I
S A I A H
CHAP. XXXII.
This
chapter seems to be such a prophecy of the reign of Hezekiah as amounts to an
abridgment of the history of it, and this with an eye to the kingdom of the
Messiah, whose government was typified by the thrones of the house of David,
for which reason he is so often called "the Son of David." Here is,
I. A prophecy of that good work of reformation with which he should begin his
reign, and the happy influence it should have upon the people, who had been
wretchedly corrupted and debauched in the reign of his predecessor, ver. 1-8.
II. A prophecy of the great disturbance that would be given to the kingdom in
the middle of his reign by the Assyrian invasion, ver. 9-14. III. A promise of
better times afterwards, towards the latter end of his reign, in respect both
of piety and peace (ver. 15-20), which promise may be supposed to look as far
forward as the days of the Messiah.
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The
Reign of Justice.
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B.
C. 726.
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1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness,
and princes shall rule in judgment. 2 And a man shall be as a
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. 3
And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear
shall hearken. 4 The heart also of the rash shall understand
knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak
plainly. 5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor
the churl said to be bountiful. 6 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. 7
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. 8 But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal
things shall he stand.
We have here the description of a flourishing kingdom. "Blessed art
thou, O land! when it is thus with thee, when kings, princes, and people,
are in their places such as they should be." It may be taken as a
directory both to magistrates and subjects, what both ought to do, or as a
panegyric to Hezekiah, who ruled well and saw something of the happy effects
of his good government, and it was designed to make the people sensible how
happy they were under his administration and how careful they should be to
improve the advantages of it, and withal to direct them to look for the
kingdom of Christ, and the times of reformation which that kingdom should
introduce. It is here promised and prescribed, for the comfort of the church,
I. That magistrates should do their duty in their places, and the powers
answer the great ends for which they were ordained of God, v. 1, 2. 1.
There shall be a king and princes that shall reign and rule; for it cannot go
well when there is no king in Israel. The princes must have a king, a monarch
over them as supreme, in whom they may unite; and the king must have princes
under him as officers, by whom he may act, 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14. They both shall
know their place and fill it up. The king shall reign, and yet, without any
diminution to his just prerogative, the princes shall rule in a lower sphere,
and all for the public good. 2. They shall use their power according to law,
and not against it. They shall reign in righteousness and in judgment, with
wisdom and equity, protecting the good and punishing the bad; and those kings
and princes Christ owns as reigning by him who decree justice, Prov. viii. 15.
Such a King, such a Prince, Christ himself is; he reigns by rule, and in
righteousness will he judge the world, ch. ix. 7; xi. 4. 3. Thus
they shall be great blessings to the people (v. 2): A man, that
man, that king that reigns in righteousness, shall be as a hiding-place.
When princes are as they should be people are as they would be. (1.) They are
sheltered and protected from many mischiefs. This good magistrate is a covert
to the subject from the tempest of injury and violence; he defends the poor
and fatherless, that they be not made a prey of by the mighty. Whither
should oppressed innocency flee, when blasted by reproach or borne down by
violence, but to the magistrate as its hiding-place? To him it appeals, and by
him it is righted. (2.) They are refreshed and comforted with many blessings.
This good magistrate gives such countenance to those that are poor and in
distress, and such encouragement to every thing that is praiseworthy, that he
is as rivers of water in a dry place, cooling and cherishing the earth
and making it fruitful, and as the shadow of a great rock, under which
a poor traveller may shelter himself from the scorching heat of the sun in
a weary land. It is a great reviving to a good man, who makes conscience
of doing his duty, in the midst of contempt and contradiction, at length to be
backed, and favoured, and smiled upon in it by a good magistrate. All this,
and much more, the man Christ Jesus is to all the willing faithful subjects of
his kingdom. When the greatest evils befal us, not only the wind, but the
tempest, when storms of guilt and wrath beset us and beat upon us, they drive
us to Christ, and in him we are not only safe, but satisfied that we are so;
in him we find rivers of water for those that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, all the refreshment and comfort that a needy soul can desire,
and the shadow, not of a tree, which sun or rain may beat through, but of a
rock, of a great rock, which reaches a great way for the shelter of the
traveller. Some observe here that as the covert, and the hiding-place, and the
rock, do themselves receive the battering of the wind and storm, to save those
from it that take shelter in them, so Christ bore the storm himself to keep it
off from us.
