I
S A I A H
CHAP. XXXIII.
This
chapter relates to the same events as the foregoing chapter, the distress of
Judah and Jerusalem
by Sennacherib's invasion and their
deliverance out of that distress by the destruction of the Assyrian army.
These are intermixed in the prophecy, in the way of a Pindaric. Observe, I.
The great distress that
Judah
and
Jerusalem
should then be brought into, ver. 7-9. II. The particular frights which the sinners in
Zion should then be in, ver. 13, 14. III. The
prayers of good people to God in this distress, ver. 2. IV. The holy security
which they should enjoy in the midst of this trouble, ver. 15, 16. V. The
destruction of the army of the Assyrians (ver. 1-3), in which God would be
greatly glorified, ver. 5, 10-12. VI. The enriching of the Jews with the spoil
of the Assyrian camp, ver. 4, 23, 24. VII. The happy settlement of Jerusalem,
and the Jewish state, upon this. Religion shall be uppermost (ver. 6), and
their civil state shall flourish, ver. 17-22. This was soon fulfilled, but is
written for our learning.
|
Assyria
Threatened.
|
B.
C. 710.
|
|
|
1 Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast
not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously 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. 2 O LORD,
be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning,
our salvation also in the time of trouble. 3 At the noise of the
tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were
scattered. 4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the
gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he
run upon them. 5 The LORD
is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and
righteousness. 6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability
of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD
is his treasure. 7 Behold, their valiant ones shall cry
without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. 8 The
highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he
hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man. 9 The earth
mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down:
Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
10 Now will I rise, saith the LORD;
now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. 11 Ye shall
conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire,
shall devour you. 12 And the people shall be as the
burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.
Here we have,
I. The proud and false Assyrian justly reckoned with for all his fraud and
violence, and laid under a woe, v. 1. Observe, 1. The sin which the
enemy had been guilty of. He had spoiled the people of God, and made a prey of
them, and herein had broken his treaty of peace with them, and dealt
treacherously. Truth and mercy are two such sacred things, and have so much of
God in them, that those cannot but be under the wrath of God that make
conscience of neither, but are perfectly lost to both, that care not what
mischief they do, what spoil they make, what dissimulations they are guilty
of, nor what solemn engagements they violate, to compass their own wicked
designs. Bloody and deceitful men are the worst of men. 2. The aggravation of
this sin. He spoiled those that had never done him any injury and that he had
no pretence to quarrel with, and dealt treacherously with those that had
always dealt faithfully with him. Note, The less provocation we have from men
to do a wrong thing the more provocation we give to God by doing it. 3. The
punishment he should fall under for this sin. He that spoiled the cities of
Judah shall have his own army destroyed by an angel and his camp plundered by
those whom he had made a prey of. The Chaldeans shall deal treacherously with
the Assyrians and revolt from them. Two of Sennacherib's own sons shall deal
treacherously with him and basely murder him at his devotions. Note, The
righteous God often pays sinners in their own coin. He that leads into
captivity shall go into captivity, Rev. xiii. 10; xviii. 6. 4. The time
when he shall be thus dealt with. When he shall make an end to spoil, and
to deal treacherously, not by repentance and reformation, which might
prevent his ruin (Dan. iv. 27), but when he shall have done his worst, when he
shall have gone as far as God would permit him to go, to the utmost of his
tether, then the cup of trembling shall be put into his hand. When he shall
have arrived at his full stature in impiety, shall have filled up the measure
of his iniquity, then all shall be called over again. When he has done God
will begin, for his day is coming.
II. The praying people of God earnest at the throne of grace for mercy for the
land now in its distress (v. 2): "O Lord! be merciful to us.
Men are cruel; be thou gracious. We have deserved thy wrath, but we entreat
thy favour; and, if we may find the propitious to us, we are happy; the
trouble we are in cannot hurt us, shall not ruin us. It is in vain to expect
relief from creatures; we have no confidence in the Egyptians, but we have
waited for thee only, resolving to submit to thee, whatever the issue of
the trouble be, and hoping that it shall be a comfortable issue." Those
that by faith humbly wait for God shall certainly find him gracious to them.
