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           Title: Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi)
      Creator(s): Henry, Matthew
     Print Basis: 1706-1721
          Rights: Public domain. May be copied and distributed freely.
   CCEL Subjects: All; Bible; Classic; Proofed
      LC Call no: BS490.H4
     LC Subjects:

                  The Bible

                  Works about the Bible
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Matthew Henry's

                         Commentary on the Whole Bible

    Unabridged


  Volume IV

Isaiah to Malachi
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P R E F A C E.

Isaiah to Malachi
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   Those books of scripture are all prophetical of which here, in
   weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling, we have endeavoured a
   methodical explication and a practical improvement. I call them
   prophetical because so they are for the main, though we have some
   histories (here and there brought in for the illustration of the
   prophecies) and a book of Lamentations. Our Saviour often puts the Law
   and the Prophets for all the Old Testament. The prophets, by waiving
   the ceremonial precepts, and not insisting on them, but only on the
   weightier matters of the law, plainly intimated the abolishing of that
   part of the law of Moses by the gospel; and by their many predictions
   of Christ, and the kingdom of his grace, they intimated the
   accomplishing the perfecting of that part of the law of Moses in the
   gospel. Thus the prophets were the nexus--the connecting bond between
   the law and the gospel, and are therefore fitly placed between them.

   These books, being prophetical, are, as such, divine, and of heavenly
   origin and extraction. We have human laws, human histories, and human
   poems, as well as divine ones, but we can have no human prophecies.
   Wise and good men may make prudent conjectures concerning future events
   (moral prognostications we call them); but it is essential to true
   prophecy that it be of God. The learned Huetius [9] lays this down for
   one of his axioms, Omnis prophetica facultas à Deo est--The prophetic
   talent is entirely from God; and he proves it to be the sense both of
   Jews and heathen that it is God's prerogative to foresee things to
   come, and that whoever had such a power had it from God. And therefore
   the Jews reckon all prophecy to be given by the highest degree of
   inspiration, except that which was peculiar to Moses. When our Saviour
   asked the chief priests whether John's baptism were from heaven or of
   men, they durst not say Of men, because the people counted him a
   prophet, and, if so, then not of men. The Hebrew name for a prophet is
   nby'--a speaker, preacher, or orator, a messenger, or interpreter, that
   delivers God's messages to the children of men, as a herald to proclaim
   war or an ambassador to treat of peace. But then it must be remembered
   that he was formerly called r'h or hsh, that is, a seer (1 Sam. ix. 9);
   for prophets, with the eyes of their minds, first saw what they were to
   speak and then spoke what they had seen.

   Prophecy, taken strictly, is the foretelling of things to come; and
   there were those to whom God gave this power, not only that it might be
   a sign for the confirming of the faith of the church concerning the
   doctrine preached when the things foretold should be fulfilled, but for
   warning, instruction, and comfort, in prospect of what they themselves
   might not live to see accomplished, but which should be fulfilled in
   its season: so predictions of things to come long after might be of
   present use.

   The learned Dr. Grew [10] describes prophecy in this sense to be, "A
   declaration of the divine prescience, looking at any distance through a
   train of infinite causes, known and unknown to us, upon a sure and
   certain effect." Hence he infers, "That the being of prophecies
   supposes the non-being of contingents; for, though there are many
   things which seem to us to be contingents, yet, were they so indeed,
   there could have been no prophecy; and there can be no contingent
   seemingly so loose and independent but it is a link of some chain." And
   Huetius gives this reason why none but God can foretel things to come,
   Because every effect depends upon an infinite number of preceding
   causes, all which, in their order, must be known to him that foretels
   the effect, and therefore to God only, for he alone is omniscient. So
   Tully argues: Qui teneat causas rerum futurarum, idem necesse est omnia
   teneat quæ futura sint; quod facere nemo nisi Deus potest--He who knows
   the causes of future events must necessarily know the events
   themselves; this is the prerogative of God alone. [11] And therefore we
   find that by this the God of Israel proves himself to be God, that by
   his prophets he foretold things to come, which came to pass according
   to the prediction, Isa. xlvi. 9, 10. And by this he disproves the
   pretensions of the Pagan deities, that they could not show the things
   that were to come to pass hereafter, Isa. xli. 23. Tertullian proves
   the divine authority of the scripture from the fulfilling of
   scripture-prophecies: Idoneum, opinor, testimonium divinitatis, veritas
   divinationis--I conceive the accomplishment of prophecy to be a
   satisfactory attestation from God. [12] And, besides the foretelling of
   things to come, the discovering of things secret by revelation from God
   is a branch of prophecy, as Ahijah's discovering Jeroboam's wife in
   disguise, and Elisha's telling Gehazi what passed between him and
   Naaman. But [13] prophecy, in scripture language, is taken more largely
   for a declaration of such things to the children of men, either by word
   or writing, as God has revealed to those that speak or write it, by
   vision, dream, or inspiration, guiding their minds, their tongues, and
   pens, by his Holy Spirit, and giving them not only ability, but
   authority, to declare such things in his name, and to preface what they
   say with, Thus saith the Lord. In this sense it is said, The prophecy
   of scripture came not in old time by the will of man, as other pious
   moral discourses might, but holy men spoke and wrote as they were moved
   by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. i. 20, 21. The same Holy Spirit that moved
   upon the face of the waters to produce the world moved upon the minds
   of the prophets to produce the Bible.

