The
apostle (Gal. iv. 25, 26) distinguishes between "Jerusalem which now
is, and is in bondage with her children"--the remaining carcase of the
Jewish church that rejected Christ, and "Jerusalem that is from above,
that is free, and is the mother of us all"--the Christian church, the
spiritual Jerusalem, which God has chosen to put his name there; in the
foregoing chapter we read the doom of the former, and left that carcase to
be a prey to the eagles that should be gathered to it. Now, in this chapter,
we have the blessings of the latter, many precious promises made to the
gospel-Jerusalem by him who (ver. 1) declares his power to make them good.
It is promised, I. That the attempts of the church's enemies against her
shall be to their own ruin, and they shall find that it is at their peril if
they do her any hurt, ver. 2-4, 6. II. That the endeavours of the church's
friends and patrons for her good shall be pious, regular, and successful,
ver. 5. III. That God will protect and strengthen the meanest and weakest
that belong to his church, and work salvation for them, ver. 7, 8. IV. That
as a preparative for all this mercy, and a pledge of it, he will pour upon
them a spirit of prayer and repentance, the effect of which shall be
universal and very particular, ver. 9-14. These promises were of use then to
the pious Jews that lived in the troublous times under Antiochus, and other
persecutors and oppressors; and they are still to be improved in every age
for the directing of our prayers and the encouraging of our hopes with
reference to the gospel-church.
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The
Security of the Church; Punishment of the Church's Enemies;
Promises to Judah.
B. C. 500.
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1 The burden of the word of the LORD
for Israel, saith the LORD,
which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth,
and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2 Behold, I will make
Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they
shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people:
all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the
people of the earth be gathered together against it. 4 In that
day, saith the LORD,
I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and
I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of
the people with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall
say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength
in the LORD
of hosts their God. 6 In that day will I make the governors of
Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a
sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand
and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even
in Jerusalem. 7 The LORD
also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of
David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves
against Judah. 8 In that day shall the LORD
defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at
that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God,
as the angel of the LORD
before them.
Here is, I. The title of this charter of promises made to God's Israel; it
is the burden of the word of the Lord, a divine prediction; it is of
weight in the delivery of it; it is to be pressed upon people, and will be
very pressing in the accomplishment of it; it is a burden, a heavy
burden, to all the church's enemies, like that talent of lead, ch.
v. 7, 8. But it is for Israel; it is for their comfort and benefit.
As even the fiery law (Deut. xxxiii. 2), so the fiery prophecies and
fiery providences that come from God's right hand, come for them; the word
that speaks terror to their enemies speaks peace to them, as the pillar of
cloud and fire, which turned a bright side towards the Israelites, to direct
and encourage them, but a black side towards the Egyptians, to terrify and
dispirit them. Happy are those that have even the burdens of God's word for
them, as well as the blessings of it.
II. The title of him that grants this charter, which is prefixed to it to
show that he has both authority to make these promises and ability to make
them good, for he is the Creator of the world and our Creator, and therefore
has an incontestable irresistible dominion. 1. He stretches out the
heavens; not only he did so at the first, when he said, Let there be
a firmament, and he made the firmament, but he does so still; he
keeps them stretched out like a curtain, keeps them from running in,
and will do so till the end come, when the heavens shall be rolled
together as a scroll. No bounds can be set to his power who stretches
out the heavens, nor can any thing be too hard for him. 2. He lays the
foundation of the earth, and keeps it firm and fixed on its own basis,
or rather on its own axis, though it is founded on the seas (Ps. xxiv.
1, 2), nay, though it is hung upon nothing, Job xxvi. 7. The founder
of this earth is no doubt the ruler of it, and judges in it, and those
deceive themselves who say, The Lord has forsaken the earth, for, if
he had, it would have sunk, since it is he that not only did lay its
foundations at first, but does still lay them, still uphold them. 3. He forms
the spirit of man within him. He made us these souls, Jer.
xxxviii. 16. He not only breathed into the first man, but still breathes
into every man the breath of life; the body is derived from the fathers
of our flesh, but the soul is infused by the Father of spirits,
Heb. xii. 9. He fashions men's hearts; they are in his hand,
and he turns them as the rivers of water, and casts them into what
mould he pleases, so as to serve his own purposes with them; and he can
therefore save his church by inspiriting his friends and dispiriting his
enemies, and will eternally save all his chosen by forming their spirits
anew.