II. That subjects should do their duty in their places.
1. They shall be willing to be taught, and to understand things aright. They
shall lay aside their prejudices against their rulers and teachers, and submit
to the light and power of truth, v. 3. When this blessed work of
reformation is set on foot, and men do their parts towards it, God will not be
wanting to do his: Then the eyes of those that see, of the prophets,
the seers, shall not be dim; but God will bless them with visions, to
be by them communicated to the people; and those that read the word written
shall no longer have a veil upon their hearts, but shall see things clearly.
Then the ears of those that hear the word preached shall hearken
diligently and readily receive what they hear, and not be so dull of hearing
as they have been. This shall be done by the grace of God, especially
gospel-grace; for the hearing ear, and the seeing eyes, the Lord has made,
has new-made, even both of them.
2. There shall be a wonderful change wrought in them by that which is taught
them, v. 4. (1.) They shall have a clear head, and be able to discern
things that differ, and distinguish concerning them. The heart of those
that were hasty and rash, and could not take time to digest and
consider things, shall now be cured of their precipitation, and shall
understand knowledge; for the Spirit of God will open their understanding.
This blessed work Christ wrought in his disciples after his resurrection (Luke
xxiv. 45), as a specimen of what he would do for all his people, in giving
them an understanding, 1 John v. 20. The pious designs of good princes are
likely to take effect when their subjects allow themselves liberty to
consider, and to think, so freely as to take things right. (2.) They shall
have a ready utterance: The tongue of the stammerers, that used to
blunder whenever they spoke of the things of God, shall now be ready
to speak plainly, as those that understand what they speak of, that
believe, and therefore speak. There shall be a great increase of such clear,
distinct, and methodical knowledge in the things of God, that those from whom
one would not have expected it shall speak intelligently of these things, very
much to the honour of God and the edification of others. Their hearts being
full of this good matter, their tongues shall be as the pen of a ready
writer, Ps. xlv. 1.
3. The differences between good and evil, virtue and vice, shall be kept up,
and no more confounded by those who put darkness for light and light for
darkness (v. 5): The vile shall no more be called liberal.
(1.) Bad men shall no more be preferred by the prince. When a king reigns in
justice he will not put those in places of honour and power that are
ill-natured, and of base and sordid spirits, and care not what injury or
mischief they do so they may but compass their own ends. Such as vile
persons (as Antiochus is called, Dan. xi. 21); when they are advanced they are
called liberal and bountiful; they are called benefactors
(Luke xxii. 25): but it shall not always be thus; when the world grows wiser
men shall be preferred according to their merit, and honour (which was never
thought seemly for a fool, Prov. xxvi. 1) shall no longer be thrown away upon
such.
(2.) Bad men shall be no more had in reputation among the people, nor vice
disguised with the colours of virtue. It shall no more be said to Nabal, Thou
art Nadib (so the words are); such a covetous muck-worm as Nabal was, a
fool but for his money, shall not be complimented with the title of a
gentleman or a prince; nor shall they call a churl, that minds none but
himself, does no good with what he has, but is an unprofitable burden of the
earth, My lord; or, rather, they shall not say of him, He is rich;
for so the word signifies. Those only are to be reckoned rich that are rich in
good works; not those that have abundance, but those that use it well. In
short, it is well with a people when men are generally valued by their virtue,
and usefulness, and beneficence to mankind, and not by their wealth or titles
of honour. Whether this was fulfilled in the reign of Hezekiah, and how far it
refers to the kingdom of Christ (in which we are sure men are judged of by
what they are, not by what they have, nor is any man's character mistaken), we
will not say; but it prescribes an excellent rule both to prince and people,
to respect men according to their personal merit. To enforce this rule, here
is a description both of the vile person and of the liberal; and by it we
shall see such a vast difference between them that we must quite forget
ourselves if we pay that respect to the vile person and the churl which is due
only to the liberal.
