiality neither defending my self and cause by vain and false Professions of those Virtues or Graces which I know I have not nor yet in compliance with your desire and design falsly accusing my self of those crimes wherewith you charge me whereof I know my self to be innocent 5. God forbid that I should justifie you h i. e. Your opinion and censure concerning me as one convicted to be impious or hypocritical by Gods unusual and severe dealing with me till I die * 〈◊〉 â—… â—… I will not remove i To wit declaratively as real words are frequentlâ—… understood or by renouncing or denying my Integrity of which God and my own Conscience bear me witness I will not to gratifie you say that I am an hypocrite which I know to be false my integrity from me 6. My righteousness I hold fast k Heb. I have held fast i. e. I have not only begun well but continued in well doing which is a plain Evidence that I am no hypocrite Or the past tense is put for the future as is usual I will 〈◊〉 fast declaratively as before I will maintain it that howsoever you calumniate me I am a righteous person and will not let it go my heart l i. e. My Conscience as the 〈◊〉 is oft used as 1 Sam 24. 5. 25. 31 Ezek. 14. 5. 1 Iob. 3. 20 21 shall not reproach me m Either 1. with betraying my own cause and innocency and speaking what I know to be false to wit that I am an hypocrite Or 2. for my former impiety or hypocrisie wherewith you charge me †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so long as I live n Heb. From or for or concerning my days i. e. the time of my Life whether past or to come Or the course of my Life days or times being put here as it is elsewhere for actions done in them by a Metonymy 7. Let mine enemy be as the wicked o I am so far from loving and practising wickedness whereof you accuse me that I abhor the thoughts oâ—… it and if I might and would wish to be revenged of mine Enemy I could wish him no greater mischief than to be a wicked man and he that riseth up against me p Either 1. You my Friends who instead of comforting me are risen up to torment me Or rather my worst enemies as the unrighteous 8. * 〈◊〉 16. 26. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained q There is no reason why I should envy or desire the portion of wicked men for though they oft-times prosper in the World as I have said and seem to be great gainers yet death which hasteneth to all men and to me especially will shew that they are far greater losers and die in a most wretched and desperate condition having no hope either of continuing in this life which they chiefly desire or of
If I have eaten †Heb. the strength thereof the fruits thereof without Money y Either without paying the price required by the right owner for the land or by defrauding my Workmen of the wages of their labours or have †Heb. caused the Soul of the owners thereof to expire or breath out caused the owners thereof to lose their life z Killing them that so I might have undisturbed possession of it as Ahab did Naboth 40. Let thistles grow instead of wheat and ‖ Or noisome weeds cockle instead of barley The words of Iob ‖ To wit in answer to his Friends for he speaks but little afterwards and that is to God are ended CHAP. XXXII 1. SO these three men ceased †Heb. from answering to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes a i. e. Was self-conceited and obstinately resolved to justifie himself both against God and men therefore they give him over as incorrigible 2. Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the Son of Barachel the Buzite b Of the Posterity of Buz Nabours Son Gen. 22. 21. of the kindred of Ram c Or of Aram for Ram and Aram are used promiscuously comp 2 Kings 8. 28. with 2 Chron. 22. 5. and Ruth 4. 19. with Mat. 1. 3. Others of Abraham who as he was called Abram possibly was at first called onely Ram. His Pedegree is thus particularly described partly for his honour because his speech declares him to be both a wise and a good Man and principally to evidence the truth of this History which otherwise might seem to be but a Poetical fiction against Job was his wrath kindled because he justified †Heb. his Soul himself rather than God d He justified himself not without reflection upon God as dealing too severely with him and denying him that hearing which he so passionately desired He took more care to maintain his own innocency than God's glory 3. Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled because they had found no answer e To Iob's allegations and arguments as to the main cause and yet had condemned Job f As an Hypocrite or ungodly Man 4. Now Elihu had †Heb. Expected Iob in words waited g With Patience as the word notes till Job h Add and his three Friends as appears from the following words It is a Synecdoche whereof instances have been given before had spoken because they were †Heb. Eldâ—…or daâ—…s elder than he i And therefore he expected more satisfaction from them and gave them the precedency in the discourse Wherein he shewed his prudence and modesty 5. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of thâ—…se three men then his wrath was kindled 6. And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said I am †Heb. 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 young and ye are very old wherefore I was afraid k To wit of discovering my weakness and folly and of being thought forward and presumptuous and †Heb. â—…ared durst not shew you mine opinion 7. I said * Ch. 12. 12. Days l i. e. Multitude of days by comparing the next Clause of the Verse Or men of days i. e. of many days or years old men should speak m To wit wisely and pertinently as the next words limit it and multitude of years should teach wisdom n Should instruct us that are younger in the paths of wisdom and concerning the wise counsels and ways of God about which the present controversie lay 8. But o Or surely It must be confessed there is a spirit p To wit which gives him understanding as is easily and fitly gathered out of the last words of the Verse And this is to be understood either 1. of the humane Spirit or reasonable Soul which is in every man So the sense of the place is Every man as a man whether old or young hath a reasonable Soul by which he is able in some measure to discern between Good and Evil and to judge of mens Opinions and Discourses And therefore I also may venture to deliver my Opinion Or 2. of the Spirit of God the latter Clause being explicatory of the former according to the manner So the sense is I expected a true and full discovery of the truth in this controversie from persons of your years Wisdom and Experience But upon second thoughts I consider that the knowledge of these deep and divine Mysteries is not to be had or expected from any man as such though never so aged or wise but onely from God's Spirit which alone knoweth the deep things of God And this Spirit he saith is in man not in every man for the words are not universal but indefinite and man in this Branch is no larger than them who receive divine inspiration in the next Branch And so the sense is God is pleased to give his Spirit unto Mankind unto men of all ages and qualities as he pleaseth and having given it in some measure to me I may take the boldness to utter my thoughts in man and * Ch. 35. 11. 38. 36. Prov. 2. 6. Eccles. 2. 26. Dan. 1. 17. 2. 21. Jam. 1. 5. the inspiration of the Almighty q i. e. God's Spirit or the gracious Gifts thereof breathed or iâ—…fused into man's Soul by God giveth them understanding r To wit in divine and spiritual matters which are the matter of this Debate and Book 9. Great men s i. e. Men of eminency for age or learning or dignity and power such as Iob's three Friends seem to have been are not always wise neither doth the aged understand judgment t What is just and right Or the judgment of God and the methods and reasons of his administrations 10. Therefore I said u Within my self and now I say it with my mouth Hearken to me x Thou Iob especially who art more nearly concerned to whom therefore he speaketh in the Singular Number and thy Friends with thee I also will shew mine opinion 11. Behold I waited y With silence and patience and diligent attention which therefore I now expect from you for your words I gave ear to your †Heb. understandings reasons z Or reasonings Heb. understandings or minds the depth and strength of your Discourses your most intelligent and forcible Arguments against Iob I searched and examined them to the bottom whilest ye searched out †Heb. words what to say a Whilest you put your Inventions upon the rack and studied to find out all that could be said against him and to furnish your selves with the most convincing words and reasons 12. Yea I attended to you and behold there was none of you that convinced Job b By solid and satisfactory answers to his Assertions and Allegations or that answered his words 13. Lest ye should
thou fillest with thy * 〈◊〉 41. 8. hid treasure y i. e. Not only with common mercies as Food and Raiment but with thy choicest and most precious good things such as men use to hide or keep in their treasures with extraordinary Wealth and Glory and all the Delights and Comforts of the present Life ‖ Or their Chilâ—… are full they are full of Children z When many of the faithful Servants are barren these are blessed with a numerous Posterity Or their Children are filled or satisfied as well as their Parents There is abundantly enough both for them and for their Children and to spare for their Childrens Children as it follows and leave the rest of their substance to their babes 15. As for me a I do not envy this their Felicity but my Hopes and Happiness are of another Nature I will or shall behold thy face b I do not place my Portion in earthly and temporal Treasures as they do but in beholding God's face i. e. In the enjoyment of God's presence and favoâ—…r which is indeed enjoyed in part in this Life but not fully and to Satisfaction of which David here speaks as appears from the last Clause of this Verse The sight of God and of his face being frequently spoken of both in the Old and New Testament as a priviledge denied even to the Saints in this Life and peculiar to the next Life as is manifest from Exod. 33. 20. Iudg. 13. 22. Mat. 5. 8. 1 Cor. 13. 12. 2 Cor. 3. 18. 1 Ioh. 3. 2. in righteousness c With the Comfort of a good Conscience bearing me Witness that notwithstanding all the Calumnies and Censures of mine Enemies I have been and am upright and righteous in the Course of my Life both towards thee and towards all men Which Testimony will enable me to look God in the Face with boldness when mine Enemies being Conscious to themselves of gross and manifold righteousness towards thee and me and others will be afraid to appear in thy Presence I shall be satisfied d I am now greatly distressed and dissatisfied and mine Enemies are fitted and satisfied with good things but my turn will come the time is coming wherein I shall be abundantly satisfied to wit with beholding thy Face which is to me more Comfortable and Satisfactory than all the Possessions of this World when I awake e Either 1. When I shall be delivered from my present Distresses and Calamities But these never are in Scripture nor indeed can fitly be called by the name of Sleep which is every where spoken of as a state of â—…est and quietness as Psal. 127. 2. Ioh. 11. 12 13. and consequently deliverance from them cannot be compared to awaking Or rather 2. When I shall arise from the Dead For Death is very frequently called Sleep both in Scripture as 1 Kings 1. 21. Isa. 26. 19. Ier. 51. 39 57. Dan. 12. 2. Ioh. 11. 11 13. and in other Authors and consequently Resurrection from the Dead is justly and fitly called an awaking as it is Iob 14. 12. Dan. 12. 2. Ioh. 11. 11. And since the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the just to a blessed and endless Life was not unknown to the Holy men of God in the Old Testament as it were very easie to prove nor to David in particular as appears from Psal. 16. 10 11. and from divers other Passages it cannot be imagined but David would Support and Comfort himself in his greatest Agonies with the Consideration thereof this being incomparably the most weighty and effectual Argument and ground of Comfort which he could possibly use And this also best suits with the Context for David is here opposing his Hopes and Portion to that of his Enemies and having noted not without a secret reflection and reproach upon them for it that their Portion was in this Life v. 14. it was most Consonant to the place and to the thing it self that he should seek and have his Happiness in the future Life with thy likeness f Or Image By which may be understood either 1. Christ the Son of God who was known to David and other Prophets as is Evident and that under the name of the Son of God Psal. 2 7 12. Prov. 30. 4. Hos. 11. 1. Comp. with Mat. 2. 15. who being exactly like to his Father might most fitly be called his likeness or image as he is Heb. 1. 3. Or 2. the image of God stamped upon his glorified Soul which must needs afford him infinite Delight and Satisfaction Or 3 God himself or the face of God mentioned in the former Clause and explained here by another Phrase as is very usual in these Writings And this Interpretation may receive strength from Numb 12 8. Where beholding the similitude of the Lord is evidently the same thing which is elsewhere called 〈◊〉 his face and from Heb. 10 1. Where the image doth not note the likeness or Representation but the truth and existence of the thing PSAL. XVIII The ARGUMENT This Psalm with some few and small Variations is written 2 Sam. 22. It was composed by David towards the end of his Reign and Life upon the occasion here mentioned To the chief musician a Psalm of David the 2. Sam. 22. servant of the LORD a Who esteemeth it a greater Honour to be thy Servant than to be King of 〈◊〉 and who doth intirely devote himself to thy Service and Glory who spake unto the LORD the words of * this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul b i. e. After the Death of Saul and the Conquest of all his succeeding Enemies and his own firm establishment in his Kingdom And he said 1. * Psal. 144. â—… I Will love thee e O LORD my strength d From whom alone I have received all my strength and success and settlement and in whom alone I trust as it follows v. 2. c Most affectionately and with my whole Soul as the Hebrew word signifies I can return thee no better thing for all thy Favours than my Love and Heart which I pray thee to accept By loving him he understands not only his inward affection but also all the outward Expressions and Testimonies of it praising and glorifying and serving of him 2. The LORD is my rock e To which I flee for refuge as the Israelites did to their Rocks See Iudg. 6. 2. 1 Sam. 13. 6. and fortress and my deliverer my God †Heb. my Rock Or Cliâ—… my strength * Heb. 2. 13. in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn f By which I have both defended my self and subdued mine Enemies It is a Metaphor from those Beasts whose strength lyes in their Horns The Horn is oft put for Power as Psal. 92. 10. Amos 6. 1â—… and elsewhere of my salvation and my high tower
Gospel-Covenant their Children were admitted with them shall serve him it shall be accounted to the LORD for a generation h That believing seed shall be Reputed both by God and Men The Generation Or Children or People of the Lord at the 〈◊〉 formerly were â—…ut upon the Iews Contempt of Christ and the Gospel the Gentiles shall come in their 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 their Titles and Priviledges Compare this place with Psal. 87. 5. 31. They i shall come k To wit from Iudea and Ierusalem from whence the Gospel was first to go forth to the Gentile World to the several parts whereof the Apostles went upon this Errand and shall declare his righteousness l God's Righteousness Either 1. His wonderful grace and mercy to mankind in giving them Christ and the Gospel for Righteousness is 〈◊〉 put for Mercy or Kindness as hath been noted again and again Or 2. That Righteousness which God hath appointed for the justification of Sinners called the Righteousness of 〈◊〉 Rom. 3. 21. 22 Philip. 3. 9. which the Iews were ignorant of and would not submit to Rom. 10. 3. but the 〈◊〉 joyfully embraced or 3. His truth or faithfulness which is very frequently and fiâ—…ly called Righteousness in the performance of those exceeding great and precious Promises made and recorded in the Olâ—… Testâ—…ment and especially those two concerning the sending of the Messiâ—…s and concerning the calling of the Gentiles unto a people that shall be born m Either 1. Spiritually i. e. Born again for Regeneration is oft called a Birth as Psal. 87. 4 5. Ioh. 1. 13. 1 Pâ—…t 1. 23. and a Creation Psal. 102. 18. Or rather 2 Naturally i. e. Unto succeeding Generations Whereby David gives us a Key to understand this Psalm and â—…cheth us that he speaks not here of himself or of the Occurrences of his times but of things which were to be done in after-Ages even of the spreading of the Gospel among the Gentiles in the time of the New Testament that he hath done this n i. e. They shall declare that this is the work of God and not of Man and carried on by his only power in the World against all the Wit and force of Men. Or rather because this being added as a Proof or Demonstration of that Righteousness of God now mentioned He i. e. the Lord plainly understood here and expressed in the foregoing Verse hath 〈◊〉 oâ—… wrought it to wit his Righteousness i. e. He hath executed with his Hand what he spake with his Mouth he hath demonstrated the truth of his Promises by his Actions and by the Accomplishment of them 1. Either the Converts and Worshippers v. 27. 29. Or their seed last mentioned v. 30. Or this may be indefinitely spoken as such Verbs are oft used they shall come i. e. Some or other shall come and do the Work here mentioned to wiâ—… the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel PSAL. XXIII The ARGUMENT The matter of this Psalm gives us some general Discovery of the time of it's writing which was when David was delivered out of his Distresses and quietly settled in his Kingdom A Psalm of David 1. THe LORD is * 〈◊〉 40. 11 Jer 23 4 Eze 34. 23. Joh. 10. 11. 1 Pâ—…t 2. 25 Rev. 7. 17. my shepherd a He hath shewed himself to be so by his gracious Providences towards me and for me and he hath taken upon him that Office and Relation to me by his enâ—…ing into Covenant with me Whereby he hath engaged himself to rule and feed and preserve and heal me and do all which Shepherds do or are oblig'd to do to their Flocks which David very well understood and had doubtless carefully performed his Duty to his Sheep and therefore he strengthens this Faith by his Consideration that God was his Shepherd and God was a much better Shepherd than he or any man could be so he might Confidently expect more than ordinary Benefits from his Conduct I shall noâ—… want b To wit any thing which is really necessary for me either for this Life or for the next But foolish man may think many things to be necessary for him which the all-wise God knoweth to be not only unnecessary but hurtful and therefore mercifully denies what men ignorantly desire to their hurt 2. He maketh me to lye down c To rest and repose my self at Noon as the manner was in those hot Countries See Cant. 1. 7. Isa. 13. 20. Ezek. 34. 15. in †Heb 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 green pastures d Where there is both delight and plenty of Provisions he leadeth me e Left I should wander and perish Heb. He leadeth me sweetly and 〈◊〉 accommodating himself to mine Infiâ—…mities as Shepherds do to their Sheep Gen. 33. 13. Isa. 40. 11. and 49. 10. beside f Or to the Particle al being oft put for el as Gen. 1. 30. and 16. 7. the †Heb. waâ—…er of quietness still waters g Quiet and gentle Waters either put into Watering-Troughs or Running in small and shallow Channels Which are opposed to great Rivers which both affright the Sheep with their noise and expose them to the Danger of being carried away by their swift and violent Streams whilst they are drinking aâ—… them 3. * Psal. 5. 8. 19. 8. 31. 3. He restoreth h Heb. He bringeth it back Either 1. From its Errors or Wandring Or 2. Into the Body out of which it was even departing and fainting away He reviveth or Comforteth me Comp. Ruth 4. 15. 1 Sam. 30. 12. Lament 1. 11. my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness i In streight and plain and safe Paths where the Sheep is neither hurt nor wearied nor in Danger of wandering By his Word he directs me to the right ways of Truth and Holiness and Righteousness and by his Spirit he inclines and inables me to chuse them and to continue to walk in them for his names sake k Not for any worth in me but meerly for the Demonstration and Glory of his Justice and Faithfulness and Goodness 4. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death l Through a dark and dismal Valley full of Terrors and Dangers as this Phrase signifies Iob. 24. 17. Psal. 44. 19. and 107. 10. 14. Ier. 2. 6. * Psal. 3. 6 118. 6. I will fear no evil m I will not give way to my Fears but Confidently rely upon God for thou arâ—… with me thy rod and thy staff n Two words noting the same thing and both designing God's pastoral Care over him expressed by the sign and Instrument of it they comfort me o The Consideration thereof supports me under all my Fears and Distresses 5. Thou preparest a table p i. e. Thou furnishest me with plenty and Variety of Provisions and Comforts before me in the presence of mine enemies p They
1. 5. 19. or to God as Deut. 10. 8. and 18. 7. Dan. 7. 10. Zech. 3. 4. Standing is the posture of Ministers or Servants So the Sence is Who shall serve God to wit with Gods acceptation and to his own Advantage in his holy place f In the place which he hath sanctified for his Service 4. * Isa. 33. 15. 16. †Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Hands He that hath clean hands g Whose actions and Conversations are Holy and unblamable It is here very observable that the Charecter of a right and acceptable Worshipper of God is not taken from his Nation and Relation to Abraham nor from all those costly and laborious Rites and Ceremonies of the Law in which the generality of the Israelites pleased themselves but in Moral and Spiritual Duties which most of them Grosly neglected and a pure heart h Purged from Hypocrisie and inward Filthiness and careful to approve it self to God as well as to Men ordering a Man's very Thoughts and Affections according to God's Word This is fitly added because a man may keep his Hands clean in good Measure upon meer Worldly Motives or with an evil Design or without any respect to God who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity i Either 1. Who doth not worship Idols which are oft called Vanities in Scripture Or 2. Who doth not swear vainly or falsly the Phrase here being much the same with that in the third Commandement of taking God's Name in Vain But that seems to be a quite differing Phrase and the Name of God there mentioned determins the Sence of that general Phrase to Oaths which without that Addition or something Equivalent is never to my knowledge used in Scripture in that Sence Nor do all those learned Men who so expound this place give one instance of that signification of this Phrase And for their other Argument for that Sence that this Clause is conjoyned with the next by the Conjunction Vau and therefore is to be explained by it it seems to have no weight because the same Conjunction joyns the two first Characters together and yet it is confessed that clean Hands and a pure Heart are two distinct and very differing things Or rather 3. Who doth not immoderately value and affect or ardently desire as this very Phrase of listing up the Soul doth oft signifie as Deut. 24. 15. Psal. 25. 1. Ier. 22. 27. and 44. 14. Ezek. 24. 25. Hosea 4. 8. the vain things of this present Life and World such as Honours Riches Pleasures and the like which are oft called Vain things or Vanities in Scripture as Psal. 4. 2. and 119. 37. Eccles. 1. 2. and 12. 8. And this is very fitly mentioned as a Character of a truly good Man because hereby he 〈◊〉 distinguished from all ungodly men whatsoever whose inseparable Property this is both in the Old and New Testament noted to be to love Vanity and to set their Hearts chiefly upon the Good things of this Life such as Corn and Wine Psal. 4. 2. 6 7. and to have their Portion in this Life Psal. 17. 14. and to mind Earthly things Phil. 3. 19. and to be Friends of the World Iam. 4. 4. and to Love the World and the things of the World 1. Ioh. 2. 15. Whereas good men are every where described to be such as make God their Portion Psal. 16. 5. and prize and desire his Favour and Service infinitely more than all the enjoyments of this Life yea even than Life it self Iob 23. 12. Psal. 4. 6 7. and 63. 3. and 119. 72. and such as are weaned from Earthly things Psal. 131. 1 2. and have their affections set on things above not on things of the Earth Col. 3. 2. and lay not up their Treasure in Earth but in Heaven Mat. 6. 19 20. all which is directly opposite to this lifting up the Soul to Vanity nor sworn deceitfully k Heb. unto ot with deceit i. e. Falsly or with a purpose of deceiving or injuring others thereby Under this Negative the contrary Affirmative is included that he is one who when he is called to swear doth swear in Truth in Iudgment and in Righteousness Ier. 4. 2. 5. He shall receive the blessing l i. e. The Blessings which God hath promised to his Church and People to wit Grace and Glory and all other Good things as they are summed up Psal. 84. 11. He and he only shall be truly Blessed from the LORD m Which is added significantly by way of Opposition to the Blessings which men received either from the Priests or from other men which were oftentimes given unto unworthy Persons and in that Case were without any effect or benefit whereas God's blessings are given only to good Men and are always effectual for their Good and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—… righteousness n i. e. The blessed Fruit or reward of his Righteousness as the Work is oft put for the reward of it as Levit. 19. 13. Iob 7. 2. Psal. 109. 20. Or kindness or mercy and those Benefits which flow from it which are oft called by the Name of Righteousness as Iudg. 5. 11. 1 Sam. 12. 7. Psal. 48. 11. and 112. 9. from the God of his salvation 6. This is the generation o The true Progeny which God regards Whereby he reflects upon them who boasted of and trusted to their curnal Generation or Descent from Iacob of them that seek him p To wit God mentioned in the end of v. 5. or his Face as it is more fully expressed in the next Clause i. e. That make it their Care and Study to know him and his Mind and Will and to please and serve him as this Phrase is usually understood that seek thy face q i. e. His Face by a familiar Change of the Person of which many Instances have been already Noted and his Face i. e. His Grace and Favour which is oft called God's Face as Gen. 4. 14. Exod. 33. 14 15. Psal. 16. 11. and 17. 2. and 44. 3. And so this Phrase is used 2 Chron. 7. 14. Psal. 27. 8. Hos. 5. 15. ‖ O Jacob r Selah 7. * Psal. 98. â—… Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors s So the Sence is that seek the true Church here called Iacob that desire the knowledge of it and Conversation with it in which Sence many are said to seek Solomons Face as the Phrase is in the Hebrew 1 Kings 10. 24. 2 Chron. 9. 23. and the Harlot to seek her Lovers Face Prov. 7. 15. And so this is by some expounded of the Gentiles who enquired after the true Church and finding it in Iacob were desirous to become Proselytes and to joyn themselves to the Church of Iacob or Israel But it must be remembred that the Psalmist is not here speaking of the calling of the Gentiles but only of the Character or Qualification of the
