FR he Pe He FL
the fame numerous army of the Romans as before, who were terrible to the Fews: nor does this metaphor fignify any imbecility in them, and much leis the ruin of them, but their fwiftnefs in executing the judgments of God upon his people, who moved as ack as chaff, or any fuch light thing, before a mighty wind: yea, it fhall be at an inftant Juddenly, either the numerous army fhould be fuddenly before Feru/alem, or the deftruction of that city fhould be as it were in a moment; and tho’ the fiege of it lafted long, yet the laft fack and ruin of it was. fuddenly, and in fo fhort a time, that it might be faid to be in an inftant, in a moment, as it were. The Few writers interpret this of the fudden deftruction of Sennacheril’s army by the angel, 2 Kings xix. 35. but the next words fhew that the deftruction of Feru/alem is meant.
¥. 6. Thou foalt be vifited of the Lord of hofts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noife, &c.] That is, not the multitude of ftrangers and terrible ones, unlefs they could be underftood of the wicked among the ews; but thou viel, or Ferufalem, fhalt be punifhed by the Lord of hofts; for this vifitation or punifhment was from him, for their fins and iniquities; the Romans were only the inftruments he made ufe of, and the executioners of his vengeance; which was attended with thunder in the heavens, a fhaking of the earth, and a great noife or yoice heard in the temple, faying, let us depart hence; at which time comets were feen in the heavens, and chariots and armed men in the air, and one of the gates of the temple opened of itfelf*: it is added, with fform and tempet, and the flame of devouring fire; with which the temple was burnt by the Roman army, when it came in like a ftorm and tempeft, and carried all before it.
¥. 7. And the multitude of all the nations that Sight againft Ariel, &c.] The Roman army, which confifted of men of all nations, that fought againft Ferufalem; the city in which was the altar, as the Targum paraphrafes it: even all that fight againft her, and her munition, and that diftre/s ber; that befieged it, and endeavoured to demolifh its walls, towns, and fortifications, as they did: /hall be as a dream of 4 night-vifion; meaning either that the Roman empire fhould quickly fall, and pafs away, and come to nothing, like a dream in the night, as it foon began to decay after the deftruction of Ferufalem, and alfo the pagan religion in it; or that the Roman army would be difappointed at the taking of the city, expecting to find much riches, and a great fpoil, and fhould not; and fo be like aman that dreams, and fancies he is in the poffeffion of what he craves, but when he awakes, finds he has got nothing. ‘This is more largely exemplified in the following verfe.
y. 8. It fhall be even as when a hungry man dreameth, and bebold, he eateth, &c.| That is, he dreams of food, and imagines it before him, and that he is really eating it: but be awakes, and bis foul is empty, his ftomach is empty when he awakes, and he finds he has not eat any thing at all: or as when a thirfty man dreameth, and behold, be drinketh; who tancies that he has got a cup of liquor in his hand, and at his mouth, and is drinking it with a great deal of eagernefs and pleafure: but be awaketh, and bebold, he is faint, and his Hed oe MOG hake dees ENS. a ek bath appetite; when he awakes, he is not at all refrefhed with his imaginary drinking, but ftill defires liquor to revive his fainting fpirits, and extinguifh his thirft: /o /hall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight againft mount Zion, either fhall quickly perith; or having raifed their expectations, and pleafed themfelves with the booty they fhould obtain, of which they thought themfelves fure, fhall find themfelves miftaken, and all like an illufive dream. Some interpret this of the difappointment of Sennacheril’s army; and others of the infatiable cruelty of the Chaldeans, but rather, if the above fenfe pleafés not, it would be better to underftand it of the Fews, who, amidft their greateft danger, flattered themfelves with the hope of deliverance, which was all a dream and an illufion; and to which fenfe the following words feem to incline.
