Exposition of the Whole Bible

- which the Chaldeans worfhipped as god, and carried before their armies as a facred and military fign;

_but this feems not likely: the land is as the garden of Eden before them abounding with fields and vineyards, fet with fruitful trees, planted with all manner of pleafant plants, and ali kind of corn growing upon it, and even refembling a paradife: and behind them a defolate wildernefs, all green grafs eaten up, the corn of the field devoured, the vines”

and olives deftroyed, the leaves-and fruit of them quite gone, and the trees themfelves barked; fo that there was juft the fame difference between this bX. 441 country before the calamities defcribed came upon it; and what it was after, as between the garden of Eden, or a paradife, and the moft defolate wildernefs; fuch ravages were made by the locutts, and by thofe they refembled: yea, and nothing fhall cfcape them; no herb, plant or tree could eicape the locufts; nor any city, town or village, nor {carce any particular perfon could efcape the Chaldean army; but was either killed with the fword, or carried captive, or brought into fubjection. The Targum interprets it, of no deliverance to the ungodly.

¥. 4. Ihe appearance of them is as the appearance of borfes, &c.] In their running, as Farchi and Kimchi interpret it; they came with as much fwiftnefs and eagernefs, with as much fiercenefs and courage; as horfes rufh into the battel. RBochart ® has fhewn from various writers, that the head of a locuft is in fhape like that of a horfe; and Theodoret on the text obferves, that whoever thoroughly examines the head of a locuft, will eafily perceive that it is very like the head of a horfe; fee Rev. ix. 7. The Chaldeans are often réprefented as ftrong and mighty, fierce and furious, and riding on horfes: exceeding fwift, Fer. iv. 13. and v. 15. Hab. i. 6, 7, 8: and as horfemen, fo fhall they run s with great agility and fwiftnefs. The particle as is obferved by fome, againft thofe interpreters that apply this wholly to the enemies of the ews, and not the locufts; and it feems indeed beft to favour them; but Yheodoret obferves, that the as here may be taken, not as a note of fimilitude, but as ufed for the increafe and vehemency of the expreffion. ¥. 5. Like the noife of chariots on the tops of the mountains fhail they leap, &c.] The motion of the locufts is leaping from place to place;.for which the locufts have legs peculiarly made, their hindermoft being the longeft: wherefore Pliny’ obferves, that infects which have their hindermoft legs long, leap as locufts; to which agrees the {cripture-defcription of them: which have legs above their feet to leap withal upon the earth, even thofe of them ye may eat, the locuft after his kind, Lev. xi. 21, 22. which words, as Dr. Shaw * obferves, may bear this conftruction; which have knees upon, or above their hinder legs to leap withal upon the earth; and he obferves, that the ANNA locuft has the two hindermoft of its legs or feet much ftronger, larger and longer than any of the foremoft; in them the knee, or the articulation of the leg and thigh, is diftinguifhed by a remarkable bending or curvature, whereby it is able, whenever prepared to jump, to fpring and raife itfelf with great force and activity; and this fitly refembles the jumping of chariots on mountains and hills, which are uneven, and ufually have ftones lie fcattered about, which, with the chains and irons about chariots, caufe a great rattling; and the noife of locufts is compared to the noife of thefe, which is reprefented as very great; fome fay it is to be heard fix miles off, as Remigius on the place; and Pliny fays ', they make fuch a noife with their wings when they fly, that they are thought to be other winged fowls; fee Rev. ix. 9. Chariots were made ufe of in war, and the Chaldeans are faid to have chariots which fhould come like a whirlwind, fer. iv,

& Poftera vix fummos fpargebat lumine montes

: Orta dies

iv.13: like the noifé of a flame of fire that devoureth the fiubble; as they are before Compared to fire, and a flame of fire that devoured all things as eafily as the fire devours flubble, fo here to the crackling noife of it, fee Eccl. vii. 6: as a firong people fet in battle array, that is, as the noife of a migaty army prepared for battel, juft going to make the onfet, when they lift up their voices aloud, and give a terrible fhout; for this claufe, as the other two, refer to the noife made by the oe in their match; an emblem of the terri-

énefs of the Chaldeans in theirs, who were heard before they were feen.

¥. 6. Before their face the people fall be much pained, &c.] Or, at their prefence; at the fight

of them they fhall be in pain, as a woman in tra—

vail; into fiich diftrefs an army of locufts would throw them, fince they might juftly fear all the fruits of the earth would be devoured by them, and they fhould have nothing left to live upon; and a like confternation and pain the army of the Affyrians or Chaldeans upon fight filled them with, as they expected nothing but ruin and deftruction from them: all faces fhall gather blackne/s; like that of a pot, as the word ™ fignifies; or fuch as appears in perfons dying, or in fits and fwoons; and this here, thro’ fear and hunger; fee Neb. ii. 10. Lam. iv. 8. and v. 10.

¥. 7. They fhall run like mighty men, &c.]° Like men of war, in an hoftile way, as foldiers run upon their enemy with undaunted courage and bravery. Bochart from Pifidas defcribes the locuft’s manner of fighting, who fays, they ftrike not ftanding, but running: shey hall climb the wall like men of wars fcale the walls of cities as befiegers do; walls and bulwarks can’t keep them out; all places are acceflible to them, walled cities, towns, yea even houfes, Exod. x. 6: and they foall marth every one on bis ways; in his proper path, following one another, and keeping jut diftance: and they foall not break their ranks; ov pervert their ways, as the word fignifies in the Arabic language, as ben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech obferve; that is, decline not from their paths, as the Sep/uagint verfion; proceed in an orderly way, keep rank and file; fo they are faid to go forth in bands; Prov. xxx. 27. and to encamp, Ned. iii. 17. Ferom-on the text relates what he faw with his own eyés: ‘* this we lately faw (fays he) in this “ province (Paleftine); for when fwarms of lo- * cufts came, and filled the air between heaven ** and éarth, they flew in fuch order, by the dif- ** pofition and command of God, that they kept their place like checquered fquares in a pavement fixed by the hands of artificers; fo as not to decline a point, nor even I may fay a nail’s breadth 5” they keep as exact order, as if military difcipline was known and obferved by them. Some render it, ¢hey fhall not afk their way", being unconcerned about it, moving on in a direct line fecurely.