Deut. 24. 15. 2. O my God I * Psal. 22. 5. 31. 1. 34. 8. Psal. 28. 7. Rom. 10. 11. trust in thee let me not be ashamed b i. e. Disappointed of my Hope which will be reproachful to me not without Reflection upon thee of whose Power and Faithfulness I have made my boast let not mine enemies triumph over me 3. Yea let none that wait on thee be ashamed c With me and for me For if I be frustrated all that trust in thee will be discouraged and upbraided with my Example let them be ashamed d Blast their wicked Designs and Hopes which transgress e Or Prevaricate or deal Persidiously with me violating their Faith given to me * Psal. 119. 78. without a cause f Without any Provocation of mine or without any sufficient Reason 4. * Psal. 5. 8. 27. 11. 86. 11. 119. 27. 143. 8. 10. Shew me thy ways g i. e. The way of thy Precepts what I ought to do in my Circumstances and Difficulties by what Methods I may obtain thy Favour and Help Whatsoever thou dost with me as to other things grant me this Favour teach me my Duty and cause me to keep close to it notwithstanding all Temptations to the contrary O LORD teach me thy paths 5. * Psal. 26. 3. Lead me in thy truth h i. e. In the true and right way prescribed in thy Word which is oft called Truth as Psal. 119. 30. Ioh. 8. 45 46. and 16. 13. c. Or by or because of thy Truth i. e. Because thou art Faithful do thou lead or guide me as thou hast promised to do and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation i i. e. Who hast saved me formerly and hast engaged to save me and from whom alone I expect Salvation on thee do I wait all the day 6. Remember O LORD * Psal. 103. 17 106. 1. 107. 1. Jer. 33. 11. †Heb. thy bowels thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses k O consider thy own merciful Nature and thy former manifold Favours vouchsafed to me and to other miserable Sinners and do like thy self for they have been ever of old l Thou hast been gracious to such as I am from the beginning of the World to this day and to me in particular from my very Infancy as he oft acknowledgeth in this Book yea from all Eternity thou hast had a good Will to me and therefore do not now desist and desert me 7. Remember not m So as to lay them to my Charge * Job 20. 11. the sins of my youth n The sins committed in my young and tender years Eccles. 11. 9 10. which God frequently punisheth in riper Age Iob. 13 26. Ier. 3. 25 and therefore he now prays that God would not deal so with him nor my transgressions o Nor any of my succeeding or other sins which either have been Acted by me or may be imputed to me according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake p Being a sinner I have nothing to plead for my self but thy free Mercy and Goodness which I now implore O LORD 8. Good q i. e. Bountiful and gracious to sinners ready to good and delighting in it and upright r Or Right i. e. Holy and True sincere in making Promises and in all his Declarations and Offers of Mercy to sinners and faithful in fulfilling them is the LORD therefore will he teach sinners in the way s Being such an one he will not be wanting to such poor sinners as I am but will guide them by his Word and Spirit and gracious Providence into the way of Life and Peace By sinners he doth not understand all that are so not such â—…s are obstinate and Proud and scornful whom God hath declared that he will not teach nor direct but will leave them to the Errors and Lusts of their own Hearts and will blind and harden them to their Ruine as is often expressed in Scripture but only such as being truly sensible of their sins do humbly and earnestly seek God for his Grace and Mercy or such as are Meek as the next Verse explains it for these he will not fail to assist and Relieve 9. The meek t i. e. The humble and lowly such as meekly submit themselves to Gods hand and word and are willing and desirous to be directed and governed by him will he †Heb. 〈◊〉 to go guide in judgment u i. e In the Paths of judgment or in the right way wherein they should walk as the next Clause explains this or by the Rule of his word which is oft called his Iudgment or Iudgments Or with Iudgment i. e. With a wise and provident Care and a due regard to all their Circumstances See Ier. 10. 24. 1 Cor. 10. 13. and the meek will he teach his way x Either Gods way which God prescribes Or his own way in which he ought to walk 10. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth y All the dealings of God with them yea even those that are afflictive and grievous to the flesh are done in kindness and faithfulness to them as being very necessary for them and tending to their great advantage unto such as keep his covenant z i. e The Laws or Conditions required of them by his Covenant Or as it followes his Testimonies i. e. His Precepts which are the Testimonies or Witnesses of God's Will and of mans Duty and his testimonies 11. For thy names sake a i. e. For the Honour of thy Goodness and Truth which is concerned herein O LORD pardon mine iniquity for it is great b And therefore none but such a God can pardon it and nothing but thy own Name can move thee to do it and the pardoning of it will well become so great and good a God and will tend much to the Illustration of thy Glory as the greatness and desperateness of the Disease advanceth the Honour and Praise of the Physician Or this may be urged not as an Argument to move God but as the Reason that moved him to pray so earnestly and that for God's Names sake Or though as this Particle is oft rendred as Exod. 34. 9. Psal. 41. 4. and elsewhere it be great Possibly he speaks of his sin against uriah and Bathsheba Or for or though it be much or manifold For the Hebrew word signifies both great and much 12. What man is he c i. e. Whosoever he be whether Iew or Gentile whether more innocent or a greater Sinner which is my Case that feareth the LORD him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose d i. e. Which God appointeth or approveth Or which he i. e. such Person should chuse for the future Tense is oft put Potentially and so as
〈◊〉 nâ—…t slide or fall So this declares the matter of his Trust. 2. * Psal. 7. 8. 17. 3. 66. 10. 139. 23. Zech. 13. 9. Examine me O LORD and prove me e Because it is possible that I may deceive my self and be partial 〈◊〉 my Cause or at least mine Enemies will so judge of me I appeal to thee O thou Judge of Hearts and beg that thou would search and try me by such waâ—…s and means as thou seest fit and make me known to my self and to the World and convince mine Enemies of mine Integrity try my reins and my heart 3. For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes f I dare appeal to thee with this Confidence because thou knowest that I have a true and deep Sence of thy Loving kindness to me upon mine Heart by which I have been obliged and in a manner constrained to Love and Obey thee and in all things to approve my Heart and ways to thee and to abstain from all such evil Practices as mine Enemies Charge me with whereby I should have forfeited thy Loving kindness which I prize more than Life Psal. 63. 3. and exposed my self to thy just Displeasure My Experience of and Trust in thy Goodness doth fully satisfie and support me that I neither do noâ—… need to use any indirect or irregular Courses for my Relief and I have walked in thy truth g i. e. According to thy Word which is oft called Truth as Psal. 119. 142. 151. Ioh. 17. 17 19. believing its Promises and observing its Precepts and Directions and not according to the Course of the World as it follows 4. * Psal. 1. 1â—… Jer. 15. 17. I have not sate h i. e. Chosen or used to Converse with them for sitting is a posture of Ease and of Continuance I have been so far from an Approbation or Imitation of the wicked Courses where with mine Enemies reproach me that I have avoided even their Company and if accidentally I came into it yet I would not abiâ—…e in it with vain persons i i. e. With Lyars or false and deceiâ—…ul Persons as the next Clause explains it And Vanity is very frequently put for Falâ—…hood or Lying neither will I go in k Into their Comâ—… or with design to joyn in their Counsels or Courses as the saâ—…e Word is used Ios. 23. 7. And Conversation is oft expressed by going out and coming in with †Heb. closâ—…â—…ersons dissemblers l Heb. with such as hide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 covering their Crafty and wicked Designs with fair Preâ—…nces I abhor such Persons and Practises though I am accused to be such an one 5. I have hated the congregation of evil doers m Either 1. Their whole Ranck or Society I have an Antipathy against all such Persons without any Exception Or 2. To meet and joyn with them in their Assemblies and Consultations or sit with them as it follows and will not sit with the wicked 6. I will * Exod. 30. 20. Psal. 73. 13. wash mine hands in innocency n Or with Integrity Or with a pure Heart and Conscience I will not do as my Hypocritical Enemies do who Content themselves with those outward washings of their Hands Or Bodies prescribed in the Law Exod. 29. 4. c. Deut. 21. 6. Heb. 9. 10. whilst their Hearts and Lives are filthy and abominable But I will waâ—…h or I have washed my Hands and withal purged my Heart and Conscience from dead Works Compare Isa. 1. 15 16. 1 Tim. 2. 8. so will I compass thine altar o i. e. Approach to thine Altar with my Sacrifices which I could not do with any Comfort or Confidence if I were Conscious to my self of those Crimes whereof mine Enemies accuse me For the Phrase of Compassing the Altar Either 1. He alludes to some Lâ—…vitical Custom of going about the Altar as the Priests did in the Oblation of their Sacrifices and the People especially those of them who were most devout and Zealous who possibly moved from place to place but still within their own Court that they might better discern what was done on the several sides of the Altar and so be the more affected with it Or rather 2. He implies that he would offer many Sacrifices together which would employ the Priests round about the Altar and so he is said to Compass it because the Priests did it in his Name and upon his Account as Persons are very oft said in Scripture to Offer those Sacrifices which the Priests offer for them O LORD 7. That I may publish p Or Proclaim to wit thy wondrous works as it here follows with the voyce of thanksgiving q Accompanying my Sacrifices with my own solemn Thanksgivings and Songs of Praise and tell of all thy wondrous works 8. LORD I have loved the habitation of thy house r i. e. This Sanctuary and Worship which is an Evidence of my Piety to thee as I have given many Proofs of my Justice and Integrity towards men Nothing is more grievous to me then to be hindred from seeing and serving thee there and the place †Heb. of the 〈◊〉 of thy 〈◊〉 where thine honour s Or thy Glory Either 1. The Ark so called 1 Sam. 4. 22. Psal. 78. 61. Or 2. Thy glorious and gracious Presence Or the manifestation of thy Glory or of thy glorious Power and Faithfulness and Goodness dwelleth 9. Or Take not away Psal. â—…8 3. Gather not my soul t i. e. My Life as it is explained in the next Clause Do not bind me up in the same Bundle nor put me into the same accursed and miserable Condition with them Seeing I have had so great an Antipathy against them in the whole Course of my Life v. 4. 5. let me not dye their Death as Balaam on the contrary desired to dye the Death of the Righteous Numb 23. 10. And seeing I have loved thy House and Worship and indeavoured to serve thee acceptably not only with Ceremonial cleanness but with moral purity of Heart and Life v. 6 7 8. do not deal with me as thou wilst with those that are filled with ungodlyness and unrighteousness do not destroy me with them the Righteous with the wicked Gen 18. 23. but save me in the common Calamity as thou hast promised and used to do in like Cases The Hebrew word Asaph rendred gathering is oft put for taking away as Gen. 30. 23. Isa. 4. 1. Ier. 8. 13. and 16. 5. and that by Destruction or Death as 1 Sam. 15. 6. Iâ—…a 57. 1. Ier. 8. 13. Ezek. 34. 29. Hâ—…ea 4. 3. The ground of which Phrase may be either because by death mens Souls or Spirits are gathered and returned to God Eccles. 12. 7. who had dispersed them all the World over or because the several sorts of Men good and bad which live here together Promiscuously are there severed and all of one sort
and Cursed Death See Luk. 12. 50. Ioh. 10. 18. Heb. 10. 9 10. O my God yea thy law is †Heb. in the midst of my Bowels within * Psal. 37. 31. Jeâ—… 31. 33. my heart e i. e. I do not onely hear and understand it but I receive it with heartiest Love and Affection delighting both to meditate of it and to yield Obedience to it 9. * Psal. 35. 18. I have preached righteousness f To wit thy Righteousness as it is expressed in the next Verse i. e. Thy faithfulness as it is there explained Or Righteousness properly so called for both were fully declared and demonstrated in Christ the former in sending him into the World according to his Promise Act. 13. 23. and the latâ—…er in inflicting Death upon him for Mans sin Rom. 3. 25 26. in the great congregation g â—…n the most publick and solemn Assemblies not onely to the Iews but also to all other Nations to whom Christ preached by his Apostles as is observed Eph. 2. 17. â—…o I have not refrained my lips h To wit from Preaching it out of sloth or Fear or Self-Love but have Preached it publickly and even to the Face of mine Enemies though I knew my Preaching would cost me my Life O LORD thou knowest i I call thee to Witness the Truth of what I say 10. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart k I had it there v. 8. but I did not smother or shuâ—… it up there but spread it abroad for thy Glory and the good of the World I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation l Which thou hast wrought both for me and by me I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation 11. With-hold not thou thy tender mercies from me O LORD m This Prayer is uttered by David Either 1. In the Person of Christ to whom it may agree Or 2. In his own Person Having been Transported and carried forth by the Spirit of God to the Contemplation and Commemoration of the great Mystery of the Messias of whom he was an illustrious Type now he seems to be led back by the same Spirit to the Consideration of himself and his own particular Case let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me 12. For innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities n Either The punishment of mine iniquities as Gen. 4. 13. 1. Sam. 28. 10. Psal. 31. 10. Or 2. The iniquities themselves This Phrase cannot be understood of Christ. For although our sins are said to be laid upon Christ Isa. 5â—… and upon that Account he is said to be made sin for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. yet the Scripture every where represents him as one that never knew nor did any sin aâ—… in that place and 1 〈◊〉 2. 22. and elsewhere and even when his Punishment is described yet it is expresly noted that he did not suffer for himself or for his own sins but onely for us and for our sins as Isa. 53. 4 5. Dan. 9. 26. 1 Pet. 2. 24. And therefore it is not probable that the Holy-Ghost would use such an Expression concerning the unless Christ of God as is never used in Scripture but either of a Man 's own sins or of the Punishment deserved by his own sins have taken hold upon me o Mens sins are figuratively said to follow them 1 Tim. 5. 24. and to find them out Numb 32. 23. and here to take hold of them as a Serjeant takes hold of a Man whom he Arrests so that I am not able * Psal. 38. 4. 10. to look up p Unto God or men with any Comfort and Confidence I am ashamed and confounded by Reason of my numberless sins Or so that I was not able to see Either because he was as it were drowned or overwhelmed with his sins Or because his Eyes did fail or were Consumed through Grieâ—… as he Complains Psal. 6. 7. and 38. 11. Or he means that he could not foresee them the Simple Verb being put for the Compound as it is frequently among the Hebrews They came upon him unawares and therefore were the more grievous to him they q To wit mine iniquities here mentioned Properly so called For God's people are more apt to aggravate their sins than the Punishments of them See Ezra 9. 13 14. are more than the hair of mine head therefore my heart †Heb. forsaketh faileth me 13. * Psal. 71. 1. c. Be pleased O LORD to deliver me r From my sins and the Punishments due to them O LORD make haste to help me 14. * Psal. 35. 4. 26. 70. 3. 71. 13. Let them be ashamed and confounded s For the disappointment of their Hopes and Designs together that seek after my soul k to destroy it let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil t i. e. My Life as Exod. 4. 19. 1 Sam. 20. 1. 15. Let them be desolate u Or amazed or dismayed or overthrown Of such Imprecations I have spoken before for a reward of their shame x i. e. Their sinful and shameful Actions as Shame is put for a shameful Idol Hose 9. 10. and as Fear is oft put for the Evil feared that say unto me Aha aha 16. Let all those that seek thee rejoyce and be glad in thee let such as love thy salvation y Either 〈◊〉 Such as desire and rejoyce in the Salvation and Deliverance which thou givest to me and to others of thy People which was a great Eye-sore and Grieâ—… to the wicked Or 2. Such as expect and seek for their Salvation and Happiness not from Idols nor from their wicked Courses nor from any Creatures as other men do but from the onely and gladly accept and embrace that Salvation which 〈◊〉 hast promised together with the Conditions required to it to wit Faith and Repentance Or 3. Such as love thy Messias upon whom both David's and other Holy Proâ—… and Saints Thoughts and Affections were much fixed a is Evident from many places of Scripture as Ioh. 8. 58. Act. 2. 30 31. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. who is called the desire of all Nâ—…tions Hagg. 2. 7. and the Glory and Consolation of Israel Luk. 2 25. 32 yea and by the very Title here used God's Salvation Isa. 62. 11. Luk. 2. 30. whose appearance or coming the Godly of all Ages did Love and long for and of whom David had so lately and clearly spoken v. 6 7. c. All which considered this cannot seem a forced or very far fetched Intepretation say continually The LORD be magnified z Let them have continual Occasion to magnifie God for his Mercies vouchsafed to them 17. But I am poor and needy yet the LORD thinketh upon me thou art my help and my deliverer make no tarrying O my God PSAL. XLI The ARGUMENT
PSAL. XLIII The ARGUMENT This Psalm seems to have been Composed by the same Author and upon the same Occasion with the former 1. JUdge me a Or Iudge or give Sentence for me as this Phrase is used Psal. 26. 1. and elsewhere O God and plead my cause against an ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ungodly b Or unmerciful i. e. Cruel or inhumane for it is a Meiosis nation c So he calls the Company of his Enemies for their great Numbers and because they were the far greatest part and almost the whole Body of the Nation O deliver me 〈◊〉 from a 〈◊〉 deceit †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the deceitful and unjust d Who covereth his wicked Designs with fair and false Pretences Which sort of men are hateful to thee and to all good Men. man e Either Saul Or rather Achitophel or Absalom For he speaks of the holy Hill of Zion v. 3. which was not so till after Saul's time Or Man may be put Collectively for the Men of that time 2. For thou art the God of my strength why dost thou cast me off * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy 3. O send out f i. e. Actually impart and discover them for at present thou seemest to Conceal and with-hold them from me i. e. Thy Favour or the Light of thy Countenance and the Truth of thy Promises made to me as God's Mercy and Truth oft go together as 2 Sam. 15. 20. Psal. 61. 7. and 89. 14. c. Or this may be a Figure called Hendiaduo whereby Light and Truth is put either for the Light of Gods Truth Or rather for true Light the Illumination of Gods Spirit and the direction of his gracious Providence whereby he might be led as it follows in the right way which would bring him to God's holy Hill thy light and * 〈◊〉 57. 3 thy truth g let them lead me let them bring me unto thy holy hill h To wit of Zion the place of God's Presence and Worship and to thy tabernacles i i. e. Tabernacle Which he calls Tabernacles Either 1. Because there were now two Tabernacles one at Zion where the Ark was and another at Gibeon 1 Chron. 16. 37. 39. Although he here seems to speak but of one of them even of that which was upon God's holy Hill Or 2. Because of the several parts of it the most Holy and the Holy place and the Church These indeed were in that of Gibeon but not in that of Zion Or rather 3. By a meer Enalâ—…age of the Number the plural for the singular which is frequent as in other Words so in those which belong to this Matter as Tabernacles Psal. 46. 4. and Sanctuaries Levit. 26. 31. Psal. 73. 17. c. and 74. 7. Ier. 51. 51. Nay the most Holy place though but one simple part is by the Greeks called Holies So in other Authors we Read the Rivers of Nilus of that one River and Right hands for one Right hand and many like Phrases 4. Then will I go unto the altar of God k To offer Sacrifices of Thanksgiving for my Deliverance unto God †Heb. the gladness of my joy my exceeding joy l The principal Author and Matter of all my Joy and Comfort yea upon the harp will I praise thee O God my God 5. * Psal. 42. 5. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my Countenance and my God PSAL. XLIV The ARGUMENT There is no certainty either Concerning the Author or the particular occasion of this Psalm This is evident that it was Composed with respect unto the Calamitous Condition of the Church and People of Israel whom it supposeth to be in a state of Captivity and Persecution But whether it was made by David who foresaw and foretold by the Spirit of God their future Captivity and framed this for their use in that â—…state or by some other holy Man of God when they were actually in this Condition is not determined nor necessary to know for the understanding of it To the chief musician for the sons of Korah Maschil 1. WE have heard with our ears O God our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days a They alledge their former Experiences as Encouragements to their Faith and Motives to God to continue to be gracious to them in the times of old 2. How * Exod. 15. 17 Psal. 78. 55. 80. 8. thou didst drive out the heathen b The Canaanites with thy hand and plantest them c To wit our Fathers easily understood both from the Matter and from v. 1. where they are expressed the Pronoun being referred unto the Remoter Antecedent as it is Gen. 10. 12. and 19. 13. Psal. 18. 15. and oft elsewhere So them must be the People or 〈◊〉 But because the Comparing of this Branch of the Verse with the former Plantedst them to which this Answers and withthe following they makes it more than probable that this them belongs to the Fathers this is to be otherwise rendred Either 1. Thus send them out to wit free or Manumitted out of Egypt of which this same Verb is used Exod. 5. 1. and 12. 33. And then the foregoing People are the Egyptians not the Canaanites Which yet seems not to agree with the foregoing and following Passages both which speak of the Canaanites onely nor with the order of the Words in this Verse it being improper to mention their coming out of Egypt after their being planted in Canaan Or rather 2. Thus make them send or shout forth to wit Branches as it is more fully expressed Psal. 80. 11. Ezek. 17. 6. Where this Verb is used And this most Naturally and Properly follows upon and after their Planting mentioned in the former Clause how thou didst afflict the people and cast them out 3. * Deut. â—… 〈◊〉 Josh. â—…4 〈◊〉 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword d i. e. By their Arms or Valour neither did their own arm save them but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance e i. e. Thy Favour as the next Words explain it Thy gracious and glorious Presence which went along with us because thâ—… hadst a favour unto them 4. * Psal. 74. 12. Thou art my King f Iacob's or Israel's King in a peculiar manner The whole People speak like one Man as being united together in one Body O God command g i. e. Effectually procure by thy Commanding Word deliverances for Jacob. 5. Through thee will we push down h Heb. Smite with the Horn i. e. Subdue and destroy The Phrase is taken from Deut. 33. 17. and is borrowed from horned Beasts Comp. 1 Kings 22. 11. our enemies through thy name i
And so God's Blessing him with such solid and everlasting Blessings is noted as the Cause of this singular Beauty and Grace here expressed God hath blessed thee for ever 3. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh o Either 1. As an Ensign of Royal Majesty But that is usually and much better expressed in Scripture by putting a Crown upon his head Or rather 2. As an Instrument for War and Battel to smite his Enemies as it is declared v. 4 5. And the Sword is here put Synecdochically for all his Arms as it is in many other places as appears from v. 5. where we read also of his Arrows And this Sword of the Messiâ—…s is nothing else but the Word of God coming out of his Mouth which is fitly Compared to a Sword as may appear from Isa. 49. 2. Eph. 6. 17. Heb. 4. 12. Revel 1. 16. which is elsewhere called the Rod of his Mouth Isa. 11. 4 and the Rod of his Power Psal. 110. 2. O most mighty with thy glory and thy majesty p Or which is thy Glory and thy Majesty Or magnificence or Beauty For these Words are joyned with the Snord by way of apposition Which Sword or Word is the great Instrument of maintaining and propagating thy Honour and Glory and Kingdom 4. And in thy majesty q Being thus gloriously or magnificently girt and Armed †Heb. Prosper thou Ride thou ride prosperously r March on speedily which is signified by Riding and successfully against tâ—…ine Enemies i. e. Thou shalt do so as it is in the last Clause shall teach thee So Imperatives are ofâ—… put for Futures and Predictions are expressed in the form of Commands or Exhortations because of truth and meekness and righteousness s Or because of thy Truth c. i. e. Because thou art worthy of this Dominion and Success for thou neither didst obtain nor wilt manage thy Kingdom by Deceit or Violence and unrighteousness as the Princes of the Earth â—…requently do but with Truth and Faithfulness with Meekness and Gentleness towards thy People and to all that shall submit to thee with impartial Justice and Equity whereby thy Throne will be established Prov. 16. 12. and 20. 28. Or as it is in the Hebrew Word for Word upon the â—…ord of Truth c. which may seem best to suit with the foregoing Words which according to the Hebrew are Prosper thou Ride thou and then immediately follows upon the Word of Truth c. To wit the Gospel which is oft called Truth as Ioâ—… 8. 32. Col. 1. 5 c. and the word of Truth Eph 1. 13. and may no less truly be called the Word of Meekness because it is not delivered with Terror as the Law was at Sinai but meekly and sweetly by Christ and by his Ministers Mat. 21. 5. 2 Tim 2. 25. and the Word of Righteousness because it brings in everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9. 24. and strongly obligeth and excitâ—… all Men to the Practise of Righteousness and Holiness And so the Gospel is Compared to an Horse or Chariot upon which Christ is said to ride when the Gospel is Preached and carried about from place to place Revel 19. 11. And this may be here added to shew the great difference between the Kingdoms of the World that are managed with outward Pomp and Glory and the Kingdom of Christ which is a spiritual Kingdom and like a Spouse v. 13. all Glorious within as Conssisting in spiritual Vertues and Graces Truth Meekness and Righteousness and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things t i. e. Thou â—…alt do great and glorious Exploits which shall be Grievous and Terrible to thine Enemies as the next Verse explains it and this not by great Forces and the Assistance of others but by thine own single Power Compare Isa. 63. 3. Which doth by no means agree to Solomon who was a man of Peace and not ingaged in any martial Actions against his Enemies and if he had done any thing Considerable in that kind he could not do it by his own Right hand but by the Help of his Souldiers But this doth excellently agree to the Messias and to him onely Obâ—… The things which were done by the Messias at his first Coming were rather Comfortable than Terrible Ans. They were indeed Comfortable to all good Men but withal they were Terrible to the ungodly and particularly to the Body of the Jewish Nation to whom Christ was a Stone of stumbling and Rock of offence and an Occasion of their utter Destruction And upon that and other Accounts not onely Christ's second but even his first Coming is represented as dreadful as Ioâ—…l 2. 30. Mal. 3. 2. and elsewhere For the Phrase thy Right hand shall â—…each thee it is not to be taken Properly for so he taught his Hand and not his Hand him but the meaning is that his Hand should show him i. e. Discover and work before him for Verbal words are oft understood Really as Calling is put for Being as Isa. 1. 26. and 9. 6. so teaching or shewing is put for doing as Psal. 16. last and 60. 3. 5. Thine arrows u The same thing for Substance with the Sword v. 3. both noting the Instruments by which he Conquers his Enemies which is no other than his Word which is sharp and powerful and pierceth the Hearts of Men Heb. 4. 12. which also first wounds Sinners and then heals them and which is for the Fall as well as for the Rising of many Luk. 2. 34 and for Iudgment as well as for Mercy Ioh. 9. 39. to some a Savour of Death and to others a Savour of Life 2 Cor. 2. 16. and therefore is fitly Compared to Arrows which Title is sometimes given to words as Psal 64. 4. and frequently to God's Plagues or Judgments Deut. 32. 23. Psal. 18. 14. and 64. 7. such as the Word becomes to ungodly Men by their own Fault And these Metaphorical Weapons are oft ascribed to Christ who hath a Bow Revel 6. 2. and Weapons of Warfare 2 Cor. 10. 4. and whose Mouth God is said to make a Sword and an Arrow Isa 49. 2. are sharp in the heart of the kings enemies x i. e. Of thine Enemies the third Person being put for the second as is usual in Prophetical Writings which here may seem to have some Emphasis as describing the Persons against whom he shot his Arrows and the Reason why he did so because they were the Enemies of his Kingdom and would not have him to Reign over them Luk. 19. 27. whereby the people fall under thee y Either as slain by thine Arrows Or as prostrate at thy Feet after the manner of Conquered Persons Psal. 18. 38. and 20. 8. According to this and many other Translations the Words are Transplaced which in the Hebrew lye thus Thine Arrows are sharp whereby the People do fall under thee in the Heart i. e. in the midst which is oft called
