Exposition of the Whole Bible

; r 10. for thofe are diftinguithed from, the Lord’s, people; but carnal, worldly, and. earthly men, particularly the followers of antichrift, called the inhabiters of the earth, who have committed forni¢ation with the whore of Rome, Rev. xvii. 2. and xviii. 3. thefe the Lord will punifh for their iniquity; for he punifhes none but for fin, even for their idolatries, adulteries, forceries, thefts and murders, particularly their fhedding of innocent blood, as follows; and therefore their punifhment will be.

juft, God will remember their iniquities, and re-

2: the earth alfo fhall difclofe ber blood, and feall no more cover her flain; when God fhall make inquifition for; blood’; ‘thé blood. of all his faints and prophets will’ be found ih myftical Badylon, and what was hid and’ covered, or thought to be fo, wiil now be difcerned, and brought to light, and jutt punifhment inflicted for it, Rev. xviii. 24, and xvi. 5, 6,7. unlefs this fhould rather denote the great effufion of blood and carnage that will be made, ‘fo that the earth will not be able to. drink it in, and the flain will lie unburied on it;, fee Rev, xi. 13. and xiv. 20. and xix.17, 18. The Targum favours the former fenfe, ** and ‘the earth ** fhall reveal the innocent blood that is fhed on “¢ it, and fhall no more cover her flain,” vis, ines chapter refers to the fame times as } here meant, either the king of Egypt, compared to the two foregoing ones; and is a continuation of the fame fong, or rather a new one on the

{uch a fea-monfter, becaufe of the river Nilz, that fame occafion; it is prophetical of the laft times, 2. others, the king of Babylon, which city was and of what fhall be done in them, as the deftruction of the antichriftian powers, and fatan at the fituated by the river Euphrates, and is defcribed as dwelling on many waters, Yer. li. 13. and others, head of them, y¥. 1. the happy ftate of the church, the king of Tyre, which was fituated in the fea;

and its fruitfulnefs under the care and protection of the Lord, and his affection for it, ¥. 2, 3, 4. its peace, profperity, and flourifhing condition, y. 5, 6. the nature, ufe, and end of all its afflictions and chaftifements, ¥. 7, 8,9. the ruin and deftruction ‘of the city of Rome, and its inhabitants, and of its whole jurifdiction, ¥. 10, 11. a great gathering and converfion of the Lord’s people, both Fews and Gentiles, by the miniftry of the gofpel, ¥. 2058;

y. 1. In that day the Lord with bis fore and great and firong fword, &c.] Meaning either the fword of the fpirit, the word of God, quick and powerful, and fharper than a two edged fword,. EpA. vi. 17. Heb. iv. 12. or elfe fome fore judgment of God: fome underftand it of the Medes and Perfiaus, by whom the Lord would deftroy the Babylouife monarchy; or rather it is the great power of God, or his judiciary fentence, and the execution of it, the fame with the two edged fword, which proceeds out of the mouth of the word.of God, by which the antichriftian kings and their armies will be flain, Rev. xix. 15, 21.2 ball punifh: Leviathan the piercing ferpent', even Leviathan that crooked ferpent, and he foall flay the dragon that is inthe fea, by which are meant, not literally creatures focalled, tho’ the Za/mud * interprets them of the whales, the ‘leviathan male and female; but myftically earthly princes and potentates, for their great power and authority, their cruelty and voraciouinefs, their craft and cunning; fo the Zargum and Aben Exra interpret them of the kings of the earth; and are to be underitood either of diftinét perfons, or countries, they rule over; fome think three are pointed at, as the Egyptians, Affyrians and Edomites, or Romans, fo Farchi; or the Greeks, Turks, and Judians, as Kimchi. The Targum is, ‘* he fhall punith the “¢ king who is magnified as Pharaob the firft, and *" she Laing that is exalted as Senuacherid the fecond, *¢ and fhall flay the king that is ftrong, as the “«« dragon’ (or whale) that is in the fea.” Some are of opinion that only one perfon or kingdom is or fea. which often lies itretched out before a creek, like a boom, to block up the paflage; and is foon bent, in a _ and is foon agai in a ftrait line, like a pole or beam. See his hiftory of Norway, p. 206, 207. i) 1 Comment. Lbr- p. 62a.«: Sade —7- it feems moft ‘likely that all tyrannical oppreffors and cruel, perfecutors of the church are intended, who fhall be deftroyed; and particularly Rome pa-

