The
scope of this chapter is much the same with that of the foregoing
chapter--to encourage the Jews that had returned with hopes that though they
had been under divine rebukes for their negligence in rebuilding the temple,
and were now surrounded with enemies and dangers, yet God would do them
good, and make them prosperous at home and victorious abroad. Now, I. They
are here directed to eye the great God in all events that concerned them,
and, both in the evils they suffered and in the comforts they desired, to
acknowledge his hand, ver. 1-4. II. They are encouraged to expect strength
and success from him in all their struggles with the enemies of their church
and state, and to hope that the issue would be glorious at last, ver. 5-12.
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Encouragements
to Trust in God.
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B.
C. 510.
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1 Ask ye of the LORD
rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD
shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass
in the field. 2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the
diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain:
therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there
was no shepherd. 3 Mine anger was kindled against the
shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD
of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as
his goodly horse in the battle. 4 Out of him came forth the
corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every
oppressor together.
Gracious things and glorious ones, very glorious and very gracious, were
promised to this poor afflicted people in the foregoing chapter; now here
God intimates to them that he will for these things be enquired of by
them, and that he expects they should acknowledge him in all their ways and
in all his ways towards them--and not idols that were rivals with him for
their respects.
I. The prophet directs them to apply to God by prayer for rain in the season
thereof. He had promised, in the close of the foregoing chapter, that there
should be great plenty of corn and wine, whereas for several years, by
reason of unseasonable weather, there had been great scarcity of both; but
the earth will not yield its fruits unless the heavens water it, and
therefore they must look up to God for the dew of heaven, in order to
the fatness and fruitfulness of the earth (v. 1): "Ask you of
the Lord rain. Do not pray to the clouds, nor to the stars, for rain,
but to the Lord; for he it is that hears the heavens, when
they hear the earth," Hos. ii. 21. Seasonable rain is a great
mercy, which we must ask of God, rain in the time of the latter rain,
when there is most need of it. The former rain fell at the seed-time, in
autumn, the latter fell in the spring, between March and May, which brought
the corn to an ear and filled it. If either of these rains failed, it was
very bad with that land; for from the end of May to September they never had
any rain at all. Jerome, who lived in Judea, says that he never saw any rain
there in June or July. They are directed to ask for it in the time
when it used to come. Note, We must, in our prayers, dutifully attend the
course of Providence; we must ask for mercies in their proper time, and not
expect that God should go out of his usual way and method for us. But, since
sometimes God denied rain in the usual time as a token of his displeasure,
they must pray for it then as a token of his favour, and they shall not pray
in vain. Ask and it shall be given you. So the Lord shall make bright
clouds (which, though they are without rain themselves, are yet presages
of rain)--lightnings (so the margin reads it), for he maketh
lightnings for the rain. He will give them showers of rain in
great abundance, and so give to every one grass in the field; for God
is universally good, and makes his rain to fall upon the just and the
unjust.
II. He shows them the folly of making their addresses to idols as their
fathers had done (v. 2): The idols have spoken vanity; the
teraphim, which they courted and consulted in their distress, were so far
from being able to command rain for them that they could not so much as tell
them when they should have rain. They pretended to promise them rain at such
a time, but it did not come. The diviners, who were the prophets of
those idols, have seen a lie (their visions were all a cheat and a
sham); and they have told false dreams, such as the event did not
answer, which proved that they were not from God. Thus they comforted in
vain those that consulted the lying oracles; all the vanities of the
heathen put together could not give rain, Jer. xiv. 22. Yet this
was not the worst of it; they not only got nothing by the false gods, but
they lost the favour of the true God, for therefore they went their way
into captivity as a flock driven into the fold, and they were
troubled with one vexation after another, as scattered sheep are, because
there was no shepherd, no prince to rule them, no priest to intercede
for them, none to take care of them and keep them together. Those that
wandered after strange gods were made to wander, into strange nations.
III. He shows them the hand of God in all the events that concerned them,
both those that made against them and those that made for them, v. 3.