   Now I think it is worthy to be observed that all nations, having had
   some sense of God and religion, have likewise had a notion of prophets
   and prophecy, have had a veneration for them, and a desire and
   expectation of acquaintance and communion with the gods they worshipped
   in that way. Witness their oracles, their augurs, and the many arts of
   divination they had in use among them in all the ages ad all the
   countries of the world.

   It is commonly urged as an argument against the atheists, to prove that
   there is a God, That all nations of the world acknowledged some god or
   other, some Being above them, to be worshipped and prayed to, to be
   trusted in and praised; the most ignorant and barbarous nations could
   not avoid the knowledge of it; the most learned and polite nations
   could not avoid the belief of it. And this is a sufficient proof of the
   general and unanimous consent of mankind to this truth, though far the
   greatest part of men made to themselves gods which yet were no gods.
   Now I think it may be urged with equal force against the Deists, for
   the proof of a divine revelation, that all nations of the world had,
   and had veneration for, that which they at least took to e a divine
   revelation, and could not live without it, though in this also they
   became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
   darkened. But, if there were not a true deity and a true prophecy,
   there would never have been pretended deities and counterfeit
   prophecies.

   Lycurgus and Numa, those two great lawgivers of the Spartan and Roman
   commonwealths, brought their people to an observance of their laws by
   possessing them with a notion that they had them by divine revelation,
   and so making it a point of religion to observe them. And those that
   have been ever so little conversant with the Greek and Roman histories,
   as well as with the more ancient ones of Chaldea and Egypt cannot but
   remember what a profound deference their princes and great commanders,
   and not their unthinking commonalty only, paid to the oracles and
   prophets, and the prognostications of their soothsayers, which, in all
   cases of importance, were consulted with abundance of gravity and
   solemnity, and how often the resolutions of councils and the motions of
   mighty armies turned upon them, though they appeared ever so groundless
   and farfetched.

   There is a full account given by that learned philosopher and physician
   Caspar Peucer [14] of the many kinds of divination and prediction used
   among the Gentiles, by which they took on them to tell the fortune both
   of states and particular persons. They were all, he says, reduced by
   Plato to two heads: Divinatio Mantike, which was a kind of inspiration,
   or was though to be so, the prophet or prophetess foretelling things to
   come by an internal flatus or fury; such was the oracle of Apollo at
   Delphos, and that of Jupiter Trophonius, which, with others like them,
   were famous for many ages, during the prevalency of the kingdom of
   darkness, but (as appears by some of the Pagan writers themselves) they
   were all silenced and struck dumb, when the gospel (that truly divine
   oracle) began to be preached to the nations. The other kind of
   divination was that which he calls Oionistike, which was a
   prognostication by signs, according to rules of art, as by the flight
   of birds, the entrails of beasts, by stars or meteors, and abundance of
   ominous accidents, with which a foolish world was miserably imposed
   upon. A large account of this matter we have also in the late learned
   dissertations of Anton. Van Dale, to which I refer the reader. [15] But
   nothing of this kind made a greater noise in the Gentile world than the
   oracles of the Sibyls and their prophecies. Their name signifies a
   divine counsel: Sibyllæ, qu. Siobulæ, Sios, in the Æolic dialect, being
   put for Theos. Peucer says, "Almost every nation had its Sibyls, but
   those of Greece were most celebrated." They lived in several ages; the
   most ancient is said to be the Sibylla Delphica, who lived before the
   Trojan war, or about that time. The Sibylla Erythrea was the most
   noted; she lived about the time of Alexander the Great. But it the
   Sibylla Cumana of whom the story goes that she presented herself, and
   nine books of oracles, to Tarquinius Superbus, which she offered to
   sell him at so vast a rate that he refused to purchase them, upon which
   she burnt three, and, upon his second refusal, three more, but made him
   give the same rate for the remaining three, which were deposited with
   great care in the Capitol. But, those being afterwards burnt
   accidentally with the Capitol, a collection was made of other Sibylline
   oracles, and those are they which Virgil refers to in his fourth
   Eclogue. [16] All the oracles of the Sibyls that are extant were put
   together, and published, in Holland, not many years ago, by Seryatius
   Gallæus, in Greek and Latin, with large and learned notes, together
   with all that could be met with of the metrical oracles that go under
   the names of Jupiter, Apollo, Serapis, and others, by Joannes Opsopæus.

