Exposition of the Whole Bible

“2? MIN timebit nomen tuem,

1 Nam quod res eft, videt nomen tuum, Junius & Tremelli ifcato -* WNT TY, wn ovp, Sept. adhuc ignis, V.L. So Joteph Kimchi.: ab ee gee ™ Adhuc num vir domo, Montanus; adhuc funtne viro domus improbi, fome in Drufius.

in his iniquity, after the Lord’s voice criés to, the city; but dbendana interprets it of the ‘prophet himfelf, continuing ‘to reprove the wicked. for their treafures of wickednefs, and their other fins. And the {cant meafure that is abominable; or the ephab of leanne/s provoking to wrath"; that is, a: deficient meafure, Jefs than it fhould be; the ephab was a dry meafure, and. it was’ made fmall,.as in Amos viii. 5. and held lefs than it fhould; and this brought leannefs and poverty upon thofe; to whom they fold by it, as well.as ruin upon themfelves in the iflue; for fuch practices as they were abominable and deteftable to God; they: ftirred up his wrath, and brought deftruction on thofe that-ufed them. The Targum is, ‘‘ falfe meafures that bring “* alcurfe.” ent | y. 11. Shall I count them pure with: the wicked balances, &c.| ‘Thefe sare the words:either of:the prophet, or rather of God, fignifying that he could not, and would not allow, countenance, and approve of perfons that ufed falfe fcales or ybalances; or juftify, and reckon them juft, as they would be thought to be, but condemn them, and pronounce them very wicked men, and’ deferving of; punifhment here and hereafter: and with the bag of deceitful weights 2 or frones° 3 which were ufed in weighing goods, and which were deceitful, when a heavier was ufed in buying, and:a lighter in ell- ing.. So the Targum, “ and with the bag, in which “< are weights greater and lefier;” condemned in Deut. xXvV. 13, 14.

y.012. For the rich men thereof are full. of violence, &c.} That is, the rich men of the city, to whom the voice of the Lord cried, y. 9. Feru/alem or Samaria, or any or all the cities of J raeland

Fudak, the rich.men of thefe cities, who had enough of the world, and were under no temptation to do an ill-thing, to get money.; and yet their hands and their houfes, and their treafuries, as the Zargum, were full of goods gotten by violent meafures, by the oppreffion of the poor and needy:. and the.

inbabitants thereof have fpoken lies, the reft of the inhabitants,: who were not fo rich as others, and who had it not in the power,of their hands to opprefs as others had; yet ufed deceitful and fraudulent methods to cheat their neighbours in buying and felling; and to do this, 'did not ftick, to tell. downright deliberate lies: and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth; fay one thing, and mean another; deceive their neighbours with their tongues in trade and commerce; »averring things for truth they know to be falfe.

¥. 13. Therefore alfo will I make thee fick in fmiting thee, &c.|. With the rod, to be heard, y. 9. by fending among them fome of his fore. judgments, as famine, peftilence, the fword of the enemy, inteftine wars, and the like; which fhould.caufe their kingdom, and ftate and families, to decline and waite away, as a fickly and difeafed body. So the Zargum, ‘‘ and I brought upon thee <¢ illnefs and a ftroke.”

began to fmite thee; as by Hazael king of Syria, and Tiglath-Pilefer king of Affyria, who had carried part of them captive. J making thee defolate becauje of thy fins; went on, not only to make them fick, and bring them into a declining ftate,

The Septuagint, Vulgate |. Latin, Syriac, and Arabic verfions render it, and I but into utter defolations as by Salmanefer king of Afyria, who carried I/rael captive; and by Neduchadnezzar king of Babylon, who led Fudab captive, becaufe of their fins of idolatry, injuttice, and oppreffion, with others *that aboundedcamong them.» TOR"

_y. 14. Thou foalt eat, but not be fatisied, 8c.] Either not having enough ’to eat, for the \refrefhing and fatisfying of nature; or elfea bleffing being’ withheld from food,: tho”: eaten; and fo nce nourifhing,; ora voracious and: infatiable appetite, being given asa curfe; the firft fenfe feems beft:

and:thy tafting down fhall be in the midf of thee;

meaning they fhould« be humbled and brought down, ‘either by inteftine difcords and wars among themfelves, or thro’ the enemy being: fuffered to come into the midftvof their country, and make havock’ there; which would be asa ficknefs and difeafe in their bowels. So the Targum, ** thou ‘© fhalt have an illnefs in thy bowels.” The Syriac verfionis, *¢ a dyfentery fhall be in thine inteftines,” a fecret judgment wafting and deftroying them. And thou fhalt take hold, but foalt not deliver; and that which thou delivereft, will I give up to the Jword; the fenfe is, that they fhould take hold of their-wives and children, and endeavour to fave them from the {word of the enemy, and being carried captive: or fhould remove them ”, as the word is fometimes ufed, in order to fecure them from them: or fhould overtake *; the enemy, carrying them captive; but fhould not be able by, either of thefe methods to fave them from being deftroyed, or carried away by them; and even fuch ‘as they fhould preferve or refcue for a while, yet thefe fhould be given up to: the {word of the enemy, the fame or another. den Ezra and Kimchi inter - pret this of their women conceiving, and not brings ing forth; and if they fhould,.yet what they brought forth fhould be flain by. the fword '. But the Targum and archi incline to the former fenfe.