Let them consider, 1. When every thing went cross it was God that walked
contrary to them (v. 3): "My anger was kindled against the
shepherds that should have fed the flock, but neglected it, and starved
it. I was displeased at the wicked magistrates and ministers, the
idol-shepherds." The captivity in Babylon was a token of God's anger
against them; in it likewise he punished the goats, those of the
flock that were filthy and mischievous; they were set on the left hand, to
go away into punishment. Though the body of the nation suffered in the
captivity, yet it was only the goats and the shepherds that God was angry
with, and that he punished; the same affliction to others came from the love
of God, and was but a fatherly chastisement, which to them came from his
wrath, and was a judicial punishment. 2. When things began to change for the
better it was God that gave them the happy turn. "He has now visited
his flock with favour, to enquire after them, and provides what he finds
proper for them, and he has made them as his goodly horse in the battle,
has beautified them, taken care of them, managed and made use of them, as a
man does the horse he rides on, has made them valuable in themselves and
formidable to those about them, as his goodly horse." It is God
that makes us what we are, and it is with us as he appoints.
IV. He shows them that every creature is to them what God makes it to be (v.
4): Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nails. 1. All
the power that was engaged against them was from God. Out of him came
all the combined force of their enemies; every oppressor together
(and the oppressors of Israel were not a few) did but what his hand and his
counsel determined before to be done; nor could they have had such power
against them unless it had been given them from above. 2. All the power
likewise that was engaged for them was derived from him and depended on him.
Out of him came forth the corner-stone of the building, the power of
magistrates, which keeps the several parts of the state together. Princes
are often called the corners of the people, as 1 Sam. xiv. 38, marg.
Out of him came forth the nail that fixed the state, the nail in
the sure place (Isa. xxii. 23), the nail in his holy place, Ezra
ix. 8. Out of him came forth the battle-bow, the military power, and
out of him every oppressor, or exactor, that had the civil power in
his hand; and therefore to God, the fountain of power, we must always have
an eye, and see every man's judgment proceeding from him.
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Evangelical
Promises; Encouraging Prospects.
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B.
C. 510.
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5 And they shall be as mighty men,
which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the
battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD
is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of
Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon
them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am
the LORD
their God, and will hear them. 7 And they of Ephraim
shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through
wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart
shall rejoice in the LORD.
8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they
shall increase as they have increased. 9 And I will sow them
among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they
shall live with their children, and turn again. 10 I will bring
them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria;
and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place
shall not be found for them. 11 And he shall pass through the
sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps
of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down,
and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away. 12 And I will
strengthen them in the LORD;
and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD.
Here are divers precious promises made to the people of God, which look
further than to the state of the Jews in the latter days of their church,
and have certain reference to the spiritual Israel of God, the
gospel-church, and all true believers.
I. They shall have God's favour and presence, and shall be owned and
accepted of him. This is the foundation of all the rest: The Lord is with
them, v. 5. He espouses their cause, takes their part, is on
their side; and, if he be for them, who can be against them? Again (v.
6), I have mercy upon them. All their dignity and joy are owing
purely to God's mercy; and mercy, as it supposes misery, so it excludes
merit. They had been cast off, the effect of which could not but be misery;
they had been justly cast off, and therefore could pretend to merit nothing
at God's hand but wrath and the curse; yet it is promised, They shall be
as though I had not cast them off. The transgressions of their fathers,
for which they had been rejected, shall not only not be visited upon them,
but shall not be so much as remembered against them. God will be as
perfectly reconciled to them as if he had never contended with them, and the
falling out of these lovers shall rather be the renewing than the weakening
of love. They shall have such a full assurance of God's being reconciled to
them, and upon that shall be so well reconciled to themselves, that they
shall be as easy as if they had never been cast off; and their condition,
after their restoration to the divine favour, shall be so very happy that
there shall not remain the least scar from the wounds which were given them
by their being cast off. Such favour does God show to returning repenting
sinners, who were by nature at a distance, and children of wrath; such
fellowship are they admitted into, and such freedom does he use with them,
that they are as though they had never been cast off. 1. The covenant
they are admitted into is the same that ever it was: I am the Lord their
God, according to the original contract, the covenant made with their
fathers. 2. The communion they are admitted into is the same that ever it
was: I will hear them. They shall be as welcome as ever to speak to
him, and as sure as ever to receive from him an answer of peace; for, as he
never did, so he never will, say to Jacob's seed, Seek you me in vain.
