Exposition of the Whole Bible

and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, that is, were of the feed of Fudah, as the Targum, Moen Ezra and Kimchi interpret it; thefe were waters out of his buckets, as Farchi obferves from Numb. xxiv. 7. fo we read of the fountain of Facob, Deut. xxxiii. 28.' Thefe were ftreams from thence; they were of the tribe of Fudah, to whom the kingdom belonged; from whence was the chief ruler; the Shilob, the king Meffiah,; they were of thefe waters, though not born again of water and of the fpirit: which fwear by the name of the Lord Ged; own him for their God, acknowledge him their Lord and king, and folemnly promife to ferve him, and yield obedience to him: and make mention of the God of Irael; or remember him * in their religious exercifes; invoke his name, fing his praifes, afk of him the ordinances of righteoufnefs, honour him with their lips, fpeak honourably of him, and profefs to remember his works of old at their folemn feafts: but not in truth, nor in righteoufuefss not according to the will of God, nor truth of things; nor in the integrity of their hearts, but, in an. hypocritical way, and not in fincerity and uprightnefs;:in word and tongue only, not in deed and. in. truth; worfhippers of God they were externally, but not in fpirit and truth.

¥. 2. For they call themfelves of the boly_city, &c.]. The city Ferufalem, fo called becaufe the temple, the place of divine worfhip, was in it, the refidence of the holy one of. J/rae/: they valued themfelves, not only upon their being of the family of Facob, and of the tribe of Fudab, but that they were inhabitants of Ferufalem, the holy city; as many now. call themfelves fellow-citizens with the fainrs, and of the houfhold of God, when. they are {trangers both to God and his people in the experimental knowledge of things: and ftay themfelves upon the God of Ifrael; profeffed ta truft in the Lord, and lean upon him, and rely upon his power and providence, his mercy and goodnefs, and expect all needful things from him, renouncing all confidence in the creature; and yet at the fame time acted an hypocritical part, their faith '. was was feigned; fee Mic. iii 11. The Lord of hofts is bis name, whom they profeffed to be their God and Father, their Lord and Hufband, their Saviour and Redeemer; who has all power in heaven and in earth, and does according to his will in both worlds, having the hofts of angels, and armies of men at his command, and therefore fo called.

¥. 3. Lhave declared the former things from the beginning, 8cc.] From the time of their firft anceftors, from the time of Abraham their father, to whom was declared what fhould befal his pofterity; that they fhould fojourn in Egypt, be afflicted there, and come out from thence with great fubftance; that they fhould be brought into the land of Canaan, and fettled in it, the inhabitants of it being. driven out before them, Gen. xv. 13-18. And they went forth out of my mouth, and I fhewed thent; they were told to 4brabam by word of mouth; they were fhewn to him in prophecy: J did them fuddenly, and they came to pafs; for very quickly thefe things began to take place, even in Abrabam’s time; for his feed being a ftranger in a land not theirs, and afflicted near four hundred years, muft be reckoned from the birth of [aac; and all which exactly came to pafs as was foretold; not one thing which the Lord had fpoken of failed; all was punctually fulfilled, od. xxi. 45. - ¥. 4. Becaufe I knew that thou art obftinate, &c.

Or hard *,; hard-hearted, an obdurate and rebellious people, contradicting and gainfaying: and thy neck is as an iron finew; ftiff-necked, inflexible, not compliant with the will of God, and his commands; unwilling to admit his yoke, and bear it: and thy brow brafs; impudent, not afhamed of fin, nor blufhing at it, refufing to receive correction for it, having an whore’s forehead. This the Lord knew and foreknew, and. therefore declared beforehand what would come to pafs unto them; who otherwife would have had the affurance to have afcribed them to themfelves, or their idols, and not to him.

¥.5. Ihave even from the beginning declared it to thee, &c.] From the beginning of their being a people, even before they were formed into a body politic; yea, from the original of them, from the time of Abraham their anceftor, as before obferved: before it came to pafs, I fhewed it thee, fome -hundreds of years before; firft to Abraham, then to J/aac, then to Faced, then to Fofeph, and then to Mofes, and by him to the children of Tjrael: left thou foouldeft fay, mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them or my libation or fufion of wine, oil, or blood, by which, as by other things, they made conjectures of what was to come to pafs; fo Gufetius » interprets the laft word; left they fhould afcribe their deliverance out of Exypt to the, idols they made and worfhipped, being a people prone. to idolatry; as they did when they made a golden-calf, and danced about it, Exod. xxxii. 4. This the Lord knew before-hand, and therefore to prevent this ftupidity, or convince them/of it, he foretold what fhould come to pafs, ‘whith their idols were never able to do,