Rome papal, by a beaft the dragon gave his power to, which rofe out of the fea, and by another out of the earth, which {poke like a dragon, Rev. xiii, I, 2, 11. both the eaftern and weiftern antichrifts may be included; the eaftern antichrift, the Turk, whofe dominions are large, like the waters of the feai; and the weftern antichrift, the whore of Rome, defcribed as fitting on many waters, Rev, xvii. 1, both which are comparable to ferpents and dragons for their cruelty «and poifon; moreover fatan, at the head of all thefe, called the dragon, the old ferpent, and devil, muft be taken into the account, who is the Jaft enemy that will be déftroyed; he will be taken and bound a thoufand years, and then, being loofed, will be retaken, and caft into the lake of fire, where the beaft and falfe prophet be, Rev. xx. 15.2, 10. Kimchi thinks this prophecy belongs to the times of Gog and Magog. F yv.2. Jn that day fing ye unto ber, &c.| The congregation of J/rael, as the Targum; or rather the church of Chrift, for after, “and upon the de- {truétion of his, and her enemies, there will be great rejoicing and finging alternately, and by reiponfes, as the word fignifies; fee Rev. xv. 1, 2, 3. and xix. 1-7. Guffetius* renders it, affié? her, as if fpoken by the Lord to the enemies to do their worft to her, and he would take care of her, that it fhall be in vain, and to no purpofe, fince he would keep her: @ vineyard of red wine; as the people of the ews are compared to one, // v, 1— 7. fo is the church of Chrift under the gofpeldifpenfation; fee Cant. viii. 11, 12. Matt, xx. 1. a vineyard is a fpot of ground feparated from others, and the church and people of God are feparated from the reft of the world by electing, redeeming and calling grace; a vineyard is a place fet with various vines, fo is the church; there is Chrift the true vine, the principal one, which ftands im the firft place, Fohn. xv. 1. and there are par-; aX).ticular fame, as the Bifhop of Bergen thinks, with the fe k T. Bab.

ticular congregated churches, which. belong to the vineyard, the general or catholic church, Cant, il.

13, 15. and there are particular believers that may. be fo called, Cant. vi. 11. and vii. 12. moreover, fometimes in vineyards other trees are» planted befides vines, as barren fig-trees, Luke xiii. 6, 7. and, fo there are in the vifible church of God nominal believers, carnal profefiors, trees without fruit; there are no true vines but fuch as are engrafted and planted in Chrift, and who, thro’ union to him, and abiding in him, bring forth fruit; a) vineyard is the property of fome one perfon, as this is ot Chrift, whofe it is by his own choice, by his father’s gift, by inheritance, by purchafe, as well as itis of his planting, and under his care; vineyards are valuable, pleafant, and profitable, but expofed to beafts of prey, and therefore tobe fenced and guarded; all which may be applied to the church ot Chrift, which fhall, in the latter day efpecially, be very fruitful, and anfwer to this character given her in this fong, a vineyard of red wine; the allufion is to fuch a vineyard, in which vines grow, that bring forth grapes, productive of the beft wine, as the red was reckoned in the eaftern countries; fee Gen. xlix..12. Prov. xxiii. 31. and fo Farchi and Kimchi interpret it; this is a vineyard very different from that in JZ v. 5, 6, 7. and from the vine of J/rael, Hof. x. 1. the fruit of it fignified by red wine, may intend the graces of the ipirit, which like grapes, the fruit of the vine, grow in clufters; where one is, all of them are, and come from Chrift, the vine, from whom all the fruit of divine grace is found; and which receive their tincture from the blood of Chrift, their vigour and their ufefulnefs; and may be faid like wine to chear the heart of God and man, Judg. ix. 13. grace when in exercife is delightful to God and Chrift, Cant. iv. 9, 10. and gives pleafure to other faints, P/’ xxxiv. 1, 2. and as the fruit of the vine muft be {queezed e’re the liquor can be had, fo the graces of the fpirit are tried by afflictive difpen- {ations of providence, by which the: precioufnefs and ufefulnefs of them are made known; moreover, the fruits of righteoufnefs, or good works, may be alfo intended, by which the graces of faith and repentance are evidenced, and which, when performed aright, are acceptable to God thro’ Chritt, and profitable to men; and for thefe fruits of grace and good works, the church will be famous in the ‘latter day. ¥. 3. Lthe Lord do keep it, 8cc.] The vineyard, the church, not only by his minifters, called: the keepers of it, Cant. vill. 12. but by himfelf, by his own power; for unlefs he keeps it, who is Tfrael’s keeper, the watchmen wake in vain; he keeps his church, and people from fin, that it does not reign over them; and trom fatan’s temptations, that they are not deftroyed by them; and from the malice of the world, and the poifon of falie teachers, that they are not ruined thereby; and from a final and total falling away; the Lord’s prefervation of his church and people will be very manifeft in the latter day: J «will water it every:moment both more immediately with the dews of his grace, and the difcoveries of his love; that being like dew, it comes from above, is according to the fovereign will of God, without the defert of man, falls in _ the night, filently, gently, and infenfibly, and greatly retrefhes and makes fruitful, Hof, xiv. 5, 6, 7. and more immediately by the miniftry of the word and