y¥. 9. Stay yourfelves, and wonder, &c.| Stop a while, paufe a little, confider within yourfelves the cafe and circumftances of thefe people, and wonder at their ftupidity. Kimchi thinks thefe words were fpoken in the times of dbaz, with refpect to the men of Fudah, and fo Aben Ezra fays, they are direéted to the men of Zion; and it is generally thought, that they are fpoken to the more religious and fober part of them; though, by the following verfe, it appears that the cafe was general, and that the people to whom this addrefs is “made, were as ftupid as others: cry ye out, and cry; or, delight your/felves*, as in the margin; take your pleafure, indulge yourfelves in carnal mirth, gratify your fenfual appetite in rioting and wantonnefs, and then cry and lament, as you will have reafon to do. _ Kimchi fays, his father rendered the words, awake yourfelves, and awake others; that is, from that deep fleep they were fallen into, afterwards mentioned: ¢hey are drunken, but not with wine; not with that only, for otherwife many of them were given to drunkennefs in a literal fenfe, ch. xxviii: 7. but they were like drunken men, as’
ftupid, fenfelefs, and fecure, though in the utmoft danger: they flagger, but not with ftrong drink; unfteady in their counfels and refolutions, in their principles and practices, and flumble in their goings.
y. 10. For the Lord hath poured out upon you a|
fpirit of deep fleep, &c.] Gave them up to a ftupid frame of fpirit; to a reprobate mind, a mind void of judgment and fenfe; to judicial blindnefs and hardnefs of heart: this was remarkably fulfilled in the Fews, in the times of Chrift and his apottles, learned, 8c.] Or that knows not a book or letters, who chufing darknefs rather than the light of the gofpel, which fhone around them, were righteoufly given up to fuch a temper of mind; and to nothing elfe can be imputed their obftinate rejection of the Meffiah, againft the moft glaring light and evidence. The apoftle Paul produces this paffage, in proof of that blindnefs that had happened unto them in his time, Rom. xi. 7,8: and hath clofed your eyes; that is, the eyes of their underftandings, fo that they could not fee the characters of the Meffiah, and the fulfilment of prophecies in Jefus of Nazareth; nor the danger they were in, nor the ruin that was coming upon their natton, nor even when it was come, ftill flattering themfelves with fafety and deliverance: the prophets, and your rulers, the feers hath he covered; the eyes of them, as before; not only the common people were blinded, but even the Scribes and Pha.
‘never been put to {chool, or learned to read:
rifees, the elders of the people, their ecclefiaftical rulers, who pretended to be feers, and to know more than others; even for judgment, for the judicial blindnefs and hardnefs of thefe Chrift came, — that they which fee might be made blind, Fobn ix. 49: The words may be rendered, your heads, the fers, hath he covered *; and there may be an allufion to the covering of the head with a veil, an of that veil of ignorance and infidelity which fti remains upon the Fews. The Targum renders it,
“¢ the prophets, and the fcribes, and the teachers
*¢ that teach the law.” 2 y¥. 11. And the vifion of all is become unto you, as the words of a book that is fealed, &c.| The prophecies.of all the prophets contained in the feriptures; or all the prophecies in the book of I aiah, concerning the Meffiah, were no more feen, known, and underftood, both by the priefts and the people, than if they had been in a book, written, rolled up, and fealed. »And this was owing, not to the obfcurity of thefe writings, or becaufe they were really fealed up, but to the blindnefs and ftupidity of the people, whofe eyes were clofed, and their heads covered; and the prophecies of the feriptures were only fo to them, u#fo you, not unto others; not to the apoftles of Chrift, whofe underftandings were opened by him, to underftand the things written concerning him, in the law, in the prophets, and in the pfalms; but the Yew#/h rulers, civil and ecclefiaftical, as well as the common people, underftood them not, tho’ they were the means of fulfilling many of them; and they were as ignorant of the prophecies concerning their own ruin and deftruétion, for their rejection of Chrift; fee Luke xxiv. 27, 44, 45. Ads iii. 17, 18. and xiit. 27: which men deliver to one that is learned; or, that knows the book”; or letters, as the Septuagint’; fee Fobn vii. 15. fuch were the Scribes, called yeuppmareis, or letter-men, men that could read well, and underftood language: /aying, read this, I pray thee; or read this now, as the Yargum, and interpret it, and tell the meaning of it: and he faith, I cannot, for it is fealed; which Kimchi fays was an excufe invented, becaufe he had no mind’ to read it, or otherwife he could have faid, open, and Plt read it; or he might have broke off the féaly but knowing there were difficult things, and things hard to be undérftood in it, did not care to ‘look into it, and read it, and attempt to explain it to others. i"
y. 12. And the book is delivered to him that is not
as before, and fo confequently can’t read, having ing, read this, I pray thee; or now %, at once, immediately: and be faith, I am not learned’; he does not excufe himfelf on account of its be fealed, but on account of his want of learning; which fhows the former was but an excufé. In fhort, the fum of it is this, that neither the learned 1 unlearned among the Fews,: cared to read theit bibles, or to fearch the fcriptures, and the pro phecies in them, concerning the Meffiah, and that neither of them underftood them; thefe things hid from the wife and prudent, as well as”: F the ignorant and unlearned of the people, i com-' + mon, and were only made known to a few babes and fucklings. There was great ignorance of the deliciantur, Pifcator. ve ey J © “ADDF yt, fcienti librum, Montanu W gg), nunc, Pagninus, Mo ing the hypocritical people of the Fews in Chrift’s time, as the words are applied by our Lord himfelf, Matt. xv. 7: forafmuch as this people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me; Kimchi obferves, there is a double. reading of the word wa}, rendered draw near: in one.