¥. 8. Neither foall one thruft another, &c.| Prefs upon another, thruft him out of his place, or pufh him forward, or any ways ftraiten and diftrefs him, or in the leaft hinder him in his progrels: sbey hall walk every one in bis path, or high

way °; every one fhould have his path, and keep in it, and it fhould be as roomy to him as if he had a high-way to walk in by himfelf, and in which he could not err: aud when they fhall fall upon the fword; on which they would pitch without any fear or dread of it: they hall not be wounded; or cut to pieces” by it; it not being eafy for the fword to pierce and cut them, thro’ the fmoothnefs and fmallnefs of their bodies; fee Rev. ix, 9. and befides, their numbers being fo great, the lots: of a few by the ufe of a fword, or a dart, or any fuch miffive weapon, as the word ° fignifies, would be of little confequence, and avail very little to the utter rout, or cutting of them in pieces. Kimchi obferves, that the word fignifies haters of gain 5 and to this fenfe farchi explains it; and fo the Targum, ‘* they go to the place whither they are *¢ fent, they flay, and receive not mammon;” they are not as other enemies to be appeafed by money, as Kimchi interprets it. The Targum is, they are not to be bribed, as foldiers fometimes may be, and fo depart; fee J/ xiii. 17. and to this fenfe are other. verfions *.

¥. 9. They foall run to and fro in the city, &c.} Leap about from place to place, as locufts do; fee If. xxxiii. 4. and as the Chaldeans did when they became matters of the city of Feru/alem, they ran about from place to place to feize upon their fpoil and plunder: they fhall run upon the wall, which before they climbed, now they fhall run upon,. and go from tower to tower, as the Chaldeans did, and broke down the walls and fortifications; they fall climb up upon the houfes, and enter in at the windows like a thief; fo the locufts entered into the houfes of the Egyptians, Exod. x. 6. and Pliny fays *, they will eat thro’ every. thing, and even the doors of houfes. Theodoret on the place obferves, that not only this may be done by enemies, what is here faid, “¢ but even we have often feen ‘* it done by locufts; for not only-flying, but even ‘* creeping up the walls, they enter into houfes at. *¢ the windows.”:.

¥. 10. The earth fhall quake before them, 8cc.} The inhabitants of it, becaufe of the defolating judgments they bring with them, and thofe enemies that are fignified by them: she beavens fhall tremble; being obfcured by them: she fun and moon foall be dark; the locufts fometimes come in fuch large numbers as to intercept the rays of the fun. Pliny" fays, they fometimes darken it; and tho’ fome thought they did not fly in the night, becaufe of the cold; this he obferves is owing to their ignorance, not confidering that they pafs over wide feas to diftant countries; and this will account for it, how the moon alfo may be darkened | by them, and the ftars, as follows: and the flars Joall withdraw their shining; tho’ all this may be underftood in a figurative fenfe of the great confternation that all forts of perfons fhould be in at fuch calamities coming upon the land, either by locufts, or by enemies; as the king, queen, nobles,

/and the common people of the land, fignified by fun, moon and ftars, heaven and earth, dies

¥. 11. And the Lord foall utter his voice before his army, &c.] Either the army of the locutfts, whom Piliny * calls peftis deorum, the plague of the gods, and the Aradians frequently ftile them, the army of God. It is a tradition of theirs, that locufts fell into the hands of Mahomet, with this in- {cription on their backs and wings, ‘* we are the ‘* army of the moft high God;” and becaufe they were, for that reafon Mahomet made a law. that none fhould kill them; fee the note on Rev. ix. 3. Thefe creatures are certainly at his beck and command; he can comimand the locuft to devour the land, 2 Chron. vii.. 13. which may be meant by his uttering his voice here; tho’ Yarchi and Kimchi interpret it, of the Lord’s giving notice of this judgment by his prophets before it came: or this may defign the army of the Afyrians or Chaldeans, of which the locufts were an emblem, and which were of the Lord’s muftering together, and was at his command; end who is here reprefented as a general at the head of his army, making a fpeech to them to animate and encourage them to the battel, and to give them the word of command when to begin the onfet: for bis camp is very great, or numerous, as both the locufts and Chaldeans were: Jor be is firong that executeth bis word, or ftrong is it; namely the camp and army of the locuits; which, tho’ feeble in themfelves, feparately confidered; yet being in fuch large bodies, and the Lord at the head of them, and ftrengthened by him, were able to fulfil his word; which he can make the leaft and meaneft of his creatures do: or the Afyrian or Chaldean army, which was both numerous and mighty; which the Targum may refer unto, paraphrafing the words, ‘¢ for ftrong are the <* executors of his word:” for the day of the Lord 1s great and very terrible, and who can abide it? the day appointed by the Lord to take vengeance on the Yews for fin; and this being the day of his wrath, is very dreadful and ‘intolerable; fo any feafon may be called in which God remarkably pours down his wrath on men for their fins; fee Rev. vi. 17. Such was the time of Yeru/alem’s deftruction, both by the Chaldeans and Romans.

y¥. 12. Therefore alfo now, faith the Lord, &c.] Before this terrible and intolerable day, which is near at hand, comes; before thefe judgments and calamities threatened take place, tho’ juft at hand, ferious repentance is never too late, now is the accepted time j fee Luke xix. 42: turn ye even to me with all your beart 5 againft whom they had finned, and who had prepared his army againit them, and was at the head of it, juft ready to give the orders, and play his artillery upon them; and yet fuggeits, that even now, that if they turned to the Lord by true repentance, not feignedly and hypocritically, but cordially and fincerely, with true hearts, and with their whole hearts, he was ready to receive and forgive them. The Targum is, ‘* turn ye to my worfhip with all your heart:”

_ and with fafting, and with weeping, and with mourning; external figns of inward grief and forrow, teftifying their hearty return to the Lord; which, tho’ without the heart, fignify nothing, yet fhould be fhewn where hearty repentance is, tor the honour and glory of God.

y. 13. And rent your beart, and not your garments, &c.| Which latter ufed to be done in times of diftrefs, either private or public, and as a token of grief and. forrow, Gen. Xxxvil. 34. Efb. iv. 1. nor was it criminal er unlawful, the apoftles themfelves ulfed it, 4s xiv. 14, nor is it abfolutely forbidden here, only comparatively, that they fhould rend their hearts rather than their garments; or not their garments only, but their hearts alfo; in like fenfe as the words in Ho/: vi. 6. ate to be taken: as rending garments was only an external token of forrow, and might be done hypo= critically, where no true repentance was, the Lord calls for that, rather than the other-; and that they. would fhew contrition of heart and brokennefs of fpirit, under a fenfe of fin, and in the view of pardoning grace and mercy; which is here held forth; to influence godly forrow and evangelical repentance; the atts of which flowing from faith in. Chrift, are much more acceptable to the Lord than any outward expreffions of grief; fee P/- li.