They prayed, 1. For those that were employed in military services for them:
"Be thou their arm every morning. Hezekiah, and his princes, and
all the men of war, need continual supplies of strength and courage from thee;
supply their need therefore, and be to them a God all-sufficient. Every
morning, when they go forth upon the business of the day, and perhaps have new
work to do and new difficulties to encounter, let them be afresh animated and
invigorated, and, as the day, so let the strength be." In our
spiritual warfare our own hands are not sufficient for us, nor can we bring
any thing to pass unless God not only strengthen our arms (Gen. xlix. 24), but
be himself our arm; so entirely do we depend upon him as our arm every
morning, so constantly do we depend upon his power, as well as his
compassions, which are new every morning, Lam. iii. 23. If God leaves us to
ourselves any morning, we are undone; we must therefore every morning commit
ourselves to him, and go forth in his strength to do the work of the day in
its day. 2. For the body of the people: "Be thou our salvation also in
the time of trouble, ours who sit still, and do not venture into the high
places of the field." They depend upon God not only as their Saviour, to
work deliverance for them, but as their salvation itself; for, whatever
becomes of their secular interests, they will reckon themselves safe and saved
if they have him for their God. If he undertake to be their Saviour, he will
be their salvation; for as for God his work is perfect. Some read it
thus: "Thou who wast their arm every morning, who wast the
continual strength and help of our fathers before us, be thou our salvation
also in time of trouble. Help us as thou helpedst them; they looked
unto thee and were lightened (Ps. xxxiv. 5); let us then not walk in
darkness."
III. The Assyrian army ruined and their camp made a rich but cheap and easy
prey to Judah and Jerusalem. No sooner is the prayer made (v. 2) than
it is answered (v. 3), nay, it is outdone. They prayed that God would
save them from their enemies; but he did more than that; he gave them victory
over their enemies and abundant cause to triumph; for, 1. The strength of the
Assyrian camp was broken (v. 3) when the destroying angel slew so many
thousands of them: At the noise of the tumult, of the shrieks of the
dying men (who, we may suppose, did not die silently), the rest of the
people fled, and shifted every one for his own safety. When God did thus
lift up himself the several nations, or clans, of which the army was composed,
were scattered. It was time to stir when such an unprecedented plague broke
out among them. When God arises his enemies are scattered, Ps. lxviii. 1. 2.
The spoil of the Assyrian camp is seized, by way of reprisal, for all the
desolations of the defenced cities of Judah (v. 4): Your spoil shall
be gathered by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, like the gathering of the
caterpillar, and as the running to and fro of locusts, that is, the
spoilers shall as easily and as quickly make themselves masters of the riches
of the Assyrians as a host of caterpillars, or locusts, make a field, or a
tree, bare. Thus the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just and
Israel is enriched with the spoil of the Egyptians. Some make the Assyrians to
be the caterpillars and locusts, which, when they are killed, are gathered
together in heaps, as the frogs of Egypt, and are run upon, and trodden to
dirt.
IV. God and his Israel glorified and exalted hereby. When the spoil of the
enemy is thus gathered, 1. God will have the praise of it (v. 5): The
Lord is exalted. It is his honour thus to abase proud men, and hide them
in the dust, together; thus he magnifies his own name, and his people give him
the glory of it, as Israel when the Egyptians were drowned, Exod. xv. 1, 2,
&c. He is exalted as one that dwells on high, out of the reach of their
blasphemies, and that has an over-ruling power over them, and wherein they
deal proudly delights to show himself above them-that does what he will, and
they cannot resist him. 2. His people will have the blessing of it. When God
lifts up himself to scatter the nations that are in confederacy against
Jerusalem (v. 3) then, as a preparative for that, or as the fruit and
product of it, he has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness, not
only with a sense of justice, but with a zeal for it and a universal care that
it be duly administered. It shall again be called, The city of
righteousness, ch. i. 26. In this the grace of God is exalted, as
much as his providence was in the destruction of the Assyrian army. We may
conclude God has mercy in store for a people when he fills them with judgment
and righteousness, when all sorts of people, and all their actions and
affairs, are governed by them, and they are so full of them that no other
considerations can crowd in to sway them against these. Hezekiah and his
people are encouraged (v. 6) with an assurance that God would stand by
them in their distress. Here is, (1.) A gracious promise of God for them to
stay themselves upon: Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy
times, and strength of salvation. Here is a desirable end proposed, and
that is the stability of our times, that things be not disturbed and
unhinged at home, and the strength of salvation, deliverance from, and
success against, enemies abroad. The salvation that God ordains for his people
has strength in it; it is a horn of salvation. And here are the way and means
for obtaining this end--wisdom and knowledge, not only piety, but
prudence. That is it which, by the blessing of God, will be the stability
of our times and the strength of salvation, that wisdom which is first
pure, then peaceable, and which sacrifices private interests to a public good;
such prudence as this will establish truth and peace, and fortify the bulwarks
in defence of them. (2.) A pious maxim of state for Hezekiah and his people to
govern themselves by: The fear of the Lord is his treasure. It is God's
treasure in the world, from which he receives his tribute; or, rather, it is
the prince's treasure. A good prince accounts it so (that wisdom is better
than gold) and he shall find it so. Note, True religion is the true treasure
of any prince or people; it denominates them rich. Those places that have
plenty of Bibles, and ministers, and serious good people, are really rich; and
it contributes to that which makes a nation rich in this world. It is
therefore the interest of a people to support religion among them and to take
heed of every thing that threatens to hinder it.