reading of it, it fignifies to be affitted; and then the fenfe is, when this people are afflicted, with their mouth, and with their lips, they honour me; that is, when they are in diftrefs, they pray unto him, and profefs a great regard for him, {peak honourably of him, and reverently to him, hoping he will help and relieve them.; fee ch. xxvi. 16. but the other reading of the word, in which it has the fignification of drawing near, is confirmed, not only by the Ma/ora on the text, but by the citation of it in Matt. xv. 7. and defigns the approach of thefe people to God, in acts of religion and devotion, in praying to him, and praifing of him, and expreffing great love and affection for him, and zeal for his caufe and intereft; but were all outwardly, with their lips and mouths only: d2¢ have removed their heart far from me; thefe were not employed in his fervice, which is the main thing he requires and regards, but were engaged: elfewhere; whilft their bodies were prefented before him, and their mouths and lips were moving to him, their affections were not fet upon him, nor the defires of their fouls unto him, nor had they any real hearty concern for his glory: aad their fear towards me ts taught by ibe precept of men; their worfhip of God, was not according to the prefcription of God, and his revealed will; but according to the traditions of the elders, which they preferred to the word of
God, -and by obferving them, tranfgreffed it, and vy. 14. Therefore bebold; I will proceed to do a marvellous work amongft this people, &c.} Becaufe of their hypocrify and formality, their regard to to the will and word of God, therefore he determines to deal marvelloufly with this people: even a marvellous work, and a wonder; that is, fomething
_exceedingly marvellous, which would,be matter of aftonifhment to every one that obferved it; and is as follows: for the wifdom of their wife men shall perifh, and the underfianding of their prudent men foall be bid; and be no more: this was eminently fulfilled in the wife men, the doctors and learned Rabbins of the Fews; and they themfelves own *, that from the time the temple was deftroyed, the wife men became like to Scribes, andthe Scribes to thofe that looked after the fynagogues, and thefe became like the common people, and they grew worfe and worfe: and Maimonides acknowledges ¥, that this refpects their prefent cafe; he fays, when the heathen princes deftroyed their beft things, took away their wifdom, and their books, and killed their wife men, they became ignorant and unlearned; which evil God threatened them. for their iniquities, as is faid in this paflage: and alfo this had its accomplifhment in the wife philofophers of the Gentiles; fee 1-Cor. i. 18, 19, 20.