III. The promises themselves that are here made them, by which the church
shall be secured, and in which all its friends may enjoy a holy security.
1. It is promised that, whatever attacks the enemies of the church may make
upon her purity or peace, they will certainly issue in their own confusion.
The enemies of God and of his kingdom bear a great deal of malice and
ill-will to Jerusalem, and form designs for its destruction; but it will
prove, at last, that they are but preparing ruin for themselves; Jerusalem
is in safety, and those are in all the danger who fight against it. This is
here illustrated by three comparisons:--
(1.) Jerusalem shall be a cup of trembling to all that lay
siege to it, v. 2. They promise themselves that it shall be to them a
cup of wine, which they shall easily and with pleasure drink off, and they
thirst for its spoils, nay, they thirst for its blood, as for such a cup;
but it shall prove a cup of slumber, nay, a cup of poison, to
them, which, when they take it into their hands, and think it is all their
own, they shall not be able to drink off: the fumes of it shall give them
enough. When the kings were assembled against her, and saw how God
was known in her palaces for a refuge, they trembled and hasted away;
fear took hold upon them, as we find, Ps. xlviii. 3-6. Thus Alexander
the Great was struck with amazement when he met Jaddus the high priest, and
was deterred thereby from offering any violence to Jerusalem. When
Sennacherib laid siege against Judah and Jerusalem he found
them such a cup of stupifying wine as laid all his mighty men asleep, Ps.
lxxvi. 5, 6. Some read it, I will make Jerusalem a post of contrition
or breaking. Those that make any attempts upon Jerusalem do but run
their heads against a post, which they cannot move, but are sure to hurt
themselves. The blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against
the wall (Isa. xxv. 4), broken by it, but not shaking it. God's church
is a cup of consolation to all her friends (Isa. lxvi. 11), but a cup of
trembling to all that would either debauch her by errors and corruptions or
destroy her by wars and persecutions. See Isa. li. 22, 23.
(2.) Jerusalem shall be a burdensome stone to all that attempt
to remove it or carry it away, v. 3. All the people of the earth
are here supposed to be gathered together against it, some one time
and some another; there has been a succession of enemies, from age to age,
making war upon the church. But though they were all at once in a
confederacy against it, and had formed a resolution to cut off the name
of Israel, that it should be no more in remembrance (Ps. lxxxiii. 4),
they will find it a task too hard for them. Those that are for keeping up
and advancing the kingdom of sin in the world look upon Jerusalem, even the
church of God, as the great obstacle to their designs, and they must have it
out of the way; but they will find it heavier than they think it is; so
that, [1.] They cannot remove it. God will have a church in the world, in
spite of them; it is built upon a rock, and is as Mount Zion, that
abides for ever, Ps. cxxv. 1. This stone, cut out of the mountain
without hands, will not only keep its ground, but fill the earth, Dan.
ii. 35. Nay, [2.] It will break in pieces all that burden themselves
with it, as that stone smote the image, Dan. ii. 45. All that think
themselves a match for it shall be cut in pieces by it. Some think it
is an allusion to a sport which Jerome, upon this place, says was in use
among the Jews, as among us: young men tried their strength, and strove for
mastery, by heaving up great stones, which, if they proved too heavy for
them, fell upon them, and bruised them. Those that make a jest of religion,
and banter sacred things, will find them a burdensome stone, that it is
ill-jesting with edged-tools, and though they make light of it (saying, Am
not I in sport?) they bring upon themselves an insupportable sinking
load of guilt. Our Saviour seems to allude to these words when he speaks of
himself as a burdensome stone to those that will not have him for their
foundation-stone, which shall fall upon them and grind them to powder,
Matt. xxi. 44.