V. The great distress that Jerusalem was brought into described, that those
who believed the prophet might know beforehand what troubles were coming and
might provide accordingly, and that when the foregoing promise of their
deliverance should have its accomplishment the remembrance of the extremity of
their case might help to magnify God in it and make them the more thankful, v.
7-9. It is here foretold, 1. That the enemy would be very insolent and abusive
and there would be no dealing with him, either by treaties of peace (for he
has broken the covenant without any hesitation, as if it were below him to
be a servant to his word), or by the preparations of war, for he has
despised the cities; he scorns to take notice either of their appeals to
justice or of their petitions for mercy. He makes himself master of them so
easily (though they are called fenced cities), and meets with so little
resistance, that he despises them, and has no relentings when he puts all to
the sword; for he regards no man, has no pity or concern, no, not for those
that he is under particular obligations to. He neither fears God nor regards
man, but is haughty and imperious to every one. There are those that take a
pride in trampling upon all mankind, and have neither veneration for the
honourable nor compassion for the miserable. 2. That therefore he would not be
brought to any terms of reconciliation: The valiant ones of Jerusalem,
being unable to make their parts good with him, must be contentedly run down
with noise and insolence, which will make them cry without, because they
cannot serve their country as they might have done against a fair adversary. The
ambassadors sent by Hezekiah to treat of peace, finding him so
haughty and unmanageable, shall weep bitterly for vexation at the
disappointment they had met with in their negotiations; they shall weep like
children, as despairing to find out any expedient to pacify him. 3. That the
country should be made quite desolate for a time by his army. (1.) No man
durst travel the roads; so that a stop was put to trade and commerce, and
(which was worse) no man could safely go up to Jerusalem, to keep the solemn
feasts: The highways lie waste. While the fields lie waste, trodden
like the highways, the highways lie waste, untrodden like the fields, for the
traveller ceases. (2.) No man had any profit from the grounds, v.
9. The earth used to rejoice in its own productions for the service of God's
Israel, but now the enemies of Israel eat them up, or tread them down: it mourns
and languishes; the country looks melancholy and the country people have
misery in their countenances, wanting necessary food for themselves and their
families; the wonted joy of harvest is turned into lamentation, so withering
and uncertain are all worldly joys. The desolation is universal. That part of
the country which belonged to the ten tribes was already laid waste: "Lebanon
famed for cedars, Sharon for roses, Bashan for cattle, Carmel
for corn, all very fruitful, have now become like wildernesses, are ashamed
to be called by their old names, they are so unlike what they were. They shake
off their fruits before their time into the hand of the spoiler, which
used to be gathered seasonably by the hand of the owner."
VI. God appearing, at length, in his glory against his proud invader, v.
10-12. When things are brought thus to the last extremity, 1. God will magnify
himself. He had seemed to sit by as an unconcerned spectator: "But now
will I arise, saith the Lord; now will I appear and act, and therein I
will be not only evidenced, but exalted." He will not only demonstrate
that there is a God that judges in the earth, but that he is God over all, and
higher than the highest. "Now will I lift up myself, will prepare
for action, will act vigorously, and will be glorified in it." God's time
to appear for his people is when their affairs are reduced to the lowest ebb, when
their strength is gone and there is none shut up nor left, Deut. xxxii.
