Exposition of the Whole Bible

HIS chapter contains a prophecy of the defence, protection, and falvation of the church of God; and of the effufion of the Spirit; and of the converfion of the Yews in the latter day. It begins with a title and preface, defcribing the power of God, from the creation of the heavens and earth, and foul of man, ¥. 1. then follows the fubject-matter of the prophecy, in a way of judgment, upon: the enemies of the people of God, and in a way of falvation to them. The judgments on their enemies are fignified by various metaphors; by feru/alem’s being a cup. of trembling, a burdenfome ftone, and an hearth, and torch of fire to them, y. 2, 3, 6. The effects of which are to them aftonifhment, madnefs, blindnefs, and utter deftruction; and to the people of God confidence in him, falvation from him, sand ftrength and protection by him, y.. 4, 5, 7, 8. and at the fame time, that God will deftroy all. the enemies of his people; he will pour out his. Spirit upon his chofen ones.among the Fews. The confequence of which will be, their faith in Chrift, fignified by looking to. him whom they. have pierced; and their repentance towards God, exprefied by mourning; and this illuftrated by mourning for an: only and firft-born-fon, ¥. 9, ro. and which is further illuftrated, by the mourning for Fofiah in the valley of Megiddon, and by an enumeration of the feveral families in Feru/alem,. that fhould feparately mourn on this account, ¥. 11, 42543,:14.

_¥. 1. The burden of the word of the Lord for Jfrael, &c.] And againft their enemies; for the good of the church of God, for its joy, comfort, and falvation: ar, concerning I/rael*, what thall befal them in the latter day, as the deftruction of antichrift, prophefied of in the preceding chapter; and what is hereafter faid, may be believed that it fhall be accomplifhed. The Lord is defcribed in the greatnefs of his power, {peaking as follows: faith the Lord, which firetcheth forth the heavens; as a curtain, Pf. civ. 2. the expanfe or firmament of heaven, which is ftretched out as a canopy over all the earth around: and layeth the foundation of the earths firm and fure, tho’ upon the feas and floods, yea upon nothing, Pf. xxiv. 2. Fob xxvi. 7: and formeth the /pirit of man within him; the foul of man, with all its powers and faculties, gifts and endowments; which is of his immediate creation, and which he continues daily to form, and infufe into the bodies of men, and holds in life there; hence he is called the father of fpirits, Hed. Xii. g. ¥.2. Bebold, I will make Ferufalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, &c.| The Targum renders it, ‘¢ a veftel full of inebriating ** liquor;” which intoxicates and makes giddy, and~caufes to tremble, ftagger, and fall like a drunken man. The phrafé denotes the punifhment inflicted by the Lord upon the enemies of his church and people; fee Jf li. 22, 23: when they foall be in the fiege, both againft Fudab, and againft

Ferufalem; not by Antiochus Epiphanes, nor by

Titus Vefpafian; nor by Gog and: Magog, as Kim~- chi; but by the:antichriftian powers, efpecially the

Mabometan nations, the Turks, which fhall come againft Ferufalem, when the Yews are returned thither, and re-fettled in their own land;. fee Ezek,

/XXXVili.. 5.6. _The» words fhould be rendered and upon Fudah fball it be”, i.e. the cup of trem= bling, in the frege againft Ferufalem; according te the Targum, and the. fewi/o commentators,. the nations of the earth fhall.bring the men of Fudab by force to join with them in the fiege of Jerufalem;. asin. the times of Antioshus,, many of the Jews were drawn in to. fight againft: their brethren; but the meaning:is, that not only the wrath of God-will come upon the Mahometaz nations that fhall befiege Feru/alem; but alfo on thofe who bear the chriftian name,: who are Jews outwardly, but not.inwardly; and fhall join with the Turks in diftreffing. the people of the Yews upon their return to their own land: to befiege Fudah, or a country, is not proper and pertinent > Feru/alem, when again in the hands of the Yews, according to this prophecy, only is to be befieged; as it: wall, by the Zurks; and it fhould be obferved, that it never was befieged: by Antiochus, and therefore the prophecy can’t be applied to his times, ast is. by many. [O13

¥. 3. And in that day will I make Ferufalem a burdenfome ftone for all people, &c.| The Targum renders. it, @ ftone of offence; at which they hall ftumble and fal; but it: feems to defign the immoveablenefs of the ftate and condition of Fernfalem, that thofe who attempt to remove her out of her place, or to make any alteration in her happy circumftances, will not be able to do it,

