I
S A I A H
CHAP. XXX.
The
prophecy of this chapter seems to relate (as that in the foregoing chapter) to
the approaching danger of Jerusalem
and desolations of
Judah
by Sennacherib's invasion. Here is, I. A just
reproof to those who, in that distress, trusted to the Egyptians for help, and
were all in a hurry to fetch succours from Egypt, ver. 1-7. II. A terrible
threatening against those who slighted the good advice which God by his
prophets gave them for the repose of their minds in that distress, assuring
them that whatever became of others the judgment would certainly overtake
them, ver. 8-17. III. A gracious promise to those who trusted in God, that
they should not only see through the trouble, but should see happy days after
it, times of joy and reformation, plenty of the means of grace, and therewith
plenty of outward good things and increasing joys and triumphs (ver. 18-26),
and many of these promises are very applicable to gospel grace. IV. A prophecy
of the total rout and ruin of the Assyrian army, which should be an occasion
of great joy and an introduction to those happy times, ver. 27-33.
|
The
Foolish Confidence of Judah.
|
B.
C. 720.
|
|
|
1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but
not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may
add sin to sin: 2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not
asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to
trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the strength of
Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your
confusion. 4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors
came to Hanes. 5 They were all ashamed of a people that
could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a
reproach. 6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land
of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the
viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the
shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a
people that shall not profit them. 7 For the
Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried
concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
It was often the fault and folly of the people of the Jews that, when they
were insulted by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succour from
their neighbours on the other side, instead of looking up to God and putting
their confidence in him. Against the Israelites they sought to the Syrians, 2
Chron. xvi. 2, 3. Against the Syrians they sought to the Assyrians, 2 Kings
xvi. 7. Against the Assyrians they here sought to the Egyptians, and Rabshakeh
upbraided them with so doing, 2 Kings xviii. 21. Now observe here,
I. How this sin of theirs is described, and what there was in it that was
provoking to God. When they saw themselves in danger and distress, 1. They
would not consult God. They would do things of their own heads, and not advise
with God, though they had a ready and certain way of doing it by Urim or
prophets. They were so confident of the prudence of their own measures that
they thought it needless to consult the oracle; nay, they were not willing to
put it to that issue: "They take counsel among themselves, and one
from another; but they do not ask counsel, much less will they take counsel,
of me. They cover with a covering" (they think to secure
themselves with one shelter or other, which may serve to cover them from the
violence of the storm), "but not of my Spirit" (not such as
God by his Spirit, in the mouth of his prophets, directed them to), "and
therefore it will prove too short a covering, and a refuge of lies." 2.
They could not confide in God. They did not think it enough to have God on
their side, nor were they at all solicitous to make him their friend, but they
strengthened themselves in the strength of Pharaoh; they thought him a
powerful ally, and doubted not but to be able to cope with the Assyrian while
they had him for them. The shadow of Egypt (and it was but a shadow)
was the covering in which they wrapped themselves.
II. What was the evil of this sin. 1. It bespoke them rebellious children;
and a woe is here denounced against them under that character, v.
1. They were, in profession, God's children; but, not trusting in him, they
were justly stigmatized as rebellious; for, if we distrust God's providence,
we do in effect withdraw ourselves from our allegiance. 2. They added sin to
sin. It was sin that brought them into distress; and then, instead of
repenting, they trespassed yet more against the Lord, 2 Chron. xxviii.
22. And those that had abused God's mercies to them, making them the fuel of
their lusts, abused their afflictions too, making them an excuse for their
distrust of God; and so they make bad worse, and add sin to sin; and those
that do so, as they make their own chain heavy, so it is just with God to make
their plagues wonderful. Now that which aggravated their sin was, (1.) That
they took so much pains to secure the Egyptians for their allies: They walk
to go down to Egypt, travel up and down to find an advantageous road
thither; but they have not asked at my mouth, never considered whether
God would allow and approve of it or no. (2.) That they were at such a vast
expense to do it, v. 6. They load the beasts of the south
(horses fetched from Egypt, which lay south from Judea) with their riches,
fancying, as it is common with people in a fright, that they were safer any
where than where they were. Or they sent their riches thither as bribes to
Pharaoh's courtiers, to engage them in their interests, or as pay for their
army. God would have helped them gratis; but, if they will have help
from the Egyptians, they must pay dearly for it, and they seem willing to do
so. The riches that are so spent will turn to a bad account. They carried
their effects to Egypt through a land (so it may be read) of trouble and
anguish, that vast howling wilderness which lay between Canaan and Egypt, whence
come the lion and fiery serpent, Deut. viii. 15. They would venture
through that dangerous wilderness, to bring what they had to Egypt. Or it may
be meant of Egypt itself, which had been to Israel a house of bondage and
therefore a land of trouble and anguish, and which abounded in ravenous and
venomous creatures. See what dangers men run into that forsake God, and what
dangers they will run into in pursuance of their carnal confidences and their
expectations from the creature.
