In
this chapter we have, I. An earnest exhortation to the nation of the Jews to
repent and make their peace with God, and so to prevent the judgments
threatened before it was too late (ver. 1-3), and this inferred from the
revelation of God's wrath against them in the foregoing chapter. II. A
denunciation of the judgments of God against several of the neighbouring
nations that had assisted, or rejoiced in, the calamity of Israel. 1. The
Philistines, ver. 4-7. 2. The Moabites and Ammonites, ver. 8-11. 3. The
Ethiopians and Assyrians, ver. 12-15. All these shall drink of the same cup
of trembling that is put into the hands of God's people, as was also
foretold by other prophets before and after.
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The
People Exhorted to Repent.
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B.
C. 612.
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1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather
together, O nation not desired; 2 Before the decree bring forth,
before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD
come upon you, before the day of the LORD's
anger come upon you. 3 Seek ye the LORD,
all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek
righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD's
anger.
Here we see what the prophet meant in that terrible description of the
approaching judgments which we had in the foregoing chapter. From first to
last his design was, not to drive the people to despair, but to drive them
to God and to their duty--not to frighten them out of their wits, but to
frighten them out of their sins. In pursuance of that he here calls them to
repentance, national repentance, as the only way to prevent national ruin.
Observe,
I. The summons given them to a national assembly (v. 1): Gather
yourselves together. He had told them, in the last words of the
foregoing chapter, that God would make a speedy riddance of all that
dwelt in the land, upon which, one would think, it should follow,
"Disperse yourselves, and flee for shelter where you can find a
place." When the decree had absolutely gone forth for the last
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, that was the advice given (Matt.
xxiv. 16), Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains;
but here it is otherwise. God warns, that he may not wound, threatens, that
he may not strike, and therefore calls to the people to use means for the
turning away of his wrath. The summons is given to a nation not desired.
The word signifies either, 1. Not desiring, that has not any desires
towards God or the remembrance of his name, is not desirous of his favour or
grace, but very indifferent to it, has no mind to repent and reform.
"Yet come together, and see if you can stir up desires in one
another." Thus God is often found of those that sought him not,
nor asked for him, Isa. lxv. 1. Or, 2. Not desirable, no ways
lovely, nor having any thing in them amiable, or which might recommend them
to God. The land of Israel had been a pleasant land, a land of delight
(Dan. xi. 41); but now it is unlovely, it is a nation not desired, to
which God might justly say, Depart from me; but he says, "Gather
together to me, and let us see if any expedient can be found out for the
preventing of the ruin. Gather together, that you may in a body
humble yourselves before God, may fast, and pray, and seek his face. Gather
together, to consult among yourselves what is to be done in this
critical juncture, that every one may consider of it, may give and take
advice, and speak his mind, and that what is done may be done by consent and
so may be a national act." Some read it, "Enquire into
yourselves, yea, enquire into yourselves; examine your
consciences; look into your hearts; search and try your ways; enquire
into yourselves, that you may find out the sin by which God has been
provoked to this displeasure against you, and may find out the way of
returning to him." Note, When God is contending with us it concerns us
to enquire into ourselves.
II. Arguments urged to press them to the utmost seriousness and expedition
herein (v. 2): "Do it in earnest; do it with all speed before it
is too late, before the decree bring forth, before the day pass."
The manner of speaking here is very lively and awakening, designed to make
them apprehensive, as all sinners are concerned to be, 1. That their danger
is very great, that their all lies at stake, that it is a matter of life and
death, which therefore well requires and well deserves the closest
application of mind that can be. It is not a trifle, and therefore is not a
thing to be trifled about. It is the fierce anger of the Lord that is
kindled against them, and is just ready to kindle upon them, that devouring
fire which none can dwell with, which none can make head against
or hold up their head under. "It is the day of the Lord's anger,
the day set for the pouring out of the full vials of it, that you are
threatened with, that great day of the Lord" spoken of, ch.
i. 14. "Are you not concerned to prepare for that day?" 2. That it
is very imminent: "Bestir yourselves now quickly, before the decree
bring forth, and then it will be too late, the opportunity will be lost
and never retrieved. The decree is as it were big with child, and it will bring
forth the day, the terrible day, which shall pass as chaff, which
shall hurry you away into captivity as chaff before the wind." We
know not what a day may bring forth (Prov. xxvii. 1), but we do know
what the decree will bring forth against impenitent sinners, whom therefore
it highly concerns to repent in time, in the accepted time. Note, It
is the wisdom of those whom God has a controversy with to agree with him
quickly, while they are in the way, before his fierce anger comes upon them,
not to be turned away. In a case of this nature delays are highly dangerous
and may be fatal; they will be so if by them the heart is hardened. How
solicitous should we all be to make our peace with God before the Spirit
withdraw from us, or cease to strive with us, before the day of grace be
over or the day of life, before our everlasting state shall be determined on
the other side of the great gulf fixed!