¥. 15. Thou foalt fow, but thou shalt not reap, &c,] Either that which is fown fhall:not fpring up, but rot in the earth; or if it does fpring up, and come'to maturity, yet before that, they fhould be removed into captivity, or flain by the fword, and their enemies fhould reap the increafe of their land, their wheat and their corn: ¢houw fhalt tread the olives; in the olive-prefs, to get out the oil: but thou fhalt not anoint with oil; as at featts. for refrefhment, and at baths for health, this becoming another’s property; or it being a time of diftrefs and mourning, would not be ufed,»it being chiefly at feftivals, and occafions of joy, that oil was ufed: and fweet wine; that is, fhalt tread the grapes in the wine-prefs, to get out the fweet or new wine: but fhalt not drink wine; for before it is fit to drink, the enemy would have it in_ his poffeffion; fee Lev. xxvi. 16. and xxviii. 30. thefe aré the punifhments or corrections of the rod they are threatened with for their fins.

y. 16. For the flatutes of Omri are kept, &c.] Who of a captain of the army was made king of I/rael, and proved a wicked prince; he: built Samaria, and fet up idolatrous worfhip there, after the example of erodoam, in whofe ways he walked, and, as it feems, eftablifhed the fame by laws and edicts;,and which were every one of them obferved ephah maciei abominatione digna, Burkius.

by the J/xaelites, in the times of the prophet, tho’ at the diftance of many years from the firft making of them, which aggravated their fin; nor would it be any excufe.of them; that what they practifed was enjoined by royal authority, fince it was contrary to the command of God; for the breach of which, and their obfervance of the ftatutes of fuch a wicked prince, they ere threatened: with the judgments.of God; fee 1 Kings xwi. 16, '24,:25, 20: and all the works of tbe boufe of Abab;. who was the fon of Omri; and. introduced the worlhip of Baal, and added to the idolatry of the calves, wihuch he and his family. practifed; and the fame works were now done by the people of. J/rael: and ye walk in their counféls, as they advifed and directed the people to do in their days: that I fhould make thee a defolation; the city of Samaria, the metropolis of Jrae/; or the whole land, which was

HIS chapter begins with a lamentation of the prophet, in the name of the church and people of God, concerning the general depravity and corruption of the times'in which he lived, y. 1—6. then declares what he was determined to do for his relief in fuch circumftances, ¥. 7. comforts himfelf-and the church with a good hope and firm belief of its being otherwife and better with them, to the fhame and confufion of their enemies that now rejoiced, tho’ without juft reafon for’ it, y. 8, g, 10.- with promifes of deliverance, after a defo- and with the anfwer returned to the prayers of the prophet, y¥. 14, 15. which would iffue in the aftonifhment of the world, and their fubjection to the church of God, ¥. 16, 17. and the chapter is concluded with admiration at the pardoning grace and mercy of God, and his faithfulnefs to his promifes, ¥..18, 19, 20.

y. 1. Wo is me, &c.] Alas for me! unhappy man that Iam, to live in fuch an age, and among fuch a people, as [ do! this the prophet fays in his own name, or in the name of the church and people of God in his time; fo Ifaiah, who was cotemporary with him, ch. vi. 5. fee alfo Pf. cxx. 5, 6: for 1 am as when they have gathered the fummer-fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage; when there are only an apple or a pear or two, or fuch fort of fruit, and fuch a quantity of it left on the top of the tree, or on the outermoft branches of it, after the reft are gathered in; or a few fingle grapes here and there, after the vintage is over; fignifying either that he was like E/jad left alone, or however that the number of good men were very few; or that there were very few gathered in by his miniftry, converted, taught, and inftruéted by it; or thofe that had the name of good men were but very indifferent, and not like thofe who were in times paft; but were as refufe fruit left on trees, and dropped from thence when rotten, and when gathered up were good for little, and like {ingle grapes, fmall and withered, and of no value; fee If. xvii. 6: there is no clufter to eat, no large number or fociety of good men to converfe with, only here and there a fingle perfon; and none that have an abundance of grace and goodnefs in them, and a large experience of fpiritual and divine things; few that attend the miniftry of the word;

made a defolation by Salmanefer, an inftrument in the hand of God; and this was not the intentiam, - and defign of their walking in the counfels, and after the example of their idolatrous kings, but the confequence and event of fo doing: and the inhabitants thereof an biffing, either of Samaria, or. of all the land, who fhould become the fcorn and derifion of men, when brought to ruin for their fins: therefore ye fhall bear the reproach of my peo-~ ple, that which was threatened in the law to the people of God, when difobedient to him; or fhame-_ ful punifhment for profaning the name and character of the people of God they bore; or for re+ proaching and ill-ufing the poor among the peo ple of God; and fo it is directed to the rich mem ~ before fpoken of, and fignifies the fhatne and ignominy they fhould bear, by being carried captive into a foreign land for their fins. cwaled +?

