Exposition of the Whole Bible

So Ben Melech interprets it, this world and the world to ings, and death; or if it is to be underftood of God the Father, who is the God of J/rael, he 4% the Saviour of them by his Son.

y. 16. They fhall be afoamed, and alfo confounded, all of them, &c.] ‘This refers not to any perfons fpoken of before; not to J/rael or the church, or converts among the Gentiles that came to her; bur to thofe that follow, of whom the fame is faid in other words: they hall go to confufion together, that are makers of idols; the Targum is, ** worthi ‘< of images;” both may be defigned: this refers to the firft times of the gofpel, and its coming into the Gentile world, and its fuccefs there; when the oracles of the heathens were ftruck dumb; idols, and idol-temples were forfaken; and paganifm was abolifhed in the Roman empire; and when the gods they ferved could not help them, but they fled to the rocks to hide them from the wrath of God and the Lamb, Rev, vi. 15, 16, 17.

y¥.17. But [/rael fhall be faved in the Lord, 8.4 Not the carnal feed of J/rael, or the natural pofterity of Facob, for only a remnant of them were faved; indeed, in the latter day, when there will

-be a general converfion of them, there will be a general falvation of them, ail I/rael fhall be faved, but here the fpiritual //rael of God are meant, fuch as God has appointed unto falvation; who are taken into the covenant of his grace, in which their falvation is fecured; who are his fpiritual people, whom Chrift faves from their fins; who are redeemed by the blood of Chrift, and are called by his grace; who believe in him, and hope in the Lord: thefe /hall be faved, there is a certainty of their falvation, and not a mere probability and poffibility of it only. It is not they may de, but they /hall be faved, it is the will of God they fhould, whofe will cannot be refifted; they are the purchafe of Chrift, which he will never lofe, and the Spirit is the earneft and pledge of falvation to them: and it is 77 and by the Lord they are faved, not in and of themfelves; their deftruétion is of themfelves, but their falvation is of the Lord; and they are faved as they are iv him, and owing to their being in him; they are chofen in him, and hence fpring all the bleffings of grace and falvation to them; they are reprefentatively in him, as their federal head; they are openly in him, in effectual vocation; and, they are juftified in him, and by his righteoufnefs, and fo faved; and being in him, there is no condemnation to them, nor can they ever come into it. They are faved dy the Lord; by the word of the Lord, ‘as the Targum; by Jefus Chrift, the incarnate word; by his obedience, fufferings, and death; by his blood, righteoufnefs, and facrifice; and by his interceding lite, and that with an everlafting falvation; which is diftinguifhed by this epithet, from a temporal one, and is oppofed to eternal damnation, the defert of fin; it is the falvation of the immortal foul, and includes in it grace and glory, which are perpetual and everlafting; and the duratior it is owing to the perpetuity of Chrift’s perfec office, and grace: or, with a falvation of ag worlds +: ye foall not be afbamed, nor confi world without end, or, unto the ages of eter that is, fuch who believe in Chrift, and are by him, they fhall not be afhamed, tho’ the kers and worfhippers of idols will; they fhall te fecul » Pagninus, Nj comes everlafting falvation takes i be confounded, neither in this world, nor in the other; they fhall not be afhamed of Chrift, his word, and ordinances, nor of their faith and hope in him, or of their fufferings for him; they fhall not be afhamed in the refurrection-morn, their vile bodies being fafhioned like to the glorious body of Chrift, when others fhall rife to fhame and ever- Jafting contempt; nor fhall they be afhamed at the coming of Chrift, and when they ftand before him, being clothed with white robes, and having on the wedding garment; when they fhall be. introduced. into his own and his Father’s kingdom and glory, into the world of happinefs, hick will know no end. e ¥. 18. For thus faith the Lord, that created the heavens, &c.} Thefe words, and what follow, are the words of the Son of God, of the Lord the Saviour, in whom J/rae/ is faved with an everlafting falvation; and this is faid to affure them of it, as well as to diftinguifh himfelf from the gods of the Géntiles, who made not the heayens and the earth, as he had done; for by the word of the Lord, the eflential word of God, were the heavens made in the beginning; fee Pf xxxiii. 6. Heb. i. 10: God himfelf, that formed the earth, and made it, be hath eftablifoed it, the Saviour is God himéfelf, truly and properly God, who has all the perfections of deity in him; and this appears as from his creation of the heavens, fo from his forming, making, and eftablithing the earth; he made the chaos of the earth out of nothing; he formed that chaos he made into a beautiful order, and prepared, as the laft word ‘ fignifies, fitted, and furnifhed it with every thing convenient for man and beaft: he ereated it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited; the earth indeed was Zobu, when it was firft ereated, Gen. i. 2. which word is ufed of the chaos of the earth firft made, here rendered in vain; but then it was not created to continue fo, nor did it continue fo; for tho’ it was firft without form, it was foon formed in a beautiful manner, and fitted for the habitation of men and beafts, and efpecially the former, and more efpecially for the habitation of the faints, thofe fons of men, with whom the delights of Chrift were from eternity, and whom he forefaw would dwell in the habitable parts of the earth, which was.a pleafure‘to him; and for the fake of them was it made to be “inhabited, and not by them with the wicked’ promifcuoufly only as now, but when purified; and_refined by fire, to be the habitation of the righteous, with Chrift at the head of them; as will be’ the cafe in the thoufand years reign: J am the Lord, there is none elfe,; the one Febovab with the Father and the Spirit, and there is no other, that is the creator of the heavens and the earth..