¥. 6. Thou haft heard, fee all this; and will ye not declare it? 8&c.] You have heard of all thefe things, how they were foretold before they were; how they came to pafs exaétly as they were prediéted;

now look over thefe prophecies, and compare them | with the events; fee the exact completion of them;

and when you have fo done, can you.be fo ftout-" hearted and impudent as to deny them, or not own’ and confefs them? J have /hewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didft not know them; meaning the deftructiqn of the Babylonifeempire, and the deliverance of the Fews by Cyrus, prophefied juft now in the preceding chapters 5 things not yet come to pais, newly revealed, which were hidden in the breaft of God, and unknown to them until prophefied of; and which were typical of redemption by the incarnate Son of Ged, whofe incarnation, and falvation by him, were new, unheard-of, and wonderful things; and of the new flate of things under the gofpel-difpenfation, when all things fhould become new; the doétrines and ordinances of ‘which are new; the whole gofpel is an hidden myftery, and unknown to men till revealed and made known: by the Spirit of God.

y. 7. They are created now, and not from the be-

‘ginning, &c.] Not that they were now done or brought into being, for as yet Cyras was not born; though the raifing of him up, and holding his right hand, and his executing the counfel of God, are fpoken of as if they were already done, becaufe of the certainty of them, ch. xlv. 1, 13. and xlvi. 11. Aben Ezra interprets created by decreed; though thefe were not now decreed by God; for no new decrees are made by him; but thofe which were made by him of old were now revealed and made manifeft by propheey, which is the fenfe of the phrafe; fo Kimchi obferves, * the time when they went out of the mouth of God ‘“‘ is the time of their creation.” ‘Thus in like manner the incarnation of ‘Chrift, his: fuffering and death, and falvation by him, things decreed from eternity, are fpoken of in this’ prophecy as. if a€tually done, becaufe of the clear mianifeftation and certainty of them: even before the day, when thou heardeft them not, they were in the breaft of God, kept and referved in his mind, and therefore are before called ‘hidden things, before the Ifraelites heard any thing of them as were the things refpecting Chrift, and falvation by him; which were not only in God, ‘who created all things by Chrift, but were revealed before the Jraelites had any knowledge of them, even to Adam and Eve, immediately after their fall; and were fpoken of by all the holy prophets from the beginning of the world: Jeff thou foouldeft fay, behold, I knew thems left they fhould afcribe their prefent knowledge of thern to their own fagacity and penetration; as if they were not obliged to a divine revelation, but of themfelves. had got the fecret, and became acquainted with thefe things. &: 2 a ¥. 8. Yea, thou heardeft not, yea, thou k not, yea, from that time that thine-ear opened, 8c.) This, as Kimchi rightly obfe {aid by way of reproof, fhewing that they v far from knowing thefe things before the pr of them was given out, that when it wa did not hearken or liften to them they dic underftand them, nor receive and ent eae but turned a deaf ear to them; their heart: hardened, and they given up to mind; which was the cafe of the - when the Meffiah, the antitype of | and there was a more clear revela truths, a8 was foretold, J vi. 9,10. Fe. of ahsW Cee

To this fenfe is the 7 argum, “ yea, thou haft not

by others, differently rendered; by fome, wot in

“« heard the words of the pd ae yea, thou haft | A ver*; not in a furnace of filver, as Aben Ezra;

** not, received the doétrine of the law; yea, thou ‘© haft not inclined thine ear to the words of the ** bleffings and curfes of the covenant I made “ with thee at Horeb:” for I knew that thou wouldet deal very treacheroufly,;. with God, and with one another, as they did; and were, as feremiah calls them, an affembly of treacherous men; arid efpecially fo they were in Chrift’s time, and to him; one of his own difciples treacheroufly betray’d him into the hands of the Yews, and they delivered him into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified and flain; all which he knew beforehand, John vi. 64. Matt. xx. 18, 19. And fo the Lord knows all the wickednefs and unfaithfulnefs of men, and of his own people, who are by nature children of wrath, as others; yet this hindered not the defigns of his grace, and the difcoveries of his love to them, after expreffed: and waft called a tranfgreffor from the womb, from the time of their civil birth, as a people and ftate, God was their father that fettled and eftablifhed them; in this fenfe they were his children, whom he begot, brought up, and nourifhed; though they rebelled againft him, and as foon almoft as born, foon after they came out. of Egypt, which were the days of their youth, of their infancy as a church and people; witnefs their murmurings and unbelief, their idolatry in making a golden calf, and worfhipping it: and this is applicable to every particular perfon, and his natural birth, éven to every one of God’s elect; who are all conceived in fin, and fhapen in iniquity; go aftray from God.from the womb; and the. imagination of whofe heart is evil from their youth, and are continually tranfgreffing the righteous law of God, and therefore juftly deferve this name.