** remove the wickednefs of your heart, but not

‘¢ with the rending of your garments,” the rending of the garment goes to the heart, fome fay to

the navel“: and turn unto the Lord your God;

confider him not as an abfolute God, and as an angry one, wrathful and inexorable; but as your covenant-God and Father, as your God in Chritt, ready to receive backfliding finners, and prodigal fons; yea, all finners fenfible of fin, that flee to him for mercy thro’ Chrift: for be is gracious and merciful; he is the God of all grace, and has laid up a fulnefs of it in Chrift; and he gives it freely to them that afk it of him, without upbraiding them with their fins; he is rich and plenteous in mercy, and ready to forgive; he delights in fhewing mercy, and in them that hope in it; and this is no {mall encouragement to turn to the Lord;

and feek mercy of him: and befides he is flow to anger; he is not hafty to ftir it up, and fhew it;

he bears with much long-fuffering the vefiels of wrath; and his long-fuffering to his own people iffues in their falvation; he waits to be gracious to them; and tho’ he may feem to be angry, he does not ftir up all his wrath their fins deferve, nor does he retain anger for ever: and of great kindnefs; both in a providential way, and in a way of fpecial grace thro’ Chrift; whom he has provided as a Saviour, and fent him into the world as fuch, and faves finners by his obedience, fufferings and death: thefe characters of God are taken out of Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. and are admirably adapted to engage and encourage: fenfible fouls to turn to the Lord by a¢ts of faith.in him; and repentance towards him; fee J/: lv. 7. and ’tis added, and repenteth him of the evil; which the fins of men deferve, and he has threatened on account of them; not that he ever changes the counfels of his will, but alters the courfe of his providence, and the manner of his conduct towards men, according to his unalterable will: repentance otherwife does not properly belong to God, Numb, xxiii.

1g. but is afcribed to him after the manner of men; and is ufed to exprefs his compaffion to men; how ready he is to receive and forgive returning finners, and not execute the threatened and deferved evil, and to beftow all needful good; fee Fonab iii. 10, and iv. 2. The Targum is, “ and he. ‘© recalls his. word from bringing on the evil.”

y. 14. Who knoweth if be will return and repent, &c.] Which fome underftand of man, and of his returning and repentance; either thus, whofoever he be that knows the ways of repentance, he will return, and God will repent of this evil; which fenfe is mentioned by Kimchi and Ben Melech: or he that knoweth that iniquity is on him will return and repent; fo Zarcbi, with which agrees the Targum, ** he that knows that fins are in him will

«© return from them, and he fhall obtain mercy; “¢ and whoever repents, his fins fhall be forgiven -« him;” but rather they are to be underftood of God, as fome in Kimchi, and paraphrafe it, who knows. perhaps God may return; and this is the fenfe of Aben Ezra, and feems to be the righteft; and to be interpreted, either as carrying fome doubt in it; not as if it was queftionable whether God will give pardon to repenting finners, but whether he will at once remove the prefent affliction and chaftifement; which may be thus expreffed to check the prefumption, and awaken the fecurity of the people, and roufe them from their fluggifhnefs and ftupidity: or rather as expreffive of hope, that God would return and change the difpenfation of his providence, and repent of the evil he had threatened, or brought upon them; which might be juftly grounded upon the character before given of him, and that from the revelation of himfelf, and the proclamation of his own perfections; fee Fonah iii. 9: and leave a bleffing bebind him; meaning not behind God himfelf, as if he was departed, or about to depart, for which there was no great concern, provided he left a temporal bleffing with them; but behind the army of the locuft, after that had made all the devaftation it did: or rather, caufe to leave; {top the locuft in its progrefs, and not fuffer it to make a total defolation, but caufe it to leave fome of the fruits of the earth behind it. So Aben Ezra gives the fenfe of the words, ‘* perhaps God will return, and caufe *¢ the locuft to leave a bleffing;” and to the fame purpofe Farchi, of which they make a meat-offering, and a drink-offering, as follows: even a meatoffering, and a drink-offering to the Lord your God; at leaft leave fo much of the wheat, that a meatoffering might be made of it; and fo many of the vines, as that fo much'wine might be produced by them, as would furnifh out a drinkoffering to be offered to the Lord, agreeable to the laws given about thefe; for which the greateft concern is expreffed, this being cut off and withheld from the houfe of the Lord, by reafon of the prefent fcarcity, ch. i. 9, 13. which fhows a truly pious and religious mind, having more at heart the worfhip of God, than themfelves and families.

y¥. 15. Blow the trumpet in Zion, &c.] For the calling of the people together to religious duties, which was one ufe of the filver trumpets made for and blown by the priefts, Numb. x. 2, 3, 8, 10: fontiify a foft; call a folemn affembly; fee the note on ch. i. 14.

