Exposition of the Whole Bible

y.1. The word that came to Feremiah from the Lord, &c.] ‘The word of prophecy, as the Zargum. Some make this to be the thirteenth fermon of the prophet’s-; *tis a confolatory one, as Kimchi obferves: /aying; as follows, y.2. Thus fpeaketh the Lord God of Ifrael, &c.J Who is their covenant-God; has not forgotten them; ftill has a regard for them; and fpeaks after the following comfortable manner concerning

them: faying, write thee all the words that I have

Jpoken unto thee in a book; being things of confequence, that they might remain to after ages and be read to the ufe, comfort and edification of the Lord’s people, in times to come; and be a fupport to their faith and hope, as well as be a teftimony of the truth and faithfulnefs of God. —

Some think this charge refers to all the prophecies that go before, as well as follow after, to put them_ all together in a book or roll, that they might be preferved; tho’ others think it refers only to the prefent

prefent prophecy.; and fo Kimchi interprets it; write all the words, that I am now peaking unto thee.°, in a book; which fhould come, to pafs in the latter day. So Yobn is bid to write ina book what he faw; the things that are,.and fhall. be hereafter, Rev. i, 11, 19.;,

¥.3. For.lo,.the days come, faith the Lord, &c.] And they are yet to come 3the prophecy is not yet fulfilled... Kimchi fays this belongs to the days of the Meffiah.:. but not to his firft coming, or to

_his coming in the flefh, which the ews vainly expect; but to his fpiritual coming in the latter day: that I will bring again the captivity of my people Tjrael, and Judah, faith the Lord; which cannot be underftood of their return from the Babylonifh captivity » fer;,as Kimchi rightly obferves, only Judah and Benjamin returned from thence; and tho’ there were fome few of the other tribes that came with them, efpecially of the tribe of Levi, yet not fufficient to anfwer-to fo great a prophecy as this, which refers to the fame time as that in Hof. iii. 5. as appears by comparing that with the gth verfe of this chapter; and when, as the apoftle Paul fays, all I/rael fhall be faved, Rom. xi. 25: and I will caufe them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they fhall poffe/s it; the Jand of Canaan, given to Abrabam, Ifaac ad Facob; and which fhall be again poffefled by the Jews their pofterity; for, without fuppofing that the ews upon their call and converfion fhall return to their own. land, in a literal fenfe, I fee not how we can underftand this, and many other pro-_ phecies.

¥.4. And thefe are the words that the Lord {pake concerning Ifrael, and concerning Fudab.| Which follow in this chapter, and the next; firft concerning J/rae/, the ten tribes; and then concerning the two tribes of Fudah and Benjamin, even concerning all J/rael, whereas, if this prophecy only refpects the return from the captivity in Babylon, there is very little in it which concerns the ten tribes, or but a very few of them. The words may be rendered, wuto Ijrael, and unto Fudah, as being the perfons to whom they were directed, as well as were the fubjects of them.

y¥. 5. For thus faith the Lord, &c.] Yet what follows are the words of others; wherefore fome fupply it, for thus faith the Lord, the nations shall fay; fo Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it, as what the Geutiles will fay in the times of the Meffiah; but it might be better fupplied, ye /hall fay; that is, J/rael and Judah; to whom the words of the Lord are fpoken in the preceding verfe; or élfe the Lord here perfonates his people, faying: we have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace; which is to be underftood, not of the

- fear and dread injected into them by the Babylonians when they befieged their city, and burned that, and their temple; nor of the fear and dread which came upon the Babylonians at the taking of their city by Cyrus, upon which followed the deliverance of the Fews. Kimcbi interprets this of fomething yet future, the war of Gog and Magog, which he fuppofes will be when their Meffiah comes; and Farchi fays, it is fo underftood in their Midra/h Agadab. This diftrefs, I think, refers to the flaying of the witneffes, and to that hour of temptation which fhall come upon all the earth to try

.0 oN ATT WIN quibus alloquor te, Junius & T remellius; que locutus fuero ad.te, Pifcator,; in fpeciem morbi regii, Junius & Tremellius; in morbum regium, Pifcator.

the inhabitants of it; and which will be followed with the deftruction of antichrift; and that will make way. for the call and converfion of the Jews.

¥.6. Ak ye now, and fee whether a man doth travail with child, &c.] Look into the hiftories of former times, enquire of thofe moft, verfed in them, whether ever there was fuch a thing in the wotld, as that a man fhould travail with child; afk one and another, you fee in diftrefs, whether that is their cafe or no, which looks fo much like it; and fince there never was fuch an inftance, nor is it poffible that there fhould: wherefore do I fee every man with bis hands on bis loins, as a woman in travail; the ufual pofture of women in fuch a condition, trying hereby to abate their pain, and eafe themfelves. This metaphor is made ufe of, both to exprefs the fharpnefs and fhortnefs of this diftrefs,; as the pains of a woman in travail are very fharp, yet fhort, and when over, quickly forgotten; and fo it will be at this time; it will bea {harp trial of the church and people of God; but it will laft but for a fhort time; and the joy and happy times that will follow, will foon caufé it to be forgotten: aud all faces are turned into pale— nefs? at the departure of the blood, thro’ fear and trembling. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin verfions render it, the yellow jaundice 3 their faces were of the colour of fuch perfons that have that difeafe upon them; or, as others, the green ficknefs. Some render it, the king’s evil 4,

¥.7. Alas! for that day is great, &c.] For forrow and diftrefs: /o that none is like it;. fuch were the times of Yerufalem’s fiege and deftruction: by the Romans; and which was an emblem of thofe times of trouble from antichrift in the latter day; fee Matt. xxiv. 21, 22. Dan. xii. 1, 2: it is even the time of Facob’s trouble; of the church and people of God, the true J/rael of God;, when popery will be the prevailing religion in Chriftendom; when the outward court fhall be given to the Gentiles; the witneffes fhall be flain; antichrift will be in flatu quo; and the whore. of Rome in all her glory; tho’ it fhall not laft long: but be fhall be Javed out of it; fhall come out of thofe great tribulations into a very happy and comfortable eftate; the fpirit of life fhall enter into the witneffes, and they fhall live and afcend to heaven; the vials of God’s wrath will be poured upon the antichriftian ftates; the kings of the earth will hate the whore, and burn her with fire; the gofpel will be preached every where; the ews will be converted, and the fulnefs of the Gentiles be brought in; and an end. be put to all trouble; of which there will be no more, nor any occafion of it: or, therefore he fhall be faved out of it*; as the effect of the divine compaffion to him in fuch great trouble.

¥.8. For it fhall come to pafs in that day, faith the Lord of hofts, &c.| When the time is come for Facob to be faved out of his trouble: shat I will break his yoke from off thy neck; not the yoke — of the king of Babylon, but of antichrift, and of all the antichriftian ftates, by whom the people of God have been opprefied; fo the Targum, * JI ‘¢ will break the yoke of the peoples (the anti- ‘¢ chriftian nations) from off your necks.”. Farchi. interprets it of the yoke of the nations of the world from off J/rael,; and Kimchi, of the yoke of Gog and Magog, or of every nation’: and will burft thy bonds; by which they were kept in bondage, both with refpect to civil and religious things; but now he that led into captivity, fhall go into captivity himfelf, Rev: xiii. 10: and ftrangers fhall no more ferve themfelves of him this fhows that this prophecy cannot be underftood of deliverance from the Babylonifh captivity; becaufe after this, ftrangers did ferve themfelves of the Fews, and they were fervants unto them; as to the Perfians, and Grecians, and efpecially the Romans, by whom they were entirely fubdued and ruined; and to this day all nations almoft ferve themfelves of them; but when they fhall be called and converted, as they fhall be free from the yoke of fin and fatan, and from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and the traditions of their elders, in a religious fenfe; fo from the yoke of the nations of the world, in a civil fenfe.

¥. 9. But they fhall ferve the Lord their God, &c.] And him only, in a fpiritual manner, in righteoufnefs and true holineis, with reverence and godly fear; having refpect to all his precepts and ordinances, and every branch of religious worfhip; joining themfelves to gofpel-churches, and worfhipping along with them, before them, and in the midft of them; fee Rev. iil. 9: and David their king; not literally, who fhall be raifed up from the dead, and reign over them, which Kimchi fuppofes poffible, tho’ he does not affert it; nor his fucceflors called by his name, as the kings of Egypt were called Pharaohs and Ptolemies, and the Koman emperors Cefars, of which we have no inftance; nor were there any kings of David’s line upon the throne of J/rael after the Babylonifh captivity, until the Meffiah came, and who is the perfon here meant; and fo the Targum paraphrafes it, ‘* and they fhall hearken to, or obey Meffiah ** the fon of David their king;” and Kimchi owns, that it may be interpreted of Mefiah the fon of David, whofe name is called David, as it is in many prophecies, Ezek. Xxxiv. 23,24. and xxxvii. 24, 25. Hof. iii. 5. and this prophecy is underftood of the Meffiah by feveral Fewi/b writers *; and in the Talmud * it is faid, ‘* the holy blefled God will ** raife up unto thee another David; as it is faid, and they fhall ferve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raife up unto them; it is not faid, he hath raifed up, but I will raife up;” and Chrift is called David, not only becaufe he is his fon, but becaufe he is his antitype. David was a type of Chrift in his birth and parentage; the fon of effe, born of mean parents, and at Bethlebem; in his’ outward form, ruddy and beautiful; in his inward charaéter, a man of holinefs, wifdom and courage; in his offices of fhepherd, prophet and king; in his afflictions and forrows, and in his wars and victories. The fame perfon is here meant as in the former claufe, she Lord their God; fince it is Febovah that is here fpeaking; and he does not fay, they /hall ferve me, but the Lord their God; and fince the fame fervice is to be yielded to David, as to the Lord their God; and who is, in his divine nature, the Lord God, and fo the object of all religious worfhip and fervice; and in his human nature, of the feed of David; and by office a king, appointed by his Father, and owned by his people, as king of faints; fo the words may be rendered, they jhall ferve the

13. Jud. iv. whom I will raife up unto them; which is faid of him in all his offices, Fer. xxiii. 5. Dent, Xviil. 15. Aés xiii. 23. and is expreflive of his conttitution as Mediator; and includes the Father’s pitching upon him, appointing him, calling him, fitting and qualifying him, and fending him in the fulnefs of time, under this charaéter, as a Mediator, Redeemer and Saviour; all which was for the good of his people; as a favour to them, for their profit and advantage: his incarnation is fot them; his obedience, fufferings and death; his. righteoufnefs, and the falvation he wrought out; he is raifed up, and fent to them to blefs them, with all {piritual bleflings that are in him, és lii. 26,