¥. 9. For my name’s fake will I defer mine anger, &c.] From age to age for thofe fins which had been committed, and continued in ever fince they The above account of them fhows, ple to praife him, which he would not, {hould they

Ser Ok on Se ee ik “¥. 10. Behold, I bave refined thee, but not with fiver, &e.} But it is not wfual to refine with filver;

“not filver with filver, nor any other metal ‘with it; that itfelf is what is refined; this therefore cannot be the fenfe of the words; wherefore they are, but ix a furnace of poverty, as’ the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Syriac verfions render the next claufe; and to the fame fenfe the Targum; that is, I have tried, and purified, and refined thee, not by profperity but adverfity; not with riches, which has its fhares, temptations, trials and exer cifes, but with poverty, which alfo has the fame or greater; and therefore Agur defired neither, Prov. xxx. '8,'9. By others, but not into filvers, fo as to’make filver of them, whereby all the labour was loft; but this is contrary to the following claufe: by others, not for the fake of filver'; fo the Septuagint verfion; or for the ‘gain of it, as the Arabic; which fenfe fugsefts, that God was no gainer by their afflictions; what he did was freely, without money or price, and all the ufe and profit were to themfelves; fee Pf xliv. 12. Others think, that inftead of Beth, in, it fhould be Caph, as; a note ef fimilitude, and be rendered, but not as filver®: but that the text is corrupted, and ought to be thus altered, there, is no authority for it, and befides is contrary to feveral exprefs paffages of {cripture, Pf Ixvi. 10.° Zech. xiii. 9. Mal. iii. 3. Rather therefore it fhould be render ed, but not among fillver®, ‘along with that, which requires a fierce fire, is kept in the furnace or. melting-pot until all the drefs is confumed >‘ but if God was to afflict his people to fuch a degree, they would not be able to bear it; and if they were to continue under his afflicting hand till all their tdrofs, fin, and corruption were removed, they would be utterly confumed; was he to contend, or be wroth for ever, the fpirit would fail before him, and the fouls that he has made; wherefore he does not affli& in this fierce and furious manner, but gently and gradually, in meaftre, in mercy, and not in ftri€t juftice, 1 Cor. x. 13. I xxvii. 8, 9. and lvii. 16. Yer. x. 23. and xxx. 11. and by fuch gentle means he refines and brightens the graces of his people, tries and proyes their principles and profeffion, and reforms their’ manners: I have chofen thee in the furnace of afflittion; fuch was the affliction of Z/rael in Egypt, called the irom furnace, Deut. iv. 20. and as God has his furnace to punifh and confime his enemies,’ fo he has his furnace to try, purge and purify his peo-:

grievous dnd diftreffing, ‘ efpecially. when the wrath

| of God is apprehended in it, though fury is not in’ {him when he affliéts, it is all in love, and therefore is faid to chu/e his people at fuch a time; which"

Ji. tobe underftood not of their election to grace and'slory; for that is not done in time, but in and fometimes affliétions have been the means of it; or God has in them, or by them, brought them to himfelf, as he did Manajfeb: but it feems beft of all to underftand it of the manifeftation of election; God fométimes under afflictive providences appears to his people, and tells them, that ihe has loved them with an everlafting love, and affures them, that they are his chofen ones; he bia.) +h knows

