“wear? wh A
348 » aa id other, as being unbecoming their relation as chil-)
dren; this opinion the Lord entertains of his children, fpeaking after.the manner of men, that they will not deal deceitfully and hypocritically with firction to him, or to them, to J/rael, to the
of God: and the angel of his prefence faved them 5
him, but ferve him in fincerity, and worfhip him in Spirit and in trath; that their hearts will be right with him, and they ftedfaft in his’ covenant: thus he hoped well of J/rae/ of old, and fo he does of all his {piritual J/rae/, his. fpecial people; and dear children: /o Le was their Saviour, in this view - and expectation of things, as-he is of all mem in a providential way, and efpecially of them that believe; he was the Saviour of literal J/rae/ in a temporal manner, in Egypt, the red-fea, and _ wildernefs; and of his choien people among them, in a {piritual manner, as he <is of all his elect in Chrift Jefus; and even tho’ they do not entirely anfwer the juft expectations expreffed concerning them. ¥. 9: Jn all their affliction be was afflitied, 8c.) That is, God, who faid the above words; not properly fpeaking; for to be afflicted is not confiftent with his nature and perfections, being a Spirit, and. impaffible; nor with his infinite and compleat happinefs.; but this is faid after the manner of men, and is expreffive of the fympathy of God with his afflicted people, and his tender care of them, and concern for them under affliction, as one friend. may have for another: afflictions be- _long to the people of God; they come to them, not by chance, but according to the will of God, and are not in wrath, but in love; they are many and various; there is an a// of them, yet not one ‘too many, and in every one of them God is afflicted, or fympathizes with them: as he looked ‘upon the affliction of the people of J/rae/, in Egypt, at the red-fea, and in the wildernefs, and had compaffion upon them, and faved them, fo he vifits -all his people when afflicted, and pities them, and fpeaks comfortably to them; knows and owns their fouls in adverfity; makes known himfelf to them; grants them his gracious prefence; puts underneath them his everlafting arms; makes their bed in their affliction, and fupplies their wants; and this fympathy arifes from their union to him, from his. relation to them as a Father, and from his great love to them. ‘There is a double reading of thefe words; the marginal reading is, ia ail their affliction, there is affliction to him', or, be was afflitied; which our verfion follows: the textual reading is, there is no affliction, or, be was not affited *; he feemed to take no notice of their affliction, or be concerned at it, that he might the fooner bring them to a fenfe of themfelves and their fins, Hofiv. 15. The Zargum follows this reading, and renders it actively, and be afflitted them wot”; they were indeed. in affliction, but they, and not he, brought it upon them, and by their fins. Some render it, be was no enemy*; tho’ he afflicted them, yet not in wrath, but love; or, in all their firaits there was no firait’; the Ifraelites were in {traits when Pharaob’s army purfued them behind, the rocks were on both fides them, and the fea before them, and yet there was no ftrait as it were, they were fo foon delivered out of it; and fo it may be read, in all their affictions there was no affliction, there is fo much love in the afflictions of God’s people, and they work fo much for their good, and they are fo foon’ nefs, by their murmurings, unbel wherefore he calls them ar r€ te 2 ay eee ji AD, I A OH. Cheistieyg, rom delivered ont of them, ‘that ni sdcartin a. the name of afflictions; and fo both readings may. be taken in, in all their afflictions there was no not Michael, as Farchi, but the Metfiah meant; the angel of the covenant, the angel w. went: before the J/raelites in the wildernefs, Xxiil/ 20—23. not a created angel, or an an nature, but by office; being fent of God,: word fignifies, on the errand and bufinefS of fals vation; called the angel of God’s' prefence; or f becaufe his face was feen in him; his name, z nature, and perfections were in him he is 1 brightnefs of his Father’s glory, and the oe imageof his perfon; befides, the prefence of was always with him; he is the /thiel, the wo that was with God, and with whom God always. was; who lay in thé bofom of his Father, and was‘ ever with him; and who alfo, as Mee introduces his people into the prefence of God, anid always appears in it for them as their advocate and interceffor: now to him falvation is aferibed; he faved J/rael out of Egypt, and out of the hands of all their enemiés in the wildernefs; and which falvation was typical of the fpiritual, eternal, and compleat falvation, which is only by Chrift, and. iffues in eternal glory: in bis love and in bis pity he redeemed them; Ifrael out of Egyptian bondage, and from all their enemies, which was owing to his great love to them, which operated in a way of mercy, pity and compaffion, Hof: xi. 1. Exod. xv. 13. and it is he who has redeemed the fpiritual Tfrael of God,. not by power only, but by price, from fin, fatan and the law, death and hell, with - a fpiritual and eternal redemption, and which flows from his love to thofe perfons; hence he undertook to be their Redeemer; came’ in their nature to redeem them; and gave himfelf for them for that purpofe; which love is wonderful and matchlefs, and fhewed itfelf in pity and compaffion; he became a merciful, as well as a faithful highprieft,; he faw them in their low eftate, pitied | them, and delivered them out of it: and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old; he bore them in his bofom, and in his arms, as a nurfing father his child; he carried them, as on eagles wings, from the time of their coming out of Egypt, to their festlement in Canaan’s land, Numb. xi. 12. Exod. xix. 4. he bore with their manners for forty years, and carried them thro’ all their trials and difficulties, and fupported them under them, and brought them out of them all, 4s xiii. 18. and fo he bears all his people on his heart, and in his hands, - and bears them up under all their temptations and afflictions; and from the time of their converfion, carries on his work in them, and carries them fafe to heaven, as the great captain of their falyation, and never leaves them, nor forfakes them; fee ch. xlvi. 3, 4. a y¥. 10. But they rebelled, &c.| Againft the Lord, hf notwithftanding he thought fo well of t di them, and fhewed them fo many favours 5 W ingratitude! they rebelled againft the Lord times of Mo/es, at the red-fea, and in t w Non affecit eos anguftis - * Non fuit hottis, € fays they were fuch from the day he had been with them; and fo in after times, in the times of &c. compare with this Deut. xxxii. 26,27. Guj- /esivs * thinks the laft words fhould be rendered, the judges, and of the prophets J/aiah and Ezekiel, they rebelled againft God their parent, protector and king; fee Deut. ix. 7,24. Jf i. 2. Ezek. ii. 5, 6,7. and fo they did in the times of Chrift, whom they rejected as the Meffiah, and difowned as their king, and ftill cgntinue in their rebellion, Luke xix. 14: and vexed his boly Spirit, the Spirit of God the Father, who pitied them in all their afflictions; or the Spirit of the angel of his prefence, that redeemed and faved them; for the Spirit is both the Spirit of the Father and of the Son; and he is boly in his nature and operations, and the author of fanétification in the hearts of his people; him they vexed and provoked to anger againft them, fpeaking after the manner of men, by their fins and tranfereffions; rejecting his counfels and inftructions by Mo/es, and by the prophets in aftertimes, in, and by whom he fpake unto them, and by the apoftles in gofpel-times; for the Jews, as their fathers before them ever did, refifted the holy Spirit of God in the evidence he gave of the Meffiah, which muft be very provoking, és vii. 51. compare Eph. iv. 30. The Targum paraphrafes it, the word of his holy prophets; and fo Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; and according to fome, in Aben Ezra the angel of glory is meant, who went before the people of J/rae/, whom they were charged not to provoke, Exod. xxiii. 20, 21: therefore be was turned to be their enemy, not that there is any change in God, or any turn in him from love to hatred; but he may, and fometimes does fo appear in his providential difpenfations towards his people, as to feem to be their enemy, and to be thought to be fo by them, od xiii. 24. Lam. ii. 4,5. The Targum is, ‘ and his word became “¢ their enemy;” compare with this Luke xix. 27: and he fought againft them; as he threatened he would when they behaved ill towards him; and as he aétually did when he brought the {word upon them, gave them up into the hands of their enemies, as often in the times of the judges, and particularly when the king of Badylon came againft them; fee Lev. xxvi. 25. Fer. xxi. 5, 6,7. and as the Meffiah did when he brought the Roman armies againft them, and deftroyed their city, to which times this prophecy is thought by fome to have refpect, and not without reafon.