(3.) The governors of Judah shall be among their enemies like a hearth of
fire among the wood, and a torch of fire in a sheaf, v. 6. Not
that their own passions shall make them incendiaries and firebrands to all
about them; no; Zion's King is meek and lowly, and all subordinate
governors must be like him; but God's justice will make them avengers of his
cause, and theirs, upon their enemies. Those that contend with them will
find it is like an opposition given by briers and thorns to a consuming
fire, Isa. xxvii. 4. It will go through them, and burn them together. It is
God's wrath, and not theirs, that is the fire which devours the adversaries.
God's fire is said to be in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
Isa. xxxi. 9. The enemies thought to be as water to this fire, to extinguish
it and put it quite out; but God will make them as wood, nay, as a sheaf of
corn (which is more combustible), to this fire, not only to be consumed by
it, but to be made thereby to burn the more strongly. When God would make
Abimelech and the men of Shechem one another's destroyers fire is said to come
out from the one to devour the other, Judg. ix. 20. So here, Fire shall
come out from the governors of Judah to devour all the people
round about, as from the mouth of God's witnesses to consume those who
offer to hurt them, Rev. xi. 5. The persecutors of the primitive church
found this fulfilled in it, witness Lactantius's history of God's judgments
upon the primitive persecutors, and the confession of Julian the apostate at
last. Thou hast overcome me, O thou Galilean! The church's motto may
be, Nemo me impune lacesset--He that assails me does it at his peril. If
you are weary of your life, persecute the Christians, was once a
proverb.
2. It is promised that God will infatuate the counsels and enfeeble the
courage of the church's enemies (v. 4): "In that day,
when the people of the earth are gathered together against Jerusalem, I
will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness;"
and again, "I will smite every horse of the people with blindness,
so that they shall be no way serviceable to them; blinding the horses will
be as bad as houghing them." The horses and their horsemen shall both
forget the military exercise to which they were trained, and, instead of
keeping ranks and observing the rules of their discipline, they shall both
grow mad, and ruin themselves. The church's infantry shall be too hard for
the enemy's cavalry; and those who were upbraided with trusting in horses
shall be baffled by those who were forbidden to multiply horses.
3. It is promised that Jerusalem shall be re-peopled and replenished (v.
6): Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in
Jerusalem. The natives of Jerusalem shall not incorporate in a colony in
some other country, and build a city there, and call that Jerusalem,
and see the promises fulfilled in that, as those in New England called their
towns by the names of towns in Old England. No; they shall have a new
Jerusalem upon the same foundation, the same spot of ground, with the old
one. They had so after their return out of captivity, but this was to have
its full accomplishment in the gospel-church, which is a Jerusalem inhabited
in its own place; for, the gospel being to be preached to all the
world, it may call every place its own.
4. It is promised that the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be enabled to
defend themselves, and yet shall be taken under the divine protection, v.
8. See here in what method God preserves his church, and those that are his,
from the gates of hell to and through the gates of heaven. (1.) He does
himself secure them: In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, not only Jerusalem itself from being taken and destroyed, but
every inhabitant of it from being any way damaged. God will not only be a wall
of fire about the city, to fortify that, but he will encompass
particular persons with his favour as with a shield, so that no dart
of the besiegers shall touch them. (2.) He does it by giving them strength
and courage to help themselves. What God works in his people by his grace
contributes more to their preservation and defence than what he works for
them by his providence. The God of Israel gives strength and power to his
people, that they may do their part, and then he will not be wanting to
do his. It is the glory of God to strengthen the weak, that most need his
help, that see and own their need of it, and will be the most thankful for
it. [1.] In that day the feeblest of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall
be as David, shall be men of war, as bold and brave, as skilful and
strong, as David himself, shall attempt and accomplish great things, as
David did, and become as serviceable to Jerusalem in guarding it as David
himself was in founding it, and as formidable as he was to the enemies of
it. See what divine grace does; it makes children not only men, but
champions, makes weak saints to be not only good soldiers, but great
soldiers, like David. And see how God often does his own work as easily and
effectually, and more to his own glory, by weak and obscure instruments than
by the most illustrious. [2.] The house of David shall be as God,
that is, as the angel of the Lord, before them. Zerubbabel was now
the top-branch of the house of David; he shall be endued with wisdom and
grace for the service to which he is called, and shall go before the people
as an angel, as that angel (so some think) which went before the people of
Israel through the wilderness, which was God himself, Exod. xxiii. 20. God
will increase the gifts and abilities both of the people and princes, in
proportion to the respective services for which they are designed. It was
said of David that he was as an angel of God, to discern good and bad,
2 Sam. xiv. 17. Such shall the house of David now be. The inhabitants of
Jerusalem shall be as strong and fit for action as nature made David, and
their magistrates as wise and fit for counsel as grace made him. But this
was to have its full accomplishment in Christ; now the house of David looked
little and mean, and its glory was eclipsed, but in Christ the house of
David shone more brightly than ever, and its countenance was as that of an
angel; in him it became more blessed, and more a blessing, than ever it had
been.