Oux wexsy aelvew, Sept. non pro » Tater knows their fouls, and owns them as his own in their adverfities; befides, in afflicting them, he deals with them as his children and chofen ones;

and becaufe they are fo, he takes the pains he does with them, which he does not with others, to purge and purify them, Pf xxxi. 7. Hed, xii. 7. Moreover, he makes them choice and excellent perfons by afflictions; they come forth out of them as choice filver and pure gold; they gain thereby many choice experiences of the love and grace of God, and of the truths of the gofpel, and of the promifes of it: affiicted faints are commonly the choiceft belicvers; they become thriving and flourifhing chriftians, humble and holy ones; more fit for their mafter’s ufe, more weaned from the world, and wrought up for heaven and happinefs. Some, as Farchi and Aben Ezra, render the words, J bave chofen for thee the furnace of affitiion', or thee for the furnace of affuction, afflictions are chofen and appointed for the people of God, and they are chofen for, and appointed unto afflictions, ab xxiii. 14. 1 Theff. iii. 3. Some, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi obferve, by. the change of a letter, read Bachantica, have proved thee, or tried thee, inftead of Bachartica, I bave chofen thee, but without any reafon.

y. 11. For mine own fake, even for mine own Jake will I doit, &c.| Defer his anger, not cut off his people and deftroy them, but redeem and fave them: this, in the literal fenfe, refpects the redemption and deliverance of the Fews by Cyrus from the Babylonifh captivity; which the Lord did, not for any deferts of theirs, but for the fake of his own honour and glory; or, as the Targum, *¢ for my name, and for my word;” which is repeated here again and again for the confirmation of it, and that it might be more obferved. In the myftical fenfe, it refpects redemption and falvation by Chrift, of which the former was typical: for how fhould my name de polluted? blafphemed and evil fpoken of among the nations of the world; who would be ready to fay, that either the Lord did not love his people, and was not mercifully difpofed towards them; or that he could not fave them, and that their hands, or their gods, were mightier than he; fee Deut. xxxii. 26, 27. and I will not give my glory to another, to another people, as the Yargum, or to another god; fee the note on ch. xlii. 8.

¥.12. Hearken unto me, O Facob, and Tfrael my called, &c.] Called before out of Egypt, and now out of Babylon, and who had the name of God called upon them, and who called upon the name of the Lord; fo fuch who are called with an holy calling, according to the purpofe and grace of God, by the Spirit and grace of Chrift, unto fellowfhip with him, to partake of his grace here, and glory hereafter, are ftiled the called of Fefus Chrifi, Rom. i. 6. and who feems to be the perfon here fpeaking, as appears from the following claufe: and it may be obferved, that Facob and Lrael are defcribed here in a different manner from what they are in the beginning of the chapter, fince the Lord had des{ared his defigns of grace towards them, and that he had chofen them, and would fave them for his name’s fake; which they had reafon to believe he could and would do, from the account which he gives of himfelf. and they are called upon to hearken to him, as follows, Tam he, Iam the firft, and I alfo am the Jaf, the everlafting I am, the im- myftical Babylon, deftroy antichrift, ar mutable Jehovah, the A/pha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the firft caufe, and’ lat end of all things; phrafes expreffive of the felfexiftence, fupremacy, eternity and immutability of Chrift, Rev. i. 8, 17. and what is it that fuch a fovereign, eternal and unchangeable being cannot do? | te at ¥. 13. Mine hand alfo hath laid the foundation of the earth, 8cc.] Which is afcribed to the wif dom, word, and Son of God, Prov. iii. 19. Heb. i. 10. This Aden Ezra and Kimchi interpret of © the left-hand *, feeing the work of the heavens is afcribed to the right-hand in the following claufe 5 the earth being lefs honourable than the jheavens: and my right-hand hath [panned the heavens; ftreteh= ed them out as a curtain or canopy over the earth, and meafured them out with a fpan, as eafily: a man meafures any thing with his hand; fee chi xl, 12, when I call unto them, they fiand up together; or I called them, and they flood up together, as the Targum, and fo may refer to the firft creation of them,when at the word of God, and by his almighty.

fiat, they rofe into being at once, P/, xxxiii. 9.

Kimchi obferves; that the houfes of Aii/ell and Shammai were divided about this matter, which were created firft, the heavens or the earth 3 at which R. Simeon ben Fochai wondered, fince, according to the text, they were both created togetlier *5 though this may be underftood of the confiftence and permanency of the heavens and the earth, being upheld by the Lord, and by the word of his power, and of the ready obedience of the heavenly bodies to do his will, who, like fervants, rife up at once at the word of his command; fee ch; xl. 26.; oh ar aks

¥.14. All ye affemble yourfelves, and bear, 8c} That is, the people of the Fews, Facob and T/rael his called, before addreffed; who are bid to gather together, and draw nigh, that they might ‘hear what the Lord had to fay to them: which among them hath declared thefe things? that are future,. that concern the redemption and falvation of J rael?