y. 16. Gather the people, &c.] The common people, all the inhabitants of the land, ch. i. 14. fummon them to meet together in the temple, in order to humble themfelves before God for their fins, and implore his mercy, and feck his face to remove his judgments, or avert them: /anéify the congregation, fee that they are fanétified and prepared for a faft as the law directs in fuch cafes; that they may be clean and free from all ceremonial impurities; that their bodies and cloaths be wafhed, and that they abftain from their wives, and from all lawful pleafures, as well as finful enes: affemble the elders; both in age and authority; that they by their prefence and example might influence others to attend fuch a fervice: gather the children, and thofe that fuck the breafts; who were involved in the common calamity and diftrefs, were obliged to fafting, and whofe cries might affect their parents, and eiigage them the more to” humiliation. and repentance for their fins, which brought fuch miferies, not only upon themfelves, but upon their tender infants, and they might think their cries would move the pity and compaffion of God; all which is fuggefted in the note of Kimchi: let the bridegroom go forth of bis chamber, and the bride out of her clofet,; where they are adorning themfelves, and preparing for an interview with each other; or where they are enjoying each others embraces, and the pleafures of the matrimonial ftate. The fenfe is, let them put off their nuptial robes, and deny themfelves their lawful pleafures, and betake themfelves to fafting, mourning and prayer; fee 1 Cor. vii. 5. This refers toa cuftom among the Jews at the time of efpoufals, when the bridegroom and bride were introduced into the nuptial-chamber, where the marriage was completed; and according to the Fewifh writers, it was not finifhed before: the bleffing of the bridegroom and bride did not complete the marriage, but the bringing of them into the chamber did; and then they were faid to be married, tho’ as yet they had not co-habited, and then and not before a man might enjoy his wife *: and the marriage-chamber was nothing elfe but a linen cloth or garment fpread upon four poles over the head of the bridegroom and bride; this they called mtpin ’; the word is here rendered a clofet, and the fame with the chamber, and their leaving and coming out of this, fignifies their abftaining from the lawful enjoyment of each other, which now they had a right unto. ‘

¥. 17. Let the priefs the minifters of the Lord’ weep between the porch and the altar, &c.| Not the altar of incenfe, which ftood in the holy place; but the altar of burnt-offering, where the priefts ufed to ftand and do fervice; but now having nothing to do of that kind, they are called upon to weep and pray between that and the porch of the temple; where they might be feen and heardby the people in the outward court, which the porch led into: this is thought by fome to be the fame fituation with that between the temple and the altar, Mazt. xxiii. 35: and let them fay, fpare thy people O Lord; they are directed to plead, not in a way of juftice, but mercy; that tho’ it might be juft with God to deftroy thefe people, who were called by his name; yet it is intreated that he would not, but in mercy fpare them, and not cut them off in his fore difpleafure, which the prefent’ judgment threatened them with: there feems to be an argument for mercy fuggefted, in the relation thefe people ftood in to God; they are thy people, whom thou haft chofen, and who are called ~ by thy name; tho’ this was alfo an aggravation of their fin; and the fame may be obferved in what follows: and give not thine heritage to reproach, the people whom he had chofen for his inheritance, and the land of Canaan he had given to them for an inheritance; both which would be given to reproach, if fuch a famine fhould enfue, that they muit be obliged to go into other countries for food: that the heathen fhould rule over thems as they would, fhould they be forced to leave their own country, and fettle in theirs for the fake of food: or to be a proverb, or bye-word among the heathen, as Farchi. ‘This claufe Ferom thinks ope the myftery, and explains who are meant by the mighty nation under the name of locufts, the ene- mies of the ews; tho’ this does not neceflarilyymakes mention of; tho’ he fays their Raddins ® follow, take the words in either fenfe, as ex- A: it feems indeed very likely, that. tho” the ocufts may be underftood literally, yet: may be confidered as an emblem of the Afjrian or Cbaldean army, as we have all along obferved; and as the fame ancient writer obferves, when we read of the locuifts, we fhould think of the Chaldeans, in which thought we may be confirmed by this claufe: wherefore fhould they fay among the people, where is their God? they boaft of as their creator and benefactor, their protector and defender, that gave them a land flowing with. milk and honey, and aboundirig with all bleffings? what is become of that? and where is he now? which the Gentiles would fay in.a reproaching blafpheming way, fhould they be reduced to famine by the locuits, or fall into the hands of their enemies; than which kind of reproach and blafphemy.there is nothing more cutting to religious minds; fee P/. xlii. 10. Mic. vii. 10. and this, as well as the former, is ufed as an argument with God for mercy. The Targum is, ‘‘ where are they that are redeemed by ** the word of your God?”; y. 18. Lhen will the Lord be jealous for bis land, &c.] Or zealous for it; for the honour of it, and the s:0od of its inhabitants, and for the glory of his own name, it being the chief place in the world fer his worfhip and fervice; and his indignation willbe moved againft thofe who have brought defolation on it: and pity kis people; as a father his children, who had fuffered much, and had been reduced to great diftrefs by the locufts, or by their enemies: this the prophet foretels would be done upon their repentance, fafting, prayers and tears; or, as fome think, this is a narrative of what had been done, and the prophet was a witnefs of; that the people meeting together with their princes and priefts, and humbling themielves before the Lord, and crying to him, he exprefied a zealand compaffion for them, and delivered them out of their troubles; for tho’ their humiliation is not exprefied, it may be underftood and fuppofed, as doubtlefs it was fact. " y¥. 19. Yea, the Lord will anjwer and fay, unto bis people, &c.| By his prophets, as Kimchi: or, the Lord anfwered and faid*, while they were praying and weeping, or as foon as they cried unto him; or however praying to him, they might affure themfelves that he heard them, and would an{wer them both by words and deeds: debold, I will fend you corn, and wine, and cil, that is, caufe the earth to bring forth corn, as wheat and barley, and the vines and olive-trees to bring forth grapes and olives, from which wine, and oil might be made: this is, according to fome interpreters, to be underftcod of an abundance of {piritual blef-|* fings: and ye foall be fatisied therewith, or, with it; with each and every of the above things, corn, wine and oil; they fhould not only have them, «but have enough of them, even to fatiety: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen, for want of food, and as if forfaken ef God. The Targum is, “* and I will not give you any more ‘* the reproaches of famine among the people;” fee ye 17.. y. on But I will remove far off from you the northern army, &c.} ‘Che army of the locutts, interpret it of the evil imagination hid in. the heart of men; and the two feas after-mentioned, of the two temples, firft and fecond, deftroyed by it; fo Kimebi fays, they explain this verfe of the days of the Meffiah, aid obferves the fame fenfé they give; but Yarchi mentions another, according to Which a people coming from the north are defigned, even the kings. of Afjria; and with this agrees the Targum, which paraphrafes it, ‘¢ and ‘* the people which come from the north I will “* remove far off from you;” and indeed locufts don’t ufually come from the north, but from the fouth, or from the eaft; it was an eaft-wind that brought the locufts into Egypt, Exod. x. 13, tho’ the word northern may be ufed of the locufts in the emblem, becaufe the Affjrians or Chaldeans came from the north to Judea: and will drive him into @ land barren and defolate; where there are no green grafs, herbs, plants and trees to live upon, and fo muft ftarve and die: with his face towards the eaft-fea, the front of this northern army was towards the eaft-fea, into which it was drove and fell; that is, the fea of Cinnereth, or Genezareth, the fame with the lake of Tiserias, often mentioned in the New Teitament; or the falt-fea, the fame with the lake A/phaltites, or dead-fea, which was where Sedom and Gomorrah formerly ftood, as is ufually faid; and both thefe were to the eaft of the land of J/rael, as Kimchi and Ben Melech obferve; and fo either of them might be called the eaftern-fea: and bis hinder part towards the utmoft fea the rear of this army was towards the utmoft fea, or hinder fea, as it is called in Zech. xiv. 8. the weftern-fea,.as Kimchi and Ben Mélech interpret ~ it, the fame with the Mediterranean-fea, which lay to the weft of the land of J/rae/; fo the Egyptian locufts were caft into the Red-fea, Exod. x. 19- and Pliny + obferves, that they are fometimes taken away with a wind, and fall into feas and lakes, and adds, perhaps this comes by chance; but what is here related came not by chance, but by the will and providence of God: and bis flink Jhall come up, and bis ill favour foall come up; that is, the ftink and ill favour of the locufts fhall come up out of the feas and lakes into which they fell, and where they died and putrefied; or being caft up from thence upon the fhores, gave a moft noifome ftench: fo Ferom on the place fays, ‘* in ‘“* our times we have feen fwarms of locufts cover ** the land of Yudea, which upon the wind rifing ‘¢ have been driven into the firft and laft feas; that is, into the dead and Mediterranean-feas; and when the fhores of both feas have been filled with heaps of dead locufts, which the waters have thrown up, their rottenneis’ and {tench have been fo very noxious as to corrupt | the air, and produce a peftilence among men and beafts:”’ or this may be underftood of the | fall and ruin of the enemies of the Jews, fignified by thefe locyfts; and fome apply it to Sennacherib’s army fmote by the angel, when there fell in one night an hundred and fourfcore and five thoufand of them in the land of J/rae/, and lay unburied, 2 Kings xix. 35. Theodoret interprets the feas of armies; the firft fea of the army of the Badylonians, by which Niniveb the royal feat of the 4/- fyrians was deftroyed; and the other fea of the which came from the northern corner, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; and is the firft fenfe archi army of the Perfans, who, under Cyrus, took Babylon, the metropolis of the Chaldean empire cause be hath done great things, evil things, as the Targum; either the locuft, which had done much mifchief to the fruits of the earth; or the enemy, fignified by it, who had behaved proudly, and done much hurt to the inhabitants of Judea: or, tho? he hath done great things *, as fome render it, yet all this fhall come to him. Some interpret it of God, for he (God) hath done, or will do great things °; in the removing of the locufts, or in the deftru@tion of thofe enemies they reprefented, as is exprefsly faid of him in the following vere.