Pf. cxxv. 1. Ferom makes mention of a cuftom in the cities of Paleftine, and which continued to his times throughout all Fudea, that large, huge, round

{tones ufed to be placed in the towns and villages, which the youths exercifed themfelves with, by trying to lift them up as high as they could, by which they fhowed their ftrength; and the fame ancient writer obferves, that a like cuftom obtained in Greece; for he fays he himfelf faw in the tower at Athens, by the image of Minerva, a globe of brafs, of a very great weight, which he thro’ the weaknefs of his body could not move; and afking the, meaning of it, he was told, that theftrength of wreftlers was tried by it; and no man might be admitted a combatant, until it was known by the lifting up of that weight, with whom he fhould be matched; and the throwing of the difcws, was’ an ancient military exercife, as old as the times. of Homer, who {peaks * of it, and is mentioned by Latin writers, as appears from fome lines of Mar= tial+; fee 2 Maccad. iv. 14. and this, as it tried the ftrength of men, fo it was fometimes dangerous to_themfelves, or to. ftanders by, left it fhould fall upon their heads: and as it was ufual to de- — if fend themfelves, and opprefs enemies by.cafting ftones at them; fo young men ufed to rere themfelves by lifting up, and cafting large ftones;

* Splendida cum volitent Spartani pondera difci

Efte procul pueri 5. fit fe nel

to which Virgil * fometimes refers; and it is well known, that Abimelech was killed even by a woman cafting a piece of a mill-ftone upon his head, judg. ix. 53. and fuch heavy ftones, and the lifting of them up, in order to caft them, may be alluded to here: ail that burden themfelves with it ‘foall-be cut in pieces, all ‘that attempt to unfetrle and remove it, fhall be prefied down with the weight of it, and be utterly deftroyed: or, Joall be torn to pieces; 28 mens hands are cut and torn with rough and heavy ftones. “The Targum is, ‘‘ all that injure her fhall be confumed;” which gives the fenfe of the paffase: rho’ all the people of the earth be gathered tovetber againft it; fo fafe and fecure will the ptople’of God be} he being a wall of fire round about them, and the glory in the midft- of them. ¥. 4. In that day, faith the Lord, ¥. will {mite every borfe with aftonifhment, and bis rider with madnefs, &c.] "The meaning ‘is,’ the enerhies of God’s people hall be aftonifhed at the unfuccefsfulnefs of their attempts, “and be ‘filled with ' fury and madnefS, becaufe they cannot accomplith their defigns; and fhall be at'their wits end, not knowing what cotirfé to take’ perhaps reference is had to the Turki/> armies, that fhall be brought againft ‘Ferufalem to recover it into their pofleffion, which generally confit of a large cavalry; fee Rev. ix. 16, 17°: and I will open mine eyes upon the houfe of Fudab; which phrafe is fometimes ufed, as expreffive of the wrath of God againft his enemies, “Amos ix. 4, 8. and, if the houfe of Fudab fienifies the fame as Fudah, joined with the nations of the earth in the fiese, ¥. 2. it muft be fo underftood here; but rather it feems to be different, and to intend thofe who will inhabit other parts of Fadea, and who will be truly the people of God, Jews not only literally, but fpiritually; and fo is to be interpreted in a good fenfe, of the divine love.to them, care of them, and protection over them; fee Fob xiv. 3. and fo the Zargum paraphrafes it, ** and upon thofe of the houfe of Fudahb, 1 will << reveal my power to do them good:” and will Jmite every horfe of the people with blindne s, that is, every rider of them, either with blindnefs of mind or body, or both. It may be, as the former f{miting, mentioned in the beginning of the verfe, refpeéts the mind, this may regard the body; fo that they fhall not fee their way, and their hands fhall not perform their enterprife. y¥. 5. And the governors of Fudab fhall fay in their heart, &c.] The governors of the reft of the cities in Fudea, befides Ferufalem, when they fhall obferve the armies of the people, their horfes and their riders, finitten by the Lord, as above, fhall take heart, and be of good courage: and fecretly ‘fay within themfelves, the inhabitants of —Ferufalem thall be my ftrength in the Lord of bofts their God; that is, they, in the ftrength of the Lord fhall overcome their enemies, and fo be the means of préferving and fecurifig the other cities of Fudah fiom deftru€tion: the governors don’t place thei’ ftrength and confidence in the inhabi- the following verfe, by she governors of Fudab, ate not meant Fudas Maccabeus and his brethren, as fome think; for tho’ there are fome things in’ the context that feem to agree with them, and they may be an emblem of the governors in thé times referred ‘to, for their courage, bravery, and flccefs; yet the thread of hiftory, and feries of, prophecy, “will not admit ‘fuch a fenfe. ¥. 6. In that day will'l make the governors of Judah ‘like a hearth. of fire among the wood, &c.| Asa large hearth of ‘fire, with wood all about it, evours and confumes it; fo fhall the governors of Judah be to thé nations that fhall.come up againift Strufalem.- The Targum fenders it, “* as. a_gar-