they don’t come in clufters, in crouds; and fewer ftill that receive any advantage by it. My foul de~ Jired the firft ripe fruit; the company and converfation of fuch good men as lived in former times 5 who had the firit fruits of the Spirit, and arrived to a maturity of grace, and a lively exercife of it;. and who were, in the age of the prophet, as fearcé and rare as firft ripe fruits, and as defirable’as — fuch were to a thirfty traveller; fee Hofsix.1o. - The Targum is, ** the prophet faid, wo unto me, “* becaufe Iam as when good men fail, in a time in which merciful men perifh from the earth 5 behold, as the fummer fruits, as the gleanings after the vintage, there is no man in whom there are good works; my foul defires good men.” ¥. 2. The good man is perifbed out of the earth, &c.] Here the prophet exprefies in plain words, what he had before delivered in figurative terms. The good or godly man, as in Pf. xii. 1. is one that has received the grace of God, and bleffings of grace from him, and lives a godly life and converfation; who has the good work of grace begun in him, and is found in the performance of good works, and does his duty both to God and man from godly principles; and particularly is kind and» - merciful to the poor and needy, and thofe in diftrefs. The complaint is, that there were few, or fcarce any of this character in the earth, in the land of J/rael, where there ufed to be great numbers of them, but now. they: were all dead and gone; for this is to be underftood, not of the pe- _ rifhing of their graces or comforts, much lefs of their perifhing in their fins, or perifhing eternally, but of their corporal death; and there is none‘ upright among men; that are upright in heart and life; that have right fpirits renewed in them, are Ifraelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; and walk uprightly, according to the rule of the divine word, truly honeft, faithful men; very few fuch were to be found, fcarce any; fee Pf xii ¥. Jf. Wii, 1: they all le in wait for blood; for the fubftance, wealth and riches of men, which is as their blood and life; is their livelihood, that on which they live; this they wait for an opportunity to get from them, and when it offers, greedily feize it; and ftick not even to fhed blood, and take away life, for the fake of gain: they bunt — every man his brother with a net; as men lay nets”.

for fith, and fowl, and beafts,. and hunt them till they have got them into them,;.fo thefe men laid fnares, not for f{trangers only, but for their own brethren, to.entangle ‘them in, and cheat and defraud them of their fubftance,. and this they would do, even to the deftruction of them, as fome.’ render it; for the word. alfo fignifies anathema, deftruction,.as well as a wet..So the Targum, ‘* be- ‘* tray or:deliver his brother to deftruction.”’

¥. 3. That they may do evil with both hands earnefily, &c.}. Or well, ftrenuoufly, diligently, to the utmoft of their power, Jabouring at it with all their might! and main; as wicked men generally are more induftrious, and exert themfelves more ta do evil, than good men do to do good; and even weary themfelves to commit iniquity: or, inftead of doing good, as Marinus in Aben Ezra; take a great deal of pains to do evil; work with both. hands at it, inftead, of doing good. The Sepiuagint and Arabic verfions render it, they prepare their hands for evil; the Syriac verfion is, their bands are ready to evil, and they do not do good, with which agrees the Targum, ‘* they do evil “¢ with their hands, and do not-do good.” Some make the fenfe to depend on what goes before and follows; to do evil, both hands are open and ready, and they hurt with them; dt to do good the prince afketh, and the judge for areward *; forward enough to do evil, but very backward. to do any good office; and if they do it, muft be bribed, and have a reward for it, even perfons of fuch high character; but this fenfe is not favoured by the accents; befides, by what follows, it feems as if the prince, by whom may be meant the king upon the throne, and the judge he that fits upon the bench under him, fought for bribes to do an ill thing; to give a caufe wrong againft a poor man, and in favour of a rich man that will bribe high: and the great man, he uttereth his mifchievous defire; the depravity, corruption and perverfenefs of his foul; who is either fome great man at court, that being encouraged by the example of the prince and judge, openly and publickly requires a bribe alfo to do an ill thing; and without any fhame or blufhing promifes to do it, on that confideration; or a counfellor at the bar, who openly declares that he will fpeak in fuch a caufe, tho’ a bad one, and defend it, and not doubt of carrying it; or elfe this is fome rich wicked man, that feeks to opprefs his poor neighbour, and being favoured by the prince and judge he has bribed, does without fear or fhame {peak out the wickednefs of his heart, and what an ill defign he has againft his neighbour, whofe mifchief, hurt and ruin he feeks: /o they wrap it up together; or, twift it together“, as cords are, which thereby become ftrong; and fo thefe three work up this mifchievous bufinefs, and ftrengthen and eftablith it; and fuch 2 threefold cord of wickednefs is not eafily broken or unravelled: or, they perplex it *; as thick branches.of trees are implicated and wrapped together; {6 thefe agree to puzzle and perplex a caufe, that they may have fome fhew of carrying it with juftice and truth. So the Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, they trouble it; confound the matter, and make it dark, dubious and difficult. The Targum is, they corrupt it; or deprave it; put an ill fenfe on things, and make a wrong conftruction of them.

