Exposition of the Whole Bible

we. will walk in bis paths; in Chrift, the way, by. faith, and in all his ordinances and paths of duty, according to the rule of his word; in imitation of him, and as he walked; in a dependance on his wifdom, grace, and ftrength, continuing therein; for walking is a progreffive motion, and defigns a feries and courfe of obedience and. perfeverance in it: for out of Zion foall go forth the law, and the. word of the Lord out of Jerufalem; by which is meant, the law or doétrine of the Meffiah, J -xlii. 4.

for the Hebrew word = 71n, fignifies any. doc-, trine, and fo the evangelical one, the law or doctrine-of faith, of juftification by faith in Chrift’s righteoufnefs, Row. iii. 27. together with all other doétrines. of the fame kind;, called the word of the Lord, which the Lord Chrift is the author, preacher, fum and fubftance of; the word of righteoufnefs, peace, reconciliation, life and falvation by him. This firft began according to his commiffion and direétion to be preached at Yerufalem, and from thence it went forth into all the world; and it is in Zion, in the church of God, it is now preached, and will be more clearly and fully in the latter day; and fo is an argument, and an encouraging reafon to engage perfons to go up thither and hear it.; ¥.4. And he fhall judge among the nations, &c.] or, it fhall judge; either the mountain of the Lord’s houfe, as Abarbinel thinks, that is, the church; for in the fpiritual reign of Chrift, in the latter day, the judgment fhall be given to the faints of the moft high, and they fhall poffefs the kingdom; the power of civil government will be in their hands, and they fhall judge the world; for kings will then be nurfing fathers to them, and queens nurfing mothers, Or the law and word of the Lord, the gofpel, which judges men now, and declares who are condemned, and who are not; and will judge them at the laft day: or Le fhall judge, that is, the Meffiah, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech interpret it; he fhall be King over all the earth; the kingdoms of this world will become his, and his dominion will be from fea to fea, and from the rivers to the end of the earth: and /ball rebuke many people, either. the church fhall rebuke by her minifters, whofe work it is to reprove and rebuke for, and to convince of both immorality and error; or the word preached by them, which is the means of the conviétion and converfion of finners; or Chrift by his fpirit, whofe office it is to reprove and convince the world of fin, righteoufnefs and judgment. It is a prophecy of numerous converfions among the Gentiles, in the latter day: and they fhall beat their fords into plough-

