Exposition of the Whole Bible

Be L. 449 confufion, and diftrefs; but myftically of the church of Chrift, often called Zion and Ferufalem, Heb: xii, 22. hither the deliverer came, here he is, and to be feen; from hence the word of the Lord came, the gofpel of falvation, which proclaims deliverance to the captives; here it is to be heard, met with, and found, Jf ii. 3. Luke iv. 18. Rom. xi. 26. And in the remnant whom the Lord fball call; not merely externally, by the outward miniftry of the word; but internally, according to his purpofe, and by his grace, powerfully and effectually, to the fpecial bleflings of grace here, and - eternal glory hereafter: thefe are the rémnant according to the election of grace; the little flock to whom God gives the kingdom; the few that enter in at the ftrait gate; the little city, and few men in it, delivered by the poor wife man; thefe fhare in the deliverance of Zion, and fhall be certainly and completely faved, with an everlafting falvation. This may refpect not only the remnant, or a fmall numberof the Fews that believed in Chrift, upon his firft coming, and the preaching of the gofpel by his apoftles, but the call and converfion of them in the latter day; which fenfe connects the words better with the following chapter.

to regain the land of Fudea from them, they will upon their converfion inhabit; or elfe all the antichriftian kings and nations, which fhall be gathered to the battel of the great day of God Almighty, Rev. xvi. 14: and will bring them down into the valley of ‘ebofhaphat; Kimchi thinks this was fome valley near to Yerufalem, in which. Fehofoaphat built or wrought fome works, and fo was called by his name: Fo/eph ben Gorion * {peaks of a valley, called the valley of Febofbaphat, which was near Jerufalem, to the further end of which one Zachariah, a good man, in the times of the Fewifb wars, was rolled and died, being caft down from the top of a tower upon the wall, eaft of Ferufalem; and’ which is confirmed by R. Abraham, as quoted by Lively; and the true Fo/ephus {ays ’, that the valley into which this man was caft, lay dire@tly under Ferufalem, and Benjamin of Tudela * makes mention of a valley of this name, which he fays lies between Feru/alem and the mount of Olives; where Yerom * places it by the name of Celas; with whom Mr. Maundrel » agrees, who fays that this valley lies between mount Moriah and mount O/;- vet, and has its name from the fepulchre of Fehofoaphat: and according to Lyra on the place, who is followed by /Adrichomius *, it is the fame with the valley of Cedron, which was fo fituated; but why that fhould be called the valley of 7ehofhaphat, no reafon is given. ben Ezra and others are of opinion, that this is the fame with the valley of Berachah, whete Febofbapbat obtained a very great victory over many nations, 2 Chroy. xx. 1, 26. but it does not appear to have been called by his name, and befides, feems to be at a great diftance from Ferufalem; tho’ there may be an allufion to it, that as many nations were there colleéted together and deftroyed, fo fhall it be in

> Journey from Aleppo to Jerufalem, p- 103, the latter day; and I am of opinion, that no proper name of a place is here meant; as going by it in common, but is fo called, from the judgment of God here executed upon his and his people’s enemies. ‘So *farchi, calls it, the valley of judgments; Fehofbaphat fignifying the judgment of the Lord: Kimchi fays it may be fo called, becaufe of judgment, the Lord there pleading with the nations, and judging them: and in the Targum it is rendered, ‘* the valley of the divifion of judg- ** ment:” and to me it defigns no other than 4rmageddon, the feat of the battel of almighty God, Rev. xvi. 16. and which may fignify the deftruction of their troops; fee the note there. And will plead with them there, for my people, and for my beritage Ifrael, the people of the Hews, who will now be converted, who will have the Lo-ammi taken off of them, and will be called the people of the living God again, and be reckoned by him as his portion and inheritance;.tho’ not them only, but all the faints; all that have feparated from antichrift, his doétrine and worfhip, and have duffered by him: whom they have fcattered among the nations, and parted my land; Kimchi refers this to the fcattering of the Fews by Titus and his army, and the partition of fudea among them, which is not amifs; in confequence of which they are {till a fcattered people, and their land has been parted between Turks and Papifts; fometimes inhabited by the one, and fometimes by the other, and now by both, on whom God will take vengeance; he'll plead the caufe of his people, by the fevere judgments he’ll inflict on his and their enemies. This may refpect the perfecuting of the chriftians from place to place, and feizing on their lands and eftates, and parting them, as well.as the difperfion of the ‘ews, and the partition of the land of Canaan.

¥. 3. And they have caft lots for my people, &c.] Not only parted their Jand, but caft lots for their perfons, or played at dice for them, how many captives each foldier fhould have, and which fhould be their fhare and property: ninety-feven thoufand Fews, Fofephus * fays, were carried captive by the Romans, who very probably caft lots for them, as was ufual in fuch cafes; fee Nahum ili. 10: and have given a boy for a harlot, and fold a girl for wine, that they might drink, either they gave a boy to be proftituted to unnatural lufts, in lieu of a whore; and a girl to be debauched for a bottle of wine: or they gave a boy for the price of a whore, as the Targum and Kimchi interpret it; that is, they gave a boy, inftead of money, to a whore, to lie with her, as the eunuch was given to Thais; and they gave a girl to the vintner, for as much wine as they could drink at one fitting. Thefe phrafes both exprefs their uncleannefs and intemperance, and alfo the low price and value they fet upon their captives; and is applicable enough to the papifts, notorious for the fame abominable lufts.;

¥. 4. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the coafts of Paleftine? &c.