36. When all other helpers fail, then is God's time to help. 2. He will bring
down the Assyrian: "You, O Assyrians! are big with hopes that you shall
have all the wealth of Jerusalem for your own, and are in pain till it be so;
but all your hopes shall come to nothing: You shall conceive chaff, and
bring forth stubble, which is not only worthless and good for nothing, but
combustible and proper fuel for the fire, which it cannot escape, when your
own breath as fire shall devour you, that is, the breath of God's
wrath, provoked against you by the breath of your sins--your malignant breath,
the threatenings and slaughter you breathe out against the people of God, this
shall devour you, and your blasphemous breath against God and his name."
God would make their own tongues to fall upon them, and their own breath to
blow the fire that should consume them; and then no wonder that the people are
as the burnings of lime in a lime-kiln, all on fire together, and as
thorns cut up, which are dried and withered, and therefore easily take
fire and are soon burnt up. Such was the destruction of the Assyrian army; it
was like the burning up of thorns, which can well be spared, or the burning of
lime, which makes it good for something. The burning of that army enlightened
the world with the knowledge of God's power and made his name shine brightly.
|
The
Forebodings of Hypocrites; Encouragement to God's People.
B. C. 710.
|
0.
|
|
|
13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I
have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. 14
The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who
among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with
everlasting burnings? 15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh
uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands
from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and
shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 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. 17 Thine eyes shall see the
king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is
the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? 19 Thou
shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst
perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
20 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. 21 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.
22 For the LORD
is our judge, the LORD
is our lawgiver, the LORD
is our king; he will save us. 23 Thy tacklings are loosed;
they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail:
then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.
24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall
be forgiven their iniquity.
Here is a preface that commands attention; and it is fit that all should
attend, both near and afar off, to what God says and does (v. 13): Hear,
you that are afar off, whether in place or time. Let distant regions and
future ages hear what God has done. They do so; they will do so from the
scripture, with as much assurance as those that were near, the neighbouring
nations and those that lived at that time. But whoever hears what God has
done, whether near or afar off, let them acknowledge his might, that it is
irresistible, and that he can do every thing. Those are very stupid who hear
what God has done and yet will not acknowledge his might. Now what is it that
God has done which we must take notice of, and in which we must acknowledge
his might?
I. He has struck a terror upon the sinners in Zion (v. 14): Fearfulness
has surprised the hypocrites. There are sinners in Zion, hypocrites, that
enjoy Zion's privileges and concur in Zion's services, but their hearts are
not right in the sight of God; they keep up secret haunts of sin under the
cloak of a visible profession, which convicts them of hypocrisy. Sinners in
Zion will have a great deal to answer for above other sinners; and their place
in Zion will be so far from being their security that it will aggravate both
their sin and their punishment. Now those sinners in Zion, though always
subject to secret frights and terrors, were struck with a more than ordinary
consternation from the convictions of their own consciences. 1. When they saw
the Assyrian army besieging Jerusalem, and ready to set fire to it and lay it
in ashes, and burn the wasps in the nest. Finding they could not make their
escape to Egypt, as some had done, and distrusting the promises God had made
by his prophets that he would deliver them, they were at their wits' end, and
ran about like men distracted, crying, "Who among us shall dwell with
devouring fire? Let us therefore abandon the city, and shift for ourselves
elsewhere; one had as good live in everlasting burnings as live here." Who
will stand up for us against this devouring fire? so some read it. See
here how the sinners in Zion are affected when the judgments of God are
abroad; while they were only threatened they slighted them and made nothing of
them; but, when they come to be executed, they run into the other extreme,
then they magnify them, and make the worst of them; they call them devouring
fire and everlasting burnings, and despair of relief and succour.
Those that rebel against the commands of the word cannot take the comforts of
it in a time of need. Or, rather, 2. When they saw the Assyrian army
destroyed; for the destruction of that is the fire spoken of immediately
before, v. 11, 12. When the sinners in Zion saw what dreadful execution
the wrath of God made they were in a great fright, being conscious to
themselves that they had provoked this God by their secretly worshipping other
gods; and therefore they cry out, Who among us shall dwell with this
devouring fire, before which so vast an army is as thorns? Who among us
shall dwell with these everlasting burnings, which have made the
Assyrians as the burnings of lime? v. 12. Thus they said, or
should have said. Note, God's judgments upon the enemies of Zion should strike
a terror upon the sinners in Zion, nay, David himself trembles at them, Ps.
cxix. 120. God himself is this devouring fire, Heb. xii. 29. Who is able to
stand before him? 1 Sam. vi. 20. His wrath will burn those everlastingly that
have made themselves fuel for it. It is a fire that shall never be quenched,
nor will ever go out of itself; for it is the wrath of an everlasting God
preying upon the conscience of an immortal soul. Nor can the most daring
sinners bear up against it, so as to bear either the execution of it or the
fearful expectation of it. Let this awaken us all to flee from the wrath to
come, by fleeing to Christ as our refuge.