-gofpel, who water as well:

ple, who was he to deal with them

‘unable to bear his wrath and fury, ordinances, by his reachers | ft: » 1 Cor, itis O57 8. thefe are the clouds he fends about to let d the rain of the gofpel upon his church and peop by which they are revived, refrefhed, and-m fruitful, J v..6. and lv, 10, 11. and_this be done every moment, fhews, as the care of God, an his conftant regard to his people, fo that witho the frequent communications of his gr. conftant miniftration of his word and ordinan they would wither and become fruitlefs; but by means of thefe, they are as a watered garden, whol {prings fail not, J/: lviii. 11: lef any burt it, as would fatan, who goes about as a roaring lios feeking whom he may. devour; and the men of.th world, who are the boar out of the wood, 4 wild beaft of the field, that would wafte and {troy the vineyard; and falfe teachers, who are the foxes that would fpoil the vines, 1 Pet. y. 8. Ixxx. 13. Cant. ii. 15. but to prevent any fuc hurt and. damage, the Lord undertakes to keep the church, his vineyard himfelf, which he repeats with {ome addition, to declare the certainty of it; or, left be vifit it™, that is, an enemy, as\fome* fupply it; left he fhould break down the hi and puth into it, and wafte it; or Jehovah hin that is, as Gufetivs ° interprets it, whilft Jehor the Father, y. 1. is ftriking Leviathan, or in ing his judgments upon his enemies, Jehovah 1 Son promifes to take care of his vineyard, the’ church, that the vifitation does’ not affeét them, and they are not hurt by it, but are fafe and fecure’ from it; which is a much better fenfe than that of, Kimchi mentioned by him, I will water. it every moment, ‘hat not one leaf of it foould fail; the fame is obferved by Ben Melech, as the fe iven by Donefo Ben Labrat: I-awill keep it might and day; that is, continually, for he never flumbers” nor fleeps; he has kept, and will keep, his church and people, thro’ all the viciffitudes of night and day, of adverfity and profperity, they come into: how great is the condeicenfion of the Lord 2 ake upon him the irrigation and prefervation of his people! how dear and precious muft they be to him! and what a privilege is it to be in fuch a plantation as this, watered and defended by the Lord himfelf! vivian a ia

