Ezek. xxxvi. 5. "It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea;" and verse 14th,. "And I will make thee like the top of a rock, and thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon." Mr. Maundrel, a minister of the church of England, who went there A. D. 1697, gives this account of New Tyre, that which was built on the island, as Dr. Wells, in his Sac. Geog. vol. iv. p. 96,97. relates. "On the north side it has an old Turkish ungarrisoned castle, besides which you see nothing here but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &c. there being not so much as one entire house left. Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches harbouring themselves in vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, viz. that it shall be as the top of a rock, a place for fishers to dry their nets on." Ezek. xxvi. 14.
Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix. Concerning Gog and Magog. This prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, seems manifestly to have respect to two things foretold in the book of Revelations:
First. To that great company or multitude of the enemies of Christ and the church, that shall be gathered together to fight against them, after religion has begun wonderfully to revive and prevail in the world, just before the utter destruction of antichrist, and of the visible kingdom of Satan upon earth, that we read of Rev. xvi. 13, to the end., and Rev. xix. 17, to the end.
Secondly. To that vast multitude that shall be gathered against the church after the millennium, a little before the end of the world, that we read of in the 20th chapter of Revelations., who are expressly called Gog and Magog.
That there is some respect to the former of these, though they are not expressly called Gog and Magog, is evident by the many things wherein there is an agreement. In Revelations xvi. 14. the kings of the earth and of the whole world are represented as gathered together to war against the church of God; so here the kings and nations of the world are represented as gathering together against God's Israel from the four quarters of the world, or the four winds of heaven: Magog, and Meshech, and Tubal, Gomer and Togarmah of the north quarters, chap. xxxviii. 2, 6. Persia from the east, ver. 5. Ethiopia or Cush, and Libya or Phut, Sheba and Dedan from the south-east, south, and south-west, ver. 5, 13. and the merchants and young lions (i. e. the princes) of Tarshish, and they that dwell in the isles from the west, ver. 13. and chap. xxxix. 6.
The great occasion of gathering that innumerable host, spoken of in the 16th and 19th chapters of Revelations, to war against the church, is evidently her late great prosperity in a great revival and restoration from her long-continued captivated, desolate state under antichrist. So here Gog and his multitude are represented as excited to come and war against Israel, on occasion of her being brought back from along-continued, and as it were perpetual, captivity and desolation. Ver. 8,12.
This long desolation and captivity of Israel in the latter days, which is expressed by her having been always waste, can agree to nothing but the lying waste either of Israel according to the flesh, or the Christian church, the spiritual Israel, which has been waste for many ages in these latter days, and both of them through the devastations of Rome, or the mystical Babylon.
Rev. xvi. 18, 19, 20. It is said there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great; and the cities of the nations fell, and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And in Ezek. xxxviii. 19, 20. it is said, "Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground." There seems to be a reference to this very place, in the passage from Revelations.
Rev. xix. 21. "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse;" and Ezek. xxxviii. 21. "I will call for a sword against him, throughout all my mountains."
Rev. xviii. "And there were thunders and lightnings;" and ver. 21. "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great." And here, Ezek. xxxviii. 22. it is said, "I will rain upon him and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone." There seems to be reference to this in the passage from Revelations xviii.
Rev. xix. 17, 18. "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven," &c. ver. 28. "And all the fowls were filled with their flesh;'' and here, Ezek. xxxix. 4, 5. "Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee; I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured, thou shalt fall upon the open field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God;" and verses 17, 18, 19, 20. "And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord, Speak unto every feathered fowl," &c. very much in the same manner as there in the Revelation; so that there is a most plain reference in one place to the other.
In Rev. xvi. 14. the day of that battle there spoken of, is called "the great day of God Almighty;" and in verse 17. it is said, "there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done;" so here, chap. xxxix. 8. it is said, "Behold, it is come; it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken." Here also seems to be a like reference.
Secondly. This prophecy has also respect to that innumerable multitude that should be gathered against the church after the millennium, a little before the end of the world, spoken of in the 20th chapter of Revelations; which is evident, not only because they are expressly called Gog and Magog in Revelations, but there are many other things that argue it.
The church of God is represented as being in a state of peace and quietness, and great visible prosperity, at the time that they are thus invaded, as verses 8, 11, 12, 13. This better agrees with that invasion of the church of Christ in the 20th of Revelations., than that in the 16th and 19th chapters.
The multitude of Gog is represented as being gathered from the four quarters of the earth; so it is said expressly in Rev. xx. 8. "That the devil should go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog.
As it is said, Rev. xx. concerning the multitude there spoken of, that "fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them;" so here, chap. xxxix. 6. it is said, "I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles."
In Ezek. xxxviii. 16. "Thou shalt come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land." This agrees with Rev. xx. 9. "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city."
In Ezek. v. 8. "In the latter days thou shalt come into the land;" and ver. 16. "and thou shalt come up against my people as a cloud to cover the land, and it shall be in the latter days." This more eminently agrees with that in Rev. xx. which is just before the end of the world.
That invasion, Rev. xx. is spoken of as following the first resurrection; wherein the martyrs, or God's people that had been opposed and persecuted by their enemies, should live and reign with Christ, which is undoubtedly the same resurrection with that spoken of in the 37th chap. of Ezekiel.; where we have an account how that God's Israel, that had been captivated and killed by their oppressing enemies, are brought out of their graves, and God's servant David should be king over them, which is represented as preceding this invasion of Gog and his multitude.
In Revelations, the vision of the new Jerusalem follows, in chap. xxi. and xx. the account of the destruction of Gog and Magog; and it was represented to John from a great and high mountain, chap. xi. 10. "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and he showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God." So a vision of the city Jerusalem in its renewed state, after its glorious restoration, follows the prophecy of Gog in Ezekiel, and is represented to the prophet in like manner, chap. xl. 1, 2. "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me thither. In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south." There is doubtless a reference in that in Revelations, to this in Ezekiel; and that in Rev. xxi. 3. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and be their God," is from Ezek. chap. xxxvii. 26, 27. "Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant; and I will place them and multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever more. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
Dan. iii. 25. "And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Christ redeems from the furnace, by coming into it himself; so he redeems from wrath by enduring it himself.
Dan. vii. 13. "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days; and they brought him near before him." Here both Christ's humanity and divinity are signified: his humanity, in that it is said, "One like the Son of man; and his divinity, in that he came with the clouds of heaven. Appearing with bright clouds, or with the Shechinah, is a token of divinity, for this is often in Scripture called the glory of the Lord, and sometimes the cloud of glory.
Another thing that may be observed of these words is, that it is not said that he descended with the clouds of heaven, or that he ascended, but he came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days; which is equally applicable both to his ascension into heaven, when he went to receive his kingdom, and to be invested with his royal dominion and glory; and to his last coming at the day of judgment, which is called his coming in his kingdom; and doubtless includes both, for one is like the other, and both might very well be spoken of under one; for as the angel told the disciples at Christ's ascension, "This same Jesus shall come in like manner as he was seen to go into heaven;" he shall descend in the same manner as he ascended; in both he comes with the clouds of heaven; Acts i. 9. in both he comes attended with hosts of angels, and probably in both with the whole multitude of the heavenly hosts; in both he is attended with risen saints, for it is probable that those saints that came out of their graves with him, also ascended with him. In both he comes to the Ancient of days, and is brought near before him. He is so in his ascension, for he ascended to his Father, to appear before him; and when he comes at the last day he will come to the Ancient of days in a more mystical sense, for all the glory that he will be invested with on that day will be by his Father, and all that he will do in the day of judgment will be as acting from his Father and in his name; he shall then in the most glorious manner of all receive a kingdom from his Father; he shall then be brought near to the Father, and sit down on the Father's throne in the most eminent manner of all; he shall then most fully receive his church, the kingdom of his grace, that is made up of all peoples, nations, and languages, as in the next verse.
Both these are remarkable periods or epochs of the commencement of the kingdom of heaven, of which the Messiah is the King, and are so spoken of in the New Testament.
This prophecy doubtless has respect to Christ's ascent into heaven, for to that it is much the most obviously and directly applicable. That is most plainly spoken of in the New Testament, as the time when he went to God, the Ancient of days, to receive his kingdom. It also doubtless has respect to his coming to judgment, for that coming to judgment seems often in the New Testament spoken of with reference to this very prophecy. With reference to this it is called his coming in his kingdom. The Jews seem to have taken that phrase of the Messiah's coming in his kingdom from this prophecy; and with reference to that it seems often to be spoken of in the New Testament, as the Son of man's coming in the clouds of heaven.
Dan. ix. 7. "O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces as at this day." By confusion of faces, he does not mean so much shame and repentance, as punishment. It is an acknowledgment that they were justly punished, and brought to such sorrow and ruin, as they were then the subjects of; that is often represented by being ashamed and confounded; therefore he says, "As it is this day:" he did not mean that they then were ashamed with the shame of repentance, but that they then were in a ruined condition.
Dan. ix. 27. "And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate." It ought to have been translated, "by or with, the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate;" so the particle Sy sometimes is used. (See Buxtorf.) It is manifest that the abomination here mentioned, is spoken of as the efficient or instrument of the desolation, from other scriptures that have a manifest reference to this, as Dan. xi. 31. "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." Dan. xii. 11. "And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."