y. 21. Pear not, O land, &c.] O land of Jrael, as the Targum, and the inhabitants. of it; neither of the locufts, who had fo terrified them, and had done fo much mifchief, and threatened more; nor of their enemies, the 4//yrians or Chaldeans, and their powerful armies, or any other; but on the contrary, Le glad, and rejoice; at the removal of the locufts, and at the deftruction. of their enemies: for the Lord wll do great things; good things, in oppofition to the evil things done by the locufts, as ben Ezra, Kimchi and Ben Meech obferve; or by the deftroying army of the king of Affria, by delivering the ews out of the Babylonifo captivity; and in the times of the Maccabees, and efpecially in the times of Chrift, which are quickly prophefied of in this chapter; and which prophecies fome interpreters begin here, it not being unufual for the prephets to; pafs directly from things temporal to things {piritual, and efpecially to the great deliverance and falvation by Chrift, and alfo by temporal bleffings to defign fpiritual ones.

y: 22. Be notrafraid ye beafts of the field, &c.] Which before groaned, and were perplexed for want of pafture, and cried becaufe of the drought, ch. i. 18, 20. perhaps the Gentiles may be here defigned in the myftic and fpiritual fenfe, in di- {tinction from the Jews, the children of Zion, in the next verfe: for the pajlures of the wildernefs do fpring; grafs in abundance {prings up in them, and covers them, fo that there was plenty of food for the beafts of the field’: for the tree beareth her fruit; brings forth and bears fruit fuitable to it, agreeable to its nature: she fig-tree and the vine do yield their ftrength; fend forth their branches, put forth their buds, their leaves and fruit. This and the preceding claufe cannot be underftood as a reafon why the beafts of the field fhould not be afraid, for they relate not to them, but to men; and may ferve to confirm the myftic fenfe of the words, as they may refer, to the great fruitfulnefs produced in-the wildernefs of the Gentile world, thro’ the preaching of the gofpel in the times of the Meffiah,; which are more clearly pointed at in the following verfe, and which were introduced with great outward peace and plenty; and the ‘Jews * by the tree bearing her fruit in the preceding claufe, underftand barren trees bearing fruit.