The things taught them are the ways of | hares, and their {pears into pruning books; inftruments of war fhall be no more ufed, but fhall be turned into inftruments of hufbandry, much more advantageous and ufeful to mankind. Nation fhall not lift up fword againft nation, neither fhall they learn war any more. ‘This clearly proves that this prophecy belongs to future times; for this has never yet had its accomplifhment in any fenfe; not in a literal fenfe; for though there was an univerfal peace all the world over, at the birth of Chrift, in the times of Auguftus Cefar; yet there afterwards were, as our Lord foretold there would be, wars, and rumours of wars, and nation fhould _ rife againft nation, and kingdom againft ¥ and fo it has been, more or lefs, ever fince; nor in a fpiritual fenfe, for tho’ Chrift has made Agee the blood of his crofs, and came and p by his minifters, and wherever the gofpel of peace takes places, it makes men of peaceable di and reconciles them, as to God and Chrift, andthe - way of falvation by him, fo to one another; and it is peace faints arg called to, and when ‘grace is in exercife, it rules in their hearts; and yet there have been fad contentions and quarrels among the people of God, and which yet {till continue; but in the latter day-glory, or fpiritual reign of Chrift, this prophecy will be fulfilled in every fenfe; for after the hour of temptation is over, that hall try all the earth, after the flaying of the witneflés and their rifing, after the battle at Armageddon, when the beaft and falfe prophet will be taken and caft alive into the lake of fire, there will be no more wars in the world, nor any perfecution of the faints; and then will the peaceable kingdom of Chrift appear, and all his fubjects, and the members of his ‘church will live in the utmoft unity and harmony together; they fhall no more envy and vex one another; and of this peace, there will be no end, Pf, \xxii. 7. If ix. 7. and xi. 6, 7, 8—13. thefe words are applied to the times of the Meffiah, both by antient * and modern Fews *. ¥. 5. O bonfe of Facob,-&c.] This is either an exhortation of the prophet to the men of his generation, to attend to the light of the law, which the Lord had given them, as Aven Ezra and Kimehi; or rather, as the Targum and Farchi fuggett, an exhortation of the nations to the people of J/rael, and are indeed the words of the converted Gentiles, to the people of the ews, being concerned for their converfion and {fpiritual welfare, as will appear in the latter day; when they will not only encourage one another to go up to the houfe of the Lord, as in the preceding verfes, but will be very folicitous that the Jews, the pofterity of Facob, fhare with them in all that light and glory that fhall be rifen upon Zion; as follows: come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord; meaning either Chrift, in whom the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is given, and the glory of all the perfections of the divine nature is difplayed; who is that light that dwells with the Lord, was fent forth by him, and ¢ameé into this world as the light of it, and is given for a light to the Gentiles, as well as the glory of the people of J/rael; and who is the author of all light; of corporal light, in the firft creation; of the fun, moon, and ftars; of the light of nature in every man; of the light of the gofpel of the race of God; of the fpiritual light of grace in the Gees of his people; and of the light of eternal glory: or elfe the gofpel is intended, called the light of the glorious gofpel of Chrift, 2 Cor. iv. 4. by which fome are only notionally enlightned, and fome fpiritually and favingly, when it is attended with the fpirit of wifdom and revelation in the know- Jedge of Chrift: or rather, the light of the latter day-glory, which includes the other two; when Chriit and his gofpel will be more clearly revealed and feen, not only by the watchmen, who will fee eye to eye, but by all the faints; when the light of the moon fhall be as the light of the fun, and the light of the fun feven-fold, as the light of feven days, and the whole earth fhall be lightned with its glory, Jf. xxx. 26. Rev. xviii. 1. and to walk in this light, as it refpeéts Chrift, is to walk by faith in him, to go on in believing views of him, and to walk in imitation of him, and as he direéts; and as it refpects the gofpel, it is to embrace it, profefs it, hold it faft, and hold it forth; and to

walk as that prefcribes and guides, and as becomes. it; and to walk as children of the light, wilely and circumfpectly, worthy of the vocation of God, of the grace he calls by, and the kingdom he calls to:. and to walk in the light of the latter dayglory, is to enjoy it, and hare in all the bleffings of it, with perfeverance therein, thro’ the grace of God; and fuch walking is pleafant and comfortable; {uch fhall have the communion of God and Chrift, and fellowfhip one with another, and at laft enjoy the light of life. See Yobmviii. 12. and xii. 35, 36. 1 Fobni, 7. Rev. xxi. 23, 24,

¥.6. Therefore thou haft forfaken thy people, the houfe of Facob, &c.| Thefe words contain a reafon of the divine conduct, in calling the Gentiles, and rejecting the Fews, beeaufe of the fins of the latter hereafter mentioned; tho’ fome, as the Targum and R. Mojes, refer this to the J/raelites; and read, decaufe ye have forfaken, &c. and interpret it of their forfaking the Lord, his worfhip, and his law. What is hereafter faid, does not agree with the ews, literally underftood, neither in the times of J/aiah, nor when they returned from Badylon, nor in the times of Chrift, nor fince the deftruction of Ferufalem, or in the latter day, a little before their converfion; for after the Batylonifh captivity, they were not given to idolatry, nor did they abound in riches,

| and much lefs fince their difperfion among. the na+ tions; nor will this be their cafe in the latter day; wherefore Kimchi applies the whole to the times of Solomon, when the land abounded with gold and filver, with horfes and chariots, and-with idolatry alfo, in the latter part of his life: but it feems bett to interpret this of antichrift and his followers, who call themfelves the people of God, and the houfe of Facob, fay they are Fews, but are not, and are of the fynagogue of fatan; and are therefore re« jected of the Lord, and will be given up to utter ruin and deftruction, for the evils found in them, hereafter charged with. Becaufe they be replenifhed from the eaft, or more than the eaft *, than the eaftern people, the Syrians and Chaldeans; that is, were more filled with witchcrafts and forceries than they, as Kimchi explains it; of the forceries of the Romifh antichrift, fee Rev. ix. 21. and xviii. 23. the words ~nay be rendered, becaufe they be full from of old time‘, or as of old, or more than they were of old; namely, fuller of idols than formerly; fo the Targum paraphrafes it, ‘* becaufe your land is full “* of idols, as of old;” and fo Rome papal is as full of idols, or fuller, than Rome pagan was, | Some, as Aven Ezra, underftand this of their being filled with the wifdom of the children of the eaft, 1 King. iv. 30. and others, of the riches of the eaft: and are foothfayers like the Pbiliftines,; who were a people given to divination and foothfaying, 1 Sam, vi. 2. andfome of the popes of Rome have ftudied the black art, and by fuch wicked means have got into the papal chair; for under this may be included all evil arts and fallacious methods, by which they have deceived themfelves and others ¢ and they pleafe themfelves in the children of ftrangers being brought into their convents, monafteries, and nunneries; the priefts and nuns vowing celibacy and virginity, and contenting themfelves with the children of others: or they love ftrange flefh, delight in fodomitical practices, and unnatural lufts with boys and men; wherefore Rome is called fon an and Egypt, Rev. xi. 8. or they content and delight themfelves in the laws, cuftoms, rites, ceremonies, and doétrines of other nations; many of the Gentile notions and practices being introduced into the faith and worlhip of the church of Rome; wherefore the papifts go by the name of Gentiles, Rev, xi. 2-18. The Targum is, ‘* and they walk in the “< laws of the people,” or ftudy ftrange fciences, and not the ftatutes and laws of God; {fo fome interpret it, as Ben Melech obferves, and who alfo mentions another fenfe fome give, that they pleafe themfelves in images they renew daily..

y¥.7. Their land alfo is full of filver and gold, &c.] Procured by pardons, indulgences, maffes, praying fouls out of purgatory, tithes, annates, Peter’s pence, €c. neither is there any end of their treafures; laid up in the pope’s coffers, in their churches, monafteries, and convents: their land is alfo full of borfes, neither.is there any end of their chariots; for the cardinals, arch-bifhops, bifhops, &%c. to ride on and in. Horfes and chariots are mentioned among the wares and mertchandife of

¥. 8. Their land alfo is full of idols, &c.] Of the Virgin Mary, and of faints departed, whofe images are fet up to be worfhipped in all their churches, and had in private houfes: and they worfbip the work of their own bands, that which their own fingers have made; namely idols of gold, filver, brafs, ‘wood and ftone, Rev. ix. 20.

¥. 9. dnd the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himfelf, &c.| Both high and low, rich and poor, bow down unto, humble themfelves before, and worfhip idols made by the hands of men: the words for the mean man and the great man are T278 and wx, Adam and Jb; and which are alfo interpreted by archi of little or mean men, and of princes and mighty ones: therefore forgive them not; their fins of foothfaying, covetoufnefs, and idolatry; and fuch that worfhip the beaft and his image fhall not be forgiven, but drink of the.wine of divine wrath, and be tormented with fire for ever and ever, Rev. xiv. 9, 10,11. Thefe are either the words of the prophet to the Lord perfonating the church, and imprecating evils on antichriftian worfhippers; or of the angel to the chriftian powers, exhorting them not to {pare Badylon, Rev. xviii. 6, 7. fome refer thefe words to the mean and great men bowing down and humbling themfelves, and read them in connexion with them thus, and lifts not up unto them, that is, the head or foul; fo Aben Ezra, who alfo obferves, that the word earth may be wanting, and fupplied thus, and the earth foall not bear thems they fhall be deftroyed from off it, both the idols and the worfhippers of them. See Pf. x. 16.-and civ. 35:

¥. 10. Enter into the rock, and bide thee in the dujfi, &c.| As it was when Rome pagan was deftroyed, the kings, princes, and freemen called to the rocks to fall on them and hide them, Rev. vi. 15, 16. fo it will be at the downfall of Rome papal, when the kings and merchants of the earth, who have been concerned therewith, will ftand afar off, as for fear of her torment, Rev. xviii. 10, 15: fo for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of bis majefty; left he fhould pour out his wrath and vengeance upon them, and be a confuming fire to them, betore whofe glory and majefty they'll not be able to ftand; for this is to be underftood not of a filial reverence of God, but of a fervile fear of punithment, and thefe words are farcaftically faid, fug- now find that they can. do nothing of chemfelves gefting that rocks and mountains will be no prow tection or fecurity for them. _ bis Ie 4 a

¥. 11. Lhe lofty looks of man foall be bumbled, ®c.J

Particularly of the man of fin, the fon of perdition, who oppofeth and exalteth himfelf above all"that is called God, affuming that to himfelf which belongs to God; looking down with contempt UPB ae behaving haughtily and infolently to all ow him; blafpheming the name of God, his tabernacle, ai them that dwell in heaven; he fhall be humble confumed, and deftroyed with the breath of Chri mouth, and the brightnefs of his coming, 2 Theff. ii. 4, 8. and the haughtinefs of man fhall be bowed down; of the followers of antichrift, who have boafted of their wifdom and knowledge, of their number, power, greatnefs and authority, of their _ wealth and riches, and of their merits and works of fupererogation; their pride will now be ftained, and all their glory laid in, the duft: and the Lord alone foall be exalted in that day; in his divine perfon, and in all his offices, and efpecially in his kingly office; he fhall be king over all the earth, the kingdoms of this world will become his, he fhall be the one Lord, and his name one, Zech. xiv. 9. Rev. xi. 15. this will be in the fpiritual reign of Chrift, in the latter day, or laft day of the go{pel-difpenfation, when the church will be exalted, as in ¥. 2. and in the perfonal reign of Chrift it will ftill more appear, that he, and he alone, wilt be exalted by and among his people, among whom: his tabernacle will be, for then he will have no rivals; not only all rule, power, and authority among men will be put down, and the beaft and falfe prophet will have been caft alive into the lake of fires but fatan, the God of this world, will be taken and bound, and cdft into the bottomlefs pit, and fo re~ main during the time of Chrift’s thoufand years. reign with his faints on earth: this paflage is ree ferred by the Jews“ to the end of the fix thoufand years, the world according to them fhall ftand. r y. 12. For the day of the Lord of Hofts, fees) Which is peculiarly his, which he has fixed appointed, and in which there will be a great difplay of the glory of his power and grace: this fhall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he foall be brought low; either the day of his mighty power and efficacious grace fhall be upon them to convert them; when they who thought themfelves in a good eftate, rich and ftanding in need of nothing, fhall now perceive themfelves to be in a very poor, wretched and miferable one; and when fuch who have trufted in, and boafted of their own righteoufnefs, and defpifed others, and would not fubmit to the righteoufhefs of Chrift, fhall now renounce their own, and ¢ aK ly. embrace his; and when thofe who prided em~- felves with their free-will-ftrength, and power, will and without Chrift, his fpirit, and grace; and who fancied that their own right-hand could fave » ' them, will now fee that there is falvation in no but Chrift, and will proftrate themfelves. _and feek unto him alone for peace, p _oufnefs, and eternal life: or elfe.this of the Lord’s vengeance on his proud and haught enemies, who would not have him to reign ove them; thefe fhall be as ftubble, when scart the Lord, which will burn like an oven, will con:

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¥. 13. And upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are bigh and lifted up, &c.] That is, upon the kings ot the earth, who have committed fornication with Babylon, and will join with the beaft and falfe prophet ja making war with the Lamb. So the Zargum, Farchi, and Kimchi interpret it, of the kings of the nations, mighty and ftrong: and upon all the oaks of Bafhan; nobles, princes, governors of provinces, as the fame writers explain the words, oaks being inferior to cedars: the day of the Lord will be upon thefe, and their deftrution come on at the battle of Armageddon, Rev. xix. 18, ig, 20, 21.

¥.14. And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the bills that are lifted up.| By which may be meant either kingdoms and cities belonging to the Roman jurifdiction, or churches and monafteries, arid fuch like religious houfes, and thie diffolution of them.