¥.11. Then he remembered the days of old, Mofes and his people, &ec.] Which may be underftood either of the Lord, who remembered his loving kindneffes towards thefe people, and his tender mercies which had been ever of old; the covenant he made with their fathers Abrabam, Ifaac, and acob; the wonders he did for them in Egypt, at the red-fea, and in the wildernefs, by the hand of Mofes; his interceffion to him on their behalf, and the many great and good things he did for them; and therefore determined not now to caft them off altogether, but to do as he had done before; and to ftir up himfelf thereunto, puts. the following queftions: where is he, &c. fo the Targum paraphraies it, ‘‘ he had mercy for the glory of his *¢ name, and becaufe of the remembrance of his w eet of old, the mighty things he did by ** the hands of Mofes to his people;” and adds, * left they fhould fay,” that is, the Gentiles, as Aben Ezra alfo explains it, left they fhould by way of taunt and reproach fay, as follows: where is he, the extracier of bis people; or, he that drew out his people; that is, out of many waters, delivered them from various afflictions, as in P/. xviii. 16. and to be underftood not of A@o/es, only in allufion to him who had his name from being drawn out of the waters; but of a divine perfon, who is faid to do all the following things; fo Ben Melech fays the word here has the fignification of drawing, or bringing out, as in the above Pfalm: or elfe thefe are the words of the people themfelves; at - leaft, of fome of the truly good and gracious, wife and faithful among them, in this time of their diftrefs; calling to mind former times, and former appearances of God for them, ufing them as pleas and arguments with him, and as an encouragement to their faith and hope; and right it is, to remember the years of the right hand of the moft high, Pf. Ixxvii. 10. fo Farchi takes them to be the words of the prophet in his diftrefs, bemoaning and faying in a fupplicating way, what is after exprefled; and Kimchi interprets them of J/rael in captivity; it feems to be the language of the believing ews a little before the deftruction of Fes rufalem by the Romans, or about the time of their converfion in the latter day: faying, where is he that brought them up out of the fea, with the fhepherd of bis flock? or Jhepberds*, according to another reading; that is, Mofes and Aaron, by the hands of whom the Lord led his people J/rae/ as a flock of fheep, and which were his, and not the property of thofe fhepherds; they were only in- {truments by, and with whom, he brought them thro’ the fea, and out of it, which was a wonderful work of God, and often mentioned as a proof of his power, as itis here; for what is it he cannot do who did this? fee P/. xxvii. 20. J/ li.-10:, where is he that put bis holy Spirit within him? either within Mo/es, the fhepherd of the flock, as Aben Ezra, or within J/rae/, the flock itfelf, as Farchi; for the Spirit of God was not only upon Mojfes, but upon the feventy elders, and upon all the people at Sinai, as Kimchi obferves; and indeed the holy Spirit was given to the body of the people to inftruét and teach them, according to Neb. ix. 20. now thefe queftions are put, not by way of jeer, but by way of complaint, for want of the divine prefence as formerly; and by way of enquiry, where the Lord was; and by way of expoftulation with him, that he would fhew himfelf again, as in the days of old.
¥. 12. That led them by the right-hand of Mofes with is glorious arm, &c.] That is, thro’ the red-fea, as the next claufe fhews: this was done by the right-hand of Mojfes, and the rod in it, to which Kimchi thinks refpect is had; who, by di-. vine order, lift up his rod, and ftretched out his hand over the fea, and divided it, and fo led the people thro’ it: but, left this fhould be attributed to Mo/es and his rod, the glorious arm of the Lord is made mention of, which held and guided the right-hand of Mo/es, and from whence came all that power that was exerted on this occafion. Aben Ezra interprets this of the angel of the Lord, that went before them: it feems to defign the arm of omnipotence, which was glorioufly difplayed, Exod. xv. 6: dividing the water before them, the waters of the fea, fo that they rofe up as a wall on each fide them, thro’ which they paffed as on dry land:
35° to make him/elf an everlafting name? ox to get himfelf everlafting honour and. glory, as he did on Pharaob, his chariots, and his horiemen, Exed. xiv. 17. and which wonderful action of his has been, and ever will be fpoken of to the glory of his name, which was the end he had in view.
' ¥.13. That led them through the deep, 8cc.} The depths, the bottom of the fea; not thro’ the fhallow, but where the waters had been deepeft, the defcent greateft; and at the bottom of which might have been expected much filth and dirt to hinder them in their paflage, yet thro’ this he led them: as an horfe in the wilderne/s 5 or rather, in @ plain, as the word ’ fometimes fignifies; and fo Kimcdi renders it, a plain land; and ‘Farchi, {mooth land. The fenfe is, that the Jraelites pafied thro’ the fea with as much eafe, and as little difficulty, as a good horfe will run over a plain, where there is nothing to ftop his courfe: that they fhould not fiumble? there being no clay to ftick in, no ftone to ftumble at, but all like an even plain.
