Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

which the angel shall wave over them as a mark of God's care of Jerusalem, or rather of any party of the Jews, however inconsiderable, saith the LORD, whose fire, or altar, [is] in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem; where God is daily vorshipped, and from whence fire shall come forth to destroy his enemies.

1 CHAP. XXXII. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, 2 and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; referring to the protection, repose, and happiness they should enjoy in Hezekiah's reign, after the troubles in the reign of 3 his predecessors. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken; the prophets shall deliver their message clearly and faithfully, and the people at4 tend to, understand, and obey it. The heart also of the rash, the hasty and thoughtless, shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly; rude and illiterate people shall understand divine things, and speak readily 5 concerning them. The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said [to be] bountiful, or honourable; a good judgment shall be formed of men ; worthy, valuable persons shall be promoted, and others discountenanced; the reason of this is given 6 afterward. For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail; a vile person will show his iniquity by his practice, his profaneness against God, 7 and his cruelty to man. The instruments also of the churl [are] evil he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right; he will find some wicked men to be active in his evil designs, and by specious pre& tences destroy the needy when he has a good cause. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand; he will aim to do all the good he can, and shall be established in prosperity and reputation.

9

Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. The women are addressed, because grown extremely delicate and luxurious, and least 10 able to bear public calamities. Many days and years, or, as in the margin, many days above a year, or whilst the Assyrian invasion shall last, shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the 11 vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip ye of your ornaments, and make ye bare, and gird [sackcloth] upon [your] loins; or, as it may be rendered, upon your mourn12 ing breasts. They shall lament for the teats, for the loss of their cattle and milk, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. 13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns [and] briars; yea, upon all the houses of joy [in] the joyous city; upon the playhouses, gaming houses, and taverns; the fenced cities of Judah

shall be destroyed and laid waste, and they shall have no heart to follow their pleasures even in Jerusalem, while it is besieged: 14 Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left, or, the city shall be forsaken of its multitude; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; they shall have no heart to repair them again, 15 at least it will be a long time before it can be done; Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, till God shall send his spiritual influence to reform us, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest; there shall be good times after the Assyrians are destroyed; the wilderness shall become so fruitful, that what was before reckoned fruitful shall appear like a forest in comparison of it; or it may only denote a 16 great and wonderful change. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field; righteous judgment shall be executed among the rich and poor in the 17 city and country, in the cultivated lands and in the wilderness. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever; the increase of 18 righteousness shall promote peace, harmony, and all good. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure 19 dwellings, and in quiet resting places; When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place, or, utterly abased; there shall be no invasion from foreign enemies, but they shall be destroyed, and their cities laid low; or it 20 may signify, you shall be sheltered from the storm. Blessed [are] ye that sow beside all waters, and send forth [thither] the feet of the ox and the ass; you shall go out without fear of your enemies, to cultivate your land, and enjoy great plenty as well as peace.

1.

HOW

REFLECTIONS.

OW kind is God who invites sinners to return to him, and promises them protection and happiness! Those perverse people that trusted in Egypt and their own politics, and had affronted the only wise and powerful God, were invited to return, yea, though they had deeply revolted. Thus does God still address sinners, though their backslidings are great and aggravated, and long continued in; yet if they turn to him, he will receive and bless them. Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die, O house of Israel ?

2. See the happiness of a good prince, and a righteous government. This was designed to encourage Hezekiah in his reforming work, to teach the people how to value and improve the blessings which they enjoyed under him, and to give instruction to future kings and princes. Let us bless God that we have a king over us, who, we hope, will always rule in righteousness, be a covert to the persecuted and oppressed, advance the worthy and virtuous, discountenance and frown upon the wicked, and thus secure the reputation of religion, and promote the public peace. And let us pray

that this may be more and more his character; and the blessings here described, be the blessings of his reign.

3. It is a good sign, when men and things are called by their proper names; when vile persons are not called liberal, or gentlemen; and churls, men of a selfish, surly disposition, stiled honourable. It is happy for a nation, when only good things are called by good names; when virtue and virtuous men are esteemed, and held in reputation; when men are valued, not by their rank and titles, but by their beneficence and usefulness. If difference of character was not so wretchedly confounded as it is in our common language, and there was greater openness and plainness of discourse, it would tend greatly to the support of righteousness. Let us then emulate the character of a citizen of Zion, in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, and who honoureth them that fear the Lord.

4. Liberality is not the way to contempt and ruin, for the liberal man deviseth liberal things, and by them shall he stand. He contrives how he may be able to do good; he retrenches superfluities, and saves needless expenses, not that he may hoard up wealth, but that he may do the more good. He endeavours to be as extensively beneficent as possible, and by his charity he shall stand; his prosperity shall be increased by the blessing of heaven; he shall be esteemed by men, have peace in his own mind, and obtain favour of the Lord; and he that does not think this an abundant equivalent for parting with his money, is a vile and churlish person.