¥. 19. I have uot {poken in fecret, in a dark place of the earth, &c.| In a private whifper, in’ a muttering manner, and out of the belly, as the hea.. then priefts did; and from out of cells, dens,’ and caverns of the earth, from whence the oracles of heathen deities were delivered; but in a-free, open, clear, and public manner, before multitudes, in the face of all men, or where there was a ‘great cencourfe of people: fo Chrift delivered the law on mount Sivai, in an audible manner,’ attended with a multitude of angels, and before all the people; and when. here on earth, he faid nothing in

(249 fecret, but openly to the world, in the fynagogues and tenple of the Fews, where they reforted in great ‘numbers, Yobnm xviii. 20, and ordered his difciples alfo, to publifh on the houfe-tops what they heard with their ears, Matt. x. 27: I faid not unto the feed of Facob, feek ye me in vain; that is, he never fuffered the feed of Facob, I/raelites indeed, praying Facobs, and prevailing [raels, the true worfhippers of him, to feek him in vain; to pray unto him, and worfhip him to no purpofe, or without fruit to themfelyes; for all fuch who feek him early and earneftly, heartily and diligently, and where he may be found, always find him; he receives them, and not rejects them; and they receive that from him which js worth feeking: after, and amply rewards all their trouble. The fargum is, ** nor have I faid to the feed of the houfe of ** Yacob in vain, feek my fear:” J the Lord /peak righteoufne/s; the word of righteoufnefs, the doctrine of juftification by his own righteoufhefs; that ~ which he wrought out by his obedience, fufferings, and death, he declared and brought near in the miniftry of the word; fee ch. xlvi. 13, The Yargum renders it, truth, grace and truth came by. Chrift, Fohn i. 17: I declare things that are right, according to right reafon, agreeable to the word of God, both law and gofpel, fit for men to receive; and what made for his own and his Father’s glory; fee Prov. viii. 6, 18. "

¥. 20. Affemble yourfelves, and come, draw near together, ye that gre efcaped of the nations, &c.| Not. that efeaped the fword of Cyrus’s army, the Chaldeans; nor the Fews that efcaped out of Babylon, and other countries, by his means 5 but the remnant, according to the election of grace, among the Gentiles; fuch who were called out of heathenifh darknefs, into the marvellous light of the eofpel, and efcaped the idolatries that others continued in; thefe are called. and fummoned together, as to obfetve the grace of God to themfelves, fo to labour to convince others of their grois ignorance and ftupidity in worfhipping idols, and to judge and pafs fentence on the obftinate among them: they have no knowledge that fet up the wood of their graven image, or that lift’ up or carry the wood of their graven ‘image * the infide of whofe graven image is wood, tho’ covered with fome metal; which is graved; and for a man to carry fuch an image on his fhoulders,’ either in proce{+ fion, or in order to fix it in fome proper place for adoration, argues great ignorance and ftupidity; fuch perfons can have no knowledge of deity, that can believe that a log of wood, covered with gold or filver, graved by art and man’s device, and which they are obliged to carry upon their fhouldes, can be a god, or a fit object of worfhip: and pray'to a god that cannot fave, itfelf, nor them;

can’t hear their prayers, nor return an anfwer to - them; can’t help and affift them in diftrefs, nor deliver them out of their troubles; and therefore it muft be the height of madriefs and folly to pray ‘unto it.