II. He has graciously provided for the security of his people that trust in
him: Hear this, and acknowledge his power in making those that walk
righteously, and speak uprightly, to dwell on high, v.
15, 16. We have here,
1. The good man's character, which he preserves even in times of common
iniquity, in divers instances. (1.) He walks righteously. In the whole course
of his conversation he acts by rules of equity, and makes conscience of
rendering to all their due, to God his due, as well as to men theirs. His walk
is righteousness itself; he would not for a world wilfully do an unjust thing.
(2.) He speaks uprightly, uprightnesses (so the word is); he speaks
what is true and right, and with an honest intention. He cannot think one
thing and speak another, nor look one way and row another. His word is to him
as sacred as his oath, and is not yea and nay. (3.) He is so far from coveting
ill-gotten gain that he despises it. He thinks it a mean and sordid thing, and
unbecoming a man of honour, to enrich himself by any hardship put upon his
neighbour. He scorns to do a wrong thing, nay, to do a severe thing, though he
might get by it. He does not over-value gain itself, and therefore easily
abhors the gain that is not honestly come by. (4.) If he have a bribe at any
time thrust into his hand, to pervert justice, he shakes his hands from
holding it, with the utmost detestation, taking it as an affront to have
it offered him. (5.) He stops his ears from hearing any thing that
tends to cruelty or bloodshed, or any suggestions stirring him up to revenge,
Job xxxi. 31. He turns a deaf ear to those that delight in war and entice him
to cast in his lot among them, Prov. i. 14, 16. (6.) He shuts his
eyes from seeing evil. He has such an abhorrence of sin that he cannot
bear to see others commit it, and does himself watch against all the occasions
of it. Those that would preserve the purity of their souls must keep a strict
guard upon the senses of their bodies, must stop their ears to temptations,
and turn away their eyes from beholding vanity.
2. The good man's comfort, which he may preserve even in times of common
calamity, v. 16. (1.) He shall be safe; he shall escape the devouring
fire and the everlasting burnings; he shall have access to, and communion
with, that God who is a devouring fire, but shall be to him a rejoicing light.
And, as to present troubles, he shall dwell on high, out of the reach
of them, nay, out of the hearing of the noise of them; he shall not be really
harmed by them, nay, he shall not be greatly frightened at them: The floods
of great waters shall not come nigh him; or, if they should attack him, his
place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, strong and impregnable,
fortified by nature as well as art. The divine power will keep him safe, and
his faith in that power will keep him easy. God, the rock of ages, will be his
high tower. (2.) He shall be supplied; he shall want nothing that is necessary
for him: Bread shall be given him, even when the siege is straitest and
provisions are cut off; and his waters shall be sure, that is, he shall
be sure of the continuance of them, so that he shall not drink his water by
measure and with astonishment. Those that fear the Lord shall not want any
thing that is good for them.
III. He will protect Jerusalem, and deliver it out of the hands of the
invaders. This storm that threatened them should blow over, and they should
enjoy a prosperous state again. Many instances are here given of this
prosperity.
1. Hezekiah shall put off his sackcloth and all the sadness of his
countenance, and shall appear publicly in his beauty, in his royal robes and
with a pleasing aspect (v. 17), to the great joy of all his loving
subjects. Those that walk uprightly shall not only have bread given them, and
their water sure, but they shall with an eye of faith see the King of kings in
his beauty, the beauty of holiness, and that beauty shall be upon them.
2. The siege being raised, by which they were kept close within the walls of
Jerusalem, they shall now be at liberty to go abroad upon business or pleasure
without danger of falling into the enemies' hand: They shall behold the
land that is very far off; they shall visit the utmost corners of the
nation, and take a prospect of the adjacent countries, which will be the more
pleasant after so long a confinement. Thus believers behold the heavenly
Canaan, that land that is very far off, and comfort themselves with the
prospect of it in evil times.