be my peculiar People and thou didst avouch me to be thy God Deut. 26. 17 18. 8. I will not reprove thee * Hos. 6. 6. for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings u I do not Charge thee or at least this is not the principal matter of my Charge that thou hast neglected Sacrifices which thou shouldest have offered for although thou hast many times omitted thy Duty in that kind yet I have greater things than these to Charge thee with to have been x Or they have been I Confess thou hast being frequent in that Work and hast laid too great a stress upon it and satisfied thy Conscience with it as if thereby thou hadst made me amends for the Errors of thy Life continually before me 9. * 〈◊〉 6 6. Act. 17. 25. I will take no bullock out of thy house nor he-goats out of thy folds y But be not so vain and foolish as to imagine that thou dost lay any Obligations upon me by thy Sacrifices Or that I required them because I had need of them or took any Pleasure in them for themselves or for my own satisfaction by them 10. For every beast of the forrest is mine z I could Command or dispose them at my Pleasure without thy leave or Assistance and the cattle upon a thousand hills a Which feed upon innumerable Hills or in Vallyes and Fields 11. I know b Where they are and whence I can easily fetch them when I think good all the fowls of the mountains c Not onely tame and domestick Fowls but even such as are Wild and fly up and down upon Mountains which though out of mans reach are at Gods Command and the wild beasts of the field are †Heb. with 〈◊〉 mine 12. If I were hungry d If I wanted or desired any thing as I do not being the Al-sufficient God I would not tell thee e That thou mightest supply my Wants * Exod. 19. 5. Deut. 10. 14. Job 41. 11. Psal. 241. 1 Cor. 10. 26. 28. for the world is mine and the fulness thereof f i. e. All those Creatures wherewith it is replenished 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats g If I did want any thing hast thou such Carnal and gross Conceptions of me that I need or delight in the Blood of Brute-Creatures 14. * Hos. 14. 2. Heb. 13. 15. Offer unto God thanksgiving h If thou wouldest know what Sacrifices I most prize and indespensably require in the first place it is that of Thankfulness and Praise proportionable to my great and Glorious and numberless Favours which doth not Consist barely in Verbal acknowledgments but proceeds from an Heart truly and deeply affected with Gods mercies and is accompanied with such a Course of Life as is grateful or Well-pleasing to God all which is plainly comprehended in Thanksgiving as that Duty is explained in other Scripture and pay thy vows i Either 1. Ceremonial vows the Sacrifices which thou hast vowed to God Or rather 2. Moral Vows for the things here mentioned are directly opposed unto Sacrifices and preferred before them for having disparaged and in some sort rejected their Sacrifices and Burnt-Offerings v. 8. it is not likely that he should have a better Opinion of or value for their vowed Sacrifices which were of an inferiour sort He seems therefore to understand those substantial Vows and Promises and Covenants which were the very Soul of their Sacrifices and to which their Sacrifices were but Appurtenances and Seals as was noted above on v. 5. whereby they did avouch the Lord to be their God and to walk in his ways c. as it is expressed Deut. 26. 17. and engaged themselves to Love and serve and obey the Lord according to that solemn Vow and Covenant which they entred into at Sinai Exod. 24. 3. 7 8. which they oft renewed and indeed did implicitly repeat in all their Sacrifices which were appointed for this very end to Confirm this Covenant unto the most High 15. And * Job 22. 27. call upon me k And make Conscience of that great Duty of Constant and servent Prayer to me which is an acknowledgment of thy Subjection to me and of thy Trust and dependence upon me and therefore is pleasing to me in the day of trouble l When trouble comes do not avoid it by sinful shifts nor trust to Creatures for Relief as Hypocrites generally do but give Glory to me by relying upon my Promises and expect Help from me by Hearty and unâ—…eigned Prayer I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me m This is mentioned Either 1. As a Priviledge thou shalt have occasion to Praise and Glorifie me for thy Deliverance Or 2. As a further Duty thou shalt give me the Glory of thy Deliverance by praising me for it and improving it to my Service and Glory 16. But unto the wicked n i. e. The same ungodly and Hypocritical Professors whom he calleth Saints v. 5. in Regard of their Profession and here wicked in respect of their Practise and the truth of the thing God saith o He told them what he would not reprove them for v. 8. and why v. 9. 10. c. now he tells them for what he did reprove and Condemn them even for a vain and false Profession of Religion What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth p With what Confidence darest thou make mention of or boast of Gods Grace and Favour vouchsafed unto thee in giving thee such a Covenant and Statuâ—…es pretending to embrace them and to give up thy self to the Observation of them This not onely the Teachers of whom some understand these Words but all the Israelites in general Of whom he rather seems to speak 17. * 〈…〉 Seeing thou hatest instruction q Seeing thy Practise Contradicts thy Profession and makes thee a Notorious and impudent Lyar. Though with thy Mouth 〈◊〉 shewest much Love as is said of them Ezek. 33. 31. to my Statutes and Counsels yet in Truth thou hatest them as they are Curbs to thy beloved Lusts and Instruments of thy just Condemnation and a manifest reproach to thy Conversation Or Seeing thou hatest Reproof as this Word is oft rendred And this above all other parts of Gods word is most hateful to ungodly Men Prov. 9. 8. and 12. 1. and 15. 10. 12. Aâ—…os 5. 10. And therefore this is fitly alledged as an Evidence of their Wickedness and castest my words behind thee r As men do things which they abhor or despise 18. When thou sawest s Or didst observe or Consider When he came into thy Presence and Company and thou didst understand and Consider his ways and his Success and impunity and he invited thee to a Participation of his Prophets a thief then thou
because the Sence of it is agreed the onely difference being about the manner and ground of the Phrase The learned Reader may see more upon this place in my Latin Synopsis 10. The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance * i. e. The Vengeance of God upon his implacable Enemies not simply for himself but for the Blessed Effects of it The Vindication of God's Honour and the Deliverance of himself and of all good Men. he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked ‖ i. e. There shall be so great a slaughter of his Enemies that he might if he so pleased wash his Feet in their Blood See the same or like Expressions Psal. 68. 23. Isa. 63. 3. Revel 14. 20. 11. So that a man shall say Verily there is †Heb. Fruit of the c. a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth †And these Administrations of God's Providence shall be so Evident and Convincing that not onely good Men shall be sensible thereof but any man that sees them yea even such as were apt to Dispute or doubt of Gods Providence shall upon this Eminent occasion break forth into such Exclamations as this Now I see that Religion is not a Vain and unprofitable thing and that there is a God who doth now observe and Govern and when he sees fit judgeth the Inhabitants of the Earâ—…h and will hereafter judge the whole World in righteousness and Recompence every man according to his Works PSAL. LIX THE ARGUMENT The Matter and design of this Psalm is the same in general and for Substance with the former to wit a Declaration of the Cruelty and Treachery of his Enemies and a Prayer to God to deliver him out of their hands To the chief musician ‖ Or destroy not a Golden Psalm of David Al-taschith Michtam of David * 1 Sam. 19. 11. Psal. 57. Tit. when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him 1. * Psal. 18. 48. DEliver me from mine enemies a He chiefly understands Saul but speaks in the plural Number out of Reverence to his King and that he might as far as he could in Truth derive the Envy and Hatred of these odious Practises upon those that were about him as he doth 1 Sam. 26. 19. and elsewhere O my God †Heb. set me on high defend me from them that rise up against me 2 Deliver me from all the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men 3. For lo they lye in wait for my soul the mighty are gathered against me not for my transgression nor for my sin O LORD b Without any Provocation or Cause given them by me I am a sinner before thee O Lord but I have done them no injury 4. They run c To and fro first to receive Saul's Commands and then to Execute them with all speed and Diligence and prepare themselves d Or dispose themselves here and there round about my House that they may Catch me when I go out of it without my fault awake †Heb. to meet me to help me e Heb. to meet me as I come abroad and to Conduct me away with Safety and behold 5. Thou therefore O LORD God of hosts the God of Israel f A God in Covenant with all true Israelites whom thou hast promised to Protect and Bless awake to visit all the heâ—…then g Or these Heathen or Gentiles Who though they are called and accounted Israelites by their Birth yet in Truth and in their Dispositions and manners are meer Heathens and Barbarians In which respect such Men are elsewhere called Strangers Psal. 54. 3. Men of Sodom and Gomorrah Isa. 1. 10. and as Ethiopians Amos 9. 7. As among us ungodly Christians are oft called Iews or Turks or Heathens be not merciful h For indeed thou canst not with thine Honour nor according to thy Word be merciful to any such incorrigible Offenders to any wicked transgressors i Or perfiâ—…ious Transgressors such as persecute me and other good Men out of Malice and against their now Consciences which tell them that I am innocent and with Pretences of Friendship He might well pray so Vehemently against such not onely for his own Preservation but for the just and necessary Vindication of God's Honour and for the publick good of Mankind whose common Interest it was that such vile Miscreants should be taken out of the way Selah 6. They return at evening k After they have been busie all day Either in Plotting against me or in hunting after me in the Evening when they should Compose themselves to rest they return to their old Trade of Watching for me Which they did at this time all the Night long 1 Sam. 19. 11. they make a noise like a dog l Either when he is Hungry and pursuing his prey and howls for Meat Or when he is enraged and Grins and Snarles where he cannot or dare not Bite and go round about the city m When they did not find him in his own House they sought for him in other Houses and parts of the City where they supposed him to lurk 7. Behold they belch out n Or they your forth to wit Words for what else should come out of the Mouth Even sharp and bitter Words as the next Clause explains it abundantly and Vehemently as a Fountain doth Waters as this Word signifies See Prov. 15. 28. Ier. 6. 7. with their mouth swords o i. e. Words as keen and mischievous as Swords as Psal. 55. 21. and 57. 4. are in their lips for * Psal. 10. 11. 73. 11. 94. 7. who say they doth hear p David doth not hear us Either to discover and so to prevent our Plots or to punish us for them and God either doth not hear or not Regard what we say and do against David And therefore we may speak and Act what we think fit 8. But thou O LORD * Psal. 2. 4. 37. 13. shalt laugh at them q Disappoint their high Confidences and hopeful Designs ' and then deride them and make them Ridiculous and Contemptible to others thou shalt have all the heathen in derision 9. Because of his strength r i. e. Saul's strength Because he is too strong for me Or rather O my strength as it is v. 17. And all those Antient and venerable Translators the LXX and Chalde and Vulgar Latin render it my Strength In the Hebrew it is his Strength i. e. David's For David speaks of himself in the third Person as he oft doth And such sudden Changes of Persons are usual both in these poetical Books as hath been noted before and elsewhere as Dan 9. 4. Mich. 1. 2. will I wait upon thee for God is †Heb. my high place my defence 10. The God of my mercy s i. e. The Giver of all
against the generation of thy children f By grieving and discouraging and Condemning them and by tempting them to revolt from God and Godliness But because the Hebrew Verb Bagad in this Sence is always so far as I have observed Construed with the Proposition Beth which is not here and is constantly put before that Proposition and Word which it governs and not after as here it is I rather joyn with them who render the place thus which is more agreeable to the Words and Order of the Text Behold the Generation of thy Children or Behold these are the Generation of thy Children as appears by thy fatherly Care of and indulgence and kindness to them whilst thou dost at present seem to treat them like Bastards who are more truly called thy Children dealing roughly and severely with them I shall or rather should to wit in speaking so Transgress or Prevaricate speak against the Truth and against my own Conscience which assureth me that these are the haters of God and hated and Cursed by him 16 When I thought to know this g To find out the Reason of this Mysterious Course of thy Providence †Heb. it was 〈◊〉 in mine 〈◊〉 it was too painful for me h I was gravel'd with the Difficulty 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God i Till I consulted with the Oracle or Word of God He alludes to the Practise of those times which was in dark and difficult Cases to resort to God's Sanctuary and the Oracle in it for satisfaction then understood I their end k There I learned that their Prosperity was short and would quickly have an End and that a most dismal and terrible one that their fair Morning would be followed with a black and dreadful Enemy and an everlasting Night 18 Surely * Psal. 35. 6. thou didst set them in slippery places l Their Happiness hath no firm Foundation is was very unstable like a mans standing in very slippery ground thou castest them down into destruction m The same hand which raised them will cast them down into the Pit of utter Destruction 19 How are they brought into desolation as in a moment n Their fall is wonderful both for its soreness and for its suddenness they are utterly consumed with terrors o Either with the Horrors of their own Minds Or rather with God's dreadful Judgments unexpectedly seizing upon them 20 * â—…ob 20. 8. As a dream when one awaketh p Their Happiness is like that in a Dream wherein a man seems to be highly pleased and Transported with Ravishing Delights but when he awakes he finds himself deceived and unsatisfied so O LORD when thou * Psal. 7. 6 awakest q i. e. Stir up thy self to punish them Or rather when they shall awake out of the pleasant Dream of this vain sinful Life by Death and following it For this seems to agree best with the Metaphor here before mentioned And the Hebrew words being onely these in awaking may be applied Either to God or to them as the Context directs thou shalt despise r Not so much Really for so God ever did despise it in the height of all their Glory but declaratively things being oft said to be done in Scripture when they appear or are manifested as hath been more then once noted Thou shall pour Contempt upon them make them despicable both to themselves and to all others and raise them to Shame and everlasting Contempt as is said Dan. 12. 2. their image s i. e. All their Felicity and Glory which as indeed it ever was so now it shall be Evidently discerned to be no Real or Substantial and solid thing but a meer image or shadow or vain shew which can neither abide with them nor yield satisfaction to them See Psal. 39. 6. Act. 25. 23. where what is rendred Pomp in the Greek signifies a meer Fancy or Imagination 1 Cor. 7. 31. 21 Thus t So as I have above expressed for this Particle so taken doth not belong to what he had now wisely and piously said in the next foregoing Verses but to what he had unadvisedly spoken in the former Verses as is Evident from the following Verse Or Nevertheless as this Particle is oft used Although I knew very well that the Prosperity of sinners would have a sudden and Dismal end yet I was so foolish as to be grieved at it my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reins u I was heartily and deeply wounded with disquieting Thoughts and tormenting Passions Envy and Sorrow and Anger 22 * Psal. 92. 6. So foolish was I and †Heb. I knew not ignorant I was as a beast x Heb. Beasts which may signifie a great Beast a most stupid and sottish Creature like one not onely void of Grace but of Reason too For Reason it self especially assisted by the Holy Scriptures did sufficiently discover that all things considered I had no sufficient cause to Envy the Prosperity of wicked Men. I minded onely present things as the Brutes do and did not consider things to come as reasonable Creatures do and ought to do †Heb. with thee before thee y In thy sight or Judgment and therefore in Truth Rom. 2. 2. howsoever I seemed to my self or others to have some degree of Reason and Discreâ—…on 23 Nevertheless z Notwithstanding all my Temptations and my gross folly in yielding to them I am continually with thee a Either 1. In a way of Duty Yet I did not depart from thee nor from thy ways but did at last Conquer them and firmly cleave unto thee by Faith Or rather 2. In a way of Mercy and Favour of which he speaks in the next Clause of this and in the following Verse Although I gave thee just cause to cast thee off yet thou didst continue thy gracious Presence with me and thy Care and Kindness to me And this Phrase with thee seems to have some Emphasis in it as being opposed to the other with thee v. 22. I was a Beast with thee such was my folly and Wickedness and yet I was in Favour with thee such was thy goodness thou didst pardon and Cure it * Or wâ—… thou hast holden me by my right hand b That my Faith might not fail and I might not be overthrown by this or any other Temptations 24 Thou shalt guide me c As thou hast kept me hitherto in all my Tryals so I am assured thou wilt'st lead me still into right Paths and keep me from wandring or straying from thee or falling into Mischief with thy counsel d Partly by thy gracious Providence executing thy purpose of Mercy to me and watching over me Partly by thy word which thou wilst open mine Eyes to understand as Psal. 119. 18. and Principally by thy Holy Spirit sanctifying and directing me in the whole Course of
from the Babylonish Captivity wherein he partly gives God thanks for that glorious deliverance and partly implores God's mercy in compleating that work and rescuing his People from the Relicks of their Bondage and from the vexation which they had by their Neighbours after they were returned to Canaan To the chief musician A Psalm ‖ Or of for the sons of Korah 1 LORD thou hast been ‖ Or well pleased favourable unto thy land a i. e. unto thy People in removing the sad effects of thy displeasure thou hast brought back the captivity b The Captives as that Word is used Psal. 14. 7. and 68. 18. and elsewhere of Jacob. 2 * Psal. 32. 1 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people thou hast covered all their sin Selah c So as not-to impute it to them or to continue the punishment which thou didst inflict upon them for it 3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath d Those Calamities which were the effects of thy just wrath conceived against us ‖ Or thou hast turned thine anger from waxsag hot thou hast turned thy self from the fierceness of thine anger 4 Turn us e Either 1. Convert us As thou hast brought back our bodies to thy Land so bring back our hearts to thy self from whom many of them to this day are alienated Or rather 2. Restore us to our former tranquillity and free us from the troubles which we yet groan under from our malicious Neighbours and Enemies For this best suits with the following Clause of the Verse which commonly explains the former O God of our salvation and cause thine anger towards us to cease f He prudently indeavours to take away the root and cause of their continued miseries to wit God's anger procured by their sins 5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations 6 Wilt thou not revive us again g Thou hast once revived us in bringing us out of Captivity give us a second reviving in bringing home the rest of our Brethren and in rebuking and restraining the Remainder of our Enemies wrath that thy people may rejoyce in thee 7 Shew us h i. e. Grant it to us as the next words explain it and as shewing signifies Psal. 4. 6. So also Psal. 60. 3. and 71. 20. Or manifest thy secret purpose of mercy to us by thy providential Dispensations thy mercy O LORD and grant us thy salvation 8 I will hear i i. e. Diligently observe And the Psalmist by declaring what he would do teacheth all the Israelites what they ought to do Or he speaks in the name of all the People of God what God the LORD will speak k Either by his Prophets or Messengers or by the works of his providence for that also hath a voice What Answer God will give to these my Prayers for * Zech. 9. 1â—… he will speak peace l For I am assured from God's gracious nature and declared will and promise that he will give an answer of peace unto his people and to his saints m Which Clause seems to be added by way of explication and restriction to shew that this glorious privilege did not belong to all that were called God's people but onely to those that were truly and really such even to his saints or holy ones but let them not turn again to folly n i. e. To sin which in Scripture is commonly called folly This is added as a necessary caution but when God shall speak peace to his People let them not grow wanton and secure nor return to their former wicked courses which if they do they will provoke God to repent of his kindness to them and to inflict further and sorer judgments upon them Others render the place And they will not or That they may not return to folly But the Particle al being prohibitive our Translation seems to be better 9 Surely his salvation o That compleat salvation and deliverance for which all the Israel of God do pray and wait even the Redemption of Israel by the Messiah of which not only Christian but even Jewish Writers understand this place and to which the following passage do most properly and perfectly belong And the Psalmist might well say of this Salvation that it was nigh because the seventy weeks determined by Daniel for this work Chap. 9. 24. were now begun this Psalm being written after Daniel's time is nigh them that fear him p The true Israel of God even all those that love and fear him By which words he both excludes all hypocritical Israelites from this salvation and tacitly assigns it to all that fear God whether Jews or Gentiles that * Zech. 2. â—… glory may dwell in our Land q And when that Salvation shall come we shall be freed from all that scorn and contempt under which we now groan and shall recover our ancient glory and the glorious presence of God the most eminent tokens whereof we have now utterly lost and the God of Glory himself even Christ who is called the brightness of his Father's glory Heb. 1. 3. comp Ioh. 1. 14. and the glory of Israel Luk. 2. 32. shall come and visibly dwell in this now despised Land 10 Mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace r This is to be understood either 1. Of these Graces or Vertues in men So the sence is when that blessed time shall come those Virtues which now seem to be banished from humane Societies shall be restored and there shall be an happy conjunction of mercy or benignity truth or veracity righteousness or faithfulness and peace or peaceableness and concord Or rather 2. Of the Blessings of God of which the whole Context speaks And the sence is That great Work of Redemption by Christ shall clearly manifest and demonstrate God's mercy in redeeming his People of Israel and in the calling and conversion of the Gentiles his truth in fulfilling that great promise of the sending of his Son which is the Foundation of all the rest his righteousness in punishing sin or unrighteousness in his Son and in conferring righteousness upon guilty and lost creatures and his peace or reconciliation to sinners and that peace of conscience which attends upon it kave kissed each other s As Friends use to do when they meet See Exod. 4. 27. and 18. 7. So this is another expression of the same thing 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth t Either 1. Truth among men which shall be so common amongst all men as if it grew out of the earth Or rather 2. The truth or faithfulness of God which is most truly and fitly said to spring out of the earth partly because it had long been hid and buried like a root in a dry ground without any hopes of a reviving from whence yet God made it to grow as is noted Isa.