¥. 4. The def of them is as a brier, &c.]. Good for nothing but for burning, very hurtful and mifchievous, pricking and feratching thofe that have to do with them: the moft upright is fharper than @ thorn-hedge, which, if a man lays hold on to get over, or attempts to pafs thro’, his hands will be pricked, his face fcratched, and his cloaths tore off his back; fo the beft of thefe princes, j udges and great men, who put ona fhew of goodnels, and pretended to do juttice, yet fetched blood, and got money out of every one they were concerned with, and did them injury in one refpec&t or another; or the beft and uprighteft of the people of the land in general, that made the greateft pretenfions to religion and virtue, yet in their dealings were fharp, and biting, and tricking; and took every fraudulent method to cheat, and over-reach, and hurt men in their property: she day of thy watchmen; either which the true prophets of the Lord, fometimes called watchmen, foretold fhould come, but were difcredited and defpifed, will now moft affuredly come; and it will be found to be true what they faid fhould come to pafs: or the day of the falfe prophets, as Kimchi and Ben Melech; either which they predicted as a good day, and now it fhould be feen whether it would be fo or no; or the day of their punifhment, for their falfe prophecies and deception of the people: and thy viftiation cometh; the time that God would punifh the people in general for their iniquities, as well as their falfe prophets, princes, judges and great men; who alfo may be defigned by watchmen: now fhall be their perplexity; the prince, the judge, and the great man, in juft retaliation for their perplexing the caufe of the poor; or of all the people, who would be furrounded and entangled with calamities and diftrefles, and not know which way to turn themfelves, or how to get out of them. ¥. 5. Iruft ye not in a friend, &c.] This is not faid to leffen the value of friendfhip; or to difcourage the cultivation of it with agreeable perfons; or to diffuade from a confidence in a real friend; or in the leaft to weaken it, and damp the pleafure of true friendfhip, which is one of the great bleffings of life; but to fet forth the fad degeneracy of the then prefent age, that men, who pretended to be friends, were fo univerfally falfe and faithlefs, that there was no dependence to be had on them: put ye not confidence ina guide; in political matters, in civil affairs, as civil magi- {trates, judges, counfellors; or in domeftic matters. The Targum renders it, in one near a-kin. Kimchi interprets it, of an elder brother; and Asen Ezra, of an hufband, who is to his wife the guide of her youth; and inreligious matters as prophets, priefts who were falfe and deceitful. It may defign a very intimate friend, a familiar acquaintance, who might of all men, be thought to be confided in; of whom the word is ufed, Pf lv. 13: keep the doors of thy mouth from ber that lieth in thy bofom; from a wife, and much more from a concubine or harlot. The Targum is, “ from the wife of “¢ thy covenant keep the words of thy mouth;” divulge not the thoughts of thine heart, or difclofe the fecrets of it to one fo near; take care of fpeaking treafon againft the prince, or ill of a neighbour; it may be got out of fuch an one, and who

FAY, que intricare fignificat, arque confufum reddere, atque perplexum, Sanétius.

who may be fo bafe as to betray it: or utter not any thing whatever. that is fecret, the divulging of which may be detrimental; for in fuch an age as this was, one in fo near a relation might be wicked enough to difcover it; fee Eccl. x. 20.

yx. 6. For the fon difhonoureth the father, &c.] Speaks contemptibly of him; behaves rudely towards him; fhows him no refpeét and reverence; expofes his failings, and makes him the object of his banter and ridicule; who ought to have honoured, reverenced and obeyed him, being the inftrument of his being, by whom he was brought up, fed, clothed, and provided for; bafe ingratitude! the daughter rifeth up againft her mother, by whom fhe has been ufed in the moft tender and affectionate manner; this being {till more unnatural, if poffible, as being done by the female fex, ufually more foft and pliable; but here, lofing her natural affection, and forgetting both her relation and fex, replies to her mother, giving ill language; oppofes and difobeys her, chides, wrangles and fcolds, and ftrives, and litioates with her, as the Targum: or rifes up as a witnefs againft her, to her detriment, if not to the taking away of her life: the daughter-in-law againft ber mother-in-law; this is not fo much to be wondered at as the former inftances, which ferve to encourage and embolden thofe that are in fuch a relation to fpeak pertly and faucily; to reproach, and make light of mothers-in-law, as the Zargum,; or flight and abufe them: @ man’s enemies are the men of his own houfe; his fons and his fervants, who fhould honour his perfon, defend his property, and promote his jntereft,; but inftead of that, do every thing that is injurious to him. Thefe words are referred to by Chrift, and ufed by him to defcribe the times in which he lived, Matt. x. 35, 36. and the prophet-may be thought to have an eye to the fame, whilft he is fetting forth the badnefs of his own times; and the ews feem to think he had a regard to them, fince they fay », that when the Meffiah comes, the fon fhall difoonour his father, &c. plainly having this pafflage in view; and the whole agrees with the times of Chrift, in which there were few: good men; it was a wicked age, an adulterous generation of men he lived among; great corruption there was in princes, priefts and people; in the civil and ecclefiaftical rulers, and in all ranks, and degrees of men; and he that eat bread with Chrift, even Yudas, lift up his heel againft him. The times in which Micah the prophet here fpeaks of, feem to be the’times of Ahaz, who was a wicked prince; and the former part of Hezekiab’s reign, before a reformation was fet on foot, or at leaft brought about, in whofe reigns he prophefied; tho’ fome have thought he here predicts the {ad times in the reign of Manaffeb, which is not fo probable.