3. The remembrance of the fright they were in shall add to the pleasure of
their deliverance (v. 18): Thy heart shall meditate terror,
meditate it with pleasure when it is over. Thou shalt think thou still hearest
the alarm in thy ears, when all the cry was, "Arm, arm, arm! every man to
his post. Where is the scribe or secretary of war? Let him appear to
draw up the muster-roll. Where is the receiver and pay-master of the
army? Let him see what he had in bank, to defray the charge of a defence. Where
is he that counted the towers? Let him bring in the account of them, that
care may be taken to put a competent number of men in each." Or these
words may be taken as Jerusalem's triumph over the vanquished army of the
Assyrians, and the rather because the apostle alludes to them in his triumphs
over the learning of this world, when it was baffled by the gospel of Christ,
1 Cor. i. 20. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, despises all their military
preparations. Where is the scribe or muster-master of the Assyrian army? Where
is their weigher (or treasurer), and where are their engineers that counted
the towers? They are all either dead or fled. There is an end of them.
4. They shall no more be terrified with the sight of the Assyrians, who were a
fierce people naturally, and were particularly fierce against the people of
the Jews, and were of a strange language, that could understand neither their
petitions nor their complaints, and therefore had a pretence for being deaf to
them, nor could themselves be understood: "They are of a deeper speech
than thou canst perceive, which will make them the more formidable, v.
19. Thy eyes shall no more see them thus fierce, but their countenances
changed when they shall all become dead corpses."
5. They shall no more be under apprehensions of the danger of Jerusalem-Zion,
and the temple there (v. 20): "Look upon Zion, the city of our
solemnities, the city where our solemn sacred feasts are kept, where we
used to meet to worship God in religious assemblies." The good people
among them, in the time of their distress, were most in pain for Zion upon
this account, that it was the city of their solemnities, that the conquerors
would burn their temple and they should not have that to keep their solemn
feasts in any more. In times of public danger our concern should be most about
our religion, and the cities of our solemnities should be dearer to us than
either our strong cities or our store-cities. It is with an eye to this that
God will work deliverance for Jerusalem, because it is the city of religious
solemnities: let those be conscientiously kept up, as the glory of a people,
and we may depend upon God to create a defence upon that glory. Two things are
here promised to Jerusalem:-- (1.) A well-grounded security. It shall be a
quiet habitation for the people of God; they shall not be molested and
disturbed, as they have been, by the alarms of the sword either of war or
persecution, ch. xxix. 20. It shall be a quiet habitation, as it is the
city of our solemnities. It is desirable to be quiet in our own houses, but
much more so to be quiet in God's house and have none to make us afraid there.
Thus it shall be with Jerusalem; and the eyes shall see it, which will
be a great satisfaction to a good man, Ps. cxxviii. 5, 6. "Thou shalt
see the good of Jerusalem, and peace upon Israel; thou shalt live to see
it and share in it." (2.) An unmoved stability. Jerusalem, the city of
our solemnities, is indeed but a tabernacle, in comparison with the New
Jerusalem. The present manifestations of the divine glory and grace are
nothing in comparison with those that are reserved for the future state. But
it is such a tabernacle as shall not be taken down. After this trouble
is over Jerusalem shall long enjoy a confirmed peace; and her sacred
privileges, which are the stakes and cords of her tabernacle, shall not be
removed from her, nor any disturbance given to the course and circle of her
religious services. God's church on earth is a tabernacle, which, though it
may be shifted from one place to another, shall not be taken down while the
world stands; for in every age Christ will have a seed to serve him. The
promises of the covenant are its stakes, which shall never be removed, and the
ordinances and institutions of the gospel are its cords, which shall never be
broken. They are things which cannot be shaken, though heaven and earth be,
but shall remain.
6. God himself will be their protector and Saviour, v. 21, 22. This the
principal ground of their confidence: "He that is himself the glorious
Lord will display his glory for us and be a glory to us, such as shall
eclipse the rival-glory of the enemy." God, in being a gracious Lord, is
a glorious Lord; for his goodness is his glory. God will be the Saviour of
Jerusalem and her glorious Lord, (1.) As a guard against their adversaries
abroad. He will be a place of broad rivers and streams. Jerusalem had
no considerable river running by it, as most great cities have, nothing but
the brook Kidron, and so wanted one of the best natural fortifications, as
well as one of the greatest advantages for trade and commerce, and upon this
account their enemies despised them and doubted not but to make an easy prey
of them; but the presence and power of God are sufficient at any time to make
up to us the deficiencies of the creature and of its strength and beauty. We
have all in God, all we need or can desire. Many external advantages Jerusalem
has not which other places have, but in God there is more than an equivalent.