And the expression is very much like those concerning that which is spoken of, Dan. viii. 11, 12, 13. "Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under-foot?" And Matt. xxiv. 15, 16. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth let him understand,) then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains." And the same words in Mark xiii. 14. The great difficulty of understanding these places seems to lie in these two things:
I. That the abomination of desolation spoken of in all those places seems to be the same. There are these following things that argue them to be the same:
1. The manner of speaking of the abomination that maketh desolate in Dan. xi. 31. and xii. 11. seems to imply a reference to some such thing of which there had been a revelation made to Daniel, and which Daniel had already in his mind. And the passage in Dan. ix. 27. seems to have a reference to that transgression of desolation in chap. viii. 11, 12. It seems evidently to be the same thing spoken of several times: here is something spoken of over and over, called by the same or a like name, called by way of eminency the abomination, or the transgression described by the like property, that that maketh desolate.
All are spoken of with a special reference to the holy city and sanctuary; as appears by comparing the several places and contexts; all are spoken of, in each place in Daniel, as attended with the ceasing of the sacrifice.
2. Christ, when he refers to the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, seems to suppose but one abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet.
3. Some things that Christ says of this abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, seem to be especially taken from one place, others from another. He speaks of it as the abomination that makes desolate, that accompanies the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and this seems to be taken from Dan. ix. 27. He speaks of it as standing, or set up, in the holy place. This seems rather to be taken from Dan. xi. 31. where it is said they shall pollute the sanctuary, or holy place, and place the abomination that maketh desolate. And "And the abomination that maketh desolate shall be set up." And that manner of expression of desolation seems to be taken from Dan. viii. 13. And yet,
II. The prophecies of the abomination that maketh desolate, in different places in Daniel, seems evidently to have respect to different seasons and events; as those in Dan. viii. 11, 12, 13. and xi. 31. have an evident reference to what came to pass in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes; and what is spoken of, Dan. ix. 27. has an evident reference to what came to pass at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; and that in Dan. xii. has a reference to what comes to pass in the days of antichrist, as is manifest from the preceding part of the chapter.
But the reconciliation of the difficulty is in this, that they are all, mystically, one and the same; for they are lively types one of another. What is ultimately respected, is that spoken of in the 12th of Daniel, which is accomplished in the days of antichrist, of which the preceding are lively images. That setting up of the abomination that makes desolate in the sanctuary, by Antiochus Epiphanes, is typical of what was done by antichrist; for he was a great type of antichrist. And so was that which came to pass at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, spoken of Dan. ix. 27. and spoken of by Christ, Matt. xxiv. 15. Luke explains "the abomination of desolation, standing in the holy place," by Jerusalem being compassed with the Roman armies, Luke xxi. 20, 21. Jerusalem was the holy city, and so many furlongs about it were accounted holy. Now when the Roman army approached within the limits of the holy ground, then the abomination of desolation might be said to stand in the holy place. But the word abomination seems particularly to refer to the Roman ensigns, upon which were the images of their emperors, which the Romans worshipped, as Suetonius expressly tells us, and Tacitus calls them their "Bellorum Dei," their gods of war. Now it was an abomination to the Jews, to see those idols set up within the limits of the holy city; to which may be added what Josephus tells us afterwards, that the Romans, after they had conquered the city, set up these ensigns in the ruins of the temple and sacrificed to them." (Thus, Abp. Tillotson, vol. ii. of his Works, Serm. 185. p. 533.) This setting up the image of the emperor within the limits of the holy city, and afterwards in the ruins of the temple, and there sacrificing to it, is a lively representation of setting up the pope in the church of God, the spiritual Jerusalem, who is the emperor of the antiChristian Roman empire, and the image of the beast, an image of the heathen Roman emperors, who is set up as a god in the temple of God, where he exalts himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped, although it be in the temple in ruins. He first in effect destroys the temple of God, and then sets himself up there as God, to be worshipped and sacrificed to. Here see Bp. Kidder's Dem. part ii. p. 11, 12, 13.
Hosea i. 4. "For yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Israel upon the house of Jehu." This prophecy was given in the days of Jeroboam, a king of the house of Jehu, not long before the destruction of that house; for Zechariah, Jeroboam's son and successor, was the last that reigned of that family, and he reigned but six months. Jehu's killing all that were of the house of Ahab, was both rewarded and punished; it was rewarded, because as to the matter of it, it was agreeable to God's command; (see 2 Kings x. 30.;) but it was done in a wicked manner. He did not do it so much from a spirit of obedience as from an aim at his own advancement; for he little regarded God's honour in it, as afterwards plainly appeared by his idolatry, the very sin for which he was bid to kill Ahab and destroy his family. God saw that he did it with a murderous heart, and so punishes it by the overthrow of his family. As Jehu with a murderous heart slew Ahab and all his family, so shall the posterity of Jehu be slain, and his family be overthrown in their turn. So the house of Baasha was rooted out, because he did the like to Jeroboam, 1 Kings xvi. 7. because Jehu performed the matter of God's command, he was rewarded by continuing the crown of Israel in his family unto the fourth generation, but because he did it in a wicked manner, as his after-behaviour manifested, therefore it was continued no longer, but then taken away. His doing the matter of his duty was rewarded, but his doing it in a murderous manner was punished: which two things are not at all inconsistent.
Hosea vii. 14. "And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds." In their calamities which they suffered, they are compared to sick and wounded men, as chap. v. 16.; and many of them were doubtless literally sick, wounded men, in grievous pain on their beds, by reason of the continual wars that they had of late been embroiled in. They howled in pain and distress on their beds, and cried that God would help them. When he slew them, then they sought him, but it was all in hypocrisy, and probably they cried in their prayers under distress with a loud voice, as they used to cry to Baal and other idols, as if they must be awakened, or could be prevailed upon by the loudness of the noise they made; but God, to show his abhorrence of it, calls it howling.
"They assembled themselves for corn and wine, and they rebelled against me." They assembled themselves to fast and pray for these blessings, when they were by divine judgments cut short in them, but they sought in such a manner that God looked upon it as rebellion, as the prophet Isaiah says, Isa. i. 17. "The calling of assemblies I cannot away with, it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting."
Hosea x. 9, 10. "O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah; there they stood, the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. It is my desire that I should chastise them," &c. When the Benjamites committed such wickedness in Gibeah, they stood and defended themselves, and were victors in the first and second battle that was fought against them, and at last the battle did not overtake them all, but six hundred made their escape; that wicked tribe was not extirpated, and they have stood and remained in their successors in their wickedness to this very day, until the generation of such wicked men in Israel has now at length so increased, that they have overspread not only one tribe, but all the tribes of Israel. That wicked tribe of Benjamin was not overtaken or rooted out by the battle in Gibeah. "But I have a design now that the battle shall overtake them, my desire is that I should chastise them," as it follows in the next verse. When the Benjamites committed such wickedness in Gibeah, the other tribes had a desire to chastise them, by wholly rooting out that tribe; they seemed to be greatly engaged about it, but failed of it; there they stood and remained notwithstanding. "Now I have a desire to chastise them, I myself will take it in hand, and I will make more thorough work; I will root out all of them; none shall be able to stand against me."
"And the people shall be gathered against them when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows." That is, when they shall fortify themselves in their two furrows, where they have ploughed wickedness and sowed iniquity, ver. 13. i. e. in Dan and Bethel, the places of their two calves, or in the service of their two gods. In this field they bind themselves; they are resolute not to depart from these two furrows that they have ploughed; they remain there as if they were bound there; they are obstinate in their wicked works, in their two furrows. Their two ways of wickedness, or two wicked works, viz. their worshipping the two calves, are here compared to two furrows that they have ploughed, in analogy to the rest of the allegory in the following verses. In these wicked works they persist, and think to stand it out as the Benjamites did, out they shall not be able to defend themselves as they did, but the people shall be gathered against them as the tribes of Israel were gathered against the wicked Benjamites, and to more effect.
Hosea x. 11. "I will make Ephraim to ride, Judah shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods." In the preceding words, God hath threatened that he would put a yoke on Ephraim's fair neck, that she might be made to do harder work than treading out the corn, to wit, plough the field. Here the comparison is in part continued, and in part altered from the labour of the cattle in ploughing to that of the men that plough, wherein one man was wont to ride to guide the beast that drew the plough, another to hold the plough, and another to break the clods. God here says that he would cause Ephraim to ride, i. e. he should go foremost in this labour God had to call them to, and Judah should plough, i. e. Judah should follow in it as he that held the plough did him that rode, and then Jacob, i. e. the whole nation of Israel in all the tribes, should be in the same calamity, and reduced to the same slavery. As he that broke the clods in ploughing came last. See chap. xii. 1, 2.
Hosea xii. 12, 13. "And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved."