[1.] A vile person and a churl will do mischief, and the more if he be
preferred and have power in his hand; his honours will make him worse and not
better, v. 6, 7. See the character of these base ill-conditioned men. First,
They are always plotting some unjust thing or other, designing ill either to
particular persons or to the public, and contriving how to bring it about; and
so many silly piques they have to gratify, and mean revenges, that there
appears not in them the least spark of generosity. Their hearts will be still
working some iniquity or other. Observe, There is the work of the heart, as
well as the work of the hands. As thoughts are words to God, so designs are
works in his account. See what pains sinners take in sin. They labour at it;
their hearts are intent upon it, and with a great deal of art and application
they work iniquity. They devise wicked devices with all the
subtlety of the old serpent and a great deal of deliberation, which makes the
sin exceedingly sinful; and the more there is of plot and management in a sin
the more there is of Satan in it. Secondly, They carry on their plots
by trick and dissimulation. When they are meditating iniquity, they practise
hypocrisy, feign themselves just men, Luke xx. 20. The most abominable
mischiefs shall be disguised with the most plausible pretences of devotion to
God, regard to man, and concern for some common good. Those are the vilest of
men that intend the worst mischiefs when they speak fair. Thirdly, They
speak villainy. When they are in a passion you will see what they are
by the base ill language they give to those about them, which no way becomes
men of rank and honour; or, in giving verdict or judgment, they villainously
put false colours upon things, to pervert justice. Fourthly, They
affront God, who is a righteous God and loves righteousness: They utter
error against the Lord, and therein they practise profaneness; for so the
word which we translate hypocrisy signifies. They give an unjust
sentence, and then profanely make use of the name of God for the ratification
of it; as if, because the judgment is God's (Deut. i. 17), therefore
their false and unjust judgment was his. This is uttering error against the
Lord, under pretence of uttering truth and justice for him; and nothing
can be more impudently done against God than to use his name to patronise
wickedness. Fifthly, They abuse mankind, those particularly whom they
are bound to protect and relieve. 1. Instead of supplying the wants of the
poor, they impoverish them, they make empty the souls of the hungry;
either taking away the food they have, or, which is almost equivalent, denying
the supply which they want and which they have to give. And they cause the
drink of the thirsty to fail; they cut off the relief they used to have,
though they need it as much as ever. Those are vile persons indeed that rob
the spital. 2. Instead of righting the poor, when they appeal to their
judgment, they contrive to destroy the poor, to ruin them in their courts of
judicature with lying words in favour of the rich, to whom they are plainly
partial; yea, though the needy speak right, though the evidence be ever so
full for them to make out the equity of their cause, it is the bribe that
governs them, not the right. Sixthly, These churls and vile persons
have always had instruments about them, that are ready to serve their
villainous purposes: All their servants are wicked. There is no design
so palpably unjust but there may be found those that would be employed as
tools to put it in execution. The instruments of the churl are evil,
and one cannot expect otherwise; but this is our comfort, that they can do no
more mischief than God permits them.
[2.] One that is truly liberal, and deserves the honour of being called so,
makes it his business to do good to every body according as his sphere is, v.
8. Observe, First, The care he takes, and the contrivances he has, to
do good. He devises liberal things. As much as the churl or niggard
projects how to save and lay up what he has for himself only, so much the good
charitable man projects how to use and lay out what he has in the best manner
for the good of others. Charity must be directed by wisdom, and liberal things
done prudently and with device, that the good intention of them may be
answered, that it may not be charity misplaced. The liberal man, when he has
done all the liberal things that are in his own power, devises liberal things
for others to do according to their power, and puts them upon doing them. Secondly,
the comfort he takes, and the advantage he has, in doing good: By liberal
things he shall stand, or be established. The providence of God will
reward him for his liberality with a settled prosperity and an established
reputation. The grace of God will give him abundance of satisfaction and
confirmed peace in his own bosom. What disquiets others shall not disturb him;
his heart is fixed. This is the recompence of charity, Ps. cxii. 5, 6. Some
read it, The prince, or honourable man, will take honourable courses; and
by such honourable or ingenuous courses he shall stand or be established.