   The oracles of the Sibyls were appealed to by many of the fathers for
   the confirmation of the Christian religion. Justin Martyr [17] appeals
   with a great deal of assurance, persuading the Greeks to give credit to
   that ancient Sibyl, whose works were extant all the world over; and to
   their testimony, and that of Hydaspis, he appeals concerning the
   general conflagration and the torments of hell. Clemens Alexandrinus
   [18] often quotes the Sibyls' verses with great respect; so does
   Lactantius; [19] St. Austin, [20] De Civitate Dei, has the famous
   acrostic at large, said to be one of the oracles of the Sibylla
   Erythrea, the first letters of the verses making Iesous Christos Theou
   hyios Soter--Jesus Christ the Son of God the Saviour. Divers passages
   they produce out of those oracles which expressly foretel the coming of
   the Messiah, his being born of a virgin, his miracles, his sufferings,
   particularly his being buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, having
   vinegar and gall given him to drink, &c. Whether these oracles were
   genuine and authentic or no has been much controverted among the
   learned. Baronius and the popish writers generally admit and applaud
   them, and build much upon them; so do some protestant writers; Isaac
   Vossius has written a great deal to support the reputation of them, and
   (as I find him quoted by Van Dale) will needs have it that they were
   formerly a part of the canon of scripture; and a learned prelate of our
   own nation, Bishop Montague, pleads largely, and with great assurance,
   for their authority, and is of opinion that some of them were divinely
   inspired. But many learned men look upon it to be a pious fraud, as
   they call it, concluding that those verses of the Sibyls which speak so
   very expressly of Christ and the future state were forged by some
   Christians and imposed upon the over-credulous. Huetius, [21] though of
   the Romish church, condemns both the ancient and more modern
   compositions of the Sibyls, and refers his reader, for the proof of
   their vanity, to the learned Blondel. Van Dale and Gallæus look upon
   them to be a forgery. And the truth is they speak so much more
   particularly and plainly concerning our Saviour and the future state
   than any of the prophets of the Old Testament do, that we must conclude
   St. Paul, who was the apostle of the Gentiles, guilty not only of a
   very great omission (that in all his preaching of the gospel to the
   Gentiles, and in all his epistles to the Gentile churches, he never so
   much as mentions the prophecies of the Sibyls, nor vouches their
   authority, as he does that of the Old-Testament prophets, in his
   preaching and writing to the Jews), but likewise of a very great
   mistake, in making it the particular advantage which the Jews had above
   the Gentiles that to them were committed the oracles of God (Rom. iii.
   1, 2), and that they were the children of the prophets, while he speaks
   of the Gentiles as sitting in darkness and being afar off. We cannot
   conceive that heathen women, and those actuated by dæmons, should speak
   more clearly and fully of the Messiah than those holy men did who, we
   are sure, were moved by the Holy Ghost, nor that the Gentiles should be
   entrusted with larger and earlier discoveries of the great salvation
   than that people of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ was to come.
   But enough, if not more than enough, of the pretenders to prophecy. It
   is a good remark which the learned Gallæus makes upon the great
   veneration which the Romans had for the oracles of the Sibyls, for
   which he quotes Dionysius Halicarnassæus, Ouden oute Romaioi
   phylattousin, oute hosion ktema oute hieron, hos ta Sibylleia
   thesphata--The Romans preserve nothing with such sacred care, nor do
   they hold any thing in such high estimation, as the Sibylline oracles.
   Hi si pro vitreis suis thesauris adeò decertarunt, quid nos pro
   genuinis nostris, à Deo inspiratis?--If they had such a value for these
   counterfeits, how precious should the true treasure of the divine
   oracles be to us! Of these we come next to speak.