which of all the idols among the nations, or of the priefts and foothfayers among them, whom the ews were prone to liften to, that could foretel things to come, fuch as thefe the Lord had faid fhould be? the Lord bath loved him; not Drael, as the Targum; but Cyras, whom the Lord loved" as a man, as he does all his creatures; and whom he diftinguifhed from others, by beftowing éxcel-. lent qualifications on him; and whom he raifed to great dignity, and gave him great honour, by ufing him as an inftrument in his hand for the de-” liverance of his people; and who was a type of Chrift, the dear Son of God’s love, in whom he is always well pleafed. He will do bis pleafure on Babylon, and bs ari thall be on the Chelan’ Cte he fhall do as he pleafes with Babylon, and with his’ army deftroy the Cha/deaus; or he fhall do the. pleaftire of God on Babylon, and deftroy the in bitants of it, and deliver his people from ig is alfo true ef Chrift, who will do his p: eafure antichriftian dtates, with his mighty; with the breath of his mouth, and ‘with the brig) nefs of Tis‘ coming.” ° |” "es ae oy. 15. J, even I have fpoken, &e. do, and what fhall certainly come to pafs; one word of the Lord ever fails; wha fpoken he will make good, what, he has

his Son in his council, and in.covenant, or has delivered out by promife or prophecy, Numb. xxiii. 19: yea, J have called him; not Abrabam, as the Targum; but Cyrus, whom he called by name, as well as called him to his work and office as a deliverer of his people, ch. xlv. 4. and fo he called Chrift alfo to his work and office, which he did not take to himfelf, but was called of God, Hed.v. 4, 5: Lhave brought him; from a far country, from Perfia to Babylon; and who has alfo brought forth his fervant, the branch, the Meffiah, Zech. iii. 8: and. he foall make bis way profperous; or, his way foall be profperous ®; being made fo by the Lord, who directed his way, and removed all difficulties and obftructions in it, ch. xlv. 1,2, 3, 5,13. and fo the pleafure of the Lord has profpered in the hands of Chrift, who has fucceeded in the work of redemption and falvation, he was called to, J, liii.

11. thefe are the words of God the Father, confirming what the Meffiah faid in the preceding, and who is introduced fpeaking in the next verfe.

¥. 16. Come ye near unto me, bear ye this, &c.] An addrefs to the ews, to attend the miniftry of Chrift, and hear the doctrine he had delivered to them: I have not {poken in fecret from the beginning; from the beginning of his miniftry; which he exercifed not in private houfes, but in the fynagogues of the Fews, and in the temple, whither a large concourfe of people reforted, Fobn xvili. 20: from the time that it was, there am I; from the time that his miniftry began there, he was in the fame places, in Judea and Galilee, always publickly preaching the gofpel, and doing good: or' rather, before the time that it was, there was I”; Chrift exifted before his incarnation, before he appeared as the great prophet in J/rael, he exifted as the word and Son of God from all eternity, and was with God his Father from everlafting; he was by him, and brought up with him, and lay in his bofom fo early: aud now the Lord God and bis Spirit. bath fent me; in the fulnefs of time, in the likenefs of finful flefh, to preach the gofpel, fulfil the law, and to redeem and fave the Lord’s people. Here is a glorious teftimony of a Trinity of Perfons in the Godhead; Chrift the Son of God is fent in human nature, and as Mediator; Jehovah the Father and the Spirit are the fenders of him; and fo is a proof of the miffion, commiffion, and authority of Chrift, who came not of himfelf, but was fent of God, Fobn viii. 42. it may be rendered, and now the Lord God hath fent me and his Spirit °; both were fent of God, and in this order; firft Chrift, to be the Redeemer and Saviour; and then the Spirit, to be the convincer and comforter; fee Yohn xiv. 26. and xv. 26. and xvi. 7, 8.

y. 17. Thus faith the Lord thy Redeemer, &c.] A character peculiar to Chrift, who engaged in covenant to be the Redeemer of his people; was promifed and.prophefied of as fuch; and who came into this world for this purpofe, and has obtained eternal redemption: the boly one of I/rael; who came of J/rael as man, and as fuch was holy, and without any fpot or ftain of fin; and who as God is the moft holy, in his nature and works; and as Mediator, the fanctifier of J/rael, and is in the midft of them as fuch: J am the Lord thy God; and fo fit to be thé Redeemer and San¢tifier of them;