15. Wo unto them, 8c.) Or, O ye, that feek deep to hide their counfel fromthe Lord, which they confulted againft Chrift, to take away his life, to perfecute his apoftles, and hinder the fpread of his gofpel; which tho’ they confulted in private, and formed deep fchemes, imagining they were not obferved by the Lord, yet he that fits in the heaven faw them, and laughed at their vain imaginations, Pf. ii. 1,25 3,4: and their works are in the darks in the dark night, as if the darknefs could conceal them from the all-feeing eye of God; fuch works are truly works of darknefs, but can’t be hid, tho’ they flatter themfelves they will: and they fay, who feeth us 2 and who knoweth us? as no man they imagined did, fo not God himfelf; into fuch atheifm do wicked men fink, when defirous of bringing their fchemes into execution, they have taken great pains to form; and which they pleafe themfelves are fo deeply laid, as that they cannot fail of fucceeding; but hear what follows, ¥. 16. Surely your turning of things upfide down, &c.} Revolving things in their minds, throwing them into different fhapes, forming various chemes,- and inverting the order of things by their deep couniels, and feeking to hide things from the Lord: or, O the perverfene/s of you; in imagining and faying that no eye faw, nor any one knew, what they did, not the Lord himfelf. Latin verfion, this is your perverfe thought, namely, what is before related. ‘The Targum is; ‘* do you “* feek to pervert your works?” Our verfion joins it with what follows; tho’ a ftop fhould be made here, becaufe of the accent: /hall be efteemed as the potter's clay; their perverfe counfels and defigns be as eafily turned about and brought to nought, as the clay can be formed, and fhaped, and marred by the potter, at his pleafure: if or furely as the potter’s clay fhall it be efteemed, as the words may be rendered; or it may refer to their perfons, as well as their counfels. So the Septuagint verfion, Jhall ye not be reckoned as the potter’s clay? ye thall. To which agrees the Targum, ‘ behold, as the “¢ clay in the hand of the potter, fo are ye ac- “6 counted before me;” who could do with them juft as feemed good in his fight. De Dieu rendets them, hall the potter be reckoned as the clay? Such was the ftupidity and perverfenefs of the Jews, in endeavouring to hide their counfels from the Lord, and in fancying that he did not fee and know them, that they thought God was like themfelves; which is all one, as if the potter was reckoned as the clay, for they were the clay, and God the potter. The Vulgate Latin verfion is, as if the clay could think againft the potter, contrive fchemes to counterwork him; which, to imagine, was not more ftupid, than to think they could do any thing againft the Lord: for fhall the work fay of him that made it, he made me not? to fay that God does not know | what is done by his creatures, is in effect to fay, that he did not make them; for he that made ‘them, muft needs know their actions, and even the very thoughts of their hearts; as he that makes a watch knows all that is in it, and the motions of it: or foall the thing framed fay of him that framed it, be bad no underftanding? or yadgment, did not know how to make it as it fhould be. So the Septuagint verfion, thou haft not made me wifely, or he dick not underftand the work itfelf, the make and fafhion ‘of it. So the Targum, *$ thou doft not under- “< ftand me.” This might as well be faid, as for.a creature to pretend that God does not know what and where he is, or what he is doing. | eee A fhall be: made of no more account with God; and.
y. 17. Is it not yet @ very little while, 8c.| Ina fhort fpace of time, in a few years what follows would come to pafs; when there would be a ftrange change and alteration made in the world, and by which it would appear, that the Lord not only knows, but foreknows all things: and Lebanon feall be turned into a fruitful field; the foreft of Lebanon fhould be as Carmel. The meaning is, that the Gentile world, which was like a foreft uncultivated, and full of unfruitful trees, to which wicked men may be compared, fhould thro’ the preaching of the gofpel be manured, become God’s hufbandry, and be like a fruitful field, abounding with people and churches, fruitful in grace, and good works: and the fruitful field fall be efteemed as a foreft? the people of the ews, who once had the word and ordinances of God, and were a fruitful and flourifhing people in religion; thro’ their rejection of the Meffiah, and contempt of his gofpel, fhould be deprived of all their privileges, and become like a foreft or barren land: this was fulfilled, when the kingdom of God was taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it, Matt. xxi. 43. See J/. xxxii. 15. and AXRV. ‘152.
y. 18. And in that day fhall the deaf hear the words of the book, &c.] That is, in the gofpelday, or times of the gofpel-difpenfation, when that fhould be preached to the Gentiles; who before were deaf, but now fhould be made to hear, and be willing to hear, and hear fo as to underftand the doétrines contained in the fcriptures, the prophecies of them concerning the Meffiah; even the words of that book that is fealed to the Fews, and could not be read, neither by the learned nor unlearned among them; but fhould be both read, heard, and underftood by the Gentiles, having ears given them to hear the gofpel, to receive its doctrines, and obey its ordinances: and the eyes of the blind foall fee out of obfcurity, and out of darknefs; fuch, who before were blind and ignorant as to fpiritual things, being called, thro’ the miniftry of the word, out of darknefs into marvellous light, and their eyes being opened by it, fhould now fee their fin and mifery, their loft and dangerous eftate, the way of life and falvation by Chrift, the great and glorious truths of the gofpel, and what eye has not feen, nor ear heard.