1. Israel are here put in mind of their former meanness, in the same two instances that they were commanded every year to remember and confess anew, when they offered the basket of first-fruits. Deut. xxvi. 5. "And thou shalt speak, and say, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few." God puts them in mind from what small beginnings he raised them. Their father served and kept sheep for their mothers. He came to Syria a poor fugitive, and lived there a servant. He came to Syria with nothing; he had nothing to endow a wife with, and therefore was forced to serve for a wife; and again they were poor slaves in a strange land in Egypt.
They are put in mind of God's great mercies of old to their forefathers in twice bringing them out of banishment, and out of servitude, vid. ver. 9. And he brought them out of Egypt, and led and preserved them in the wilderness; it was by a prophet, which shows their ingratitude in their despising and rejecting the prophets, the successors of Moses. Ver. 10.
Amos i. 6 to 13. The injuriousness and cruelty of the Philistines, Tyrians, and Edomites, towards the children of Israel, that is here spoken of, and for which God's judgments are, by the prophet, denounced against them, seem to have been acted at the time that those things were done that we read of in 2 Chron. xxi. 8, 9, 10, 16, 17.; and xxii. 1. The judgments spoken of concerning the Philistines, seem in part to have been fulfilled before the prophecy of Amos, in what we have an account of, 2 Chron. xxvi. 6, 7. when Uzziah, king of Judah, went forth and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the walls of Gath, and the walls of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines, his God helped him, so that he was successful. Accordingly the words of the prophecy may be interpreted, "And I have sent a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and have cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod." And as the prophets frequently speak of things to come in the same manner as if they were past or present; so it was further fulfilled in the time of Hezekiah, who smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof; from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced cities, 2 Kings xviii. 8.; or both in town and country, where they built little cottages; where they watched their flocks by night; and therefore the prophet Isaiah bids the Philistines not to rejoice, because the rod that smote them was broken, or Uzziah was dead, who had sorely afflicted them. 29, to the end. For Hezekiah should come out of his root, or be descended from him, who should more grievously gall them. And it was more fully completed when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, marched against Egypt; and the better to open his way into that country, he sent Tartan, one of his generals, before him, who fought against Ashdod, and took it.
Secondly. The prophet Amos prophesieth also against Tyre, for this reason, that God would send a fire upon the walls of Tyrus, which should devour the palaces thereof. This was also fulfilled when Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, made war upon Tyre, in the reign of Elulæus, their king, and having sent an army invaded the whole country of Phoenicia; and taking it very heinously to see the Tyrians to be the only people who disputed his authority, he sent a large fleet against them, which being beaten, the king of Assyria returns and sets guards along the river, and upon all springs and aqueducts, to keep the Tyrians from water, which distress continued for five years, when they were forced to relieve themselves by pits of their own digging. After this Nebuchadnezzar, continuing a long and terrible siege of thirteen years, made himself master of it, who, finding but little spoil therein to reward his soldiers for their great pains, was so inflamed with anger, that he rased the whole town to the ground, and slew all that he found therein; from which time it never more recovered its glory, but the city on the island became the Tyre which was afterwards so famous, and this was ever after a village called by the name of Old Tyre.
Lastly. The prophet, for the same reasons, foretells the destruction of Edom, that God would send a fire upon Teman, their capital city, which should devour the palaces of Bozrah, a city in the confines of Moab. This seems first to have been fulfilled when Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, came against Samaria; and having conquered the country of Moab, ravaged and destroyed the country of Edom, the neighbouring kingdom, the better to secure himself from any disturbance on that side. And also when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went with his forces into Egypt; for the same reason that induced him to send Tartan into Ashdod, would induce him to overrun all Idumea, which lay directly in his way, and would open a freer communication with his own country. And after this the army of Nebuchadnezzar ransacked the country when Tyre was taken, and when he marched into Egypt, and his soldiers were hungry for want of plunder, as it had been foretold by the prophets Obadiah (throughout his prophecy) and Jeremiah, (chap. xlix. 7 to 23.) when the accomplishment thereof was near at hand. (Bedford's Scripture Chronology, p. 633, 634.)
Jonah i. and ii. As the ship and company were saved by Jonah's being cast into the waters, and his intended and supposed death, so was the church, which is several times typified by a ship saved by Christ, being cast into and overwhelmed by sorrows and troubles, which are represented by water, and by his death. Jonah being swallowed of a whale, or leviathan, represents Christ being as it were swallowed by him that hath the power of death, the devil, the spiritual leviathan; but however, it was but a means of Christ's being under better advantages to come at his heart, and to give him the more mortal wound. The whale thought to have made a sweet feast of Jonah, but he found him a dreadful medicine, he was sick of him at the heart and vomited him up again. Vide Jer. li. 44. So the devil thought Christ was his food, but he proved not his meat, but his poison. The devil has deeply regretted putting Christ to death, since he has seen what the effect of it is. As Jonah was three days and three nights buried in the sea, so was Christ in his grave three days and three nights.
It is said, when Jonah was cast into the sea, the sea ceased from her raging: so, when once Christ was swallowed up in God's wrath, his wrath ceased from raging towards the church. The words of Jonah's song, chap. ii. make the thing more apparent. He calls the belly of the fish, the belly of hell, or the belly of the grave, 2d and 4th verses. "I cried by reason of mine affliction, then said I, I am cast out of thy sight." So Christ said, My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?1 " Ver. 3. "The floods compassed me about, all thy waves and thy billows passed over me," (the words of the psalmist, Psal. xlii. 7. also Lam. iii. 4, 5.) to signify the great sorrow and distress that God brought upon him. Ver. 5. "The waters compassed me about, even to the soul," (the words of the psalmist, for great trouble and anguish, Psal. lxix. 1.) Ver. 6. "Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption," agreeable to what is said of Christ, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.2 "
Jonah ii. 6. "The earth with her bars was about me for ever." It alludes to the bars of a prison, he speaks of himself as having as it were been in hell. Ver. 2. "Out of the belly of hell cried I;" which in Scripture is often spoken of as being in the bowels of the earth, and under the bottoms or foundations of the mountains. Deut. xxxii. 22. "A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains." So here, "I went down to the bottom of the mountains." So hell is spoken of as being under the bottom of the sea. Job xxvi. 5. "Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering." (See Notes on this place.) Hell and destruction here seem to be synonymous terms. Hell is by a metonomy called destruction. So Psalm lxxxviii. 11. "Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction?" So Prov. xv. 11. "Hell and destruction are before the Lord;" and xxvii. 20. "Hell and destruction are never full;" and in other places. This prayer of Jonah was indited by the Spirit of God, and so is mystical; and the Holy Ghost in it has an eye to Christ, who, as it were, went to hell in our stead. Hell is here represented as a prison in the heart of the earth, that hath the earth with its rocks and other strong and immovable parts for its walls and bars; and therefore it is such a prison as cannot be broken through, but effectually for ever confines those that are prisoners there: and therefore it is said, "The earth with her bars were about me for ever;" i. e. it would have been so, were it not for the wonderful power of God's delivering me, which was stronger than the walls and bars of this prison.
Micah v. 2. "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me, who is to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Here it may be noted concerning these two expressions in the verse, shall he come forth unto me, and that other, whose goings forth have been from of old, &c. that the verb come forth, in the former, and goings forth, in the latter, are words of the same root in the Hebrew.
Now in order to an understanding of this text, and a clear discovering of the great doctrine taught in it, it may be worth the while to observe particularly how these words, and words of that root, are used in the Hebrew Bible.
These words are often used to signify the proceeding or flowing forth of water, as from a fountain. Gen. ii. 10. "A river went out of Eden;" Deut. viii. 7. "Fountains that spring out of valleys;" Ezek. xlvii. 1. "Waters issued out from under the threshold;" ver. 8. "Waters issue;" so ver. 12.; Zech. xiv. 8. "Living waters shall go out of Jerusalem;" Num. xx. 11. "And the waters came out abundantly;" Judg. xv. 19. "And there came water thereout," i. e. out of the jaw-bone, or out of Lehi; Isa. lviii. 11. "Like a spring of water," in the Hebrew, "A going forth of waters;" so Psalm cvii. 33. "Water springs," in the Hebrew, "Going forth of water;" so ver. 35. "Water springs;" Isa. xli. 18. "The dry land, springs of water."
They are often used to signify the rising of the sun or the rising of the light of the morning, or the proceeding of beams of light from a shining body, or luminary. Gen. xix. 24. "The sun was risen on the earth;" Ezek. vii. 10. "The morning is gone forth; Isa. xiii. 10. "The sun shall be darkened in his going forth;" Isa. lxii. 1. "Go forth, as brightness;" Hos. vi. 5. "Thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth;" Psal. xix. 6. "His going forth is from the end of heaven;" Psal. lxv. 8. "The out-goings of the morning."
They are often used to denote the springing or sprouting of plants, or of something that grows like a plant. Job xiv. 2. "He cometh forth like a flower;" Isa. xi. 1. "And there came forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse;" 1 Kings iv. 33. "The hyssop that springeth out of the wall;" Deut. xiv. 22. "All that the field bringeth forth;" Heb. "All that goeth forth out of the field;" Job viii. 16. "His branch shooteth forth in his garden;" Dan. viii. 8. "There came forth four notable horns;" Exod. xxv. 32. "Six branches shall come out of the sides of it;" so ver. 33, 35. and chap. xxxvii. 18, 21. Isa. xlii. 5. "He that spreadeth forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it."