III. Directions prescribed for the doing of this effectually. It is not
enough to gather together in a consternation, but they must seriously and
calmly apply to the duty of the day (v. 3): Seek you the Lord.
That they might find mercy with God, they are here put upon seeking; for so
is the rule--Seek, and you shall find. A general call was given to
the whole nation to gather together, but little good is to be
expected from the far greater part of them; if the land be saved, it must be
by the interest and intercession of the pious few, and therefore to them the
exhortation here is particularly directed. And observe, 1. How they are
described--they are the meek of the earth, or of the land. It
is the distinguishing character of the people of God that they are the meek
ones of the earth; this is their badge; it is their livery. They are
modest, and humble, and low in their own eyes; they are mild, and gentle,
and yielding to others, not soon angry, not very angry, not long angry; they
are the quiet in the land, Ps. xxxv. 20. And they are subject and
submissive to their God, to all his precepts and all his providences.
Actuated by this principle and disposition, they have wrought his
judgments, that is, have obeyed his laws, observed his institutions,
have made conscience of their duty to him, and have laid out themselves for
the advancement of his honour and interest in the world. 2. What they are
required to do; they must seek, which denotes both a careful enquiry
and a constant endeavour, that they may know and do their duty. (1.) They
must seek the Lord, seek his favour and grace, address him upon all
occasions, ask of him what they need, seek him early, seek him diligently,
and continue seeking him. (2.) They must seek righteousness.
"Seek to God for the performance of his promises to you, and see to it
that you abound yet more in duty to him; seek for the righteousness of
Christ to be imputed to you, for the graces of God's Spirit to be implanted
in you; hunger and thirst after them." (3.) They must seek meekness.
This is a grace they were so eminent for that they were denominated the
meek of the land, and yet this they must seek. Note, Those that
are ever so good must still strive to be better, those that have ever so
much grace must be still praying and labouring for more. Nay, those that
excel in any particular grace must still seek to excel yet more in that,
because in that most assaults will be made upon them by their enemies, in
that most is expected from them by their friends, and in that they are most
apt to be themselves secure. Si dixisti, Sufficit, periisti--Say but, I
am all that I ought to be, and you are undone. In the difficult trying
times approaching, the meek will find exercise for all the meekness they
have, and all little enough, and therefore should seek it earnestly, and
pray that when God in his providence gives them occasion for it he would by
his grace enable them to exercise it, to show all meekness to all men,
in all instances, that, as the day is, so may the strength be.
IV. Encouragements given to take these directions: It may be, you shall
be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. 1. "You particularly that
are the meek of the earth. Though the day of the Lord's anger do come
upon the land, yet you shall be safe, you shall be taken under special
protection. Verily it shall be well with thy remnant, Jer. xv. 11. Thy
life will I give unto thee for a prey, Jer. xlv. 5. I will deliver
thee in that day, Jer. xxxix. 17. It may be, you shall be hid; if
any be hid, you shall." Good men cannot be sure of temporal
preservation, for all things come alike to all, but they are most
likely to be hid, and stand fairest for a distinguishing care of Providence.
It is expressed thus doubtfully to try if they will trust the goodness of
God's nature, though they have but the it may be of a promise, and to
keep up in them a holy fear and watchfulness lest they should seem to come
short, and should do any thing to throw themselves out of the divine
protection. Note, those that hold fast their integrity, in times of common
iniquity, have reason to hope that God will find out a hiding-place for
them, where they shall be safe and easy, in times of common calamity. They
shall be hid (as Luther says) aut in cœlo, aut sub cœlo--either in
heaven or under heaven, either in the possession of heaven or under the
protection of heaven. Or, 2. "You of this nation, though it be a nation
not desired, yet, in the day of the Lord's anger with the neighbouring
nations, when his judgments are abroad, you shall be hid; your land
shall be preserved for the sake of those few meek ones that stand in the gap
to turn away the wrath of God." It concerns us all to make it
sure to ourselves that we shall be hid in the great day of God's wrath; and,
if we hide ourselves in the chambers of duty, God will hide us in chambers
of safety, Isa. xxvi. 20. If we prepare an ark, that shall be our
hiding-place, Gen. vii. 1.
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The
Punishment of the Philistines.
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B.
C. 612.
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4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a
desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be
rooted up. 5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the
nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD
is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even
destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. 6 And the sea
coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for
flocks. 7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of
Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie
down in the evening: for the LORD
their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.
The prophet here comes to foretel what share the neighbouring nations should
have in the destruction made upon those parts of the world by Nebuchadnezzar
and his victorious Chaldees, as others of the prophets did at that time,
which is designed, 1. To awaken the people of the Jews, by making them
sensible how strong, how deep, how large, the inundation of calamities
should be, that the day of the Lord, which was near, might appear the
more dreadful, and they might thereby be quickened to prepare for it as for
a general deluge. 2. To comfort them with this thought, that their case,
though sad, should not be singular (Solamen miseris socios habuisse
doloris--The wretched find it consolatory to have companions of their
woe), and much more with this, that though God had seemed to be their
enemy, and to fight against them, yet he was still so far their friend, and
an enemy to their enemies, that he resented, and would revenge, the
indignities done them.
In these verses we have the doom of the Philistines, who were near
neighbours, and old enemies, to the people of Israel. Five lordships there
were in that country; only four are here named--Gaza and Ashkelon,
Ashdod and Ekron; Gath, the fifth, is not named, some think
because it was now subject to Judah. They were the inhabitants of the
sea-coasts (v. 5), for their country lay upon the Great Sea. The nation
of the Cherethites is here joined with them, which bordered upon them (1
Sam. xxx. 14) and fell with them, as is foretold also, Ezek. xxv. 16. The
Philistines' land is here called Canaan, for it belonged to that country
which God gave to his people Israel, and was inserted in the grant made to
them, Josh. xiii. 3. This land is yet to be possessed (five lords of the
Philistines), so that they wrongfully kept Israel out of the possession
of it (Judg. iii. 3), which is now remembered against them. For, though the
rights of others may be long detained unjustly, the righteous God will at
length avenge the wrong.
I. It is here foretold that the Philistines, the usurpers, shall be
dispossessed and quite extirpated. In general, here is a woe to them (v.
5), which, coming from God, denotes all misery: The word of the Lord is
against them--the word of the former prophets, which, though not yet
accomplished, will be in its season, Isa. xiv. 31. This word, now by this
prophet, is against them. Note, Those are really in a woeful condition that
have the word of the Lord against them, for no word of his shall fall to the
ground. Those that rebel against the precepts of God's word shall have the threatenings
of the word against them. The effect will be no less than their destruction,
1. God himself will be the author of it: "I will even destroy thee,
who can make good what I say and will." 2. It shall be a universal
destruction; it shall extend itself to all parts of the land, both city and
country: Gaza shall be forsaken, though now a populous city. It was
foretold (Jer. xlvii. 6) that baldness should come upon Gaza;
Alexander the Great razed that city, and we find (Acts viii. 26) that Gaza
was a desert. Ashkelon shall be a desolation, a pattern of
desolation. Ashdod shall be driven out at noon-day; in the extremity
of the scorching heat they shall have no shade, no shelter to protect them;
but then, when most incommoded by the weather, they shall be forced away
into captivity, which will be an aggravating circumstance of it. Ekron
likewise shall be rooted up, that had been long taking root. The land
of the Philistines shall be dispeopled; there shall be no inhabitant,
v. 5. God made the earth to be inhabited (Isa. xlv. 18),
otherwise he would have made it in vain; but, if men do not answer the end
of their creation in serving God, it is just with God that the earth should
not answer the end of its creation in serving them for a habitation; man's
sin has sometimes subjected it to this vanity. 3. It shall be an utter
destruction. The sea-coast, which used to be a harbour for ships and a
habitation for merchants, shall now be deserted, and be only cottages for
shepherds and folds for flocks (v. 6), and then perhaps
put to better use than when it was possessed by the lords of the
Philistines.
II. It is here foretold that the house of Judah, the rightful owners, shall
recover the possession of it, v. 7. The remnant of those that shall return
out of captivity, when God visits them, shall be made to lie down
in safety in the houses of Ashkelon, to lie down in the evening,
when they are weary and sleepy. There they shall feed themselves and
their flocks. Note, God will at length restore his people to their rights,
though they may be long kept out from them.
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The
Punishment of Various Nations.
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B.
C. 612.
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8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the
revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people,
and magnified themselves against their border. 9
Therefore as I live, saith the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children
of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and salt-pits,
and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and
the remnant of my people shall possess them. 10 This shall they
have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves
against the people of the LORD
of hosts. 11 The LORD
will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the
earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even
all the isles of the heathen.
The Moabites and Ammonites were both of the posterity of Lot; their
countries joined, and, both adjoining to Israel, they are here put together
in the prophecy against them.
I. They are both charged with the same crime, and that was reproaching and
reviling the people of God and triumphing in their calamities (v. 8):
They have reproached my people; while God's people kept close to
their duty it is probable that they reproached them for the singularities of
their religion; and now that they had revolted from God, and fallen under
his displeasure, they reproached them for that too. It has been the common
lot of God's people in all ages to be reproached and reviled upon one
account or other. Thus the old serpent spits his venom; and pride is at the
bottom of it; it is in their pride that they have magnified themselves
against the people of the Lord of hosts, thinking themselves as good as
they, as great, and every way as happy. It is the comtempt of the proud
that God's people are filled with, Ps. cxxiii. 4. They have spoken big
(so some read it, magna locuti sunt--they have spoken great things)
against their border (v. 8), against those of them that bordered
upon their country, whom upon all occasions they insulted, or against the
property they claimed, which they disputed, or the protection they boasted
of, which they ridiculed; they spoke big against the people of the Lord
of hosts as a deserted abandoned people. Great swelling words of
vanity are the genuine language of the church's enemies. "But I
have heard them" (says God), "and will let you know that I
have heard them. I have heard, and I will reckon for them," Jude 15.
And, if God hears the reproaches and revilings we are under, it is a good
reason why we should be as a deaf man that hears not, Ps. xxxviii.
14, 15. Nay, God not only takes notice of, but interests himself in the
reproaches cast on his people, because they are his; and it is certain that
those who look with disdain upon the people of the Lord of hosts thereby
dishonour the Lord of hosts himself. See this very thing charged on Moab and
Ammon, Ezek. xxv. 3, 8.
II. They are both laid under the same doom. Associates in iniquity may
expect to be such in desolation. See with what solemnity sentence is
pronounced upon them, v. 9. It is the Lord of hosts, the
sovereign Lord of all, who has authority to pass this sentence and ability
to execute it; it is the God of Israel, who is jealous for their
honour; it is he that has said it, nay, he has sworn it, As I live, saith
the Lord. The sentence is, 1. That the Moabites and Ammonites shall be
quite destroyed; they shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah, the marks of
whose ruins in the Dead Sea lay near adjoining to the countries of Moab and
Ammon; they shall, though not by the same means (even fire from heaven), Yet
almost in the same manner, be laid waste; not again to be inhabited, or not
of a long time. The country shall produce nothing but nettles,
instead of corn; and there shall be brine-pits, instead of the
pleasant fountains of water with which the country had abounded. 2. That
Israel shall be too hard for them, shall spoil them of their goods
and possess their country by lawful war. Note, Proud men sometimes,
by the just judgment of God, fall under the mortification of being trampled
upon themselves by those whom once they haughtily trampled upon. And this
shall they have for their pride.
III. Other nations shall in like manner be humbled, that the Lord alone may
be exalted (v. 11): The Lord will be terrible unto the
Moabites and Ammonites in particular, who have made themselves a terror to
his Israel. For, 1. Heathen gods must be abolished. They have long had
possession, and their worshippers have both glorified them and gloried in
them. But the Lord will famish all the gods of the earth, will
starve them out of their strong-holds. The Pagans had a fond conceit that
their idols were regaled by their offerings, and did eat the fat of their
sacrifices, Deut. xxxii. 38. Omnia comesta à Belo--Bel has eaten
all. But it is here promised that when the Christian religion is set up
in the world men shall be turned from the service of these dumb idols, shall
forsake their altars, and bring no more sacrifices to them, and thus they
shall be famished, or made lean (as the word is), their priests
shall. This intimates the vanity of those idols; it lies in the power of
their worshippers to famish them; whereas the true God says, If I were
hungry, I would not tell thee. It intimates also the victory of the God
of Israel over them. Now know we that he is greater than all gods. 2.
Heathen nations must be converted; when the gospel gets ground, by it men
shall be brought to worship him who lives for ever (for that is the command
of the everlasting gospel, Rev. xiv. 7), every one from his place;
they shall not need to go up to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel, but
wherever they are, they may have access to him. I will that men pray
every where. God shall be worshipped, not only by all the tribes of
Israel and the strangers who join themselves to them, but by all the
isles of the heathen. This is a promise which looks favourably upon our
native country, for it is one of the most considerable of the isles of the
Gentiles, by which God will be glorified.
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Ethiopia
and Assyria Threatened.
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B.
C. 612.
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12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be
slain by my sword. 13 And he will stretch out his hand against
the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and
dry like a wilderness. 14 And flocks shall lie down in the midst
of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern
shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the
windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover
the cedar work. 15 This is the rejoicing city that dwelt
carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none
beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down
in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
The cup is going round, when Nebuchadnezzar is going on conquering
and to conquer; and not only Israel's near neighbours, but those that lay
more remote, must be reckoned with for the wrongs they have done to God's
people; the Ethiopians and the Assyrians are here taken to task. 1. The
Ethiopians, or Arabians, that had sometimes been a terror to Israel (as in
Asa's time, 2 Chron. xiv. 9), must now be reckoned with: They shall be
slain by my sword, v. 12. Nebuchadnezzar was God's sword, the
instrument in his hand with which these and other enemies were subdued and
punished, Ps. xvii. 14. 2. The Assyrians, and Nineveh the head city of their
monarchy, are next set to the bar, to receive their doom: He that is
God's sword will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy
Assyria, and make himself master of it. Assyria had been the rod of
God's anger against Israel, and now Babylon is the rod of God's anger
against Assyria, Isa. x. 5. He will make Nineveh a desolation, as was
lately and largely foretold by the prophet Nahum. Observe, (1.) How
flourishing Nineveh's state had formerly been (v. 15): This is the
rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly. Nineveh was so strong that she
feared no evil, and therefore dwelt carelessly and set danger at defiance;
she was so rich that she thought herself sure of all good, and therefore was
a rejoicing city, full of mirth and gaiety; and she had such a dominion that
she admitted no rival, but said in her heart, "I am, and there is
none besides me that can compare with me, no city in the world that can
pretend to be equal with me." God can with his judgments frighten the
most secure, humble the most haughty, and mar the mirth of those that most
laugh now. (2.) How complete Nineveh's ruin shall now be; it shall be made a
desolation, v. 13. Such a heap of ruins shall this once pompous
city be that it shall be, [1.] A receptacle for beasts, such a wilderness
that flocks shall lie down in it; nay, such a waste, desolate,
frightful place, that wild beasts, shall take up their abode there; the
melancholy birds, as the cormorant and bittern, shall make their
nests in what remains of the houses, as they sometimes do in old ruinous
buildings that are uninhabited and unfrequented. The lintels, or
chapiters of the pillars, the windows and thresholds, and all
the fine cedar-work curiously engraven, shall lie exposed; and on
them these rueful ominous birds shall perch, and their voice shall sing.
How are the songs of mirth turned into hideous horrid noises! What little
reason have men to be proud of stately buildings, and rich furniture, when
they know not what all the pomp of them may come to at last! [2.] A derision
to travellers. Those that had come from far, to gratify their curiosity with
the sight of Nineveh's splendour, shall now look on her with as much
contempt as ever they looked upon her with admiration (v. 15): Every
one that passes by shall hiss at her, and wag his hand, making
light of her desolations, nay, and making sport with them--"There is an
end of proud Nineveh." They shall not weep, and wring their hands (the
adversities of those are unpitied and unlamented who were insolent and
haughty in their prosperity), but they shall hiss and wag their hands,
forgetting that perhaps their own ruin is not far off.