53. 2. and partly because Christ who is the truth Iohn 14. 6. and a minister of the circumcision i. e. of the circumcised or of the Jews for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers was born upon the earth of a Virgin 's Womb. and righteousness shall look down from heaven u Even God's Justice which was offended with men shall then be satisfied and shall through Christ look down upon sinful men with a reconciled and smiling countenance 12 Yea the LORD shall give that which is good x i. e. All that is good in it self and for us all spiritual and temporal Blessings and * Pal. 67. 6. our land shall yield her increase 13 * Psal. 89. 14. Righteousness shall go before him y As his Harbenger or Attendant He shall work and fullfill all righteousness he shall glorifie and satisfie the righteousness of God and shall advance the practice of righteousness and holiness among men and shall set †Heb. hir steps iâ—… tâ—…e way or 〈◊〉 steps in tâ—…e way So Gr. us in the way of his steps z i. e. shall cause us to walk in those righteous ways wherein he walketh and which he hath prescribed to us But this us is not in the Hebrew and may seem too liberal a supplement And the words may be and are by almost all other Interpreters rendred otherwise He i. e. God shall set which may note his stability and constancy in so doing it to wit righteousness last mentioned in the way of his steps i. e. in the way wherein he walketh So the sence of this last Clause is the same for substance with the former as is very usual in this Book righteousness in that Clause goes before him and in this it goes along with him PSAL. LXXXVI ‖ Or a prayer being a Psalm of David A Prayer of David a When he was in some deep distress either from Saul or by Absalom or upon some other occasion 1 BOw down thine ear O LORD hear me for I am poor and needy b Forsaken and persecuted by men and utterly unable to save my self and therefore a very proper objects or thy power and goodness to work upon 2 Preserve my soul for I am ‖ Or one whom 〈◊〉 savourest holy c Sanctified in some measure by thy Grace and sincerely devoted to thy service This David speaks not in a way of vain ostentation but partly as a powerful argument to move God to hear his prayers because he was one of that sort of men to whom God had engaged himself by his Promise and Covenant and partly by way of just and necessary vindication of himself from the censures of his Enemies who represented him to the world as a gross dissembler and secretly a very wicked man concerning which he here makes a solemn appeal to God desiring audience and help from God upon no other terms than upon this supposition that he was an holy man Which by the way savoureth of no more arrogancy than when he elsewhere professeth his great love to and longing after God his sincere obedience to all God's commands and his hatred of every false way and the like O thou my God d By thy Covenant and my own choice save thy servant that trusteth in thee e Whereby thou seemest obliged in honour and by promise to help me 3 Be merciful unto me O Lord for I cry unto thee ‖ Or all the day daily 4 Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O LORD do I lift up my soul f The expression notes servent desire joyned with hope oâ—… expectation as appears by comparing Dâ—…uter 24. 15. Ier. 22. 27. 5 * Verse 1â—… Joel 2. 13. For thou LORD art good and ready to forgive g Herewith he relieveth himself under the sence of his guilt whereby he had brought his present calamities upon himself and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee k. h To wit in truth as it is explained Psal. 145. 18. or with an upright heart for if a man regard iniquity in his heart God will not hear him Psal. 66. 18. 6 Give ear O LORD unto my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications i He repeats and multiplies his requests both to ease his own troubled mind and to prevail with God who is well pleased with his peoples importunity in prayer See Luke 18. 1 c. 7 * Psal. 50. 15. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou wilt answer mee k Whereof I have assurance both from the beâ—…ignity of thy hature and from the truth and certainty of thy promises and from my own and others experiences in former times 8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee l Either for power or readiness to hear and answer prayers I am not now calling upon a deaf and impotent Idol for then I might cry my heart out and all in vain as they did 1 King 18. 26 c. but upon the Almighty and most Gracious God O Lord * Exod. 15. 1â—… Deut. 3. 24. Psal. 89. â—… neither are there any works like unto thy works 9 All Nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O LORD and shall glorifie thy name m So true is that which I have now said of thee Verse 8. that the time is coming when all the Nations of the Earth shall acknowledge it and forsaking their impotent Idols shall worship thee alone Which being a Work of thy Power and Grace clearâ—… proves that no God is like to thee and no works like thine And those words whom thou hast made are added to prevent or remove Objections concerning the insuperable difficulty and incredibility of this work The God saith he that made them can easily convince and convert them to himself 10 For thou art great and * Psal. 72. 18 and 77. 14. dost wondrous things n This is added as a reason either why the Nations should own the true God because they should see his wonderful Works or why that great Work Verse 9. was not incredible but should certainly be accomplished * Deut. 6. 4. and 32. 39. Isa. 37. 16. and 44. 6. Mark 12. 29. 1 Cor. 8. 4. Eph. 4. 6 thou art God alone o And all the Idols of the Heathen are no gods but vanities as the Gentiles themselves shall see and acknowledge 11 * Psal. 25. 4. and 119. 33. and 143 8. Teach me thy way p Wherein thou wouldst have me to walk As thou hast taught me by thy word so also by thy spirit enlighten my mind that I may clearly discern thy will and my duty in all Conditions and Circumstances O LORD I will walk in thy truth q In the way of thy Precepts which are true and right in all things as he saith Psal. 119.
who are onely the receivers of them and partly because this is more agreeable to the Phrase and Usage of Scripture which every where abscribes and appropriates them to God PSAL. LXXXVIII THE ARGUMENT This Psalm was composed upon a particular Occasion to wit Heman's deep distress and dejection of mind almost to despair But though this was the occaon of it it is of more general use for the instruction and consolation of all good men when they come into such Despondencies and therefore was by the direction of God's Spirit made publick and committed to the Sons of Korah A Song or Psalm ‖ Or â—…f for the sons of Korah to the chief musician upon Mahulach a Which seems to be the name of the tune or instrument as Psal. 53. Leannoth b This may be either the latter part of the proper name of the tune or instrument or an appellative name and so divers take it and render it to sing or to be sung to wit alternately or by turns ‖ Or a Psalâ—… of Heman the Ezrahite giving instruction Maschil of * 1 Chron. â—… 6. Heman c Probably the same person who was famous in David's time both for his skill in Musick and for general wisdom of whom see 1 Kings 4. 31. 1 Chron. 6. 33. the Ezrahite d As Ethan also is called 1 Kings 4. 31. 1 O LORD God of my salvation e Who hast so often saved me from former distresses and I hope wilst do so at this time I have cried day and night before thee 2 Let my prayer come before thee incline thine ear unto my cry 3 For my soul f Properly so called for that he was under great troubles of mind from a sence of God's wrath and departure from him is evident from Verse 14. 13 16. is †Heb. 〈◊〉 with full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave 4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit g I am given up by my Friends and Acquaintance for a lost man I am as a man that hath no strength 5 Free among the dead h Well-nigh discharged from the warfare of the present life and entred as a member into the society of the dead as Israelitish servants when they were made free were thereby made Denisons of the Commonwealth of Israel I expect no other freedom from my miseries but that which death gives as Iob observes Iob 3. 17 18. like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more i Whom thou seemest wholly to neglect and to bury in oblivion for he speaks of these matters not as they are in truth for he knew very well that forgetfulness was not incident to God and that God did remember all the dead and would call them to an account but only as to sence and appearance and the opinion of the World and the state and things of this life and they are cut off ‖ 〈◊〉 â—…y thy 〈◊〉 from thy hand k From the care and conduct of thy providence Which is to be understood as the former clause Or by thy hand But our translation seems better to agree both with the foregoing branch which it explains and improves and with the order of the words for it seems improper after he had represented the persons as dead and in their graves to add that they are cut off to wit by death 6 Thou hast laid me in †the lowest pit * in 〈◊〉 the pit 〈◊〉 places beâ—… â—…2 143. 3. darkness in the deeps l Either first in the grave the same thing being expressed in divers words or secondly in hopeless and remediless calamities 7 Thy wrath m Either first the sence of thy wrath or rather secondly the effects of it as the next clause explains this lieth hard upon me and * 〈◊〉 â—…2 7. thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves n With thy judgments breaking in furiously upon me like the waves of the Sea Selah 8 * 〈◊〉 â—…9 13. 〈◊〉 1â—…2 4. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me thou hast made me an abomination unto them o I am so sad a spectacle of thy vengeance that my friends avoid and detest me lest by conversing with me they should either be filled with terrors which men naturally abhor or be made partakers of my guilt or plagues I am shut up p Either in the pit or deep mentioned v. 6. or in my own House or Chamber being afraid or ashamed to go abroad and I cannot come forth 9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction LORD I have called daily upon thee I have stretched out my hands unto thee q Understand without effect for thou dost not hear nor answer me 10 * 〈◊〉 6. 5. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead r To wit in raising them to live again in this World as it is in the next clause I know that thou wilt not And therefore now hear and help me or it will be too late shall the dead arise and praise thee s To wit amongst mortal men in this World Selah 11 Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction t I am not without hopes that thou hast a true kindness for me and wilt faithfully perform thy gracious promises made to me and to all that love thee and call upon thee in truth But then this must be done speedily or I shall be utterly uncapable of such a mercy 12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark u In the grave which is called the land of darkness Job 10. 21 22. and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness x In the grave so called either first actively because there men forget and neglect all the concerns of this life being indeed but dead carkasses without any sence or remembrance Or rather secondly passively because there men are forgotten not only by men as is noted Iob 24. 20. Psal. 31. 12. but by God himself as he complained v. 5. 13. But unto thee have I cryed O LORD and in the morning shall my prayer * 〈◊〉 89. 14. 〈◊〉 and Psal. 〈◊〉 2. prevent thee y i. e. Early come to thee before the ordinary time of Morning Prayer or before the dawning of the Day or the rising of the Sun The sence is Though I have hitherto got no answer to my Prayers yet I will not give over praying nor hoping for an answer 14 LORD why castest thou off my Soul why hidest thou thy face from me z This proceeding seems not to agree with the benignity of thy nature nor with the manner of thy dealing with thy people 15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up a My whole life hath been filled with a succession of deadly calamities O Lord take some pity upon me and let me have a little breathing space before I
unrighteous decrees which they have made in form of Laws Or by false pretences of law Or against law against all right and the laws both of God and men 21 They gather themselves together against the soul f Against the life as the soul commonly signifies and as the next clause explains it They are not satisfied with the spoil of their estates but do also thirst after their lives of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood g They shed the blood of those innocent persons whom they have wickedly condemned Innocent blood is here put for the blood or life of an innocent person as it is also 1 Sam. 19. 5. Mat. 27. 4. 22 But the LORD is my defence and my God is the rock of my refuge 23 And * Psal 7. 16. he shall bring upon them their own iniquity h i. e. The fruit and punishment of their sins and shall cut them off in their own wickedness i Either in the midst of their sins Or by their own wicked devices the mischief whereof he will cause to fall upon their own heads yea the LORD our God k The God of Iacob of whom they said that he did not see nor regard them but now they find the contrary proved to their cost shall cut them off PSAL. XCV The Author of this Psalm was David as is affirmed Heb. 4. 7. and although the Psalm be delivered in general terms as an invitation to mankind to yield unto the true God that praise and worship and obedience which he requireth and deserveth yet it hath a special reference to the days of the Messiah of which Christians have no great reason to doubt seeing it is so understood by the Hebrew Doctors themselves as also by the Apostle Heb. 3. 7 c. and especially Heb. 4. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. where he not onely expounds it of those times but proves that it cannot be meant of the former times and state of the Church 1 O Come let us a He speaks to the Israelites whose backwardness to this work in the times of the Gospel was foreseen by the spirit of God which dictated this Psalm sing unto the LORD let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation 2 Let us †Heb. 〈◊〉 his face Isai. 3â—… 33. come before his presence b Which he will then afford us in a singular manner in his Son the Messiah in and by whom he will be visibly present with the Sons of men with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms 3 For * Psal. â—…6 4. 135. 5. the LORD is a great God and a great King above * Psal. 86. 8. all gods c Above all that are accounted and called Gods Angels and Earthly Potentates and especially the false gods of the Heathens which upon Christs coming into the World were struck dumb and could no more deliver their Oracles as Platarch and other Heathens observed with admiration nor deceive the World but were forced to give place to the true God and to the knowledge and worship of him alone which was propagated among all Nations by the Gospel 4 †Heb. in 〈◊〉 In his hand d Under his Government are the deep places e Those parts which are far out of mens sight and reach and much more those that are at mens disposal of the earth ‖ Or the 〈◊〉 of the hills 〈◊〉 his the strength of the hills f The strongest or highest Mountains are under his feet and at his disposal The fence of the Verse is All the parts of the Earth whether high or low are subject to his power and providence and therefore it is not strange if all the Nations of the Earth be brought to the acknowledgment of him and if the Gentiles receive his Gospel is his also 5 †Heb. whos 's the sea is The sea is his and he made it and his hands formed the dry lands 6 O come let us worship and bow down let us kneel g By which expressions he teacheth that even in Gospel times God is to be glorified and worshipped as well with the members of our bodies as with the faculties of our Souls before the LORD our maker 7 For he is our God h In a peculiar manner and therefore it will be most unreasonable and abominable for us to forsake him when the Gentiles submit to his law and * Psal. â—…9 1â—… 80. 1. 10â—… 3. we are the people of his pasture i Whom he feedeth and keepeth in his own proper Pasture or in the land which he hath appropriated to himself and the sheep of his hand k Which are under his special care and conduct or government which is oft expressed by the hand as Numb 4. 28. and 31. 49. Judg. 9. 29. * Heb. 3. 7. 4. 7. to day l i. e. Forthwith or presently as this word is used Deut. 4. 4 8. and 27. 9. Ios. 22. 16 18 c. Or this day in this solemn day of grace or of the Gospel which the Psalmist speaks of as present according to the manner of the Prophets And this word though belonging to the following clause as appears from Heb. 3. 7. may seem to be thus placed to shew that it had some respect to the foregoing words also For the sence of the place may be this We Jews are or shall be the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand God will still own us for his people this day i. e. in the days of the Messiah if this day or in that time we shall hear his voice Otherwise God will reject us and receive the Gentiles in our stead if ye will hear his voice m If you will hearken to his call and obey his further commands Which may be added as a necessary caution and admonition to the Israelites that they might understand and consider that Gods presence and favour was not absolutely necessarily and everlastingly fixed to them as they were very apt to believe but was suspended upon the condition of their continued obedience which if they violated they should be rejected and the Gentiles performing it should be received to his mercy And this clause may be connected either 1. with the former words as the condition of their interest in God as their God as was now said Or 2. with the following Verse If you are willing to hearken to Gods call delivered by his Son take the following counsel 8 Harden not your hearts n By wilful disobedience and obstinate unbelief rebelling against the light and resisting the Holy Ghost and his clear discoveries of the truth of the Gospel * Exod. 17. 2 7. Numb 14. 2â—… 20. 13. Deut. 6. 16. as in the †Heb. conâ—… tion provocation o As you did in that hold and wicked contest with God in the Wilderness Or As in Meribah which was the
against his Enemies Or 2. the Angels yea God himself from Heaven who gave manifest testimony to the righteousness of the Messias declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory l Both Jews and Gentiles shall see and feel the glorious effects of his coming 7 * Exod. 20. â—… Lev. 26. 1. Deut. 5. 8. Confounded be m Let them be ashamed of their former folly herein and be thereby brought to detest and forsake them and those who will obstinately persist in their impiety and Idolatry let them be brought to confusion Or They shall be confounded for this may be a prediction and not an imprecation all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of idols * Heb. 1. 6. worship him all ye gods n All you whom the Gentiles have made the objects of their worship and who are capable of giving him worship which two qualifications agree principally if not solely to the Angels of God whom the Heathens manifestly worshipped in their Images as an inferiour sort of gods of whom therefore this Text is expounded Heb. 1. 6. 8 Zion o Thy people dwelling in Zion or Ierusalem and Iudah to whom Christ came and among whom the Gospel was first preached Or thy Church and People who both in the Prophetical writings are oft called Zion heard p The fame of thy judgments as the following words declare the ruine of Idolatry and the setting up the Kingdom of the Messias in the World and was glad and the daughters of Judah q Particular Churches or rather persons members of Zion rejoyced because of thy judgments r Not that they took pleasure in the ruine of others but because that made way for the advancement of Gods glory and Christs Kingdom in the World O LORD 9 For thou LORD art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all gods s As thou always wert so in in truth so thou hast now proved and declared thy self to be such in the Eyes of the whole World by subduing them under thy feet 10 Ye that love the LORD t O all you who love and worship the true God and his anointed and rejoice in the establishment of his Kingdom * Psal. 34. 14. Amos 5. 15. Rom. 12. 9. hate evil u Shew your love to him by your abhorrency of all Idolatry which is sometimes called evil or sin by way of eminency and of all other wickedness he preserveth the souls of his saints he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked x And although you that love the Lord Christ and his Kingdom will meet with many troubles and persecutions yet be not discouraged for he will preserve you in troubles and in his time deliver you out of them all 11 * Psal. 112. 4. Light y i. e. Joy and felicity as this word is used Esth. 8. 16. Psal. 112. 4. and oft elsewhere is sown z Is prepared or laid up for them and shall in due time be reaped by them possibly in this life but undoubtedly in the next And therefore bear your afflictions for Christ with patience and chearfulness for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart 12 Rejoyce in the LORD ye righteous and give thanks ‖ Or to be â—…morial at the remembrance of his holiness a In consideration of his holy and righteous nature and government or of his faithfulness in making good that great promise of sending the Messias into the World for holiness is sometimes taken for faithfulness which is one part or branch of it PSAL. XCVIII A Psalm The matter and scope of this Psalm is the same with the former and is an evident prediction of the coming of the Messias and of the blessed effects thereof 1 O * 〈◊〉 33. 3. 〈◊〉 1. Sing unto the LORD a new song for he hath done marvellous things his right hand and his holy arm * 1 Sam. 25. 〈◊〉 Heb. hath gotten him the victory a God by his own onely power hath overcome all difficulties and Enemies and hath in spight of all set Christ upon his Throne and propagated his Kingdom in the World 2 * 〈◊〉 52. 10. The LORD hath made known his salvation b The redemption or salvation of the World by the Messias which was hitherto reserved as a secret among the Jews yea was not thoroughly known and believed by the most of the Jews themselves his righteousness c Either his faithfulness in accomplishing this great promise of sending the Messias or his goodness and mercy oft called by this Hebrew word or the righteousness of God or of Christ revealed in the Gospel hath he ‖ Or 〈◊〉 openly shewed in the sight of the heathen 3 He hath remembred his mercy and his truth c He hath now actually given that mercy which he had promised to the Israelites toward the house of Israel all the ends of the earth d All the Inhabitants of the Earth from one end to another have seen e i. e. Enjoyed it as this word is oft used as hath been proved again and again the salvation of our God 4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD all the earth f Because you all do now partake of the same priviledges with the Jews join with them in worshipping and praising of God make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise 5 Sing unto the LORD with the harp with the harp and the voice of a psalm g The worship of the New Testament is here described in phrases taken from the rites of the old as Psal. 92. 3. and oft elsewhere 6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD the king 7 Let the sea roar and the fulness thereof h All those Creatures wherewith it is replenished which by a poetical strain are invited to praise God See of this and the next Verses the notes on Psal. 96. 11 12 13. the world and they that dwell therein 8 Let the flouds clap their hands let the hills be joyful together 9 Before the LORD * 〈◊〉 96. 13. for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with equity PSAL. XCIX This Psalm is supposed to be Davids and the matter of it seems to suit to his time and the state of affairs which then was although as David was a type of Christ so this Psalm may look beyond David unto the Messias But it doth not speak so fully nor clearly of the Messias as the foregoing Psalms do 1 * 〈◊〉 93. 1. THE LORD reigneth let the people a To wit such as are Enemies to God and to his people tremble * 〈◊〉 80. 1. he sitteth between the cheruhims b Upon the Ark. See 1 Sam. 4. 4. He is present with his people to protect them and to punish their Enemies let the
adorneth thee as a Crown doth with loving kindness and tender mercies 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things e Who satisfieth all thy just desires and necessities so that * 〈◊〉 â—…0 31. thy youth is renewed like the eagles f Either 1. As the Eagle reneweth her youth by casting all her old Feathers and getting new ones whereby it seems to grow young again But this being common to all Birds would not have been appropriated to the Eagle Or rather 2. Like the youth of an Eagle As the Eagle lives long in great strength and vigour so that the old age of an Eagle is used proverbially for a lively and vigorous old age So this is a promise of a long and comfortable life 6 The LORD * 〈◊〉 146. 7. executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed g Which being a singular perfection and that wherein most of the Princes of the World were and are defective is justly celebrated in God 7 He made known his ways h Either 1. his laws which are oft called Gods ways Or â—… the manner and methods of his dealings with men and especially with his people called in the next clause his acts his merciful and gracious nature and providence which is particularly called Gods way Exod. 33. 13. compared with v. 18 19. and with Exod. 34. 6 7. and which is here described in the following Verses unto Moses his acts i His marvellous and gracious works unto the children of Israel 8 * Exod. 34. 6 â—… The LORD is merciful and gracious slow to anger k Not speedily punishing sinners but patiently waiting for their repentance and †〈◊〉 14. 18. 〈◊〉 5 10. 〈◊〉 9. 17. 〈◊〉 â—…6 15. 〈◊〉 32. 18. 〈◊〉 great of 〈◊〉 plenteous in mercy 9 * 〈◊〉 57. 16. 〈◊〉 7. 18. He will not always chide l Or contend by his judgments with Sinners but is ready to be reconciled to them to wit upon their true repentance as is manifest from innumerable Texts and from the whole scope and design of Scripture neither will he keep his anger m Which word is understood here as also Levit. 19. 18. Ier. 3. 5. Nah. 1. 2. as is evident from the thing it self and from the former clause The Hebrew is a concise language and there are many such Ellipses in it as 2 Sam. 6. 6. compared with Exod. 9. 9. and 1 Chron. 18. 6. comp with 2 Sam. 8. 6. Psal. 3. 7. Eccles. 7. 15. for ever 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins n He hath punished us less than our iniquities have deserved as was confessed Ezra 9. 13. nor rewarded us according to our iniquities 11 For †〈◊〉 accordâ—… 〈◊〉 the height 〈◊〉 heaven as the Heaven is high above the earth so great o So much above their deserts and expectations and above the mercy which one man sheweth to another is his mercy towards them that fear him p Which clause he adds here as also v. 17 18. to prevent mens mistakes and abuses of Gods mercy and to dash the vain hopes of impenitent sinners in Gods mercy 12 As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us q The guilt of our sins from our persons and consciences The sence is He hath fully pardoned them so as never to remember them more as he promiseth Ier. 31. 34. Heb. 10. 17. 13 Like as a father pitieth his children so the LORD pitieth them that fear him 14 For he knoweth our frame r Either 1. the corruption of our natures which God is pleased sometimes to make an argument to pity and spare men as Gen. 8. 21. So the sence is He considereth that great and constant propension to evil which is naturally in all mankind and that therefore if he should deal severely with us he should immediately destroy us all So this clause contains one motive of Gods pity and the next another Or rather 2. the weakness and mortality of our natures and the frailty and misery of our condition as it seems to be explained in the following clause that we are but dust So the sence is He considereth that if he should let loose his hand upon us and pour forth all his wrath we should be suddenly and irrecoverably destroyed and therefore he spareth us * Psal. 78. 39. he remembreth that we are dust 15 As for man * Psal. 90. 5. his days are as grass * Job 14. 1 2. Jam. 1. 10 11. as a flower of the field s Which is more exposed to Winds and other violences than the Flowers of the Garden which are secured by the art and care of the Gardiner so he flourisheth 16 For * Isai. 40. 7. the wind passeth over it t A blasting or stormy wind bloweth upon it and †Heb. it is not it is gone and the * Job 7. 10. 20. 9. place thereof shall know it no more u There is no more any appearance nor remembrance of it in the place where it stood and flourished 17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting x But though we quickly decay and perish yet Gods mercy to us doth not die with us but as it was from Eternity exercised in gracious purposes so it will be continued unto eternity in that future and endless life upon them that fear him y See before on v. 11. and his righteousness z Either his faithfulness or that this branch may answer to the former his mercy or benignity this word being frequently used in both these sences as hath been proved before But it is here called righteousness to intimate that Gods kindness to the posterity of his people is not onely an act of his goodness but also a discharge of his obligation under which he put himself to them as elsewhere so Exod. 20. 6. to which this place seems to relate Hence it is called mercy to Abraham and truth to Iacob Mic. 7. 20. unto childrens children 18 * Deut. 7. 9. To such as keep his covenant a To them that perform the conditions of Gods Covenant that sincerely love and obey him Such restrictions are oft added as in the general to overthrow the presumptuous hopes of ungodly men so particularly to admonish the Israelites not to rest too much upon the priviledges of their Parents or the Covenant made with them nor to expect any benefit by it but upon condition of their continuance in Gods Covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them b That have them much in their thoughts and practise them in the course of their lives 19 The LORD hath prepared c Or rather established Having celebrated Gods mercy to his people he now praiseth him for his excellent Majesty and universal Dominion his throne in the heavens d Which notes the eminency
immediately put it in execution to keep thy commandments 61 The ‖ 〈◊〉 bands of the wicked have robbed me b Or made a prey of me done me many injuries for my respect to thy Law but I have not forgotten thy law 62 At midnight I will rise c Out of my bed to praise thee in a solemn manner not being contented with those short ejaculations which he might have used lying in his bed to give * 〈◊〉 164. thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments d i. e. Laws which are so useful to direct and comfort me 63 I am * 〈◊〉 79. a companion of all them that fear thee e Not excepting the poorest and meanest whose society other Princes disdain and of them that keep thy precepts 64 The earth O LORD is full of thy mercy f Thou dost satisfie the just desires and necessities of all men and all creatures with the fruits of thy goodness teach me thy statutes g The generality of other men chiefly desire the blessings of this life but Lord give me thy spiritual blessings the saving knowledge love and practice of thy Law TETH 65 Thou hast dealt well with thy servant O LORD according unto thy word 66 Teach me ‖ 〈◊〉 goodness 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 So good judgment h Whereby I may rightly discern between truth and falshood good or evil between the mind of God and my own or others inventions that so I may be kept from those mistakes and errours in which many are involved that I may truly judge what thy Law requires or permits and what it forbids Heb. the goodness of taste an experimental sence and relish of Divine things Comp. Psal. 34. 9. and knowledge i A spiritual and experimental knowledge And judgment or taste and knowledge may by an useful figure called Hendiadys be put for judicious or solid or practical knowledge for I have believed thy commandments k I have believed the Divine authority of them and the truth and certainty of those promises and threatnings which thou hast annexed to them 67 * Ver. 71. and 75. Before I was afflicted I went astray l As men generally do in their prosperity See Deut. 32. 15. Psal. 73. 4 5 6 c. Prov. 1. 32. Ier. 22. 21. but now have I kept thy word 68 Thou art good m Gracious and bountiful in thy nature and dost good n To all men both good and bad Mat. 5. 45. and in all things yea even when thou afflictest teach me thy statutes o Which is the good that I desire above all things 69 The proud have †Heb. sewed a lye upon me forged a lie p A slander charging me with hypocrisie towards God and rebellion against my Prince against me but I will keep thy precepts q My practice shall confute their calumnies with my whole heart 70 Their heart is as fat as grease r The sence is either 1. they are stupid and insensible and past feeling not affected either with the terrours or comforts of Gods word So the like phrase is used Isa. 6. 10. comp with Iob. 12. 40. or 2. they prosper exceedingly and are even glutted with the wealth and comforts of this life but I delight in thy law s But I do not envy them their jollity and I have as much delight in Gods Law as they have in worldly things 71 It is good t Necessary and greatly beneficial for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes t He repeats what in effect he said before v. 67. partly to intimate the certainty and importance of this truth and partly because it is a great Paradox to worldly men who generally esteem afflictions to be evil yea the worst of evils 72 * Psal. 19. 10. Prov. 8. 11. The law of thy mouth is better unto me u Not onely thy promises but even thy precepts which are so unpleasant and hard to ungodly men to me they are more desirable and more needful and profitable because they do not onely give me abundant satisfaction and comfort in this life but also they conduct me with safety and delight unto that eternal and most blessed life where gold and silver bear no price than thousands of gold and silver IOD 73 * Job 10. 8. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments x I am thy creature and therefore obliged to serve and obey thee with all my might which that I may do aright I beg thy instruction or assistance Or thou hast made me once make me a second time and renew thy decayed image in me that I may know and serve thee better and that as I was made by thee so I may be guided by thy grace to serve and glorifie my Creator 74 * Ver. 79. They that fear thee will be glad y Partly for my sake of whose innocency and piety they are convinced and therefore sympathize with me and partly for their own sakes both for the encouragement they have by my example to trust in God and for the manifold benefits both spiritual and temporal which they expect from my government when they see me z To wit alive and in safety notwithstanding all the force and malice of mine enemies and advanced to the Kingdom because I have hoped in thy word a In thy promise and have not been disappointed of my hope which is a great confirmation of their faith and hope in God that they shall obtain all the good things which God hath promised them 75 I know b By the convictions of my own conscience and by experience O LORD that thy judgments c i. e. Thy corrections as the next clause explains this are †Heb. righteousness Ps. 19. 8. right and that thou in faithfulness d In pursuance of thy promises and in order to my good that by my afflictions thou mightest purge me from those sins which might provoke thy wrath against me and prepare me for a better administration and more lasting and comfortable enjoyment of my Kingdom hast afflicted me 76 Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness be †Heb. to comfort me for my comfort according to thy word e Yet in judgment remember mercy and give me that comfort and assistance in and that deliverance out of my troubles which thou hast promised me unto thy servant 77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me that I may live f That I may be preserved from that violent and untimely death which mine enemies design to bring upon me for thy law is my delight g I humbly beg and expect thy protection because I am thy faithful servant 78 Let the proud be ashamed for they dealt perversly with me h Heb. they have perverted me either by their calumnies whereby they have put