¥. 23. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, &c.] The people of the Yews, and efpecially the fpiritual and believing part of them; fuch as were born again, that were-born of Zion, and born in Zion,.

and brought up by her, and in her; the children of that Zion or Ferufalem that is the mother of us all; and who were. looking for the Meffiah, and to whom it would be good news and glad tidings to hear of his coming; Zech. ix. 9: and rejoice in the Lord your God not in any creature or creatureenjoyment, but in the Lord. The Targum is, ‘* in the word of the Lord your God;” in Chrift | the effential word; fee Phrlip. iii. 3. and: iv, 4. tho’ rather Jehovah the Father, the giver and fender of Chrift; is here meant, becaufe of what follows; and who is to be rejoiced in by his people, not as an abfolute God, but as in Chrift, and as their covenant-God and Father in him; who has chofen them for himfelf, and is their portion and inheritance; which are reafons fufficient: why. they fhould rejoice in him, and others follow: for he hath given you the former rain moderately; or rather, for be hath given you the teacher of righteoufnefs®; to which agrees the Targum,.** for he hath ‘* returned to you your teacher in righteoufnels;”. and fo Yarchi paraphrafes the words, and interprets them of the prophets in general, ‘* your pro- ‘¢ phets that teach you to return unto me, that I “* may juftify you;” and R. Faphet fays, that P37 fignifies a prophet that fhould teach them in the way of righteoufnefs; not J/aiab, as Grotius; but the king Meffiah, as barbinel interprets it; who is the teacher fent from God, and given by him, as his prefence with him, and the mi racles done by him, fufficiently prove, shu iii. 2. for which he was abundantly qualified, being the omnifcient God, and the Son of God that lay in the bofom of his Father; is the wifdom of God, as Mediator; had the fpirit of -wifdom on him, and the treafures of wifdom and knowledge hid. in him; and who is able to make his teachings effectual, and to qualify others for fuch work. «This office he performed perfonally on earth, both in. a dottrinal way, and by way,of example; and now executes it by his Spirit, and by, his minifters: and a teacher of righteoufne/s: he may be truly faid to be; fince he not only taught the gofpel, the word of righteoufnefs in general; but in particular directed men to feek in the firft place the righteoufnefs of God, which is no other than” his own; and pronounced thofe happy that hungred after it: he declared he came to fulfil all righteoufnefs, even the law for righteoufhefs'; and taught men to believe in him for it, and to live righteoufly and godly. ben Ezra obferves, that the phrafe is the fame with she fun of righteoufnefs, Mal. iv. 2. which is faid of Chrift the author; of righteoufnefs, who is our righteoufnefs, made fo by imputation, the Lord our righteoufnels: of, as here, a teacher unto, or for righteoufnef/s *; all which is matter of joy and gladnefs; fee Jf Ixi. 10: and he will caufe to come down for you the rain, the for= mer rain, and the latter rain in the frf— month; alluding to the two feafons of the year in which rain was given to the fews; the former rain fell in Marchefvan, which anfwers to our September and Ofober, part of each, at their feed-time; and th latter in Nifan, the firft month of, their ecclefiafti— cal. year, and anfwers to part of March and April, and fell fome time before their haryeft; and thefe former and.latter rains now fall about the fame time. So Dr.: Shaw ‘ obferves, that ‘* the firft “¢ rains in thefe countries (Syria, Phwenicia, and “¢ the Holy Land) ufually fall about the beginning ‘¢ of November; the latter fometimes in the mid-— woot;. © dle;

© Quia magnifica Jehovah agit, Junius & Tremellius;

“*¢ dle, fometimes toward the end of Aprif:” and elfewhere he fays *, ‘* in Barbary, the firft rains “* fall fome years in September, in others a month © Jater; the latter rains ufually fall in the middle “© of April:’—and the fame traveller rélates ', that “* upon the coaft (of Egypt) from Alexandria, all * along to Damiata and Tineh, they have their *¢ former and. latter rains as in Barbary and the “* Holy Land.” This rain fpifitually defigns: the doétrine of the gofpel, which“is fometimes com- caufe as rain it comes from God, defcends from

-heaven, ‘is a divine gift, both as to the miniftry -and experience of it;: it tarries not for man, neither for his defires nor deferts; falls aceording to

‘divine direétion, fometimes here, and fometimes there; is a great bleffing, and brings many with it, revives, refrefhes, and makes fruitful. Ferom interprets thefe two rains of the firft fufception of doctrine, and of a more perfect knowledge of it; as alfo of the two Teftaments, the Old and New: but it may be better interpreted of the preaching of the gofpel by Fob the Baptift, and by Chrift; or by Chrift, and then by his apoftles’; or of the

-firft and fecond miniftration of the apoftles, ‘firft to ‘the Fews, then to the Gentiles; or of the coming ‘of Chrift in‘ the flefh, for the fame word is ufed here as in the former ‘claufe, and of his fpiritual

‘coming in the latter day, both which are compared

‘The churches of Chrift, which will now be in Fu- den, ‘and in thé Ge#tilé world, which areé his floors, Matt. iii. 12. and which will be fet up every where thro’ the preaching of the gofpel, the defcent of

‘the former and latter rain; thefe will be full of -precious fouls: gathered in, compared to wheat, and of the choice and excellent doétrines of the gofpel,

‘and of all fpiritual provifions, Mast. xiii. 30. Fer. (xxtii. 28: ‘and the fats fhall overflow with wine and oil; with the wine of gofpel-doctrine, and the oil

‘of true grace;’ there fhall be a flow, an overflow, a redundancy of thefe,’ both in the minifters of

‘the word and private chriftians, in whom the grace ‘of God ‘fhall abound, and fuper-abound; fee Rom.

v.20. 1 Tim. i. 14. ¥.25. And Iwill reflore to you the years that the

‘locuft bath eaten, &c.) Or I will recompenfe to you the years™; give you fruitful ones, as a full compenfation for thofe in which the locuft eat up the fruits of the earth for fome years running: ¢be canker-worm, and the catterpiller, and the pabmer-

-worm; of which fee ch. i. 4: my great army which

J fent among you; asin y. 11. the Targum of the whole is, ** and I will recompenfe unto you good

“«¢ years, in the room of the years in which the

.“ and kingdoms of vengeance fpoiled you, my

«* great army which I fent among you;” and Kimchi obferves, that the fenfe of the Targumif is, that this verfe is a prophecy of the days of the Meffiah, as no doubt it is, in which the Lord has done for his people, as Mo/es prayed he would, make them glad according to the days wherein he afflitted them, and the years wherein they had feen evil, Pf. xc. 15. the times of the Meffiah, in which fo many good things come to the people of God, are a fufficient recompence for what they endured in times patt. Of the Mabometan notion of locuits being the