' and happy are thofe, who can fay with Thomas, my

La mpbym) et profperabitur via cjus, Fagtiget, Montanus; eritque profpera via ejus, Vitrin. L. nondum exfiftente tempore horum eventuum,

© SNM My ex tempore antequam fieret,

Lord and my God; and who further defcribes himfelf, and declares his work and office: which teacheth thee to profit; or, teacheth thee profitable things as the whole of the gofpel-miniftry is, whether it refpects doctrines relating to the knowledge of the Perfons in the Godhead; the knowledge of God in Chrift; ‘the perfon and offices of Chrift; and the perfon and operations of the Spirit: or to the knowledge of man; his loft and depraved. ftate, having finned in.Adam, the guilt of his fin is imputed to him, and a corrupt nature propagated; the bias of the mind being to evil, and man impotent to. all that is good: or to the way of falvation by the grace of God, as the fruit and effect of the love of God; the doétrines of his eternal love, and of redemption by Chrift; of juftification by his righteouinefs; pardon by his blood; atonement by his facrifice; regeneration by his Spirit and grace; and of the perfeverance of the faints in faith and holinefs. Thefe are profitable doctrines, which ferve to difplay the riches of divine grace, make for the glory of the Redeemer, and the good of fouls, their peace, joy, comfort, and falvation. Thefe are the wholefome words of our Lord Jefus. Or whether thefe teachings refpect ordinances, which Chrift has appointed, and in his word and by his Spirit teaches men to obferve; and which are profitable to lead to him, are breafts of confolation from him, and - the means of {piritual ftrength: or whether they regard the duties of religion, the performance of good works; which tho’ not profitable to God, and not meritorious of any thing from him, yet are profitable to men; to others by way of example, and otherwife,; and to the doers of them, who find pleafure, peace, and advantage by them. Chrift was a teacher of thefe things when on earth, and he ftill teaches them by his minifters, whom he. commiffions and qualifies, and by his Spirit accompanying their miniftrations: which leadeth thee by the way that thou fhouldeft go Chrift leads his people out of the wrong way, in which they naturally are, into the right way; to himfelf, as the way to the Father, and as the way of falvation, and unto eternal life; he takes them by the hand, and teaches them to go in the path of faith, and to walk in him by it; he leads them in ‘the ways of truth and righteoufnefs, in the high-way of ho: linefs, in the path of duty; and tho’ ina rough way of afflictions, yet in a right way to heaven and: happineds.

y. 18. O that thou had/t hearkeued to my commandments, &cc.}. Which the Jews did not, but flighted and defpifed them, and were not obedient to. them. Soin the times of, Chrift, they difregarded his doétrines, tho’ fo profitable; and defpiied his. or-.. dinances and commands, which were not grievous; they neither hearkened to them themfelves, nor would fuffer others; wherefore our Lord expreffés his great concern at it, and his defire, as man, after their welfare; fee Adutt. xxill.. 13, 37: then had thy peace been as a river, their profperity, temporal and {piritual, had been abundant, and would have always continued, have been increafing and ever flowing, yea overflowing, like the waters % a river, The Targum is, the river Euphrates, river which ran thro’ Badylon: but they had no regard to the things which related to their temporal, fpiricual, and eternal peace, thefe were Bi rom from their eyes, Luke xix. 42: and thy righteou/- nefs as the waves of the fea, large, abundant, numerous as the waves of the fea; which maypregard acts of juftice and righteoufnes, viii are the fupport of a people and ftate, and bleffings the fruit thereof; and which God of his goodnefs beftows on fuch a people, as all kind of profperity, protection, fatety, and continuance.

¥. 19. Thy feed had alfo been as the fand, &c.} Upon the fea-fhore, as numerous as that, as was promifed to Abraham, Gen. xxii. 17: and the offpring of thy bowels as the gravel thereof, that is, of the fand; the little ftones that are in ‘its which lie in great numbers on’ the fea-fhore; the fame thing exprefled in different words, denoting the number of their pofterity, as it would have been, had they received the Meffiah, his doétrines and ordinances: it may be rendered, and the offspring, or thofe that go out of thy bowels, that ipring from thee, are born of thee, as the bowels thereof *; that is, of the fea; as what is within it, particularly the fifhes of it, which are innumerable; and fo ben Ezra and Farchi interpret it; and which fenfe is mentioned by Kimchi and Ben Melech: bis name foould not bave been cut off, nor deftrayed from before me, the name of J/rael, as the Targum has it; the name of the people of the Fews is no more in the land where they dwelt; they are cut off as a nation; their city and temple are deftroyed, where they appear no more before the Lord; which would not have been, had they hearkened to the Meffiah, embraced his truths, and been obedient to his commands. _.