¥.10. Therefore fear thou not, O my Jervant Facob, faith the Lord, &c.] Since the Meffiah, who is the Lord God, fhould be raifed up to them, whom they fhould ferve, and he fhould fave them; and fo had nothing to fear from their enemies; and had no reafon to doubt of falvation and deliverance, feeing fo great a perfon was engaged for them. The language is very much like the prophet Jaiah’s: neither be di/mayed, O Ifrael; the fame thing in other words; for Facob and Ijrael are the fame; and to fear and be difmayed are much alike: for lo, 1 will fave thee from afar; from a far country; not from Babylon only, but from all diftant countries where they are difperfed, eaft, weft, north or fouth; diftance of place fhould - be no hindrance to their falvation, and fo need be no objection in their minds to it: and thy feed from the lawd of their captivity; their children fhould come forth with them: it feems to refpeé future times; that tho’ this fhould not be accomplifhed in the perfons of the J/raelites then living, yet

| fhould be in their pofterity: and Facob fhall return, and foall be in refi, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid, which was not fulfilled upon the Jews return from the Babylonifh captivity; for they quickly met with much oppofition and difturbance in the rebuilding of their city and temple; and afterwards from Antiochus, in the times of the Maccabees, by whom they were greatly difquieted; and at laft by the Romans, by whom their nation was fubdued and ruined; wherefore this refpects the quiet and peaceable times they fhall have when they are converted, and have embraced the chri- {tian religion.

y.11. For I am with thee, faith the Lord, to fave thee, &c.| Not only from temporal enemies, but from fpiritual ones, fin, fatan, and the world; and to fave them with a fpiritual and everlafting falvation, which the prefence and power of God, thro’ his rich grace, will bring all his people to: tho? I will make a full end of all nations whither I have fcattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; a full end has been made of the Afyrians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians; thefe people and their names are no more; and of Rome pagan, which, upon the opening of the fixth feal, departed as a fcroll that is rolled together; and fo will all theantichriftian ftates be made a full end of, when the - vials of God’s wrath are poured out upon them; and yet the people of ‘the ews, a poor, mean and defpicable people, have been continued a di- {tin& people, notwithftanding their difperfion fo many hundreds of years 5 and will continue fo un- — til they are called and converted: dut I will cor-

ment *; as in ch. x. 24. wifely, moderately, and with clemency; which the Zargum paraphrafes, judgment remitted, which is not ftrict arid rigorous, but is abated of its rigour, and is mixed with mercy: and will not leave thee altogether unpunifbed; or, det thee go free, from correction and chattifement in a merciful way. The Targum is, ‘ in de- *¢ ftroying, I will not deftroy thee;” or utterly deftroy thee. And Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of cutting off, from the ufe of the word in Zech. V. 3.

¥. 12. For thus faith the Lord, thy bruife is incurable, &c.| By themfelves or others, in all human appearance; there was no help for them from men; their cafe feemed defperate,; there was no likelihood of their recovery to their former ftate and glory, as at this day the cafe of the Yews appears. to be; there feems to be no probability of their converfion and reftoration; and whenever it is, it will be as life from the dead, Rom. xi. 15. like quickening Exzekiel’s dry bones, or raifing perfons from the dead, which none but the hand of omnipotence can effect: and thy wound is grievous; an expreffion fignifying the fame as before: the metaphor is taken from a body wounded and bruifed in fuch a manner, as to be pait the {kill of the moft able furgeon to cure it.

¥. 13. There is none to plead thy caufe, that thou mayeft be bound up, &c.| None that.will give themfelves the trouble to look into their wound, to judge of it; to confult, and reafon, and debate, about the nature of it; and what methods are moft advifeable to take, for the healing and binding of it up: or, as others, for the comprefion™ of it; the fqueezing out the corrupt matter, in order to bring it toacure: thou haft no healing medicines, either of thine own, or of others, preparing for thee: the defign of all thefe expreffions is to fhow, the helplefs and hopelefs ftate of the people of J rael, before their call, converfion, and reftoration; by which it will appear to be the Lord’s work, and his only; and fince he was able to do it, and would do it, therefore Facob and J/rael had no reafon to be afraid and difmayed, tho’ their cafe might feem defperate.

y¥. 14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee, &c.] The Egyptians and Affyrians, whom they fought unto for help, and entered into an alliance with, and who promifed them great things; but forgot their promifes, and forfook them: they feek thee not; to afk of thy welfare, as the Targum adds, they don’t vifit thee, nor enquire after thine health, or how it is with thee, having no manner of care and concern for thee; this has been the cafe of the Fews for many ages: for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chaftifement of a cruel one; fo it might feem to be; and thus it might be interpreted by them, as if the Lord acted the part of an enemy, and a very cruel one, that had no mercy; tho’ he corrected them as in y. 11. in meafure, moderation, and mercy: or elfe the meaning is, that he wounded them, when their nation, city, and temple were deftroyed, by the hand and means of an enemy, even a very cruel and mercilefs one, the Romans: for the multitude of thine iniquity, becaufe thy fins were increafed,; a very wicked people the Yews were, not only be-

| fore they went into the Babylonifb captivity, but after their return; and in the times of Chrift and his apoftles; who complain of their covetoufnefs, hypocrify, adultery, thefts, murders, and facrilege; and particularly they were in the above manner chaftized by means of the Romans, for their unbelief and rejection of the true Meffiah, and the perfecution of his followers. é

¥. 15. Why crieh thou for thine affliction? &c.] Or complaineft of the hardnefs, and heavinefs, and continuance of it, when there was fuch a juft caufe for it: when men have finned at an high rate, they have no reafon to complain of the punifhment of their fins, Lam. iii. 39: thy forrow is incurable, for the multitude of thine iniquity; fach were the number of their iniquities, that they brought them into fuch a forrowful and wretched eftate and condition, that there was no recovery of them, nor hope of recovery of them, by their own power, of by the help and affiftance of others: decaufe thy fins weré increased, I have done thefe things unto thee; which fhows the juftice of God, and is a vindication of it, under all the feeming feverity of it: The Jews * acknowledge, that urder the fecond temple, there was a great increafe of capital crimes, fuch as murders, adulteries, &c. for which, and other fins, wrath came upon them to the uttermoft by the Romans and they ftill continue under the vifible marks of the divine difpleafure.

¥. 16. Therefore all they that devour thee hall be devoured, &c.] Thus rendering the words, they are to be connected with ¥. ro, 11. and all be+ tween to be put ito a parenthefis: but rather, in connexion with the preceding words, they fhould be rendered, neverthele/s, or notwithftanding x; tho? they had finned at fo great a rate, and were fo much afflicted and chaftened by the Lord, yet their enemies fhould not go unpunifhed, and mercy in the iffue would be fhewed to them. archi calls it an oath, that fo it fhould be; the Romans that devoured them, and eat up their fubftance, were devoured by the Goths and Vandals, for this may be carried farther than..to the deftruétion of the Babylonifob empire by the Perfians. And all thine adverfaries, every one of them fhall go into captivity or be conquered and fubdued; as were the Affys rians, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Grecians, Romans; and not only Aome pagan has been deftroyed, but Rome apal alfo will go into captivity; fee Rev. xiii. 10. And they that {poil thee fhail be a {poil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey; they fhall be ufed according to the law of retaliation; the fame meafure tliey have meafured, fhall be meafured to them again.

y. 17. For I will reftore health to thee, &c.] That is, bring thee into a comfortable and pro {perous condition, both in church and ftate, with refpect to things religious and civil: as the afflictions and diftrefles of the Few nation are expreffed by ficknefs, wounds, and bruifes; fo their profperity, both fpiritual and temporal, is fignified by health. The words may be- rendered, J will caufe length to afcend unto thee, or a long plaifter *; or rather, that which has been long looked for, and long in coming, profperity; or elfe, that whereas they were before bowed down with afflictions and forrows, now they fhould be as a man

’ fome in Gataker; faciam ut ad jullam conftitutionem affurgas, Junius & Tremellius; ut affurgat fanitas tibi, Pifcator; nant fa- ciam ut afeendat tibi proccritas, Cocceius.

in an erect pofture; that rifes up in his full height and length, ‘being in a robuft and healthful ftate. And I will heal thee of thy wounds, faith the Lord, pardon their fins, remove their afflictions, and bring them into a comfortable fituation, into a gofpel-church-ftate, and into their own land: ecaufe they called thee an outcaft; as the Fews now are, caft out of their own land, rejected from being the people of God; fo they are reckoned by the nations among whom they are: faying, this is Zion whom no man feeketh after, after their good, either temporal or {piritual; defpifed by moft, pitied and prayed for by few; and fewer ftill they are that feek after, and are folicitous about, or take any methods, or make ufe of any means, for their converfion; but tho’ man does not, God will, and his work will appear the more manifeft.

¥. 18. Thus faith the Lord, I will bring again the captivity of Facob’s tents, &c.| That is, the captives of J/rael, the inhabitants of them; alluding to the patriarchs, Abrabam, Ifaac, and Facob, dwelling in tents, and to the J/raelites in the wildernefs; and fitly exprefles the prefent unfettled ftate of the ews: and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; by reftoring J/rael, or Facob’s potterity, to their dwelling-places, in Yerufalem, and other places, rebuilt by them, and for them. The Targum is, *¢ T will have mercy on his cities.” And the city foall be builded upon her own heap, the city of Ferufalem, as the Targum exprefies it, as it was in the times of Zerubbabel; it was built in its place, as the fame Targum; upon the very {pot of ground where it before ftood, which was become by its defolation an heap of rubbifh: or, upon its hill*; mount Moriah, on which fome part of the city was built; fo likewife in the latter day: tho’ Ferufalem was deftroyed by the Romans, and is now in a defolate condition, yet it fhall be rebuilt, as it feems by this prophecy, upon the very fpot where it formerly ftood: and the palace fhall remain after the manner thereof; which the Targum interprets of the houfe of the fanctuary, the temple; fo Yarchi; and it was true of it in Zerubbadel’s time: but as this prophecy has a further view to future times, fomething elfe feems intended. Kémchi fays, it is either the king’s palace, or the temple. The fingular may be put for the plural, and defign palaces, noble and ftately buildings; fignifying, that the city fhall be rebuilt in a very grand manner; and fo hall remain after the manner of it, or, according to its right or judgment»; it fhall be continued and eftablifhed by or upon that juftice and judgment that fhall be done in it; for it fhall be called a city of righteoufnefs, and a faithful city, Mi is 26:

¥. 19. And out of them fhall proceed thank/giving, and the voice of them that make merry, &c.| That is, out of Facob’s tents and dwelling-places, the city and palaces of Yerufalem, for thofe who will inhabit them, when thus rebuilt, fenfible of the divine favours, and thankful for them, will offer, not any ceremonial facrifices, as when before in their own land, which they will now fee are abolifhed; but the facrifices of praife and thankfgiving only, which will be attended with great {pinitual mirth and melody: perhaps this is faid in allufion to the mirth and mufic ufed formerly im the folemn and religious feftivals; fee Rev. xix. ly ‘7: and I will multiply them, and they foall not be few; the Fews, at the time of their: converfion, will be very numerous, Hof. i.10, 11, efpecially the number of God’s fpiritual J/rae/ will then be very great; tho’ Yacob is now fmall, he fhall then arife and become a great multitude; the church’s converts will be furprizingly many, Jf xlix. 18, 19, 20, 21. and Ix. 4—8: and I will alfo glorify them, and they fhall not be fmall; numbers of converts add to the glory of the church; it will bea glorious time; and this is what will make a confiderable part of the latter day-glory; namely, the converfion of the nation of the Zews at once, and the bringing in the fulnefs and forces of the Gentiles. The Largum is, ‘* I will ftrengthen them, and they fhall not be *¢ weak.” It may be rendered, 1 will honour them, and they fhall not be little °; or mean and contemptible; they fhall be honoured with temporal and {piritual bleffings, and be in great efteem, efpecially among the chriftian nations.