II. They shall be victorious over their enemies, that would draw them from
either their duty to God or their comfort in God (v. 5): They
shall be as mighty men, that are both strong in body and bold in spirit,
men of vigour, men of valour, effective men. Those of Ephraim, as
well as those of Judah, shall be like a mighty man (v. 7),
that dares to go about a difficult enterprise and is able to go through with
it. They shall, as mighty men, tread down their enemies in the battle,
as the dirt that is thrown out of the houses is trodden with other dirt in
the mire of the streets. And they shall therefore fight,
because the Lord is with them. Some would argue that they may therefore
sit still, and do nothing, because the Lord is with them, who can and will
do all. No; God's gracious presence with us to help us must not supersede,
but quicken and animate, our endeavours to help ourselves; and we must
therefore work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because it
is God that works in us both to will and to do. They shall fight with
readiness and resolution because, if God be with them, they are sure to be
conquerors, more than conquerors. For then the riders on horses shall be
confounded. The cavalry of the enemies shall be routed, and put into
disorder, by the infantry of the Jews. The preachers of the gospel of Christ
went forth to war a good warfare; they charged bravely, because God was with
them; and the riders on horses that opposed them were confounded,
for God chose the weak and foolish things of the world to confound
the wise and mighty. But whence have they all this might? How come they
to be so able, so active? It is in the Lord, and in the power of his might,
that they are so (v. 6): I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and so I will save the house of Joseph. Note, God saves us by
strengthening us, and works out our happiness by working in us to do our
duty. And thus we are engaged to the utmost diligence in using the strength
God gives us; and yet, when all is done, God must have the glory of all. God
is our strength, and so becomes both our song and our salvation.
III. Those of them that are dispersed shall be gathered together into one
body (v. 6): I will bring them again to place them, bring them
from other lands to place them in their own land. This was a token of their
being perfectly restored to all their other ancient privileges--they shall
be restored to the possession of their own land. This was fulfilled when the
children of God that were scattered abroad were by faith in Christ
incorporated in the gospel-church, and Jews and Gentiles became one fold,
John x. 16. In order to this (v. 8) I will hiss for them, or,
rather, whistle for them, as the shepherd with his pipe calls his
sheep together, that know his voice; and so I will gather them.
The preaching of the gospel was, as it were, God's hissing for souls to come
to Jesus Christ, his calling in his scattered sheep to the green pastures. I
will gather them, for I have redeemed them. Note, Those whom Christ has
redeemed by his blood God will gather by his grace, as a hen gathers her
brood under her wings. This promise is enlarged upon v. 10, I
will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt. Some think this was
literally fulfilled when Ptolemæus Philadelphus king of Egypt sent 120,000
Jews out of his country into their own land, as was the promise of gathering
them out of Assyria by Alexander the son of Antiochus Epiphanes. But it has
its spiritual accomplishment in the gathering in of precious souls out of a
bondage worse than that in Egypt or Assyria, and the bringing of them into
the glorious liberties of the children of God and their enjoyments, which
are as the beautiful fruitful pastures in the land of Gilead and Lebanon.
All the land of promise is theirs, even Gilead, the utmost border of it
eastward, and Lebanon, the utmost border northward. But how shall this be?
How shall a people so dispersed be got together? How shall those that are
set at such a distance from their own country be brought to it again? It is
true the difficulties seem insuperable, but they shall be got over as
easily, as effectually as those that lay in the way of their deliverance out
of Egypt and their entrance into Canaan: He shall pass through the sea
with affliction, as of old through the Red Sea, to the sore affliction
of Pharaoh and his hosts, or to the sore affliction of the sea, the waves
whereof he shall smite, so that it shall be driven back, as
when the sea saw and fled, Ps. cxiv. 3. And all the deeps of the
river (all the rivers, though ever so deep) shall dry up, as
Jordan did, to make way for Israel's passage into that good land which God
had given them. Does the pride of Assyria stand in the way of their
deliverance? He shall give check to it who sets bounds to the proud waves
of the sea, and it shall be brought down. Does the sceptre of
Egypt oppose it? That shall depart away, so that it shall not be able
to obstruct the gathering in of God's Israel when his time shall come for
the doing of it. When the gospel-church was to be gathered out of all
nations by the preaching of the gospel great opposition was given to it by
the enraged combined powers of earth and hell. Insuperable difficulties
seemed to be in the way of it. But, by a divine power going along with the
doctrine of Christ, it became mighty to the pulling down of strong holds,
and the conversion and salvation of thousands. Then the sea fled, and Jordan
was driven back at the presence of the Lord.
IV. They shall greatly multiply, and the church, that new world, shall be
replenished (v. 8): They shall increase as they have increased
formerly in Egypt, and great additions shall be made to their numbers, as in
the days of David and Solomon. When God gathers his redeemed ones to himself
they shall help to gather in others with them, and their motion homeward
shall be like that of a snow-ball. Crescit eundo--The further it goes the
larger it grows by accretion. I will gather them, and they shall increase.