‘See Rev. xvi. 20. *¥. 15. And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall.) Which may fignify every thing that erves to fupport and defend the antichriftian ierarchy, particularly the fecular powers. The Targum paraphrafes it, “* and upon all that dwell *¢in a high tower, and upon all that refide by a y. 16. And upon all the fhips of Tarfbifo, &c.] Upon all the merchants and merchandifes of Rome. The Targum is, “* and upon all that dwell in the *¢ iflands of the fea.” See Rev. xvi. 20. and xviii. 11 —19. Tarfoifo, as Vitringa obferves, defigns Tarteffus or Gades in Spain, which muft bring to mind the memorable deftruction of the Spanijh Armado in 1558, as he alfo notes. And upon all pleasant pittures, of Chrift and the Virgin Mary, of angels, and of faints departed, the papifts make ufe of to help their

- devotion. The Targum is, ‘* and upon all that *< dwell in beautiful palaces;” fuch as thofe of the pope and his cardinals at Rome, and of archbifhops and bifhops at other places. The Septuagint verfion ‘is, and upon all the fight of the beauty of fhips; fach were the fhips of the Phenicians, which were very much ornamented, and beautiful to behold.

¥.17. And the loftine/s of man fhall be bowed down, &c.] This, with what follows in this verfe, is repeated for the confirmation and certainty of it; and alfo for the further explanation of what is before figuratively and metaphorically expreffed. See the note on ¥. 11. ‘archi interprets that day, hete fpoken of, of the day of judgment; and then indeed every tongue fhall confefs, whether they will or no, that Jefus Chrift is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, Pdil. ii. 11:.

¥. 18. And the idols he fall utterly abolifo.] "The images of faints worfhipped by the papifts: after the deftruction of antichrift, and when the fpiritual reign of Chrift takes place, there will be no idolatry or worfhipping of images any more, fee Zech. xiii. 2.. The word =°5*5x, ufed for zdols, fignifies things that are not, for an idol is nothing in the world, 1 Cor. viii. 4. thefe the Lord will caufe ‘to pafs away, even all of them, they fhall difap- “pear.

i ¥. 19. And they foall go into the holes of the rocks, ‘and into the caves of the earth, &c.] ‘That is, the Y ‘worfhip ers of idols, as they are bid to do, ¥. 10. for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of bis majefty,

(fee the note on ¥. 10.) when be arifeth, out of his place; archi fays, at the day of judgment, but it refpects the judgment of the great whore, and the time when Babylon the great {hall come in remembrance before God: to jhake terribly the earth; at which earthquake, or fhaking of the earth, that is, a revolution of the antichriftian ftate, the tenth part of the city will fall, and fevén thoufand men of naine be flain, Rev. xi. 13. and xvi. 18, rg. and fo the Targum paraphtafes it, “‘ when he fhall be ** revealed, to break in pieces the wicked of the *¢ earth;” which will be done by him, as the veffels of a potter are broken to fhivers, Rev. ii. 27. ¥. 20. In that day, a man foail caft his idols of

Silver, and bis idols of gold, &c.| Being affrighted at the terrible fhaking of the earth, and at the glory and majefty of Chrift, which will be feen in his witnefles and people, at the time of his fpiritual coming, and the deftruction of antichrift; infomuch that they fhall caft away their idols, and relinquifh their idolatrous practices, and give glory to the God of heaven, Rev. xi. 11, 12, 13: which they made each one for himfelf to worfbip, every one having their peculiar idol, the work of their own hands; which {hows their grofs ignorance and wretched ftupidity: to the moles, and to the bats; that is, either they fhall leave them to perfons as blind and ignorant as moles and bats; or rather they fhall caft them into the holes which moles make, and bats have recourfe unto. The Targum makes thefe the objects of worfhip, rendering the words, ‘* that *¢ they may worfhip the idols and images;” and the Fewi/b writers interpret them of images worfhipped in the form of moles and bats; tho’ we never read of thofe creatures being worfhipped. Moles were facrificed to Neptune”. Kimchi refers this text to the times of the Meffiah; and fome of their an= cient writers * apply it to the Meffiah, and to his arifing and appearing in the land of Galilee.