42. 8. which is the fountain of the promises and his blessing Psal. 133. 3. which is the fruit of his promises and deliverances 44. 4. which are the things promised And therefore it is not strange if the promises be sometimes called Commandments are truth 152 †Heb. I knew of old from thy precepts So Gr. ver 89. Psal. 111. 7. 8. Concerning thy testimonies I have known of old q By my own long experience ever since I arrived at any knowledge in those matters that thou hast founded them for ever r That thou hast established them upon sure and everlasting foundations RESH 153 Consider mine affliction and deliver me for I do not forget thy law 154 * Psal. 35. 1. Mich. 7. 9. Plead my cause and deliver me quicken me according to thy word 155 Salvation is far from the wicked for they seek not thy statutes s And therefore on the contrary I trust that thou wilt save me because I do seek them My wicked enemies shall certainly be destroyed by which means I shall be delivered 156 ‖ Or many Great are thy tender mercies O LORD quicken me according to thy judgments t According to the manner of thy administrations towards thy people as v. 149. 157 Many are my persecutors and mine enemies yet do I not decline from thy testimonies u Though they tempt me to do so and persecute me because I will not do it 158 I beheld the transgressors x I observed and considered their ungodly courses and was grieved because they kept not thy word 159 Consider how * Ver. 132. I love thy precepts y Which was the cause of my grief for their violation of them quicken me O LORD according to thy loving kindness 160 †Heb. The beginning of thy word is true Thy word is true from the beginning z Either from the beginning of the world or ever since thou hast revealed thy mind by thy word to the sons of men all thy words have been found to be true and certain and so they will be to the end of the world as is implied in the next clause Or as it is in the margent the beginning or as others render it the summ as this very word is used Exod. 30. 12. Numb 26. 2. 31. 26. to wit the whole of it there is not the least part of it which is not so of thy word is true and * Ver. 89. every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever SCHIN 161 Princes a Who had power to do it and who ought to have used their authority to protect me whom they knew to be innocent and injured have persecuted me without a cause but my heart standeth in awe of thy word b But I feared thine offence and displeasure more than their wrath 162 I rejoice at thy word as one that findeth great spoil 163 I hate and abhor lying c Or falshood either 1. in my speech and actions all hypo crisie and deceit which is the common practice of mine enemies and of all godless Politicians or 2. in doctrine and worship as this word seems to be used v. 29. because both there and here it is opposed to Gods Law but thy law do I love 164 * Ver. 62. Seven times d Many times that definite number being oft taken indefinitely as Levit. 26. 28. and elsewhere a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments 165 Great peace e Either outward prosperity and happiness which God in his Law and expresly promised to good men or at least inward peace satisfaction and tranquillity of mind arising from the sence of Gods love to them and watchful care over them in all the concerns of this life and of the next have they f Heb. is to them or shall be to them for the Verb being not expressed it may be understood either way Although they may meet with some disturbance yet their end shall be peace as is said Psal. 37. 37. which love thy law and †Heb. they shall have no stumbling block Prov. 22. 5. nothing shall offend them g Heb. they shall have no stumbling block to wit such at which they shall stumble and fall into mischief and utter ruine as ungodly men have before whom God doth oft lay stumbling blocks or occasions of sin and destruction as it is affirmed by God himself Ier. 6. 21. Ezek. 3. 20. Rom. 9. 33. out of Isa. 8. 14. 166 * Gen. 49. 18. LORD I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy commandments h Thus performing the condition which thou hast required I justly and confidently hope for thy mercy promised 167 My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly i I have not onely obeyed thy commands which an hypocrite may sometimes and in part do for worldly ends but I have done it with my very soul and from an hearty love to them 168 I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies for k Or because This is added either 1. as the reason or motive of his obedience which was the consideration of Gods Omniscience and his desire to approve himself and his ways to God or 2. as a proof and evidence of it Whereas this and all his former professions of his piety were charged by his enemies with deep hypocrisie and might seem to savour of pride and vain-glory here in the close of them he makes a solemn appeal to that God who knew his heart and all his ways and whether these things were not true and real which if they were not he tacitly imprecates Gods judgment upon himself all my ways * Or were are before thee TAU 169 Let my cry come near before thee l Which at present thou seemest to shut out as the Church complained Lam. 3. 8. O LORD give me understanding m Whereby I may both know and perform my duty in all particulars according to thy word 170 Let my supplication come before thee deliver me according to thy word 171 * Ver. 7. My lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes 172 My tongue shall speak n Heb. shall pour forth freely and abundantly like a fountain of thy word o In praise of it for its righteousness as it here follows its truth and purity and other excellencies for all thy commandments p Even those which to men of corrupted minds seem harsh and unjust are righteousness 173 Let thine hand help me for * Josh. 24. 22. Prop. 1. 29. I have chosen thy precepts q For my guide and companion and chief joy and treasure 174 I have longed for thy salvation r Either 1. for deliverance from my present straits and calamities that I may serve thee with more freedom and may glorifie thy Name in a more solemn and publick manner or 2. that thou wouldest
enemy hath persecuted my soul e i. e. My life for nothing less will satisfie him he hath smitten my life down to the ground f He hath beaten me down to the ground where I lie strugling for life he hath made me to dwell in darkness g He hath forced me to have mine abode in dark vaults and caves as those that have been long dead h Where I am out of sight and memory and in as â—…orlorn and hopeless a condition in the eye of man as those that have â—…ain long rotting in the grave 4 Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me i See on Psal. 61. 2. 14â—… 3. my heart within me is desolate k Deprived of all hope and comfort Or is astonished 5 I * Psal. 77. 5. 11. remember the days of old l i. e. What thou hast done for thy servants in former times Which he mentions either 1. as matter of terror to consider how unlike God now was to himself and to his former dealings or 2. as matter of support from former experience because God was still the same Either way it drive him to his prayers which here follow I meditate on all thy works I muse on the works of thy hands 6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee m I pray to thee â—…ervently See on Psal. 141. 2. * Psal. 63. 1. my soul thirsteth after thee n After thy favour and help as a thirsty land o To wit thirsâ—…eth for rain Selah 7 Hear me speedily O LORD my spirit faileth hide not thy face from me * Psal. 28. 1. ‖ Or for I am become like c. lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit p That are dead and buried of whom there is no hope 8 Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning q i. e. Early as this phrase is taken Psal. 90. 14. and elsewhere seasonably and speedily for in thee do I trust cause me to know the way wherein I should walk r So as to please thee and to secure my self for * Psal. 25. 1. I lift up my soul unto thee 9 Deliver me O LORD from mine enemies I †Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with thee flee unto thee to hide me s Without whose care these caves and rocks can give me no protection 10 * Psal. 25. 4 5. 139. 24. Teach me to do thy will t To continue in faithful obedience to thee notwithstanding all tempâ—…ations to the contrary for thou art my God thy spirit is good lead me u Or rather as it is exactly in the Hebrew and as many both ancient and modern Translators render it Let thy good Spirit lead me Leave me not to my own blind and vain mind or corrupt affections neither give me up to the evil Spirit as thou didst Saul â—…ut conduct me in all my ways by thy good i. e. gracious and holy Spirit into the land of uprightness x Or in plain or even land or ground in a straight and smooth path that I may not stumble nor fall either into sin or mischief This is opposed to the crooked and rugged ways in which sinners are said to walk See Psal. 125. 5. Prov. 2. 15. Isa. 40. 4. 11 Quicken me O LORD for thy Names sake for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble 12 And of thy mercy y Out of thy mercy to me whose life they seek cut off mine enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul for * Psal. 16. 16. I am thy servant PSAL. CXLIV A Psalm of David The matter of this Psalm is partly gratulatory for mercies received and partly petitionary for further blessings It seems to have been composed after Sauls death and in the beginning of Davids reign when he was exposed to many perils both from his own rebellious Subjects and from the Philistins and other foreign enemies yet so that he had a good prospect and assurance of a more compleat and established felicity 1 BLessed be the LORD †Heb. â—…y rock my strength * â—… Sam. 22. â—…5 which teacheth my hands †Heb. to the war c. to war and my fingers to fight a Who hast given me that skill in military conduct and that dexterity in the management of my weapons which was wholly unsuitable to and much above my education and former course of life 2 * 2 Sam. 22. 2 3 40. 48. ‖ Or my mercy My goodness b Or my mercy or the God of my mercy as God is called Psal. 59. 10 17. the Name of God being eaâ—…ily understood from the foregoing verse Or he who is exceeding good or merciful to me as good as goodness it selâ—… the abstract being put for the concrete as it is frequently in speeches of God who is called wisdom Truth Goodness c. and sometimes of men as Psal. 12. 2. Prov. 10. 29. where faithfulness and uprightness are put for faithful and upright men and my fortress my high tower and my deliverer my shield and he iâ—… whom I trust who subdueth my people under me c Who hast disposed my peoples hearts to receive and obey me as their King 3 * â—…ob 7. 17. Psal. 8. 4. Heb. 2. 6. LORD what is man d He aggravates Gods goodness to him expressed v. 2. by the consideration of his own meanness Though I am King over my people yet alâ—…s I am but a man a base sinful mortal and miserable creature if compared with thee less than nothing and vanity that thou takest knowledge of him e i. e. Hast any care and kindness for him as words of knowledge commonly imply in Scripture or the son of man that thou makest account of him f The same thing repeated in other words 4 * 〈◊〉 14. 2. 〈◊〉 39. 5. â—… 9. Man is like g In his nature and continuance in the world to vanity h Or to a vapor or a breath as Isa. 57. 13. which is gone in an instant his days are as a shadow that passeth away i Or that declineth as Psal. 102. 11. 109. 23. that groweth less and less till it be quite out of â—…ight and lost 5 * 〈◊〉 18. 9. Bow thy heavens O LORD and come down k To help me before it be too late remembring what a srail and perishing creature I am * 〈◊〉 104. 32. touch the mountains and they shall smoke l Or that they may smoke or and let them smoke as Sinai did at thy glorious appearance Exod. 19. 18. This is a figurative and Poetical description of Gods coming to take vengeance upon his enemies which is continued in the next verse 6 * 〈◊〉 18. 13 〈◊〉 Cast forth lightning and scatter them shoot out thine arrows m Thy thunderbolts which oft accompany the lightnings and thunder and destroy
Angels just occasion to praise thee O LORD and thy saints shall bless thee 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom 13 Thy kingdom is †Heb. a kingdom of all ages an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations 14 The LORD upholdeth all h Either 1. all that look up to him for help or 2. all that are upheld whose support is not from themselves nor from other men but onely from Gods powerful and good providence that fall and * Psal. 146. 8. raiseth up all those that be bowed down 15 The eyes of all i Of all living creatures ‖ Or look unto thee wait upon thee k Expect and receive their supplies wholly from thy bounty Expectation is here figuratively ascribed to brute creatures as Psal. 104. 27. Rom. 8. 22. and * Psal. 136. 25. thou givest them their meat in due season l When they need it 16 Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing m Or as divers render it and which is more agreeable to the order of the words in the Hebrew Text thou satisfiest every living thing with thy favour or good-will i. e. with the fruits of thy bounty the Pronoun thy being easily and fitly understood out of the foregoing clause 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and ‖ Or merciful or bountiful holy n Or rather merciful as this word most commonly signifies There is a mixture of mercy in the most severe and terrible works of God in this life judgment without mercy being reserved for the next life Iam. 2. 13. Revel 14. 10. in all his works 18 * Deut. 4. 7. The LORD is nigh unto all them o To answer their prayers for relief that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth p Sincerely or with an upright heart trusting to him and waiting upon him in his way 19 He will fulfil the desire q So far as it is agreeable to his own will and convenient for their good not inordinate desires which God commonly denies to his people in mercy and granteth to his enemies in anger of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them 20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him but all the wicked will he destroy r Frequently in this world but infallibly in the next 21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD and let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever PSAL. CXLVI The design of this Psalm is to perswade men to trust in God and in him alone 1 †Heb. Hallelujah PRaise ye the LORD Praise the LORD O my soul. 2 * Psal. 104. 33. While I live will I praise the LORD I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being 3 * Psal. 118. 8. 9. Put not your trust in princes a In men of greatest wealth and power in whose favour men are very prone to trust nor in the son of man in whom there is no ‖ Or salvation help b Who are utterly unable frequently to give you that help which they promise and you expect 4 * Psal. 104. 29. Eccl. 12. 7. His †Heb. spirit So Gr. breath goeth forth he returneth c In his body Eccles. 12. 7. to his earth d To that earth from which all mankind Princes not excepted had their original in that very day e As soon as ever he is dead his thoughts f All his designs and endeavours either for himself or for others perish 5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the LORD his God 6 * Gen. 1. 1. Which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is which keepeth truth for ever g Both because he liveth for ever to fulfil his promises and because he is eternally and unchangeably faithful 7 * Psal. 103. 6. Which executeth judgment for the oppressed which giveth food to the hungry * Psal. 68. 6. the LORD looseth the prisoners 8 * Mat. 9. 30. John 9. 7 32. The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind h Either 1. the eyes of their mind which he enlightens and directs in doubtful and difficult cases or 2. their bodily eyes which he did abundantly by his Son Jesus Christ. * Psal. 145. 14. Luke 13. 13. the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down the LORD loveth the righteous i Even when he doth afflict them which also he doth out of love Heb. 12. 6. 9 * Deut. 10. 18. Psal. 68. 5. The LORD preserveth the strangers he relieveth the fatherless and widow but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down k He overthroweth their goings as the phrase is Psal. 140. 4. He maketh them to lose their way he not onely frustrateth their plots and enterprises but turneth them against themselves This and all the foregoing sentences are so many arguments to encourage all good men to trust in God in all their straits and afflictions 10 * Exod. 15. 18. Psal. 10. 16. 145. 13. The LORD shall reign for ever even thy God O Zion unto all generations Praise ye the LORD PSAL. CXLVII This Psalm may seem from v. 2. 13. to have been composed by some holy Prophet after the return of Israel from the Babylonish Captivity It containeth an ample celebration of Gods praises both for common mercies and for special favours 1 PRaise ye the LORD for it * Psal 92. 1â—… is good a It is acceptable to God and greatly comfortable and beneficial to our selves to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and * Psal. 33. 1. praise is comely 2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem b It is the Lords own doing and not mans * Deut. 30. 3. he gathereth together the out-casts c Or the banished who were carried captives out of their own land and dispersed in divers strange countries of Israel 3 He healeth the broken in heart d Either with the sence of their sins or with their sorrows and grievous calamities He seems to speak peculiarly of the captive Israelites now returned and bindeth up their †Heb. griess wounds 4 * Isa. 40. 26. He telleth the number of the stars e Which no man can do Gen. 22. 17. For those thousand and twenty five which Astronomers number are onely such as are most distinctly visible to the eye and most considerable for their influences he calleth them all by their names f This signifies 1. that he exactly knows them as we do those whom we can call by name he is able to give distinct names to each of them because he
howsoever they are thought by themselves or others to be witty or wise yet in God's account and in truth are fools and he will love thee t Both for that faithfulness and charity which he perceiveth in thee and for that benefit which he receiveth from thee 9. * 〈◊〉 1. 5. Give instruction u In the Hebrew it is onely give for as receiving is put for learning Prov. 1. 3. so giving is put for teaching both in Scripture and in other Authors of which see my Latin Synopsis to a wise man and he will be yet wiser teach a just man x Called a wise Man in the former branch to intimate that good men are the onely wise men and he will increase in learning 10. * Job 28. 28. Ps. 111. 10. Chap. 1. 7. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledg of the holy y Either 1. of holy men whether such as all Saints learn or rather such as the holy men of God the Servants of this Wisdom teach from God's VVord Or rather 2. of Holy things the Hebrew word being here taken in the Neuter Gender as it is Numb 5. 17. and elsewhere for this seems best to answer to the fear of the Lord in the other branch is understanding z Is the onely true and necessary and useful knowledge 11. * Ch. 10. 27. For by me thy days shall be multiplied and the years of thy life shall be increased 12. If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self a Thou dost not profit me but thy self by it I advise thee for thine own good †Heb. and. but if thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it b The blame and mischief of it falls wholly upon thee not upon me or my VVord or Ministers who have warned thee 13. * Ch. 7. 11. A foolish woman c By which he understands either 1. folly which is opposite to that VVisdom of which he hath been so long discoursing and so it may include all wickedness either in principle as Idolatry Heresy c. or in practice Or 2. the Harlot which with submission seems most probable to me partly because all the following decription exactly agrees to her especially what is said v. 17. as also v. 18. which in effect was said of the Harlot before Ch. 2. 18. 5. 5. and partly because such transitions from discoursing of VVisdom to a discourse of Harlots are frequent in Solomon as we have seen Ch. 2. 16. 5. 3. 7. 5. is clamorous d Speaks loudly that she may be heard and vehemently that Persons might be moved by her persuasions she is simple and knoweth nothing e To wit aright nothing that is good nothing for her good though she be subtil in little artifices for her own wicked ends 14. For she sitteth at the door of her house f Which notes her idleness and impudence and diligence in watching for occasions of sin on a seat in the high places of the city 15. To call passengers who go right on their ways g Who were going innocently and directly about their business without any unchast design for others needed none of those invitations or offers but went to her of their own accord And besides such leud Persons take a greater pleasure in corrupting the innocent 16. Whoso is simple h Which title is not given to them by her for such a reproach would not have allured them but driven them away but by Solomon who represents the matter of her invitation in his own words that he might discover the truth of the business and thereby dissuade and deter those whom she invited let him turn in hither and as for him that wanteth understanding she saith to him 17. * Ch. 2â—… 17. Stolen waters i By which he understandeth either 1. Idolatry or other wickednesses which in Solomon's time before his fall were publickly forbidden and punished but privately practised Or rather 2. Adultery are sweet k Partly from the difficulty of obtaining them partly from the art which men use in contriving such secret sins and partly because the very prohibition renders it more grateful to corrupt Nature and bread †Heb. of secrecies eaten in secret is pleasant 18. But he knoweth not l i. e. He doth not consider it seriously whereby he proveth his folly that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell CHAP. X. 1. THe proverbs of Solomon a Properly so called for the foregoing Chapters though they had this Title in the beginning of them yet in truth were only a Preface or preparation to them containing a general Exhortation to the study and exercise of wisdom to stir up the minds of men to the greater attention and regard to all its Precepts whereof some here follow Of which in general these things are fit to be observed to help us in the understanding of them 1. That these sentences are generally distinct and independent having no coherence one with another as many other parts of Scripture have 2. That such sentences being very short as their nature requires more is understood in them than is expressed and the Causes are commonly to be gathered from the Effects and the Effects from the Causes and one opposite from another as we shall see 3. That they are delivered by way of comparison and opposition which for the most part is between Virtue and Vice but sometimes is between two Virtues or two Vices * A wise b i. e. Prudent and especially virtuous and godly as this word is commonly meant in this Book and in many other Scriptures son maketh ‖ Ch. 15. 20. a glad father c And a glad Mother too for both Parents are to be understood in both branches as is evident from the nature of the thing which affects both of them and from parallel places as Ch. 17. 25. 30. 17. although one only be expressed in each branch for the greater Elegancy but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother d The occasion of her great sorrow which is decently ascribed to the Mothers rather than to the Fathers because their passions are most vehement and make deepest impression in them 2. * Chap. 11. 4. Treasures of Wickedness e Either 1. All worldly Treasures and Riches which are called the Mammon of Unrighteousness Luke 16. 9. of which see the Reasons there to which Righteousness or Holiness which are spiritual and heavenly Riches may be fitly opposed Or 2. Such Treasures as are got by any sort of unjust or wicked practices profit nothing f They do the possessor no good but which is implied from the opposite member much hurt they do not only not deliver him from death but oft expose him to it either from men who take away his Life that they may enjoy his Wealth or from God
who shortens his days and makes his death more terrible as being attended with guilt and with the second death but righteousness g Either 1. True Holiness of Heart and Life Or 2. Justice and Equity in the getting of Riches or an Estate honestly obtained which may be fitly opposed to Treasures of Wickedness Or 3. A liberal and charitable use of Riches which is oft called Righteousness as Psal. 112. 9. Dan. 4. 27. 2 Cor. 9. 10. c. and is indeed but an act of Justice of which see on Prov. 3. 27. which also is conveniently opposed to an unjust getting of Riches and so this contains a great Paradox yet a certain truth that the charitable laying out of Mony is more profitable to men than an unjust and covetous laying it up delivereth from death h Oft times from temporal death because men generally love and honour and will assist such persons in cases of danger and God gives them the blessing of a long Life and always from eternal death when such Charity proceeds from a sincere and honest mind and a good Conscience 3. * Psal. 33. 19 37. 19 25. The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish i Will preserve them from Famine according to his Promises Psal. 34. 10. and elsewhere which as other temporal Promises is not to be understood simply and universally but with this limitation except this be necessary for Gods Glory which in all reason should over-rule the Creatures good and for their own greater benefit For to say nothing of eternal Felicities which follow every good mans death it is certainly in some times and cases a less evil for men to be killed with Famine than to survive to see and feel those miseries which are coming upon them and upon the Land where they live but he casteth away ‖ Or the wicked for their wickedness the substance k As this word is used Psal. 52. 7. or the Wickedness i. e. the wealth gotten by wickedness as Righteousness v. 2. is by divers understood of an Estate got with Righteousness of the wicked l Who by that means shall be exposed to want and Famine 4 * Ch. 12 24. 19. 15. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand m Negligently and slothfully as appears from the diligence opposed to it in the next branch and from the use of this word in this sense Prov. 12. 24 27. 19. 15. Ier. 48. 10. Heb. with a deceitful hand so called partly because it seems and pretends to do somthing when in truth it doth nothing and partly because such persons usually endeavour to maintain themselves by deceit and wickedness which they cannot or will not do by honest labour and diligence but * Chap. 13. 4. 21. 5. the hand of the diligent maketh rich n Not by it self nor necessarily as is manifest from Experience and is noted Eccles. 9. 11. but through Gods blessing which commonly is given to such by comparing this verse with v. 22. here following 5. He that gathereth o The fruits of his field in summer p In harvest as it follows which is a part of Summer He that watcheth for and improveth the proper seasons and opportunities of doing good to himself and to others is a wise son but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame q Both to himself for his folly and that Poverty and Misery caused by it and to his Parents to whose negligent or evil Education such things are oft and somtimes justly imputed 6. Blessings are upon the head of the just r All sorts of blessings are wished to them by Men and conferred upon them by God He saith upon their head either to shew that these Blessings come from above and that openly in the sight of the World so that he can confidently speak of them to God's Praise and to his own Comfort and Honour or because Blessings were commonly pronounced by men with this Ceremony by laying their hands upon the Head of the party blessed but * Ver. 11. violence covereth the mouth of the wicked s Violence either 1. Their own Violence or Injustice which may be here put for the fruit or punishment of it as Iniquity is oft put for the punishment of Iniquity Or 2. Violence or the violent and injurious and mischievous practices of others against them deserved by their own Violence committed against others and inflicted upon them by the curse and righteous judgment of God shall cover the mouth of the wicked i. e. shall fall upon them This Phrase of covering their Mouth is used either 1. With allusion to the ancient custom of covering the Mouths and Faces of condemned Malefactors of which see Esth. 7. 8. Iob 9. 24. Or 2. To signifie that the Curse and Judgment of God upon them should be so manifestly just that their mouths should be stopped and they not be able to speak a word against God or for themselves Or 3. to intimate that Gods judgment upon them should be publick and evident to all that behold them as any covering put upon a mans mouth or Face is as for the same reason the blessings of the just were said to be upon their Heads And the Mouth may be put for the Face or Countenance by a Synecdoche But this clause is otherwise rendred by divers learned Interpreters the mouth of the wicked covereth i. e. concealeth or smothereth within itself and doth not utter that violence or injury which he meditateth in his Heart and designeth to do to others and therefore shall be accursed and miserable But this suits not so well with the former clause wherein the Blessings of the just are not meant actively of those Blessings which they wish or give to others but passively of those Blessings which others wish or give to them and consequently this violence is not understood of that which they do to others but of that which is done to them by others 7. * Psal. 112. 6. The memory of the just is blessed t i. e. Honourable and acceptable to those who mention them Compare Iob 31. 20. Psal. 62. 5. but the name of the wicked shall rot u Shall perish and be cursed and detestable amongst men shall stink above ground 8. The wise in heart will receive commandments x Is ready to hear and obey the Counsels and Precepts of God and of Men by which means he shall stand fast and live but †Heb. a fool of lips a prating fool y One who is slow to hear and swift to speak who instead of receiving good Admonitions Cavils and Disputes against them In the Hebrew he is called a fool of Lips either because he discovers the folly of his Heart by his Lips and thereby exposeth himself to the mischief here following or because he is without heart as is said of Ephraim Hos. 7.