‘e“ment Of fire among wood:” and like 4 torch of jire in a fheaf; of wheat,, which prefently deitroys it; fee Obad. ¥. 18: and they fhall devour all the people round about on the right-hand, and on the left; on the'fouth, and on the north, as the Targum interprets it. The phrafe denotes the utter deftruétion of the people on all fides: and Feru- Jelem fhall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Ferufalem; upon that very {pot of ground, which was formerly called Feru/falem, thall the city be built again, and inhabited; and fhall continue, notwithftanding the attempts of all the nations of the earth to.deftroy it; fee Fer. xxx. 18.

¥. 7. The Lord alfo fhall fave the tents of Fudab Jirft, &c.] That is, the ews, who will be in other parts of the land encamped in tents, to defend themfelves againft their enemies; thefe will be faved out of the hands of them, before the inhabitants of Ferufalem will be faved; and in fuch a manner, that it will evidently appear that their falvation is of the Lord: and his end in fo doing will be, that the glory of the houfe of David, and the glory of the inbabitants of Ferufalem, do not magnify themfelves againft Fudah; \eft the chief of the family of David, and the principal inhabitants of Jerufalem, thould glory over their brethren in other parts of Yudea; and fay, it was owing to them, that they were faved and delivered out of the hands of their enemies. ¥. 8. In that day fhall the Lord defend the inbabitants of Ferufalem, &c.] As with a fhield againft their enemies; and fuch is the Lord to all his people; he is their fhield to protect them; he keeps and guards them by his power; he encompaffes them about with his favour, as with a fhield; and gives unto them the fhield of falvation; all which will eminently appear to be the cafe of the Fews at this time: aud he that is feeble among them at that day, foall be as David; they that have the moft fearful hearts, and feeble minds, fhall be as courageous, as valiant, and as victorious as David; and they that are the weakeft, in a fpiritual fenfe, in the grace, and in the doétrine of faith, and in that part of it, refpecting the ufe of things indifferent, who are ready to be offended, jiumble, and fall*; for the fpiritual reign, which will at this time také place, will not be a ftate of perfection; even thofe will be like David, beloved of the Lord, kings, as well as priefts unto God, and as {trong tants of ¥era/alem, but as they are ftrengthened in, and by’ the Lord their God, from whom all ftrength, {afety and falvation come. In this and! in faith as he: and the houfe of David fhall be as God; the ftronger fort of belivers among them, fuch as are ftrong in the Lord, in the gr

® Certabant Troes contra defendere faxis. Hi jaculis, illi certent defendere faxis.

have much of God with them, great grace upon thein, and be like unto him in goodnefs, truth, and holinefs: or they fhall be like Elohim, the angels, as this word is rendered, Pf. viii. 5. for knowledge, purity, and readinefs to do the will of God; and it follows: as the angel of the Lord before them that is, as Chrift,who is the angel of the covenant, and of the divine prefence; and in whom the name of the Lord is; who is at the head of his people, and goes before them, as their leader and commander, and the captain of falvation, Mic. ii. 13. whofe image they bear, and into which they are changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of God; and which will now be very clearly difcerned upon the faints in the latter day-glory. Kimchi and Ben Melech, by the houfe of David, underftand the king Meffiah *, who was to be of the feed of David; and fo does Cocceius, who takes the as, to be a note, not of fimilitude, but of truth, he being truly God, and the angel of Jehovah. The Targum is, ‘* the houfe of David “* fhall be like great men or princes that fhall “< profper, as the angel of God before them.”