5. It is promised that there shall be a very good understanding between the
city and the country, and that the balance shall be kept even between them;
there shall be no mutual envies or jealousies between them; they shall not
keep up any separate interests, but shall heartily unite in their counsels,
and act in concert for the common good; and this happy agreement between the
city and the country, the head and the body, is very necessary to the
health, welfare, and safety of any nation. (1.) The governors of Judah,
the magistrates and gentry of the country, shall think honourably of the
citizens, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the merchants and tradesmen;
they shall not run them down, and contrive how to keep them under, but they shall
say in their hearts, not in compliment but in sincerity, The
inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength, the strength of my
country, of my family, in the Lord of hosts their God, v. 5.
They will therefore, upon all occasions, pay respect and deference to
Jerusalem, as the mother-city, the ruling-city, and the city that is to be
first served, because they look upon it to be the bulwark of the nation and
its strongest fortification in times of public danger and distress, which
therefore they would all come in to the assistance of and come under the
protection of, and this not so much because it was a rich city, and money is
the sinews of war, nor because it was a populous city and could bring the
greatest numbers into the field, nor because its inhabitants were generally
the most ingenious active men, the best soldiers and the best commanders (of
Zion it shall be said, This and that brave man were born there),
but because it was a holy city, where God's house and household, the
temple and the priests, were, where his worship was kept up and his feasts
were observed, and because it should now be more than ever a praying city,
for upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem God will pour a spirit of
supplication (v. 10); therefore the governors of Judah shall say,
These are my strength; they are so upon the account of their relation
to, their interest in, and their communion with, the Lord of hosts, their
God. Because the Lord of hosts is in a particular manner their
God (for in Salem is his tabernacle and his dwelling-place in Zion),
therefore they shall be my strength. Note, It is well with a kingdom
when its great men know how to value its good men, when its governors look
upon religion and religious people to be their strength, and consider it
their interest to support them, and learn to call godly praying people, and
skilful faithful ministers, the chariots and horsemen of Israel, as
Joash called Elisha, and not the troublers of the land, as Ahab called
Elijah. (2.) The court and the city shall not despise, nor look with
contempt upon, the inhabitants of the country; no, not the meanest of them,
much less upon the governors of Judah; for God will put signal honour upon
Judah, and so save them from the contempt of their brethren. As Jerusalem
was dignified by special ordinances, so Judah shall be dignified with
special providences. God says (v. 4), I will open my eyes upon the
house of Judah, upon the poor country people. Proud men scornfully
overlook them, but the great God will graciously look upon them and look
after them. Nay, (v. 7), the Lord shall save the tents of Judah
first. Those that dwell in tents lie most exposed; but God will
remarkably protect and deliver them before those that dwell in Jerusalem. He
will appear glorious in what he does for the inhabitants of his villages
in Israel, Judg. v. 11. Thus, in the mystical body, God gives more
abundant honour to that part which lacked, that there may be no schism in
the body (see 1 Cor. xii. 22-25), which is the reason here given why the
glory of the house of David, which has great power, and the glory of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who have great wealth, and both which live
in great pomp and pleasure, may not magnify themselves against Judah
and the tents of Judah, the dwellers in which work hard, and fare
hard, and perhaps are not so well bred. Note, Courtiers and citizens ought
not to despise country people, nor look with disdain upon those whom God opens
his eyes upon and who are first saved, while it is so hard for
the rich and great to enter the kingdom of God. If God by his grace
has magnified the dwellers in the tents of Judah, having chosen the weak and
foolish things of the world and chosen to employ them, we affront him if we
vilify them, or magnify ourselves against them, Jam. ii. 5, 6. This promise
has a further reference to the gospel-church, in which no difference shall
be made between high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, circumcision and
uncircumcision, but all shall be alike welcome to Christ, and partake of his
benefits, Col. iii. 11. Jerusalem shall not then be thought, as it had been,
more holy than other parts of the land of Israel.