it expedient but assuredly in the next life of the righteous 20 * Ch. 19. 7. The poor is hated c i. e. Despised and abandoned as hateful Persons and Things are even of his own neighbour d Strictly so called who is nearest to him either by habitation or by relation and therefore most obliged to love and help him but †Heb. many are the lovers of the Rich. the rich hath many friends 21 He that despiset his neighbour c That doth not pity and relieve the poor as this is explained in the next Clause the word Neighbour being here generally taken for any Man as it is most commonly used in Scripture which not relieving him proceeds from a contempt of his Person sinneth d And therefore shall be punished for his inhumanity which is opposed to his being happy in the next Clause * Ps. 112. 9. but he that hath mercy e That sheweth his compassion by his bounty and relief on the poor happy is he f He doth a worthy action and shall be blessed in his deed 22 Do they not err g They do certainly err from the right way and mistake their mark and shall miss of that advantage and felicity which they promise to themselves by such practices that devised h That do not onely commit it but make it their design and study and business that are Artists or Masters in it as the word signifies evil i Either 1. mischief to men Or 2. any kind of wickedness against God or men for the expression is general and this seems best to agree to the following Clause but mercy and truth k Either 1. from men Men shall deal truly and kindly with them partly because such men by their carriage oblige them to do so and partly because God inclineth their hearts to it Or 2. from God to whom these two properties are jointly ascribed in divers places of Scripture shall be to them that devise good l That designedly and industriously apply themselves to the doing of all good offices to God and men 23 In all labour there is profit but the talk of the lips tendeth onely to penury m Diligem labour is the ready way to riches but idle talking wherein too many spend most of their pretious time will bring a Man to poverty 24 The crown of the wise is their riches n They are a singular advantage and ornament to them partly as they make their Wisdom more regarded when the poor Man's wisdom is despised Eccles. 9. 16. and partly as they give a Man great opportunity to discover and exercise his Wisdom or Vertue by laying out his Riches to the honour and service of God and to the great and manifold good of the World which also highly tends to his own glory and happiness but the foolishness of fools is folly o But as for rich fools for to them the general word is to be restrained from the opposite Clause their folly is not cured but made worse and more manifest by their riches Their Riches find them Fools and leave them Fools they are not a Crown but a reproach to them and an occasion of their greater contempt For the Phrase we have the like in the Hebrew Text 1 Sam. 1. 24. The Child Samuel was a Child It is an elegant Figure called Antanaclasis used in all Authors 25 * Vers. 5. A true witness delivereth Souls p i. e Persons to wit such as are innocent from the mischief of false Accusations by declaring the truth which is sufficient for their Vindication but a deceitful witness speaketh lies q To the injury and destruction of the Innocent which is easily understood out of the former Clause and from the practice of false Witnesses 26. In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence r A sure ground of confidence or a strong refuge as the next Clause explains it and his children s Either 1. God's Children Or 2. the Children of them that fear God who are sufficiently understood out of the former Clause shall have a place of refuge 27 * Ch. 13. 12. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death t To preserve men from deadly and destructive courses 28. In the multitude of people is the kings honour u Because it is an evidence of his wise and good government Under honour he here comprehends also strength and safety as appears from the opposite Clause which depend much upon a Princes reputation And honour may be here put for strength as strength is put for honour or glory Psal. 8. 2. 29. 1. 96. 7. but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince 29 He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding x Sheweth great and true wisdom in conquering his sinful and shameful passions but he that is †Heb. short of Spirit hasty of spirit exalteth y Heb. lifteth up like a Banner makes it known and visible to all men folly 30 A sound heart z Free from envy and such like inordinate passions which are commonly called the Diseases of the Soul not onely in Sacred but even in Heathen Writers Or as others render it An healing Heart mild and merciful and kind to others which is opposed to envy is the lise of the flesh a Procureth and maintaineth the health and vigor of the whole Body but envy the rottenness of the bones b It wasteth the Spirits and consumeth even the strongest and most inward parts of the Body 31 * Ch. 17. 5. Mat. 25. 40 45. He that oppresseth the poor c That useth him hardly as the Syriack renders it that with-holdeth from him that which is his due either by the rules of strict justice or by the great Law of Charity of which see Prov. 3. 27. and so it is opposed to having Mercy in the next Clause reproacheth his maker d Whose Image the poor Man bears which might challenge respect Iob 31. 15. by whose counsel and providence he is made poor 1 Sam. 2. 7. Prov. 22. 2. and who hath declared himself to be their protector and avenger but he that honoureth him e His Image and Works and Laws hath mercy on the poor f Doth not onely forbear oppressing or injuring of him but affords him his pity and help 32 The wicked is driven away g To wit in his Death as is gathered from the opposite Clause driven away from God's favour and presence and from the Society of the Just and from all his hopes of Happiness both in this life and in the next This expression notes that this is done suddenly violently and irresistibly as the smoke or chaff are driven away by a strong Wind. in his wickedness h Or for his wickedness Heb. in his evil which may be understood of the
upon dead carkasses and particularly to pick out their eyes as is noted by all sorts of Writers of which see my Latin Synopsis He saith the ravens of the valley either because they most delight in valleys or with a particular respect unto that valley near Ierusalem which was called the valley of dead bodies Jer. 31. 40. from the Carkasses cast out there to which therefore the Ravens resorted in great numbers according to their manner Or as others render the ravens of the brooks because they are of an hot and dry temper and therefore delight in places adjacent to the brooks of Water and the young eagle y Which also preyeth upon dead Carkasses and especially upon their eyes as the Ravens do the reason being the same in both whether it be the softness of that part which makes it more easie to them to take or from the pleasant taste of it shall eat it 18 There be three things which are too wonderful for me y The way whereof I cannot trace or find out yea four which I know not 19 The way z Either 1. The manner of her flight which is exceeding high and swift and strong Or rather 2. The way or part of the air through which she passeth without leaving any print or sign in it which though it be true of all birds yet is here attributed to the Eagle of whom this is more true because she flies out of sight where neither her body nor any sign of it can be discerned of an eagle in the air the way of a serpent upon a rock a Where she leaves no impression nor slime nor token where she was as she doth in softer bodies and as Birds leave their Feathers there the way of a ship in the †Heb. heart midst of the sea b Which though at present it make a furrow yet is speedily closed again and the way of a man with a maid c Either 1. The various Methods and Artifices which young Men use to entice or persuade young Virgins either to honest Love and Marriage or to unlawful Lust and uncleanness Or rather 2. The impure conversation of a man with one who goâ—…th under the name of a maid but is not so in truth which is managed with so much secrecy and cunning that it can very hardly be discovered Which exposition agrees best with the foregoing similitudes referred to it and with the following verse 20 Such d So secret and undiscernable is the way of an adulterous woman e Of her who though she be called and accounted a Maid yet in truth is an adulteress not a common strumpet for of such the following words are not true but one that secretly lives in the sin of Adultery or Fornication she eateth f To wit the bread of deceit in secret by which is understood the act of filthiness Prov. 9. 17. 20. 17 which such persons do as greedily desire and as delightfully feed upon as hungry persons do upon bread Thus chastly doth the Holy Ghost express the most filthy actions to teach us to avoid all immodest and obscene speeches as well as actions and wipeth her mouth g As a child doth when it hath eaten some forbidden food and would not be discovered and saith I have done no wickedness h Denies the fact and avoweth her innocency 21 For three things the Earth i Either 1. The earth itself trembleth and is moved so it is an Hyperbole Or rather 2. The Inhabitants of the Earth They do by their insolence and impudence cause great and dreadful disturbances in the places where they live is disquieted and for four which it cannot bear k Which are intolerable in humane societies 22 * Ch. 19. 10 Eccl. 10. 7. For a servant when he reigneth l When he is advanced to great Power and Dignity for such an one is ignorant and unfit for his place and therefore commits many errours he is poor and therefore an insatiable oppressor according to Prov. 28. 3. he is proud and imperious and being maligned and hated by others he is provoked to hate them and to be injurious and cruel to them and a fool m A conceited and wilful fool or an obstinately wicked man when he is filled with meat n Either 1. When he is glutted with meat or drink which dulls mens Reason and heats their Blood and stirs them up to many insolencies Or rather 2. When he abounds in Wealth which in that case is like a Sword in a mad mans hand being an instrument and occasion of innumerable wickednesses and mischiefs as appears from common experience 23 For an odious o Proud and perverse and full of hateful and offensive qualities woman when she is married p For then she displayeth and exerciseth all those ill humours which before for her own ends she concealed then she is puffed up and imperious and becomes intollerable to her own Family and to her Relations and Neighbours and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress q That possesseth her Estate either by the gift of her Mistress into whose Favour she had insinuated her self by her cunning and officious carriage or rather by the marriage of her Master which great and sudden change transports her beside her self and makes her insufferably proud and scornful and injurious to all that converse with her 24 There be four things which are little upon the earth but they are †Heb. wise made wise exceeding wise r Comparatively to other brute Creatures They act very wisely and providently not from any reason which they have but by the direction of divine Providence which secretly guides them to do those things for their own preservation which are most agreeable to the rules of Wisdom The design of this observation is either 1. To commend Wisdom to us and to teach us to imitate the Providence of these Creatures as we are provoked to imitate their diligence Prov. 6. 6. Or 2. To keep us from being proudly conceited of our own Wisdom because we are either equalled or exceeded therein by the unreasonable Creatures in the wise conduct of their affairs Or 3. To direct us to whom to resort for Wisdom when we want and desire it even to that God who is able to inspire Wisdom even into the brute Creatures 25 * Ch. 6. 6 c. The ants are a people s Which title is oft given to the unreasonable Creatures both in Scripture as Ioel 1. 6. 2. 2. and in Homer and Virgil and divers other Authors not strong yet they prepare their meat in the summer t Of which see on Prov. 6. 6 7 8. 26 * Ps. 104. 18. The conies are but a feeble folk yet make they their houses in the rocks u In rocky ground or in the holes of Rocks for their safety against their too potent Enemies 27 The locusts have
of humane policy in the conduct of Personal and Domestical and Publick Affairs this sore travel i This difficult and toilsom work of searching out these things hath God given to the sons of man k God hath inflicted this as a just punishment upon Man for his eating of the Tree of Knowledge that instead of that sweet and perfect knowledge which God had freely infused into Man at his first Creation he should now grope after some small parcels or fragments of it and those too not to be gotteâ—… without the sweat of his brows and brains ‖ Or to afflict thâ—…n to be exercised therewith l To employ themselves in the painful study of these things which now is both their duty and their punishment Or as it is rendred in the margent and by many others to afflict them in or by it to chastise their former curiosity and to give them matter of continual humiliation and vexation And therefore knowledge is so far from making men happy that it exposeth them to trouble and infelicity 14 I have seen m i. e. Diligently observed and in great measure understood all the works that are done under the sun and behold n For it was a great surprise to me and therefore may seem strange to you all is vanity and vexation of spirit o And not only unsatisfying but also troublesom and an affliction or breaking to a mans spirit or mind Or as others both ancient and modern Translators render it a feeding upon wind as these very words save only that there is the verb from which this noun seems most probably deduced are rendred Hos. 12. 1. where also it signifies a fruitless or lost labour and a disappointment of their hopes and desires of satisfaction And so this is arepetition of the same thing in other words according to the manner of these Books 15 * 〈◊〉 13. That which is crooked cannot be made streight p All our knowledg serves only to discover our diseases and miseries but is oâ—…t it self utterly insufficient to heal or remove them it cannot rectify those confusions and disorders which are either in our own Hearts and Lives or in the men and things of the world and †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is wanting q To wit in our knowledg and in order to mans compleat satisfaction and felicity cannot be numbred r We know little of what we should or might know or did know in the state of Innocency or shall know in the future Life 16 I communed with mine own heart s I considered within my self in what condition I was and what degrees of knowledg I had gained and whether it was not my ignorance that made me unable to rectifie those errours and supply those wants and wiser Men could do it though I could not saying Lo I am come to great estate t Heb. I am grown great to wit in Wisdom Or I have magnified or greatly enlarged and have gotten u Heb. have added As I had a large stock of Wisdom insused into me by God 1 King 3. 12. 4. 29. so I have greatly improved it by Conversation and Study and Experience * 〈◊〉 4. 30. 〈◊〉 7 23. more wisdom than all they that have been before me x Whether Governours or Priests or private Persons Which was no vain boast but a known and confessed truth and profession hereof was necessary to demonstrate his assertion in Jerusalem y Which was then the most eminent place in the World for Wisdom and Knowledg yea my heart †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had great experience z Heb. had seen much which intimates that his Knowledg was clear and certain and experimental as that is which we have from our own eye-sight of wisdom and knowledg a Two words signifying the same thing as may be gathered from v. 18. and from the promiscuous use of them in this Book and in the Proverbs and elsewhere and implying all manner of knowledge divine or humane speculative or practical political or philosophical 17 * 〈◊〉 2. 12. 〈◊〉 23. 25. And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly b That I might throughly understand the nature and difference of Truth and Errour of Virtue and Vice all things being best understood by contraries and might discern if there were any opinion or practice amongst Men which would give him full satisfaction I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit c Or feeding upon wind as v. 14. 18 For in much wisdom is much ‖ Or indignation grief d Or indignation or displeasure within himself and against his present condition and he that encreaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow e Which he doth many ways partly because he gets his knowledg with hard and wearisom labour both of Mind and Body with the consumption of his Spirits and shortning and imbitterment of his Life partly because he is oft deceived with knowledg falsly so called and oft mistakes Errours for Truths and is perplexed with manifold doubts from which ignorant Men are wholly free partly because he foresees and consequently feels the terrour of many miseries which are or are likely to come to pass which are unobserved by less knowing persons and which possibly never happen partly because he hath the clearer prospect into and quicker sense of his own Ignorance and Infirmities and Disorders and withal how vain and ineffectual all his knowledg is for the prevention or removal of them and partly because his Knowledg is very imperfect and unsatisfying yet increasing his thirst after more Knowledg and consequently after more dissatisfaction because instead of that just Honour and Delight and Advantage which he expects from it he meets with nothing but Envy and Opposition and contempt because his Knowledg quickly fades and dies with him and then leaves him in no better and possibly in a much worse condition than the meanest and most unlearned man in the World CHAP. II. 1 I Said in mine heart a Being disappointed of my hopes from Knowledg I resolved in my own Mind to try another course Go to now I will prove thee b O my Soul I will try whether I cannot make thee happy with mirth c By allowing to my self the free enjoyment of the present and sensible Delights of humane Life therefore enjoy pleasure d Take thy fill of pleasure and expect satisfaction thence and behold this also is vanity e Is vain and unable to make men happy because sensible pleasures are mean and unsutable to the noble and heaven-born Soul of Man and if excessively used apter to cloy and glut men than to satisfie them and are frequently mixed with and most commonly end in bitterness as being the great instruments and occasions of sin and of all its fatal consequences 2 I said of laughter f Of excessive Mirth which
g To the place to which I invite thee to go which from those high Mountains thou maist easily behold the sight of which will certainly enflame thee with desire to go thither He alludes to Moses his beholding the promised Land from mount Pisgah from the top of Amana h Not that Amana which divided Syria from Cilicia which was too remote from these parts but another of that name not far from Lebanon from the top of Shenir * Deut. 3. 9. and Hermon i Which may be the names of two tops of the same Mountain as Horeb Sinai seem to have been Or Shenir or the copulative and being put disjunctively for or as it is in many places which have been observed before Hermon for this Mountain is called both Shenir and Hermon Deut. 3. 9. and the latter name Hermon may be added to the former as being better known to the Israelites from the lions dens from the mountains of the leopards k From these or other such like Mountains which are inhabited by Lions and Leopards Which seems to be added as an Argument to move the Spouse to go with him because the places where now she was were not only barren but also dangerous as being the Habitations of Tyrants and Persecutors and wild or salvage People who are oft described by the names of wild Beasts whose natures they have and whose practices they imitate 9 Thou hast ‖ Or taken aâ—… way my 〈◊〉 ravished my heart l I am overcome with thy beauty and therefore am so desirous of thy company my sister m So he calls her partly because both he and she had one and the same Father to wit God yea and Mother too being both at this time born in and of the Commonwealth and Church of Israel and partly to shew the greatness of his Love to her which is such as cannot be sufficiently expressed by any one Relation but must borrow the Perfections and Affections of all to describe it my spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thy eyes n With one glance of one of thine Eyes By which Phrase he intimates the Modesty and Humility of the Church which was ashamed or afraid to look fully and directly upon the Bridegroom with both her Eyes and withal alludes to the ancient custom of Virgins who used to cover their Faces with a veil and to look out only with one of their Eyes for the direction of their steps By this one Eye he seems to mean that fundamental Grace of Faith by which Christians look upon Christ and discern his beauty and which is precious in the sight of God and of Christ. with one chain of thy neck o With one of those other Graces and Perfections wherewith thou art adorned How then should I be ravished if thou didst discover both thine Eyes and thy whole Countenance and all thine excellent Gifts and Graces 10 How fair p How amiable and acceptable to me is thy love q I do not disdain thy love as I might do but take it kindly and prise it highly my sister my spouse * 〈◊〉 1. 2. how much better is thy love than wine r Of which see on ch 1. 2 4. and the smell of thine ointments s Of the Gifts and Graces of Gods Spirit wherewith thou art anointed Compare Isa. 61. 1. 1 Ioh. 2. 20 27. than all spices 11 Thy lips O my spouse drop as the honey-comb t Thy Speeches both to me in Prayer and Praises and to men for their Edification are highly acceptable to me honey and milk u Words more sweet and comfortable than Honey or Milk are under thy tongue x By which Phrase he may possibly intimate that her words were not uttered in Hypocrisie or with evil design as many fair and smooth Speeches are but proceed from her very Heart which is under her Tongue as mischief is said to be under his Tongue Psal. 10. 7. who devised it in his Heart and the smell of thy garments y Of that Righteousness wherewith I have cloathed and adorned thee Christ and the Graces of the Spirit are oft compared to Garments as Rom. 13. 14. Eph. 4. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 5. is like the smell of Lebanon z Which is also mentioned and commended Hos. 14. 6. which must needs be very sweet and grateful in regard of the great numbers of sweet-smelling Spices and Trees which grew in that Mountain 12 A garden a For Order and Beauty for pleasant Walks and Flowers and Fruits †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inclosed b Either 1. Defended by the care of my Providence Or 2. Reserved for my proper use She will not admit of other Lovers either false Teachers or worldly Lusts but keeps herself close for me She is chast and pure and modest as Virgins are or should be is my sister my spouse a spring c Either 1. For others sending forth the wholsom streams of saving Doctrine for the refreshing and healing and cleansing of those who receive it Or 2. Within her self being well watered i. e. replenished with spiritual Graces and Blessings which are frequently compared to waters both in the Old and New Testament as Isa. 44. 3. Ioh. 4. 10. 7. 38. for which the Church is compared to a watered Garden or Spring of water Isa. 58. 11. shut up d Either 1. To preserve it from all pollution or injury Or 2. To reserve it for the use and service of its owner for which reason Springs were shut up in those Countries where water was scarce and precious as Gen. 29. 3. a sountain sealed e The same thing is here repeated in other words 13 Thy plants f The plants of thy Garden Believers which are planted in thee are an orchard g Are like the plants or fruits of an Orchard which are pleasant to the Eye and delicious to the taste or smell such as are here mentioned in the following words Whereby he signifies the variety and excellency of Gifts and Graces in the several members of the Church of pomgranates with other pleasant fruits ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 camphire with spikenard h Which he mentions both here with camphire or cypress and in the next verse with saffron because it is mixed with both these and being so mixed yieldeth the more grateful smell 14 Spikenard and saffron calamus and cinnamon with all trees of frankincense i Such Trees as produce Frankincense Or as others both ancient and modern render it Trees of Lebanon such sweet smelling Trees and Plants as grew in Lebanon of which see above on v. 11. myrrhe and aloes with all the chief spices 15 A fountain of gardens a well of living waters k These are the words either 1. Of the Bride who returns this Answer to the Bridegroom Thou callest me a Fountain but in truth thou only art that Fountain from whence I