¥. 4: Fury is not inme, &c.] Againft his vineyard he takes fo much care of, his church and people, whom he has loved with an. everlafting love; they are indeed deferving of his wrath, but he has not appointed them to it, but has appoint his Son to bear it for them, who has delivered the from wrath to come, and they being juftified | his blood and righteoufnefs, are faved fron and tho’ the Lord chaftizes them for the yet not in wrath and fore difpleafure; | wrath or fury in his heart towards the exprefied in the difpenfations of his who would fet the briers and. thorns againf battel? either fuggefting the weaknels of and corruptions deferved, for whi compared to thorns and briers, thorns could withftand a confuming fir intimating, that fhould fuch ns vineyard, the church, as often do, Co! briers and thorns fr unfruitfulr profitablenefs, for” nd mifch and the grief and trouble ive to the e of God, as hypocrites a ee teachers, Lain fuch as are of unfound principles, and bad lives and converfations, and which are very offenfive to the Lord; and therefore, tho’ there is no fury in him againft his vineyard, the church, yet there is again{t thofe briers and thorns, wicked men, whom he accounts his enemies, and will fight againft them in his wrath, and confume them in his fury; fee 2 Sam. xxiii. 6, 7. Jf. xxxiii. 14.: I would go thro’ them; or, frep into it’; the vineyard, where thofe -briers or thorns are fet and, grow up; the meaning is, that he would ftep into the vineyard, and warily and cautioufly tread there, left he fhould hurt any of the vines, true believers, whilft he is plucking up and deftroying the briers and thorns; or contending in a warlike manner with carnal and hypocritical profeflors: I would burn them together, or, J would burn out of it*; that is, gather out of the vineyard the briers and thorns, and bind them up in bundles, as the tares in the parable, which fignify the fame as here, and burn them, or utterly deftroy them; tho’ the words may be rendered, who will give, or fet me a brier and thorn in battel, that I foould go againjt it, and burn it up together, or wholly‘; and the meaning is, who fhall irritate or provoke me to be as a brier and thorn, to hurt, grieve, and diftrefs my people, to caufe me to go into them, and againft them, in a military way, in wrath and fury to confume them? no one fhall. This rendering, and fenfe, well agree with the firft claufe of the verfe. erom renders it thus, who will make me an adamant ftone? as the word Shamir is rendered in Ezek. ili. 9. Zech. vii. 12. and gives the fenfe, who will make me hard and cruel, fo as to overcome my nature, my clemency, to go forth in a fierce and warlike manner, ‘and walk upon my vineyard, ‘which before I kept, and burn it, which I had hedged about? _y. 5. Or let bim take hold of my firength, &c.] Not on the law, as the Targum and Kimchi, but on Chrift, as Ferom rightly interprets it; who is the ftrength and power of God, the man of his right-hand he has made {trong for himfelf; a ftrong tower, as the word fignifies, a rock of defence, to whom faints may betake themfelves, and be fafe; in him they have righteoufnefs and ftrength; in ‘people of God, any and every one of them, when afflicted and chaftized by him particularly, and are ready to conclude that he is wroth with them, and is dealing with them in hot difpleafure; let fuch look to Chrift, and lay hold, and a {trong hold on him by faith, which will be greatly to their advantage and fupport. The Targum and Farchi render }& tranflated or, by if; and then the words are to be read thus, if be will, or fhould, take hold of my jirength, or fortrefs*; or as fome render them, “O that he would’, &c. it follows, that be may make peace with me, and he foall make peace with ime, or rather, be fall make peace with me, peace foall be make with me. The phrafe is doubled for the certainty of it; and the meaning is, not that the believer who lays hold by faith on Chrift, Jeah’s ftrength, fhall make peace with him; which -is.not in the power of any perfon to do, no not the

’ 2 21 ups gradiar in eam; fo fome in Varablas; caute ingrediar eam, Pifcator.

him is everlafting ftrength. The fenfe is, let the.