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Promises
to Judah; Evangelical Predictions.
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B.
C. 500.
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9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that
I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look
upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one
mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him,
as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 In
that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of
Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 And the land shall
mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their
wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives
apart; 13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives
apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14 All
the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
The day here spoken of is the day of Jerusalem's defence and
deliverance, that glorious day when God will appear for the salvation of his
people, which, if it do refer to the successes which the Jews had against
their enemies in the time of the Maccabees, yet certainly looks further, to
the gospel-day, to Christ's victories over the powers of darkness and
the great salvation he has wrought for his chosen. Now we have here an
account of two remarkable works designed in that day.
I. A glorious work of God to be wrought for his people: "I will seek
to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem, v. 9.
Nations come against Jerusalem, many and mighty nations; but they shall all
be destroyed, their power shall be broken, and their attempts baffled; the
mischief they intend shall return upon their own head." God will seek
to destroy them, not as if he were at a loss for ways and means to bring it
about (Infinite Wisdom was never nonplussed), but his seeking to do it
intimates that he is very earnest and intent upon it (he is jealous for Zion
with great jealousy, and has the day of vengeance in his heart) and
that he overrules means and instruments, and all the motions and operations
of second causes, in order to it. He is framing evil against them;
when he seems to be setting them up he is seeking to destroy them. In
Christ's first coming, he sought to destroy him that had the power of
death, and did destroy him, bruised the serpent's head, and broke all
the powers of darkness that fought against God's kingdom among men
and against the faithful friends and subjects of that kingdom; he spoiled
them, and made a show of them openly. In his second coming, he will
complete their destruction, when he shall put down all opposing rule,
principality, and power, and death itself shall be swallowed
up in that victory. The last enemy shall be destroyed of all that
fought against Jerusalem.
II. A gracious work of God to be wrought in his people, in order to the work
that is to be wrought for them. When he seeks to destroy their enemies he
will pour upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication. Note, When
God intends great mercy for his people the first thing he does is to set
them a praying; thus he seeks to destroy their enemies by stirring them up
to seek to him that he would do it for them; because, though he has proposed
it and promised it, and it is for his own glory to do it, yet he will for
this be enquired of by the house of Israel, Ezek. xxxvi. 37. Ask, and
it shall be given. This honour will he have to himself, and this honour
will he put upon prayer and upon praying people. And it is a happy presage
to the distressed church of deliverance approaching, and is, as it were, the
dawning of its day, when his people are stirred up to cry mightily to him
for it. But this promise has reference to, and is performed in, the graces
of the Spirit given to all believers, as that Isa. xliv. 3, I will pour
my Spirit upon thy seed, which was fulfilled when Jesus was
glorified, John vii. 39. It is a promise of the Spirit, and with him of
all spiritual blessings in heavenly things by Christ. Now observe
here,
1. On whom these blessings are poured out. (1.) On the house of David,
on the great men; for they are no more, and no better, than the grace of God
makes them. It was promised (v. 8) that the house of David
should be as the angel of the Lord. Now, in order to that, the Spirit
of grace is poured upon them; for the more the saints have of the Spirit of
grace the more like they are to the holy angels. When God was about to
appear for the land, he poured his Spirit of grace upon the house of David,
the leading men of the land. It bodes well to a people when princes and
great men go before the rest in that which is good, as 2 Chron. xx. 5. The
house of David is all summed up in Jesus Christ, the Son of David;
and upon him, as the head, the Spirit of grace is poured out, from him to be
diffused to all his members; from his fulness we receive, and grace for
grace. (2.) On the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the common people; for the
operations of the Spirit are the same upon the mean and weak Christians that
they are upon the strong and more grown. The inhabitants of Jerusalem cannot
influence public affairs by their powers and policies, as the great men of
the house of David may, yet they may do good service by their prayers, and
therefore upon them the Spirit shall be poured out. The church is Jerusalem,
the heavenly Jerusalem; all true believers, that have their conversation in
the heaven, are inhabitants of this Jerusalem, and to them this promise
belongs. God will pour his Spirit upon them. This is the earnest
which all that believe in Christ shall receive; thus they are
sanctified; thus they are sealed.