Vy. 14. 4s a beaft goeth down into the valley, &c.] Sottly and gently, efpecially when laden; which may have fome refpect. to the defcent of the //- raclites into the fea, into which they entered without any fear and dread, and without any hurry and precipitation, tho’ Pharach’s hott was behind them; or rather, as a beaft goes along a valley, or plain *; with eafe, and without any interruption, fo pafied the J/raelites thro’ the fea. Thus the Targum renders it, ** as a beaft goes, or is led, in “¢ a plain;” fo the word is ufed in J/ xxxviii. 8. and elfewhere: the Spirit of the Lord caufed him to refi; or gently led him, that is, J/rae/; he walked 6n thro’ the fea, with as much facility, and as little danger, as a beaft walks on in a valley, ora horfe in a plain. Some underftand this of leading Jjrael thro’ the wildernefs, where often reftingplaces were found for them, and at laft they were brought to the land of reft, Canaan, and fettled there: fo didft thou lead thy people; both thro’ the fea, and thro’ the wildernefs, in a like eafy, fafe and gentle manner: to make thy/elf a glorious name, among the nations of the world, as he did by this amazing appearance of his for J/rael; and it is hoped by thofe, whofe words thefe are, he would do the like again, and get himfelf immortal glory. ¥.15. Look down from heaven, &c.| Here begins the prayer of the church and people of God, which continues to the end of the chapter, goes thro’ the next, and the anfwer to which begins at ch.lxv. Aben Ezra calls it the prayer of the wife in captivity: it feems to be the petition of, fome converts among the Fews, either in the firft times of the gofpel, or in the latter day; who intreat that the Lord would look down from heaven, the third heaven, the feat of his majefty, where is his throne of glory, and his prefence is moft vifible to angels and glorified faints; this is on high, as the phrafe imports; and the perfons below,.on earth, at his footftool, whom -he is defired to look ‘down upon, and which to do is a great condefcenfion in him, Pf. cxiii. 6. and cxxxviii. 6. and this is to be underftood, not of that general view of perions and things, which’ he is always taking, Pf. xxxiii. 13, 14. but of a fpecial look of Jove, grace and mercy; fuch an one with which he looks mentum quod in campo, wef valle, qua fe erga me continent? Vitringa.
- “ _: i nae: ‘ ea on his people in Chrift, with complacency and iclight 5 indeed aa, ity never withdrawn from them; he eyer Io oks i on them, to preferve and protect them, to com fictions, and to deliver out of them; but be of this they are not always fenfible, but are re to conclude that he looks off from them, and | down upon us, and behold us; the chur his eyes are always,on ther
PIE DL Ps nicate unto them, to fupport them under their < his back upon them, therefore they defire him to return, look down, and behold; fee P/- Ixxx, 142 and bebold from the habitation of thy bolinefs, and of thy glory, this is a defcription of heaven, as the dwelling-place of Ged, who is moft holy, holinefs itfelf, in whom that perfection is moft glo; rious, and which is dijplayed in all his works and hence heaven is an holy, as well as an hig place, and where none but holy perfons dwell; and which is a glorious place, where the glory o}
God is difplayed, the glory of Chrift is feen, and which is glory itfelf; and from hence the hol;
God is defired to behold; what? creatures, dui and afhes, finful ones, polluted worms, at his footftool, a poor and an afflicted people: where is thy zeal, and thy firength? his jealoujy of his great name, and of his own glory; his jealoufy ot his dear people, that they are not wronged and injured, his fervent Jove, and warm affections for them, of which he has given pregnant proofs; which, fhed abroad in the heart, warms that, and is what many waters cannot quench: this indeed is not always:alike manifeft, and therefore unbelief afks, where it is? as if it was quite gone; or however, faith prays for a frefh mamieftation of it. The frength or power of God has appeared in creation, and in the fuftentation of all things; in Chrift the man of his right-hand; in ftrengthening his people, deftroying their enemies, and delivering them; and yet this not appearing fometimes at once, immediately for their help and protection, they afk where it is? it follows: the jounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercics towards me? the noile and rumbling of the bowels, to which the allufion is, are fometimes occafioned by the werking of {trong paffions, as fear and love, and which produce what is called the yerning of the bowels; of whic! there are inftances in Fo/epb, and in the harlot in Solomon’s time, Gen. xliii. 30. 1 Kings iii. 26., the tender mercies of God, his pity and compaffion, are exprefied hereby,. to which are owing the milfion ot his Son, the forgivenefs of fins, and fuccour and relief under afflictions; fee Luke i. 77, 78. Pf lit. Fer. xxxi. 20. Hof. xi. 8. now it is afked, where are thofe? are they reftrained? *twas thought they were fhut up in anger, and would not, be dec out again; fee P/. lxxvii. 7, 8, 9. Jf xiv. 12, The phrafe sowards me, in the former clauie, feems according to the accents to belong to this; z fhould be read, are they refrained towards me *2 or fhut up from me? the Lord feemed to harden his heart againft his church and people, and have no bowels ef compaffion towards them, they imagined, At creas ¥.16, Doubtle/s thou art our Father, &cc.] Theres fore why fhouldit thou reftrain thy nercies, and: bowels of compaffion from us? or ther ore I her relation to God, and in a {trong mang d sppgmin YON ergs ne eo ‘ erga me cohibeant fe erga me? Srakes tnhen from her. This relation of father and children, which fubfifts between God and his people, is not “upon the foot of creation, fo he is a father to all fear? 8c. Thefe are the words, not of wicked men among the Fews, charging all their errors hardnefs of heart, and wickednefs they were guilty men; Nor on account of national adoption, {0 he | was to the whole body of the ‘fewih people; but thro’ fpecial adopting grace, which is a fovereign act of his will, founded in divine predeftination; is a bleffing of the covenant of grace; comes to men thro’ Chrift, thro’ relation to him, and redemption by him, and is made manifeft in regeneration; and a loving tender-hearted father he is to his children, who fympathizes with them, provides all things for them, food and raiment, and beftows them on them, and Jays up for them, for time to come, even an inheritance referved in heaven; and tho’ there are fometimes doubts in the minds of the children of God about this relation, thro’ the temptations of