¥. 19. The meek alfo fhall increafe their joy in the Lord, &c.] The meek, lowly, and humble, are fuch who are made fenfible of fin, and become humble under a fenfe of it; who fee the infuficiency of their own righteoufnefs, and fubmit to the righteoufnefs of Chrift; who attribute all they have, and are, to the free-grace of God, and quietly fubmit to every difpenfation of providence; who are not eafily provoked by men, but bear much and long without reviling; who envy not thofe that are above them in gifts and grace, nor defpife thofe that are below them, and think the wort of themfelves, and the beft of others; now thefe have joy in the Lord, in the word of the Lord, as the Targum, in the Lord Jefus Chrift; in the greatnefs and glory of his perfon as Jehovah, and fo able to fave to the uttermoft; in him as the Lord their righteoufnefs; in his blood and facrifice, for the pardon and expiation of their fins; in his fulnefs as theirs, to fupply their wants; in his falvation, being fo great, fo full, fo free, and fuit-} that dwell in it: and all that watch for iniquity are
. £ able to them: and whereas their joy may be inter= rupted thro’ the corruptions of their cag cy temptations of fatan, and divine defertions, foall add* joy in the Lord, as in the original; they fhall repeat it, it fhall come again, it fhall be re-_ ftored unto them, and they fhall afrefh exerc and increafé in it, as we render it; for fpiritual may be increafed by the difcoveries of the love God; by frefh views of Chrift, thro’ an increaf of knowledge of him, and faith in him; by means of meditation and prayer, and by reading and hearing the word: and the poor among men fball rejoice in the holy one of Irael; or, the pooreft of men, who were fo in a literal fenfe; for fuch were perfons, both among Yews and Gentiles, who in the firft times of the gofpel were brought to the knowledge of Chrift, and faith in him, Matf. xi. 4. 1 Cor. i. 26, 27. or fuch who are poor in pitit;
not only fpiritually poor, but who are fenfible of their fpiritual poverty, and apply to Chrift for er true riches of grace: the words may be render Adam’s poor; fach who are impoverifhed by Adam’s fall, and are fenfible of it; thefe perceiving durable riches and righteoufnefs, even unfearchable ‘riches, in Chrift, rejoice in him, the holy one of Tfrael; who is holy in himfelf, the fanctifier of others, and is made fantification to-all his people. The Targum is, ** in the word of the holy one of “¢ Jfrael.”” This joy is not carnal, but fpiritual; it is the fruit of the Spirit of God, and is called joy in the Holy Ghoft; as it alfo is the joy of faith, which goes along with it, is thro’ it, and increafes as that does; it is peculiar to believers, unknown to the world, and is unfpeakable, and full of glory: and fuch kind of rejoicing, and an increafe of it, are what belong to gofpel-times.
¥. 20. For the terrible one is brought to nought, &c.] Who before was fo to the people of God; meaning not Sennacherib king of Afyria, but fome formidable enemy or enemies under the gofpeldifpenfation; as the Scribes and Pharifees, and the Fewifo Sanhedrin; who were violent s, as it may be rendered, violent perfecutors of the followers of Chrift, the meek and poor before defcribed; who were brought to nought, and their power ceafed at the deftruction of Ferufalem; and the Roman emperor, with all fubordinate rulers and governors in the empire, who harrafied the chriftians in a terrible manner, but were at laft brought to nought by Conftantine, and their perfecution ceafed; and the Romifh antichrift, who has been fo terrible, that none could or durft oppofe him; he in a little time will be brought to nought, and ceafe to be. The Septuagint verfion renders. it, the wicked one faileth; and ufes the fame word ¢, by which antichrift is defcribed, 2 Thef: ii. 8. alfo fatan, that terrible enemy of the faints, fhall be brought to nought; firft bound for a thoufand years; and afterwards being loofed, fhall be taken again, and caft into the lake of fire; all which will be matter of joy to the meek and lowly: and the corner is confumed; the fame as before, only reprefented under a different character; the Few, that mocked at Chrift, becaufe of his meannefs, and that of his followers, that feoffed at his doétrines and miracles; and the Gentile, that derided his crofs, and the oe i of it; and antichrift, whofe mouth is full of bla?