2. What these blessings are: I will pour upon them the Spirit. That
includes all good things, as it qualifies us for the favour of God, and all
his other gifts. He will pour out the Spirit, (1.) As a Spirit of grace,
to sanctify us and to make us gracious. (2.) As a Spirit of
supplications, inclining us to, instructing and assisting us in, the
duty of prayer. Note, Wherever the Spirit is given as a Spirit of grace, he
is given as a Spirit of sanctification. Wherever he is a Spirit of adoption,
he teaches to cry, Abba, Father. As soon as ever Paul was converted, Behold,
he prays, Acts ix. 11. You may as soon find a living man without breath
as a living saint without prayer. There is a more plentiful effusion of the
Spirit of prayer now under the gospel than was under the law; and the
further the work of sanctification is carried in us the better is the work
of supplication carried on by us.
3. What the effect of them will be: I will pour upon them the Spirit of
grace. One would think that it should follow, "And they shall look
on him whom they have believed, and shall rejoice" (and it is true that
that is one of the fruits of the pouring out of the Spirit, whence we read
of the joy of the Holy ghost), but it follows, They shall mourn;
for there is a holy mourning, that is the effect of the pouring out of the
Spirit, a mourning for sin, which is of use to quicken faith in Christ and
qualify for joy in God. It is here made the matter of a promise that they
shall mourn, for there is a mourning that will end in rejoicing and has a
blessing entailed upon it. This mourning is a fruit of the Spirit of grace,
an evidence of a work of grace in the soul, and a companion of the Spirit of
supplication, as it expresses lively affections working in prayer; hence
prayers and tears are often put together, 2 Kings xx. 5. Jacob, that
wrestler with God, wept and made supplication. But here it is a
mourning for sin that is the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit.
(1.) It is a mourning grounded upon a sight of Christ: They shall look on
me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for him. Here, [1.] It is
foretold that Christ should be pierced, and this scripture is quoted as that
which was fulfilled when Christ's side was pierced upon the cross; see John
xix. 37. [2.] He is spoken of as one whom we have pierced; it is spoken
primarily of the Jews, who persecuted him to death (and we find that those
who pierced him are distinguished from the other kindreds of the
earth that shall wail because of him, Rev. i. 7); yet it is true
of us all as sinners, we have pierced Christ, inasmuch as our sins were the
cause of his death, for he was wounded for our transgressions, and
they are the grief of his soul; he is broken with the whorish
heart of sinners, who therefore are said to crucify him afresh
and put him to open shame. [3.] Those that truly repent of sin look upon
Christ as one whom they have pierced, who was pierced for their sins and is
pierced by them; and this engages them to look unto him, as those
that are deeply concerned for him. [4.] This is the effect of their looking
to Christ; it makes them mourn. This was particularly fulfilled in those to
whom Peter preached Christ crucified; when they heard it those who had had a
hand in piercing him were pricked to the heart, and cried out, What
shall we do? It is fulfilled in all those who sorrow for sin after a
godly sort; they look to Christ, and mourn for him, not so much for
his sufferings as for their own sins that procured them. Note, The genuine
sorrows of a penitent soul flow from the believing sight of a pierced
Saviour. Looking by faith upon the cross of Christ will set us a mourning
for sin after a godly sort.