BW. 447 army of God, fee the note on y. it. and on Rev:

rb. ee ¥. 26. And ye fall eat in plenty, &c.] Or in eating eat*; imoft furely eat, and in gteat abundance; which Hebraifm riot only denotes the certainty of a thing, but the increafe and abundance of it; fee Gen. xxii. 17. 1 Chron. iv. io. there is plenty of fpiritual provifions held farth under the gofpeldifpenfation: much in God, in his goodnefs, grace and love, truth and faithfulnefs; in his covenant, the bleffings and promifes of it: much in Chrift, who is compared to many things eatable; is called the Lamb of God, the fatted calf, the hidden manna, the tree of life, and the bread of God; every thing in him, and that belongs to him, is food for faith; his flefh is meat indeed, his blood is drink indeed; the fulnefs of grace in him; the righteoufnefs wrought out by him; the falvation he is the author of; upon all which the believer lives by faith: much in the gofpel, and the doétrines of it, compared to honey for fweetnefs of tafte; to milk for its nourifhing nature, eafinefs of digeftion, and the fuitablenefs of it for babes; and to ftrong meat fit for men: and there is great plenty alfo in the ordinances of the gofpel, particularly in the Lord’s fupper, the feaft of fat things, where faints are invited to eat and drink abundantly; which eating is not a bare attendance on outward ordinances, or a fuperficial tafte of the things in them, but a feeding upon them by faith, receiving and digefting them. And be fatisfied; eat to fatiety; eat and be full, fo as to be entirely contented, and defire no other fort of food; thus faints, as Napthali, are fatisfied with the favour and love of God, having a delightful fenfation of it, anda full perfuafion of intereft in it; with Chrift as the bread of life, fo as not to hunger after other; with his righteoufnefs, as not to feek any other; and with his falvation, being fo fuitable to them; and with the goodnefs and ‘fatnefs of the Lord’s houfe, his word and ordinances. And praife the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wonderoufly with you; acknowledge him to be the giver of all this fpiritual food, and that they are unworthy of it; afcribe it entirely to the grace of God, who has done wonders for them; in wonderfully fetting them apart for himfelf in eternal election; in making fuch a well-ordered covenant with them in Chrift; in fending him to be their Saviour and Redeemer; in calling them out of darknefs into marvellous light; in beftowing fuch love upon them, as to call them and make them his children, and alfo heirs of him and eternal glory; fee P/. xxii. 26. And my people fhall never be afbamed; becaufe they fhall always have food to eat; fhall never be difappointed, when they rightly apply for it in proper places and times; and not be like the troops of Tema, and companies of Sheba, Fob vi. 19, 20. they fhall not be -afhamed of their faith and hope, and expectation of good things promifed them; nor of the word and ordinances, and the profeffion they have made of Chrift in this world; nor fhall they be afhamed at his coming; but fhall be placed at his right hand, and received into his kingdom,:and fhall be led by him to fountains of living water, and be fatisfied with pleafures for evermore. y¥..27. And ye foall know that I am in the midft of Ifrael, &c.] The prefence of God among his people people fhall be fo manifeft, the tokens of it fo - clear, that it thall be eafily known, by the imprelfions of his love upon them; the teachings of his Spirit in them; the ufefulnefs of the word and ordinances to them; the fpiritual and heavenly frame of foul they fhall be favoured with, and the favourinefs. of their converfation; this is the bleffing Chrift has promifed to gofpel-minifters and churches, Matt. xxviii. 20: and that | am the Lord your God, and none elfe; that he is their covenant-God and Father, and acknowledge none elfe: and my people foall never be afoamed, which is repeated for the certainty of it; fee the preceding verle, y¥. 28. And it fhall come to pafs afterward, &c.] After the teacher of righteoufnefs has been fent, and a plentiful rain of the gofpel has been let down in the land of Fudea, in the. miniftry of ohn the Baptift,, Chrift and his apoftles, and fuch a comfortable enjoyment of the bleffings of grace in it, and the knowledge of God by it; and after’ the wonderful work of redemption wrought by Chrift. R. Fefbua in Aben Ezra and Farchi, both fay this prophecy refers to time to come; and Kimchi obferves, that the phrafe is the fame with, iz the laft days; and fo the apottle Peter quotes it, és ii. 17. a phrafe, as the above writer obierves, which always fignifies the days of the Meffiah, to which he applies thefe words; and fo do other ewib writers, both ancient and modern °; and there is no doubt with us chriftians, that they belong to the times of Chrift and his apoftles, fince they are by an infpired writer faid to be fulfilled in thofe times, és ii, 16, 17. here fome begin a new chapter. That J wil pour out my Spirit upon all flea; not on fuch whofe hearts are made tender as flefh, according to £zek. xxxvi..26. as Farchi; for the Spirit muft be given firft to make the heart fuch; nor only upon men in the land of Jrael, a place fit to prophely in, as Alen Ezra and Kimchi;.but upon all men, as this phrafe frequently fignifies; fee Jf. xl. 5. that is, all forts of men, Fews and Gentiles, men of all nations; and fuch there were on the day of Pentecof, when the Spirit was poured down upon the apoftles, and the grace of the Spirit was given to many of all nations; tho’ that was only the beginning of the fulhlment of this prophecy, which quickly had a further accomplifhment in the Gentile world; and denotes the abundance of the gifts of the Spirit, both extraordinary and ordinary, and of his grace, and the bleflings of it, beftowed on them. ud your fous, and your daughters fhall propbefy; as Agabus, Barnabas, Simeon, &c. and the four daughters of Philip the evangelift, 4é7s xi. 28. and xii, 1. and xxi. 9,10: your old men fhall dream dreams, your young men foall [ee vifions, as Ananias, Peter, Paul, Fobn, and others, fome in their elder, fome in their younger years, /é/s ix. 10. and x. 17. and xvi. 9. and xxii. 17. and xxvi, 19. and xxvii. 23. tho’ prophecy, dreams, and vifions, being the ufual ways of conveying knowledge, here fignify, that the knowledge of men in gofpel-times fhould be equal to, yea exceed whatever was communicated io men in the higheft degree in former times: Fobn the Baptif was greater than any of the prophets, and yet the leaft in the kingdom of heaven was greater than he, Luke vii. 28.