¥. 21..To go tito the clifts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, 8&c.] ‘That is, the idolaters fhall either go there themfelves; or they fhall caufe their idols to go there, thither they thall caft them; tho’ the former fenfe feems the beft, becanfe of what follows, for fear of the Lord, &c. See the notes on ¥. 10, 19.

¥. 22, Ceafe ye from man, whofe breath is in bis noftrils, &cc.| From that many, meahing antichritft, the man of fin; who is but a meré man, a poor, frail, mortal man; tho” he ‘fits in the temple of God, as if he was God, fhewing himfelf to be God, by taking that to himfelf which belongs to the deity. This is advice to the followers of antichrift, to ceafe from going after him, and worfhipping him, feeing he is not the living God, but a dying man: for wherein is he to be accounted of? The Targum is, ** for he is alive to-day, and to-morrow he is «¢ not, and he is to be accounted as hothing;” and much lefS as Peter’s fucceffor, as head of the church, and vicar of Chrift, and as having all powet in heaven, earth, and hell. It may be applied to men in general, in whom no confidence is to be placed, even the gfeateft of men, P/ cxviii. 8, 9. and particularly the Egyptians, in whom the Fews were apt to truft, who were men, and not God; and whofe horfes were flefh, and not fpirit, ch. xxxi. 3. fo Vitringa; but the firft fenfe is beft.

rious calamities, on account of their fins, which would iffue in their entire ruin and deftruction, They are threatened with a famine, ¥. 1. with a remoyal of ufeful men in church and ftate, and in common life, y. 2, 3. with ignorant and effeminate governors; the confequences of which would be oppreffion and infolence, ¥. 4, 5. yea, that fuch would be their ftate and condition, that men, tho’ naturally ambitious of honour, would refufe to have the government of them, ¥. 6, 7. the reafons of thefe calamities, and of this ruin and fall of them, are their evil words and aétions againft the Lord, which were highly provoking to him; and their impudence in finning like Sodom, which was to their own hurt, y¥. 8, 9. yet in the midft of all this, ’tis the will of God that the righteous fhould be told it fhall be well with them, with the reafon of it; when it fhall be ill with the wicked, as a juft recompence of reward, ¥. 10, 11, the: errors and miftakes of the people are attributed to their childifh and effeminate governors, ¥.12. wherefore the Lord determines to plead their caufe, and contend with their elders and rulers, becaufe they had fpoiled and devoured the poor, ¥. 13, 14, 15. and particularly the women are threatened for their pride and luxury, to have their ornaments taken from them, which are particularly mentioned, ¥. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. and the chapter is concluded with a prophecy, that their mighty men fhould perifh by the fword in war, and the city fhould be defolate,

¥. 1. For bebold, the Lord, the Lord of Hojfts, &c.] Thefe titles of Jehovah, expreffive of power and authority, are ufed to fhew that he is able to execute what he threatens to do; and the word Zehold is prefixed, to excite attention to what is about to be faid: doth take away from Ferufalem, and from Judea; the prefent tenfe is ufed for the future, becaufe of the certainty of what would be done to the Jews, both in city and country; for as in the preceding chapter it is foretold what fhall befall the antichriftian party among the nations of the world, this is a prophecy of the deftruction of the Jews by the Romans; at which time there would be a dreadful famine, fignified by the taking away the fay and the flaff, the whole fiay of bread, and the whole ftay of water; bread and water being the ftay and ftaff of man’s life, which fupport and maintain it; and in cafe of difobedience, a famine was threatened this people very early, and in much fuch terms as here, Lev, xxvi, 26. and as there was a very fore famine at the fiege of Ferufalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Fer. lii. 6. fo there was a very dreadful one when the city was befieged by the Romans, as related by Fo- Sephus, and predicted by-Chrift, Matt. xxiv. 7.

¥.2. Lhe mighty men, and men of war, &c.] The meaning is either that thefe fhould die in war, as.thoufands of them did; or that men fit to be generals of armies fhould be removed by death before this time, fo that they fhould have none to go out with their armies, and meet the enemy: she judge and the prophet; there fhould be none to fit upon the bench, and adminifter juftice to'the people ie this chapter the Yews are threatened with va-’

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| are taken away from them. See 2 Kings.