It is well with a land when the honourable of it are indeed men of honour and
scorn to do a base thing, when its king is thus the son of nobles.
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Joyful
Prospects.
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B.
C. 726.
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9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my
voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. 10 Many
days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall
fail, the gathering shall not come. 11 Tremble, ye women that are
at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird
sackcloth upon your loins. 12 They shall lament for
the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. 13 Upon
the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all
the houses of joy in the joyous city: 14 Because the
palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts
and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of
flocks; 15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and
the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a
forest. 16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and
righteousness remain in the fruitful field. 17 And the work of
righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and
assurance for ever. 18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable
habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; 19
When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a
low place. 20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters,
that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
In these verses we have God rising up to judgment against the vile persons, to
punish them for their villainy; but at length returning in mercy to the
liberal, to reward them for their liberality.
I. When there was so great a corruption of manners, and so much provocation
given to the holy God, bad times might well be expected, and here is a warning
given of such times coming. The alarm is sounded to the women that were at
ease (v. 9) and the careless daughters, to feed whose pride,
vanity, and luxury, their husbands and fathers were tempted to starve the
poor. Let them hear what the prophet has to say to them in God's name: "Rise
up, and hear with reverence and attention."
1. Let them know that God was about to bring wasting desolating judgments upon
the land in which they lived in pleasure and were wanton. This seems to
refer primarily to the desolations made by Sennacherib's army when he seized
all the fenced cities of Judah: but then those words, many days and years,
must be rendered (as the margin reads them) days above a year, that is,
something above a year shall this havock be in the making: so long it was from
the first entrance of that army into the land of Judah to the overthrow of it.
But it is applicable to the wretched disappointment which those will certainly
meet with, first or last, that set their hearts upon the world and place their
happiness in it: You shall be troubled, you careless women. It will not
secure us from trouble to cast away care when we are at ease; nay, to those
who affect to live carelessly even little troubles will be great vexations and
press hard upon them. They were careless and at ease because they had money
enough and mirth enough; but the prophet here tells them, (1.) That the
country whence they had their tents and dainties should shortly be laid waste:
"The vintage shall fail; and then what will you do for wine to
make merry with? The gathering of fruit shall not come, for
there shall be none to be gathered, and you will find the want of them, v.
10. You will want the teats, the good milk from the cows, the
pleasant fields and their productions:" the useful fields that are
serviceable to human life are the pleasant ones. "You will want the
fruitful vine, and the grapes it used to yield you." The abuse of plenty
is justly punished with scarcity; and those deserve to be deprived of the
supports of life who make them the food and fuel of lust and prepare them for
Baal. (2.) That the cities too, the cities of Judah, where they lived at ease,
spent their rents, and made themselves merry with their dainties, should be
laid waste (v. 13, 14): Briers and thorns, the fruits of sin and
the curse, shall come up, not only upon the land of my people,
which shall lie uncultivated, but upon all the houses of joy--the
play-houses, the gaming-houses, the taverns--in the joyous cities. When
a foreign army was ravaging the country the houses of joy, no doubt, became
houses of mourning; then the palaces, or noblemen's houses, were forsaken by
their owners, who perhaps fled to Egypt for refuge; the multitude of the city
were left by their leaders to shift for themselves. Then the stately houses shall
be for dens for ever, which had been as forts and towers for strength and
magnificence. They shall be abandoned; the owners shall never return to them;
every body shall look upon them to be like Jericho, an anathema; so that, even
when peace returns, they shall not be rebuilt, but shall be thrown to the
waste: A joy of wild asses and a pasture of flocks. Thus is many a
house brought to ruin by sin. Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit--Corn grows on
the site of Troy.