They are often used to express the proceeding of a word, or voice, from him, whose word or voice it is: Gen. xxiv. 50. "The word proceedeth from the Lord;" Judg. xi. 36. "According to that which proceedeth out of thy mouth;" Esth. vii. 8. "As the word went out of the king's mouth;" Jer. xliv. 17. "Whatsoever thing goeth forth from my mouth;" Dan. ix. 23. "Came forth the word;" Isa. xlviii. 3. "They went forth out of my mouth;" Exod. xxx. 2. "Do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth;"Ezek. xxxiii. 30. "What is the word that cometh forth from the Lord;" Num. xxxii. 24. "Do that which proceedeth out of your mouth;" Josh. vi. 10. "Neither shall my word proceed out of your mouth;" 1 Sam. ii. 3. "Let not arrogancy, or hard speech, come out of your mouth;" Job xxxvii. 2. "The sound that goeth out of his mouth;" Isa. lv. 11. "My word that goeth out of my mouth;" Lam. iii. 38. "Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good;" Psal. lxxxix. 34. "Nor alter the thing which is gone out of my lips;" Heb. Alter the going forth of my lips.
They are very often used for proceeding by generation both from the father, and the mother.
They are very often used for proceeding from a father by generation: 2 Sam. xvi. 11. "My son, my son, which came forth out of my bowels;" Gen. xii. 14. "Out of whom came Philistim;" so 1 Chron. i. 12. 1 Chron. iii. 53. "Of them came the Zarethites;" Isa. xlviii. 1. "Are come forth out of the waters of Judah;" 1 Kings viii. 19. "Thy son that cometh forth out of thy loins;" so 2, 6, 9. the same words; Gen. xlvi. 26. "That came out of his loins;" so Exod. i. 5. "That came out of the loins of Jacob;" Judg. viii. 30. "Threescore and ten sons;" so in the Hebrew; Gen. xv. 4. "He that shall come forth out of thy bowels;" 2 Sam. vii. 12. "Thy seed which shall proceed out of thy bowels;" 2 Kings xx. 18. "And of thy sons which shall issue from thee;" Isa. xxxix. 7. "Thy sons which shall issue from thee;" Gen. xvii. 6. "Kings shall come out of thee;" Gen. xxxv. 11. "Kings shall come out of thy loins;" 2 Chron. xxxii. 21. "They that come forth out of his bowels;" Jer. xxx. 21. "Their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them;" so commonly the word, offspring, in our translation, is in the Hebrew a word of this root, that signifies as much as goings forth; Isa. xxii. 24. "all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue; Isa. xlviii. 19. "the offspring of thy bowels;" Isa. xliv. 3. "my blessing upon thine offspring;" so Isa. lxi. 9. Isa. lxv. 23. Job xxi. 8. Job xxvii. 14. and Job xxxi. 8.
They are often used for that proceeding which there is in the birth, from the mother; Gen. xxiv. 25, 26. "his brother came out;" Gen. xxxviii. 28. "this came out first;" so ver. 29. and ver. 30. Job xxxviii. 29. "out of whose womb came the ice?" Eccles. v. 15. "as he came forth out of his mother's womb;" and Job iii. 11. Job xx. 18. Job i. 21. Exod. xxi. 22. "so that her fruit depart from her;" Deut. xxviii. 57. "her young one that cometh out from between her feet;" Deut. xii. 12. "when he cometh forth out of his mother's womb;" Job xxxviii. 8. "as if it had issued out of the womb."
Now concerning these things, I would make the following observations:
I. The generation of mankind, their proceeding from their fathers or ancestors, or of a particular stock and family, is often compared in the Old Testament to the issue of waters from a fountain: so Isa. xlviii. 1. Psal. lxviii. 26. Gen. xxxiii. 28. and other places
II. The generation of mankind is often compared to the springing and shooting forth of plants: Isa. xliv. 3, 4. "I will pour my blessing upon thine offspring, and they shall spring up as among the grass, and as willows by the watercourses. Psalm lxxii. 15. "They of the city shall flourish as the grass of the earth;" so Job xiv. 2. "He cometh forth as a flower," and many other places; and particularly is the birth of the Messiah often compared to the springing of a plant or branch; as in Isa. xi. 1. "There came forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse," and many other places.
III. The birth of a prince is compared to the rising of a luminary; the birth of Christ in particular, in that prophecy of Balaam, "A Star shall rise out of Jacob."
IV. It being thus, and the words used in this passage of Micah v. 2. which express the Messiah's coming forth out of Bethlehem, and also his going forth from everlasting, being the same or from the same root with those that are so often used to signify the issuing of waters from a fountain, and the sprouting forth of plants, and the going forth of a luminary; and not only so, but also abundantly used expressly to signify generation, or a being born: hence it is most reasonable and natural to understand the coming forth and going forth of the Messiah, here spoken of, concerning his GENERATION.
V. Considering these things, and the word used when it is said that the Messiah shall come forth out of Bethlehem, is so often used to signify a person's being born of his mother, and that to be born unto such a one, is a phrase used in the Scripture to signify that the person, to whom he is said to be born, is his father; hence when God says, "Out of Bethlehem shall the Messiah come forth unto me" it is most natural to interpret it thus: "In Bethlehem shall the Messiah be born of a woman, who shall be his mother, but not as begotten of a man, or having any man for his father; but I only will be his Father; she shall not bear this child to any earthly father, but to me only."
VI. And when these words are subjoined, "Whose goings forth were of old, from everlasting," and the words goings forth are so very frequently used for generation of a father; hence it is most natural to interpret the text thus: "In Bethlehem shall the Messiah be born of his mother, who is begotten not by any man, but by me only as his Father; and this generation of him, by which I am his Father, will not be then a new thing; it is an eternal generation, it has been already of old, from everlasting."
VII. It greatly confirms the supposition, that the goings forth, which are said to be of old, from everlasting, intend his eternal generation, or proceeding from the Father, that Christ, with respect to his proceeding from the Father, is represented as the Father's glory and brightness, as though he proceeded from him, as brightness from a luminary; and as the Father's Word: and that the original word used here, is so from time to time used to signify the going forth of light, or brightness, and abundantly for the proceeding of a word from him whose word it is.
Habak. iii. 2. "Revive the work in the midst of the years; in the midst of the years make known, and in wrath remember mercy." There was a certain number of years that were as it were the appointed day of the church's trouble and calamity, and the day of God's wrath, or anger. The prophet prays that though God's anger were not wholly removed till the number of years was finished, and the day of wrath passed, yet that God would remember mercy in wrath, and grant some revival in the midst of the years, and not hide himself wholly from his people for so long a time, but make himself known to them, in some measure, before the expiring of the dark season. The prophet here in his prayer, speaking of the appointed years, has respect to the same appointed time that he speaks of in the foregoing chapter, ver. 2, 3. "And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain, &c. for the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie," &c. What he has a more immediate respect to, is the appointed time of deliverance from the Babylonish captivity. This whole book seems to relate to that captivity and the deliverance from it; that was a time of sore trouble to the church, from the captivity until the restoration of Jerusalem. The appointed time was seventy years; but God remembered mercy, and gave some revival in the midst of the years, by Daniel's advancement, which was doubtless greatly for the ease and relief of the Jews, and then the destruction of Babylon and Cyrus's decree were before the end of seventy years from the destruction of Jerusalem, though the temple was not rebuilt until the seventy years was ended; and religion revived among the people in the younger generation in the midst of those years. So is God wont to remember mercy in the midst of the years, in the times of the church's oppression, as in the times of its sore distress by Antiochus's tyranny and cruelty. They were helped with a little help by the Maccabees before the appointed time expired. Dan. xi. 32, 33, 34. So God remembered mercy to his church during the reign of antichrist, and granted a revival of his church before the time of his reign, and of the church's captivity, was expired, and made himself known in the midst of the years, in the time of the reformation.
Habak. iii. 11. "The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the light of thine arrows they went, at the shining of thy glittering spear." By this it is evident that there was not only a dreadful storm of hail, but thunder and lightning with it, on the day that the sun and moon stood still, as we commonly have thunder and lightning in storms of hail, in the summer time. That by the light of God's arrows, is meant the light of his lightning, is evident by Psal. cxliv. 6. "Cast forth lightning and scatter them, shoot out thine arrows and destroy them;" and especially Psal. xviii. 13, 14. "The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice, hailstones and coals of fire: yea, he sent forth his arrows and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them." These lightnings are called God's arrows; and the instance that David has reference to was parallel with this, for it was an instance wherein God fought against David's enemies in a storm of hail, as he did against the enemies of Israel, when the sun and moon stood still; and it was probably when God came forth upon David's enemies, before him, like the breach of waters at Baal-Perazim, that we read of, 2 Sam. v. 20. And that which God did for David there, is particularly mentioned as parallel with what God did for Israel at Gibeon, when the sun and moon stood still, Isa. xxviii. 21. If this needed any further confirmation it might be further confirmed by the last expression in that verse, "At the shining of thy glittering spear." The radix of the word, that is translated glittering, which is pia, signifies to lighten; and the word itself, which is p-\3, properly signifies lightning; so that the literal translation of the words is, "At the shining of the lightning of thy spear." And besides, we read, Josh. x. 10. that the Lord discomfited them before Israel; and Mr. Bedford observes that the word used in the original signifies to strike a terror by the noise of thunder. (Scripture Chronology, p. 510, margin.) Wherever the same word in the original is used, and it is said that God discomfited these or those; this seems to have been the case that God fought against them with thunder and lightning. So when Sisera and his host were discomfited, Judg. iv. 15. (see Notes on Judg. v. 20.) and so 1 Sam. vii. 10. 2 Sam. xxii. 15. Psal. xviii. 14.