y. 7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord, 8&c.] Here the prophet, in the name of the church and people of God, declares what he would do in fuch circumftances, fince there was no dependence on men, of any rank, in any relation, or. connexion with each other; he refolved to look alone to the Lord, and put his truft in him; look up to the Lord in prayer, ufe an humble freedom with him, place an holy confidence in him, expect all good things from him, and wait for them; look to Chrift in the exercife of faith, which is in New Teftament-language a looking to Jefus; and the Targum interprets this claufe of the word of the

Lord, the effential word, who is to be looked unto, and believed in, as the Son of God, who is the’ true God, and eternal life; as the Lamb of God; that takes away the fin of the world; as the Me=

-diator between God and’ men; as in all his offices: s of prophet, prieft and king; as the Lord our righ-’ teoufnefs, and as the only Saviour and Redeemer? of men; and that for all things, when in darknefs! for light, when weak for ftrength, when fick for’ healing, when hungry for food, when difconfolate for comfort; in fhort, for all fupplies of grace’ here, and for eternal glory and happinefs hereafter? and tho’ he is in heaven, and not to be feen with: our bodily eyes, yet he is held forth in the word: of the gofpel, and the ordinances of it; and is to be feen there with an eye of faith: I will ie. for the God of my falvation, who is the author,: both of temporal, and of fpiritual, and eternal’ falvation; for the light of his countenance, when he hides himfelf; for the performance of promifes: he has made; for anfwers of prayer put up to him;efor difcoveries of.pardoning grace, having finned againft him; for help and affiftance in all times of need; for the falvation of the Lord, for an application of it, for the joys‘and comforts of it; and for Chrift the Saviour, his» coming in the flefh, which all the prophets and Old Teftament- © faints were looking and waiting for: and+ who, doubtlefs, was upon the mind, and in the view of the prophet, when he uttered thefe words, my God will hear me; this is the language of faith, both to fay that God was his God, and that he would hear and anfwer him; the former is the ground of the latter; God has an ear to hear whén his ple cry; and fooner or later it appears that he does hear, by giving an anfwer of peace unto them, which iffues in their falvation, they have been pray+ ing, looking, and waiting for. bee argum is, “¢ my God will receive my prayer." *. Ty ¥, 8. Rejoice not againft me, O mine enemy, &c.] Thefe are the words of the prophet in the name of the church, continued in an apoftrophe or; addrefs to his and their enemy; by whom may be meant literally, the Chaldeans or Edomites, or both, who rejoiced at the deftruction of Ferujalem, and the calamities the people of the Fews were brought into at it; fee P/ cxxxvii. 7, 8. Obad. ¥. 12. fpiritually, fatan the great enemy of mankind, and efpecially of the church and people of God, to whom it is a pleafure to draw them into any fin or fnare, and to do them any hurt and mifchief; and alfo the men of the world, who hate and perfecute the faints; and watch for their haltings, and rejoice at their falls into fin, and at any calamity and affliction that may attend them, tho’ there is no juft reafon for it; fince this will not always be the cafe of the faints, they will be in a better

| fituation, and in more comfortable circumftances;

and.it will be the turn of their enemies to be afflicted, punifhed and tormented: gvben I fall, I feall arife; or, tho? I fall*, or have fallen; into outward afflictions and diftrefiles, which come not by chance, but by divine appointment;. or into the temptations of fatan, and by them, which fometimes is fuffered for wife ends and purpofes; or into fin, which even a good man, a truly righteous man, is frequently left unto; but then he does not fal] from real goodnefs, from true » nor from his juftifying righteoufnefs, which is ever-— lafting, and connected with eternal life: he may fall from a lively exercife of grace, from ftedfait- nefs in the, faith, and a profeffion of it; but not from the principle of grace, nor a ftate of grace; or from the love and favour of God: he may fall, but not totally or finally, or fo as to perifh everlaftingly; nor is he utterly caft down, the Lord upholds him, and raifes him up again; he rifes as the church here believes fhe fhould, out of his prefent ftate and condition, into a more comfortable oné; not in his own ftrength, but in the ftrength of the Lord, under a fenfe of fin, by the exercife: of true repentance for it, and by faith in Chrift, and in a view of pardoning grace and merty; fee Pf. xxxvii. 24: Prov. xxiv. 16: when I fit in darknefs or tho’ *., The Targum is, ‘* as it were in <* darknefs;” not ina ftate of unregeneracy, which is a ftate of total darknefs, but’ in affliction and diftrefs; for as light often fignifies“profperity, fo darknefs.adverfity, any afflictive difpenfation of providence; and efpecially when this is attended with defertion, or the hidings of God’s face; it is to be, not without any light of grace in the heart, or without the light of the word, or means of ‘grace; but to be without the light of God’s countenance; which is very uncomfortablé, and makes dark providences darker ftill; fee J/.1. 10. yet notwithftanding all this, she Lord fhall be a light unto me by delivering out of affliction; by lifting up the light of his countenance; by caufing Chrift the fun of rightedufnefs to arife,; by fending his fpirit to illuminate, refrefh and comfort; by his word, ‘which is a lamp to the feet, a light to the path, a light fhining in a dark place; fee Pf xxvii. 1. and cxii. 4. This paffage is applied by the Jews ” to the days of the Meffiah.