phemies againft God, and his tabernacle, and them cut off; that can’t fleep unlefs they commit it, and fe¢k for and take all opportunities of doing it; or watch for iniquity in others, in Chrift, and the profeffors of his religion, or for any thing they could call fo, that they might have fomething to accufe them of, and charge them with, and a pretence to proceed again{ft them in colour of law and juttice; which has been ‘the practice of ‘Jews, pagans, and papitts.;
y. 21. Lhat make a man an offender for a word,
&c. | Inadyertently fpoken, unwarily dropped, without any bad defign or ill meaning;, or for a word mifplaced or mifconftrued; or for preaching, and profefiing the word of God, the gofpel of falvation, and adhering to it; which is the true character of the perfecutors of good men. in all ages: fome render-the words, who make a mam fin by a word * by their words and doétrines; and fo ap: ply it to the falfe prophets, as Farchi does; ‘and very well agrees with the Pharifees in Chrift’s time, who made men to fin, to tranfgrefs the word of God by their traditions. The Yargum is,’ ‘* who * condemn the fons of men bystheir words;”’ or for them; particularly for their words ‘of reproof, for which they make them offenders, or pronounce them guilty, as follows: and lay a fuare for him that reproveth in the gate; either for jut judges, who fat in the gate of the city, and faithfully reproved and punifhed men for their fins; or for fuch that had boldnefs and courage enough to reprove wicked men openly, and -before all, for their wickednefs, the gate being a public place,.where people pals and repafs; and fuch that fin openly, fhould be reproved openly,; and particularly the true prophets of the Lord may be referred to, who fometimes were fent to publifh their meffages, which were frequently reproofs of the people, in the gates of the city; but above all, Chrift feems to be refpefted, who in the moft public manner inveighed againft the Scribes and Pharifees for their wickednefs, on accotnt of which they fought to entangle him in his talk, and to lay fnares for his life; fee Mait. xxii, 15. and 23d chapter: and turn afide ike juft for a thing of nought, the Targum is, ‘‘ that ‘ falfly pervert the judgment of the innocent;” that turn away their judgment, decline doing them juitice, but condemn them on frivolous pretences, for juft nothing at all, what is mere emptinefs and vanity: Chrift is eminently the ju# one, righteous in himfelf, and the author of righteoufnefs to others; yet, on account of things for which there were no foundation, and contrary to all juftice, he was proceeded againft as a criminal.
y. 21. Therefore thus faith the Lord, who redeemed Abrabam, &c.] That brought him from Ur of the Chaldees; that freed him from idolatry, and from a vain converfation before converfion, and deliyered him from many evils and dangers afterwards; and fayed him with an everlafting falvation, thro’ the Meffiah, the great Redeemer, that fprung from him, and took on him the nature of the feed of Abraham: concerning the houfe of Facob; his family and pofterity, the whole body ‘of the Fewifh people; or rather the church of God in gofpel-times, confifting of the pofterity of Facob, that trod in his fteps, plain-hearted chriftians, Ifraclites indeed, praying fouls, wreftling Jacobs, and prevailing [reels; of whom the Lord {peaks nor his face now wax pale; as formerly, when thofe that defcended from Faced rejected the Meffiah, - traduced his character, as if he was the worft of men;-blafphemed his perfon, doctrines, and miracles; {pit upon him, buffeted, fcourged, and crucified him; which filled thofe of the fame de- {cent and nation, that believed in him, with fhame and confufion, fo that their faces blufhed, or turned pale or white; but now this fhould be no longer their cafe, becaufe of the converfion and falvation of that people in the latter day, which is predicted in the next verfe, with which this is connected.;
¥. 23.. But when he feeth his children, the work of my hands, in the midft of him, &c.] That is, it will be & pleafure to the church of God, fignified by Facob, when they fhall obferve a great number of, Facob’s pofterity, or of the Fews, born again, become the children of the church, born in her, and nurfed up at her fide, dandled on her knees, and fucking at the breafts of her confolation; and fo in the midift of her, members of her, and in communion with her, having been begotten again, by means of, her minifters, thro’ the gofpel, by the fpirit and grace of God; and fo the work of his hands, his new creatures, formed for and by himfelf; his workmanthip, created in Jefus Chrift, curioufly wrought by his hands, as well as engraven on them: they fhall fanétify my name, meaning either the {piritual feed of ‘Zacob, thofe regenerated ones, the nation that fhall be born at once; thefe fhall fanctify the name of the Lord, not by making, but by declaring him to be holy; by believing in his name; by feeking to him for righteoufnefs and holinefs,; by embracing his doétrines, and fubmitting to his ordinances;* which will add to the pleafure of the church of Chrift. So the Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, but when he feeth his children—fanétifying my name: or. elle Facob, that is, the church of Chrift is here meant, who, upon feeing fuch a large number of Fewi/h converts, fhall fanctify the name of the Lord, or give him. praife and glory on account of it; which is repeated with fome addition, and /anéiify the holy one of Facob, and foall fear the God of Ifrael; reverence his name and his fanctuary, his word and his ordinances, worfhip him inwardly and outwardly, fear the Lord and his goodnefs, both the church and.thefe new converts, Ho/. iii. 5.