fatan, by reafon of their fins and corruptions, and becaufe of their affligtions; yet thofe doubts are wholly removed thro’ the teftimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnefling to their fpirits that they are the children of God, when they can in the ftrength of faith claim their intereft, and call him their father: though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Ifrael acknowledge us not, thofe who were their anceftors, were both dead; and the dead know not any thing of their pofterity, and of their cafe and circumitances in this world, temporal or fpiritual; nor are capable of giving them any help or fuccour in time of diftrefs; and perhaps the prophet, in the name of the church, purpofely exprefies himfelf in this language, knowing what confidence the Yews were apt to place in Abrabam and I/rael, to draw off their minds from them, and to lead them to look to God as their only Father; who only could help them in their time of affliction, and was infinitely more to them than any earthly father could poffibly be. Some think the fenfe is, that they confefs they were become fo degenerate, that if Adrabam and Facob were to return from the dead, they would not know them to be their feed and offfpring; and yet, notwithftanding this, God was their Father. This may be the language of fome perfons, who have comfortable views of their rejation to God, when earthly parents, and. even profefiors of religion, difown and flight them: thou, O Lord, art our Father; which is repeated for the confirmation of it, and to exprefs their full affurance of faith in it the more ftrongly: our Redeemer, thy name is from everlafting; or, our Redeemer from everlafting is thy name *, more agreeable to the accents: Chrift was appointed trom everlafting to be the Redeemer of his people; God was fo early in him, drawing the fcheme of redemption and falvation, and made fo early a covenant with him concerning it; which may be properly enough called the covenant of redemption, tho’ not as diftinct from the covenant of grace; and Chrift was the Redeemer of his people in all ages, and lived as fuch, as well as God the Father was of old, in all ages, the protector of his people, and the avenger of their wrongs, to whom they might at all times apply for fuccour.
*¥. 17. O Lord, why baft thou made us to err. from thy ways? and hardened our heart from thy
of,-upon the Lord, as if he was the author and occafion of them, and Jed them into them; but of the truly godly, lamenting and confefling their wandering from the ways, commands and ordinances of God; the hardnefs of their hearts; their want of devotion and affection for God; and their neglect of his worfhip; not blaming him for thefe things, or complaining of him as having done any thing amifs or wrong; but expoftulating with him, and wondering at it, that he who was their loving and tender father, that he fhould fuffer them to err from his ways, and to wander from his worfhip, by withholding his grace, and withdrawing his prefence from them; by leaying them to the corruptions and hardnefs of their hearts; by chaftizing them forely, and fuffering the enemy to afflict them in fuch a fevere manner, as laid them under temptation to defert the worfhip of God, and caft off the fear of him, The Fews' interpret this of their being hardened from the fear of God, and made to err from his ways by.feeing the pro- {perity of the wicked, and their own long captivity, troubles and diftreflés: return, for thy fervants fake, the tribes of thine inheritence; or turn®; turn from thine anger and difpleafure to thy people; or, as the Targum, ‘* return thy Shekixad to ‘* thy people;” thy gracious and glorious prefence, which has been fo long withdrawn; or return thy people from their captivity, the twelve tribes, thy portion and inberitance; and do this, for thy fervants fake, for the fake of Abraham, Tfaac and Facob; or becaufe of the covenant made with them; or for the fake of all thy people, who are thy fervants, and which alfo are the tribes of thine inheritance, return unto them.
_ ¥.18. The people of thy holinefs have poffeffed ir but a little while, &c.| Either the land of Canaan, which the Yews, the Lord’s holy people, whom he had feparated from others, poflefled about fourteen hundred years, which was but a little while in comparifon of for ever, as was promifed; or they enjoyed it but a little while in peace and quiet, being often difturbed by their neighbours; or elfe the fanctuary, the temple, as it is to be fupplied from the next claufe, which ftood but little more than four hundred years: our adverfaries have trodden down thy fanciuary; the temple; the firft temple was deftroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; and the fecond temple by the Romans, and Antiochus, and Pompey, and others prophaned it, by treading in it.
¥.19. We are thine, &c.] Thy children, thy people, thy fubjects. Some read it, taking a word from the next clauie, we are thine of old, or from everlafting ®; as the Lord’s fpecial people are, being chofen by him in Chrift before the toundation of the world, and taken into an everlafting covenant by him, when he became their God, and they his people; agreeable to which is the Targum, “* we “© are thy people that were of old;” fo Kimchi reads the words: thou never beareft rule over them 5. the heathens that oppreffed them; they never acknowledged God as their king as they did, or were fubjecét to him as they were; and therefore had no claim to protection from him as they had: they ui joey Nd redemptor nofter Py feculo nomen tuum, Vulg. Lat. we/ eft, Vitringa; affertor nofter a feculo eft °
% obivs SSP nos fuimus. tui ab nor did they call upon it, but ferved other Geds. — The Targum is, * thou haft not given unto the “¢ people the doétrine of thy law, neither is thy — | name called upon by them,” os
‘hey were not called by thy name, they were not called the people of God, nor the children of God, nor the fervants or fubjects of God; or, thy name is not called upon them‘, or they called after it;
HE prayer of the church is continued in this 'T chapter; in which fhe prays for fome vifible difplay of the power and prefence of God, as in times paft, y. 1, 2, 3. and the rather, fince unheard of and unfeen things were prepared by the Lord for his people; and it was his ufual way to meet thofe that were truly religious, ¥. 4, 5. and fhe acknowledges her fins and tranfgreffions; the imperfections of her own righteoufnefs, and remifinefs in duty, y. 5, 6, 7. pleads relation to God, and implores his mercy, ¥. 8, 9. reprefents the defolate condition of ‘Fudea, Zion, Ferufalem, and the temple, and intreats divine commiferation, Vi koe Fi Pr.