It is here said that the sun and moon stood still, but went or walked at the light of God's arrows, and at the shining of the lightnings of his spear; by which it seems that when the lightning began, the sun and moon began to move again, after they had stood still. The case seems to have been thus: as long as the sun and moon stood still, there was a serene air, that the children of Israel and their enemies might behold that great and wondrous miracle by which God then manifested his power, and glory, and wonderful mercy to his people. But then the storm began to arise, and appeared first at a distance with thunders and lightning, but approaching, and when the lightnings appeared, the sun and moon began to move, and then came the dreadful storm and destroyed the Amorites. The lightnings appearing and playing at a distance before the storm came, seems here to be compared to a man of war's brandishing his weapons when coming to battle. The sun and moon, God's creatures, had stood still to help Israel against their enemies; but when God himself appeared with brandished weapons coming to the battle, they withdrew, as conscious that now there was no further need of their help, seeing that God himself was coming, who needed not the help of his creatures, and did not need to have the sun and moon stand still to give him time: he could do his work in a short time. And though God's fighting against the Amorites by hail, is mentioned before the sun and moon's standing still, yet doubtless it was after: when the sun stood still, it was to give them opportunity to fight for themselves, but there would have been no need of that, if God was fighting for them. God did not appear thus to take the burden of the battle immediately on himself until they were weary. It is not God's manner to appear, until after others have done their part. And then it must be either before or afterwards, that God fought by the storm of hail, and not in the time of the sun and moon's standing still; for if so, the storm would have hid the miracle, and it is unreasonable to suppose that it was afterwards, or that there was any need of the sun's standing still twelve hours together, to give opportunity for the children of Israel after God had taken the work into his own hands, and had so terribly destroyed them with hailstones. God does not need men to finish the work after he has taken it in hand, when he begins he will also make an end.
In all probability when God began with thunder, lightning, and hail, the children of Israel stood still, and rested while God fought for them: see Exod. xiv. 13, 14.; and also 2 Chron. xx. 17. It could be no otherwise than that by that time the children of Israel needed rest, having been in battle and pursuit for above eighteen hours, and having travelled all the night before, Josh. x. 9. and the latter part of the time in the scorching heat of the sun, (vide No. 209. on Josh. x. 12-14.) it having stood still over their heads for twelve hours together. And besides, this destruction by hail was doubtless after the children of Israel had done, and not when they were mixed with their enemies fighting with them; for, if so, they themselves would be exposed to the hail, and thunder, and lightning, as well as their enemies. (Vide Notes on Psal. lxviii. 8, 9.)
It is signified in the margin of our Bibles, that the words may be translated, "Thine arrows walked in the light, and thy glittering spear on the shining," i.e. in the shining of the sun while it stood; but this is not so natural a translation, for by this way of rendering the words are thus, in the light thine arrows walked, and in the shining the glittering of thy spear. But this is not so natural a translation; for, 1. There seems to be an evident antithesis in the words between standing still and walking; and therefore they are to be attached to the same subject, viz. the sun and moon. 2. It is not a natural metaphor, to say, that a spear walked in the light; for a spear is not a weapon that is to do its execution flying through the air, though arrows are; and it is less natural speaking to say, that the glittering of the spear walks. 3. The shining spoken of seems evidently to relate to the word that next follows, viz. the glittering or lightning of the spear. 4. The prefix, that is translated at, is Lamed, and not Beth, and therefore is more properly rendered at than in. And besides this translation confutes itself, because without doubt the thing that respect is had to here, when mention is made of God's appearing in battle himself, with his own weapons, on that day when the sun and moon stood still, is God's fighting, as he did against the Amorites, and destroying them by the storm of hail. But then God's arrows could not be said to walk in the light and shining of the sun, because the storm hid the shining of the sun; and besides that it is not probable that they did this execution, while the sun continued to stand still, because the storm would have hid the miracle.
Zech. i. 8. "I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled and white." The grove of myrtle-trees signifies the church. It was a grove of myrtle-trees, down in a bottom, hid by the adjacent hills, so that you were not aware of it, until you were just upon it. This represents the low, dark, solitary, melancholy condition of the Jewish church at this time. They were overtopped by all their neighbours, buried in obscurity, as the woman in the wilderness, Rev. xii. 6. Being in a valley, is evidently used to signify being in mean, depressed, afflicted circumstances; Isa. xxxiii. 19. "And the city shall be low in a low place." And being set on high, on a mountain, denotes a state of great honour and prosperity: Isa. ii. 2. "The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains." Hence Babylon, though built on a plain, is called a mountain. Jer. li. 25. The man upon the red horse, in the midst of this myrtle grove, is no other than Jesus Christ, the same that appeared to Joshua with his sword drawn in his hand, as Captain of the hosts of the Lord, Josh. v. 13, 14.; and to John, as captain of the armies of heaven, sitting on a white horse, clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, out of whose mouth went a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, who should rule them with a rod of iron, and who treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, having the armies of heaven following on white horses, Rev. xix.
Though the church was in a low condition, yet Christ was present in the midst of it. He was riding as a man of war, as a man in haste, riding on the heavens for the help of his people, Deut. xxxiii. 26. He rode on a red horse, either naturally so, or dyed red with the blood of war, as this same victorious prince appears red in his apparel, by treading on his enemies, and besmearing his raiment with their blood, as in the forementioned place of Rev. and Isa. lxiii. 3. Red is a fiery colour, denoting what is said, ver. 14, 15. that he was jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion, with great jealousy, and that he was very sore displeased with their enemies. Christ under the law appeared on a red horse, denoting the terror of that dispensation, and that he had yet his conflict before him, when he was to resist unto blood. But under the gospel he appears on a white horse, Rev. xix. denoting that he has now gained the victory, and rides in triumph, and hangs out the white, not the bloody, flag. Here also follows him an army on horseback, as in the 19th chapter of Revelation. Behind him were some on red horses, some speckled, some white, angels attending on the Lord Jesus Christ, ready to be employed by him, some in acts of judgment, others of mercy, others in mixed events. And probably they appeared in the order in which they are mentioned; the red first, and the speckled next, and the white last. The red that appeared first, noting God's indignation, and just judgments against the church of Israel in their captivity, mentioned ver. 12. "Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years." The speckled, that were partly red, partly white, noting God's present dealings with them since their captivity, that were mixed. God had exercised great mercy towards them, in restoring them out of captivity to their own land, as it was far otherwise with them than it had been. But yet it was a time of great adversity with them, which is signified by the myrtle-trees being in a low place, and which was the occasion of the earnest intercession of him that stood among the myrtle-trees for them. Ver. 12. The white horses that were last, denote that glorious prosperity which God now promises to his church, that shall be the conclusion and issue of all those troubles. Ver. 13, 16, 17. The colour, white, sometimes is made use of to signify holiness, or purity, and sometimes mercy and prosperity; sometimes freedom or purity from the evil of sin, and sometimes freedom from the evil of affliction. So it is evidently used, Rev. vii. 14. "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
Zech. xiv. 6, 7. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark. But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night; but it shall come to pass that at evening-tide it shall be light." That is, there shall no more be the successions of light and darkness, day and night, but it shall be one continued day, and it shall be light in the time of the night, or evening.
Zech. xiv. 16, 17, 18, 19. "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of TABERNACLES. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain: there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen, that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations, that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles." The feast of tabernacles here spoken of, is the glorious spiritual feast that God shall provide for all nations in the last ages of the world, and in the expected glorious state of the Christian church, which is spoken of, Isa. xxv. 6. This feast was on the seventh month of the year, which was a kind of a holy sabbatical month, as the seventh day of the week was a holy day, and the seventh year a holy year, and also the year of jubilee, at the end of seven times seven years. so this glorious state of the church is to be in the seventh age of the world, or seventh thousand years. The feast of tabernacles was the greatest feast in the month, it was to be kept on that month, after Israel were prepared for it by the feast of trumpets and the day of atonement, both in the same month. So way shall be made for the joy of the church of God in its glorious state on earth, by the preaching of the gospel, and deep repentance, and humiliation for its great sins and long-continued deadness and carnality.
The feast of tabernacles was the last feast they had in the whole year, before the face of the earth was destroyed by the winter. Presently after the feast of tabernacles was over, a tempestuous season began; see Acts xxvii. 9. "Sailing was now dangerous, because the feast was now already past." So this feast of the church will be the last feast she shall have on earth; the last pouring out of the Spirit, before the lower world is destroyed. The feast of tabernacles was kept when they had gathered in the fruit of their land; Lev. xxiii. 39.; and is called the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year. So this great spiritual feast of the church shall occur after God's ingathering of both his harvest and vintage spoken of Rev. xiv. It will be the time of his gathering in all his good fruits before winter, as it were; that is, before the destruction of the world, a time wherein the saints of the earth will come to their full ripeness.