their Destruction is wholly from themselves Compare Hos. 13. 9. evil unto themselves 10 Say ye f God hath said it and doth now by me say it and you O ye Priests and Levites say it in your Sermons to the People to the righteous That it shall be well with him for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings g Let not them fear for God will be their Safeguard and Portion in the common Calamity 11 Wo unto the wicked h These heavy Judgments are designed against them and shall certainly find them out though here they be mixed with the Righteous it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hand shall be †Heb. done to him given him 12 ¶ As for my people * Ver. 4. children are their oppressours and women i Either 1. properly so called by their Favour and Power with the Rulers or 2. weak and effeminate Rulers such being called Women both in Sacred and Profane Writings rule over them O my people * Chap. 9. 16. ‖ Or they which call thee blessed they which lead thee k Thy Rulers Civil and Ecclesiastical whose Duty it is to shew thee thâ—… right way Or as others They that bless thee i. e. thy false Prophets which flatter thee and speak Peace to thee cause thee to erre and †Heb. swallow up destroy the way of thy paths l Keep thee from the Knowledge or Practice of that Way which leads to thy Salvation and mislead thee into evil Courses by their wicked Counsels or Examples 13 The LORD standeth up m He will shortly and certainly stand up as a Judge to enquire into the Cause and to give Sentence to plead and standeth to judge the people n i. e. To defâ—…nd and deliver them or to judge for them as this Phrase is oft used 14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients o The Princes or Rulers as it is explained in the next Clause who are oft called Elders because such were commonly and fitly chosen out of those who were ripe in years of his People and the Princes thereof for ye have ‖ Or burâ—…t up eaten up p Destroyed in stead of preserving and dressing it as you should have done the vineyard q The Church and Commonwealth of Israel which is oft called Gods Vineyard as Psal. 80. 8 14 15. Isa. 5. 1. Ier. 2. 21. c. and here the vineyard by way of eminency or the vineyard which was committed to your care to keep the spoil of the poor r The Goods which you have violently taken away from the Poor is in your houses 15 What mean ye s What Warrant have ye for it How durst you presume to do it that ye beat my people to pieces and grind t Or batâ—…er as the Word is used Exod. 32. 20. Smite them cruelly See Chap. 58. 4. the faces of the poor saith the Lord GOD of hosts 16 ¶ Moreover the LORD saith Because the daughters of Zion u The Women as hitherto he reproved the Men. are haughty and walk with stretched-forth necks x Affecting Stateliness Psal. 75. 5. and to seem tall and †Heb. deceiving with their eyes wanton eyes y Or as others twinkling with their eyes in a lascivious manner walking and ‖ Or tripping nicely mincing as they go z After the manner of loose and wanton Persons and making a tinkling with their feet a By some Ornaments which they wore upon their Shoes 17 Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head b Will by sending Scabs or by other ways take off the Hair of their Head which is a Womans Glory 1 Cor. 11. 15 and which doubtless ministred to their Pride and Wantonness Others render it He will make bald c. of the daughters of Zion and the LORD will †Heb. make naked discover their secret parts c By giving her into the power of those Enemies that shall either strip her of all her Raiments not leaving her sufficient to cover her Nakedness or otherwise abuse her by such immodest and contemptuous Actions Compare Isa. 47. 3 Ezek. 16. 37. 23 10 26 18 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet and their ‖ Or net-works cauls d As for this and the other Hebrew words here following I judge it unnecessary and improper to trouble the English Reader with the differing Interpretations given of them by Learned Men which the Curious may find in my Latin Synopsis It is agreed by all that they were Ornaments used by that People in those Times and made Fewel to their Lusts. And it is of no concernment to the Direction either of our Faith or Manners exactly to understand the Nature and Differences of them And therefore I shall take them as they are in our Translation and their round tires like the moon e There were in ancient Times and at this day there are some Jewels or other Ornaments worn which carry a manifest resemblance to the Moon or Half-moon Compare Iudg. 8. 21 26. 19 The ‖ Or sweet balls chains and the bracelets and the ‖ Or spangled ornaments mufflers 20 The bonnets f These were Ornaments to cover the Head common both to Men as Exod. 39. 28. and to Women as here and the ornaments of the legs and the head-bands and the †Heb. houses of the soul. tablets g Heb. the houses of the soul or of lâ—…fe or of breath Whereby he seems to mean Boxes of excellent Perfumes which are of great efficacy to revive our drooping Spirits and to that end are oft applied to such as are ready to saint away and the ear-rings 21 The rings and the nose-jewels h Which were fastned to the Head and hung down upon the Forehead to the beginning of the Nose Of which see Gen. 24. 22 47. Iudg. 8. 24. c. 22 The changeable suits of apparel and the mantles and the wimples and the crisping-pins i Of Silver or Gold either used to curl the Hair or rather fastned and worn in the Hair which Custom is not altogether disused at this day 23 The glasses k The Looking-glasses as we call them though in truth they were not made of Glass but of bright and burniâ—…ed Bâ—…ass and the fine linen and the hoods and the vails 24 And it shall come to pass that in stead of sweet smell l Those Perfumes mentioned v. 20. there shall be stink m From their scabs mentioned v. 17. or from other ill usages of their Enemies and in stead of a girdle n Which were fine and costly and useful to gird their Garments about them a rent o Either the rending of their Garments for grief or torn and tattered Garments not sufficient to cover their Bodies
patient and merciful to thee that he gives thee liberty to demand of him any Signal or miraculous Work whereby thou mayst be assured of the Truth and Certainty of this Promise thy God u Both by right of Dominion and by vertue of his gracious Covenant made with all Israel of whom thou art a Member and King and by thy own Profession for he still worshipped God together with his Idols and by the continuance of his Care and Kindness to thee and to thy People notwithstanding all your Wickedness whereof this Promise and Offer is a clear Demonstration ‖ Or make thy pâ—…on deep ask it either in the depth or in the heighth above x Demand some Prodigie to be wrought either in Earth or in Heaven at thy pleasure 12 But Ahaz said I will not ask y This Refusal proceeded not from the strength of his Faith but from his contempt of God and total distrust and disregard of his Word and inward Resolution to take another Course as is manifest both from the following words and from the History of Ahaz 2 Chron. 28. neither will I tempt the LORD z Either 1. by asking a Sign as if he questioned the Truth of his Word So this was deep Hypocrisie Or 2. by neglecting any means necessary for my preservation which were indeed a tempting of God And therefore I shall not sit still and relie upon God till I be destroyed which will be the effect of thy Counsel but I shall do as becometh a wife King seek for Succour from Potent Allieâ—… such as the Assyrian is So this is flat Rebellion against God 13 And he said Hear ye now O house of David a Of which see above v. 2. He reproveth them all because they were the Kings Counsellors and promoted the Design of sending for the Assyrian Succours Is it a small thing for you b Is not that Wickedness more than enough Must you add more to it to weary men c To vex God's Prophets and People and the generality of your Subjects with your Oppressions and horrid Impieties but will ye weary my God also d By your cursed Ingratitude and Unbelief and Disobedience to his Commands He saith my God i. e. the God whose Servant and Prophet or Messenger I am to intimate that this heinous Offence was not committed against a weak and foolish Man such as they might think the Prophet to be but against God himself who sent the Message Compare Exod. 16. 8. 14 Therefore e Because you despise me and the Sign which I now offer to you God of his own free Grace will send you a more honourable Messenger and give you a nobler Sign to try whether that will cure you of your Infidelity Or Nevertheless as this Particle seems to be understood Isa. 30. 18. Ier. 16. 14. 30. 16. Although you deserve no Sign nor Favour yet for the comfort of those few Believers which are among you and to leave you without excuse I shall mind you of another and a greater Sign which God hath promised and will in his due time perform which also â—…s a Pledge of the certain Accomplishment of all God's Promises Or Surely as this Particle is sometimes used as Gen. 4. 15. Ier. 2. 33. 5. 2. Zech. 11. 7. the Lord himself shall give you a sign f To wit of your Deliverance Qu. How was this Birth of a Virgin which was not to come till many Ages after a Sign of their Deliverance from the present Danger Answ. 1. Because this was a clear Demonstration of God's infinite Power and Goodness and Faithfulness and consequently of the certain Truth of all God's Promises from time to time which can never fail so long as those Attributes of God stand And mens Faith is either strong or weak as they believe them or doubt of them Of which see Psal. 77. 8. 78. 19 20. Rom. 4. 20 21. And so this was a proper Remedy for Ahaz his Disease which was a secret Suspicion that God either could not or would not deliver them 2. Because that Promise I say not onely the actual Giving which was long after but even the Promise of the Messiah which had been made long since and oft renewed and was universally believed by all the People was the Foundation of all God's Mercies and Promises unto them 2 Cor. 1. 20. and a Pledge of the Accomplishment of them 3. Because this promised Birth did suppose and require the Preservation of that City and Nation and Tribe in and of which the Messiah was to be born and therefore there was no cause to fear that utter Ruine which their Enemies now threatned to bring upon them 4. This is one but not the onely Sign here given as we shall see at v. 16. * Maâ—… 1. 2â—… Luk. 1. â—…1 Behold g You who will not believe that God alone is able to deliver you from the united Force of Syria and Israel take nocice for your full satisfaction that God is not onely able to do this Work but to do far greater and harder things which he hath promised and therefore both can and will accomplish a virgin h Strictly and properly so called The Iews that they may obscure this plain Text and weaken this Proof of the Truth of Christian Religion pretend that this Hebrew Word signifies a young woman and not a virgin But this corrupt Translation is easily confuted 1. Because this Word constantly signifies a virgin in all other places of Scripture where it is used which are Gen. 24. 43. compared with v. 15. Exod. 2. 8. Psal. 68. 25. Cant. 1. 3. 6. 8. To which may be added Prov. 30. 19. the way of a man with a maid or a virgin For though it be supposed that he did design and desire to corrupt her and afterwards did so yet she may well be called a virgin partly because he found her a Virgin and partly because she seemed and pretended to others to be such which made her more careful to use all possible Arts to preserve her Reputation and so made the discovery of her impure Conversation with the Man more difficult whereas the filthy Practices of Common Harlots are easily and vulgarly known 2. From the scope of this Place which is to confirm their Faith by a strange and prodigious Sign which surely could not be that a young Woman should conceive a Child but that a Virgin should conceive c. shall conceive and bear i Or rather bring fâ—…rth as it is rendred Mat. 1. 23. and as this Hebrew Word is used Gen. 16. 11. 1â—… â—…9 Iudg. 13. 5. a son and ‖ Or thou O virgin 〈◊〉 alâ—… call shall call k The Virgin last mentioned shall call Which is added as a further Evidence of her Virginity and that this Son had no Humane Father because the Right of Naming the Child which being a Sign of Dominion is primarily in
it of any other person and affirm that they are smitten with blindness in this matter Moreover this place is expressly interpreted of Christ Matth. 12. 18 c. And to him and to him onely all the particulars here following do truly and evidently belong as we shall see whom I uphold c Whom I will assist and enable to do and suffer all those things which belong to his Office to do mine elect d Chosen by me to this great work of Mediation and Redemption to which he is said to be sealed and sent Iohn 6. 27. 29. and predestinated 1 Pet. 1. 20. and chosen of God 1 Pet. 2. 4. in whom my soul * Mat. 3. 17. 17. 5. Eph. 1. 6. delighteth e Or as this same word is oft rendred is well pleased both for himself and for all his people being fully satisfied with that Sacrifice which he shall offer up to me I * Chap. 11. 2. John 3. 34. have put my Spirit upon him f I have furnished him with that abundance and eminency of gifts and graces which are necessary for the discharge of his high and hard employment he shall bring forth g Shall publish or shew as this word is translated Mat. 12. 18. shall bring to light what before was hid in his breast or in his Fathers bosome judgment h This word is very ambiguous and elsewhere is put for punishment which cannot be meant here because the whole context speaks of his mercy and sweetness and not of his severity but here it is clearly put for Gods Law as this very word is expounded here below ver 4. and as it is frequently used in the Holy Scriptures as Psal. 119. and elsewhere which also best agrees with the bringing forth or publishing of it here mentioned publication being necessarily required and constantly used about Laws And this interpretation is confirmed by the following words to the Gentiles For the great things which Christ published unto all the World both Iews and Gentiles was nothing else but the Law and Will and Counsel of God concerning mans salvation and the way and means of obtaining it to the Gentiles i Not onely to the Iews to whom the knowledge of Gods Laws had been hitherto appropriated but to the Heathen Nations of the World 2. He shall not cry k Either 1. In a way of contention as anger is oft accompanied with clamour Eph. 4. 31. Or 2. In a way of ostentation It seems to be meant both wayes by comparing this place with Mat. 12. 16 17 20. He shall neither erect nor manage his Kingdom with violence and outward pomp and state as worldly Princes do but with meekness and humility nor lift up l His voice which is easily understood out of the following clause and from many other Scriptures where that word is added to this verb to compleat the Phrase nor cause his voice to be heard in the street m As contentious and vain-glorious persons frequently do 3. A bruised reed shall he not break n He will not break it to pieces but rather will strengthen and binde it up It is a common figure whereby more is understood than was expressed and one contrary is left to be gathered from another of which many instances have been given in former Texts The sence is plainly this Christ will not deal roughly and rigorously with those that come to him but he will use all gentleness and kindness to them passing by their greatest sins bearing with their present infirmities cherishing and incouraging the smallest beginnings of grace comforting and healing wounded consciences and the like and the ‖ Or dimly burning smoaking flax shall he not †Heb. quench it quench o The same thing is repeated in other words to give us the greater assurance of the truth of it That wiek of a Candle called Flax metonymically because it is made of Flax which is almost exstinct and doth onely smoke and not flame he will not utterly quench but will revive and kindle it again * Psal. 94. 15. he shall bring forth judgment unto truth p Iudgment may be here taken either 1. For the Law or Will of God or the Doctrine of the Gospel which he will bring forth i. e. publish which he will do unto or in or with or according to for this preposition is used all those wayes truth i. e. truly and faithfully not concealing nor corrupting it as false teachers commonly do So this is a character like that which is given to Christ Mat. 22. 16. Thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth And thus this phrase of bringing forth Iudgment is taken here as it is ver 1. Or 2. for the Cause which is debated or for the sentence which is given in the cause as this word is most frequently used which he will bring forth i. e. bring to light or discover or publish and this he will do according to truth and equity and not unjustly and partially as corrupt judges use to give sentence against the poor and meek In this sence this very phrase of bringing forth Iudgment is taken Psal. 37. 6. And this sence seems to be favoured both by the consideration of the quality of the Persons to whom this judgment is here implied to be brought forth who are called bruised Reeds and smoaking Flax whereby they are supposed to be Persons discouraged and oppressed and in a contest with themselves or with their spiritual adversaries about the state of their Souls as also by comparing this place with Mat. 12. 20. where these very words are quoted and thus rendred Till he send forth Iudgment unto Victory i. e. till judgment or sentence be given for him in which case a man is said to be victorious in Judgment If it be said for the former interpretation that it seems most reasonable to understand Iudgment here as it is understood ver 1. and 4. and bringing forth Iudgment here as it is taken ver 1. it may be truly and fairly answered that it is a very common thing in Scripture for the same words or phrases to be used in several sences not onely in two Neighbouring verses but sometimes also in the very same verse whereof I have formerly given divers instances 4. He shall not fail nor be †Heb. broken discouraged q Though he be thus meek and gentle yet he is also couragious and resolute against all the great and many difficulties and conflicts to which he will be exposed and will not give over till he have finished his work Or as others render the words He shall not be darkned This glorious light shall not be eclipsed or obscured Or He shall shine forth brightly and gloriously as the Seventy render this word nor broken by all the attempts and vigorous indeavours of his enemies who design it till he have set judgment in the earth r Till he hath
anger against the obstinate and implacable enemies of his Son and Gospel like a man of war he shall cry yea roar u As a Lyon doth upon his prey and as Souldiers do when they begin the battle he shall ‖ Or behave himself mightily prevail against his enemies 14. I have long time held my peace x I have for many ages suffered the Devil and his Servants Tyrants and Idolaters and Persecuters to prevail in the world to afflict my people and to hinder the entertainment of my Doctrine and Worship in the World I have been still and refrained my self now will I cry like a travailing woman y Now I will bring forth and accomplish that glorious work which I have long conceived in my mind I will destroy and †Heb. swallow or sup up devour at once x. z I will suddenly and utterly destroy the incorrigible enemies of my Truth and of my Sons Kingdom He alludes to those wild Beasts which open their mouths wide and devour all their prey at one morsel or at one time 15. I will make wast mountains and hills a Not dry and barren ones for these were wast already but such as are clothed with Grass and Herbs as the following words imply Which is to be understood Metaphorically of Gods destroying his most lofty and flourishing enemies who are oft compared in Scripture unto Mountains and Hills and dry up all their herbs and I will make the rivers islands and I will dry up the pools b I will remove all impediments out of the way which is expressed in the Prophetical dialect by drying up Euphrates that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared Revel 16. 12. He seems to allude to that which God did in drying up first the Red Sea and then Iordan to give his people passage into Canaan And this exposition is confirmed by the following verse 16. And I will bring the blind c The Gentiles who were blind and were called so above ver 7. and in many other places of Scripture and were so accounted by the Iews by a way that they know not d By the way of truth which hitherto hath been hidden from them until by my Word and Spirit I revealed it to them I will lead them in paths that they have not known I will make darkness light before them and crooked things †Heb. unto straightness straight e I will take away all hinderances and give them all advantages and conveniences for their Journey I will direct them in the right way I will enlighten their dark minds and rectifie their perverse wills and affections These things will I do unto them and not forsake them f Until I have brought them with safety and comfort to the end of their journey 17. They shall be * Psal. 97. 7. Chap. 1. 29. 44. 11. 45. 16 turned back they shall be greatly ashamed that trust in graven images g This may be understood either 1. Of the Converted Gentiles who shall be turned back from their former sinful course and shall sincerely grieve and be ashamed that they did trust c. as the word may be rendred that they should ever be guilty of such wickedness and madness to Worship and Trust in Idols Or rather 2. Of those Gentiles who when their Brethren embraced the true God and Christ persisted obstinately in their Idolaâ—…rous courses who shall be confounded and destroyed For this phrase of being turned back is generally used in Scripture in a bad sence or of them who are overthrown or put to flight in battel as Psal. 9. 3. 35. 4. 70. 2 3. c. And the like I may say of being ashamed or confounded or put to shame especially where this Phrase is joyned with the other as it is in the two places of the Psalmes last quoted that say to the molten images Ye are our gods 18. Hear ye deaf and look ye blind that ye may see h O you whosoever you are whether Iews or Gentiles which shall resist this clear light and obstinately continue in your former errours attend diligently to my words and consider these mighty works of God 19. * Chap. 43. â—… Who is blind but my servant i But no People under Heaven are so blind as the Iews who call themselves my Servants and People who will not receive their Messiah though he be recommended to them with such evident and illustrious Signs and Miraculous works as force belief from the most unbelieving and obstinate Gentiles or deaf as my messenger k My Messengers the Singular number being put for the plural as it is commonly in Scripture that I sent who is blind as he that is prefect l The Priests and other Teachers whom I appointed to instruct my People in the right way and blind as the LORDS servant m As the most eminent Teachers and Rulers of the Iews whom he calleth Perfect either because it was their duty to know and teach the way and truth of God perfectly or rather Sarcastically because they pretended to great perfection and proudly called themselves Rabbies and Masters as our Saviour observed and despised the People as cursed and not knowing the Law Ioh. 7. 49. and dirided Christ for calling them blind Ioh. 9. 40. m Which title as it was given to the Iewish People in the first clause of the verse So here it seems to be given to the Priests because they were called and obliged to be the Lords Servants in a special and eminent manner 20 Seeing many things * Rom. 2. 2â—… but thou observest noâ—… opening the ears but he heareth not n Thou doâ—…t not seriously and impartially consider the plain word and the wonderful Works of God of which thiâ—…e ears and eyâ—…s have been witnesses which are abundantly sufficient for the Conviction of any considering man 21 The LORD is well pleased o To wit with you Or as this word is most commonly used hath a good will to you or to this People which may be understood out of the following verse as is very usual in sacred Scripture The meaning seems to be this Although thou art a wicked people that rebellest against the clearest light and therefore God might justly destroy thee suddenly yet he is very unwilling to do it and will patiently wait for thy repentance that he may be gracious unto thee * Chap. 59. 16. for his righteousness sake p Not for thy sake for thou deservest no such thing from him but for the glory of his own faithfulness in fulfilling that Promise and Covenant which he made with thy pious Progenitors for themselves and for their Seed he will magnifie the Law and make Or him it honourable q He will maintain the honour of his law and therefore is not forward to destroy you who profess Gods Law and the true Religion
3. 17. path in the mighty waters t Who as he formerly made a path-way for his people through the Red Sea so he will in no less wonderful manner remove all impediments or difficulties out of the way of his people when they return from Babylon 17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse the army and the power u Or rather Who brought forth the Chariots c. i. e. Pharoah and his Chariots and Horses and Army as may be gathered from the next verse where the things here mentioned are called former things and things of old they shall lie down together they shall not rise x Or they did lie down together to wit in the bottom of the Sea they did not rise they sank like lead as it is said Exod. 15. 10. and they never rose again to molest the Israelites as God promised Exod. 14. 13. These two Hebrew Verbs are of the future tense but that seems to be put for the preter tense because the two following Verbs which treat of the same thing and are added to explain these are of the pretertense they are extinct they are quenched as tow y As the wieke of a Candle when it is put into the Water is wholly extinguished and not the least spark of fire left so were they utterly destroyed and not one of them remained 18 * Chap. 46. 9. Remember ye not the former things neither consider the things of old z But although your former deliverance out of Egypt was in it self a most glorious work which you ought alwayes to remember and consider yet this other work of your deliverance out of Babylon by Cyrus and those blessings which shall follow upon it and particularly that inestimable mercy of sending the Messiah shall be so transcendent a favour that in comparison thereof all your former deliverances are scarce worthy of your remembrance and consideration Which exposition is confirmed by two parallel texts Ier. 16. 14 15. 23. 7 8. From all which texts layd together it appears that this later deliverance compared with that out of Egypt is not to be confined to their freedom from the Babylonish Captivity but to be extended to the consequences of it and especially to the Redemption by Christ because otherwise that Egyptian deliverance was more glorious and wonderful in many respects than the Babylonian 19 Behold I will do a * 2 Cor. 5. 17. Rev. 21. 5. new thing a Such a work as was never yet done in the World even the Redemption of the World by the Messiah now b Shortly although it was not to be done till after some hundreds of years For so the Scripture oft speaketh of things at a great distance of time as if they were now at hand as Hagg. 2. 6. Iam. 5. 9. Rev. 22. 20. and elsewhere which it doth to â—…orrect our impatience and to make us willing to wait till Gods time come and to assure us that the mercy shall come as soon as ever it is fit for us and we for it and to make us sensible of the inconsiderableness of time and all temporal things in comparison of God and of the eternal things upon which account it is said that a thousand years are in Gods sight but as one day Psal. 90. 4. it shall spring forth shall ye not know it c Certainly you Iews shall know it by experience and shall find that I do not deceive you with vain hopes I will even make * Chap. 42. 16 Jer. 31. 9. a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert d I will give you direction and provision in the Wilderness where there is commonly no path and where all necessaries are wanting Which as it literally speaks of Gods conducting them in the way from Babylon to Ierusalem which lay through a great desert so it is mystically meant of those spiritual blessings which God in and through Christ will confer upon all his people not the Iews onely but also the Gentiles who in Prophetical Language are oft compared to the Wilderness as Isa. 35. 1. and elsewhere 20. The beast of the field shall honour me e Shall have cause if they had abilities to honour and praise me for their share in this mercy Possibly the beast of the field may mystically signify the Gentiles whom the Iews reputed as Beasts and who were as destitute of all saving knowledge as the Beasts which perish yet should become the Lords People as they seem to be called ver 21. the dragons f Which live in dry and barren deserts and are very thirsty and therefore more sensible of this mercy and the ‖ Or ostrickes †Heb. daughters of the owl owls because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people g To whom these waters were principally designed but the beasts fared better for their sakes Thus Christ was primarily sent to the lost Sheep of Israel Mat. 15. 24. yet the Gentiles there compared to Doggs fared better for the Children picking up some crumbs of their bread and the Iews generally rejecting Christ the Gentiles came in their stead my chosen 21. * Luk. 1. 74. 75. This people h My People as he now called them ver 20. consisting in part of the Iews but especially of the Gentiles have I formed for my self * 1 Pet. 2. 9. they shall shew forth my praise i I have created as it were out of nothing I have called them into my Church that I might have glory and praise from them for so stupendious a mercy 22. But k Or For as this conjunction is oft used So this may be added as a reason why God called the Gentiles to be his people because the Iews forsook him thou hast not called upon me l Thou hast grosly neglected or very slightly performed the duties of my worship O Iacob but thou hast been weary of me m Thou hast not esteemed my service to be a priviledge as in truth it is but as a burden and bondage Compare Mal. 1. 13. O Israel 23. Thou hast not brought me the †Heb. lambs or kids small cattel of thy burnt offerings n Either 1. Because thou didst not offer thy Sacrifices to me but to Idols Or rather 2. because what thou didst offer was not done to me not for my sake not from a principle of love and obedience to me not to please and honour me with it but meerly for thine own ends Which interpretation seems to be favoured by the following clause and by comparing this with Zech. 7. 5 6. Did ye fast unto me even to me And when ye did eat did ye not eat for your selves neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices o Because thou didst either neglect this work of Sacrificing to me or didst perform it meerly out of custome or ill design and not with a