¥. 1. O that thou wouldft rent the heavens, that thou wouldft come down, &cc.] Before, the church prayed that the Lord would look down from heaven and behold, ch. Ixiii. 15. now, that he would open the heavens and defcend from thence; not by change of place, for he fills heaven and earth with his prefence; but by fome vifible difplay of his power, in deftroying her enemies, and delivering her from them. Some take this to be a prayer for the firft coming of Chrift from heaven to earth, by his incarnation, in order to redeem and fave his people; and others, that it is for his fecond coming to judgment, to take vengeance on his adverfaries, when his wrath will burn like fire; but rather it is for his fpiritual coming, to avenge his church and people on antichrift, and the antichriftian ftates. She had feen him, as a triumphant conqueror, ftained with the blood of his enemies; and now fhe prays for the accomplifhment of what fhe had feen in vifion and prophecy: that the mountains might flow down at thy prefence; kings and princes of the earth, and kingdoms and ftates governed by them, compared to mountains for their feeming firmnefs and ftability; yet thefe will melt like wax, and flow like water, tremble and difappear at the prefence of the King of kings, when he comes forth in his great wrath againit them; as it is explained in the next verfe, that the nations wiay tremble at thy prefence; fee Rev. xvi. 20. Here ends the 63d chapter in the Targum.
¥. 3. As when the melting fire burneth, &c.] Or, the fire of melting*, a ftrong vehement fire, as Kimchi, fuch as is ufed under a furnace for melting metals; tho’ De Diew thinks a flow gentle fire is intended, fuch as is fufficient to keep the liquor boiling; which he concludes from the ufe of the word in the Arabic language, which, according to an Arabic lexicographer' he quotes, fo fignifies, and to the fame purpofe, Hottinger ™, by the help of the Arabic language, interprets the word of a {mall low noife, the hiffing of a boiling pot; tho’, as Vitringa obferves, could it be granted, which cannot, that a flow fire raifes great bubbles in ficare quemvis lenem & {ubmiffum ftrepitum, De Dieu.
water, fuch as when it boils; yet the fire, with which God confumes his enemies in a figurative fenfe, is reprefented as moft vehement and noify. It feems much better, with R. Yonab, quoted by Kimebi, to underftand it of dry fiubble, which makes a great blaze and noife, and caufes water to boil and rife up in bubbles; and with this agree fome other verfions, which render it by davins*, dey {ticks and branches of trees; which being kindled, the fire caufeth the waters to boil, as the fire, under the pot, caufes the waters to boil in it; the church here prays that the wrath of God might break forth upon his and her enemies, like fire that melts metals, and boils water. The figures ufed, feem to denote the fiercenefs and vehemency of it. The Targum is, “‘ as when thou fendedft thine anger as ‘“« fire in the days of Liijab, the fea was melted; ‘¢ the fire licked up the water;” as if the alluGionm was to the affair in 1 Kings xviti. 38. fee alf 2 Kings i. 1o—14. but rather the allufion is, as Kimchi and others think, to the fire that burnt on mount Simai, when the Lord defcended on it, and the cloud which flowed with water, as the above writer fuppofes, and which both together caufed the {moke: to make thy name known to thine adverfaries, his terrible name, in the deftruétion of them; his power and his glory: that the nations may tremble at thy prefence, as Sinai trembled, whea. the Lord was on it; and as the antichriftian ftates will, when Chrift appears, and the vials of his wrath will be poured out; and the Lord’s people will be delivered, and the ews particularly con-) verted. po al 5, y. 3. When thou didft terrible things, which we looked not for, thou cameft down, &c.| Referring ta the wonderful things God did in Egypt, at the Red-Sea, and in the wildernefs, and particularly at mount Sinai, things that were unexpected, and not looked for; then the Lord came down, and made vifible difplays of his power and prefence, efpecially on mount Sinai; fee Exod. xix. 18: the moitstains flowed down at thy prefence; not Sinai only, but others alfo; Kimchi fays Seir and Pavan; fee Judg. v. 4,5. Pf. xviii. 7, 8. Had. iii. 3, 6.
yy. 4. For fince the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, 8c.) Not only the things unexpected, undefired, and undeferved had been done for the Lord’s people of old; but there were other things unheard of and unfeen, which God, in his fecret counfels, had prepared for them; and for which reafon, his pearance in his providential difpenfations pinsato more to be defired and entreated, —
Paul has cited this paffage in 1 Cor. ii. 9. applied it to gofpel-times,: and to evange ieee, which are not difcoverable by the light of nature;
had there not been a revelation froi ears of men had never heard them, nor the eyes.: of itiaeel 1 Bliduri in Lexico Arabico tradit ™ Quemadmodum accenfo igne fit lenis i of men ever feen them: neither hath the eye feen, OvGod, befides thee; and tho’ there is a revelation made, yet unlefs God gives men eyes to fee, and ears to hear, divine truths will remain unknown to them; and thofe who have knowledge of them, it is but imperfect; perfect knowledge of them is referved to another ftate. Thefe are myfteries, and tho’ revealed, remain fo; the modes of them being unknown, or'the manner how they are is infcrutable; fuch as the mode of each perfon’s fubfifting in the Trinity; and how the two naturés, human and divine, ‘are united in the perfon of Chrift. Moreover, under the Old Teftament-difpenfation, thefe things were not fo clearly revealed as now; they were the fellowfnip of the myftery hid in God, the treafure of gofpel-truths hid in the field of the fcriptures; they were wrapt up in the dark figures and fhadows of the ceremonial law, and exprefied in ob{fcure prophecies; they were kept feeret fince the beginning of the world, from ages and: generations paft, and not fo made known, as now,-to the holy apoftles and prophets;'a more full and clear knowledge of them was referved to gofpel-times. This may alfo include the bleffings of grace, more peculiarly prepared and provided for the church of Chrift: under the gofpel-difpenfation, efpecially in the latter part of it, as the romife of the Spirit; more {piritual light and sete peace in abundance, and fuch as paffeth all underftanding; and particularly what will be enjoyed inthe perfonal reign of Chrift, defcribed in fo pompous a manner, Rev. xx. and xxi. and it may be applied to the glories of the future ftate, which are fuch as the eye of man has never feen, nor his ear heard; and as the apoftle adds, have not entered into the heart of man to conceive of; ‘and as Farchi paraphrafes the words here, ‘* the **-eye of any prophet hath not feen what God s¢ will do for him that waits for him, except thine *< eyes, thou, O God;” having cited a paflage of their Rabdins out of the Talmud °, which interprets the words of the world to come, ‘* all the pro- «© phets fay, they all of them prophefied only of “© the days of the Meffiah; but as to the world *< to come, eye bath not feen, &c.” Some read the words, neither has the eye feen God befides thee, who will do for him that waiteth for him”? 5 that is, none befides thee, O Chrift, who lay in the bofom of the Father, and was privy to all, Fobn i. 18: what be hath prepared for him that waiteth for him, the apoftle quotes it, for them that love him; which deferibes the fame perfons; for thofe'that wait for the Lord love him, and thofe that love him will wait for him; as Old Teftament-faints did for the firft coming of Chrift, and as New Teftamentfaints now wait on him, in the miniftry of his word’ and: ordinances, for his fpiritual prefence, and ‘alfo are waiting for his fecond coming, and for the ultimate glory; and for fuch perfons, unfeen and unheard-of things are prepared in the counfels and purpofes of God, and in the covenant of his grace; Chrift, and all things with him; the gofpel, and the truths of it, ordained before the world was; and all the blefiings of grace and @lory. “Fhe Zargum is,-‘* and fince the world “was, ear hath not heard the voice of mighty S* deeds, nor hearkened to the fpeech of trem-