The feast of tabernacles was kept in commemoration of God's setting up his tabernacle among the children of Israel in the wilderness, but in that glorious time God will above all other times set up his tabernacle among men, in the midst of his spiritual Israel, as is prophesied, Ezek. xxxvii. 27. and proclaimed in Rev. xxi. 3. The world was created about the time of the feast of tabernacles. See No. 204. on Lev. xxiii. 34-36. So this is the creation of the new heavens, and new earth. The temple of Solomon was dedicated at the time of the feast of tabernacles; then God descended in a pillar of cloud, and dwelt in the temple; so this is the time wherein the temple of God should be erected, and beautified, and dedicated, and God shall come down from heaven to dwell in his church. The church of God shall as it were go up to the mountain of the hill of the Lord, as they did on that great occasion of Solomon's dedicating the temple.
Christ was born, and came to tabernacle in flesh on the feast of tabernacles; so then shall Christ be born. The woman in travail shall then bring forth her son that is to rule all nations, and then mankind above all other times shall enjoy the benefit of the birth of Christ; Christ shall then be born in the souls of men.
There seems to be greater tokens of rejoicing in this feast than any other. The people dwelt in booths of green boughs, which represent the flourishing, beautiful, pleasant state the church shall be in, rejoicing in God's grace and love (represented by the colour green). She shall yet dwell in tabernacles on this side heaven, her land of rest. Their branches of palm-trees represent the church's flourishing as the palm-tree, and the glorious victory the church shall then have obtained. The willows of the brook they shall make use of, represent the flourishing state of the souls of God's people, as a tree planted by the rivers of waters. Lev. xxiii. 40. Neh. viii. 15. The olive-branches represent the church's fulness of the Spirit, the antitype of the oil of the olive. At the feast of tabernacles God's people left their houses to dwell in booths, which represented two things that should be in the glorious times, viz. their great weanedness from the world, and their joy in God.
Thus the two great feasts of the Jews that followed the passover, represent the two great seasons consequent on the death of Christ, which was at the passover of the communication of the benefits of Christ's redemption to his church on earth; one that which was in primitive ages of the Christian church, which began in the day of Pentecost, on which the Holy Ghost was not only given in the ordinary sanctifying, saving influences, but also given in extraordinary gifts of inspiration for the revealing the mind and will of God, and establishing the standing rule of the faith, worship, and manners of the Christian church, which answered to the giving of the law at mount Sinai, which was on the feast of Pentecost: the other is that which shall follow the destruction of antichrist, which answers to the setting up the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the gifts, sacrificings, and rejoicings that were on that occasion, which was on the same day of the year that the feast of tabernacles was. These three great feasts. do prefigure those three grand events that are brought to pass for the church of God in the progress of the work of redemption, and the death of Christ to purchase salvation for the church, and those two great outpourings of the Spirit to apply it. See Note on Ezek. xlv. 25.
Mal. ii. 15. "And did he not make one? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit." He made them one flesh, their bodies are each other's; but the rest, (or residue,) which is the Spirit, God reserves for himself. A man is one body with his wife, but one Spirit with Christ. 1 Cor. vi. 16, 17. The phrase in this sense is not different from what is common, as Deut. xxi. 8. thy people of Israel; the city of London; the city of Jerusalem: and besides, it does not appear by the original but the words are in opposition and not in regimen. It might have been translated the residue, the Spirit; or if we interpret it as in the margin, the excellency of the Spirit, then the meaning is, that though God needed them, and therefore they ought to be most nearly united in affection, yet he reserved to himself the soul's best love, the best of the heart.
Mal. iv. 1, 2. "For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall." The day here spoken of is the day of the coming of Christ; the day spoken of in the first, second, and third verses of the foregoing chapter; "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts; but who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire,3 " &c. This day shall burn as an oven, with respect to the wicked. Christ, who will then come, the Sun of righteousness, whose coming or rising will usher in that day, and who then will be as a refiner's fire, will search and burn up the wicked as stubble, and dry and dead plants, so that it shall leave them neither root nor branch; but with respect to those that fear God's name, his beams shall not be scorching, but healing, of a benign, healthful nature, as the warm, pleasant sun-beams are to living plants and animals, which make them to grow and flourish, so that they grow up as calves of the stall. He will be as a refiner's fire; will then only refine the sons of Levi, and others that fear God's name; they are as gold and silver that are not consumed, but refined, in the fire; but he will consume the wicked, that are as dross. Christ shall then prune and purge the faithful branches; but as for those that are dead, barren, dry branches, they shall be cut off, and cast into the fire, and burnt. The Sun of righteousness that shall come in that day, when he is risen, shall be as the pillar of cloud and fire was of old, which gave light to the Israelites, and was a defence unto them, was their sun and shield, but consumed and destroyed the Egyptians.
Thus it will be at Christ's last coming, the light and glory of his appearance will be intolerable to the wicked, it shall be like the fire of a furnace to their souls, and shall make the day like an oven to them, and his coming shall actually be attended with a dreadful conflagration of the fiercest glowing heat in which they shall be burnt. But the appearance of his glory shall be exceeding pleasant, and joyful, and healthful to the saints. The sight of this glory shall perfectly heal them; shall drive away all remains of sin, and make them perfectly holy; shall drive away all corruptibility and ill qualities of their bodies, and they shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye into a state of glorious health, strength, perfection, activity, and incorruptibility; it shall perfectly heal all trouble and sorrow, and shall for ever banish all such things, however the church of God shall then be found in a very distressed state. So it was at Christ's first coming, that coming was infinitely for the benefit of the elect, but to the unspeakable misery of the wicked many ways, as might be shown. It brought on a glorious state of the church, but a most fearful destruction of unbelievers, as in the destruction of Jerusalem, and the whole land. So it was at Christ's coming in Constantine's time, and so it will be at his coming at the destruction of antichrist.
Mal. iv. 2. "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings:" that is, in his beams; it is very much like other metaphors that were common amongst those eastern people. The sun rises to fly through the heavens, and the bright beams by which it is encompassed are the wings.
Mal. iv. 6. "Turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." By fathers, are meant all sorts of fathers, parents, rulers, and teachers; the hearts of these shall be turned to the children, that is, they shall faithfully rule, and guide, and teach them, take care of them, and consult their true good; and the hearts of the children shall be turned to their fathers, that is, they shall be obedient, shall hearken to their teachers, &c.; so it is applicable, Luke i. 17. "the disobedient to the wisdom of the just."
Matt. i. 3. "And Judas begat Pharez and Zara of Thamar." So it is remarked, in the 5th verse, that Salmon begat Booz of Rachab, and that Booz begat Obed of Ruth, and in the 6th verse, that David begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah. All the mothers are not noted, but only those which were either harlots or Gentiles, except the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was a wife of a Gentile. These are taken notice of, because Christ's descending from several harlots and Gentiles intimates unto us that all that are saved by Christ were sinners. That the church of Christ is made up wholly of such as were once sinners, that is, spiritual harlots, or adulterers and idolaters, thereby also typifying the calling of the Gentiles.
Matt. i. 16. "And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." This genealogy proves that the kingdom of Israel was Christ's by right of inheritance. Christ, though he was not the real son of Joseph, yet was the legal son; with greater reason than, when a man took a wife, and died, and left no seed, his brother's seed by her were to be looked upon as his, and had the right of inheritance.
Matt. iii. 2. "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The following are the places of the Old Testament from whence probably the Jews principally took their notion of the kingdom of heaven.
Dan. ii. 44,45. vii. 9-15. xxvi. 27.: Ps. xcvi. especially the four last verses; Ps. i. 1-7. compared with Dan. vii. 9 to 15.; Ps. xcvii. and xcviii. especially the last verse; Isa. ii. 1 to 6. and 15 to the end., ix. 6, 7. xi. xii. xxiv. 23. and especially verses 9, 10, 11. xxv. xxvi. xxvii. xxxii. 1 to 9. xxxv. xl. 3, 4, 5, 10, 11. xli. xlii. 1 to 22. xlix. lx. lxi. lxii. lxiii. 1 to 7. lxiv. 1, 2. lxv. 17 to the end,. lxvi.; Jer. xxiii. 5 to 9. xxx. 9. xxxi. xxxiii. especially ver. 15, 16.; Ezek. xxi. 27. xxxiv. 20 to the end,. xxxvii. 20 to the end.; Hosea ii 16 to the end.; Joel ii. 28 to the end,. iii. 9 to the end.; Amos ix. 11 to the end.; Micah iv. 1 to 9. v. vii. 8 to the end.; Obadiah. ver. 17 to the end., especially ver. 15, 16; Nahum i. 15.; Zeph. iii. 8 to the end.; Haggai ii. 1 to 10., and 21 to the end.; Zech. ii. 11, 12, 13. iii. 8, 9, 10. vi. 9 to the end., viii. 20 to the end., ix. 9 to the end., x. xii. xiii. xiv.; Mal. iii. 1 to 7., and 16 to the end., and chap. iv.