¥. 9. L will bear the indignation of the Lord, &c.] The Zargum prefaces thefe words with “* Ferufalem <¢ faith;”.and they are the words of the prophet, in the name of Yeru/alem or the church, refolving in the ftrength of divine grace to bear the prefent affliction, which had at leaft fome appearance of divine indignation in it; not againft the perfons of God’s people, who are always the objects of his love, and towards whom there is no fury in him; but againft their fins, which are difpleafing and abominable to him; and this is not in a vindictive way, for fuch indignation they could never bear; hor can any creature ftand before it, or bear up under it; and befides, Chrift has bore the wrath and indignation of God in this fenfe, for them; but it here means the difplicency and indignation of God in fatherly chaftifements, confiftent with the ftrongeft love, and affection ‘for them; and to bear this, is to be humble under the mighty hand of God, quietly'to fubmit to is, and patiently to endure the affliction, without murmuring and repining, till the Lord pleafes to remove it. The reafon follows, Jecauf I have finned againft him the beft of men fin; fin is the caufe and. reafon of all affliction and diftrefs, whether temporal or fpiritual:- The confideration of this tends to make and keep good men humble, and. quietly fubmit to the chaftifing rod of their heavenly Father, which they fee it is right and proper fhould be ufed; and as knowing that they are chaftifed and afflicted tefs than their iniquities deferve; and that it is all for theiregood; a fenfe of fin ftops their mouths, that they have nothing to fay againft God. The word som here ufed fometimes fignifies the offering an expiatory facrifice for fin to God; and Gufftius ¢ thinks this is the mféaning of it here; and obferves, that with the oblation of a contrite heart, and works of charity, the fatisfaction of Chrift is to be pleaded, and in our way to be offered up to God the judge, thro’ faith flying to it; whereby the mind is difpofed to bear correétion patiently, in hope that fayour will quickly fhine forth in help and deliverance: until be plead my cause, and execute judgment for me; Chrift the mighty Redeemer, and powerful and prevalent Mediator, not only pleads the caufe of his people with God his Father, and obtains all bleffings of grace for them; but he alfo pleads their caufe againft their enemies, an ungodly people that ftrive with them, perfecute and diftrefs them; and will in his own time do them juftice, and execute vengeance, his righteous judgments on thofe that hate them, and rife up again{ft them, as he will on all the antichriftian party: he will bring me forth to the light; like a perfon taken out of prifon, or out of a dungeon, to behold and enjoy the light of thé fun and day. The fenfe is, that he will openly efpoufe the caufe of his church, and give her honour and glory publickly before men; bring forth her righteoufnefs as the licht, and her judgment as the noonday; and make her innocence appear as clear as the day, and bring her at laft to the light of glory; fee Pf. xxxvii. 6. If. lviii. 8, 10: and I fhall behold his righteoufne/s; the equity of his proceedings with his people, in chaftifing and afflicting them, that they are all right and good; his juftice in punifhing their enemies, and executing judgment on them; his goodnefs and beneficence to the faints, all his ways being mercy and truth; his faithfulnefs in the fulfilment of his promifes; and the righteoufnefs of Chrift, which juftifies them before God, renders them acceptable to him, will anfwer for them in a time to come, and introduce them into his everlafting kingdom and glory.

y¥. 10. Then fhe that is mine enemy fball fee it, &c.] The Chaldeans and Edomites fhall fee the people of the Fews rifing out of their calamities, brought out of the darknefs of their captivity in Babylon, anid enjoying the light of -peace-and profperity in their own land. Some editions of the Targum, and Farchi and Kimchi, have in their gloffes on this and the preceding verfe, Rome, of whom they interpret this enemy, as Mr. Pocock obferves; and fo R. Elias *fays the Targum is, then fhall Rome fee, by which they mean the chriftians, in oppofition to the Fews; otherwife it would not be amifs'to interpret it of Rome papal or antichrift, in oppofition to the church of Ged; feeing the antichriftian party will fee the witneffes of Chrift’ flain for his fake, rife again, and afcend to heaven, or be brought into a glorious and comfortable ftate; fee Rev. xi. 12. and may be applied to any age of the church, and to any particular faints raifed out of a ftate of darknefs and affliction, into a profperous one, in the fight of their enemies, and in fpite of them, to their great mortification; fee Pf. xxiii. 4, 5, 6: and fhame foall cover her which