2. In the foresight of this let them tremble and be troubled, strip
themselves, and gird sackcloth upon their loins, v. 11. This
intimates not only that when the calamity comes they shall thus be made to
tremble and be forced to strip themselves, that then God's judgments would
strip them and make them bare, but, (1.) That the best prevention of the
trouble would be to repent and humble themselves for their sin, and lie in the
dust before God in true remorse and godly sorrow, which would be the
lengthening out of their tranquillity. This is meeting God in the way of his
judgments, and saving a correction by correcting our own mistakes. Those only
shall break that will not bend. (2.) That the best preparation for the trouble
would be to deny themselves and live a life of mortification, and to sit loose
to all the delights of sense. Those that have already by a holy contempt of
this world stripped themselves can easily bear to be stripped when trouble and
death come.
II. While there was still a remnant that kept their integrity they had reason
to hope for good times at length and such times the prophet here gives them a
pleasant prospect of. Such times they saw in the latter end of the reign of
Hezekiah; but the prophecy may well be supposed to look further, to the days
of the Messiah, who is King of righteousness and King of peace,
and to whom all the prophets bear witness. Now observe,
1. How those blessed times shall be introduced-by the pouring out of the
Spirit from on high (v. 15), which speaks not only of the good-will
of God towards us, but the good work of God in us; for then, and not till
then, there will be good times, when God by his grace gives men good hearts;
and therefore God's giving his Holy Spirit to those that ask him is in
effect his giving them all good things, as appears by comparing Luke xi. 13
with Matt. vii. 11. This is the great thing that God's people comfort
themselves with the hopes of, that the Spirit shall be poured out upon
them, that there shall be a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of grace
than formerly, according as the necessity of the church, in its desolate
estate, calls for. This comes from on high, and therefore they look up to
their Father in heaven for it. When God designs favours for his church he
pours out his Spirit, both to prepare his people to receive his favours and to
qualify and give success to those whom he designs to employ as instruments of
his favour; for their endeavours to repair the desolations of the church are
all fruitless until the Spirit be poured out upon them and then the
work is done suddenly. The kingdom of the Messiah was brought in, and set up,
by the pouring out of the Spirit (Acts ii.), and so it is still kept up, and
will be to the end.
2. What a wonderfully happy change shall then be made. That which was a
wilderness, dry and barren, shall become a fruitful field, and that
which we now reckon a fruitful field, in comparison with what it shall
be then, shall be counted for a forest. Then shall the earth yield her
increase. It is promised that in the days of the Messiah the fruit of
the earth shall shake like Lebanon, Ps. lxxii. 16. Some apply this to the
admission of the Gentiles into the gospel church (which made the wilderness a
fruitful field), and the rejection and exclusion of the Jews, which made that
a forest which had been a fruitful field. On the Gentiles was poured out a
spirit of life, but on the Jews a spirit of slumber. See what is the evidence
and effect of the pouring out of the Spirit upon any soul; it is thereby made
fruitful, and has its fruit unto holiness. Three things go to make these times
happy:--
(1.) Judgment and righteousness, v. 16. When the Spirit is poured out
upon a land, then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and turn it
into a fruitful field, and righteousness shall remain in the fruitful field
and make it yet more fruitful. Ministers shall expound the law and magistrates
execute it, and both so judiciously and faithfully that by both the bad shall
be made good and the good made better. Among all sorts of people, the poor and
low and unlearned, that are neglected as the wilderness, and the rich and
great and learned, that are valued as the fruitful field, there shall be right
thoughts of things, good principles commanding, and conscience made of good
and evil, sin and duty. Or in all parts of the land, both champaign and
enclosed, country and city, the ruder parts and those that are more cultivated
and refined, justice shall be duly administered. The law of Christ introduces
a judgment or rule by which we must be governed, and the gospel of Christ a
righteousness by which we must be saved; and, wherever the Spirit is poured
out, both these dwell and remain as an everlasting righteousness.