III. What would be the consequence of it. 1. The Egyptians would receive their
ambassadors, would address them very respectfully, and be willing to treat
with them (v. 4): His princes were at Zoan, at Pharaoh's court
there, and had their audience of the king, who encouraged them to depend upon
his friendship and the succours he would send them. But, 2. They would not
answer their expectation: They could not profit them, v. 5. For
God says, They shall not profit them (v. 6), and every creature
is that to us (and no more) which he makes it to be. The forces they were to
furnish them with could not be raised in time; or, when they were raised, they
were not fit for service, and they would not venture any of their veteran
troops in the expedition; or the march was so long that they could not come up
when they had occasion for them; or the Egyptians would not be cordial to
Israel, but would secretly incline to the Assyrians, upon some account or
other: The Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose, v.
7. They shall hinder and hurt, instead of helping. And therefore, 3. These
people, that were now so fond of the Egyptians, would at length be ashamed of
them, and of all their expectations from them and confidence in them (v.
3): "The strength of Pharaoh, which was your pride, shall be
your shame; all your neighbours will upbraid you, and you will upbraid
yourselves, with your folly in trusting to it. And the shadow of Egypt,
that land shadowing with wings (ch. xviii. 1), which was your
confidence, shall be your confusion; it will not only disappoint you, and be
the matter of your shame, but it will weaken all your other supports, and be
an occasion of mischief to you." God afterwards threatens the ruin of
Egypt for this very thing, because they had dealt treacherously with Israel
and been a staff of a reed to them, Ezek. xxix. 6, 7. The princes and
ambassadors of Israel, who were so forward to court an alliance with them,
when they come among them shall see so much of their weakness, or rather of
their baseness, that they shall all be ashamed of a people that could not
be a help or profit to them, but a shame and reproach, v. 5.
Those that trust in God, in his power, providence, and promise, are never made
ashamed of their hope; but those that put confidence in any creature will
sooner or later find it a reproach to them. God is true, and may be trusted,
but every man a liar, and must be suspected. The Creator is a rock of ages,
the creature a broken reed. We cannot expect too little from man nor too much
from God.
IV. The use and application of all this (v. 7): "Therefore have
I cried concerning this matter, this project of theirs. I have published
it, that all might take notice of it. I have pressed it as one in earnest. Their
strength is to sit still, in a humble dependence upon God and his goodness
and a quiet submission to his will, and not to wander about and put themselves
to great trouble to seek help from this and the other creature." If we
sit still in a day of distress, hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation
of the Lord, and using only lawful regular methods for our own preservation,
this will be the strength of our souls both for services and sufferings, and
it will engage divine strength for us. We weaken ourselves, and provoke God to
withdraw from us, when we make flesh our arm, for then our hearts depart from
the Lord. When we have tired ourselves by seeking for help from creatures we
shall find it the best way of recruiting ourselves to repose in the Creator. Here
I am, let him do with me as he pleases.
|
Doom
of Incorrigible Sinners.
|
B.
C. 720.
|
|
|
8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and
note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and
ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children,
children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us
right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 11
Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of
Israel to cease from before us. 12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy
One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and
perverseness, and stay thereon: 13 Therefore this iniquity shall
be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose
breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. 14 And he shall break it
as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not
spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take
fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15 For thus saith the Lord GOD,
the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness
and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. 16 But
ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We
will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five
shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as
an ensign on a hill.
Here, I. The preface is very awful. The prophet must not only preach this, but
he must write it (v. 8), write it in a table, to be hung up and
exposed to public view; he must carefully note it, not in loose papers
which might be lost or torn, but in a book, to be preserved for
posterity, in perpetuam rei memoriam--for a standing testimony against
this wicked generation; let it remain not only to the next succeeding ages,
but for ever and ever, while the world stands; and so it shall, for the book
of the scriptures no doubt, shall continue, and be read, to the end of time.
Let it be written, 1. To shame the men of the present age, who would not hear
and heed it when it was spoken. Let it be written, that it may not be lost;
their children may profit by it, though they will not. 2. To justify God in
the judgments he was about to ring upon them; people will be tempted to think
he was too hard upon them, and over-severe, unless they know how very bad they
were, how very provoking, and what fair means God tried with them before he
brought it to this extremity. 3. For warning to others not to do as they did,
lest they should fare as they fared. It is designed for admonition to those of
the remotest place and age, even those upon whom the ends of the world have
come, 1 Cor. x. 11. It may be of use for God's ministers not only to
preach, but to write; for that which is written remains.
II. The character given of the profane and wicked Jews is very sad. He must,
if he will draw them in their own colours, write this concerning them (and we
are sure he does not bear false witness against them, nor make them worse than
they were, for the judgment of God is according to truth), That this is a
rebellious people, v. 9. The Jews were, for aught we know, the only
professing people God had then in the world, and yet many of them were a
rebellious people. 1. They rebelled against their own convictions and
covenants: "They are lying children, that will not stand to what
they say, that promise fair, but perform nothing;" when he took them into
covenant with himself he said of them, Surely they are my people, children
that will not lie (ch. lxiii. 8); but they proved otherwise. 2.
They rebelled against the divine authority: "They are children that
will not hear the law of the Lord, nor heed it, but will do as they have a
mind, let God himself say what he will to the contrary."
III. The charge drawn up against them is very high and the sentence passed
upon them very dreadful. Two things they here stand charged with, and their
doom is read for both, a fearful doom:--
1. They forbade the prophets to speak to them in God's name, and to deal
faithfully with them.
(1.) This their sin is described, v. 10, 11. They set themselves so
violently against the prophets to hinder them from preaching, or at least from
dealing plainly with them in their preaching, did so banter them and browbeat
them, that they did in effect say to the seers, See not. They had the
light, but they loved darkness rather. It was their privilege that they had
seers among them, but they did what they could to put out their eyes--that
they had prophets among them, but they did what they could to stop their
mouths; for they tormented them in their wicked ways, Rev. xi. 10. Those that
silence good ministers, and discountenance good preaching, are justly counted,
and called, rebels against God. See what it was in the prophets'
preaching with which they found themselves aggrieved. [1.] The prophets told
them of their faults, and warned them of their misery and danger by reason of
sin, and they could not bear that. They must speak to them smooth things, must
flatter them in their sins, and say that they did well, and there was no harm,
no peril, in the course of life they lived in. Let a thing be ever so right
and true, if it be not smooth, they will not hear it. But if it be agreeable
to the good opinion they have of themselves, and will confirm them in that,
though it be ever so false and ever so great a cheat upon them, they will have
it prophesied to them. Those deserve to be deceived that desire to be so. [2.]
The prophets stopped them in their sinful pursuits, and stood in their way
like the angel in Balaam's road, with the sword of God's wrath drawn in their
hand; so that they could not proceed without terror. And this they took as a
great insult. When they went on frowardly in the way of their hearts they said
to the prophets, "Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the paths.
What do you do in our way? Cannot you let us alone to do as we please?"
Those have their hearts fully set in them to do evil that bid their faithful
monitors to stand out of their way. Forbear, why shouldst thou be smitten?
2 Chron. xxv. 16. [3.] The prophets were continually telling them of the Holy
One of Israel, what an enemy he is to sin ad how severely he will reckon with
sinners; and this they could not endure to hear of. Both the thing itself and
the expression of it were too serious for them; and therefore, if the prophets
will speak to them, they will make it their bargain that they shall not call
God the Holy One of Israel; for God's holiness is that attribute which
wicked people most of all dread. Let us no more be troubled with that
state-preface (as Mr. White calls it) to your impertinent harangues. Those
have reason to fear perishing in their sins that cannot bear to be frightened
out of them.
(2.) Now what is the doom passed upon them for this? We have it, v. 12,
13. Observe, [1.] Who it is that gives judgment upon them: Thus saith the
Holy One of Israel. That title of God which they particularly excepted
against the prophet makes use of. Faithful ministers will not be driven from
using such expressions as are proper to awaken sinners, though they be
displeasing. We must tell men that God is the Holy One of Israel, and
so they shall find him, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.
[2.] What the ground of the judgment is: Because they despise this word--wither,
in general, every word that the prophets said to them, or this word in
particular, which declares God to be the Holy One of Israel: "they
despise this, and will neither make it their fear, to stand in awe of it, nor
make it their hope, to put any confidence in it; but, rather than they will be
beholden to the Holy One of Israel, they will trust in oppression
and perverseness, in the wealth they have got and the interest they have
made by fraud and violence, or in the sinful methods they have taken for their
own security, in contradiction to God and his will. On these they lean, and
therefore it is just that they should fall." [3.] What the judgment is
that is passed upon them: "This iniquity shall be to you as a breach
ready to fall. This confidence of yours will be like a house built upon
the sand, which will fall in the storm and bury the builder in the ruins of
it. Your contempt of that word of God which you might build upon will make
every thing else you trust like a wall that bulges out, which, if any weight
be laid upon it, comes down, nay, which often sinks with its own weight."
The ruin they would hereby bring upon themselves should be, First, A
surprising ruin: The breaking shall come suddenly, at an instant, when
they do not expect it, which will make it the more frightful, and when they
are not prepared or provided for it, which will make it the more fatal. Secondly,
An utter ruin, universal and irreparable: "Your and all your confidences
shall be not only weak as the potter's clay (ch. xxix. 16), but broken
to pieces as the potter's vessel. He that has the rod of iron shall break
it (Ps. ii. 9) and he shall not spare, shall not have any regard to it, nor be
in care to preserve or keep whole any part of it. But, when once it is broken
so as to be unfit for use, let it be dashed, let it be crushed, all to pieces,
so that there may not remain one sherd big enough to take up a
little fire or water"--two things we have daily need of, and which
poor people commonly fetch in a piece of a broken pitcher. They shall not only
be as a bowing wall (Ps. lxii. 3), but as a broken mug or glass, which
is good for nothing, nor can ever be made whole again.
2. They slighted the gracious directions God gave them, not only how to secure
themselves and make themselves safe, but how to compose themselves and make
themselves easy; they would take their own way, v. 15-17. Observe here,
(1.) The method God put them into for salvation and strength. The God that
knew them, and knew what was proper for them, and desired their welfare, gave
them this prescription; and it is recommended to us all. [1.] Would we be
saved from the evil of every calamity, guarded against the temptation of it
and secured from the curse of it, which are the only evil things in it? It
must be in returning and rest, in returning to God and reposing in him
as our rest. Let us return from our evil ways, into which we have gone aside,
and rest and settle in the way of God and duty, and that is the way to be
saved. "Return from this project of going down to Egypt, and rest
satisfied in the will of God, and then you may trust him with your safety. In
returning (in the thorough reformation of your hearts and lives) and in
rest (in an entire submission of your souls to God and a complacency in
him) you shall be saved." [2.] Would we be strengthened to do what
is required of us and to bear what is laid upon us? It must be in quietness
and in confidence; we must keep our spirits calm and sedate by a continual
dependence upon God, and his power and goodness; we must retire into ourselves
with a holy quietness, suppressing all turbulent and tumultuous passions, and
keeping the peace in our own minds. And we must rely upon God with a holy
confidence that he can do what he will and will do what is best for his
people. And this will be our strength; it will inspire us with such a holy
fortitude as will carry us with ease and courage through all the difficulties
we may meet with.
(2.) The contempt they put upon this prescription; they would not take God's
counsel, though it was so much for their own good. And justly will those die
of their disease that will not take God for their physician. We are certainly
enemies to ourselves if we will not be subjects to him. They would not so much
as try the method prescribed: "But you said, No (v. 16), we
will not compose ourselves, for we will flee upon horses and we will
ride upon the swift; we will hurry hither and thither to fetch in foreign
aids." They think themselves wiser than God, and that they know what is
good for themselves better than he does. When Sennacherib took all the fenced
cities of Judah, those rebellious children would not be persuaded to sit still
and patiently to expect God's appearing for them, as he did wonderfully at
last; but they would shift for their own safety, and thereby they exposed
themselves to so much the more danger.
(3.) The sentence passed upon them for this. Their sin shall be their
punishment: "You will flee, and therefore you shall flee; you will
be upon the full speed, and therefore so shall those be that pursue you."
The dogs are most apt to run barking after him that rides fast. The conquerors
protected those that sat still, but pursued those that made their escape; and
so that very project by which they hoped to save themselves was justly their
ruin and the most guilty suffered most. It is foretold, v. 17, [1.]
That they should be easily cut off; they should be so dispirited with their
own fears, increased by their flight, that one of the enemy should defeat a
thousand of them, and five put an army to flight, which could never be unless
their Rock had sold them Deut. xxxii. 30. [2.] That they should be
generally cut off, and only here and there one should escape alone in a
solitary place, and be left for a spectacle too, as a beacon upon the top
of a mountain, a warning to others to avoid the like sinful courses and
carnal confidences.
18 And therefore will the LORD
wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that
he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD
is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for
him. 19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou
shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy
cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. 20 And though
the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet
shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall
see thy teachers: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee,
saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand,
and when ye turn to the left. 22 Ye shall defile also the covering
of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold:
thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get
thee hence. 23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou
shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it
shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large
pastures. 24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the
ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and
with the fan. 25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and
upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the
great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the light of
the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be
sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD
bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
The closing words of the foregoing paragraph (You shall be left as a beacon
upon a mountain) some understand as a promise that a remnant of them
should be reserved as monuments of mercy; and here the prophet tells them what
good times should succeed these calamities. Or the first words in this
paragraph may be read by way of antithesis, Notwithstanding this, yet will
the Lord wait that he may be gracious. The prophet, having shown that
those who made Egypt their confidence would be ashamed of it, here shows that
those who sat still and made God alone their confidence would have the comfort
of it. It is matter of comfort to the people of God, when the times are very
bad, that all will be well yet, well with those that fear God, when we
say to the wicked, It shall be ill with you.
I. God will be gracious to them and will have mercy on them. This is the
foundation of all good. If we find favour with God, and he have mercy upon us,
we shall have comfort according to the time that we have been afflicted.
1. The mercy in store for them is very affectingly expressed. (1.) "He
will wait to be gracious (v. 18); he will wait till you return
to him and seek his face, and then he will be ready to meet you with mercy. He
will wait, that he may do it in the best and fittest time, when it will be
most for his glory, when it will come to you with the most pleasing surprise.
He will continually follow you with his favours, and not let slip any
opportunity of being gracious to you." (2.) "He will stir up himself
to deliver you, will be exalted, will be raised up out of his holy
habitation (Zech. ii. 13), that he may appear for you in more than
ordinary instances of power and goodness; and thus he will be exalted,
that is, he will glorify his own name. This is what he aims at in having mercy
on his people." (3.) He will be very gracious (v. 19), and
this in answer to prayer, which makes his kindness doubly kind: "He
will be gracious to thee, at the voice of thy cry, the cry of thy
necessity, when that is most urgent--the cry of thy prayer, when that is most
fervent. When he shall hear it, there needs no more; at the first word he
will answer thee, and say, Here I am." Herein he is very
gracious indeed. In particular, [1.] Those who were disturbed in the
possession of their estates shall again enjoy them quietly. When the danger is
over the people shall dwell in Zion, at Jerusalem, as they used to do;
they shall dwell safely, free from the fear of evil. [2.] Those who were all
in tears shall have cause to rejoice, and shall weep no more; and those who
dwell in Zion, the holy city, will find enough there to wipe away tears from
their eyes.
2. This is grounded upon two great truths: (1.) That the Lord is a God of
judgment; he is both wise and just in all the disposals of his providence,
true to his word and tender of his people. If he correct his children, it is with
judgment (Jer. x. 24), with moderation and discretion, considering their
frame. We think we may safely refer ourselves to a man of judgment; and shall
we not commit our way to a God of judgment? (2.) That therefore all those are
blessed who wait for him, who not only wait on him with their prayers,
but wait for him with their hopes, who will not take any indirect course to
extricate themselves out of their straits, or anticipate their deliverance,
but patiently expect God's appearances for them in his own way and time.
Because God is infinitely wise, those are truly happy who refer their cause to
him.
II. They shall not again know the want of the means of grace, v. 20,
21. Here, 1. It is supposed that they might be brought into straits and
troubles after this deliverance was wrought for them. It was promised (v.
19), that they should weep no more and that God would be gracious to
them; and yet here it is taken for granted that God may give them the bread
of adversity and the water of affliction, prisoners' fare (1 Kings xxii.
27), coarse and sorry food, such as the poor use. When one trouble is over we
know not how soon another may succeed; and we may have an interest in the
favour of God, and such consolations as are sufficient to prohibit weeping,
and yet may have bread of adversity given us to eat and water of affliction to
drink. Let us therefore not judge of love or hatred by what is before us. 2.
It is promised that their eyes should see their teachers, that is, that
they should have faithful teachers among them, and should have hearts to
regard them and not slight them as they had done; and then they might the
better be reconciled to the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. It
was a common saying among the old Puritans, Brown bread and the gospel are
good fare. A famine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine of the
word of God, Amos viii. 11, 12. It seems that their teachers had been removed
into corners (probably being forced to shift for their safety in the reign of
Ahaz), but it shall be so no more. Veritas non quærit angulos--Truth seeks
no corners for concealment. But the teachers of truth may sometimes be
driven into corners for shelter; and it goes ill with the church when it is
so, when the woman with her crown of twelve stars is forced to flee into the
wilderness (Rev. xii. 6), when the prophets are hidden by fifty in a cave,
1 Kings xviii. 4. But God will find a time to call the teachers out of their
corners again, and to replace them in their solemn assemblies, which shall see
their own teachers, the eyes of all the synagogue being fastened on
them, Luke iv. 20. And it will be the more pleasing because of the restraint
they have been for some time under, as light out of darkness, as life from the
dead. To all that love God and their own souls this return of faithful
teachers out of their corners, especially with a promise that they shall
not be removed into corners any more, is the most acceptable part of any
deliverance, and has comfort enough in it to sweeten even the bread of
adversity and the water of affliction. But this is not all: 3. It is promised
that they shall have the benefit, not only of the public ministry, but of
private and particular admonition and advice (v. 21): "Thy ears
shall hear a word behind thee, calling after thee as a man calls after a
traveller that he sees going out of his road." Observe, (1.) Whence this
word shall come--from behind thee, from some one whom thou dost not
see, but who sees thee. "Thy eyes see thy teachers; but this is a teacher
out of sight, it is thy own conscience, which shall now by the grace of God be
awakened to do its office." (2.) What the word shall be: "This is
the way, walk you in it. When thou art doubting, conscience shall direct
thee to the way of duty; when thou art dull and trifling, conscience shall
quicken thee in that way." As God has not left himself without witness,
so he has not left us without guides to show us our way. (3.) The
seasonableness of this word: It shall come when you turn to the right hand
or to the left. We are very apt to miss our way; there are turnings on
both hands, and those so tracked and seemingly straight that they may easily
be mistaken for the right way. There are right-hand and left-hand errors,
extremes on each side virtue; the tempter is busy courting us into the
by-paths. It is happy then if by the particular counsels of a faithful
minister or friend, or the checks of conscience and the strivings of God's
Spirit, we be set right and prevented from going wrong. (4.) The success of
this word: "It shall not only be spoken, but thy ears shall hear it;
whereas God has formerly spoken once, yea, twice, and thou hast not
perceived it (Job xxxiii. 14), now thou shalt listen attentively to these
secret whispers, and hear them with an obedient ear." If God gives us not
only the word, but the hearing ear, not only the means of grace, but a heart
to make a good use of those means, we have reason to say, He is very gracious
to us, and reason to hope he has yet further mercy in store for us.
III. They shall be cured of their idolatry, shall fall out with their idols,
and never be reconciled to them again, v. 22. The deliverance God shall
work for them shall convince them that it is their interest, as well as duty,
to serve him only; and they shall own that, as their trouble was brought upon
them for their idolatries, so it was removed upon condition that they should
not return to them. This is also the good effect of their seeing their
teachers and hearing the word behind them; by this it shall appear that they
are the better for the means of grace they enjoy--they shall break off from
their best-beloved sin. Observe, 1. How foolishly mad they had formerly been
upon their idols, in the day of their apostasy. Idolaters are said to be mad
upon their idols (Jer. l. 38), dotingly fond of them. They had graven
images of silver, and molten images of gold, and, though gold needs
no painting, they had coverings and ornaments on these; they spared no cost in
doing honour to their idols. 2. How wisely mad (if I may so speak) they now
were at their idols, what a holy indignation they conceived against them in
the day of their repentance. They not only degraded their images, but defaced
them, not only defaced them, but defiled them; they not only spoiled the shape
of them, but in a pious fury threw away the gold and silver they were made of,
though otherwise valuable and convertible to a good use. They could not find
in their hearts to make any vessel of honour of them. The rich clothes
wherewith their images were dressed up they cast away as a filthy cloth which
rendered those that touched it unclean until the evening, Lev. xv. 23.
Note, To all true penitents sin has become very odious; they loathe it, and
loathe themselves because of it; they cast it away to the dunghill, the
fittest place for it, nay, to the cross, for they crucify the flesh; their cry
against it is, Crucify it, crucify it. They say unto it, Abi hinc in
malam rem--Get thee hence. They are resolved never to harbour it any more.
They put as far from as they can all the occasions of sin and temptations to
it, though they are as a right eye or a right hand, and protest against it as
Ephraim did (Hos. xiv. 8), What have I to do any more with idols?
Probably this was fulfilled in many particular persons, who, by the
deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib's army, were convinced of the folly
of their idolatry and forsook it. It was fulfilled in the body of the Jewish
nation at their return from their captivity in Babylon, for they abhorred
idols ever after; and it is accomplished daily in the conversion of souls, by
the power of divine grace, from spiritual idolatry to the fear and love of
God. Those that join themselves to the Lord must abandon every sin, and say
unto it, Get thee hence.
IV. God will then give them plenty of all good things. When he gives them
their teachers, and they give him their hearts, so that they begin to seek the
kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, then all other things shall
be added to them Matt. vi. 33. And when the people are brought to praise
God then shall the earth yield her increase, and with it God, even our own
God, shall bless us, Ps. lxvii. 5, 6. So it follows here: "When you
shall have abandoned your idols, then shall God give the rain of your seed,"
v. 23. When we return to God in a way of duty he will meet us with his
favours. 1. God will give you rain of your seed, rain to water the seed you
sow, just at the time that it calls for it, as much as it needs and no more.
Observe, How man's industry and God's blessing concur to the good things we
enjoy relating to the life that now is: Thou shalt sow the ground, that
is thy part, and then God will give the rain of thy seed, that is his
part. It is so in spiritual fruit; we must take pains with our hearts and then
wait on God for his grace. 2. The increase of the earth shall be rich and
good, and every thing the best of the kind; it shall be fat and fat,
very fat and very good, fat and plenteous (so we read it), good and
enough of it. Your land shall be Canaan indeed; it was remarkably so after the
defeat of Sennacherib, by the special blessing of God, ch. xxxvii. 30.
God would thus repair the losses they sustained by that devastation. 3. Not
only the tillage, but the pasture-ground should be remarkably fruitful: The
cattle shall feed in large pastures; those that are at grass shall have
room enough, and the oxen and asses that are kept up for use, to ear the
ground, which must be the better fed for their being worked, shall eat
clean provender. The corn shall not be given them in the chaff as usual,
to make it go the further, but they shall have good clean corn fit for man's
use, being winnowed with the fan. The brute-creatures shall share in
the abundance; it is fit they should, for they groan under the burden of the
curse which man's sin has brought upon the earth. 4. Even the tops of the
mountains, that used to be barren, shall be so well watered with the rain of
heaven that there shall be rivers and streams there, and running down
thence to the valleys (v. 25), and this in the day of the great
slaughter that should be made by the angel in the camp of the Assyrians, when
the towers and batteries they had erected for the carrying on of the siege
of Jerusalem, the army being slain, should fall of course. It is
probable that this was fulfilled in the letter of it, and that about the same
time that that army was cut off there were extraordinary rains in mercy to the
land.
V. The effect of all this should be extraordinary comfort and joy to the
people of God, v. 26. Light shall increase; that is, knowledge shall
increase (when the prophecies are accomplished they shall be fully understood)
or rather triumph shall: the light of the joy that is sown for the righteous
shall now come up with a great increase. The light of the moon shall become
as bright and as strong as that of the sun, and that of the sun
shall increase proportionably and be as the light of seven days; every
one shall be much more cheerful and appear much more pleasant than usual.
There shall be a high spring-tide of joy in Judah and Jerusalem, upon occasion
of the ruin of the Assyrian army, when the Lord binds up the breach of his
people, not only saves them from being further wounded, but heals the
wounds that have been given them by this invasion and makes up all their
losses. The great distress they were reduced to, their despair of relief, and
the suddenness of their deliverance, would much augment their joy. This is not
unfitly applied by many to the light which the gospel brought into the world
to those that sat in darkness, which has far exceeded the Old-Testament light
as that of the sun does that of the moon, and which proclaims healing to
the broken-hearted, and the binding up of their wounds.
|
Judgments
on Assyria.
|
B.
C. 720.
|
|
|
27 Behold, the name of the LORD
cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is
heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring
fire: 28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to
the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there
shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to
err. 29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy
solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to
come into the mountain of the LORD,
to the mighty One of Israel. 30 And the LORD
shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down
of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the
flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and
hailstones. 31 For through the voice of the LORD
shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD
shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles
of shaking will he fight with it. 33 For Tophet is ordained
of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and
large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD,
like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
This terrible prediction of the ruin of the Assyrian army, though it is a
threatening to them, is part of the promise to the Israel of God, that God
would not only punish the Assyrians for the mischief they had done to the
Israel of God, but would disable and deter them from doing the like again; and
this prediction, which would now shortly be accomplished, would ratify and
confirm the foregoing promises, which should be accomplished in the latter
days. Here is,
I. God Almighty angry, and coming forth in anger against the Assyrians. He is
here introduced in all the power and all the terror of his wrath, v.
27. The name of Jehovah, which the Assyrians disdain and set at a
distance from them, as if they were out of its reach and it could do them no
harm, behold, it comes from far. A messenger in the name of the Lord
comes from as far off as heaven itself. He is a messenger of wrath, burning
with his anger. God's lips are full of indignation at the blasphemy
of Rabshakeh, who compared the God of Israel with the gods of the heathen; his
tongue is as a devouring fire, for he can speak his proud enemies to ruin;
his very breath comes with as much force as an overflowing stream, and with it
he shall slay the wicked, ch. xi. 4. He does not stifle or smother his
resentments, as men do theirs when they are either causeless or impotent; but
he shall cause his glorious voice to be heard when he proclaims war
with an enemy that sets him at defiance, v. 30. He shall display the
indignation of his anger, anger in the highest degree; it shall be as the
flame of a devouring fire, which carries and consumes all before it, with lightning
or dissipation, and with tempest and hailstones, all which are the
formidable phenomena of nature, and therefore expressive of the terror of the
Almighty God of nature.
II. The execution done by this anger of the Lord. Men are often angry when
they can only threaten and talk big; but when God causes his glorious voice to
be heard that shall not be all: he will show the lighting down of his arm
too, v. 30. The operations of his providence shall accomplish the
menaces of his word. Those that would not see the lifting up of his arm
(ch. xxvi. 11) shall feel the lighting down of it, and find, to their
cost, that the burden thereof is heavy (v. 27), so heavy that they
cannot bear it, nor bear up against it, but must unavoidably sink and be
crushed under it. Who knows the power of his anger or imagines what an
offended God can do? Five things are here prepared for the execution:-- 1.
Here is an overflowing stream, that shall reach to the midst of the
neck, shall quite overwhelm the whole body of the army, and Sennacherib
only, the head of it, shall keep above water and escape this stroke, while yet
he is reserved for another in the house of Nisroch his god. The Assyrian army
had been to Judah as an overflowing stream, reaching even to the neck (ch.
viii. 7, 8), and now the breath of God's wrath will be so to it. 2. Here is a
sieve of vanity, with which God would sift those nations of which the
Assyrian army was composed, v. 28. The great God can sift nations, for
they are all before him as the small dust of the balance; he will sift them,
not to gather out of them any that should be preserved, but so as to shake
them one against another, put them into great consternation, and shake them
all away at last; for it is a sieve of vanity (which retains nothing) that
they are shaken with, and they are found all chaff. 3. Here is a bridle,
which God has in their jaws, to curb and restrain them from doing the mischief
they would do, and to force and constrain them to serve his purposes against
their own will, ch. x. 7. God particularly says of Sennacherib (ch.
xxxvii. 29) that he will put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips. It
is a bridle causing them to err, forcing them to such methods as will
certainly be destructive to themselves and their interest and in which they
will be infatuated. God with a word guides his people into the right way (v.
21), but with a bridle he turns his enemies headlong upon their own ruin. 4.
Here is a rod and a staff, even the voice of the Lord,
his word giving orders concerning it, with which the Assyrian shall be
beaten down, v. 31. The Assyrian had been himself a rod in God's
hand for the chastising of his people, and had smitten them, ch. x. 5.
That was a transient rod; but against the Assyrian shall go forth a
grounded staff, that shall give a steady blow, shall stick close to him
and strike home, so as to leave an impression upon him. It is a staff with a
foundation, founded upon the enemies' deserts and God's determinate counsel.
It is a consumption determined (ch. x. 23), and therefore there is no
escaping it, no getting out of the reach of it; it shall pass in every place
where an Assyrian is found, and the Lord shall lay it upon him, and
cause it to rest, v. 32. Such is the woeful case of those that persist
in enmity to God: the wrath of God abides on them. 5. Here is Tophet
ordained and prepared for them, v. 33. The valley of the son
of Hinnom, adjoining to Jerusalem, was called Tophet. In that valley,
it is supposed, many of the Assyrian regiments lay encamped, and were there
slain by the destroying angel; or there the bodies of those that were so slain
were burned. Hezekiah had lately, and from yesterday (so the word is) ordained
it; that is, say some, he had cleared it of the images that were set up in
it, to which they there burnt their children, and so prepared it to be a
receptacle for the dead bodies of their enemies, for the king of Assyria
(that is, for his army) it is prepared, and there is fuel enough ready
to burn them all; and they shall be consumed as suddenly and effectually as if
the fire were kept burning by a continual stream of brimstone, for such the
breath of the Lord, his word and his wrath, will be to it. Now as the prophet,
in the foregoing promises, slides insensibly into the promises of gospel
graces and comforts, so here, in the threatening of the ruin of Sennacherib's
army, he points at the final and everlasting destruction of all impenitent
sinners. Our Saviour calls the future misery of the damned Gehenna, in
allusion to the valley of Hinnom, which gives some countenance to the applying
of this to that misery, as also that in the Apocalypse it is so often called
the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is said to be
prepared of old for the devil and his angels, for the greatest of sinners, the
proudest, and that think themselves not accountable to any for what they say
and do; even for kings it is prepared. It is deep and large, sufficient
to receive the world of the ungodly; the pile thereof is fire and much
wood. God's wrath is the fire, and sinners make themselves fuel to it; and
the breath of the Lord (the power of his anger) kindles it, and
will keep it ever burning. See ch. lxvi. 24. Wherefore stand in awe
and sin not.
III. The great joy which this should occasion to the people of God. The
Assyrian's fall is Jerusalem's triumph (v. 29): You shall have a
song as in the night, a psalm of praise such as those sing who by night
stand in the house of the Lord, and sing to his glory who gives songs
in the night. It shall not be a song of vain mirth, but a sacred song,
such as was sung when a holy solemnity was kept in a grave and religious
manner. Our joy in the fall of the church's enemies must be a holy joy, gladness
of heart, as when one goes, with a pipe (such as the sons of the prophets
used when they prophesied, 1 Sam. x. 5), to the mountain of the Lord,
there to celebrate the praises of the Mighty One of Israel. Nay, in
every place where the divine vengeance shall pursue the Assyrians they shall
not only fall unlamented, but all their neighbours shall attend their fall with
tabrets and harps, pleased to see how God, in battles of shaking,
such as shake them out of the world, fights with them (v. 32); for when
the wicked perish there is shouting; and it is with a particular
satisfaction that wise and good men see the ruin of those who, like the
Assyrians, have insolently bidden defiance to God and trampled upon all
mankind.
Contents
|
Next
Section