[aid unto me, where is the Lord thy God? as the

heathens, the Chaldeans did to the Jews, Pf. cxv. 2. and which muft be very cutting to them, -as it was to David, Pf. xlii. 10. when they flouting and jeering faid, where is thy God thou boaftedft of, and didft put thy truft and confidence in, that he would deliver and fave thee? what’s become of 7: him,

’: him, and of thy confidence in him? The Largum is, ‘¢ where art thou that art redeemed by the «¢ word of the Lord thy God?” but when they fhall fee that the Lord God has returned unto them, and wrought, falvation for them, they'll be afhamed of their flouts and jeers; and by reafon of their fad difappointment, and the change of things for the worfe to them, who now will be brought into calamity and diftrefs themfelves: mine eyes foall bebold her, the enemy; their fall, as the Targum, being in.a moft defpicable and ruinous condition, under the vengeance of the Almighty; and that, with pleafure and fatisfaction, not from a private fpirit of revenge, but becaufe of the glory of divine juftice, which will be difplayed in their righteous. deftruction; fee Pf. lvili, 10; now shall foe be trodden down as the mire of the ftreets, that is, entirely conquered, and utterly deftroyed; reduced, to, the utmoft meannefs, and had in the greatefl contempt: this was fulfilled when Babylon was.taken by the Medes and Perfians; and when the Edomites were conquered and brought into fub jection tothe Fews by the Maccabees; and will be the cafe of all the enemies of Chrift and his church, of all the antichriftian ftates, one day. _.¥, 11. In the day that thy walls are to be built, &c.] Thefe words are not fpoken to the enemy, as fome think; either the Chaldeans, the walls of whofe city Babylon being demolifhed by the Per- Sians, it would be a long day or time ere they were rebuilt; and when their power of fending their decrees abroad among the nations would be far off or to the enemy that fhould think to build up their walls with the fpoils of J/rae/, in the time of Gog and Magog, and when their decree determined over the nations and J/rael would alfo be far off; but they are the words of the prophet to the church and people of God, comforting them with obferving, that there would be a day when the walls of Ferufalem, and the temple, which would lie.in ruins during their captivity, would be rebuilt; and which was fulfilled in the times of Zorobabel and Nehemiah, and fo the Targum, “ at ‘** that time the congregation of J/rael fhall be *< built” and which had a further accomplifhment in a fpiritual fenfe, in the firft times of the gofpel,, when the church of Chrift was built up, and eftablifhed in the world; and, will ftill have a greater completion in the latter day, when the tabernacle of David, or church of Chrift, fhall be raifed that is fallen, and its breaches clofed, and ruins repaired, Amos ix.11: in that day fhall the decree be far removed; which, as it literally re- {pects Ferufalem, and the rebuilding of that after feventy. years captivity, may fignify, either the decree of God concerning that captivity, which would then ceafe, according to the time fixed by it; or the cruel laws and edicts of the Babylomans, which fhould no more, bind and prefs the Fews, and be as a heavy yoke upon them; thofe ftatutes, which were not.good, that were given them. So the Targum, ‘* at that time the decrees of the nations “ fhall ceafe;” or the decree of Artaxerxes, for-, bidding and hindring the rebuilding of the city: but. if the phrafe far removed, fignifies its being divulged and fpread far abroad, ‘4s it is interpreted -by fome; then it may refer to the decree of Cyrus for rebuilding the city and temple; and which Was revived and confirmed by b and by Darius Longimanus, and which was publifhed every where; and by” means of which the to their own land, and profelytes with them; and ~ which fenfe fuits well with what follows: and as this, in a fpiritual fenfe, may have regard to the church of Chrift in gofpel-times; it may fignify the removal of human laws, traditions, rites and ceremonies, refpecting religious chines among the Gentiles, and their giving way to thofe of God and Chrift; or the promulgation of the gofpel, in all parts, called a decree, P/: ii. 6. becaufe a revelation of the decrees of God, refpecting the falvation of men, and to which it owes its efficacy; by means of which many would be brought to the church and the kingdom of Chrift be enlarged, and {pre every where, as follows:

y. 12. In that day alfo be fall come even to thee, &c.] Which words alfo are’ not directed to the enemy, as fome interpret them; as to Chaldea or Babylon; and the fenfe be, that Cyrus fhould come thither, and take it; or any more remote enemy of the Yews in the latter day, to whom the day of the Lord fhould come, or his decree of vengeance or judgment upon them, or any enemy to wafte and deftroy them; but they are a continue addrefs to Ferufalem or the church, fignifying that be, the people of the Jews, the body of them with the profelyted Gentiles, fhould come from all parts ‘to ‘Feru/alem to rebuild it upon the decree of Cyrus; and that multitudes of all, or at leaft many nations, fhould flock to the church of Chrift, upon the publication of the gofpel: from Affria; where many of the Yetvs, and even of the ten tribes were, whither they were carried captive: and from the fortified cities’; in Afpria, and other countries, where the Fews might be placed, either as prifoners, or.

to do fervile work, as repairing the fortifications; or for the defence of the country, from which they were to be, and were releafed upon Gjrus taking of Babylon’, and was a type of the redemption by