“¥, 24. Tell ye, and bring them near, and let them take counfel together, &c.| Tell them what I fay of their ignorance and ftupidity; and gather them all together, their gods, their makers, and their worfhippers, and let them lay their heads together, and confult what proof they are able to give of their divinities, particularly by foretelling things to come: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? that is, who of all their gods or priefts have ever declared this or any one thing at any diftance of time before it came to pafs? either this everlafting falvation of my people, or the redemption by Cyrus, which was a type of it, and was {poken of before hand? have ever any of them foretold any thing like this, and it came to pafs as predicted? not one of them. Have zot I the Lord? he had. Chrift, by his Spirit in the prophets, fignified before-hand his fufferings and his death, and the glory that fhould follow, 1 Pet. i. 11. and when he was here on earth, he foretold his being betrayed to the chiefpriefts; his being delivered to the Gentiles; his {courging and crucifixion, and refurrection from the dead; all which came to pafs exactly as he had predicted, Matt. xx. 18, 19: and there is no God elfe befide me, a jufir God, and a Saviour, there is none befide me, Chrift is the one God with the Father and Spirit, and there is no other; nor any Saviour of loft finners, but him; there is falvation in him, and in no other; and he is jy/ in things pertaining to God, in fatisfying his juftice, and fulfilling his law; he was fet forth as Mediator, to declare his righteoufnefs, and which is difplayed in _ the work of redemption by him; fo that God is juft, whilft he is the juftifier of him that believes in him, Rom. iit. 25, 26.

y¥. 22. Look unto me, &c.] And not to idols, nor to any creature, nor to the works of your hands; to your own righteoufnefs and doings; to your wounds; to your tears and humiliations; to your own hearts and frames; to your graces, and the exercife of them; all muft be looked off of, and Chrift only looked unto, by a direé&t act of faith, for righteoufnefs, for pardon, for all fupplies of grace, and for glory and eternal happinefs. He is to be looked unto as the Son of God, whofe glory is the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth; as the Lamb of God that takes away the fin of the world; as the only Mediator between God and man; as the Saviour and Redeemer of loft finners; and confidered in all his offices and relations: under all circumftances he is to be looked to; when in the dark, look to him for light; when dead and lifelefs, look to him for life; when weak, look to him for ftrength; when fick, look to him for healing; when hungry, look to him for food; and when difconfolate, look to him for comfort; for none ever look to him and are afhamed or difappointed, they have what they look for: and as it is profitable, fo pleafant to look to Jefus, and he himfelf is well pleafed with it; and therefore here encourages to it, adding, and be ye faved; or, ye fhall be faved*: Chrift is fet up in the gofpel, and the miniftration of it to be looked at, ‘that men may be faved by him; and it is the will of God, not only that men fhould look to him, but that whofoever fees him, and believes in him, fhould not perifh, but have everlafting life: the minifters of the gofpel are appointed to fhew men the way of falvation by Chrift, and to affure them, that he that believes in him fhall be faved; and faints in all ages have looked unto him, and have been faved by him; and therefore this may be taken for a fure ’

and certain thing, that’ fuch that look to Chrift, as the I/raelites did to the brazen ferpent, the type

£ TIVTVA “WN tantummodo in Jehova,

AH. Chixlvesi222go of him, fhall be faved, Yobn iii. 14,15: all the ends of the earth, all that live at the furtheft part. of the earth, Chrift has a people there, the Fa-. ther has given him for his pofieffion, and which. are the purchafe of his blood, and for whofe fins he became the propitiation; and to thefe he fends — his gofpel and his minifters, to find them out, and_ publith falvation to them, and to affure them, that’ however diftant they are, both as to place and_ ftate, yet thro’ looking to him by faith they fhall, be faved, even tho’ they are the worft and vileft. of finners: for ] am God, and there is none elfe;~ and fo mighty to fave, able to fave to the utter-» moft, all that come to him, and to God by him,~ be they where they will; fince he is truly God,; there is virtue enough in his blood to pardon fin, and cleanfe from it; and in his righteoufnefs to ju=) ftify from all fin; and in his ‘facrifice to expiate it; and therefore fenfible finners may fafely look to» him, and venture their fouls on him. The Yargum is, ‘* look unto my word, and be ye faved, &e.?”

¥. 23. I have fworn by myfelf, &c.| Chritt being the true God, he could {wear by no greater, Hed. vi. 13. this fhews thar what follows, and is here fworn —