5. We see the wisdom of being religious, v. 17. The pious shall enjoy peace, undisturbed by the crosses of the world. Religious exercises are pleasant; there is great satisfaction in reflecting upon them, and a gracious reward awaits them, even everlasting quietness and assurance. These inestimable blessings are only to be found in the way of righteousness; in that way therefore let us walk, and never turn aside from it.

6. Let us rejoice in the government of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the happiness of his faithful subjects, ch. xxxii. v. 1, &c. Though this has a primary reference to Hezekiah, yet it has also a reference to Christ, and the blessings of his gospel, as is common in the prophets. He reigns in righteousness, being himself perfectly holy, and his administration inflexibly just. He is a shelter and refreshment to his people in every storm. By his gospel, knowledge, holiness, liberality, peace, and joy are promoted and diffused. Let us show, by the practice of these virtues, that we have received its influence; and earnestly pray that the spirit may be poured forth from on high upon us, our churches, and all the world; that the wilderness may be a fruitful field, and the earth may become like the paradise of God above.

CHAP. XXXIII.

This chapter has a reference to the invasion and destruction of the Assyrians, and the happy effects of it to Israel.

1

Wo and they dealt not treacherously

O to thee that spoilest, and thou [wast] not spoiled; and

with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; [and] when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee; because thou hast broken the treaty of peace, and endeavoured to spoil and conquer when no in2 jury had been received. O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee; the prayer of Israel in their distress: be thou their arm every morning, the arm of Hezekiah and his soldiers, 3 our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations. 4 that were allied to the Assyrians were scattered. And your spoil shall be gathered [like] the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them; that is, the Israelites shall gather the spoil, as easily as locusts or caterpil 5 lers devour a field or a tree. The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness; he displays his power, and the effect of it shall be reforma6 tion. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, [and] strength of salvation; piety and prudence shall establish Hezekiah's throne: the fear of the LORD [is] his treasure; the worship of God, and promoting piety in others, shall be a 7 better security than treasures or forces. Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without; they shall be disheartened, and think it in vain to oppose; the ambassadors of peace, that shall be sent by Hezekiah to treat for peace, shall weep bitterly, because the Assyrians will be so unreasonable, proud and insolent. The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man; Sennacherib will not stand to his agreement, he will despise the • fenced cities, and have no compassion. The earth, or the land, mourneth [and] languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed [and] hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off [their fruits ;] the fruitful parts will be laid waste, and 10 her substance plundered. Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now, when things are at the worst, and the case 11 shall seem desperate, will I lift up myself. Ye Assyrians shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, or an12 ger against Israel, [as] fire, shall devour you. And the people, the Assyrians, notwithstanding their great expectations, shall be [as] the burnings of lime: [as] thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire; they shall meet with entire destruction, like stones burned to lime, or thorns that are utterly consumed.

13

Hear, ye [that are] far off, what I have done; and ye [that 14 are] near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are

afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites, who scorn the law of God and the threatenings of the prophet; though they keep up the appearance of religion, when they think the Assyrians will destroy Jerusalem, they shall be terribly afraid. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? they will own how awful God is, and how dreadful when he comes to punish. On the other hand, good 15 men shall be calm and secure: He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, who thinks it beneath him, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, when put into his hand secretly, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, will not hear any scheme tending to shed blood, or to gratify revenge, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, will not willingly see evil committed, but has a great aversion 16 to it; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence [shall be] the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters [shall be] sure; he shall be defended and supplied during the 17 extremity of the siege. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty, that is, Hezekiah, having put off his sackcloth and appearing in his royal robes with a pleasant aspect: they shall behold the land that is very far off; the people who had been shut up during the siege shall travel abroad, which after their confinement 18 would be peculiarly pleasant. Thine heart shall meditate terror; review its former fears and its triumph over the Assyrians. Where [is] the scribe? where [is] the receiver? where [is] he that counted the towers? where is the secretary of war, the paymaster, 19 the chief engineer?* Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, [that thou canst] not understand; that is, the Assyrians, 20 who had a deep, harsh language, carrying terror with it. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle [that] shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken; an allusion to a 21 tent, no part of which should be damaged by the enemy. But there the glorious LORD [will be] unto us a place of broad rivers [and] streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby; though there is no river about Jerusalem, only a little brook, God will be as a broad river to it, over 22 which no ship shall pass to hurt or destroy it. For the LORD [is] our judge, the LORD [is] our lawgiver, the LORD [is] our king; he will save us; God's relation to Israel will engage him to protect 23 it. Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail; the Assyrian force, when attempting to pass the broad river, mentioned v. 21, shall be shipwrecked: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey; it shall be so abundant, that those who can 24 neither fight nor pursue shall have a part. And the inhabitant

The apostle Paul applies this to the success of the gospel over heathen powers and philosophy. Cor. i. 20.

« FöregåendeFortsätt »