y. 24. Lhey alfo that erred in fpirit, &c.|] In judgment, and in fpiritual things; as the Fews have done, ever fince the Meffiah’s coming, being given up to a fpirit of error, as the Targum, on y¥. 10. calls it; they have erred concerning the {criptures, and the prophecies of them; concerning the Meffiah, his work and office; concerning his truths and his ordinances, and by preferring their traditions to the word of God: but thete foall come to underftanding; to a fpiritual underftanding of Chrift, and falvation by him; of his gofpel, and the doétrines of it; as well of themfelves, their ftate, and condition: and they that murmured, at Chrift, and at what was delivered by him; at the reception of finners by him; sat the calling of the Gentiles, and at the providences of God that have attended them, ever fince their rejection of the true Meffiah: shall learn doéirine, the doétrine of the Meffiah; not the law, as Kim- the following things: Facob fall not now be afoamed, chi and Ben Melech; but the gofpel, which Chrift eaa720 CTTW PytoM, qui verbis faciunt ut peccent homines, Caftalio; peccare facientes hominem in verbo, Pagninus, us. And to the fame fenfe the Septuagint, Vulgate Lat, Syr. and Arab.
received from his Father, as the word * ufed figni— fies, and his ‘difciples received from him, and the’ church’ has received from them, and has. been i Nari chapter contains a complaint of the |
Fews for their fins and tranfereffions;" a prophecy of their deftruétion for them; a promife of grace and mercy, and of happy times to the faints; and a threatening of utter and dreadful ruin to the wicked. The ews are complained of for their rebellion againft God, their flighting his ‘counfel and protection, their truft in Egypt, and application therefor help; ‘whither they went with their riches for fafety, but in vain, it’ being contrary to the will and counfel of God, y¥. 1, 2; 3,4, 5, 6,°7. next follows a denunciation of ruin and deftruction for thefe things, rebellion, and lying, and vain confidence, as well as for contempt of the word of God, which, that it might appear fure and certain, is ordered to be written in a book, y. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. and this ruin is fignified bythe fudden falling of a wall, and by the breaking of a potters veffel into pieces, which can never be ufed more, ¥.13, 14. and feeing they rejected the way of falvation propofed by the Lord, and took their own way, firft deftruétion is threatened them, which fhould be very eafily brought about, and become fo general, that few fhould efcape it, ¥. 15, 16, 17. and then-promifes of grace and mercy are made to them that wait for the Lord, ¥.18. fuch as a dwelling place in Zion, hearing their prayers, granting them teachers to inftruct them, and the riddance of idolatry from them, ¥. 19, 20, 21, 22. and alfo many outward bleffings, as feafonable rain, good bread-corn, fat paftures, good food for cattel, and fruitfulnefs of mountains and hills, ¥. 23, 24, 25. likewife an amazing degree of fpiritual light and glory, and healing of the Lord’s people, ¥. 26. and the chapter is concluded with a threatening of God’s wrath upon the Afyrian, exprefied by various fimilies, as of an angry man, an overflowing torrent, a tempeft of thunder, lightening, and hail, andthe fire of Topher, ¥. 27—33.