- ¥. 20. Their children alfo fhall be as aforetime, &c.] In the ftreets of ‘eru/clem, numerous and free; no more in a ftrange land, or fubjeét to others, Zech, vili. 5. and educated in a religious manner. Some think it refers to the times of the patriarchs, before the law was given; and that the meaning is, that the law being abrogated, and they now fenfible of it, fhall live without it, as their forefathers did. It may be underftood of the church’s children in a fpiritual fenfe; that great numbers fhould be born again in her as formerly, who fhall profefs the chriftian religion, and behave according to it: and their congregation fhall be eftablifbed before me; the church, confifting of them; or their church-ftate fhall be fettled and confirmed, and no more be deftroyed, as it formerly was: and I will punifh all that opprefs them, or rather have oppreffed them; all the antichriftian nations, who will now fuffer the wrath of God; and after this, there will be no more oppreffors and periecutors of the church of God.

y. 21. And their nobles foall be of themfelves, &c.] Or, bis noble one“; acob’s noble one, the - Meffiah, in whom all the promifes center; and whofe incarnation and priefthood are the foundation of all the things above prediéted. The Targum interprets thefe words of him; * their king << fhall be anointed from them, and their Meffiah ‘¢ fhall be revealed from the midft of them.” And fo it is applied to him in the Ta/mud *, and in other writings of the ews‘. Kimchi on the place fays, ‘“¢ it is known that the king Meffiah fhall be of “¢ Tfrael.” He may be called a noble one, as he is a nobleman in Lwke xix. 12. becaufe he defcended from illuftrious perfons; from David king of J rael, and from a race of kings in his line, as the genealogy of Matthew fhows. Or, bis glorious one*, as it may be rendered; he is glorious in his nature, being the brightnefs of his Father’s glory; glorious in his perfections, which are the dame with his divine Father’s; glorious in his names and titles, the King and Lord of glory; glorious in his works and worfhip, which are the fame that are afcribed to God the Father; glorious in his office as Mediator, which he has fo well performed s eit am

> spur Sy fecundum jus fuum, Vatablus; ut oportet habitabitur, eyyy? pa! COvATIDDM) et honorabo eos, et non evilefcent, Montanus; neque parvi habebuntur aut were quite free and voluntary; he came of him- when-he was raifed from the dead, and had a glory given him; and when he afcended on high, and fat down at his Father’s right-hand, crowned with _gilory and honour; glorious in the eyes of God, and of all his people; and when his kingdom fhall be in a more glorious condition, he will reign before his ancients glorioufly; and when he comes a fecond time, he will come in exceeding great glory. Or, his mighty one"; Chrift is the mighty God, the mighty Mediator, the mighty Saviour; he is the Mott Mighty, he is the Almighty, Now, as man, his defcent was from them, the J/aelites; from Abraham, from Facob, from Fudab, trom Fefje and David, and from the people of the Fes; fee Rom. ix. 4, 5. Fobn iv. 20. And their governor foall proceed from the midft of them; meaning the king Meffiah, as before; who has the government of the church upon his fhoulders; is worthy of all power and authority, and has received it; has a power of making laws, and of obliging men to keep them; has a power of pardoning, juftifying, and faving men; is the lawgiver that is able to fave, and to deftroy; and can fubject all to his feet, as he will in a fhort time. This feems to refer to a law in J/rae/, that not a ftranger, but one of their brethren, fhould be fet as king over them,

Deut. xvii. 15. which is true of the Meffiah. J will caufe him to draw near, and he fhall approach unto me; expreflive of his prieftly office; it being the bufinefs of ‘a prieft to draw nigh to God with the facrifices of the people, and to intercede for them, Zev. x. 3. and xxi. 17. Chrift in eternity drew nigh to his Father, and offered himfelf as a furety for his people, and became one; and the Greek word for furety, eylvG, has the fignification of being wear: he drew nigh and interpofed between them and his Father, and became a Mediator for them; he propofed to do every thing for them, law and juftice required, and whatfoever was his Father’s will fhould be done: he drew nigh and ftruck hands, ftipulated and agreed with him, about the falvation of his people; he afked them of him, and all blefiings of grace and glory for them: he drew nigh in time, having affumed their nature, and offered himfelf a facrifice unto God, made fatisfaction to his juftice for them, and redeemed them unto God by his blood; by which means they are made. nigh to God, and draw near to him with humble boldnefs; and now he is gone to heaven, and has taken his place at the right-’ hand of God, where he appears in the prefence of

God, and makes interceffion for them, prefenting himfelf, his blood, righteoufnefs and facrifice. Now this is afcribed unto God, as caufing him to draw nigh; becaufe he chofe, appointed, and called him to be a prieft, mediator, and furety, to which he was entirely free of himfelf; and therefore it follows, for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me, faith the Lord? his drawing to God in the council and covenant of grace, to be the furety of his people, and his undertaking for them, felf, and furrendered himfelf into the hands of jufice at the time of his fufferings and death; and his interceffion in heaven flows from his hearty love to his people; his heart has been, and is engaged, in every branch of his mediatorial work, which isa very fingular and wonderful thing. No mere man could have engaged his heart to draw nigh to God, who is a confuming fire; no angel in heaven could have prefumed to have done it on the behalf of finful men; none but Chrift himfelf could, and which is owing to the dignity of his perfon, and to his wondrous love; for this is a marvellous event. Now, tho’ this is a prophecy of Chrift’s incarnation and priefthood, yet it is fuitably introduced here; becaufe, at the time of the Jews converfion, he will be made known unto them, as being come of them, and as their prophet, prieft, and king.

¥. 22. And ye foall be my people, &c.] For many hundred years the people of the Jews have been called Loammi, or ye are not my people; but now being converted, the covenant of God’s grace fhall be renewed, and a frefh manifeftation and application of it made unto them; and they partaking of the grace of it, fhall appear to be, and fhall be called the people of God, and fhall behave as fuch, and fear and worfhip the Lord: and I will be your God; will manifeft his love to them, beftow his favours upon them, and take them under his care and protection. ‘This is a fummary of the covenant of grace, which will vifibly take place when thofe people fhall turn to the Lord, Rom. xi. 26, 27.; a 23. Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, &c.| That is, the wrath of God, which like a whirlwind comes fuddenly, with great force and ftrength, and carries all before it; there is no withftanding it; fuch is the wrath of God again{t the enemies of his church and people: 4 continuing whirlwind; whirlwinds, as they come fuddenly, are generally foon over; but this will continue very boifterous and terrible, until it has done all the execution defigned by it: it fhall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked; according to fome, the wicked ews, that do not repent and turn to the Lord; but rather the wicked of the nations, as Farch:; not the Gentiles in general, as diftinguifhed, from the ews, which is his fenfe, but the antichriftian ftates; for the ruin of antichrift, and the converfion of the Fews, will be much about the fame time; and the vials of God’s wrath, which will be poured upon them, and fall upon their. heads, will give them much pain, both in body and mind; fee Rev. xvi. 10, 11. and which wrath and ruin are exprefied by a tempett of thunder, lightening, and hail, and by an earthquake, w. 18—21.

¥. 24. The fierce anger of the Lord fhall not return, &c.|) ‘This explains what is meant by the continuing whirlwind in the preceding verfe:\ until hé hath done it; his whole will and pleafure; brought Babylon to ruin, and deftroyed all the antichriftian powers: and until he have performed the intents of bis heart; in a way of grace and mercy to his people, and in a way of wrath and vengeance on their enemies: i the latter days ye fhall confider it; this prophecy, and underftand it; and fee it wholly and fully accomplithed.

H1S chapter is connected with the former, refpects the fame times, and is full of prophecies and promifes of fpiritual bleffings; of the coming of Chrift; of the multiplication of his people, and the increafe of their joy; of the converfion of the Gentiles; of the covenant of grace; and of the ftability of the faints. It begins with the principal promife of the covenant, confirmed by paft experience of divine goodnefs, and with a frefh declaration of God’s everlafting love, ¥. 1, 2, 3. an inftance of which would appear, in planting vines or churches in Samaria, the metropolis of Ephraim or the ten tribes, under the miniftry of the apoftles, the watchmen, on mount Ephraim, whereby the Irael of God would be built, beautified, and made to rejoice, ¥. 4, 5, 6. yea, it would be matter of joy to all that heard of it; fince, notwithftanding diftance and other difficulties, a great number fhould come to Chrift, and to his church, drawn by the Father’s love to them, and as owing to the relation he ftands in.to them, x. 7, 8, 9. redemption out of the hands of fatan, and every fpiritual enemy, muft be publifhed among the Gentiles; which would caufe great joy, and give great fatisfaction to the priefts and people of the Lord, expreffed by various metaphors, ¥. 10, I1, 12, 13, 14. and though, upon the birth of the Redeemer, there would be an event, which might tend to damp the joy of faints on account of it, the murder of the infants at Bethlehem, yet fome things are faid to encourage faith, hope, and joy, and to abate forrow and weeping, ¥.15,16,17. Ephraim’s affliction, and behaviour under it, his repentance and reception, are recorded, ¥. 18, 19, 20. backfliding J/rael are called upon to return, in confideration of the birth of the Meffiah, y. 21, 22. the happy and flourifhing eftate of the people of God is promifed; all which were made known to the prophet by a dream in the night, ¥. 23, 24,

25, 26. and frefh promifes are made, that the _ Lord would do them good, and not punifh the children for their fathers fins, but every one for their own, ¥. 27, 28, 29, 30. and then an account is given of the new covenant of grace, as diftiné from the old, and of the articles of it; the infcription of the law in the heart, fpiritual knowledge of the Lord, and remiffion of fin, ¥. 31, 32, 33, 34.| then follow affurances of the everlafting continu-| ance of the true J/rael and church of God, y. 35, 36, 37. and the chapter is concluded with a pro-! mife of rebuilding the city of Ferufalem, and of the holinefs of it, and of its abiding for ever, ¥. 38, 39> 40.