believer by his faith, repentance, or good works, but Chrift the power of God, on whom he lays’ hold, he'fhall make peace, as he has, by the blood of his crofs, and 1s the only peace-maker; and hereby the believer may fee himfelf reconciled to God, and at peace with him; and therefore may comfortably conclude under every providence, that there is no fury in God towards him. <i ¥.6. He shall caufe them that come of facob to take root, &c.] That is, the pofterity of Facob; the feed of J/rael, in a fpiritual fenfe; fuch who are I/raelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; thefé fhall be fo far from being plucked up, or rooted out of the vineyard, the church, that they fhall take deeper root, and their roots fhall fpread yet more and more; they fhall be rooted and grounded in the love of God, and alfo in Chrift, and be built up in him, as well as firmly fettled and eftablifhed in the church, Epé. iii. 17. Col. ii. 7. or, them that come to ‘facob“; profelytes unto him, converted Gentiles, that come to the church of Chrift, fignified by Yacob, and give up themfelves unto it, and are added to it, thefe fhall take root. The words may be rendered, in days to come, he /ball caufe Jacob to take root, or, he fhall take root, as Aben Ezra, Farchi, and Ben Melech fapply the words; and fo they area prophecy of the ftability and profperous eftate of the church in the latter day: Lfrael foall bloffom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit; which may be underftood of the fruits of grace and righteoufhefs, which fhall appear upon the people of God, in all parts of the world; or of the great number of converts every where; fo the Targum, by fruit underftands children’s children; the fenfe is, that when the church of God, in the latter day, is fettled and eftablifhed, grounded in Chrift, and in the doctrines of grace, it fhall be in very flourifhing and fruitful circumftances, abounding in grace and good works, and with numbers of converts; it fhall be’ like the muftard-tree, when it becomes fo great a tree, as that the birds of the air make their nefts in it; and as the ftone cut out of the mountain without hands, when it becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth, Mast. xiii. 31, 32. Dan. ii. 35. compare with this chap. xxxvii. 31. © ¥. 7. Hath be {mitten him, as he fmote thofe that fmote him? &c.| No; the Lord does fmite his people by afflictive difpenfations of his providence, he {mites them in their perfons, and families, and eftates; fee chap. lvii. 17. as he fmote Mrae/, by fuffering them to be carried captive, and as the ews are now {mitten. by him in their. prefent ftates yet not as he fmote Pharaoh, with his ten plagues, and him and his hoft at the red-fea; or. as he {mote Sennacherib and his army, by an angel, in one night; or as Amalek was {mitten, and its memory perifhed; or as he will fmite myftical Babylon, which will be utterly deftroyed; ‘all which have been fmiters of God’s J/rael, who, tho’ finitten of God, yet not utterly deftroyed; the Fews returned from captivity, and tho’ now they are {cattered abroad, yet continue a people, and will be faved. God deals differently with his own*people, his myftical and fpiritual J/rae/, than with their enemies that fmite them; he afflicts them, but does ee =e fuccendam ® So De Dieu; and fome in Vatablus; and which

"y. 8.. In meafure, when it fhooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it, &c.|. Or, when he fendeth it forth*; when God fends forth an affliction on his people, or gives it a commiffion to them, as all are fent by him, he does it with moderation; he proportions it to, their ftrength, and will not fuffer them to be afflicted above what they are able to bear;. and as in afflicting, he debates and contends with his people, having a controverfy with them, fo he contends with the affliction he fends, and debates the point with it, and checks and corrects it, and will not fuffer it to go beyond due bounds; and: in: this the afflictions of God’s people differ from the afflictions of others, about which he is carelefs and unconcerned: he ftayeth his rough wind in the day of his eaft wind; when affiictions, like a bluftering and blafting eaft wind, threaten much mifchief, and to carry all before them; Jehovah, from whom they have their commiffion, and who holds the winds in his fift, repreffes them, ftops the violence of them, and gradually abates the force of them, and quite ftills them, when they have anfwered the end for which they are fent: or be meditateth’; or fpeaketh, as archi interprets it, by his rough wind in the day of bis eaft wind, God fometimes meditates hard things againft his people, and fpeaks unto them by the rough difpenfations of his providence, admonifhes them of their fins, and brings them to. a fenfe and acknowledgment of them, which is his view in fuffering them to befal them: or, Ae removes by his rough wind.*; their fruit; fo Kimchi interprets it; as a rough wind blows off the bloffoms and fruits, fo the Lord by afflictions removes the unkind, bloffoms and bad fruit from his people, their fins and tranfgteffions, as it follows. 7

¥.9. By this therefore fhall the iniquity of Facob be purged, &c.| Or expiated, or atoned*, not that affiictions are atonements for fin, or give fatisfaétion to divine juftice for it; but they are the means of bringing the Lord’s people to a fenfe of their fins, and to repentance and humiliation for them, and confeffion of them, and of leading them to the blood and facrifice of Chrift, by which they are expiated and atoned, and which the fpirit of God brings near, and applies unto them; whereby their fins, they are conyicted of by means of afflic-

‘bited by men: there fhall the! eee tions, and. which lay heavy upon their confciences, are purged away, and removed from them; amd poraim, as Farchi, from Fer. x. P82 ne er king of Egypt, as Kimchi, 3 from n fer by what follows; unlefs the fin of the preferit’ “ in their difbelief and reje€tion of the Meffia - be rather intended; which} thro’ their lone afflicl - tion they will be convinced of in ‘the lattef s and it will be taken away from them, and” be” purged and expiated thro’ the atoning facrificé OF” Chnift, the Saviour and deliverer, they" will “ém=" brace, Rom. xi. 25, 26: when be maketh al} be Jtones of the altar as chalk-ftones that are Beaten tn Junder;:that is, wher Facob, or the people” of thé ° Jews, being convinced of their idolatry by their * afflictions, fhall pull dowm alk their idolatrous al2 tars; perhaps particularly referring’ to ‘that which haz made, 2 Kings xvi. 10, 1, 12. and remove the ftones: thereof, and break them to pieces) as” chalk-ftones for lime, which is eafily done’ #be* Sroves and the images fhall not ftand up’; ere to be:

worfhipped, but fhall be thrown down, demolifhed) ~ and broke to pieces;. and by thus abandoning’ their » idols and idolatrous practices, they will fhew the fenfethey have of their fins, and the fincerity of their repentance; and it is to be obferved, that the Fews ° atter their return from the Babyloni/h captivity, néver practifed idolatry more, not in the literal fenfe§~ perhaps fome re{pect may be had here ‘to’ the *time * when they fhall look on him, whom they ave’ pierced, and mourn; and when they fhall renounce” all their legal facrifices, traditions of the elders, and ° their own righteoufhefs, their idols, and look alone? to the facrifice of Chrift, and declare againft all the idolatry of the church of Rome, and all antichriftian worthip. * aye) a ale ¥. 10: Yet the defenced city hall be deflate, Bay Or but, or notwithfanding»; tho’ thie sore eal mercifully with his own people, and’ mixes ' with their afflictions, and caufes them to iifie well,” and for their good; yet he does "not déal* 6 with others; his and their enemies: for by the? defented’ city, is not meant Feru/alem, as many iterpret Ht,” fo Kimchi; nor Samaria, as Aben Ezra? nor Viteral” Babylon, ‘as others; but myftical’ Badyloay the city? of Rome, and the whole Roman, or antichri; jurifdiction, called'the great and migbiy city, Red.’ xviii. 10. which will be deftroyed, become *défelate, or alone *, without inhabitants and dhe babe tation forfaken and left Vike a wilderhels OF babita= tions; the fingular for the plural;' evén Beatt ones, as the word * fignifies, sis theta fuch as the roaring of a lion, I. xxxi. 4. and Guffetius here interprets it of thunder, Ebr. Comment. p-'202. fo Cattalio rendess”

it, fonans fuo duro fpiritu.

Tigurine verfion, Pifcator; fo Ben Melech obferves that the word has the fignification of removing a —p>’ es neg me Pagninus, Montanus; expiabitur, Pifcator. 1 8 oD fed, © “77 folitaria, Pagninus, Montanus, Junias & Tremelii % the, that fhall attack. the city, and {poil va fibltance, as the J iy se 2 be 30. but literally, and which is put for all other cattel, or beafts of the field that fhould feed here, without any moleftation or difturbance: there fhall be lie down, and confume the branches thereof, which the

Targum interprets of the army belonging to the city; it denotes the utter deftruétion ot it, and its inhabitants;, fee Rev, xviii. 2. Some of the Fewi b writers ¢ interpret. this paflage of Edom or Rome, and of the Meffiah being there to take vengeance on it.

_ x. 11. When the boughs thereof are withered, they foall be broken off, &c.| This city is compared to a tree, whofe branches are not only gnawed and confumed by cattel, as in the former verfe, but which, in a hot dry fummer are withered and dried up, and fo are eafily broken, and are fit for nothing but the fire; hence it follows: the women come and fet.them on fire 5 or gather them ‘, in order to burn them; as is commonly done with withered branches, ohn xv. 6. it may defign the burning of the whore of Rome, by the kings of the earth; for as antichrift is fignified by a woman, fo the ten kings that fhall hate her, and burn her flefh with fire, may be fignified by women; fee Kev. xvii, 16. ‘The word here ufed fignifies to illuminate, or give light, which, is done when wood is fet on hre; hence the Vulgate Latiz_renders it, women coming, and teaching it; and {o the Targum, “< women fhall << come into the houfe of their Gods, and teach é« them;”. as the woman Jezabel doés, Rev. ii. 20. the former fenfe is. beft,: for it is @ people of no underftanding, or underfiandings that is, the people that inhabit. the above city, they are fortifh and ftupid, have no.underftanding of God and divine things,.of the fcriptures, and the doctrines of them; among whom this maxim obtains, that ignorance is the mother of devotion; they are unr a judicial blindnefs, are given up to ftrong delufions, to believe a lie, 2 Zhe/. ii. 10, 11: therefore be that made them, will not have mercy on them and be that formed them, will foew them no favour; but his wrath fhall be poured out upon them to the uttermoft, which will be fulfilled in the feven vials, and in the deftruction of Rome, and the everlafting ruin of the worfhippers of the man of fin, fee Rev. xvi. 1—19. and xviii, 19. and xiv. 10, 11. no argument can be taken from mens being God’s creatures and offspring, and from his being the former and maker of them, to their falvation; or becaufe they are fo, therefore fhall be faved, when they are finful and fottifh; for being like brutes without underftanding, they fhall perifh as they, without mercy. hots ‘ on y. 124. And it foall come to pafs in that day, &c.] When the fong, will be fung, y. 2, 3. when God will ar.to have taken particular care of his church, work:, that the Lord foall beat of tree, or to the beating | ain from the. and fignifies the feparsting Pe fe tiple ie effectual vocation: from the reft of the world; asthe fruit beaten off is feparated from the tree, and’ corn beaten out is posse toe the ear’ and chaff; ’ for this beating off does not intend judgment, but mercy; and is done not ‘by the. rod of affiiétion,’ but by the rod of the L 's ftrength fent out of* Zion, even the gofpel, the power of God to. fal— vation; which in the miniftration of it fhould reach,: from the channel of the river to the fiream of -Exypts from the river Euphrates; on the banks of which® was the city of Balylon, to the river Nile in Keypt,” which were the limits and boundaties of the Jand’ of Lrael, Deut. xi. 24. Fofh.i. 4. and xiii. 3. and. in which places ‘many Fews * were, or would’ be,: as in the following verfe. The Septuagint verfion is, “ from the ditch of the river to ‘Rbinocorura 7 which, Yerom fays, is a town on the borders of Egypt and Paléftine. "The meaning is, that the Lord would find out’ his people, wherever they. were, in thofe parts, and feparate, and call ther by his grace, and gather them to himfelf, and to his church and. people, as follows: and ye foall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Ifrael; as fruit is gathered up, when beaten off of the tree; and the phrafe one dy one, denotes either the fewnelS of them, and the gradual manner in which they will be gathered; or rather, fince this fenfe does not fo well duit with the converfion of the Yews, which will be of a nation at once; it may fignify the completenefs of this work, that they fhall be every one gathered, not one fhall be left or loft, but: ail Ifraet thall be faved; or it may be‘alfo expreftive of the conjunétion of them, and union of: thetn one to another, in the gofpel-church-ftate, into which they fhall be gathered, as fruit beaten’ off} and gathered up, is laid together in a ftore-houfe? To this fenfe agrees the Targum; ‘ye fhall be ** brought near one to another, O ye children ‘of “ec Lfrael A394 wy Ge ‘ ¥.13. And it hall come to pafs in that day, 8&el} When the Lord is about to do the above things, and in order to it. The Talmudifts * apply ‘this text to the world to come, or times of the Mefiiah} when the ten tribes fhall be returned:‘ that the great trumpet foall be blown; meaning not’ the edict of proclamation of Cyrus, but the miniftration of the gofpel, called a trumpet, in allufion to thofe that were ordered by Mo/es to be made for the congre! gation of Jjrael, Numb. x.1,2. or to thelJubileé trumpet, Lev. xxv. 8. or-with refpect to any trum= pet giving a mufical fourid; the gofpel being a joyful found, a found of love, grace, and mercy thro” Chrift, ‘of peace, pardon, righteouftief§, “and fal2 vation by him; and which may be called ‘a great one, the author of it, God; being great;*and it is the effect ‘of great love, and the’ ptoduce of great wifdom’; it proclaims and publifhes great things, great promifes, great truths, and-a great will again ‘go into all the world, and reach to the ends of the earth; and has been, and will be, attended with great power: the lowing of it ‘intends the miniftry of the word, which to perform’ aright; requires ability and fkill; and here it refpééts’ che fpel-trumpet will be blown more clearly, and wi a any pee difcord,. and confufion;. and more loudly, openly,. and publickly; and more effectually,. and to greater purpofe: and_ they fall come which were ready to perifh in the land of Alyria, and the outcafts in the land of Egypt s all mankind are in a perifhing condition, but all are not fenfible of it; fome are, and they become fo thro’ the preaching of the word, attended with the power and fpitit of God; whereby they are convinced of fin, and of their loft eftate by nature; their confciences are loaded with guilt, their fouls are filled with a fenfe of wrath; they have a fight of fin, but not of a Saviour from it, or of the pardon of it; they have a view of a broken law, which curfes and condemns, and of injured juftice brandifhing its fword againft them, but fee they have no righteoufnefs to fatisfy one or the other; and find themfelves in a ftarving condition, ready to perifh with hunger;, and. are like the wretched infant ca/? out