Note, The church of Christ is a growing body, as long as it is in the
present state of minority, till it comes to the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ. There are added to it daily such as shall be
saved. 1. It shall spread to distant places. It shall fill Canaan, even
to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon, so that no more place, no more room,
shall be found for it there, v. 10. In Judah only God
had been known, and his name was great in Israel only; here
only he revealed his statutes and judgments. But in
gospel-times that place shall be much too strait; the church's tent must be
enlarged, and its cords lengthened: Then I will sow them among the
people, v. 9. Their scattering shall be like the scattering of
seed in the ground, not to bury it, but to increase it, that it may bring
forth much fruit. The Jews are said to be dispersed into every nation
under heaven (Acts ii. 5); and, as it was their troubles that dispersed
some of them, so perhaps others transplanted themselves into colonies
because the land of Israel was too strait for them; and many were natives of
other nations, but proselyted to the Jewish religion. Now these were sown
among the people, Hos. ii. 23. And this contributed very much to the
spreading of the gospel. The Jews that came from all parts to worship at
Jerusalem fetched thence the gospel light and fire to their own countries,
as those Acts ii., and the eunuch, Acts viii. And their own synagogues in
the several cities of the Gentiles were the first receptacles of the
apostles and their preaching, wherever they came. Thus when God sowed
them among the people, that they might not get hurt by the Gentiles, but
do good to them, he took care that they should remember him, and make
mention of his name in far countries; and, by keeping up the
knowledge of God among them as he had revealed himself in the Old Testament,
they would be the more ready to admit the knowledge of Christ as he has
revealed himself in the New Testament. 2. It shall last to future ages.
The church shall not be res unius ætatis--a temporary thing, but a
seed in it shall serve the Lord, v. 7. Yea, their children
shall see it and be glad; and they shall live with their children,
and turn again, v. 9. Converts to Christ shall have their
children about them, whom they shall teach the knowledge of the Lord, and
bring with them when they turn again to the holy land and the way of
holiness. It was said to those to whom the gospel was first preached, The
promise is to you and to your children, Acts ii. 39. They shall be so
sown among the people as never to be extirpated. Christ's family upon
earth shall never be extinct, nor his purchased possession lost for want of
heirs.
V. God himself will be both their strength and their song. 1. In him they
shall be comforted, and shall have abundant satisfaction (v. 7): Their
heart shall rejoice as through wine; for Christ's love, which is
their joy, is better than wine. They shall be like a mighty man,
and their heart shall rejoice. When we resolutely resist, and so
overcome, our spiritual enemies, then our hearts shall rejoice. But we ruin
our own joy if our resistance be feeble and we yield to the temptations of
Satan. Their heart shall rejoice, and then they shall be as a mighty
man; for the joy of the Lord will be our strength. And
with their graces their joys shall be propagated: Their children shall
see it and be glad, and their hearts also shall rejoice in the Lord.
It is good to acquaint children betimes with the delights of religion, and
to make the services of it as pleasant as may be to them, that, learning
betimes to rejoice in the Lord, they may with purpose of heart cleave to
him. 2. By him they shall be carried on with vigour, and enlargement of
heart, in his service (v. 12): I will strengthen them in the Lord,
strengthen them for their walk and work, as well as for their warfare. It is
the God of Israel that gives strength and power unto his people, that
strengthens all their powers and faculties for spiritual performances, above
what they are by nature and against what they are by the corruption of
nature. Now observe, (1.) How they are thus enabled and invigorated for
their duty: I the Lord will strengthen them in the Lord, in
the Messiah, who is Jehovah our strength, as well as Jehovah
our righteousness. Strength is treasured up for us in Christ, and from
him it is communicated to us. It is through Christ strengthening us
that we can do all things, and without him we can do nothing.
His strength is commanded him for this purpose, Ps. lxviii.
28. (2.) What good use they shall make of this strength given unto them: They
shall walk up and down in his name. If God strengthen us, we must bestir
ourselves, must walk up and down in all the duties of the Christian
life, must be active and busy in the work of God, must walk up and down as
industrious men do, losing no time, and letting slip no opportunity. But
still we must walk up and down in the name of Christ, must do all by
warrant from him and in dependence on him, with an eye to his word as our
rule and his glory as our end. To us to live must be Christ; and, whatever
we do in word or deed, we must do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
that we receive not the strengthening grace of God in vain. See Ps. lxxx.
17, 18.