¥. 1. At the fame time, faith the Lord, &c.] The time of the Meffiah, the gofpel-difpenfation, the latter days; when the Fews fhall confider the prophecies of the Old Teftament, and-obferve how they have been fulfilled in Jefus; and fhall reflect Upon their difbelief and rejection of him; and fhall turn unto him, and ferve the Lord their God, and David their king; fee ch. xxx. g, 21, 22, 24: will I be the God of all the families of Ifrael; not of fome few perfons only, or of one of a city, and two of a family, but of every family; and this will be when a// Irael thall be converted and faved, and a nation fhall be born at once; then will God fhew himfelf to them as their.covenant-God, manifeft his love to them, and beftow the bleffings of his grace upon them: and they fhall be my péo-. ple; Behave as fuch to him; own him to be their God, and ferve and worfhip him. sac ag y. 2. Thus faith the Lord, the people which. were left of the fword, 8c.] Which were not confumed by the fword of Pharach; who perifhed not thro’ his cruel ediéts, and by his fword, when drawn at the Red-Sea; nor by the fword of the Amalekites and Amorites; or of their own brethren, who fometimes, for their fins, were ordered to flay many, as on account of the molten calf, and joining to Baal- Peor: but there was a remnant that efcaped, who found grace in the wilderne/s, in the fight of God, who went before them, protected and defended them from their enemies; gave them his holy law, his ftatutes, and his judgments; fed them with manna and quails; clave the rocks, and gave them water to drink; and fupplied them with every thing neceflary for them, P/. Ixxviii. 5, 15—28: even Trael, when I went to caufe him to refi, went before him ina pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night; and in the ark, the fymbol of his prefence; and not only to fearch outa refting place for then for a few days, but to bring them to Canaan, the land of reft, which he had promifed them, Exod. xiii. 21. Numb. x. 33. Deut. xii. 9, 10. now this paft inftance of divine goodnefs is mentioned, to encourage faith in the fulfilment of the above promife. The whole is paraphrafed by the Targum thus, ‘* thefe things, faith *< the Lord, who gave mercies to the people that << ‘came out of £gypt; he fupplied their neceffities ‘¢ in the wildernefs, when they fled from before “¢ thofe who flay with the fword; he led them ‘¢ by his word, to caufe J/rael to dwell in a place ‘¢ of reft.” Some render the words in the future, feall find grace, &c. fall go to his ref, &c. and fo apply it to the Yews that efcaped the fword of the Chaldeans, and found favour in the wildernefs of the people into which they were brought, and as they returned into their own land from the captivity. And it may be alfo applied to the Fews that were left of the fword of the Romans in their laft deftruétion, who have found much favour among the nations; as they do in ours, and others now; and who in time will return to their own land, and be ‘in reft, ch. xxx. 10, Yea, it is applicable enough ‘to the church and people of God in their prefent {tate; who are left of the fword of the pa- ‘pifts, and are now in the wildernefs, where th are nourifhed for a time, and times, and half a time; and ere long will be brought into a of fettled reft and tranquillity. 70 ¥. 3. The Lord bath appeared of old unto me, faying, @c,] Either to the prophet, bidding hhim fay to ‘the church what follows, fo archi: or to Chrift, who was from eternity with the Father; lay in his bofom; between whom the council of peace was; with whom the covenant was made; whom God loved before the foundation of the world; and which is obferved by him, for the _ comfort of his people, Yobn xvii. 24. and xv. g. fo Cocceius: but rather they are rhage of [/rael, or the church, owning the above inftances of God’s grace and goodnefs; and that he had greatly ap- peared to them, and for them, in former times; but then this was a great while ago; and befides, now he hid his face from them, and they were under the tokens of his difpleafure, and not of his love; to which the Lord replies, for the word /aying is not in the text, which makes the following a continuation of the church’s fpeech, tho’ wrongly; fince they are the words of the Lord, taking up the church for {peaking too flightly and improperly of his love, and in a complaining way: yea, I bave loved thee with an everlajting love, not only of old, or a good while ago, but from all eternity, and with a love which will always laft, and does, notwithftanding dark and afflictive providences; for this love is like himfelf, fovereign, unchangeable and everlafting; I have loved thee; I, who am the great God, the creator of the ends of the earth, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; a God of infinite purity and holinefs; do whatever I pleafe in heaven and in‘earth; and am the Lord that changes not: ave loved; not love only now, and fhall hereafter; but have loved, not for fome time paft only, but from all eternity, with the fame Jove I now do: shee perfonally, Facob have I loved; zhee nakedly, and not thine, or for any thing done by thee; shee feparately and diftinétly, and not others; ‘Hee a creature, vile and finful, a tranfgreffor from the womb, and known to be fo betore-hand; #ee now openly, and in an applicatory way, thro’ the evidence of the: Spirit with an everlafiing love; a love from everlafting, which does. not commence in time with faith, repentance and new obedience; thefe being the fruits and effects of it; but was from all eternity, as appears from the eternal choice of the perfons loved in Chrift; from the everlafting covenant made with them in him; from the conftitution and fetting up of Chrift as their Mediator from everlafting; and from the fecurity of. their perfons: and grace in him, before the world began: and this love will endure to everlafting without any variation or change; nothing can feparate from it. The eviclence of it follows: therefore with loving-kindne s dave I drawn thee; out of a ftate of nature; out of fatan’s hands; out of the pit wherein is no water, the horrible pit, the mire and clay; unto Chrift, his perfon, blood, righteoufnefs and fulneis, by faith to lay hold upon them; unto his church, and to a participation of the ordinances and privileges of it, to nearer communion with God, and at laft will draw to eternal glory. This is the Father’s act, and to him itis ufually afcribed: it chiefly regards the work of ‘converfion, and the influence of divine grace,on that; tho’ it alfo includes after-acts of drawing:.it fuppofes weak— nefs. in men; is the effect of powerful and efficacious grace; and is done without offering any vio- Jence or force to the will of man, who is drawn with, and not againft his will. This is an inftance of the love of God; a fruit and effeét of it: it is love that draws a foul to Chrift, and is the caufe of its coming to him; it is love that reveals him to it, and caufes it to come, to him; love is then manifefted and fhed abroad in the heart; a cord of it is let down into it, and with it. the Lord draws; it is not by the threats of the law, but by the declarations of grace in the gofpel; the caufe of drawing is love, and the manner of it is with it. The Targum of the whole verfe is, ‘* e- ** rufalem faid, of old the Lord appeared to our

** fathers; prophet, fay unto them, lo, I have ° ** loved you with an eyerlafting love, therefore *¢ have led you with goodnefs.” It may be rendered, I have drawn out, or extended loving-kindnefs to thee'; fee Pf. xxxvi. 10.

¥.4. Again, I will build thee, and thou fhalt be built, O virgin of Ifrael, 8c.) The fame with a/! the families of Ifrael, ¥.1. who, when converted, will be efpoufed to Chrift as a chafte virgin; have a fincere affection for him; unfeigned faith in him, and purely worfhip him; receiving the pure doétrines of the gofpel, and fubmitting to the ordinances of it; and then will the church, comparable to a building, confifting of lively ftones, laid upon the foundation Chrift, which is fallen down, and lies in ruins, be rebuilt, and none fhall hinder it; and a glorious building it will be, and will continue fo, when its ftones are laid with fair colours; its foundations with fapphires; its windows made of agates; its gates of carbuncles; and all its borders of pleafant ftones, J/ liv. 11, 12. Atis xv. 16: thou fhalt again be adorned with thy tabrets; or timbrels, inftruments of mufic, fuch as women ufed at times of public joy and mirth, Exod. xv..20. Fudg. xi. 34. 1 Sam. xviii. 6. which became them, and were very ornamental to them 3 and their playing on thefe was ufually attended with dancing; hence it follows: and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry, phrafes ex+ preffive of {piritual joy, which will be in the hearts of the faints, and exprefléd by the behaviour of them at the time of the converfion of the Jews, which will be the marriage of the Lamb; and when the bride will be ready, being adorned with the robe of Chrift’s righteoufnefs, and with the graces of his Spirit, and be brought into his prefence, accompanied with a chorus of virgins her companions, undefiled ones, having harps in their hands, finging the Lamb’s new jong; fee Rev. XIV. 2, 3, 4. and xix, 7, 8,9. Pf. xlv. 13, 14,15.

¥. 5. Thou fhalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria, &c.] Mountains are proper places for vines, and which generally produce the beft wine; but vines are not to be underftood merely literally, or as only expreflive of the outward peace, plenty and profperity, of Samaria, with other places given to the Fews, as Fofepbus * obferves, they were by the Demetrii; which they: might improve by planting vines, @c. but figuratively of the planting of gofpel-churches there, comparable to vines, Cant. ii. 13. and vii. 12. which was done in the firft times of the gofpel; fee Yobn iv. 29, 30,42. Adis viii. 5, 6, 12. and ix. 31. and which was a pledge of what will be done in thofe parts hereafter in the latter day: the planters hall plant, and fhall eat them as common things, the fruit of the vines planted by them. The allufion is to the law of eating the fruit of trees planted on the fifth year of their plantation, when, and not till then, it was lawful to eat of it; but here the planters might eat of it as foon as it was produced, even as the fruit of the fifth year, which was common and lawful, Lev. xix. 23,25. The planters are the minifters of the gofpel; fuch an one the apoitle Pau/ was; who are inftruments in founding and raifing churches, and of planting members in them, as well as of watering, and making them fruitful; and who receive themfelves benefit from hence; not only in things temporal, but fpiritual; it giving them a real pleafure and ’ fatis-

¥.6. For there fhall be a day, &c.] The whole gofpel-difpenfation is a day, made fo by the bright rifing of the fun of righteoufnefs; here it feems to defign fome certain fixed period of time in that difpenfation, when the light of the gofpel will break out moft glorioufly, and it will be a clear day; as it will be when the Hews will be converted: that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim, the fame with the mountains of Samaria, for Samaria was the head or metropolis of Ephraim, If. vii. 9. and thefe are the watchmen that kept the vines there, y’. 5. for the alluficn is not to watchmen of ftates and cities, but to watchers of vineyards, and to fuch the minifters of the gofpel are compared, Cant. i. 6. and viii. 11, 12. Groftius thinks there is an allufion in the word Notzerim to the title of Nazarenes, given to Chrift and his followers; and Abarbinel the Few, on the place obferves, that the prophet, by the Holy Ghoft, forefaw that the Romans would believe in ‘Fefus of Nazareth, and therefore would be called Nazarenes from him; ‘fee Ads xxiv. 5. fo that chriftian minifters may be well thought to be here intended: who fhould cry, arife ye; lift up their voice like a trumpet, and cry aloud to perfons as afleep, or in dead and lifelefs frames, to awake, aroufe, and rife up, and fhake off their floth and -indolence, faying: and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God; to the church of God, to attend the word of God, his worfhip and ordinances; to which fometimes there is a backwardnefs, arifing from floth, from a lukewarm frame of fpirit, from a love of the world, and a vain conceit of their-own fufficiency and knowledge; and it is the bufinefs of gofpel-minifters to, ftir up perfons to frequent the houfe of God, and attend public worfhip in it; fince it is not only their duty, but their intereft and privilege; here they have true pleafure, and real profit; and it is to their honour to continue here, and not forfake the affembling of themfelves together: but they fhould not reft here, trufting to, and depending on, thefe things; but fhould go to the Lord their God; not only feek and pray unto him, but fhould be defirous of hearing of him, and from him; of feeing him, his power and his glory, and him in his beauty; and of having communion with him; and fhould exercife faith upon him as their own God. Chrift feems to be intended; going to him is exercifing faith upon him, for righteoufnefs and ftrength, peace, pardon, life and falvation; and faying, as Thomas did, my Lord, and my God.)