** bling; nor hath eye feen, what thy people faw, ** the Shekinab of the glory of the Lord, for there “* is none befides thee, what thou wilt do to thy _ “* people, the righteous, who were of old, who ‘wait for thy falvation.” ¥. 5. Thou meeteft bim that rejoiceth, &c.] Not in a carnal way, nor in a finful manner, nor in an hypocritical one, or in vain boaftings, all fuch rejoicing is evil: but in the Lord, in the perfon of Chrift,; in the greatnefs, glory, and fulnefs of. his perfon; at the promife, and in the view of his coming in the flefh, as Abraham did; in the grace of God difplayed in him,, and in hope of the glory of God by him; fuch a frame of fpirit is agreeable to the Lord: and worketh righteoufne/s; a truly gracious foul is not idle, but works; not in his own ftrength, nor for life, or any thing but what is juft and right; no man indeed can work out a perfect righteoufnefs, nor fhould men attempt to work out one for juftification before God; but fhould lay hold by faith on the righteoufnefs of Chrift, which is the evangelical and beft way of working righteoufnefs; and fuch do works of righteoufnefs in faith, which is doing them in the beft manner, and the courfe of life of fuch is righteous; and thefe are regarded by the Lord, efpecially fuch who rejoice to work righteoulnefs, or do it, in a chearful joyful manner, which perhaps is the fenfe of the words: now fuch the Lord meéereth, or has been ufed to meet, in former ages, in all generations, even in a way of love, grace, and mercy; and prevents them with the bleffings of his goodnefs; indulges them with comntunion with himfelf thro’ his Son, typified by the mercy-feat; and at the throne of his grace, and in his houfe and ordinances. The Fewi/h commentators underftand this phrafe in a different manner. R. Yonah and Farchi interpret it of God’s meeting the righteous, and removing them out of the world by death, according to 1 Kings ii. 25. and Aben Ezra, of his receiving their prayers and interceffions for others, according to J/ xlvii. 3. Kimchi joins both fenfes together, ‘* the righteous, *¢ who were doing thy commandments with joy, “© are not now in the world, to ftand in the gap “¢ for us.” Thofe that remember thee in thy ways; they remember there is a God, and worfhip him; the perfections of his nature, and adore them; his works of providence, and admire them; and his bleflings of grace and goodnefs, and are thankful for them: they remember him iz his ways; in the ways of his providence, which are unfearchable, and paft finding out; in the ways of his grace. and merey, fo the Targum; or for or becaufe % of thefe, and praife his name; and in the ways of his commandments, which they obferve. Behold, thou art wroth, and we have finned, or, becaufe we bave finned *; as for us, we have finned, and juftly incurred the difpleafure of God; and it is no wonder he hides his face from us, and does not mect us, as he has been ufed to meet his people formerly. The people of God fin, and this is taken notice of by him, and refented; and which is the caufe of all their affi€tions, in which the Lord appears to be wroth with them; not that he is properly fo, for afflictions to them are not in vindictive wrath; but he feems to be wroth with them, he carries it towards eo ond mey nd nds ani 5 towards them as if he was, when he chaftifes them, and hides his face from them. Jn thofe is continuance, and we foall be faved, OF, im thefe we have been of old *; that is, in thefe fins; we are old finners, finners in Adam, finners from our birth, and fo in thefe fins is continuance: faints indeed do not continue in a courfe of fin, yet fin continues in them, and they are continually finning in thought, word, or deed; yet neverthelefs there is, falvation from all their fins in Chrift, in.whom they fhall. be faved: or there is continuance in works of righteoufnels, and in the chearful performance of them; the principle of well doing continues in believers, which is the grace of God, and fpiritual {trength, by which they do well; and through the grace of Chrift, they. perfevere in faith and. holinefs, and perfevering herein fhall be faved. Or rather there is continuance in the ways of God, in the ways of his grace and mercy; in them there is conftancy, perpetuity, and eternity, as the word fignifies; his love is an, everlafting love; his mercy is from everlafting to everlafting, and endures for ever, he is unchangeable in his grace and promifes, and hence his people fhall not be confumed, in their fins by his wrath, but fhall be everlaftingly faved; which is entirely owing to his permanent and immutable grace, and not to their works of righteoufnefs, as appears by what follows.
y. 6. But we are all as an unclean thing, &e.] Or, we have been; fo all men are in a fate of nature: man was made pure and holy, but by finning became impure; and, this impurity 1s propagated by natural generation, and belongs to all, none are free from it; and there is no cleanfing from it, but by the grace of God, and blood of
Chrift: all are not fenfible of it; fome are, as the church here was, and owns it, agd the univerfality of it, and compares herfelf and members to an wxclean ibing on account of it; fo men defiled with fin, are compared to unclean creatures, dogs and fwine, and to unclean perfons; to fuch as are covered with loathfome. difeafes, and particularly to Jeprous perfons, and who may_be chiefly intended here; they being defiled and defiling, loathfome and abominable, their difeafe fpreading and continuing, and incurable by phyficians; hence. they were jeparated from the company of men; and the words may be rendered, as au unclean perfon “, as fuch were by the law:.or we are, in our own fenfe and apprehenfion of things; and this may refpect not only the impurity of nature, but a general corruption in doctrine and manners among the profeflors of religion, fuch as was in, the Feqwi h church about the time of Chrift’s coming... Aud all our righteoujneffes are as filthy rags; which is to be underftood not of the righteoufnefs of fome perfons in the church, which lay in outward rites, ceremenies, and facrifices, which were no righteoufnefs before God, and could not take away fin; and were indeed on many accounts, as they were performed, loathfome and. abominable; fee ch. i. 11—14. or of others that Jay in outward legal dutics and works of the law, which were not done from right principles, as well.as not perfect; and fo, becaufe of the impurity, imperfection, pride and vanity that appeared-in them, were abominable to
: miny TIA in his peceatis confenuimus, Tigurine verfion; fo fome in Munfter; in 2. mg305 ut immundus, Vulg.
IA OF +) Chelan ae the Lord: but of the righteoufneffes of the-chu herfelf; not of the righteoufnefs\ of Chrift, whith was made hers by imputation; for this,is not rags, but a robe, the beft robe, and wedding, garment, much lefs filthy, but pure, and) fpotlef{s,,beauti and glorious, as well as a proper,covering;: but then, though this is the church’s, and all true believers, by gift, by imputation. and application, yet it is properly Chrift’s, and is in him, andds oppofed to their own righteoufnefs; which is, is intended here, even the beft of it, fuch works of righteoufnefs as are done by them in the beft
/manner; they are rags, not whole, but imperfeét, not fit to appear in before God, and by which they cannot be juftified in his fight; they are f éby ones, being attended with. imperfection and, fiay; and ing in the blood of Jefus; this is the language-not of a natural man, or of.a Pharifee, but of a fenfible finner, a truly gracious foul. The words, may as a garment of {poil or prey *, as Aben Ezra, rolled in blood, either in war, or. by a beaft of prey; or as a foul plaifter or cloth taken off)a fore with purulent matter. on it ’, as others;.or any other impure and naufeous thing. | Hottinger + thinks t
| word has fome affinity. with the 4rabie Tay, which fignifies running water, fach as the waterof afoun- tain or well; fo that the fenfe may, be, that)the church’s righteoufnefs was like a cloth fo polluted and fpotted, that it could not be wafhed out cleans but with clear and running water; and.in every fenfe in which it, may be taken,.it ferves to, fet forth the impurity. and imperfection of the beft righteoufnefs of men, and to fhew, that their works are not the caufe of falvation, the church had.an affurance of in the preceding verle:. aud weall da’ fede. as a-leaf, or fall* as one; as, leaves in. aus tumn: this is to be underftood of a great pai and perhaps of the greater part of the vifible members of the church; not of true believers and real members, for thefe are rooted ‘in the love of Ged, and in Chrift, and have the root of the.matter-in them, the true grace of God and therefore, tho? they meet with many bluftering ftorms,. yet don’t caft their leaf of profeffion; indeed there, may be, as there often are, decays and declenfions in them but rather this is to be interpreted of carnal pro~ feffors, with which, at this time, the church a~ bounded, who had no true grace in them; and fo dropped their profeffion, and became like trees whofe fruit withered, were without fruit; or like trees in the fall of the year, which are without fruit, and fhed their leaves, ‘Jude ¥. 12: and our iniquin, ties like the wind have taken us away; as a leat falli from the tree is carried away with thewind, which it is not able to withftand; fo formal. and. carnal profeffors are carried away thro’ their, fins,. with: the wind of perfecution, and apoftatize: or rather, for their fins the ews were carried captive, as before to Babylon, fo now by the Romans into}varin, ous countries, where they are difperfed at this day to which this pafflage may have fome refpect.. Jusquities ave put for the punifhment of them; fo the Targum, ‘ and because of our fins, as the wind we ‘“* are taken away.” - » 9 tied sages: yoorts. 1 0/07 footy: pbstiouingan aad i ccatis fem fuimus, ti pfs peecat atbery aren dough 7. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, ~ (8ze.]) Upon the Lord himfelf, who is gracious and -merciful, omnipotent, omnifcient, and omnipre-_ ‘fent, and all-fufficient,. a God hearing and an- 'fwering prayer, and the Father of his people; all ‘which fhould engage to call upon him: or, there is none that prays in thy name, as the Targum; none that prays to God in the name of his Son, the only: Mediator between God and men; he is the sway of accefs to the Father; his name is to be ufed and made mention of in prayer { acceptance is only ‘thro’ him, and all favours are conveyed by him; fee ‘Yobm xiv. 13,14. and’ xvi. 23, 24. not that there were abfolutely none at all that prayed to God, and called upon or in his name, but comparatively they were very few; for that there were fome itis certain, fince this very complaint is made ina prayer; but the number of fuch was fmall, efpecially that prayed in faith, in fincerity, with fervency and importunity; ‘and when this‘is the cafe, it is an argument and evidence of great de- ‘clenfion: that ftirreth up bimfelf to take hold to exercife faith on God, as their covenant-God; to lay hold on the covenant itfelf, the bleffings:and promifes of it, and plead them with God: or to pray unto him, which is a wreftling with him, when faith lays hold upon God, and will.not let him go without the bleffing; and is an intreaty of him not to depart, when he feems to be about it; or a detaining of him, as the difciples detained Chrift,, when he feemed as if he would go from them; and is alfo an importunate defire that he would return, when he is departed; ‘and an earneft requeft not to ftrike, when ‘his hand is lifted up: faith in prayer does, as it were, take hold of the hands of God, and will not fuffer him to ftrike his children; juft as’a friend lays hold on a father’s hand, when‘he is about to give his child a blow with it for his correction; and fuch is the amazing condefcenfion of God, that he fuffers himfelf to be held after this manner; fee Gew. xxxii. 26. Exod: xxxii. 10, 11. Luke xxiv. 28, 29. now, to fiir wpa man’s felf to this, is to make a diligent ufe of the means in feeking the Lord; particularly a frequent ufe-of the gift of prayer, and a flirring of that up; a calling upon a man’s foul, and all within him, to engage therein; to which are oppofed flothfulnefs, &c. cold, lukewarm, negligent performance of duty, which is here complained of; there were none, or at leaft but few, that ftirred up or aroufed® themfelves. God's profeffing people are fometimes afleep; and tho’ it is high time to awake out of fleep, yet no one aroufes himfelf or others. For thou haft hid thy face from us; or removed the face of thy Shekinab or divine majefty from us, as the Targum, being provoked by fuch a conduét towards him, as before exprefled: for it may be rendered, therefore thou haft bid, &c. or though, or when, this was the cafe, yet no man fought his face and favour, or intreated he would ‘return again: and bajft confumed us becaufe of our iniquities; by the fword, famine, peftilence, as a body civil and ecclefiaftic, are ufed as arguments for ‘mercy and favour.