‘unto, is of great importance, and ftriétly true, and would certainly be accomplifhed: she word is gone out of my mouth in righteoujnefs, both what goes before, that fuch that look unto him fhall be faved; and alfo what follows, concerning the fubjection of every creature to him; this was what he had refolved in his mind, and declared in his word, by promife and prophecy, fhould be; and. as it was agreeable to truth and juftice, it fhould certainly, and in faithfulnefs, be performed, and fhall not return void and without effect, but be exactly and punctually accomplifhed: that wate me every knee foall bow, every tongue foall fwears that is, every one, or at leaft the generality of mankind, fhall be fubject to Chrift, embrace his ~ gofpel, fubmit to his ordinances, profefs his name, and ferve and worfhip him; this will be when the fulnefs of, the Gentiles. is brought in, and the Jews: are converted: the apoftle quotes this paflage, and applies it to the judgment-day, when all, whether they will or no, fhall confefs that Chriftas Ged, which he fo often afferts in this context; dee Rom. xiv, 10, 11. Pbil. ii. 10, 11. ii, Boyd ¥..24. Surely, foall one. fay, in the Lord have I righteoufne/s and firength, &c.| ‘That is, one and every one of thefe that fhall be brought to fubmit to Chrift, and to confefs him, fhall declare it as their faith, that in Chrift alone is their righteoufne s or righteoufneffes *; that they have a full and:com-, — plete righteoufnefs in him, and which ferves for. » many; confifting of the holinefs of his mature, the obedience, of his life, and his fufferings of, death; by which the law is honoured, juftice fatisfied, God is well pleafed, and they are acquitted and difcharged; and which is pure, perfect; and everlafting, is given them of grace, and entitles” them to eternal life; and this they have ia Chritt as their covenant-head and reprefentative, and which they come to have by being in-him: it is) _ not inherent in them, but is in Chrift, by whomy it is wrought out, and becomes theirs by the im-) putation of it to them, and which they receive, ~ by faith; and this is an a¢t of faith concerning it here exprefled, and which declares the certaintyof it, and of intereft in it, and excludes all others 3. for it may be rendered, only in the Lord, 8c. and feems to be fpoken with great joy, in an exulting way, and what may be faid at all times; for this righteoufnefs is always in Chrift, and /frength likewife, to enable them to exercife every grace; to do the will and work of God; to bear afflictions; to withftand fatan’s temptations, and oppofe their own corruptions; and to which they have not fufficient ftrength in themfélves, but there is enough in Chrift. Some take thefe to be the words of the prophet, and differently interpret them. Some thus, as Abendana obferves, ‘* faith the ptophet, “* thefe future things I know not in a way of wif- ‘© dom, but by the Lord who faith unto me, my *¢ God of righteoufnefs and ftrength.” Aben Ezra thus; ‘* furely in the Lord that fpeaketh with me *¢ alone are righteoufnefs and ftrength.” ofeph Kimchi takes it to be in the form of an oath, ‘ the << prophet faid, I fwear by the name of the Lord, << that unto me he faith, righteoufnefs and ftrength «unto him fhall come; as if he had faid, the * author or doer of righteoufnefs and ftrength ‘¢ fhall draw near to him, and all that are incenfed “ againit him fhall be afhamed.” Even to bim foall men come, or every one of the above perfons; they fhall come to Chrift, not merely to his word and ordinances, but to himfelf by faith; for righteoufnefs and ftrength, for peace and pardon; for fpiritual reft, joy and comfort; for food and cloathing; for all fupplies of grace, and'for eternal life; or if not in a way of, grace now, they fhall come to him, and appear before him at the laft judgment, whether they will or no. Aud all that are incenfed againft him fhall be afbamed; that are incenfed againft his perfon, his deity, perfonality, and divine fonfhip; againft his blood, righteoufnefs, facrifice and fatisfaction; againft his offices, kingdorn and glory; thefe fhall be afhamed, either when they are convinced of the truth of thefe things now, or however when they fhall appear in his glory at the laft day. Kimchi connects this verfé with the preceding, thus, ‘‘ he faith, every ‘* tongue fhall fwear verily by the Lord alone, and not by another god; and fo faith God, I have righteoufhefs and ftrength to give to them that ferve me; and all the people who are incenfed againft me, and reject my fervice unto that day, then fhall they come unto him, and confefs before hirh, and fhall be afhamed for what they have done.” The Yargum is, ‘* in his word they fhall confefs, and all the people fhall be confounded with their idols, who ruth upon his people.”

¥. 25. In the Lord fall all the feed of Ifrael be juptified, &cc.] All the fpiritual J/rael of God, whether Fews or Gentiles; all the fpiritual feed and offspring of Chrift, to whom he ftands in the relation of the eéverlafting Father and federal head; thefe being given to him, and being in him, are juftified in him from all things; and thefe, all and every one, fhall be brought to {fee their need of his righteowfnefs, and look to him for it, and receive it from him by faith; and be manifeftatively juftified in their own confciences, as they will be openly at the bar of God, before angels and men hereafter. The Zargum is, * in or by the ‘¢ word of the Lord all the feed of J/rael thall be “¢ juftified:” and fhall glory; in Chrift, as the Lord their righteoufnefs; not in themfelves, in their own righteoufnefs, holinefs, wifdom, and ftrength, but in this, that Chrift is made to them wifdom, righteoufnefs, fanctification and redemptiorl, 1 Cor. i. 30, 31.