¥.7. For thus faith the Lord, fing with gladnefs for Facob, &c.] For the reftoration of Facob, or the converfion of the Fews; which will be matter of joy to the chriftians among the Gentiles; who feem to be here called upon to exprefs their joy on that occafion, as they will; for it will be to them as life from the dead, Rom. xi. 15. and xv. 10. Rev. xix. 7. Kimchi thinks there is a trajection in the words; and that they may be rendered, ¢hus faith the Lord to Facob, fing with gladnefs, as if the exhortation was to him to rejoice; and not to others on his account; and fo the Septuagint and Arabic verfions render it; and to the fame fenfe the Syriac verfion, thus faith the Lord, Jing, O ye of the boufe of Facob, with gladnefs

Ch. xxxi. ¥. 6-—9. Targum; it will no doubt be a joyful time with them: and fhout among the chief of the nations, where they fhall be when converted, as in Greaf- Britain, and other places: or, on the top of the nations; on fome high place among them. It feems to denote the publicknefs of the fhout; it will be open and manifeft to all; fo the Targum, *¢ and exult with head uncovered, in the fight of “¢ all people;” Turks, Papifts and Pagans: publijh ye; or caufe to bear, or to be heard™; caufe thei voice to be heard, both in prayer and praife God. or caufe men to hear their faith in Chrift, and profeffion of it; and publith that gofpel, and fpread it among others, which before they rejeéted and defpifed: praife ye; the Lord for his wonderful grace in the converfion of them: and fay, O Lord, fave thy people, the remnant of Ifrael; his covenant-people; the remnant according to the election of grace. ‘This is a direétion to the Jews that are converted, to pray for the reft that are not; or to the Gentiles to pray for them; who aré before called upon to rejoice at the firft appearance of this wonderful work, and to fpread it abroad, and to goon publifhing the gofpel for the more forwarding of it; and to praife the Lord for what he had done; and to pray unto him to go on with the work of faving his people, the refidue of

¥. 8. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, &c.] As from Babylon, at the end of the feventy years captivity, which lay north of Fudea; fo in the latter day, from thofe northern countries, as ours, where they now are in great numbers: and gather them from the coafts of the earth, or fides of it; from all the parts of the world where they are: and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together; fignifying that no difficulties whatfoever fhould hinder them in their return to their own land provifion fhould be made for perfons under thefe circumftances, fo unfit to travel. All this may be underftood in a figurative fenfe, of thofe who are fpiritually 2/imd; who are made to fee their loft ‘eftate, and need of Chrift; and are brought to him, and to his church, in a way they had nor known, and in ‘paths they knew not before: and of the Jame and impotent, unable to do any good thing in a fpiritual fenfe; and won’t come to Chrift, unlefs drawn; thefe are made to leap as am hart, and to flee to Chrift for refuge, and run the ways of his commandments: and of fuch who are laden and burdened, as women with child; and who are encouraged and enabled as fuch to come to Chrift, and caft their burdens on him, and find reft for

| their fouls: and of fuch who are in pain and diftrefs, as one that travaileth with child; in the pangs of the new birth, under a fenfe of wrath, and as ready to perifh; who alfo are enabled to come and venture their fouls on Chrift, receive his gofpel, ‘and fubmit to his ordinances, where they d peace and comfort: @ great company ball return thither; three thoufand were converted under one fermon, in the firft times of the gofpel; and in the latter day, the nation of the Jews ry - born again at once; the number of the children of J/- rael {hall then be as the fand of the fea, and great fhall be the day of Fezreel, If Ixvi, 8. of. i. 10, If. ‘ yo ot Slee

¥.9. They foall come with cwceping, 8c. For which there are inftances, Gea. xxix. 11. and xliii. 30. and xlv. 2,14. fo the Fews will come to, Chri, and to the gofpel-church, as well as ‘into their own land, with joy, that they have found the Meffiah, and are brought under his government, and into the enjoyment of the privileges of the gofpel, and the poffeffion of their own land; or with tears of repentance for all their fins, original and actual, ‘efpecially for their fin of unbelief, and rejection of the Meffiah; they fhall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn, when a fpirit of grace and fupplication is poured out upon them, Zech. xii. 10. with which agrees what follows: and with fupplications will I lead them; to Chrift, and his church; and being drawn by the Father, and led by the Spirit, they’ll come to him with fupplications and intreaties for mercy to be fhewed unto them; particularly for pardoning grace and mercy, and for falvation by him, which they will now fee they ftand in need of. ‘Some render it, with favours", or mercies; bleffings of grace beftowed on them; as a juftifying righteoufnels; remiiion of fins; adoption; fanctifying grace; a right and title and meetnefs for eternal life’; which are all owing to the free favour and grace of God:

will caufe them to walk by the rivers of waters; or, to rivers of waters °; to God himfelf, the fountain of living waters; and his everlafting love, that river, the ftreams whereof make glad the city of God; and to Chrift, the fountain of gardens, and well of living waters; and to thofe wells of falvation, and fulnefs of grace, that are in him, and to the gofpel, its doctrines and ordinances, which are the {till waters to it, by which the great fhepherd leads his flock. Thefe rivers of waters may denote the bleffings of grace which {pring from the love of God, and flow thro’ Chrift in his word and ordinances, in great abundance; and it is very pleafant and profitable walking by thefe: in a Jtrait way, wherein they fhall not fiumble, ina direct way to Chrift, without going round about by works of righteoufnefs done by them, to render them acceptable to him; but they fhall go directly to him as they are; or in a plain way, as it is to them that underftand it, and in which men, tho’ fools, fhall not err: or in a righteous way, a way of righteoufnefs; in a way that leads to Chrift for righteoufnefs; and in which men are taught to live foberly, righteoufly and godly; and in which, tho’ they may ftumble and fall into fin, for ix many things we all offend; yet not {tumble at the word, as fome do; or at the ftumbling-ftone, Chrift, as the Fews forefathers did; or fo as to fall, be broken and perifh, J/ viii.14,15: for I am a father to Ifrael, and Ephraim is my firfl-born, and fo very dear to him, as in ¥. 20: So the Targum, ‘* and *< Epbraim is beloved before me;” all the bleffings of grace which God beftows upon men, whether Fews or Gentiles, all flow from a prior relation he ftands in to them; he firft takes them into the relation of children, is a father to them in covenant; and then beftows childrens bleffings, and covenant-mercies on them. The allufion perhaps is to Fofeph’s having the birth-right, and whofe younger fon Ephraim, was preferred to Manaffeh the elder, 1 Chron. v. 2. Gen. xlviii. 14, 20. Ephraim intends the fame as J/rae/, the ten tribes, and includes the whole body of the Zezi/h nation.

¥.10. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations,

2 Psy cum beneficientiis, Tigurine verfion, Gataker; fo Kimchi and Ben Melech.

&c.] The Gentiles; who are called upon to hear the word of the gofpel; the word of peace, reconciliation and falvation by Chrift, fent among them by him, for the calling and converfion of them, that they might believe in him, and profefs his name: and declare it in the ifles afar. off; having heard, received and embraced the gofpel themfelves, it became them to make it known to others; not only to thofe upon the continent and the ifles adjacent, but to thofe afar off from it; fuch as thefe ifles of ours, of Great-Britain and Ireland; where, blefled bé the Lord, this gofpel has been declared to the converfion and comfort of many, and to the glory of Chrift: and fay, he that fcattered I/rael will gather him that is, the Lord that hath fcattered the Yews throughout the nations of the world, and even in the ifles afar off, will ere long gather them together, and bring them into their own land. This may be underftood of the {piritual J/rael, be they Fews or Gentiles, the children of God fcattered up and down in the world; and who, by reafon of fin, and whilft in an unregenerate eftate, are alienated from God, and at a diftance from ‘him; but are gathered together in one head, Chrift, when he died for them, and redeemed them; and in effectual vocation, when they are gathered to God and Chrift, one by one; and afterwards to more near communion with them; and, at laft, to glory, and which is the fum and fubftance of the gofpel to be heard and declared: and keep him as a fhepherd doth his flock, fo that they fhall be fcattered no more, as the Yews have been; nor any of them loft, as God’s eleét were in their firft head Adam: they are Chrift’s flock, given him by the Father, and purchafed with his blood; and having gathered them as above, he’ll keep them in his hands, from whence none can pluck them, and preferve them by his almighty power unto falvation; which doétrine of the faints perfeverance is a moft comfortable doctrine of the gofpel to be publifhed and declared. ¥. 11. For the Lord hath redeemed Facob, &c.] Not the pofterity of Facob fingly and perfonally, tho’ he no doubt was a redeemed one; nor his carnal pofterity, at leaft not all of them, only a remnant among them, and efpecially not them only; but the Gentiles alfo, even all the elect of God, his church and people, of whatfoever nation, which frequently go by this name in the prophetic writings: and this redemption of them by Chrift, which tho’ future, is fpoken of as paft, becaufe of the certainty of it; and is the ground and foundation of their being gathered in effectual calling, and of their final perfeverance; for redemption has its certain effect, and Chrift will never lofe the purchafe of his blood; fee Zech. x. 8: and ranfomed him from the band of him that was fironger than he; meaning fatan, the ftrong man armed; who is {tronger than man, as appears by his poffeffion of the bodies of men, inflicting difeafes on them, and death itfelf, of which he had the power when permitted; and by his influence over the minds of men; by his temptations to fin, in which he fo much fucceeds; and even by the prevalence of his temptations over the faints themfelves; and by the power which he had over our firft parents in inno» cence, whom. he prevailed upon to eat the forbidden fruit, which brought ruin on themfelves, and on their pofterity; by which means he got them them into his hands, and God’s elect among the reft, whom he Jeads captive at his will; and being enfeebled by fin, are fo weak as not to be able to refcue themfelves out of his hands; for he is ftronger than they; but Chrift is ftronger than the {trong man armed; he is the Redeemer that is mighty, and has taken the prey out of his hands, and has led captivity captive: and this he has done, not only by power and conqueft, {poiling fatan and his principalities, and powers; but by paying a ranfom-price for thefe captives into the hands of God; and which is no other than his precious blood, his life, himfelf; and fo mutt be a fufficient ranfom for them. This redemption was typified by the deliverance of the ews out of the hands of the Chaldeans, a mighty nation, and ftronger than they; and is the ground, reafon and foundation of the reftoration of that people in the latter day.

y 12. Therefore they fhall come and fing in the height of Zion, &c.] The Targum is, ‘* in the