y. 9. Be not wroth very fore, O Lord, &c:]} They knew not how to deprecate the difpleafure of God entirely; having’ finned fo greatly againit of thee, | him, they were fenfible they deferved his wrath; but intreat it might not be hot and very vehement, and carried’ to the higheft ‘pitch, which would be intolerable: meither remember iniquity for ever, to affiict and punifh for it, but forgive it, for not to remember fin, is to forgive it; and not infli& the deferved punifhment of it, but take off and remove the effects of divine difpleafure, which as yet continued, and had a long time, as this petition fuggefts; and therefore fuits better with the pre- {ent long captivity of the Fews, than their feventy years captivity in Babylon, Behold, fee, we befeech thee, we are all thy people; look upon all our troubles and diftreffés, and upon us under them, with an eye of pity and compaffion; and confider that we are thy people, not only by creation, but by covenant and profeffion, even every one of us; or we are all the people thou haft, the ers looking upon themfelves to be the fpecial and peculiar people of God, and the Gentiles as having no claim to fuch a relation; this is the pure fpirit of ¥udaifm. The Targum is, ‘‘ lo it is manifelt before « thee, that we are all of us thy people.”
y. 10, Thy holy cities are a wildernefs, &c.] Meaning either Zion, the city of David, and Ferufalem; the one called the upper, the other the lower city; now uninhabited, and a mere wildernefs: or elfe the other cities of Fudea, in which were formerly fynagogues for religious fervice, and in which dwelt many godly families, where the worfhip of God was kept up; but now a defert, at leaft quite devoid of true religion and godlinefs. Zion is a wilderne/s; Ferufalem a defolation,; which are either explanative of the holy cities in the preceding claufes, or are mentioned as diftiné&t from them; the account proceeding from the leflér to the metropolitan cities, which fared no better than they did, but equaily lay defolate; and which. fulfilled the prophecy in Mic. iii. 12. and was: the cafe of thofe cities, at the deftruction of them by Titus and to this day are in a ruinous condition and captivity. ‘ | in the hands of the’ Turks.; *¥. 8. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father, ¥. 11. &e.} Notwithftanding all that we have done againft thee, and thou haft done to us, the relation of a Father continues; thou art our Father by creation and adoption; as he was in a particular manner to the Fews, to whom belonged the adoption; and ther this relation is-pleaded, that mercy might Our boly and our beautiful boufe, &c.] Meaning the temple, the houfe of God, as Aben 'Ezra; called holy, becaufe dedicated to holy ufes; where the holy facrifices were offered up, the holy {ervice of God performed; and where the holy God granted his prefence, and where were the fymbols of it: and deautiful, in its building, as the be fhown them; and fo the Targum, * and thou, ** Lord, thy mercies towards us are many (or let ** them be many) as a father towards dis children.” We are the clay, and thou our potter, sefpecting their original formation out of the duft of the earth; and fo expreffing humility in themfelves, and yet afcribing greatnefs to God, who had curioufly formed them, as the potter out of the clay forms vefléls for various ufes: it may refpedct their formation as a body politic and ecclefiaftic, which arofe from fmall beginnings, under the power and providence ‘of God; fee Deut. xxxii. 6: and we all are the work of thy band and therefore regard us, and deftroy us not; as men don’t ufually de- {troy their own works: thefe relations to God, and circumftances in which they were as creatures, and firft, temple was that was built by Solomon ra here the fecond temple is meant, built by Zorebabel, which being repaired and beautified by Herod, was avery beautiful building; and the Fews fay *, that “* he who has not feen the building of Herod, has “ never feen a beautiful building;” or it may be rendered, the hou/e of our bolinefs, and of our glory *; where their holy fervices were performed, and which was the glory of their nation, and of which they gloried and boafted: where our fathers praifed thee; with! pfalms and fongs; the fingers in the temple, as Aben Ezra; and the priefts and all the people alfo, who by their various fervices, as. well as fongs, gave praife and glory to God in this place; they don’t mention their own fervices and _praifes, which they had been very negligent of, or not fincerely performed; but their fathers, which had been acceptable to the Lord, and. therefore would bear mentioning when theirs would not: now this place, in which the glory of God and the intereft of his people were concerned, is durnt up with frre, this is true, as Kimchi obferves, both of the firft and fecond temple; the firft was burnt with fire by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Fer. lit. 13. and
HIS chapter contains an anfwer to the prayer begun ch. Ixiii. 15. and continued in the preceding chapter; in which reafons are given by the Lord for fuffering fuch calamities, as are beforementioned, to come upon the Fewi/h nation; particularly their rejection of the gofpel, as preached by Chrift and his apoftles, and cleaving to the traditions of the fathers, and to their own righteoufnefs; which difobedience and rebellion are ageravated by the Geztiles quick reception of the gofpel, as foon as preached to them, y. 1, 2. as alfo the idolatry of their fathers, their impurity and breach of the divine laws, ¥. 3, 4, 7. as well as their own pride, hypocrify and felf-confidence, y. 5. all which being obferved. by the Lord, was highly provoking to him; and he was determined to recompenfe into their bofoms their own, fins, and the fins of their fathers, whofe meafure they filled up, ¥. 6, 7. neverthelefs he would have a regard to a remnant among them, in whom the true grace of God would be found, and who fhould have a name and a place in the gofpel-church-ftate, and be preferved from the general deftruction, ¥. 8, 9, 10. but as for the unbelieving Fews, they fhould be punifhed with the fword, with famine, with difgrace, with diftrefs, vexation, and a curfe; when the fervants of the Lord fhould have food, and joy, and honour, and blefs themfelves in the Lord, and ferve him, y.11 -—16. and the chapter is concluded with promifes of a new and happy ftate to the Yews upon their converfion in the latter day; which will be attended with much fpiritual joy, with abundance of outward felicity, with great fafety and fecurity, and with the-prefence of God, y. 1%-—25.
¥.1. L am fought of them that afked not for me, 8c.] That this is a prophecy of the calling and converfion of the Gentiles is not to be doubted, dince the apoftle Paul has quoted it, and applied for all grace from him, righteo wey is a preacher; ferme 5 and WT an expofition; fee Buttort Lex. Rab. oa 583) open