Matt. iii. 7. "Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Having respect principally to that wrath that should come upon those of the Jews who should reject the Messiah and continue in impenitence, both in their rejection from being the people of God, and judicial hardening, and those many great calamities that nation suffered after Christ's ascension, especially their dreadful overthrow by the Romans.
Matt. vi. 13. "And lead us not into temptation." This includes trials brought upon us by God's providential hand, as well as the temptation of lust. God often leads his children into these, and always for their good; but yet we are to pray against it, with submission to God's will, because, simply considered, it is an evil.
Matt. viii. 25. "And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we perish." This ship shadows to us the Christian church, which indeed it contained in it, with its head. God commonly suffers his people to be just upon the very brink of destruction before he delivers them; as here the tempest arose so much, that the ship was covered with waves. God seems to be asleep, and so lets them alone, as Christ was, and must be awaked by the earnest prayers and cries of his people, before he will deliver them; and says, as in Ps. xliv. 23. "Awake! why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise; cast us not off for ever!" Ps. vii. 6. xxiii. lxxviii. 65. "Then will the Lord awake as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine."
Matt. ix. 10. "And it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples." Jesus ordering or preferring it to be thus, intimating the nature of the gospel and the design of his kingdom; the gospel grace, the feast of fat things, being offered freely to all nations and kinds of men, having respect to the calling of the Gentiles.
Matt. ix. 24. When Christ said, She is not dead, but sleepeth, thereby is meant that her soul was not finally separated from her body, so as to enter into the spiritual and eternal world; nor had there that transformation passed upon her soul from a middle state to perfect holiness, or misery, and her soul was kept in a state of insensibility, as in a sound sleep, that her resurrection might not be inconvenient; therefore Christ also said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." His state was not changed, his soul not purified from sin, nor any way altered so as to prepare it for glory, but his state was only intermitted.
Matt. xi. 25, 26. "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Christ does not merely praise God, as God might be praised or glorified for his majesty and greatness, sovereignty, or justice, or any perfection or glorious work of his, but he thanks him as one interested, as though it were a work of God, whereby he had received a benefit. And so it was, these persons to whom his Father had revealed these things were his before God had revealed them to them, for they were given him from eternity, and he had set his love upon them before the foundation of the world, and for their sakes he came into the world, and he knew them all by name, their names were written on his heart, and he looked upon them as himself; and therefore he thanks the Father for revealing those things to those who were his, whom he so loved, and for whom he was so greatly concerned, though they were but poor, weak, helpless, and despicable creatures, when he had passed by others more noble, more wise, and prudent; as a loving father, if he had a number of poor children, in themselves very mean and contemptible, might well be the more affected with the goodness of God, and justly have his heart more enlarged with thankfulness, if God should look on his poor children, bestowing infinite blessings upon them, when he saw that the rich and noble, potent and learned, were generally passed by. Persons themselves, that see themselves very weak, and distinguishingly contemptible, have the most cause to thank God for saving mercy to them, when they consider how they are distinguished from many far greater and more considerable than they; and so Christ looked upon it that he had like cause of thankfulness on this account, because they being from eternity given to him, he looked on them as himself, and on himself as they. Christ, the head of the elect church, here thanks the Father, with rejoicing in spirit, as Luke tells us, for that which will be the matter of the most exalted thanksgivings of the church itself to all eternity.
Christ thankfully acknowledges God's kindness herein, because he did it of his own will: "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight;" that is, without regard to their meanness, or others' greatness. Compare this text with Rom. vi. 17.
Matt. xii. 32. "It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come." Some sins may not be forgiven in this world, that yet are forgiven in the world that is to come. God does not manifest his forgiveness in this world, but is provoked sometimes by the grievous fall of the godly, in a great measure to hide his face as long as they live. So that ever after they shall go hanging down their heads, even to their graves. God sometimes inflicts judgments that last as long as life, and their former joy and comfort is no more restored to its wonted degree until they die.
Matt. xiii. 38. Luke xiii. 21. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened." By three measures is meant the whole world: the progeny of the three sons of Noah, who settled the three parts of the world, Shem Asia, and Ham Africa, and Japhet Europe.
Matt. xiv. 13, 14, 15. "But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. And when one of them that sat at meat heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Christ had told his host that he should not invite his rich friends and neighbours, expecting to be invited to a feast again by them, but should invite those that could not invite him again; and he tells him he shall be blessed, and should be recompensed at the resurrection of the just, intimating that he should be rewarded by feasting them. Now the Jews thought that the resurrection would be when the Messiah came. By the kingdom of God, they understood the kingdom of the Messiah; and that is the reason that when Christ told the Pharisee he should be blessed, for he should feast at the resurrection, that he makes this reply consenting to it, "They shall be blessed indeed, that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God."
Matt. xv. 21, 22. "Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out," &c. The casting out of the devil out of the daughter of this woman, in my opinion, figures forth the casting the devil out of the Gentile and antiChristian world; Tyre frequently representing in the Scripture Sodom's idolatrous kingdom.
Matt. xvi. 28. "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." The disciples saw sufficient to answer this promise. Some of them immediately after, as we have an account in the beginning of the following chapter, saw Christ in his glory, in his transfiguration, in the like glory with that in which he will come to judgment, as far as it could well be seen by them in their frail state, and by their feeble eyes.
Again: They saw him coming in a glorious manner in the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, for that was a coming of Christ, wherein they saw him, agreeably to John xiv. 18, 19. "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come unto you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me." And this was a coming in his kingdom, for he came then to set up the Christian church, to introduce the gospel-dispensation, which seems to be called the kingdom of heaven. And respect is doubtless had to this by John the Baptist, and by Christ after him, when they preached, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Again: Some of them saw him coming in his kingdom at the destruction of Jerusalem, and an eye seems chiefly to be had to this event; for then was there a total end put to the Jewish church, and the Jewish dispensation, which is compared to the end of the world. The world that then was, the old state of things in the world with respect to religion that had subsisted so long a time, was then utterly and finally done away, and the kingdom of heaven succeeded the gospel-dispensation, or the kingdom was then fully established, the state of things thenceforward in the church was really evangelical. Christ did then in a very awful manner, and with a signal manifestation of his hand, destroy the enemies of his kingdom, and remarkably deliver his people; he then came to judgment; he judged his adversaries, and delivered his chosen people; there was a remarkable rewarding of men according to their works then. It is most apparent that Christ did call his appearing in that great event of the destruction of Jerusalem, and other events that attended it, his coming, Matt. xxiv. 2, 3. There Christ tells his disciples, when showing him the building of the temple, that not one stone shall be left on another; whereupon the disciples ask him, When these things shall be, and what should be the sign of his coming, and of the end of the world? And in his answer, he has respect still to the destruction of Jerusalem, as is evident by the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th verses. It is expressly said to be the desolation of Jerusalem. Compare these texts in Matt. with Luke xxi. 20. "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." And ver. 23. "There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon that people;" and, in the 27th and 28th verses, he particularly gives his disciples a sign, whereby they might know the time and place of his coming; for Christ is there expressly speaking of his coming: he says, "So shall the coming of the Son of man be, for wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together;" denoting it to be at Jerusalem, and at the time of its destruction by the Romans. See my Notes on these verses. There is no need of supposing that Christ here meant his coming in any other than a spiritual sense; for so Christ was wont to speak of things to come, when it is plain that he intended a spiritual fulfilment. So he speaks of the resurrection. "The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." Here he speaks of the resurrection of bodies at the end of the world, and the spiritual resurrection of souls together, including both in one and the same words, viz. "the dead shall hear the voice," &c. He speaks as if it were but one event that he had respect to; but yet when he says, "it is coming," he means one thing, even the resurrection of bodies, especially at the end of the world. When he says, "It now is," he means another thing, viz. the resurrection of souls, by the preaching of the gospel; and the manner of speaking there, is very parallel to that in this and the foregoing verse. In the foregoing verse Christ says, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then shall he reward every man according to his works." There he has a respect principally to his coming at the end of the world; but then in this verse, says he, "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, that shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom;" and now he has chiefly a respect to another event, viz. his appearing in the work that he will do at the destruction of Jerusalem, and therefore it can be no just objection against this explication, that Christ evidently meant the same coming in this as he did in the foregoing verse, for we ought not to dispute against plain facts. I cannot see that, if we explain the words as I have done, the case is any more than exactly parallel to that in those other words, John v. 25. and it is plain and evident that it is a common thing in Scripture that things are said to be fulfilled that have been spoken of in the same context, when they are only fulfilled in their type, and not in that which is ultimately intended. So Christ, speaking of his coming and the end of the world, says, "This generation shall not pass till all those things shall be fulfilled." So the apostle John, speaking of the predictions there had been of the coming of antichrist, mentions the prophecies as being fulfilled in the false teachers there were then, "Even now," says he, "there are many antichrists." 1 John ii. 18.