*¢ mountain of the houfe of the fan¢tuary, which “¢ is built on Zion;” but tho’ there be an allufion to the temple built on it, and which may be called the height of it; yet the church of Chrift in gofpel-times is meant; the city built on an hill, where the faints, enjoying gofpel-ordinances, dwell on high, and have all fuitable provifions made for them; and here being come freely and willingly, tho’ brought by the Lord, and drawn by his grace, they fing the fongs of electing, redeeming, calling, juftifying, pardoning, and adopting grace; and which they will {till do in a better manner, when they get to the height of Zion above: and jhall flow together to the goodnefs of the Lord; to the perfection of his goodnefs, which is effential to him, infinite and eternal; and is diffufive and commu- nicative, not only in a providential way, but in a way of grace and mercy; and efpecially in pardoning grace and mercy, which fenfible finners take notice of, and flee unto, and not their own merits; and who would faint under a fenfe of fin, without a fight of it; but this viewed in fuch a light, makes all the perfections of God look amiable and lovely, which otherwife would be terrible; and encourages faith, hope, fear and thankfulnefs: jikewife to Chrift, who is the goodnefs.of the Lord; in whom his goodnefs is laid up; in whom it is proclaimed; thro’ whom it is difplayed; by whom it is communicated; who himfelf is the great gift of it, as well as he himfelf is good; and his goodnefs extends to his people, and to him fenfible finners apply for it: alfo to the goodnefs and fatnefs of the houfe and church of God; thofe rich provifions which are made in it for the comfort and refrefhment of his people; hence it follows: for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd; not for temporal bleffings, which are for the good of the body only; but for fpiritual bleffings, fignified by thefe, which are for the good of the foul, as the next claufe fhews: for wheat; for the gofpel and the doétrines of it, which are the fineft of the wheat; and are as preferable to falfe doétrines as chaff is to wheat, and are foul-nourifhing and ftrengthening; fee ch. xxiii. 28. Moreover, Chrift himfelf is compared to wheat, and was typified by the manna, the corn of heaven, and angels food;

and is the bread of God, and the bread of life;

and to be had in the church and ordinances of it; fee Fobn xii. 24. and for wine, the*precious truths of the word, which, like the beft wine, go down fweetly; the difcoveries of the love of God and Chrift, which are better than fpiced wine; and the blood of Chrift, fignified by the wine in the Lord’s ii. 2,4. Fobn vi. 55. and for oil, the grace of the Spirit, and larger meafures of it; which is the golden oil, that thro’ the golden pipes of ordinances is emptied out of the fulneis of grace in Chrift into the hearts of his people, Zech. iv. 12. and for the young of the flock, and of the herd, the beft of them, which being flain in facrifice, typified Chrift the paffover-lamb, and fatted calf, and which makes the principal part of the gofpel-feaft, Matt. xxii. 4. now, for all thefe the redeemed of the Lord flow to Zion, and to the goodnefs of the Lord there; which denotes their coming in great numbers, in fhoals, as the ftreams of a flowing river; in conjunction and harmony fogether; in the lively and flowing exercife of grace, and all moving one way, and to one center, and with the greateft pleafure, delight and chearfulnefs; thus the Targum, ‘ and they fhall delight in the good ‘* which the Lord giveth unto them;” and fo the Syriac verfion: and their foul fhail be as a watered garden in a thriving and profperous condition: the foul of a believer is as a garden, in which are planted the graces of the Spirit; and which does not lie open to every one, but to Chrift, who is the object of every grace; has the fole property of this garden, where he walks and dwells: and this is watered by the Lord himfelf, with the dews of his grace, and by the miniftry of his word; which drops and diftils as the rain upon the mown grafs; when every plant lifts up its head, and looks pleafant, fhoots up and grows, and brings forth fruit: and they fhall not forrow any more at all; have no occafion for it, being loved with an everlafting love, ¥. 3. redeemed by Chrift out of the hand of their mighty enemies, ¥. 11. and enjoying all the goodnefs of the Lord, and of his houfe, as in this verfe; and being partakers of Chrift, and the bleffings of grace in him, in whom there is always caufe of rejoicing; tho’ this will not have its full accomplifhment, as long as the faints are in the — prefent ftate; having a body of fin and death, being liable to the temptations of fatan, and divine defertions; and'until they come into the Ferzfalem-ftate, when there will be no more finning, and fo no more forrowing, Rev. xxi. 4. en ¥. 13. Then foall the virgin rejoice in the dance, beth young men and old together, &c.] Not any ~ particular virgin, but all virgins, as Kimchi interprets it. The Targum is, ‘* then fhall the con- “* oregation of [/rae/ rejoice as in dances;” it ma very well be underftood of the church of Chrift efpoufed to him as a chafte virgin, and of her fpiritual joy in him, in allufion to the joy exprefled — by fuch perfons in dancing, both upon civil and religious accounts; and it denotes, that the jo fhould be very general and extenfive, that perfon of every age and fex fhould partake of it; fe Zech. ix.17: for I will turn their mourning into joy;

made for them; tho’ they come w yet when come thither, fing in the. y¥. 9,12. their fafts, as elfewhere,’ turne feftivals; fometimes the. joy of the faints is fuddenly turned into grief, and again their forrow turned into joy; fee Pf xxx. 5, 6,7, 1, 12: and will comfort them; with the difcoveries of phy with the divine prefence and views of pardoning grace: and make them rejoice from their forrow; caufe their forrow to break off thro’ joy: or, after sa forrow *; that being ended, joy fhall fucceed.

¥.14. And I will fatiate the foul of the priefts with fatnefs, &c.] Meaning either the minifters of the gofpel, who fhould not only be liberally provided for as to their maintenance, which is too low a fenfe; but filled with {fpiritual good things, with the doétrines of the gofpel, and a comfortable experience of them, that they may be able to feed others with knowledge and underftanding; or fince, under the gofpel-difpenfation, there is no ’

fuch diftinét order of men, under the name of priefts, but all the faints are made kings and priefts to God, they may be here meant, as follows: and my people fhall be fatisfied with my goodnefs, faith the Lord, to which they are faid to flow, y. 12. fee the note there. But left it fhould be thought that there would be no manner of trouble and affiction in thofe times, two inftances as follow, are given; the one at the beginning, and the other towards the clofe of them, expreffive of diftrefs; one on temporal, the other on fpiritual accounts. ¥.15. Thus faith the Lord, a voice was beard in Ramah, &c.|]. Which fignifies an high place; hence the Targum paraphrafes it, ** in the high *« place of the world;” and fo the Vulgate Latin verfion, ‘* in an high place;” but it is here the proper name of a place, of a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Fofb. xviii. 25. and this voice heard was not a voice of joy and gladnefs as before, but of lamentation and bitter weeping, fignifying great forrow and diftrefs upon fome very extraordinary occafion; and is as follows: Rachel weeping for her children, not really and in perfon, but by a figurative way of fpeaking. Rachel is introduced as reprefenting the fewi/b women in thofe parts mourning for their flaughtered infants, even thofe that were flaughtered fome time after the birth of Chrift; for to this barbarous fact are the words applied by the evangelift Matthew, as a fulfilment of them, Matt. ii. 16, 17, 18. and with great propriety and pertinence is Rachel brought in as the chief, yea, fole mourner, perfonating all the forrowful mothers; fince Remab was in the tribe of Benjamin,

‘a child of hers, as far as which it feems the bloody maffacre referred to reached, from Bethlebem, where it began; and fince Rachel’s grave was between thefe two places, Gex. xxxv. 18, 19. fhe is reprefented as rifing out of her grave to aét this part; or it fignifies, that could fhe have been fenfible of this inhuman affair, and could have come out of her grave, fhe would have done what fhe is here reprefented to do; and the rather is fhe mentioned, fince fhe was fo affectionately fond and defirous of children, Gen. xxx. 1: refufed to be comforted for her children; by any of her friends, the lofs was fo great, the affliction fo heavy: becaufe they were not; or, becaufe be was not 2; the Meffiah was not, but was flain among the reft of the children, as the Fewi/fh mothers, whom Rachel perfonated, imagined; and this heightened their diftrefs, and filled them with more grief and trouble than the lofs of their own children: but.as Matthew has the plural number, the Targum, and all the Oriental verfions, it is beft.to underftand. it of the children who were not; that is, they were dead; they were not in the

‘land of the living, as this phrafe is ufed in Gea,

XxXvil. 30, and xlii. 13, 46. which fhows that this is not to be underftood of the Babylonifo captivit and of the mourning of the ewi/b women on that account; fince the caufe of this was death, and not captivity; befides, mourning for fo general a calamity as captivity, would not have been confined to mothers, and to fome only, and to one particular place; tho’ fo the Fewi/h writers interpret it; and the Targum, which is, ‘* a voice was “* heard in the high place of the world, the houfe of J/rael weeping’ and mourning after Feremiab the prophet, whom Naduzaradan the chief of thofe that flew, fent from Ramah; lamentation and weeping with bitternefs, Feru/alem weeping for her children, refufed to be comforted for her children, becaufe they were ‘gone into captivity.” ¥.16. Thus faith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, &c.] Tho’ forrow on fuch an occafion may be lawfully indulged, yet it ought to be moderated; and attention fhould be given to thofe things which may ferve to relieve under it, and efpecially when they come from the Lord himfelf; then a ftop is to be put to the mournful voice, and wet eyes are to be dried up: for thy work fhall be rewarded, faith the Lord, in bearing thefe children, and bringing them into the world, and expreffing fuch an affectionate and tender concern for them; fignifying, that the trouble of bearing and bringing them into the world, and nurfing them the time they did live, fhould not, as it might feem, be fruitlefs, and to anfwer no end; but it fhould be feen hereafter, that all this was not in vain; nor fhould they think it fo; but that they have an ample recompence of all their forrow and trouble: and they shall come again from the land of the enemy; meaning either Fofeph, and Mary, and Fefus; who, by the warning of an angel, went into Egypt, the land of the enemy, where the Fewi/b fathers were once evilly intreated, jut before this barbarity was committed; where they ftayed till all danger was over, and then returned; fee Matt. ii. 13-21. compared with Hof. xi. 1. or rather the murdered children, who, in the refurrection-morn fhal]l return from the grave, the land of that /aft enemy, death, which fhall be deftroyed:; and fo Rachel, and the Fewifh mothers fhe perfonates, are comforted with the hopes of a better refurrection; fee Heb. xi. 35. 1 Theff. iv. 13, 14. ¥.17. And there is hope in thine end, faith the Lord, &c.] Or, hope for thy pofterity'; for their children that had been maffacred, that thefe fhould rife again, and enjoy a bleffed immortality, as the next claufe feems to explain and confirm it: that thy children foall come again to their own border, either to the border of the land of J/rael, as Fo- Jeph, Mary, and Fefus did, Matt. ii. 21,22. or rather to the borders of the tribes of Fudab and Benjamin, where this cruel murder was committed; and fo the intimation is, that they fhall rife again, © and ftand upon that very fpot of ground where their blood was fpilt;. and not only fo, but enter into, and dwell upon the new earth in the Ferufalem-ftate; and alfo enter into the heavenly Canaan, and dwell with Chrift for evermore, on whofe | account their lives were taken away.. ¥. 18. D have furely heard Ephraim bemoaning bimfeif thus, &c.] Not Ephraim in perfon; tho’, as | he was a very affectionate and tender-hearted man, as appears from 1 Chron. vii. 22. he is with like pro-