Astrologers c. with whom they are said to have laboured both here and ver 12. who also may possibly be called their Merchants because they traded so much with them and because of their deceitful practices for which Ephraim is called a Merchant Hos. 12. 7. And so the following Clause may be rendred who have been thy Merchants from thy Youth Or the last clause may be understood of Merchants properly so called who came from several Countries to trade with Babylon as is noted in Scripture and by other Authors And the Verse may be thus rendred Thus vain and unprofitable shall they thy Sorcerers c. with whom thou hast laboured be unto thee So here is onely a transposition of Words than which nothing is more usual in Scripture Then follows another matter in the next Clause also Thy Merchants or they with whom thou hast traded from thy Youth shall wander every one to his own quarter be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured even thy merchants from thy youth they shall wander every one to his quarter none shall save thee x They shall all leave thee and flee away with all possible speed to their several Countries and Habitations CHAP. XLVIII 1. HEar ye this a What I am now going to say against thee that thou mayest be assured that that great deliverance which I have determined and declared to give thee is not for thy own sake but for my names sake O House of Jacob which are called by the Name of Israel b Which are Israelites in name but not in Truth as it follows and are come forth out of the waters of Judah c From the linage of your Progenitor Iudah as waters flow from a Fountain and as the Israelites are said to be of the Fountain of Israel Psal. 68. 26. Compare also Deut. 33. 28. Prov. 5. 15 c. which swear d Which profess the true Religion one act of Religion being put for all by the Name of the LORD and make mention of the God of Israel e Either in Oaths or otherwise that own him and seem to glory in him as their God and call themselves by his name but not in Truth nor in Righteousness f Which are the two chief ingredients of a lawful oath Ier. 4. 2. They are guilty of falshood and injustice both in oaths and in their whole Conversation 2. For g Or as others render it and this particle frequently signifies Though And so this is added as a great aggravation of their want and neglect of Truth and Righteousness they shall call themselves of the Holy City h They glory in this that they are Citizens of Ierusalem a City sanctified by God himself to be the onely place of his true worship and gracious presence which as it is a great priviledge so it laid a great obligation upon them to walk more holily than they did and stay themselves i Not by a true and well-grounded Faith but by a vain and presumptuous confidence flattering themselves as that people commonly did that they should enjoy peace and safety notwithstanding all their wickedness because they were the Lords people and had his Temple and Ordinances among them which disposition the Prophets frequently observe and sharply censure in them upon the God of Israel the LORD of Hosts is his Name k Or Whose name is the Lord of Hosts 3. I have declared the former things from the beginning l Those things which have formerly come to pass which I punctually foretold from time to time before they came to pass Whereby I gave you full proof of my godhead and they went forth out of my mouth and I shewed them I did them suddenly and they came to pass m What my mouth foretold my hand effected 4. Because I knew n Therefore I gave thee the more and clearer demonstrations of my divine nature and providence because I knew thou wast an unbelieving and perverse Nation that would not easily nor willingly be convinced that thou art †Heb. hard obstinate and thy Neck is an Iron sinew o Which will not bow down to receive my yoke nor to obey my commands It is a metaphor taken from untamed and stubborn cattel of which see also Nehe. 9. 29. Zech. 7. 11. Act. 7. 51. The sence is I considered that thou wast unteachable and incorrigible and thy brow brass p Thou wast impudent and therefore wouldst boldly pretend that thou didst forsake me for want of full conviction of my divine Authority and of thy duty therefore I determined that I would leave thee without excuse 5. I have even from the beginning declared it to thee before it came to pass I shewed it thee q I foretold these things that it might be evident that they were the effects of my counsel and not of thine Idols as I knew thou wast very inclinable to believe least thou shouldest say Mine idol hath done them and my graven image and my molten image hath commanded them 6. Thou hast heard see all this r As thou hast heard all these things from my mouth from time to time so now I advise thee to see i. e. seriously to consider them and to lay them to heart and will not ye declare it s I call you to witness must you not be forced to acknowledge the truth of what I say Deny it if you can Or have ye not declared it unto all People as occasion required it Have you not boasted unto the Gentiles of this as your Honour and Priviledge I have shewed thee new things from this time t And I have now given thee new predictions of secret things and such as till this time were wholly unknown to thee as it follows concerning thy deliverance out of Babylon by Cyrus even hidden things and thou didst not know them 7. They are created now u i. e. Revealed unto thee by me brought to light as things are by Creation Things are frequently said to be made or done in Scripture when they are declared or manifested Iob. 5. 3. I cursed i. e. I pronounced it cursed Psal. 51. 4. That thou mightest be justified i. e. declared and acknowledged to be just Hos. 5. 15. Till they acknowledge their offence which in the Hebrew is till they be guilty and not from the beginning x Heb. Not from thence not from these antient times when other things were revealed unto thee even y Heb. and or or as this particle is frequently used before this day Such pronouns are oft understood as we have seen and this day answers to none in the first clause and this clause seems to be added as an exposition of the next foregoing clause which is more general and ambiguous not from then or before this day before the day when thou heardest them not z Heb. and thou didst not hear them to wit before this time
this people not for their immoralities or lewd lives but for their errors and superstitions in Divine Worship Other sins provoke God to wrath but those of this nature alone are enough to ruine Souls and Nations that wherein I delighted not 13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God u You sinned deliberately chusing sinful courses the things which I hated which are here as often expressed by a Meiosis called the things in which God delighteth not In matters of Worship we ought to chuse nothing wherein God delighteth not and reason as well as Scripture will assure us he can delight in nothing of that nature which himself hath not directed It is observable that ruine is here threatned to this people not for their immoralities or lewd lives but for their errors and superstitions in Divine Worship Other sins provoke God to wrath but those of this nature alone are enough to ruine Souls and Nations Behold my servants shall eat but you shall be hungry x As there are a party amongst you who instead of serving God are the Servants of men in complying with Idolatry and superstition so I have some Servants amongst you who have distinguished themselves by keeping close to my institutions from the rest of you I will distinguish them from you in the dispensations of my Providence those that have eat bread at their Idol Feasts shall be hungry my people that would not do so they shall have enough those who have furnished a drink-offering to Meni or that number of Idols shall want that drink by which they have so prophaned my name but my Servants from whose mouths you pull'd the drink because they would only furnish a drink-offering to me they shall drink My Servants whom now you make to mourn and upon whom you pour shame and contempt shall rejoice and you shall be ashamed you that now rejoice and shout while my Servants that cannot comply with you are afflicted and by you made to mourn you shall cry for sorrow and houl through vexation whiles my Servants who keep close to my institutions shall sing for joy of heart Those who in an hour of Persecution for Religion can have patience under the Enemies Triumphs and Rage will find that the Rod of the wicked shall not alwaies rest upon the lot of the righteous Behold my servants shall drink but you shall be thirsty Behold my Servants shall rejoice but ye shall be ashamed 14 Behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall houl for vexation of Spirit ‖ Breaking 15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen y Your name shall rot as Pâ—…ov 10. 7. or only be used when men would curse others saying let them be made like such persons as the names of Leah and Racâ—…el Ruth 4. 11. and others of Gods Servants were used in blessing so your names shall only be used in cursing or when men will curse themselves they shall use your names as examples of the eminent wrath of God upon sinners for the Lord God shall slay thee z For you shall not perish by an ordinary hand but by the hand of the Lord God and as is the God so is his justice so is his strength yea God himself shall look upon your name as accursed and not suffer his people to be called by it they shall not be called Iews but Christians Acts 11. 26. The Children of God Iohn 1. 12. So detestable a sin is Idolatry that God will not suffer himself to be called by a name given to Idols how proper soever it be to express his perfection Hos. 2. 16 17. Nor yet suffer his own people to be called by a name by which Idolaters are known and * Chap. 62. 2. call his servants by another name 16 That he who blesseth himself in the Earth shall bless himself in the God of truth a I will bring it to pass that over all the world if any man bless himself or bless another it shall be in God Amen So the Heb. we translate it the God of truth Amen is a name given to Christ Rev. 3. 14. 〈◊〉 things saith the Amen the faithful and true witness being here applied to God many think it makes a great proof of the God-head of Christ and judge the sense of this text to be That under the times of the Gospel men should not bless themselves as before in the names of Abraham Isaac and Iacob but in the name of Christ in the God Amen nor is this an improbable sense Others taking it more appellatively by Elohim Amen here understand that God who shews himself true and faithful in his promises and * Deut. 6. 13. Psal. 63. 11. Chap. 19. 18. 45. 23. Zeph. 1. 5. he that sweareth in the Earth shall swear by the God of truth b In like manner it is prophesied that those that swear by which some understand worship God others calling God to be a witness should swear by the God of truth or in the God of truth Either worshipping God in Christ the Amen or calling the faithful God to attest their sincerity or swearing by that God who hath approved his truth and faithfulness by saving and delivering his people because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from mine eyes c because they shall see what God promised is fulfilled the troubles of his people are at an end and they are hid from Gods Eyes that is they are at an end 17 For behold c I will tell you yet a more admirable thing I am about wholly to alter and change the state not only of my people who are now afflicted restoring them to a more lightsome state more free from trouble afflictions but I create * Ch. 66. 22. 2 Pet. 3. 13. Rev. 21. 1. new heavens and a new earth d Bringing a new face upon the world sending my Son to raise up a new Church and to institute a new worship Iohn 4. 21. 24. and giving out my spirit in a more plentiful manner Acts 2. 17. which new state shall abide until a new Heavens and Earth appear in which shall dwell nothing but righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 13. Rev. 21. 1. and the former shall not be remembred nor †Heb. shall come upon thy heart come into mind e That state of things shall be such and so glorious as the former state of my People shall not be remembred nor come into mind whether this new Heavens and new Earth here promised signifies such a state of the Church wherein Christ shall personally reign upon Earth over his Saints the wicked being destroyed as some have thought he shall for a thousand years I very much doubt do not see how from this and the parallel texts any such thing can be concluded 18 But be you glad and rejoice for ever f You
Church and in the Minds and Hearts of men and enflames the Souls of Believers with Love to God and Zeal for his Glory 5 And the LORD will create s Will in a marvellous manner produce as it were by a new Work of Creation upon every dwelling place of mount Zion and upon her assemblies a * Exod. 13. 21. cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night t A Pillar of Cloud and Fire like that wherewith the Lord directed and protected and honoured the Israelites when they came out of Egyâ—…t Whereby he implies That God would be their Protector and their Glory for ‖ Or above upon all the glory u Upon all that Church and People which God will make so glorious not onely in his own Eyes but even in the Eyes of the World upon all holy Assemblies of sincere Christians shall be †Heb. a covering a defence 6 And there shall be a tabernacle x Or he i. e. the Lord shall be a tabâ—…rnacle or a tent to defend them from the violent Heat of the Sun and other Injuries of the Weather which was the Use and Benefit of Tents for a shadow in the day time from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain CHAP. V. NOw will I sing a I will record it to be a Witness for God and against you as Moses did his Song Deut. 31. 19. 32. 1. to my welbeloved b To the Lord of the Vineyard as appears by the last Clause of the Verse to God or Christ whom I love and serve and for whose Glory eclipsed by you I am greatly concerned a song of my beloved c Not devised by me not the Effect of my Envy or Passion but inspired by God which therefore it behoveth you to lay to heart touching his vineyard d His Church oft and very fitly called a vineyard because of God's singular Respect to it and Care of it and his Delight in it and expectation of good Fruit from it c. My welbeloved hath * Psal. 80. 8. Oant. 8. 12. Jer. 2. 21. Mat. 21. 33. Mar. 12. 1. Luk. 20. 9. a vineyard in †Heb. the horn of the son of oyl a very fruitful hill e Hills being Places most commodious for Vines See Psal. 80. 10. Heb. in an horn which may signisie either 1. the Figure or Shape of the Land of Canaan which resembles an Horn or 2. the Heighth and Hilliness of that Land as Horns are the highest parts of Beasts or 3. the Goodliness and Excellency of it as an horn when it is ascribed to a man signifies his Glory and Dignity as Iob 16. 15. Psal. 89. 17 24 c. the son of oil which by a vulgar Hebraism notes an oily or a fat Soil 2 And he ‖ Or made a wall about it fenced f That neither Men nor Beasts might spoil it it and gathered out the stones thereof g Which otherwise would have marred the Land of which see 2 Kings 3. 19. The sence is He removed all Hinderances and gave them all the Means of Fruitfulness and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower h For the Residence of the Keepers that they might be obliged and encouraged to watch over it with more diligence in the midst of it and also †Heb. hewed made a wine-press therein and he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes 3 And now O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard i I dare make you Judges in your own Cause it is so plain and reasonable 4 What †Heb. was there to do could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it k What Work is there belonging to the Office of a Master or Keeper of the Vineyard which I have neglected wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes l How unworthy and inexcusable a Crime is it that you have not onely been unfruitful in good Works but also filled with all the Fruits of Wickedness 5 And now go to I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard m He graciously warns them before-hand that they may have space and invitation to repent and so to prevent the threatned Miseries * Psal. 80. 12. I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be †Heb. for a treading trodden down n I will withdraw my Presence and Protection from them and give them up into the Hands of their Enemies 6 And I will lay it waste it shall not be pruned nor digged o Vine-dressers use to dig up and open the Earth about the Roots of the Vines for divers good purposes The meaning is I will remove my Ministers who used great care and diligence to make you fruitful but there shall come up briers and thorns p I will give you up to your own wicked Lusts. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it q I will deprive you of all my Blessings which are oft compared to rain c. 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah †Heb. plant of his pleasures his pleasant plant r In whom God formerly delighted to dwell and converse Compare Prov. 8. 31. Ier. 31. â—…0 and he looked for judgment but behold †Heb. a scab oppression for righteousness but behold a cry s From the Oppressed crying to Men for Help and to God for Vengeance 8 Wo unto them that join * Mic. â—… â—… house to house that lay field to field t That add new Purchases of Houses and Lands to their former Possessions Not that this was in it self unlawful but because they did this from an inordinate and insatiable desire of Riches and with the Injury of their Brethren as is manifest from the foregoing and following Words till there be no place that they may be placed alone u That they alone may be the Lords and Owners and all others onely their Tenants and Servants in the midst of the earth 9 ‖ Or this is in mine ears saith the LORD c. In mine ears said the LORD x I heard God speak what I am now about to utter Heb. In the ears of the Lord. Which may relate either 1. to the foregoing Words The Cry of your Sins and of the Oppressed is come into God's Ears he hears and sees it and will certainly punish it Or 2. to the following Clause which being of great importance he ushers in with an Oath I speak it in God's Ears as well as in yours I call God to witness the
Truth of what I say of hosts †Heb. If not c. Of a truth many houses shall be desolate y The Houses which you have so greedily coveted shall cast you out and become desolate even great and fair without inhabitant 10 Yea ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath z To wit of Wine The Bath contained about eight Gallons Thus an Acre did not yield one Gallon and the seed of an omer shall yield an ephah a Which was of the same Quantity with the Bath onely the Bath was the Measure of Liquid things the Ephah of Dry things and an Ephah was the tenth part of an Homer Ezek. 45. 11. So in stead of that great Increase which that fruitful Land commonly yielded they should lose nine parts of their Seed Thus a fruitful Land was made barren for their Wickedness according to God's threatning Psal. 107. 34. and they had as little comfort in their Lands as in their Houses which were the two kinds of their Purchases v. 8. 11 * Prov. 23. 29 30. Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning b Which was unusual and scandalous in that case Eccles. 10. 16. Act. 2. 15. They made Drinking their daily Trade and Business that they may follow strong drink that continue until night c Thereby wasting both precious Time and God's good Creatures and the Health of their Bodies as well as of their Souls till wine ‖ Or pursue theâ—… enflame them d He useth this Word partly to shew their â—…olly and Misery because the Wine was so far from quenching and satisfying their Appetites that it did indeed inflame and increase them and partly to prevent the vain Excuse of them who thought themselves innocent because they did not drink to Drunkenness although they cast themselves into an intemperate Heat through their Excess 12 And * Amos 6. 5 6. the harp and the viol the tabret and the pipe and wine are in their feasts e They give up themselves wholly to Luxury and that in a very unseasonable time as it follows but * Job 34. 27. Pâ—…al 28. 5. they regard not the work of the LORD f What God hath lately done and is yet doing and about to do among them his grievous Judgments partly inflicted and partly threatned which required another Course of Life even to give themselves to Fasting and Prayer and Reformation that so they might remove the incumbent and prevent the approching Calamities neither consider the operation of his hands 13 * Hos. 4. 6. Therefore my people are gone into captivity g Either 1. are actually gone which was true of the Ten Tribes in Hezekiab's Reign 2 Kings 18. 9. under whom this Prophecy might be uttered or 2. shall certainly and shortly go as the Two Tribes afterward did because they have no knowledge h No serious consideration of God's Works and of their own Duty and Danger and †Heb. their glory are men of famine their honourable men i Who thought themselves quite out of reach of Famine are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst 14 Therefore hell k Or the grave as this Word most commonly signifies hath enlarged †Heb. her soul. her self and opened her mouth without measure l To receive those vast Numbers which shall die by this Famine or otherwise as is here implied and their glory m Their Honourable men as they were called v. 13. being distinguished both here and there from the multitude and their multitude and their pomp n All their Glory shall die with them and he that rejoyceth o That spendeth all his days in Mirth and Jollity and casteth away all Cares and Fears shall descend into it 15 And * Chap. 2. 9 11 17. the mean man shall be brought down and the mighty man shall be humbled p All of them both high and low shall be brought to destruction and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled 16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment q By the execution of this just Judgment upon his incorrigible Enemies and ‖ Or the holy God †Heb. the God the holy God that is holy shall be sanctified r Shall appear to be an holy God in righteousness s By his righteous Judgments 17 Then t When God shall have finished that Work of Judgment upon the Ungodly he will extend Mercy to a Remainder This is very usual in this Prophet in the midst of his Threatâ—… to insert something for the support of Believers shall the lambs u 〈◊〉 poor and harmless People who shall be left in the Land when the Rich are carried into Captivity as it fell out 2 Kings 25. 12. feed after their manner x Or by their fold as this Word is manifestly used Mic. 2. 12. the onely place of Scripture except this in which this Word is found and the waste places y The Lands left by their Owners who were either slain or carried into Captivity of the fat ones z Of the Rich and Great men so called Psal. 22. 29. 78. 31. Isa. 10. 16. shall strangers a The poor Israelites who were left to be vine-dressers and husbandmen 2 Kings 25. 12. who are called strangers because they were so in reference to that Land not being the proper Owners of it nor related to them as the Israelites of other Tribes are called strangers in opposition to the Levites as Numb 1. 51. and elsewhere yea and the Levites are so called in opposition to the Seed of Aaron Numb 16. 40. eat 18 Wo unto them that draw iniquity b That are not onely drawn to sin by the Allurements of the World or by the Perswasions of wicked men being surprised and overtaken by Sin as sometimes good men are Gal. 6. 1. but are active and industrious in drawing Sin to themselves or themselves to Sin that greedily and steadily pursue Sin and the Occasions of it and are not at rest till they have overtaken it that sin wilfully and resolvedly and industriously with cords of vanity c Or with cords of lying as the last Word frequently signifies i. e. with vain and deceitful Arguments and Pretences whereby Sinners generally draw themselves to Sin among which one follows in the next Verse to wit the Impunity which they promise to themselves Or these Cords may note the Means which they use to accomplish that Iniquity which they have devised and sin as it were with a cart-rope d With all their might as Beasts commonly do that draw Carts with Ropes 19 * Jer. 17. 15 Amos 5. 18. 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. That say Let him e To wit God in whose Name thou and other Prophets are always reproving and threatning us make speed and hasten his work that we may see it f He onely