(2.) It is a great mourning. [1.] it is like the mourning of a parent for
the death of a beloved child. They shall mourn for sin as one mourns for
an only son, in whose grave the hopes of his family are buried, and
shall be inwardly in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his
first-born, as the Egyptians were when there was a cry throughout all
their land for the death of their first-born. The sorrow of children for the
death of their parents is sometimes counterfeited, is often small, and soon
wears off and is forgotten; but the sorrow of parents for a child, for a
son, for an only son, for a first-born, is natural, sincere, unforced, and
unaffected, it is secret and lasting; such are the sorrows of a true
penitent, flowing purely from love to Christ above any other. [2.] It is
like the mourning of a people for the death of a wise and good prince. It
shall be like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon,
where good king Josiah was slain, for whom there was a general lamentation (v.
11), and perhaps the greater because they were told that it was their sin
that provoked God to deprive them of so great a blessing; therefore they
cried out, The crown has fallen from our head. Woe unto us, for we have
sinned! Lam. v. 16. Christ is our King; our sins were his death, and,
for that reason, ought to be our grief.
(3.) It is a general universal mourning (v. 12): The land shall
mourn. The land itself put on mourning at the death of Christ, for there
was then darkness over all the land, and the earth trembled; but this
is a promise that, in consideration of the death of Christ, multitudes shall
be effectually brought to sorrow for sin and turn to God; it shall be such a
universal gracious mourning as was when all the house of Israel lamented
after the Lord, 1 Sam. vii. 2. Some think this is yet to have its
complete accomplishment in the general conversion of the Jewish nation.
(4.) It is also a private particular mourning. There shall be not only a
mourning of the land, by its representatives in a general assembly
(as Judg. ii. 5, when the place was called Bochim--A place of weepers),
but it shall spread itself into all corners of the land: Every family
apart shall mourn (v. 12), all the families that remain, v.
14. All have contributed to the guilt, and therefore all shall share in the
grief. Note, The exercises of devotion should be performed by private
families among themselves, besides their joining in public assemblies for
religious worship. National fasts must be observed, not only in our
synagogues, but in our houses. In the mourning here foretold the wives mourn
apart by themselves, in their own apartment, as Esther and her maids. And
some think it intimates their denying themselves the use even of lawful
delights in a time of general humiliation 1 Cor. vii. 5. Four several
families are here specified as examples to others in this mourning:-- [1.]
Two of them are royal families: the house of David, in Solomon, and
the house of Nathan, another son of David, brother to Solomon, from
whom Zerubbabel descended, as appears by Christ's genealogy, Luke iii.
27-31. The house of David, particularly that of Nathan, which is now the
chief branch of that house, shall go before in this good work. The greatest
princes must not think themselves exempted from the law of repentance, but
rather obliged most solemnly to express it, for the exciting of others, as
Hezekiah humbled himself (2 Chron. xxxii. 26), the princes and the king (2
Chron. xii. 6), and the king of Nineveh, Jonah iii. 6. [2.] Two of them are
sacred families (v. 13), the family of the house of Levi,
which was God's tribe, and in it particularly the family of Shimei, which
was a branch of the tribe of Levi (1 Chron. vi. 17), and probably some of
the descendants of that family were now of note for preachers to the people
or ministers to the altar. As the princes must mourn for the sins of the
magistracy, so must the priests for the iniquity of the holy things.
In times of general tribulation and humiliation the Lord's ministers are
concerned to weep between the porch and the altar (Joel ii. 17), and
not only there, but in their houses apart; for in what families should
godliness, both in the form and in the power of it, be found, if not in
ministers' families?