Chrift from greater bondage. It may be rendered,.

the cities of Egypt, as Kimchi obferves, here and in 2 King’s xix. 24. If, xix, 6. and fo Ben Melech: it is interpreted by fome Ma/zor, being the fame with Mitzraim, which is the name for Egypt; and the fenfe would be more eafy, as well as the words run more fmoothly, thus, /hall come from Affyria, even to the cities of Egypt: and then it follows, and from the fortrefs, even to the river, or from Egypt to the river Euphrates, which was ‘one of the boundaries of the land of /rael: and from fea to fea; from the Perfan-fea to the Mediterraneanfea, or from the Red-/ea thither, and from the feveral maritime parts where they inhabited: ‘ana from mountain to mountain; from mount Taurus to

Carmel, or Lebanon, or Hor; or from ‘the feveral © mountains to'which they had fled for fafety, and where they had dwelt. “It may refpeét ‘the extent of the church and kingdom of Chrift in the latter day, enlarged by the numerous converfions of Fews and Gentiles in all parts of the world. The Fews hall be gathered from all places where they ar and join themfelves to the church of Chrift, iad thefe feveral places, particularly Apria, Egypt, and the iflands of the fea, from whence’ they all be brought, are mentioned in other prophecies; fee If. xi. 11. Zéch. X. g, 10, 11. tho” this “May: refpeét, not barely the converfion and_gatherir of them to Chrift and his church, but of the Gevti calfo in thofe feveral countries, thus; they /ha arius Hyftafpis,| from Afyria, and ‘the fortified l come cities; that is, from the Turkifh empire; the land of Afpria, and its fortified cities, being im the poffeffion of the Turks

Jews from all parts were encouraged to come up! and in whofe dominions many Jews at this day refide; and not only they, but multitudes in the Ottoman empire fhall be converted in the latter day, and become members of chriftian churches;

fignified by the flocks of Kedar, and the rams of

Nebaioth, that fhall be gathered to the church, sand minifter there, Jf Ix. 7. and they fhall come from the fortrefs, even to the river; from every one of the fortified cities before-mentioned to the river Euphrates, which will be dried up to make way for the kings or kingdoms of the eaft, for their even the large kingdoms of Perfia, Tartary, China, &c. Rev. xvi. 12. or from Egypt to the river Euphrates; and fo fignifies the fame as before, Egypt being part of the Zurki/h dominions; or elfe the Roman jurifdiction, fpiritually called Egypt, may be meant, Rev. xi. 8.. and in- feveral Popifh countries are many Yews, who will be called from thence; as well as many of the P2apij/fs themfelves fhall be called out of myftical Babylon, and embrace the true religion of Chrift: and from fea to fea, this is a well known defeription of the amplitude of Chrift’s church and kingdom in gofpel-times, efpecially in the latter day; fee Pf Ixxii. 8. Zech. ix. 10. or as it may be rendered, the fea from the fea*, that is, the inhabitants of the fea, or of the iflands of it, fhall come from thence to the church, fee Jf, xi. 11. thefe are the fame with the abundance of the fea, that fhall be converted to Chrift, and join his people in the latter day, as in our ifle ‘and others, If Ix. 5: and from mountain to mouniain; or rather, and mountain fhall come ¢o the mountain’, that is, the inhabitants of the mountain, or of Rome, that is fituated on feven mountains, of myftical Babylon, the great mountain; thefe fhall be called from hefice to mount Zion, the church of the living-God, where Chrift with the 144,000 will be, and which fhall then be eftablifhed on the top of the mountains, and all nations -fhall flow unto it, Rev.-xiv. 1. Jf. ii. 2, 3. The Targum is, ** at that’ time the captives ‘hall “* be gathered from Afyria, and the {trong cities, “< and ‘from ‘Churmini (or Armenia) the great and “¢ the fortified cities, even unto Euphrates, and <¢ the weftern fea, andthe mountains of the mounals «Ss Ae eta, y¥. 13. Notwithftanding the land fhall be defolate, &c.] ‘Not the ‘land of ‘Chaldea, as fome or the Jand of the nations, as Farchi and Kimchi, but the ‘land of J/rael. “Phat part of it, which was pof- ‘feffed ‘by the'ten tribes, ‘was’ made defolate by Sa -

‘manefer king of Affria; and that which was in- ‘habited’ by the two:tribes, by ‘Nebuchadnezzar king -of Babylon, and this defolation was-to be, notwithftanding the above prophecies, and prior to the fulthe margin of our bibles, after the land hath been defolate®, and ivis obferved, partly to preventwicked ‘men'promifing themfélves impunity from the above -prophecies; and partly'to prevent defpair in good

‘men, when fuch a defolation fhould-be made. And then again it'was made defolate by the Romans, ‘previous to the fpread and eftablifhment of the church of Chrift, bythe fuccefs of the gofpel in the Gentile world, in the firft times of it; and by ‘the convetfion “of the Yews, and bringing in the 'fulnefs of the Gentiles, in the laft times of it. Becaufe of them that dwell therein, for the frust of their