The Tyvians, Zidonians, and Pbhili/tines, were near neighbours of the Yews, and implacable enemies to them; and are here put for the enemies of the trve church of Chrift, the Papifts and Turks, and in whofe poffeffion thofe places now are: thefe are addreffed by the Lord, enquiring or demanding the reafon of their ill ufage of him and his people: what have ye to do with me? to be called by my name, or accounted my people; I know you not, nor will I have any fellowfhip with you: or what have ye to do with my people, to difturb and diftrefs them? what wrong have I or they done you, that you thus ufe them? wil? ye render mea recompence? for turning you out of your land, and.

putting my people into it? do you think to retaliate this? and if ye recompenfe me; by doing an injury to my people: /iwiftly and /peedily will I return your recompence upon your own bead; brin fwift and fudden deftruétion upon you,

y. 5. Becaufe ye have taken my filver, and | my

or which he had beftowed upon his people, and they had taken from them: and have carried into your temples my goodly pleafant things; either the rich furniture of the houfes of his people, which: they carried into their own houfes, or palaces *, as: it may be rendered; having either taken them away themfelves, or bought them of others that had taken them: or elfe the rich veffels of the temple; as thefe were carried away by the Chaldeans, and put into their idol-temples, Dam. i, 2. fo afterward they were taken by the Romans, and put into the temples of their gods: whether any of thefe came into the hands of the Zyrians, 8c. by any means, and were put into their idol-temples, as the temple of Hercules, is not certain; however, it is notorious, that the Papi/fs, the Tyrians are an emblem of, not only build ftately temples, and dedicate them to angels and faints, but moft pro- goodly and defirable things; which is putting them to an idolatrous ufe they were not defigned for.: “LT ae y. 6. The children alfo of Judah, and the children of Ferufalem, &c.] Not children in age literally, as Kimchi, kid-napped or bought by the Zyrians; but the inhabitants of ‘Yudah and Ferufalem: have ye fold unto the Grecians; or fons of Favan, it was one part of the merchandife of Tyre to trade in the perfons of men; and ‘favan, or the Greeks, with others, were their merchants for them, Ezek.

xxvii. 13. and the fouls of men are a part of the.

trade of the merchants of Rome, typified by the Tyrians, Rev. xviii. 13: that ye might remove them far from their border; from their own land, or place of dwelling, that fo they might not be eafily redeemed, and return to it any more. Rome, the antichriftian Fyre, trading with the fouls of men, is to their eternal damnation, as much as in them lies. Cocceius interprets this of the children of the church being trained up in the doctrine of Ariftotle, in the times of the fchoolmen.

¥. 7. Bebold, I will raife them out of the place whither ye have fold them, &c.]* That is, bring fufely adorn them with gold and filver, and all ° them back to their own land, from their places whither they have been carried captive, and where they have dwelt in obfcurity, and as if they had been buried in graves, but now fhould be raifed up and reftored; and this their reftoration will be as life from the dead. So the Targum, “* behold, ‘* T will bring them publickly from the place whi- “« ther ye have fold them;” this is to be underftood, not of the fame perfons, but of their pofterity, they being the fame natural body. Kimebt interprets. it of them and their children; them at the refurrection of the dead, their children at the time of falvation. Some think this had its accomplifhment in Alexander and his fucceffors, by — whom the Yews, who had been detained captives in other countries, were fet free; particularly by

Demetrius, as Fofephus relates: tho” it may be applied to the future refloration of the Yews out of This dectee of God, concerning the deliverance of his church, and the deftruétion of their enemies;

all countries, unto their own land; or rather to the’

gathering together the fpiritual J/rae/, or people of

God, who have been perfecuted from place to place by their antichriftian enemies. Ad will return your recompence upon your own head; do to them as they have done to others; pay them in their own ‘coin; retaliate the wrongs done to his people; fee Rev. xiii. ro. and xviii. 6.

¥. 8. dnd I will fell your fons and your daughters into the band of the children of Fudab, &c.] That is, deliver. them into their hands, to difpofe of them; this is thought to have been literally fulfilled in the Zyrians, when thirty thoufand ¢ of them were fold for flaves, upon the taking of their city by Alexander, who put fome of them into the hands ot the Yews, they being in friendfhip with him:

it myftically defigns the power that the ewish church, converted, and in union with Gentile chriftians, will have over the antichriftian ftates: they shall fell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off; the inhabitants of Sheba, a country by the Jews reckoned the uttermoft parts of the earth; fee Matt. xii. 42. Thefe are not the fame with the Sabeans, the inhabitants of Arabia Deferta, that took away ‘Yod’s oxen and afies; but rather thofe who were the inhabitants of Arabia Felix, which lay at a greater diftance. So Strabo" fays, the Sabeans inhabited Arabia Felix; and Diodorus Siculus* reckons the Sabeans as very populous, and ene of the Arabian nations, who inhabited that Arabia which is called Felix, the metropolis of which is Sada; and he, as well as Strabo, obferves, that this country produces many odoriferous plants, as cafia, cinnamon, frankincenfe,.and calamus, or the fweet cane; hence incen/e is faid to come from Sheba, and the fweet cane from a far country, Jer. vi. 20. and fince the ‘Fews traded with thefe people for thofe fpices, it is eafy to conceive how they fold their captives to them: now thefe lived at a ereat diftance, in the extreme parts of Arabia, both towards the Indian fea, and the Arabian gulph. And Diodorus Siculus * obferves, that dia tov sxromiswov, becaufe of the diftance of their fituation, they never came into the power, or under the dominion of any, or were never fubdued. Thefe feem to be the defcendents of Cu/h, the fon o Ham, and if they were the defcendents of Foktan, the fon of Shem, as fome think, thefe are placed by Vitringa' in Carmania; and where Pliny ™ makes mention of a city called Sade, and of the river Sabis; and it is worthy of notice, that the ancient Greek fathers ", with one confent, interpret the Sa- ézans of the Saracens: and whether they may not defign the Turks, in whofe poffeffion this country now is, and into whofe hands the antichriftian powers may be delivered by means of the chriftians, both Fews andaGentiles, may be confidered. For the Lord hath fpoken it; and therefore it fhall be accomplifhed. The Targum is, “* for by the “word of the Lord it is fo decreed;” whofe counfels and decrees can never be fruftrated. This, in an ancient book of the Fews called Mechilta, is referred to the prophecy of Noab concerning Canaan, whofe fons inhabited Tyre, a fervant of fervants foall he be to bis brethren, Gen, ix. 25. as farchi obferves.