y¥. 9. And it fhall come to pafs in that day, &c.} So often mentioned in this chapter; by which is meant, the latter part of the gofpel-difpenfation, the fpiritual reign of Chrift: that [wll seek to defiroy all the nations that come againft Ferufalem, and fhall deftroy them. The whole of this paragraph feems to refer to the fame as in Ezek. xxxviii. ue: 10. And I will pour out upon the houfe of David, and upon the inhabitants of Ferufalem, &c.] The Fews that belong to the family of Chrift, and to the heavenly Yeru/alem, the church of the firftborn, whofe names are written in heaven: the /pirit of grace and of fupplications; by which is meant, the holy Spirit of God, who is called the /pirit of grace; not merely becaufe he is good and gracious, and loving to his people, and is of grace given unto them; but becaufe he is the author of all grace in them; of gracious convictions, and fpiritual illuminations; of quickning, regenerating, converting, and fanctifying grace; and of all particular graces, as faith, hope, love, fear, repentance, humility, joy, peace, meeknefs, patience, longfuffering, felf-denial, @c. as well as becaufe he is the revealer, applier, and witneffer of all the bleffings of grace unto them: and he is called she /pirit of fupplications; becaufe he endites the prayers of his people, fhews them their wants, and ftirs them up to pray; enlarges their hearts, fupplies them with arguments, and puts words into their mouths; gives faith, fervency and freedom, and encourages to come to God as their Father, and makes interceffion for them, according to the will of Ged: pouring it upon them, denotes the abundance and freenefs of his grace; fee J/ xliv. 3: and they fhail look upon me, whom they have pierced; by nailing him to the tree at his crucifixion; and efpecially by piercing his fide with a fpear; which, tho’ not perfonally done by them, yet by their anceftors, at leaft thro’ their inftigation and requeft; and befides, as he was pierced and wounded for their fins, fo by them: and now being enlightened and corivicted by the Spirit of God, they faith, and in the doétrines of the gofpel; they fhall perfons by his righteoufnefs, and for eternal life and falvation thro’ him. We chriftians can have no doubt upon us, that this paflage belongs to Chrift, when it is obferved upon one of the foldiers piercing the fide of Jefus with a fpear, it is faid, thefe things were done that the fcripture fhould be fulfilled, they ball look on kim, whom they have pierced, and it feems alfo to be referred to in Rev. i. 7.. yea, the Fews tnemfelves, fome of them acknowledge, it is to be underftood of the Meffiah. In the Za/mud ‘, mention being made of the mourning after fpoken of, it is afked, what this mourning was made for? and it is replied, R. Dufa and the Redbins are divided about it: one fays, for Mefiiah ben Fofeph, who fhall be flain; and another fays, for the evil imagination, that fhall be flain;.

it muft be granted to him that fays, for Meffiah the fon of Fo/eph that fhall be flain; as it is written, and they foall look upon me, whom they have pierced, and mourn, &c. for, for the other, why fhould they mourn? hence Farchi and Kimchi on the place fay, our Rabdins interpret this of Meffiah the fon of ‘Fo/ep>, who fhall be flain; and the note of ben Ezra is, all the nations fhall look unto me, to fee what I will do to thofe who have pierced Meffiah the fon of Fofeph. Grotius obferves, that Hadarfan on Gen. xxviii. underftands it of Meffiah the fon of David. The Fews obferving fome prophecies fpeaking of the Meffiah in a ftate of humiliation, and others of him in an exalted flate, have coined this notion of two Meffiahs, which are eafily reconciled without it. The Meffiah here prophefied of, appears to be both God and man; a divine perfon called Febovab, who is all along {peaking in the context, and in the text itfelf,; for none elfe could pour out the {pirit of grace and fupplication; and yet he muft be man, to be pierced; and the fame is fpoken of, that wou! do the one, and fuffer the other; and therefore mult be the @:avJewrG@, or God-man in. one perfon, As to what a Fewi/h writer * objects, that this is fpoken of one that was pierced in war, as appears from the context; and that if the fame perton that is pierced is to be looked to, then it would have been faid, and mourn for me, and be in bitterne/s for me: it may be replied, that this prophecy does not fpeak of the piercing this perfon at the time when the above wars fhall be; but of the

Fews mourning for him at the time of their con-— verfion, who had been pierced by them, that is, by their anceftors, hundreds of years ago; which now they will with contrition remember, they having affented to it, and commended it as a right action; and as for the change from the firft perfon to the third, this is not at aJl unufual in fcripture: and they foall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only fon; or, for this*; that is, piercing him; for fin committed againft him; becaufe of. their rejeétion of him, their hardnefs of heart, and unbelief with refpect to him; and on account of their many fins, which were the occafion of his being pierced; which mourning will arife from, and be increafed by, a fpiritual fight of him, a fenfe of his love to them, and a view of benefits by him. Evangelical repentance fprings from faith, and is accompanied with it; and this godly forrow is like that which — is expreffed for an only fon; fee Amos viii. 10.

fhall look to him by faith, for the pardon of their fins, thro” his blood; for the juftification of their Luke vii. 12. and indeed Chrift is the only-be- — gotten of the Father, as well as the firft-born