N this chapter; the'ten tribes of J/rae/, and the

© two tribes of Fudab and Benjamin, are threatned with divine judgments, becaufe of their fins and iniquities mentioned. The ten tribes, under the name of Ephraim, for their pride and drunkennefs, y. 1. the means of their deftruction, the Afyrian monarch, compared to a hail-ftorm, and a flood of mighty waters, ¥. 2. which deftruction, for their fins, is repeated, and reprefented as fudden and fwift; when they would be like a fading flower, f and hafty fruit, ¥. 3, 4. and then, as for the two tribes, tho’ they had a glorious pringe at the head of them, who had a fpirit of wifdom and judgment for government, and of valour and courage for war, ¥. 5, 6. yet the generality of the people, led on by the example of prieft and prophet, went into the fame fenfual gratifications, as they of the ten tribes did, ¥. 7, 8. and became fottifh and unteachable, and were like children juft taken from the breaft, and to be ufed as fuch, ¥. 9, ro, 11. and tho’ the doctrine propofed to be taught them, was fuch as, if received, would be of the greateft advantage to them, for their comfort and refrefhment, yet it was refufed by them with the utmoft contempt; which was to be their ruin, ¥. §2, 13. wherefore the rulers of erufalem are threatened with the judgments of God, which fhould come upon them night and day, the report of which would be a vexation to them; and from which they fhould not be fkreened by their covenant with death and-hell, or by their fhelters and. coverings with lies and falfehood, in which they placed their confidence, ¥. 14, £5, 17, #8, 39, 20, 2%, 22. in the midft of whiclr account, for the comfort of the Lord’s people, ftands a glorious prophecy, con- ¢erning the fure foundation laid in Zion, on which all that are built are fafe and happy, ¥. 16. and the certainty of thefe jwdgments is illuftrated by the method which the plowman takes in fowing his corn, and threfhing it eut; for which he has inftruction and direction from the Lord of hofts, ¥- 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,28, 29-

¥. 1. Yo to the crown of pride, to the drunkards ' fi of Ephraim, &c.\ Or, of the drunkards of Ephraim; ftroyed, and. quickly gone 2; suhich ate ey