9933'S 3. quia non ipfe, Vatablus; vel non ille, i.e. non fit propriety introduced, as Rachel before; but Ephraim intends J/rael, or the ten tribes, and even all the people of the Zews; and the prophecy feems to refpect the convertion of them in the latter day, when they fhall be in foul-trouble, and bemoan their fins, and their finful and wretched eftate, and efpecially their rejection of the Meffiah; when they fhall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn, and be in bitternefs, as one that mourns for his firft-born, and which the Lord will take notice of and obferve, Zech. xii. 10, 11. Hof. xiv. 8. and it may be applied to the cafe of every fenfible finner bemoaning their finful nature, want of righteoufnefs; impotence to all that is fpiritually good; their violations of the righteous law of God; and the curfe they are liable to on account of it; their many fins againft a God of love, grace and mercy; and their ruined and undone ftate and condition by fin; all which the Lord takes notice of: hearing I have heard*; which denotes the certainty of it, and with what attention he hears, yea with what pleafure; it is the moan of his doves, of thofe who are like doves of the valley, every one mourning for his iniquity; he hears, fo as he anfwers; and fympathizing with them, he fends comfort to them, and delivers them out of their troubles: thou haf chaftifed me, and I was chaftifed, this is the cafe bemoaned; not fo much the chaftifing hand of God, as unaffectednefs with it, and not being the better for it; the Lord has indeed, as if Ephraim fhould fay, chaftifed me, and I have been chaftifed by him, and that is all; it has made no manner of imprefion upon me; I have not received correction, nor has it been of any ufe to me; and this he bemoaned: and this will be the cafe of the ews when they are converted; they will then reflect upon all the corrections and chaftifements of God, under which they have been ever fince the rejeétion of the Meffiah, and ftill are; and yet are now ftupid under them, and take no notice of them, and are never the better for them; and this they’ll lament when their eyes are opened: and {fo it is with particular perfons at converfion; in their ftate of unregeneracy they have been chaftened and corrected by the Lord, by one providence or another, by one difeafe and diforder or another, and they have not obferved it; it has not wrought upon them, nor awakened them to a fenfe of danger; God has fpoken once, and twice, in this rough way, and they have not perceived; he has ftricken them, and they have not grieved; beaten them, and they felt it not; but now being made fenfible, they bemoan their former ftupidity and inattention, and wonder at the forbearance and goodnefs of God: as a bullock unaccuftomed to the yoke; or to draw the plough; as fenfelefs and as ftupid, yea as thoughtlefs of danger, as that creature is when led to the flaughter; as untaught, as the word ' fignifies; as ignorant of divine and fpiritual things; knowing nothing of Chrift, or God in Chrift, or of the way of falvation by him, and of the operations of shis fpirit and grace; as unruly as that to bear the yoke of the law, or the yoke of Chrift; and as impatient under the yoke of affliction, kicking, toffing and flinging like a wild. bull in a net; all which give concern to an awakened mind, that now fees its need of converfion, and prays for it, as follows:

Ch. xxxi. ¥. 19:: -oee not a mere reformation of manners, or converfion to a doctrine or doctrines; nora reftoration afte backflidings; nor a carrying on of the work of grace on the foul, and a daily renewing it; but the firft work of converfion; which lies in a man’s being turned from darknefs to light, from the power of fatan to God; is a turn of the heart, and not of the head and action only; of the will, affections, and biafs of the mind; it is a turning: of perfons to the Lord Jefus Chrift, to look to him for righteoufnefs, life and falvation; and in fuch fenfe will the Fews be turned in the latter day, 2 Cor. ili. 16. and this being prayed for, not only fhews a fenfe of need of it, but of inability to work it; that it is not in the power of man to do it; that he is not active, but paffive in it; that it is the Lord’s work, and his only; and that when he does it, it is done effectually: for thou art the Lord my God, the Lord, the mighty Jehovah, and therefore able to do it; my God, covenant-God, who has promifed to do it; and by virtue of covenant-grace will be the converfion of the Yews; and to which the converfion of every one is owing, Rom. xi. 25, 26. or, for thou thalt be the Lord my God; I will own, acknowledge, fear, ferve and elority thee as fuch, being converted to thee; fee Gen, XXVili. 20, 21.

¥. 19. Surely after that I was turned, I repented, &c.] Lphraim’s prayer was anfwered; as he prayed ne might be turned, he was; and when he was turned, then he repented, not only of fin in general, but of fuch fins as he had been particularly guilty of; not only of the groffér actions of life, but of inward fins, fecret lufts and corruptions; even of fins of holy things, having now different fentiments, affections, and conduét: and ‘this is what is called evangelical repentance, and is from the grace of God; fprings from love; flows from a fight of God, and a view of Chrift; is increafed by the difcoveries of God’s love, and is unto life and falvation; and this fort of repentance follows upon converfion; there muft be firft a true and real converfion, before this evangelical repentance can take place: and after that I was infiruGed, I Jmote upon my thigh; as exprefiive of forrow for fin, after a godly fort; of indignation at it; and fhame and confufion for it; and alfo of aftonifhment, at the mercy, forbearance, and long-fuffering of God, Ezek, xxi. 12. Luke xviii. 13. and this. humiliation follows upon fpiritual inftruétion, which is previoufly neceflary to it; after it was made known to me"; as the words may be rendered; what‘a finful, guilty, impure, and impotent, and unrighteous creature he was; after that he became acquainted with himfelf, and his wretched ftate and condition; when inftructed either by the rod, or by the word, and by the Spirit of God, in’ the ufe of both, or either; when led into the knowledge of divine things; of the love and grace of God thro’ Chrift; of the perfon, offices and glory of Chrift; of the way of life and falvation by him; and of the doétrines of pardon, and righteoufnefs, and acceptance thro’ him: J was afbamed, yea, even confounded, becaufe I did bear aes. of my youth, in his confcience; the fins and’ follies of his youth being prefented and fet before him, and he convinced of them, was filled with membrance of them;

fhame and confufion at the rerr turn thou me, and I foall be turned; which defigns which is a common thing, when a man is thoroughly fum fuerit, Junius & Tremellius; & po notum eft mihi, Montanus.. ‘yi eal ae awakened and converted, and is brought to true) ever, as hie here fays, I do earneftly remember him repentance and humiliation. So the Targum, ‘* be- ** caufe we have received the reproach.-of our fins, *¢ which were of old.”

y. 20. Is Ephraim my dear fon? &c.] Queftions put in this form, in the Hebrew language, ufually more vehemently deny; and then the fenfe mutt be, Ephraim is not my dear fon: and agreeable to this, all the following claufes mutt be interpreted; which feems quite cantrary to the {cope and defign of the context: wherefore it feems better to render the words thus, is not Ephraim my dear fon? yes, he is; and fo is every one that ftands in the relation of children to the Lord, they are all of them his dear children, Eph. v. 1. his beloved ones, loved by him with an everlafting love; they are precious to him, as the word ufed fignifies; they are dear to him as the apple of his eye; they are highly efteemed of by him; they are his jewels and. peculiar treafure: how precious they are to him, appears. by his parting with his own moft precious Son for their fakes; by fympathizing with them under all their afflictions; by providing fo largely and liberally for them; by feeding them with the moft delicious food; by clothing them with the robe of righteoufnefs, and garments of falvation; by protecting them with a guard of angels, and preparing an incorruptible inheritance for them. Is he a pleafant child? or, is be not a child of delights *? verily he is: and fo are all the children of God by adopting grace; they are pleafant to him for delights; they are little images of himfelf, in whem he is well pleafed; they are lovely and comely in his fight, thro’ the perfect comelinefs of Chrift, that is put upon them; their fpeech is comely and pleafant to him; their prayer is his delight; and efpecially he loves to hear them cry Abba Father, tho’ they do but lifp it out; juft as parents take pleafure in their children, which are images of themfelves, and comely in their view; particularly when they begin to talk, and can juft lifp out their names. Moreover, as the little actions of children, though there may be a great deal of childifhnefs in them, are pleafing to their parents, fo are the aéts of grace and duty well pleafing to God; thofe of faith, hope, fear, and love, and the feveral duties of religion, tho’ but imperfectly performed: and their nearnefs to him, and communion with him, which he indulges them with, fhew his delight in them; he kiffés them with the kiffes of his mouth; he dandles them on his knee, and comforts them, as one whom his mother comforts; he carries them in his bofom,; he takes them by the hand, and teaches them to go, and lays meat before them. For fince I fpake againft him; in his word, and by his providences; by way of complaint, as a peevifh, perverfe, backfliding, and rebellious child; by way of threatning with the rod, in cale of impenitence and obftinacy; by way of rebuke, tho’ in love, for many mifdemeanors and offences; and in a providential, tho? not in a judicial way: God has nothing againft his children in a judicial way, all their fins being atoned for by Chrift; but in a providential way he has many things againft them for their correction and chaftifement; at leaft which feem to be againft them, tho’ they all work together for their good. How-

Siill; or, in remembring I will or do remember him filly; conftantly; as well as earneftly; God never forgets his children, though they and others may think he does; fee J/ xlix. 14, 15, 16, he forgets their fins, but not their perfons; he is ever mindful of his covenant with them, and remembers his promifes to them; he remembers both his love to them, and their.love to him; yea, he remembers their thoughts of him, their words concerning him, and their works done in his name, and to his glory; his dear children are had in everlafting remembrance, and are never forgotten by him. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him found for him, or yearn toward him; fo that he did not do what he threatened, or was feemingly about to do. The phrafe is expreffive of great relentings, ftrong compaffion, and melting pity in his heart, towards his Ephraim, his dear and delightful children; fee fof. xi. 8, 9. Iwill furely have mercy on him, faith the Lord; or thew mercy to him; as the Lord does to his children, by receiving them gracioufly upon their return; by manifefting and applying pardoning grace; by beftowing frefh mercies and favours on them; and by bringing them fafe to eternal glory and happinefs.

W. 21. Set thee up way-marks, make thee high heaps, 8c.| Of ftones, raifed up as pillars, or like pyramids; or upright, as palm-trees, which fignification the word * has; to be marks and figns, to know the way again upon a return. ‘The Targum is, ** O congregation of J/rael, remember the ** right works of thy fathers; pour out fupplica- ** tions; in bitternefs fet thy heart.” And {fo the Vulgate Latin verfion interprets the laft claufe, put on bitterneffes, without any fenfe; fo Cocceius. The defign of the words is to put the Yews upon thoughts of returning to their own land, and to prepare for it. Set thine heart towards the bighway, even the way which thou wentef; from Fuded to Babylon, or into other countries; think of going the fame way back again; for as there was a highway from Yudea, there is one to it; let thine heart be upon returning that way. archi reads, the way which I went; that is, the way in which the Lord went with the people; the right way in which he guided and direéted them; and in which following him, they could not err; fee J/ xxxv. 8. The Yargum is, “* confider the works which thou “ haft done, whether they are right, when thou “* goeft in a way afar off.’ Turn again, O virgin of Ifrael, turn again to thefe thy cities; an invitation and encouragement to the Yews, to turn again to their own land; as from the Babylonifh captivity, fo from all lands in the latter day; which is yet to be fulfilled, and to which the prophecy more properly belongs.