v.1. Wo to the rebellious children, faith the Lord, &c.] The Yews, who were by national adoption, and by outward ‘profeffion of religion, the children of God, but were apoftates from him, had turned their backs upon him, deviated from his-law, and’ departed from his worfhip and ordinances; and therefore a wo is pronounced againft them, or they are called upon to confider of their evil ways, and return, that iniquity might not be their ruin: that take counfel, but not of me, they met and confulted together about their fafety, when in danger, but did not afk counfel of the Lord; they did not confult his word, nor his prophets, nor by Urim and Thummim, as in cafe of war they fhould, more elpecially: and that cover with @ covering, but not of my fpirit, they fought fora cover, a fhelter, a in the latter day, who will learn the true’ kn lede™ pr ith 2n mitts t! is
* ey > srr wollel seer Hayat Tate ts AV" aca Ceo lou) “eh Bani eels hi TABS sera itor thied < but do not afk: of my prophets:”' that they may” add fin to fin, the fins of confulting others) and’ of putting confidence in a creature, to their other’ fins of rebellion and apoftacy: fo wicked’meny who" are enemies in their minds, by wicked' works ‘to®
God, and commit atts of hoftility againft him, and® are in danger thereby of eternal’ ruin, do not Gon" fult the word and minifters of the gofpel, ‘but flefh’
and blood, carnal fenfe and reafon, and {eek to® cover therffelves with the rags of their own righté* oufnefs, and not with the robe'of Chrift’s righte>" oufnefs, and garments of falvation, which the {piri of God reveals and brings near; and fo to their’ other fins, they add that of trufting’ to their own righteoufnefs, and not fubmitting ito Chrift’s) © bar y¥.2. That walk to go down into Heypt, Beer)» That walk out of their own land to go’ thither; who fent meffengers thither to form an alliance, and® get help and affiftance, or went in’ perfon,*tolfe+e cure themfelves from prefent danger. farcbi refers this to the times of Hofhea, the fon of Elahy king* of Ifrael, who fent mefiengers to So'king of Egyg 2 Kings xvii. 4. Jerom to the times of Fereminby to the hiftory in his prophecy, in ch. xli.42, 43.7 and others to Zedekiah. Kimchi thinks ‘it refpects® the time of Abaz, tho’ there is no account, either in the books of Kings or Chronicles, of fending then® to Egypt for help; or elfe to the times of Hezekiah» himfelf; which latter is right, as appears fronpthet infults of Rabjhakeh, when Sennacherib’s army was* before Ferufalem, in ch. xxxvi. 6: (and have nor afked at my mouth), or as the Targum, ‘* the words! ‘< of my prophets they have not afked 3” they did’
not enquire of the prophets of the Lord whether?
they fhould go down or no: #0 firengthem themfelves: in the ftrength of Pharaoh, by making an alliance: with him, and receiving men and horfes from jhimyto affift them againft the Afprians; this Pharaoh’
and by other writers Sevechus and Sethon: and to truft in the foadow of Egypt the protection that would afford' them, in which they placed their‘con™ fidence, and thought themfelves fafe from ‘their other enemy, by having fo powerful an ally but’ this was but a fhadow, as are whatfoever men truft’ in fhort of the Lord himfelf, be they riches or righteoufnefs, or any creature or creature-enjoy~ ment. val? ayer y. 3. Therefore fhall the ftrength of Pharaoh be:
your foame, &c.| ‘They fhould be difappointed of the help and affiftance they expected from him, and fo be afhamed of their ally, and of confidence imhim:’
and the truft in the fhadow of Egypt your confufion’s
they fhould be confounded, when they fhould find themfelves unfupported by the Egyptians, in whom’
they put their confidence; fo all fuch that truft in protection from the enemy, but not from the fpirit of the Lord, in his word and prophets, who would the creature, ar in an arm of flefh, fooner or later? are afhamed and confounded; but thofe:
have directed them to a more {uitable and ftifficient one,
{ecret counfels, which they laid deep, as they fancied; and fought ito hide. » The Targum of the former claufe, and this is, ** that take counfel, but’!
not of my word; that confult a confultation,; that princes fhould be fent embaffadors into Bg
‘in the Lord never are, neither in this world, nor~
Kimchi anderftands this of their covert and | in that to come. bee antootid) ee heres y.4. For bis princes were at Zoan, 8c.) Th is, the princes of the king of Judah, or of people of Fudah, tho’ it can hardly be tho cidw vobene peed se toga 4 tranfmitted to us Gentiles, and’will be to the 7ee0"? edt iS