But, if there be broad rivers and streams about Jerusalem, may not these yield
an easy access to the fleet of an invader? No; these are rivers and streams in
which shall go no galley with oars, no man of war or gallant ship. If God
himself be the river, it must needs be inaccessible to the enemy; they can
neither find nor force their way by it. (2.) As a guide to their affairs at
home: "For the Lord is our Judge, to whom we are accountable, to
whose judgment we refer ourselves, by whose judgment we abide, and who
therefore (we hope) will judge for us. He is our lawgiver; his word is
a law to us, and to him every thought within us is brought into obedience. He
is our King, to whom we pay homage and tribute, and an inviolable
allegiance, and therefore he will save us." For, as protection
draws allegiance, so allegiance may expect protection, and shall have it with
God. By faith we take Christ for our prince and Saviour, and as such depend
upon him and devote ourselves to him. Observe with what an air of triumph, and
with what an emphasis laid upon the glorious name of God, they comfort
themselves with this: Jehovah is our Judge, Jehovah is our Lawgiver,
Jehovah is our King, who, being self-existent, is self-sufficient, and
all-sufficient to us.
7. The enemies shall be quite infatuated, and all their powers and projects
broken, like a ship at sea in stress of weather, that cannot ride out the
storm, but having her tackle torn, her masts split, and nothing wherewith to
repair them, is given up for a wreck, v. 23. The tacklings of
the Assyrian are loosed; they are like a ship whose tacklings are
loose, or forsaken by the ship's crew, when they give it over for lost,
finding that they cannot strengthen the mast, but it will come down. They
thought themselves sure of Jerusalem; but when they were just entering the
port as it were, and though all was their own, they were quite becalmed, and could
not spread their sail, but lay wind-bound till God poured the fury of his
wrath upon them. The enemies of God's church are often disarmed and unrigged
when they think they have almost gained their point.
8. The wealth of their camp shall be a rich booty for the Jews: Then is the
prey of a great spoil divided. When the greater part were slain the rest
fled in confusion, and with such precipitation that (like the Syrians) they left
their tents as they were, so that all the treasure in them fell into the
hands of the besieged; and even the lame take the prey. Those that
tarried at home did divide the spoil. It was so easy to come at that not only
the strong man might make himself master of it, but even the lame man, whose
hands were lame, that he could not fight, and his feet, that he could not
pursue. As the victory shall cost them no peril, so the prey shall cost them
no toil. And there was such abundance of it that when those who were forward,
and came first, had carried off as much as they would, even the lame, who came
late, found sufficient. Thus God brought good out of evil, and not only
delivered Jerusalem, but enriched it, and abundantly recompensed the losses
they had sustained. Thus comfortably and well do the frights and distresses of
the people of God often end.
9. Both sickness and sin shall be taken away; and then sickness is taken away
in mercy when this is all the fruit of it, and the recovery from it, even the
taking away of sin. (1.) The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. As the
lame shall take the prey, so shall the sick, notwithstanding their
weakness, make a shift to get to the abandoned camp and seize something for
themselves; or there shall be such a universal transport of joy upon this
occasion that even the sick shall, for the present, forget their sickness and
the sorrows of it, and join with the public in its rejoicings; the deliverance
of their city shall be their cure. Or it intimates that, whereas infectious
diseases are commonly the effect of long sieges, it shall not be so with
Jerusalem, but the inhabitants of it with their victory and peace shall have
health also, and there shall be no complaining upon the account of sickness
within their gates. Or those that are sick shall bear their sickness without
complaining as long as they see it goes well with Jerusalem. Our sense of
private grievances should be drowned in our thanksgivings for public mercies.
(2.) The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity,
not only the body of the nation forgiven their national guilt in the removing
of the national judgment, but particular persons, that dwell therein, shall
repent, and reform, and have their sins pardoned. And this is promised as that
which is at the bottom of all other favours; he will do so and so for them, for
he will be merciful to their unrighteousness, Heb. viii. 12. Sin is the
sickness of the soul. When God pardons the sin he heals the disease; and, when
the diseases of sin are healed by pardoning mercy, the sting of bodily
sickness is taken out and the cause of it removed; so that either the
inhabitant shall not be sick or at least shall not say, I am sick. If
iniquity be taken away, we have little reason to complain of outward
affliction. Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee.
Contents
|
Next
Section