¥. 22. How long wilt thou go about, O thou back- Sliding daughter? &c.| From place to place, from country to country, from one kingdom to another, as the Fews do to this day; and not return unto the Lord, and David their king, and to their own country. Or, bow long wilt thou be foolifb*? in backfliding from the Lord; in flighting the written word; neglecting the promifes and prophecies, the exhortations, cautions, and inftructions therein given; in adhering to, and extolling the traditions

“15 TON nonne natus deliciarum?

of the elders, even above the feriptures; in pertinacioufly rejecting the Meffiah, next prophefied of; all. which folly the ews are {till guilty of, and continue in. So the word fignifies in the Arabic language *. For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman foall compafs a man, a mighty one, a mighty man, the man Jehovah’s fellow; conceived, contained, and encompaffed, in the womb of the virgin, the woman, whofe feed he was to be of, and of whom he was: this was a new, unheard of, extraordinary thing, a creation, a work of almighty power! the human nature of Chrift was formed and prepared by the power of the Holy Ghoft, without the help of man; and this now is mentioned as an argument and an encouragement to the Yews to return to their own land, fince the Meffiah is born there of a virgin, as it was foretold he fhould. This feems to be the true and genuine fenfe of the words, and other fenfes weak and impertinent; as when they are made to refer to the heroic fpirit in fome women fuperior to men; to the unufual practice of women fuing to men for marriage; and to the people of d/rael, returning to the Lord from their. apoftacy. So the Yargum, ‘* for behold, the Lord hath ** created a new thing in the earth, and the people “* of the houfe of J/rael have given themfelves up “* to the law.” And very foreign are the fenfes which fome chriftian interpreters give of this paffage; as when they interpret it of the ews conquering and oppreffing their enemies; or of the Fewifh church feeking after God, her hufband, when feparated from him; or of the chriftian church, tho’ weak, refifting her mighty perfecutors by her confeffion of faith, and overcoming them; or of the church under the New Teftament embracing Chrift; which indeed is preferable to the other, and efpecially to that popifh one of the eucharift, containing the body of Chrift*; but the true fenfe is what is before given: and even fome of the Fewifh doctors themfelves have acknowledged, that the Meffiah is here intended. In an ancient ‘ book of theirs, on mention of thefe words, *tis added, ‘* this fhall be in the time of the Mef- ‘© fiah, which will be on the fixth day;” 2. e. the fixth millennium. And elfewhere *, @ woman fhall compafs a man, fays R. Hona, in the name of R. Ame, this is the king Meffiah. So fays R. Fofbua ben Levi‘, ** he, z. e. God, heals with the fame «* he wounds; fo you will find in J/rae/, they fin- ** ned by a virgin, and were punifhed in virgins, Ezek. xxiii. Lam. v. fo he comforts them by a virgin, according to Jer. xXxxi. 21, 22. ‘urn again, O virgin of Ifrael, &c. a woman fhall compafs a man. R. Huna, in the name of R. Idi and R. Fofbuah, faid, that this man is the king Meffiah, of whom it is faid, Pf ii. 7. this day © have I begotten thee *.”

¥. 23. Thus faith the Lord of hots, the God of Jfrael, &c.| The governor of the whole world, the Lord of armies above and below; and yet has a peculiar regard to J/rael, his fpiritual J rael, whofe covenant-God and Father he is; and is to be believed in what he after fays, the fulfilment of which may be depended on: as yet they fhall ufe this fpeech in the land of Fudab, and in the cities thereof, when

I hall bring again their captivity; not the captivity, but their prefent one; for upon return trom Baédylon, tho’ there-was a reformati among them, by means of Ezra, and Weheniab, and others, yet not fo great an one as is here fuggefted; when, by way of falutation and prayer, the following words will be faid by all that know them, and with well to them, as had been heretofore: the Lord blefs thee, O habitation of juftice, and mountain of holine/s; for now “ferufalem will be the habitation of righteous men, and every pot or perfon in it, and in Fudab fhall be holinefs to the Lord, Zech. xiv, 21. and fo fhall be bleffed of God, and pronounced bleffed by men, by all good men, among the Gentiles, who will rejoice at their converfion, reftoration, and reformation.

¥. 24. And there frail dwell in Fudab itfetf, and in all the cities thereof together, &c.| In peace and unity, in great concord and harmony: Su/bandmen, and thofe that go forth with flocks; hufbandmen and fhepherds; meaning fuch, not merely in a temporal fenfe, but in a f{piritual one; minifters of the gofpel, labourers with God, and under him, in the hufbandry of his church, paftors after his own heart, to feed his people, his flocks, his fheep and lambs, with knowledge and underftanding; who fhall agree in their miniftry, teaching the. fame doétrines, and adminiftring the fame ordinances, according to the rule of the word.

¥. 25. For I have fatiated the weary foul, 8c. As finners are at firft awakenings and convictions; when fin is made exceeding finful and loathfome to them, and becomes an uneafinefs, and they a burden to themfelves on account of it; when they labour, till they are weary, to get food for their famifhing fouls; weary in feeking for righteoufneis to cover them, in working for life to fave them, and enquiring after reft; but can’t find neither food, nor righteou{nefs, nor life, nor reft, till they come to Chrift: and as all the faints are weary of a bady of fin and death, with mourning over it, and groaning under it; weary of fatan’s temptations and buffetings; weary of the world, and the men of it, and with afflictive difpenfations of providence in it; and are as weary travellers pafling thro’ a wafte, howling wildernef$; thefe the Lord /atates, refrefhes, and even inebriates », as the word’ ufed fignifies, with his love; which is very reviving and refrefhing, and is a feaft of itfelf; and is very jatisfying when it is fhed abroad in the heart; when fouls have a delightful fenfe of it, and fee their. intereft in it; particularly fatiates with his pardoning grace and mercy, and with food and fulnef§ of it in Chrift; with righteoufnefs, life, and falvation by ~ him; and with reft, peace, joy, and comfort in « him: and this, tho’. a promife and prophecy of what would be, yet becaufe of the certainty. of it, is reprefented as if it had been done already; as. alfo what follows: and I have replenifhed every forrowful foul, that is forry for fin after a godly fort, and mourns for it after an evangelical manner; is troubled for want of the divine prefence, and is. preffed with afflictions inward and outward: th the Lord replenifbes or fills! that is, with a good, as the Zergum adds, and fills them to fatisfaction; with Chrift, and all good things by f Apud Mofes Hadarfan in Gen. c. 41. Vid, Galatin. de arcanis ® See my book of the prophecies of the Meffiah, &c. p. 100, 101.

‘hint; with peace, pardon, righteoufnefs, and falvation; with the Spirit, his gifts and graces, with ‘gofpel-provifions, the goodnefs and fatnefs of his houfe; with all fpiritual bleffings now, and with glory and happinets hereafter. The Septuagint, and all the Oriental verfions, ‘inftead of weary and or- rowful, render the words thirfly and bungry: and fuch as hunger and thirft after righteoufhefs; after the difcoveries of pardoning grace; after Chritt, and falvation by him; after more knowledge of him, and communion with him; are, fooner or later, filled with thofe things they are hungring and thiriting after; fee Matt. v. 6.

¥. 26. Upon this I awakened, and bebeld, &c.] When or after he beheld or had feen the vifion and prophecy concerning the incarnation of Chrift, and the glory and happineis of his church and people in the latter day, he awoke; for it feems the prophecy, contained in this and the preceding chapter, was delivered to Feremiah in a dream; who, when he had feen the vifion, and upon the laft words being fpoken to him, awoke out of it: and my fleep was fweet unto me, as it muft needs be, to have fo many gracious promifes, and glorious prophecies, delivered to hirh in it. Some underftand the words, that when he awoké out of fleep, he faw and confidered with pleafure what had been made known to. him; and then fell into a fweet fleep again, which was not ufual with him. To which the Zergum inclines, ‘* the prophet faid, ‘becaufe of this good news of the days of confolation (7. ¢. the days of the Meffiah) that fhould come, I was raifed up, and faw; again I flept, and my fleep was profitable to me.” So Kimchi.

ome interpret the words of Chrift, and of his fleep in the grave.

¥. 27. Behold, the days come, faith the Lord, &c.] Or, are coming *; and will be here fhortly: that I will fow the houfe of Ifrael, and the houfe of Judah, with the feed of man, and with the feed of beaft, that is, will multiply both man and beaft, fo that there fhall be a great increafé; whereas, thro’ war, famine, peftilence, and captivity, their number was greatly reduced. The allufion is to the fowing of a field with feed, which in due time fprings up, and produces a large increafe. Some underftand this of the fpiritual bleffing of regeneration; but that is not of corruptible feed, fuch as is here mentioned, but of incorruptible feed, by the word of God: tho’ this may be a type of the fruitfulnefs of the church in gofpel-times; fince afterwards an account is given of the new covenant, which fhould take place in thofe times.

¥. 28. And it fhall come to pafs, that like as I have watched over them, &c.] In providence; looked upon them with an eye of vindictive juftice; obferved all their actions and motions; diligently attended to every thing that paffed, and took, the firft and moft fitting opportunity: to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to defirey, and to afi; which words, as they have an elegance, and an agreeablenefs in their found, in the original; fo they are expreffive of the utter overthrow of the city, temple, and nation of the Fews, and of the feveral troubles and calamities they fhould be afflicted with: fo will I watch over them, be as careful and diligent, as intent, earneft, and early: to build, and to plant, faith the Lord; to build their city and temple, and to plant them in their own land. So the church of God is his! fings and promifés are; and as a note of admira-. tion, it being juftly to be wondered at, that Gad fhould make a covenant with fuch finful and unworthy creatures as he has. That J will meke a building, whofe foundation he lays, the fuperftructure of which he rears up, and will compleat it in his own time;. and it is his plantation, inro which he puts his pleafant plants, his plants of renown; which he waters with his Spirit and grace, by the miniftry of the word, that they may grow, and become fruitful. vs sei

¥. 29. In thofe days they foall fay uo more, 8c} The folléwing proverb or by-word; they fhould. have no occafion to ufe.it, nor fhould they chufe to ufe it; fince they would underftand themfelves; and the difpenfations of providence towards them, better than to ufe it: the fathers have eaten a four grape, and the childrens teeth are fet on edge, that is, the fathers have finned; and the children are punifhed for their fins, So the Targum, <‘ the fa- ‘¢ thers have finned, and the children are fmitten.” This was in fome fenfe true; they were punifhed for their fathers fins in the captivity, particularly for Manafeb’s; nor was it unufual with God to vifit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children; nor at all unjuft, fince they were a part of their parents, and efpecially fince they were guilty of the fame fins; nor is it thought unjuft among men to punifh children for the treafon of their parents, as. every fin is treafon againft God. But this was not all that was meant by this proverb; the fenfe of thofe that ufed it was, that they themfelves were quite clear and innocent, and that they only fuffered for their fathers faults; which was falfe, of which they fhould be convinced, and ufe the proverb no more, as charging God with injuftice.

¥. 30. But every one fhall die for bis own iniquity; &c.] His own perfonal iniquity; and not a corporal death only, but an eternal one, which is the juft wages of fin. It feems to intimate, that after the Babylonifh captivity, no public calamity fhould come upon them for the fins of their fathers and their own jointly, but for their. own iniquities fingly; fo their laft deftruction by the Romans was for their perfonal difbelief and rejection of the Meffiah; fee Fobn viii. 24. and the calamities upon them ever fince, have been for the fame reafon. Indeed, they imprecated his blood upon them, and upon their children, and fo it is; but then, their children are under the power of the fame fin of unbelief, and will remain fo, until the veil is taken away, and they turn to the Lord; after which it will ftill be a more clear cafe, that every one fhall die for his own iniquity. Every man that eateth the four grape, bis teeth fhall be fet on edge; fin, tho’ it may be efteemed a fweet morfel, is a four grape, and will prove fo in the iflue; and will give a man as much trouble and difquietude, when he is convinced of the evil of it, or fuffers the punifhment of it, as when a man’s ¢ecth are fet on edge; and indeed, the confequence of it will be weeping, wailing, and gnafhing of teeth.