¥. g. Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles, &c.]

which is to be proclaimed among them, to the terror of them, and the comfort ot God’s people, encouraging them to the battel, fince they might be fure of victory; for the prophet here returns to give an account of the armiés to be gathered together, and to be deftroyed in the valley of Fehofoaphat, as appears from ¥. 12. and to this end, heralds are here ordered to make proclamation of war throughout the nations, and to gather them to the battel of almighty God; whether ferioufly or ironically, may be confidered; what follows feetns to be fpoken in the latter way, to the enemies of the church; tho’ they may be interpreted as fpoken ferioufly to the people of God themtelves ¢

‘prepare war, get all things ready for it, men and arms: wake up the mighty men, generals, captains, and other officers, men of ftrength and courage; let them aroufe from the fleep and lethargy: in which they are, and get themfelves in a readinefs for war, and put themfelves at the head of their troops: Jet all the men of war draw near, let them come up; to the land of Fudea, and to Ferufalem; that is, either the chriftian powers with their armies, to defend Yerufalem againft the Turks, and deliver it out of their hands; let them appear on the behalf of the Fews: or elfe let the enemies of Chrift’s church and people come up againft them, even the moft powerful of them; Jet them mufter up all their forces, and do the moft they can, they fhall not prevail.

¥. 10. Beat your plow-fbares into fwords, and your pruning-hooks into fpears, &c.| Let not only foldiers, and fuch as have been trained up in military difcipline, appear in the field on this occafion; but let hufbandmen and vine-dreffers leave their fields and vineyards, and turn their inftruments of hufbandry and vine-dreffing into weapons of war; let them not plead want of armour, but convert thefe to fuch ufes: on the contrary, when this battet will be over, fwords fhall be beat into plow-fhares, and fpears into pruning-hooks, Jf ii. 4: Jet the weak fay, Iam ftrong; fuch as are weak thro’ ficknefs, or old age, let them not plead their weaknefs to excufe them from engaging in this war; but let them make the beft of themfelves, and fay they are ftrong and healthy, and fit for it, and enter in it with all courage and bravery: this is faid either ironically to the enemies of God’s people, fuggefting that all hands would be, wanted, and fhould be employed, weak and ftrong, and all little enough; when they had made the utmoft effort they could, it would be in vain: or elfe they are ferioufly fpoken to the people of God, that none of them fhould excufe themfelves, or be difcouraged becaufe of their weaknefs, from engaging in this laft and fore battel; but take heart, and be of good courage, and quit themfelves like men, and be ftrong, fince they might be fure of victory before-hand. The apoftle Paul refers to this text in 2 Cor. xii. 10. and applies it to fpiritual weaknefs and ftreneth; and indeed the weakeft believer, that is fo in faith and knowledge, may fay he is ftrong, in comparifon of what he once was, and others are; ftrong, not in himfelf, but in Chrift, in the power of his might, and in the ape that is in him; nor fhould he excufe himfelf from fighting the Lord’s battels, againft fin, fatan, and the ls an

452 x -@ and falfe teachers; or from doing the Lord’s work, any fervice he calls him to; or from bearing the crofs he lays on him on account of his weaknefs; nor fhould he be difcouraged by it from thofe things; but let him ftrengthen himfelf, as Aben Ezra interprets it, take heart, and be of good courage.; _¥e11. Affemble yourfelves, &cc.] From divers parts into one place: de ye gathered; or gather yourfelves together, as the Targum and Kimchi get together in a body, mufter up all the forces you can collect together. archi from Menachem, by the change of a letter, renders it, make ye bajfte, lofe no time in preparing for this battel; get men and arms for them as faft as you can; be as expeditious as poflible: aud come all ye heathen antichriftian nations, Mebometan or Papal; which latter efpecially, are fometimes called heathen and Gentiles, becaufe of the heathenifh rites introduced into their worfhip, P/. x. 16., Rev. xi. 2: and gather yourfelves round about; fram all parts, to the valley of Fehofpaphat or Armageddon, Rev. xvi. 14, 16. this is fpoken ironically to them, to ufe their utmoft endeavours to get moft powerful armies againit the people of God, which would be. of no avail, but ufue in their own deftruction; or it may fignify what fhould be done by the providence of God, bringing fuch large numbers of them together to their own-ruin: ‘hither caufe thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord; which is a prayer of the prophet, or of the church, to God, that he would fend down ‘his mighty ones, the angels that excel in ftrength, and deftroy this great army thus ga-. thered together, as an angel in one night deftroyed the army of Senuacherib. So Kimchi and Aben Ezra interpret it of angels, and many other interpreters; but perhaps it may be better to underftand it of chriftian princes and their forces, thofe armies clothed in white, and riding on white horfes, in token of victory, with Chrift at the head of them, Rev. xix. 14. who may. be faid to be caufed to come down, becaufe being affembled, fhall go down into the valley of ehofbaphat, where their enemies are gathered together, and difcomfit them. The Targum is, ‘* there the Lord fhall break the ** ftrength of their ftrong ones.” ¥.12. Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Febofhaphat, &c.|. That is, let the enemies of Chrift and his church be aroufed’ from that ftate of fecurity in which they are, and prepare for their own defence; for in fuch a ftate the antichriftian powers will be before their deftruction; fee Rev. xviii. 7. let them beftir themfelves, and, exert all the vigour and ftrength they have; let them come in high fpirits againft the people of God; let them invade the holy land, and come even to the valley of Febofbapbat, and when come thither, let them defcend into the place appointed, for their ruin: the land of Fudea being faid to be higher than other countries, going to it is generally exprefied by going up to it; otherwife it is more ufual to fay that men go down a valley, than come up to it; and mention being made again of this valley, fhows that the fame thing is referred. to here asin y. 2. thefe wards are faid in anfwer te the petition in the former verfe;, for they are {poken. by the Lord, as appears by what follows: jor there will I fit to judge all the heathen round about; thither gathered together from all parts: the allufion is to a judge upon the bench fitting to hear and try caufes, and pafs a definitive fentence; and

YVAN Proy.2 in valle triturationis, Pifcator.

here it fignifies the execution of that fentence; fuch a pleading the caufe of his people, as to take vengeance, and inflict juft punifhment upon their ene-

y¥. 13. Put ye in the fickle, for the harveft is ripe,

&c.] This is faid to the mighty ones fent, the chriftian princes, the executioners of God’s vengeance on antichrift; the angels that will pour out the vials of his wrath on the antichriftian ftates, compared to reapers, with a fharp fickle in their hands, to cut them down, as corn is cut when reaped; as the fame ftates are compared to a harveft ripe; the meafure of their fins being filled up, and the time of their deftruétion appointed for them come; fee Rev. xiv. 15: come get ye down; to the valley: or go tread ye° for another fimile is made — ufe of: the reference here is to the treading of — clufters of grapes in the wine-prefs, as appears by — what follows: and fo the Targum renders it, ** dew _

‘¢ fcend, tread their mighty men;”’ in like manner

Jarchi interprets it; and fo the Septuagint, Syriac,.

and Arabic verfions render it: and Dr. Pocock obferves, that the word gy in the Arabic language, fignifies to tread, as men tread grapes in a preis >’ the reafons follow, for the prefs is full; of clufters of the vine; or the valley is full of wicked men, compared unto them, deftined to deftru&tion: she.

fats overfiow;, with the juice of grapes fqueezed out, denoting the great effufion of blood that will be made; fee Rev. xiv. 18, 19, 20. and xix. 15, 18, 20: for their wickedne/s is great, is come to its height, reaches even to heaven, and calls aloud for vengeance; an end is come to it, and to the authors of it, Rev. xviii. 5. The Zargum of the whole is, ‘* draw out the fword againft them, for ‘¢ the time of their end is come; defcend, tread

.* their mighty men flain, as any thing is trodden

‘¢ in a wine-prefs; pour out their blood, for their *¢ wickednefs is multiplied.”

¥. 14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decifion, &c.] The fame with the valley of Febofhaphat before-mentioned; which fhews that not any, valley of that name is intended, but a certain place fo called, from the judgments of God in it; and here named ¢he valley of decifion, becaufe here their Judgment will be determined, as Kimchi and Farchi; and at this time the controverfy between od, and his people’s enemies, will be decided, and at an end: or the valley of concifion, as the Vulgate Latin verfion; becaufe in this place, and at this time, the nations gathered together in ity will be cut to pieces: or as others, the valley of threfbing ®; becaufe, as in Febofhapbat’s time, the Moabites and Ammonites were threfhed by the Jews in the valley of Berachab, to which the allufion is;;

fo at this time the antichriftian kings and. their armies will be threfhed and beaten, and deftroyed by the men of Fudab, God’s profeffing people; fee Micah iv. 13. thefe feemt@ be the words of the prophet, breaking out into this pathetic exclamation, upon a fight of the vaft multitudes gathered together in this valley, and flain in it; and/the doubling of the word ferves to exprefs the prodigious number of them: and this fhews that this prophecy refers either to. the vaft army of the Turks, under the name of Gog, and the great flaughter that will be. made of them; and'that this valley may be the fame with the valley of Hamon-Gog, that is, the valley of the multitude of Gog, where their multitude of flain fhall be buried, Ezek. xxxix. 11. = or to that vaft carnage of the antichriftian ined _ % 2 te) “ie ¢ and their armies at Armageddon, Rev. xvi: 14, 16. and xix. 18, 19, 20, 21. the Targum is, ‘* armies, “* armies in the valley of the divifion of judg- ‘© ment:” for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decifion, that is, the great and terrible day of the Lord, to take vengeance on all the antichriftian powers, both eaftern and welftern, is nigh at hand, which will be done in this valley. Wy. 15. The fun and moon fhall be darkned, &c.] Both the politic and ecclefiaftic ftate of antichrift, fhall be ruined and. deftroyed; it fhall fare with Rome papal, as it did with Rome pagan, at the time of its diffolution; fee Rev. vi. 12, 13. and xvi. 8: and the flars foall withdraw their shining; antichriftian princes and nobles in the civil ftate, and the clergy of all ranks in the church-ftate, fhall.

¥. 16. The Lord alfo fhail roar out of Zion, and utter bis voice from Ferufalem, &c.] Chrift, the Lamb, fhall now appear as the lion of the tribe of Fudah, and utter his voice in his providence and judgments on the behalf of his church and people, fignified by Zion and Ferufalem, and therefore faid to roar, and utter his voice from thence; he will be heard far and near, and ftrike terror in the hearts of his enemies; fee Yer, xxv. 30, 31: and the heavens and the earth fhall fbake; great revolutions will be made in the world, both in church and ftate, among the antichriftian powers; and fuch as will alfo make them fhake and tremble, as well as alter the form and frame of things among them; fee Rev. xvi. 18, 19. changes in government, civil and ecclefiaftic, are fometimes fignified by fuch phrafes, Hagg. ii. 6, 7. Heb. xii. 26, 27. Rev. vi. 14, and xi. 13, 19: but the Lord will be the hope of bis people; the object, author, eround, and foundation of their hope of falvation here and hereafter; in whom they may hope for and expect fafety and fecurity in the worft of times; fince he will be their refuge, or their barbour *, as it may be rendered; to whom they may have recourfe, to fhelter and fkreen them from the rage and wrath of their enemies, and where they will be fafe, till the indignation of God be over and paft; and while calamities and judgements are upon the unchriftian and ungodly world, they will have nothing to fear amidft thefe ftorms, being in a good harbour: and the firength of the children of Ifrael, of the fpiritual [/rae/; of all fuch who are J/raelites indeed, the Lord’s chofen, redeemed, and called people, both fews and Gentiles; the author and giver of their fpiritual ftrength, the ftrength of their lives and of their hearts, of their graces and of their falvation; by whom they are furnifhed with ftrength to do the duties of religion; to exercife grace; to wreftle with God in prayer;. to withftand fpiritual enemies; to bear afflictions patiently, and to perfevere to the end: or he is their fortre/s '; their ftrong-hold and place of defence, where they are fafe from every enemy, free from all diftrefles, enjoy folid peace and comfort, and have plenty of provifions, J/ xxxiii. 16. y¥.17. So foall ye know that Iam the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain, &c.| The. church of Ged, which is his dwelling-place; and will appear more manifeftly to be fo at this time, when Chrift the Lamb will ftand on mount Zion, t dura quercus fudabunt rofcida mella.

with an 144,000, having his Father’s name in their foreheads, Rev. xiv. 1. and which prefence of the Lord will be clearly difcerned by his people; by the deftruétion of their enemies, and by his protection of them; by his being theif hope and itrength, their refuge and their fortrefs; they will experimentally know his divine inhabitation among them: then fhall Ferufalem be holy s or holinefs + not Ferufalem literally taken, as Kimchi; tho’ it being now rebuilt, will be inhabited by holy perfons, the converted Yews, and fo all manner of holinefs practifed in it; but rather the whole church of God every where, confifting of holy perfons, made fo thro’ the holinefs of Chrift imputed to them, and the fanctifying grace of his Spirit wrought in them; not that they will be perfectly holy in themfelves, as the faints will in the new Ferufalem-ftate, Rev. Xxi. 2, 27. but they will be greatly fo; holinefs will be predominant

_and univerfal among men; there will be more real faints, and fewer hypocrites will be in the churches; fee If. iv. 3. Zech. xiv. 20, 21: and there fhall no Strangers pafs thro’ her any more; to hurt and annoy the church of God; for there fhall be none in thefe times to moleft, difturb, and hurt in all the holy mountain of the Lord, J/ xi. 9. or to pollute her with falfe doctrine, fuperftitious worfhip, or immorality; or her communion fhall not be interrupted and made uncomfortable, or fhe be peftered with hypocrites and ungodly perfons, ftrangers to God and godlinefs, to Chrift, his Spirit, and the power of religion; fee J/ lii. 1. Ezek. xliv. 9.

y. 18. And it foall come to pafs in that day, &c.] When antichrift fhall be deftroyed;' the Fews converted; the power of godlinefs revived, and the prefence of God among his people enjoyed. /itringa, in his Commentary on J/aiah, frequently applies this, and fuch like prophecies, to the times of the Maccabees; tho’ he owns, they were but an emblem of better times under the gofpel-difpenfation; nor does he deny the myftical and {piritual fenfe of them. That the mountains fhall drop down new wine; which, and the following expreffions, are to be underftood not in a ftrict literal fenfe, as LaGantius' feems to have underftood them; who fays, that in the millennium God will caufe a rain of bleffing to defcend morning and evening; the earth fhall bring forth all kind of fruit without the labour of man; honey fhall drop from the rocks, and the fountains of milk and wine fhall overflow: but hyperbolically, juft as the land of Canaan is faid to flow with milk and honey; not that it really did, but the phrafe is ufed to denote the fertility of it, and the abundance of temporal bleffings in it. The. literal fenfe is this, that the mountains fhall be covered with vines, on which they are often planted; thefe vines fhall be full of large clufters of grapes; and thefe grapes being preffed, fhall yield a large quantity of new wine; and fo by a metonymy, the mountains are faid to drop it down", that is, to abound with it, or produce an abundance of it: but the fpiritual or my- {tical fenfe is, that the churches of Chrift in. thofé times, comparable to mountains, and fo to hills in the next claufe, for their exalted and-vifible glorious {tate in which they now will be; and for the rich ifts and graces of the Spirit within thems and ear the pafture upon them, and the trees of righteoufnefs that grow thereon; and alfo for their firmnefs and ftability, their immoveablenefs and perpetual duration; thefe fhall abound with freth and large difcoveries of the love of God and Chrift, which is better than wine, Cant. i. 2, 4. like wine cheering and refrefhing; like new wine, tho’ old as to its original, yet new in the manifeftations of it; and which are ufually made in the church, and the ordinances of it, to the making glad the hearts of the Lord’s people; alfo they fhall abound with the bleffings of grace, the fruits of love, fuch as pardon, peace, juftification, &c. which like wine fill with joy, revive and comfort; and tho’ they are ancient bleffings, provided long ago, they are exhibited under the gofpel-difpenfation in a new covenant-way; and the application of them is made in the churches, in Zion, where the Lord commands the bleffing, even life for evermore. This may alfo take in the gofpel, which brings the good news of thefe bleffings, and fo is very reviving and cheering; and tho’ ordained and preached of old, is newly revealed under the prefent difpenfation; and will be more clearly in after-times, when all the mountains or churches will abound with it, and even the whole earth be filled with the knowledge of it, J/, xi. g. likewife the ordinance of the Lord’s fupper, that feaft of fat things, of wines on the lees well refined, made in the mountain of the Lord, for all his people may be included; and both in that, and in the miniftry of the word, the Lord is fometimes pleafed, as he may, more abundantly hereafter, to give his faints fome prelibations of that new wine, which Chrift and they fhall partake of in his Father’s kingdom; fee Cazt. vii. 9. If. xxv. 6. and lv. 1, 2, 3. Matt. xxvie29: And the hills fhall flow with milk; that is, there fhall be much pafturage upon them, and a great number of cattel feeding thereon, which fhall yield large quantities of milk; and fo by the fame figure as before, the hills may be faid to flow with it ”. The fpiritual meaning is, that the churches of Chrift, comparable to hills for the reafons before given, fhall abound with the means of grace, with the fincere milk of the word; to which the gofpel is compared for its whitenefs and purity, for every word of God is pure and purifying; for affwaging the wrath the law produces; its being eafy of digeftion, even to new-born babes; and its falutary nourifhing virtue and efficacy; and, of this there will be great abundance in the latter day; fee Cant. iv. 11. 1 Pet. ii. 2, 3. And all the rivers of Fudab foal] flow with waters; that is, the channels, in which the rivers run; thefe, in a time of drought, are fometimes empty, and the bottoms of them to be feen, but now full of water, and flow with it: grace is often in {cripture compared to water, becaufe of its refrefhing, cleanfing, and fructifying nature; and rivers denote an abundance of it; and the channels, thro’ which it is conveyed to men, out of the fulnefs of Chrift, are the ordinances; fee Zech. iv. 12. and the prophecy fuggefts, that thefe fhould not be dry and empty, but that large meafures of grace fhall be communicated by means of them to the fouls of men, to their great comfort and edification, and for the fupply of their wants; fee Ezek. xxxvi. 25. Fobn iii. 5. and iv. 10, 14.

W Flumina jam laétis, jam flumina ne€taris ibant, Flavaque de viridi ftillabant ibice mella,

and vii. 37, 38, 39. And a fountain foall come forth ay of the houfe of the Lord, not meaning baptifm, as fome; nor Chrift, the fountain of grace, life, and falvation; but the gofpel,. the word of the Lord, that fountain full of excellent truths and doétrines; of the bleffings of grace; of exceeding great and precious promifes; and of much fpiritual peace, joy, and comfort: this is the law or doétrine of the Lord, that fhould conte out of Zion, or the church, J/- ii. 3. the living waters that fhall come out of Ferufalem, Zech. xiv. 8. and the fame with the waters in Fzekiel’s vifion, that came from under the threfhold of the houfe, Ezek: xlvii. 1. it feemsto denote the fimall beginnings of the gofpel, and the great increafe and overflow of it in the world, as it does in all the above paflages: this is referred by the ancient ‘fews * to the times of the Meffiah. —

And foall water the valley of Shittim; a plain or valley near Yordan, upon the borders of Moab, at the further end of Canaan that way, Numb. xxxiii. 49. Fob. iii. 1. Benjamin of Tudela’ fays, that from the mount of Odives may be feen the plain and brook of Shittim, unto or near mount Nebo, which was in the land of Moab. This valley or plain, as the Targum, was fo called, either from the Séittab-tree, Jf xli. 19. of which was the wood Shittim, fo much ufed for various things in the tabernacle and temple, that grew there; and which Ferom on this place fays, was a kind of tree that grew in the wildernefs, like a white thorn in colour and leaves, tho’ not in bignefs; for otherwife it was a very large tree, out of which the broadeft planks might be cut, and its wood very ftrong, and of incredible {moothnefs. and beauty; and which grew not in cultivated places, nor in the Roman foil, but in the defert of Arabia; and therefore one would think did not grow in this plain near Yordan, and fo could not be denominated from hence: but Dr. Shaw * obferves, that the Acacia is by much the largeft and the moft common tree of thefe deferts (7. e. of Arabia) as it’ might likewife have been of the plains of Shittim over-againtt Jericho, from whence it took its name; and adds, we have fome reafon to conjecture, that the Shittim wood, whereof the feveral utenfils, &c. of the tabernacle, Gc. Exod. xxv. 10, 13, 23, &e. were made, was the wood of the Acacia. Or it may be this place had its name from the rufhes which grew on the banks of Yordax, near to which it was; for fo is the word interpreted by fome *: and Saadiab Gaon fays, this valley. is Fordan; fo called, becaufe Yordan was near to a place called Shittim: however, be it as it will, this can never be underftood in a literal fenfe, that any fountain © fhould arife out of the temple, and flow as far as beyond Yordan, and water any tract of land there; but muft be underftood fpiritually, of the fame waters of the fanctuary as in Ezekiel’s vifion, ch. xlvii. 1, 8. at moft, the literal fenfe could only be, that the whole land fhould be well watered from one.

end to the other, and become very fertile and fruitful, by the order and dire&tion of the Lord, that dwells in his temple. The myftical fenfe is beft. archi makes mention of a Midra/h, that int it of the expiation of the fins of the J/raelites, in

2, 3. but the true fpiritual fenfe is, that the gofj lil, V.1QO—21. 7 10 that the whole world fhall be filled and watered with it, and become fruitful, which before was like a defert; thefe living waters fhall flow, both toward the former and the hinder feas, the eaftern and weftern, as in Zech. xiv. 8. fee Jf, xi. g. Some render it, /hall water the valley of cedars”; the Shit= tim wood being a kind of cedar, of which many things belonging to the tabernacle, a type of the church, was made, being firm, found, incorruptible and durable; fee Exed. xxv. 10, 23. and xxvi. 26, 32. and xxvii. 1. faints are compared to cedars for their height in Chrift, their ftrength in him, and in his grace; their large and fpreading leaves, branches, and roots, or growth in grace; and for their duration and incorruption; fee Numb, xxiv. 5,6. Pf xcii. 13. a valley may fignify the low eftate of God’s people; or be an emblem of lowly, meek, and humble fouls, to whom the gofpel is preached, and who are watered and revived by it, and to whom more grace is given; fee J//; xl. 4. and Ixi. 1. and lvii. 15. It is by Symmachus rendered, the valley of thorns; and fo Quinquarboreus © fays, the word fignifies and defigns fuch who are barren in good works.

¥. 19. Egypt foall be a defolation, and Edom fhall be a defolate wildernefs, &c.] Thefe two nations having been the implacable enemies of J/rae/, are here put fog the future adverfaries of the church of Chrift, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan; who will all be deftroyed as fuch, and be no more: Rome is called, fpiritually or myftically, Egypt, Rev. xi. 8. and Edom is a name that well agrees with it, it fignifying red, as it is with the blood of the faints: and it is common with the Fewih writers, by Edom to underftand Rome; which tho’ it may not be true of all places they fo interpret, yet is of many, and fo here. Kimchi, by Egypt, underftands the Jhmaelites, or the Turks; and by Edom, Rome. For the violence of the children of Fudah, becaufe they have fhed innocent blood in their land; either in the land of Fudahys or rather in their own land, Egypt and Edom. This refpects the violences and outrages committed by the antichriftian ftates upon the true profeffors of the chriftian religion, the Waldenfes, and Albigenfes, and others, whofe innocent blood, in great quantities, has been fpilled by them. Awntichrift is reprefented as drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jefus, and in whom will be found the blood of all the prophets and faints; and for this reafon ruin and deftruction will come upon him and his followers, and blood will be given them to drink,

2 1) ever 1 the Lord, margin of our bibles.

¥. 20. But Fudab fhall-dwell for ever; 8c.) Fhe converted Fews fhall dwell in their own land for ever, to the end of the world, and never more be carried captive, Ezek. xxxvii. 25. and the true profeffing people of God, as Fudah fignifies, fhall continue in a church-ftate evermore, and never more be difturbed by any enemies; they fhall dwell fafely and peaceably to the end of time: and Ferufalem from generation to generation; fhall dwell fo in like manner, age after age; that is, the inhabitants of ‘Yerujalem, or the members of the true church of Chrift, who fhall fee and enjoy peace and profperity, both temporal and fpiritual, as Ferufalem fignifies.

y. 21..For I will cleanfe their blood, which I have not cleanfed, &c.| Which fome underftand, as the Targum, of the Lord’s inflicting further punifhments on the enemies of his people, for fthedding their innocent blood; and that he will not expiate their fins, nor hold them guiltlefs, or fuffer them to go unpunifhed: but rather this is to be interpreted in a way of grace and mercy, as a benefit beftowed on Fudah and Ferufalem, who are the immediate antecedents to the relative here; and in the words a reafon is given, why they fhould dwell fafely and peaceably for ever, becaufe the Lord will juftify them from their fins; forgive their iniquities; cleanfe them from all their pollution, fignified by blood; of which grace they will have had no application made to them till this time; but now all their guilt and filth will be removed; and particularly God will forgive, and declare to be forgiven, their fin of crucifying Chrift; whofe blood they had imprecated upon themfelves and their children, and which has remained on them; but now will be removed, with all the fad effects of it. Tho’ this may alfo refer to the converfion of the Geniiles, and the pardon of their fins, and the fanctification of their perfons, in fuch places and parts of the world, where fuch bleffings of grace have not been beftowed in times paft for many ages, if ever. For the Lord dwelleth in Zion, and therefore will diffufe his grace, and fpread the bleffings of it all around: or even the Lord that dwelleth in Zion*; he will do what is before promifed; being the Lord he can do it; and dwelling in Zion his church, ir may be believed he will do it; and this will be for ever, when his Shekinab fhall return thither in the days of the Meffiah, as Kimchz obferves.

© Scholia in Targum in loo,

T HIS book in the Hebrew bibles is called Sepher Amos, the book of Amos; and in the Vulgate Latin and Syriac verfions, the prophecy of Amos. This is not the fame perfon with the father of J/aiab, as fome have ignorantly confounded them; for their names are wrote with different letters; befides, the father of J/aiah is thought to have been of the royal family, and a courtier; whereas this man was a country farmer and herdfman. His name fignifies burdened: the

Fews * fay he was fo called, becaufe burdened in his tongue, or had an impediment in his fpeech, and ftammered; but rather becaufe his prophecies were burdens to the people, fuch as they could not bear, being full of reproofs and threatnings; however, his prophecy in this refpect agrees with his name. What time he lived may be learned from ch. i. 1. by which it appears, that he was cotemporary with J/aiab and Hofea; but whether he lived and prophefied fo long as they did, is not certain. The author of Seder Olam Zuta ° makes him to prophefy in the reigns of Uzziah, cut *, and R. David Ganz *, place him later than

Hofea, and prior to Daiah; they fay that Amos received the law from Ho/ea, and J/aiah from Amos.

Mr. Whifton * makes him to begin to prophefy in the year of the Yulian period 3941, and before

Chrift 773; and Mr. Bedford ‘ earlier, in the year

8023 and from fome paffages in his prophecy, he appears to be of the land of Judah; fee ch.

i. 1. and vii. 12. tho’ he prophefied in the land of

Trael, and againft the ten tribes chiefly; the occafion of which was, Jereboam had been very fuccefsful and victorious, and the people under him enjoyed great plenty and profperity, and upon this grew wanton, luxurious, and very finful; wherefore this prophet was fent to reprove them for their fins, to exhort them to repentance, and threaten them with captivity, in cafe of impenitence; and to comfort the truly godly with promifes of the Meffiah’s coming and kingdom. The authenticity of this book is not to be queftioned, fince many paflages out of it were taken by following prophets, as the words in ch. i. 2. by Foel iii. 16. and by Feremiah, ch. xxy. 30. ch. iv. 9. by Hagg. ii. 17. ch. ix. 13. by Yoel iii. 18. and others are quoted by the writers of the New Te- {tament as divinely infpired, as ch. v. 25, 26, 27. and ix. 11, in és vii. 42, 43. and xv. 15, 16. nor is there any room to doubt of his being the writer of this book, as is manifeft of his fpeaking of himfelf as the firft perfon in it; tho’ Hobbes ® fays, it does not appear. Some have thought that his language is ruftic, fuitable to his former charaéter and employment; but certain it is, there are mafterly ftrokes, and great beauties of eloquence in it; and which fhows, that it is more than human. According to fome writers, he was often beat and buffeted by Amaziah the prieft of Bethel; and at laft the fon of the prieft drove a nail into his temples, upon which he was carried ~ alive into his own country, and there died, and was buried in the fepulchre of his anceftors at Tekoa *.

Naess chapter begins with the general title of the book, in which the author is defcribed by name, and by his condition of life, and by his country, and the time of his prophecy fixed, y. 1. He firlt foretels a drought in the land of J/rae, in the moft fruitful places, which would caufe mourning among the fhepherds, y. 2. then the captivity of the Syriaxs, whofe metropolis was Damafcus, ¥. 3, 4, 5. Next the deftruction of the Philiftines, whole principal cities were Gaza, Afbdod, Afkelon, and Hkron, ¥. 6, 7,8. After that the ruin of

Tyre, with the reafon of it, ¥. 9, 10. then the ca-

Jamities that fhould come upon Edom, whofe chief places were Zeman and Bozrab, y. 11, 12. and laftly the defolations of the Ammonites, whofe metropolis Rabéah thould be deftroyed, and their king and princes go into captivity, ¥. 13, 14, 15. and all this for the fins of thefe feveral nations.

y. 1. The words of Amos, &c.] Not which he - fpoke of, or for himfelf, but from the Lord; all the prophecies, vifions and revelations made unto him are intended: who was among the herdfmen of Tekoa; which was not in the tribe of fer, as. Kimchi; nor of Zebulun, as Pfeudo-Epiphanius *; but in the tribe of Fudah, 2 Chron. xi. 5, 6. Fer. vi. 1. It lay to the fouth, and was fix miles from Bethlehem. Mr. Maundrel * fays, it is nine miles diftant, to the fouth of it; and according to Ferom‘, it was twelve miles from Ferufalem; tho? he elfewhere " fays, Thecua or Tekoa is a village at this day, n!ne miles from Aelia or Ferufalem, of which place was mos the prophet, and where his fepulchre is feen; either there is a miftake of the number, or of lia for Bethlehem; the former rather feems to be the cafe; according to Fo/é- phus*, it was not far from the caftle of wales

The Mifnic doctors o fpeak. of it as famous’ for oil, where the beft was to be had; near to it was a wildernefs, called the wildernefs of Zekoa; and Ferom » fays, that beyond it there was no village, nor fo much as huts and cottages, but a large wildernefs which reached to the Red-fea, and to the borders of the Perfians, Ethiopians, and Indians, and was full of fhepherds, among whom Amos was; whether he was a mafter-herdiman, or a fervant of one, is not faid. The word is ufed of the king of Moab, who is faid to be a /heepmafter, 2 Kings iii. 4. he traded in cattel, and got riches thereby; and fo the Zargum here renders it, ‘* who was lord or matter of cattel;” and Kimchi interprets it, he was a great man among the herdfmen; and fo it was a piece of felf-denial to leave his bufinefs, and go to prophefying; but rather he was a fervant, and kept cattel for others, which beft agrees with ch. vii. 14. and fo is expreffive of the grace of God in calling fo mean a perfon to fuch an high office. The word ufed fignifies to mark; and fhepherds were fo called from marking their fheep to diftinguifh them, which feems to be the work of fervants; and, in the Arabic language, a kind of fheep deformed, and of fhort feet, are fo called: which he faw concerning Ifrael; or, againft Jrael 4, the ten tribes, to whom he was fent, and againft whom he prophefied chiefly;-for he fays very little of Fudab. Words are more properly faid to be fpoken or heard; but here they are faid to be feen; which fhews that not bare words are meant, but things, which the prophet had revealed to him in a vifionary way, and he delivered; fee Jf ii. 1: in the days of Uzziah king of Fudah, who was alfo called Azariah, 2 Kings xv. 1: and in the days of Feroboam, the fon of Foafh king of Ifrael; fo he is called to diftinguifh him from Yeroboam the fon of Nebat; this king was the grandfon of Febu; he was, as Ferom fays, before Sardauapalus reigned over the A/- fyrians, and Procas Sylvius over the Latines: two years before the earthquake; which was well known in thofe times, and frefh in memory. Zechariah fpeaks of it many years after, from whom we learn it was in the days of Uzziah, ch. xiv. 5. The Fewifo writers generally fay, that it was when Uzziah was- fmote with leprofy for invading the prieft’s office; and was in the year in which he died, when J/aiab had a vifion of the glory of the Lord, and the pofts of the houfe moved, J. vi. 1, 4. and with whom Fo/fephus * agrees; who alfo relates, that the temple being rent by the earthquake, the bright light of the fun fhone upon the king’s face, and the leprofy immediately feized him; and at a place before the city called Evoge, half part of a mountain towards the weft was broken and rolled four furlongs towards the eatft-

‘ ern part, and there ftood and {topped up the ways, and the king’s gardens; but this cannot be true, as Theodoret obferves; fince, according to this account, Amos muft begin to prophefy in the soth year of Uzziah, for he reigned 52 years, and he began his reign in the 27th year of Feroboam, 2 Kings xv. 1. who reigned 41 years, 2 Kings xiv. 23. fo that Uzziah and he were cotemporary fourteen years only, and Feroboam mutt have been dead 36 years, when it was the soth of Uzziah; whereas they are here reprefented as cotemporary when Amos

OS. 457 began to prophefy, which was but two years before the earthquake; fo that this earthquake muft be in the former, and not the latter part of Uzziah’s reign, and confequently not when he was ftricken with the leprofy. ely ¥. 2. And he faid, &c.] That is, the prophet Anos before-defcribed; he being under divine infpiration, faid, as follows: the Lord will rear from Zion, and utter bis voice from Ferufalem,; not from Samaria, nor from Dan and Bethel, but from Zion and ‘Ferufalem, where the temple of the Lord ftood; and out of the holy of holies in it, where was the feat of the divine majefty; and his voice being compared to the roaring of a lion, denotes his wrath and vengeance; and is expreffive of fome terrible threatning prophecy he would fend from hence, by one or other of his prophets; perhaps Amos may mean himfelf; and who, having been a fhepherd or herdfman in the wildernefs, had often heard the terrible roaring of the lion, to which he compares his prophecy concerning the judgments of God on nations. Some think reference is had to the earthquake, as 4ben Ezra; and which might be attended with thunder and lightning, the voice of God: and the habitations of the Jhepberds Jeall mourn, that is, the huts or cottages they dwell in, ereéted for the more convenient care of their flocks; thefe, by a figure, are faid to mourn, becaufe expofed to the violent heat of the fun in this time of drought; or becaufe forfaken by the fhepherds; or it may defign the fhepherds themfelves that dwelled in them, that fhould mourn becaufe there was no pafture for their flocks, the grafs being dried up, and withered away: and indeed it may be rendered, the pajftures of the fbepherds hall mourn*, being deftroyed by the drought, as the cattel upon them are faid to mourn and groan, Foeli. 18: and the top of Carmel hall wither; a fruitful mountain in the Jand of Jrae/,; there were two of this name, one in the tribe of Judah, near which Nabal dwelt, 1 Sam. xxv. 2. another in the tribe of Aer, near to Prolemais or Aco; fome think the former is meant, as being nearer Iekoa, and more known to Amos; others the latter, becaufe J/rael or the ten tribes are. prophefied againft; tho’ Carmel may be taken for any and all fruitful places in the land; and the top or chief of it withering, may fignify the deftruction of every thing pleafant and ufeful. Some think Amos {peaks figuratively in the language of a herd - man or fhepherd, as artificers and mechanics do in their own way ‘; and fo by /hepberds he means kings and princes; and by their Aabitations, their kingdoms, cities, towns and palaces; and by Carmel, their wealth, riches and precious things, which fhould all be deftroyed; and to this agrees the Targum, ‘* the habitations of kings fhall become ** defolate, and the ftrength of their fortreffes fhall ** be made a defert.” ¥. 3. Thus faith the Lord, &c.] Left it fhould be thought that the words that Amos {poke were his own, and he fpake them of himfelf, this and the following prophecies are prefaced in this manner; and he begins with the nations near to the people of J/rael and Fudab, who had greatly afflicted them, and for that reafon would be punifhed; which is foretold to let J/rael fee that thofe judgments on them did not come by chance; and left they NIU" by contra Ifraelem, fo fome

Burkius. t Navita de ventis, de tauris narrat arator, ‘ Enumerat miles vulnera, paftor oves.