(2.) Peace and quietness, v. 17, 18. The peace here promised is of two
kinds:--
[1.] Inward peace, v. 17. This follows upon the indwelling of
righteousness, v. 16. Those in whom that work is wrought shall
experience this blessed product of it. It is itself peace, and the effect of
it is quietness and assurance for ever, that is, a holy serenity and
security of mind, by which the soul enjoys itself and enjoys its God, and it
is not in the power of this world to disturb it in those enjoyments. Note,
Peace, and quietness, and everlasting assurance may be expected, and shall be
found, in the way and work of righteousness. True satisfaction is to be had
only in true religion, and there it is to be had without fail. Those are the
quiet and peaceable lives that are spent in all godliness and honesty,
1 Tim. ii. 2. First, Even the work of righteousness shall be peace.
In the doing of our duty we shall find abundance of true pleasure, a present
great reward of obedience in obedience. Though the work of righteousness may
be toilsome and costly, and expose us to contempt, yet it is peace, such peace
as is sufficient to bear our charges. Secondly, The effect of righteousness
shall be quietness and assurance, not only to the end of time, of our
time, and in the end, but to the endless ages of eternity. Real holiness is
real happiness now and shall be perfect happiness, that is, perfect holiness,
for ever.
[2.] Outward peace, v. 18. It is a great mercy when those who by the
grace of God have quiet and peaceable spirits are by the providence of God
made to dwell in quiet and peaceable habitations, not disturbed in
their houses or solemn assemblies. When the terror of Sennacherib's invasion
was over, the people, no doubt, were more sensible than ever of the mercy of a
quiet habitation, not disturbed with the alarms of war. Let every family study
to keep itself quiet from strifes and jars within, not two against three and
three against two in the house, and then put itself under God's protection to
dwell safely, and to be quiet from the fear of evil without. Jerusalem
shall be a peaceable habitation; compare ch. xxxiii. 20. Even when
it shall hail, and there shall be a violent battering storm coming down
on the forest that lies bleak, then shall Jerusalem be a quiet
resting-place, for the city shall be low in a low place, under the wind,
not exposed (as those cities are that stand high) to the fury of the storm,
but sheltered by the mountains that are round about Jerusalem, Ps. cxxv.
2. The high forts and towers are brought down (v. 14), but the
city that lies low shall be a quiet resting-place. Those are most safe, and
may dwell most at ease, that are humble, and are willing to dwell low, v.
19. Those that would dwell in a peaceable habitation must be willing to dwell
low, and in a low place. Some think here is an allusion to the preservation of
the land of Goshen from the plague of hail, which made great destruction in
the land of Egypt.
(3.) Plenty and abundance. There shall be such good crops gathered in every
where, and every year, that the husbandmen shall be commended, and though
happy, who sow beside all water (v. 20), who sow all the grounds
that are fit for seedness, who cast their bread, or bread-corn, upon
the water, Eccl. xi. 1. God will give the increase, but then the
husbandman must be industrious, and mind his business, and sow beside all
waters; and, if he do this, the corn shall come up so thick and rank that he
shall turn in his cattle, even the ox and the ass, to eat the tops of it and
keep it under. This is applicable, [1.] To the preaching of the word. Some
think it points at the ministry of the apostles, who, as husbandmen, went
forth to sow their seed (Matt. xiii. 3); they sowed beside all waters; they
preached the gospel wherever they came. Waters signify people, and they
preached to multitudes. Wherever they found men's hearts softened, and
moistened, and disposed to receive the word, they cast in the good seed. And
whereas, by the law of Moses, the Jews were forbidden to plough with an ox
and an ass together (Deut. xxii. 10), which intimated that Jews and
Gentiles should not intermix, now that distinction shall be taken away, and
both the ox and the ass, both Jews and Gentiles, shall be employed in, and
enjoy the benefit of, the gospel husbandry. [2.] To works of charity. When God
sends these happy times blessed are those that improve them in doing good with
what they have, that sow beside all waters, that embrace all opportunities of
relieving the necessitous; for in due season they shall reap.
Contents
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