¥. 20. Go ye forth of Babylon, &c.] Which the ews Had leave to do by the proclamation of Cyrus; and fo the people of God will be called ‘to come forth out of myftical Babylon before its deftruction; to which thefe' words are applied, Rev. xviii. 4. perhaps this, in the figurative fenfe, may be a call to the chriftians in Fernfalem, now become another Babylon for wickednefs, to come out’

of it a little before its ruin; and may be applied to the call of perfons by the gofpel, from a ftate of confufion, fin, and darknefs, in which they are: flee ye from the Chaldeans with the voice of finging; not by ftealth, or thro’ fear, but openly and publickly, and with all the tokens and demonftrations of joy and gladnefs. So the chriftians feparated from the unbelieving Fews; as will the followers of the Lamb from the antichriftian ftates,*

Rev, xix, 1, and fo all that are called by grace, fhould flee from’ the company of wicked men: declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; this fhews that fomething more than deliverance from the Badylonifh captivity is here intended; for what had all the ends of,the earth to do with that? even redemption and falvation by Chrift, typified by it. -which the apoftles and minifters of the word are here exhorted to declare, publifh, and proclaim*to the ends of the earth; Chrift having a people there-to be called ‘and faved by him; and accordingly fuch a declaration ‘has been made, Rom. x.':8, fee ch. xlv. 22% Jay ye, tie Lord hath redecmed bis fervant Facob; as the | people of the ews from’ the Babylonifh captivity, | fo the people of God, his fpiritual Facob and L rael, | fubftance of the gofpel-declaration., y. 21. And they thirfted not, when he led ry thro the déjerts, 8cc.] As when he led.the people | of I/rael thro? the wildernefs to Canaan’s land, tho” they fometimes thirfted for want of water, yet they were fupplied with it, by which their thirft was extinguifhed, to which the reference here is. So when they came out of Babylon, and pafied thro” the wafte and defert places which lay between that and Fudea, they were fupplied with all ne 5 | Thus. the apoftles of Chrift, when they tra’ thro” the Gentile world, comparable to a d publifhing redemption and falvation by Chrift, ha every needful fupply, both of temporal and fp tual things, they lacked not any thing. “In lik manner the people of God, whilft they pafs th the wildernefs of this world to the heavenly glory, are furnifhed and retrefhed with living water out of the fountain and fulnefs of grace in Chrift, of which, if a man drink, he fhall thirft no more, Fobu iv. 14, fee Jf. xlix. 10: be caufed the waters to flow out of the rock for thee y that is, for the Traelites in the wildernefs, when they were come ‘out of Egypt, and wanted water, Exod. xvii. 6. Numb. xx. 10, 11: be clave thé rock alfo, and the waters gufbed out; Pf. \xxviii. 15, 16. and cv. 41. the rock was’a type of Chrift, from whom the living waters of grace flow, to the fupport, fupply, comfort, and refrefhment of the faints in thi world, 1 Cor. x. 4, ‘Grace is often ‘fignified by waters, becaufe purifying and cleanfing, reviving ‘and refrefhing, foftening and fruétifying, and an extinguifher of thirft: their gu/bing out denotes the abundance of it, which is received from Chrift, - not only at. firft converfion, in the regeneration and quickening of men; in the pardon of their fins, and the juftification’ of their perfons; but in the large communications of grace after made, for the fupply of their wants: and all which come from Chrift the rock, that is higher than they, from. whence their bread is given them, and their waters are fure unto them; and who is the rock of their refuge and falvation: and the cleaving of this rock may fignify his fufferings and death; his being - {mitten, bruifed, and broken for’ his people, ‘that they may partake of his grace, and the bleffings of it. tk i Sea” y. 22. There is no. peace, faith the Lord, unto the wicked, &c.] ‘To Nebuchadnezzar and hig feed, fufed to go out of Babylon, and the |; dea, when they might, but continued-a idolatrous people, and therefore are threatened want of peace and profperity; or rather the’ in the times of Chrift and his apoftles, who believed the Meffiah, defpifed his gofpel, and je€ted his ordinances;. the confequence © Ww