¥. 29. And alfo upon the fervants, and upon thé handmaids in thofe days, will I pour my Spirits] Men-fervants and maid-fervants fhould partake of the gifts and grace of the Spirit in great abundance;

and many of them were effectually called by grace, thro’ the miniftry of the word; and fome fervants became minifters of it; all which appears, from 1 Cor. vii. 21, 22. 1 Tim. vi. 1,2. Pbilem. #. 10, 11, 16. for that is not true what the Fews? fay, the Shekinah or divine majefty does not reft but upon a wife man, and one mighty and rich; or prophecy, as Maimonidesthasit,... ¥. 30. And I will fhew wonders in. the and in the earth, &c.| This, and what follow, refer to the prodigies feen in the air, and done in the earth, a little before the deftruction of Ferufalem*; when in the air were feen comets and blazineftars, particularly one in the form of a {word hanging over Ferufalem, and appearances of armies engaged in battel; and on the earth;.a flame was ieen in the temple, and a voice heard in it, faying, let us go hence; the doors of it opened of themfelves; an ideot went about crying, wo to the people, wo-to the city, ic: blood and fire, and pillart of fmoke; blood may defign the great flaughter of men by the Roman army in the land of Fudea, and by murders committed among themfelves in the city of Ferufalem, which were very horrible, and of great numbers: fire, the burning.of towns and cities; tho’ Kimchi interprets it of lightnings in the heavens: and pillars of /moke, rifing up in {traitnefs and height like palm-trees, as,the word’ fignifies, vaft quantities of it arifing from cities and towns burnt. Gufesius ‘interprets this of the.burning of the martyrs in the firft ages of chriftianity, and of their {piritual affections, which afcended upwards to God, and were grateful to him; fee Cant. ili, 6.

¥. 31. The fun foall be turned into darknefs, and the moon into blood, &c.] Not by eclipfes, as Aben Ezra; but by the clouds of fmoke. arifing from the burning of towns and cities, which would be fo great as to obfcure the fun, and chro’ which the moon would look like blood: or all this may be underftood in a figurative fenfe of the change that fhould be made in the ecclefiaftie and civil {tate of the Fewi/d nation, fignified by the heavens and earth; and particularly that their king or kingdom fhould be in a low, mean, and diftrefied condition, defigned by the fim; and the change of their. priefthood is fignified by the moon: fo Vitringa on J/. xxiv. 23. interprets the fun here of king Agrippa, the laft king of the Fews in obfeurity; and the mocx of Ananics junior, the high prieft, flain by the zealots: defore the great and:.

the terrible day. of the Lord come; not,the fall of Gog and Magog, as Kimchi; not the day of the aft judgment, but of the deftruction of Ferufalem; not by the Chaldeans, but by the Romans,; their laft | deftruction, which was very great and terrible indeed, and in which there was a manifeft appearance of the hand and power of God; fee Mdaliv. |

1. Maimonides * interprets it of the deftruétion. of Seunacherib near Ferufalem; but if that fenfe is not acceptable, he propofes that of the deftrudtiion of Gog and Magog, in the times of the Meffiah.

¥. 92. And tt foall come to pafs, that whosoever fall call on the name of the Lord, fhall be delivered, &c.

Or faved, as in Aas ii. 21. from thofe miferies and calamities before defcribed, from the inpending ruin and deftruction of the city; and fo it was, that thofe that believed in Chrift, that were in the city, had an intimation of it before-hand, and removed from thence to a place called Pella », and {fo efcaped being involved in the common calamity: tho’ this alfo may be underftood of a fpiritual deliverance and falvation by -Chrift, from fin, fatan, and the world, and from the fecond death, and wrath to come, and out of the hands of every enemy; which fuch fhare in who call on the name of the Lord, pray to him for grace and mercy, life and falvation, thro’ Chrift; that have a fpiritual knowledge of God in Chrift, real and fincere defires after him, and truft and confidence in him, which this phrafe fuppofes; and which alfo includes the whole worfhip of God, internal and external,. performed in a {piritual and evangelical manner; fee Rom. x. 13. For in mount Zion, and in Ferufalem fhall be deliverance, as the Lord bath faid; either by this prophet, or fome others before him; fee Pf. xiv. 7. Jf. lix. 20. Obad. y. 21. this-cannot be underftood literally of mount Zion and Ferufalem, unlefs it be of deliverance out of it; not in it, for Ferufalem was the feat of blood,

HIS chapter, which fome make the fourth, contains a prophecy of God’s judgments on all the antichriftian nations at the time of the ews converfion, and the reafons of them, ¥. 1, 2; 3. a threatening of Tyre and Zidon, by way of retaliation, for carrying the riches of the ews into their temples, and felling their perfons to the Greeks, ¥. 4—-8. an alarm to prepare for the battel of Armageddon, or the deftruction that fhall be made in the valley of Febofhaphat, y. g—15. and after that an account of the happy ftate of the church of Chrift, their fafety and fecurity, plenty, profperity, and purity, to the end of the world, y. 16 y¥. 1. For behold, in thofe days, and at that time, &c.] Which Kimchi refers to the times of the Meffiah; and is true of the latter times of the Meffiah, of his fpiritual reign yet to come: when I foal bring again the captivity of Fudah and Ferufalem; not froni the Edomites, Tyrians, and Philiftines, that had carried them captive in the times of Abaz; nor from Babylon, where they had been carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar, for nothing of what is after foretold followed upon: the return of thefe captivities: but this defigns the prefent captivity of the Fews, and the reftoration of them to

359, 18-21. vs. ¥. 2. 1 will alfo gather all nations, &c.] Or carif or fufler them to be gathered together againft: his people; not the Aoabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, in the times of Febofhaphat, as Aben Ezra, but either the Turks, prophefied of under the name of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel, ch. xxxviii, and xxxix. and a multitude of other nations with them, who {hall be gathered together againft the Yews,