But perhaps we are not sufficiently accurate, when we distinguish several events, as so many distinct accomplishments of the prediction so often given of Christ's coming in his kingdom, to be understood in different senses; and so to look upon Christ's coming at the effusion of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, as one coming of Christ in his kingdom; and his appearing in the events that were at the destruction of Jerusalem, as another coming of Christ in his kingdom; and his appearing in Constantine's time as another, and at the destruction of antichrist as another, and at the end of the world as another. They seem rather to be spoken of in Scripture as several parts, or rather as several degrees, of the fulfilment of one event. That great event spoken of in Dan. vii. 13, 14. "And I saw in the night vision, and beheld one like the Son of man come with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him: and there was given to him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed:" which was what the Jews expected, and called the kingdom of heaven; and which John the Baptist and Christ had reference to, when they said, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," and which Christ has respect to in this place; also in the 24th Matt. I say, this great event is gradually accomplished; it is accomplished by several steps and degrees, and the great events that were al the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, and at the destruction of Jerusalem, and in Constantine's time, and the destruction of antichrist, and the end of the world, are all so many steps of the fulfilment of the same great event. When the Holy Ghost descended at Pentecost, it was fulfilled in a degree: then the Son of man came, and then was his kingdom set up in the world in a glorious manner. When Jerusalem was destroyed, it was fulfilled in another greater step: then did he remarkably exercise his royal authority in judging his enemies, and putting an end to the old stale of things in the church, and beginning. a new world, establishing the Gentile church. When Constantine was destroyed it was fulfilled in a yet higher degree; and in a still far more glorious manner at the destruction of antichrist; but it is fulfilled in its most complete and perfect degree at the end of the world.
So that Christ has indeed respect to the same great events here as he spake of in the foregoing verse, and promises that some there should see the accomplishment of that event before they tasted of death; i. e. they should see that, which indeed should be an accomplishment of it in the beginning of it, in a glorious degree, though not in its most glorious degree.
Hence, also, it cannot be said, that Christ referred to the destruction of Jerusalem only, when he speaks of his coming in his kingdom, or merely to that and what went before it; or to the pouring out of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost: but it was this great event in general which was to be accomplished in several degrees; though when he said they should see it before they tasted of death, he did not mean that they should see it in all its degrees.
The forementioned prophecy of Daniel, without doubt, had a respect not only to Christ's coming at the end of the world, but also an important respect to his coming, as he did, in those events that occurred before some of them tasted of death: vid. No. 279. This prophecy of Daniel Christ doubtless had in his eye when he spake this; and doubtless the disciples understood him as meaning that; for the event foretold in this was what they and the Jews were big with expectation of, and had their eye upon, and always understood one another as referring to, when they spake of the coming of Christ in his kingdom; and therefore all that they would understand Christ as referring to, was, that some of them should see that prophecy accomplished before they died.
It need be no difficulty that Christ's manner of expressing himself would lead them to expect that it should be accomplished in another manner; for the disciples knew that Christ was wont to speak to them in mystical language; and besides Christ, in expressing himself thus, does it but as referring to the prophecy or vision of Daniel. The expressions are taken out of that prophecy, and no wonder that events in visions and prophecies are represented mystically. And the disciples were not cheated in it; for there was as much accomplished as answered their expectation, while some of them lived, though not in the same manner; for they had poor mistaken notions what the kingdom of Christ was, yet they saw it accomplished in a move glorious sense than they expected.
There is this that argues that Christ did not suppose that the end of the world would be in that generation, that when he is discoursing of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world, Matt. xxiv. and Luke xxi. and says to his disciples, Luke xxi. 32. "Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled;" yet he says in the same discourse, ver. 24. speaking of the terrible destruction of that land, "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled;" from whence it seems evident, that Christ did not expect that the end of the world would be before many ages, for first all these things must be accomplished that had been spoken of by Christ as forerunners of the destruction of Jerusalem; wars, and rumours of wars, and earthquakes, and famines; and yet the destruction of Jerusalem not very near, and the gospel must be preached to all nations, which must be a work of time. And many other things are mentioned, as the rising of false Christs, and false prophets, and persecutions, &c.; all which denote that considerable time was to pass before the destruction of Jerusalem; and then the whole land was to be destroyed by war and great distress, and the people were to be dispersed into all nations, which also must be a work of time; and then Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled, which at least intimates that Jerusalem was to lie a long time in ruins. Christ refers to the "time, times, and half a time," in the 12th of Daniel, which is there exceeding plainly spoken of as a long time; and then it is supposed, in the words, that Jerusalem is to be again rebuilt after this, and rebuilt to some purpose, (not just rebuilt, and then immediately and eternally destroyed again,) before the end of so great a work as the rebuilding could be answered, so as to answer the designs of the restoration of the state, the peace and prosperity of the people in their own land. For the words imply a restoration of the people from their miserable state, as trodden down; and the times of the Gentiles in Daniel, to which Christ refers, are spoken of by that prophet, very plainly and abundantly, as ending in a comfortable restoration of God's people from a miserable ruined state. But to be rebuilt in a few years, in order to be eternally destroyed, is not worth the name of a restoration or end to their long-continued ruin. Besides, the mere rebuilding Jerusalem and restoring the state of the land, after such a total and long-continued destruction, must be the work of a great deal of time: it was a work of considerable time when the people returned from their Babylonish captivity.
Christ's kingdom comes by various steps and degrees, and so the end of the world is brought to pass in like manner by various steps; one step was the abolishing the Jewish state and their ecclesiastical economy, the peculiarities of which the apostle calls the rudiments of the world. Again, Christ's kingdom was set up, and the world came to an end, in another step or degree, by the conversion of the Roman empire; and so again at the destruction of antichrist. In each of these is a degree of the accomplishment of Christ's kingdom, the resurrection, the judgment of the righteous and the wicked, and the end of the world. (See Note on Rev. xxi. 22. No. 73.)
Matt. xvii. 21. "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting:" this kind as to the manner of possession and influence. There were dumb devils, and unclean devils, and a spirit of infirmity. Some only took the advantage of bodily distemper and disorder of the brain; others possessed them in a more extraordinary manner, so as to have their bodies more absolutely under their influence, using of them as they pleased, sometimes casting them into the fire, and sometimes into the water, as that spoken of in this place, and sometimes using their tongues as if they were their own, as did the man possessed with the legion.
Matt. xvii. 27. "Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee." Which signifies that ministers of the gospel should receive of the temporal things of those that they preach the gospel to, whose souls they catch for Christ, for they are the fish of which gospel ministers are the fishers. Peter was a fisherman by trade, and Christ had commanded him to leave his net, and to follow him, and he would make him a fisher of men.
Matt. xviii. 16. "And if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more; that, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established." It is evident from the next verse, that the end of bringing these others, is that he may hear them and be convinced of the evil of what he has done, and not to entrap him in his words. They are come indeed as witnesses, that is, as witnesses of the evil of what he has done (for witnesses in scripture phrase are not only of facts). It is this only that is wanted; they are come because he will not hear the first, that he may hear when the voice of two or three concur in the matter; it is this that wants to be established, it is the main and the joint voice of several, has the same tendency to establish such wishing, when they jointly bear testimony of the evil of a thing, as in bearing testimony to a fact; the end of their joining together therefore is, that every word of their admonition may be heard; this is evidently the meaning of the place.
Matt. xxi. "And when he drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and was come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, go into the village over-against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them."
Christ's solemn entry into Jerusalem, that we have an account of in this place, seems to represent his ascension into heaven; that which had before been very remarkably represented by the carrying of the ark into Jerusalem, and its ascending into mount Zion, into the sanctuary. This is here again represented by the entering of Christ himself, the antitype of the ark, into the same city Jerusalem, and his ascending up into the mountain of the temple, into the sanctuary there. As in the Roman triumph, the triumphing general entered Rome, and went first to the capitol, the chief temple in all the city. So that there was a literal ascension of Christ at this time into the mountain of the temple, the greatest type of heaven upon earth. And Jerusalem itself, the city he then entered into, was the next greatest type of heaven to the temple, for heaven is called "the Jerusalem which is above."
In this his solemn entry into Jerusalem, he passed from the mount of Olives, the same mount from which he ascended into the heavenly Jerusalem. He ascended from the mount of Olives, the mount of peace; olive-branches were used as a symbol of peace among the Gentiles, and so was the olive-branch brought by Noah's dove. Christ ascended after he had made peace, or finished the work of reconciliation; without his reconciliation he could not have ascended. He entered into the holiest of all by his own blood. God was as it were reconciled to him by his blood, who was before as it were the object and mark of God's wrath for our sins, which he had taken upon him. It was the mountain where he had his agony, and sweat that blood by which he obtained peace, and where he was betrayed to endure the cross. The ascension and glory of Christ, and the glory of the saints, is consequent on, and procured by, Christ's sufferings, by which he wrought out reconciliation. The place on mount Olivet that he ascended from, was Bethany, (Luke xxiv. 50.) the house of affliction, signifying that his exaltation was consequent on his sufferings. So he ascended into Jerusalem from Bethany and Bethphage; (Mark xi. 1. Matt. xxi. 1. Luke xix. 29.) which latter signifies the house of first-ripe figs, signifying that Christ entered into heaven as the first-fruits: Christ the first-fruits, and afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming.