Exposition of the Whole Bible

general peace and tranquillity as here promifed; till,

¥. 7. And I will make her that halted a remnant, &c.} That is, make a referve of her, and not utterly cut her off for her halting or finning; that there may be a feed, a pofterity defcending from her, that fhall ferve the Lord, and appear to be a remnant according to the eleétion of grace; which will be the perfons called and gathered in the latter day: and her that was caft afar off, a ftrong nation, Kimchi thinks this refers to the ten tribes that were carried far off into Media and other parts, 2 Kings xvii. 6. who fhall now be a mighty and numerous people; and efpecially fhall be ftrong in a fpiritual

fenfe in the Lord, and in the power of his might,

in Chrift and his grace, and in the faith of him; fee If. Ix. 22. Zech. xii. 8: and the Lord fhall reign over them in mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever; that is, Chrift who is Jehovah our righteoufnefs, fhall reign over the converted Fews and Jraelites in the church of God, often fignified by mount Zion, where they fhall be affembled, and fhall acknowledge him as their king, and be fubject to his word and ordinances, and never more depart from him; nor will his government over them ever ceafe more, Luke i. 32, 33. This fhows that this prophecy refers not to the firft times of the gofpel; for then the Hews would not have him to reign over them; but to times yet to come, the laft days of the gofpel-difpenfation. ¥.8. And thou, O tower of the flock, &c.] The words Migdal Eder are left by fome untranflated, and think that place to be intended fo called, which was near to Bethlehem, Gen. xxxv. 19, 21. and perhaps is the fame which Ferom ‘ calls the tower of Ader, about a mile from Bethlehem: this is fuppofed to be. the place where the fhepherds were watching over their flocks at the time of Chrift’s birth, the tidings of which were firft brought to them here; and the Fews/h * doétors fpeak of it as near Ferufalem, and as a place of pafture; for they fay, that cattel between Yeru/alem and Migdal Eder, and in ‘an equal fpace to every wind; the males were ufed for burnt-offerings, and the fernales for peace-offerings; and this place is thought to be referred to in.the latter claufe of this verfe: others think that Bethlehem itfelf is meant, to which the dominion came; but rather, as in the next chapter, the ruler came out of that; others think that the gate in Feru/alem called the fheep-gate is meant, Neb. iii. 32. and the tower. at it, thro’ which Chrift is fuppofed to. pafs when he entered into Feru alem, as king amid{ft the Hofannab’s of the people; others take it to be the fame with the tower of David, and put-for Feru/alem itfelf, whither the tribes were gathered together three times a year, like fheep in a fold, fo Kimchi and Ben Melech; hence others interpret it fpiritually of the church of Chrift; but tho’ that is fometimes fpoken of as a ftrong city, and a fortified place, yet is never called a tower, or a ftrong-hold; which phrafes, when figuratively ufed, are always {poken of a divine perfon; fee Pf. xviii. 2. Prov. xviii. 10. Zech. ix. 12. and here of the Meffiah; and fo the Targum interprets it, ** O Chrift of [/rael:” the church indeed is the flock; the people of God are often compared to fheep for their harmleffhefs and innocence, and the church to a flock of them, which is Chrift’s flock he feeds like a fhepherd; the flock of flaughter, a little one; confifting of perfons feparated from the world, and under his peculiar care; and he is the sower of this flock, in allufion to a fhepherd’s herd’s cottage, called a tower, as a cottage ina vineyard is in Jf, v. 2. where the fhepherds watch, and into which they bring the fick and lame, and take care of them; Chrift is an high tower, where his people are fafe out of the reach of their enemies; and a {trong one, being the mighty God and mighty Saviour, who has all power and ftrength to defend his church and people, and may be well called their tower: and the ftrong-hold of the daughter of Zion; the daughter of Zion is the church, particularly the church of the converted Fews; Chrift is the ftrong-hold of it, into which, as prifoners of hope, they will be directed to turn, Zech. ix. 12. a ftrong refuge he is to flee unto, from the avenger of blood, the juftice of God; from the curfes of the law; from the ftorm of divine wrath; from the temptations of fatan, and from the perfeeutions of men; a ftrong-hold is he to dwell in, and where the faints dwell fafely, pleafantly, at eafe and peace, and very comfortably, and in great plenty; a ftrong-hold for fhelter from every enemy: unto thee fhall it come, not the kingdom, as follows, which our verfion leads to, and is the fenfe of Aben Ezra; for there is a confiderable accent on the word come, which makes a large {top; and that 7 refers, as Farchi obferves, to her that halteth, 8c. it or fhe that halteth thall come, being affembled and gathered, or converted by the grace of God unto the Meffiah; as to her, or their tower and ftrong-hold, where all bleffings of grace, and the fupplies of it, and all falvation and fafety are to be had and enjoyed. The promife refpects the Fews coming to Chrift upon their converfion, even fuch who have been the halt, the maimed, the lame, and the blind: even the jfirft dominion, the kingdom jhall come to the daughter of Ferufalem, or rather, and the firft dominion fhall come, the kingdom to the daughter of Ferufalem; meaning, not the firft notice of the Meffiah’s kingdom, given by Yobn the Baptift, Chrift, and his apoftles, to the ews, in the firft times of the gofpel; or the preaching of the gofpel of the kingdom firft to them; but rather, he who has. the firft or principal dominion, and to whom the kingdom belongs, he fhall come to the daughter of Zion, as in Zech. ix. g. though it rather refpects here his coming to them at the time of their converfion, when they fhall come to him, Rom. xi. 26. and when the firft, chief, and principal kingdom in the world, and which is preferable to all others, will come unto, and be placed among them, as in ¥. 7. and when it fhall be, as fome interpret it, as at the beginning, in the days of David and Solomon, and much more abundantly.

¥. 9. Now why doft thou cry out aloud? &c.| Or cry a cry”; a vehement one, or fet up a moft lamentable cry, as if no help or hope were to be had, but as in the moft defperate condition: here the prophet reprefents the Yews, as if they were already in captivity, and in the utmoft diftrefs, and as they certainly would be; and yet had no reafon to defpair of deliverance and falvation, fince the Meffiah would certainly come to them, and his kingdom would be fet up among them. The word ufed has fometimes the notion of friendfhip and affodiation; hence the Targum renders it, ‘* now “* why art thou joined to the people?” and fo Farchi, ** thou haft no need to feek friends and ** lovers, the kings of Egypt and Affria for help.” And which fenfe of the word is approved by Gufe-

tius™. Is there no king in thee? is thy counfellor pe= rifoed? be it fo, that they were; as was the cafe when Zedekiah was taken and carried captive, and his princes, nobles, and counfellors killed; yet God their king and counfellor was with them, to keep and preferve them, counfel, inftruét, and comfort them, and -at laft to deliver and fave them; and the king Meffiah would be raifed up, and fent unto them in due time, who is the wonderful counfellor Ifaiah had prophefied of: for pangs have taken thee, as a woman in travail, which is often expreffive of great fufferings and forrows; and yet as the pangs of a woman in travail don’t continue always, but have an end, fo would theirs, and therefore there was no reafon for defpair; and as when fhe brings forth her iffue, her forrow is turned into joy, this would be their cafe., y¥. 10. Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail, &c.} Bear thy troubles and calamities, fufferings and forrows, patiently, and expect deliverance from them, as a woman in fuch circumftances does: or as fome render it in the future, thou fhalt be in pain, &e *. and fo is a prediétion of their diftrefs and captivity, which is expreffed in plainer terms in the following claufes: for now fhalt thou go forth out of the city; the city of Ferufalem; either by flight, in a private and fecret manner, as Zedekiah and his princes, and part of his army did; or by force, being taken and led out by the enemy: and thou foalt dwell in the field, being turned out of their houfes, they were obliged to lodge in the fields, whilft they were collected together, and in a body marched as captives to Babylon; and whilft on the road lay in the open fields, and not in houfes, who had been ufed to dwell in a city, and in their cieled houfes; but now even their city itfelf was plowed like a field, as before predited: and thou fhalt go even to Babylon; to the city of Babylon, as their king did, and many of them alfo; and others of them into various parts of that kingdom: this is a plain prophecy of the Babylonifh captivity, which came to pafs upwards of a hundred years after this; there fhalt thou be delivered, after feventy years captivity, by the hand of Cyrus; who taking the city of Babylon, and making himfelf mafter of the whole empire, delivered the Fews from their bon- - dage, and gave them liberty to return to their own land: there the Lord hall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies; the Chaldeans: and this was typical of the deliverance and redemption of all the Lord’s people, from the hand-of all their {piritual enemies; from fatan and the world, law, death, and hell, by the blood of the great Redeemer, — and near kinfman of his people; the Lord Jefus Chrift.

y. 11. Now alfo many nations are gathered againft thee, &c.] Which is to be underftood, not of Sennacherib’s army invading Fudea, and befieging Ferufalem, in Hezekiab’s time; for that was not threfhed, as the phrafe is afterwards ufed, or deftroyed by the daughter of Zion, but by an angel from heaven: nor of the Babylonians or Chaldeans, fince they fucceeded in their attempt, and were the conquerors, and not conquered: rather this refpeéts the times of the Maccabees, as the feries of prophecy and hiftory agreeing together fhews; inwhich —- times many of the neighbouring nations of the Jews, gave them a great deal of trouble, and efpecially -

Antiochus king of Syria; and many and mighty armies * Ebr. Comment,

_ mies fent by him. The Fews, as Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and Abarbinel *, interpret this of the armies of Gog and Magog, in the times of their vainly expected Meffiah. Some chriftian interpreters, with much more probability, underftand this paffage of the firft times of the gofpel, and the oppofition made to that and the chriftian church, which yet in the -iffue prevailed; and perhaps it. may have reference to the laft times, and receive its full accomplifhment in the battel at Armageddon, Rev. Xvi. 14-16, and xix. 19, 20, 21. That fay, let ber be. defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion; either defiled with fin; fo the Targum, ‘* that fay, ** when will fhe fin, and our eye fhall behold the ** fall of Zion;” as the effect of her fin: or, as others, /et her play the bypocrite*; and be condemned as fuch: or rather, be defiled with flaughter and bloodfhed, that they might be delighted with fo pleafing a fight, and their eyes might feed with pleafure on an object fo agreeable to their withes.,

¥. 12. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither underfiand they bis counfel, 8c.) Which are very different from theirs: the thoughts and defigns of the enemies of Zion, in the times of the Maccabees, were, to deftroy utterly the people of God, and root them out of the earth, and abolifh their religion and worfhip; but the intentions of God were, to defeat them, and bring them to ruin: the views of the kings of the earth, being ftirred up by unclean fpirits to the battel of almighty God, will be to extirpate the intereft and kingdom of Chrift; but the end of the Lord, in fuffering them to be gathered together, will be, utterly and totally to deftroy them; and the counfel of the Lord that fhall ftand, and the thoughts of his heart, to all generations. Men know their own defigns, but they don’t know the defigns of the Lord; they intend the ruin of others, but God intends to bring about theirs; and his intentions are never fruftrated, but theirs are. For he foall gather them as fheaves into the floor; as when the harveft is ripe, it is cut down, and bound up in fheaves, and brought home, and thefe are laid in order upon the floor to be threfhed; fo when the nations of the earth are fully ripe for ruin, God will put, or order to be put, in the fickle, and cut them down, and bind them in bundles, and lay them on his threfhing-floor of wrath and vengeance, and utterly deftroy them, contrary to their views and expectations.

¥. 13. Arife, and threfb, O daughter of Zion, &c.) The nations gathered againft her, and now laid together on the floor as fheaves to be threfhed. Here

HIS chapter begins with a prophecy of the fiege of Ferufalem, ¥. 1. and then follows another concerning the place of the Meffiah’s birth, y¥. 2. and of the cafe of the Fews, either before or after it, ¥. 3. and of Chrift’s office as a fhepherd, and of his grandeur in the world, ¥. 4. and of his being a peace-maker, and it of his peo - ‘ple from their enemies, ¥. 5, 6. and of his people, the great increafe of them, and their ufefulnefs, and the people of God are aroufed, and called out of a low and weak eftate, and are animated and encouraged to exert themfelves, and fall upon their eneé- mies, and deftroy them; alluding to the threfhing of corn on the floor, the metaphor being here carried on from the former verfe: The Zargum is, ** arife, and kill, O congregation of Zion.” For Iwill make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brafs; fignifying, that the Lord would give them {trength fufficient to fuch work, and fuch power, their enemies fhould not be able to refift and overcome; and that they fhould fall into their hands, and be crufhed, trod, and trampled on by them, and utterly fubdued. The allufion is to oxen that have horns and hoofs; and it fuggefts, that they fhould be as {trong as they; have horns like them, that is, power, to pufh down their enemies; and hoofs to trample upon them: or as thefe creatures have a horny fubftance on their feet, or hoofs; which are, ftrong, and fit for the purpofes of treading out corn, for which they were ufed in the eaftern countries, drawing after them iron wheels, or planks ftuck with flints; fo horfes and oxen that have {trong feet, and hard hoofs, are faid to have feet of brafs*;, thus.the Lord’s people fhould have fuch courage, force, and power, as not only to withftand their enemies, but to obtain a conqueft over them. The Targum is, ‘* I will make the people *¢ in them {trong as iron, and their remnant firm “¢ as brafs;” which was true of, and accomplifhed in; Fudas Maccabeus and his brethren; and will be more clearly fulfilled in the chriftian kings and princes in the latter day, when engaged with the antichriftian ftates. And thou fhalt beat in pieces many people; as the Maccabees did fubdue many people and nations, as all Pale/tine, Moab, Idumeas Samaria, and Iturea, as Fofepbus < relates; and as the chriftian princes will beat in pieces, and utterly deftroy, all the antichriftian kings of the earth, their ftates and kingdoms, and bring them into fubje€tion to them: and I will confecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their fubftance unto the Lord of the whole earth; that is, to Chrift, who in the laft day will appear to be King and Lord of the whole earth; and all the riches of the antichriftian nations, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan, will be devolved to, and employed in his intereft and fervice; fee Rev. xxi. 24. thefe are the words of God the Father, with refpect.to his Son Jefus Chrift,; who will now have a dominion, glory, and kingdom given him, by the Ancient of days, that fo all people, nations, and languages fhall ferve him, Dan. vii. 14. of which there might be fome type and fhadow in the times of the Maccabees.

alfo of their courage, ftrength, and prowefs, y. 7, 8, 9. likewife, that the Lord will remove from them their vain confidence, and all occafion of it; and whatfoever illicit arts and practices were found among them; and all idolatry, and the inftruments of it, ¥. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. and the chapter is concluded with a threatening of vengeance to the heathens, ¥. 15.

y. 1. Now gather thyfelf in troops, O daughter of troops, &c.] Not Ferufalem, full of people, called to draw out their forces, and fall upon the enemy befieging them, whether Chaldeans or Romans: but rather the Babylonians, whofe armies were large, and their troops numerous; who are called upon by the people of God, encouraged by the foregoing prophecies, as well as by what follows, to come forth with all their forces, and mufter up all their armies, and exert all the power and ftrength they had, thus infulting them; being affured by the above promiles, that in the iffue they fhould prevail over all their enemies: unlefs the Romans fhould be intended, to whom this character of daughter of troops well agrees, of whofe legions all have heard; and fince the Babylonifb attempt on Ferufalem, and the carrying the Fews captive into Babylon, are before predicted, with their’ deliverance from it, and what they fhould do in the times of the Maccabees; a prophecy of the Romans, or a reprefentation of them, gathering their troops and legions together to befiege Ferufalem, very naturally comes in here. He hath laid fiege againft us; either Nebuchadnezzar, and the Chaldean army; or Vefpafian with the Romans: this, according to the prophetic ftile, is fpoken of as if actually done, ‘ becaufe of the certainty of it. They fhall finite the judge of Ijrael with a rod upon the cheek, that is, either they, the befiegers, the king of Babylon and his army, when they fhall have taken Yeru/alem, befieged by them, fhall ule Zedekiab the king of Fudab, and judge of J/rael, and his princes and nobles, very ill, fignified by this phrafe; yea, in a very cruel and barbarous manner; firft flaying his fons and his princes before his eyes, then putting his eyes out, binding him in chains, and carrying him to Babylon, and there laying him in a prifon, Jer. li. 10, 11. or elfe they, the befieged, would ufe the Meffiah, the king, judge, and ruler in Jrael, in fuch a fpiteful and {candalous. manner; and fo the Meffiah was to be ufed by them, who according to prophecy gave his cheek to them that plucked off the hair, and hid not his face from fhame and fpitting;-and fo Jefus, the true Meffiah, was fmitten, both with rods, and with the palms of men’s hands, and buffetted, and fpit upon, J/ 1, 6. Matt. xxvi. 67. and this is mentioned as a reafon why Feru/alem would be encompafied with the Roman armies, and befieged by their troops and legions, and become defolate, even for their rejection and ill-ufage of the Meffiah. ben Ezra fays, it is right in my eyes, that the judge of J/rael is the Meffiab, or Zerubbabel, not the latter, who never was fo ufed, but the former. y¥. 2. But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, &c.] But tho’ Ferufalem fhould be befieged and taken, and the land of Fudea laid wafte, yet before all this fhould be, the Meffiah fhould be born in Bethlehem, of which this is a prophecy, as is evident from Matt. ii. 4, 5, 6. the place is called by both the names it went by, to point it out the more diftinétly, and with the greater certainty, Gem, xxxv. 19. the former fignifies the houfe of bread, and a proper place for Chrift to be born in, who is the bread of life; and it has the name of the latter from its fruitfulnefs, being a place of pafture, and as we find it was at the time of our Lord’s birth; for near it fhepherds were then watching over their