   Prophecy, we are sure, was of equal date with the church; for faith
   comes, not by thinking and seeing, as philosophy does, but by hearing,
   by hearing the word of God, Rom. x. 17. In the antediluvian period Adam
   received divine revelation in the promise of the Seed of the woman, and
   no doubt communicated it in the name of the Lord, to his seed, and was
   prophet, as well as priest, to his numerous family. Enoch was a
   prophet, and foretold perhaps the deluge, certainly the last judgment,
   that of the great day. Behold the Lord comes, Jude 14. When men began,
   as a church, to call upon the name of the Lord (Gen. iv. 26), or to
   call themselves by his name, they were blessed with prophets, for the
   prophecy came in old time (2 Pet. i. 21); it is venerable for its
   antiquity. When God renewed his covenant of providence (and that a
   figure of the covenant of grace) with Noah and his sons, we soon after
   find Noah, as a prophet, foretelling, not only the servitude of Canaan,
   but God's enlarging Japhet by Christ, and his dwelling in the tents of
   Shem, Gen. ix. 26, 27. And when, upon the general revolt of mankind to
   idolatry (as, in the former period, upon the apostasy of Cain), God
   distinguished a church for himself by the call of Abraham, and by his
   covenant with him and his seed, he conferred upon him and the other
   patriarchs the spirit of prophecy; for, when he reproved kings for
   their sakes, he said, Touch not my anointed, who have received that
   unction from the Holy One, and do my prophets no harm, Ps. cv. 14, 15.
   And of Abraham he said expressly, He is a prophet (Gen. xx. 7); and it
   was with a prophetic eye, as a seer, that Abraham saw Christ's day
   (John viii. 56), saw it as so great a distance, and yet with so great
   an assurance triumphed in it. And Stephen seems to speak of the first
   settling of a correspondence between him and God, by which he was
   established to be a prophet, when he says, The God of glory appeared to
   him (Acts vii. 2), appeared in glory. Jacob, upon his death-bed, as a
   prophet, told his sons what should befal them in the last days (Gen.
   xlix. 1), and spoke very particularly concerning the Messiah.

   Hitherto was the infancy of the church, and with it of prophecy; it was
   the dawning of that day; and that morning-light owed its rise to the
   Sun of righteousness, though he rose not till long after, but it shone
   more and more. During the bondage of Israel in Egypt, this, as other
   glories of the church, was eclipsed; but, as the church made a
   considerable and memorable advance in the deliverance of Israel out of
   Egypt and the forming of them into a people, so did the Spirit of
   prophecy in Moses, the illustrious instrument employed in that great
   service; and it was by that Spirit that he performed that service; so
   it is said, Hos. xii. 13, By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of
   Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved through the wilderness to
   Canaan, that is, by Moses as a prophet. It appears, by what God said to
   Aaron, that there were then other prophets among them, to whom God made
   known himself and his will in dreams and visions (Num. xii. 6), but to
   Moses he spoke in a peculiar manner, mouth to mouth, even apparently,
   and not in dark speeches, Num. xii. 8. Nay, such a plentiful effusion
   was there of the Spirit of prophecy at that time (because Moses was
   such a prophet as was to be a type of Christ the great prophet) that
   some of his Spirit was put upon seventy elders of Israel at once, and
   they prophesied, Num. xi. 25. What they said was extraordinary, and not
   only under the direction of a prophetic inspiration, but under the
   constraint of a prophetic impulse, as appears by the case of Eldad and
   Meded.

   When Moses, that great prophet, was laying down his office, he promised
   Israel that the Lord God would raise them up a prophet of their
   brethren like unto him, Deut. xviii. 15, 18. In these words, says the
   learned Bishop Stillingfleet [22] though, in their full and complete
   sense, they relate to Christ, and to him they are more than once
   applied in the New Testament), there is included a promise of an order
   of prophets, which should succeed Moses in the Jewish church, and be
   the logia zonta--the living oracles among them (Acts vii. 38), by which
   they might know the mind of God; for, in the next words, he lays down
   rules for the trial of prophets, whether what they said was of God or
   no, and it is observable that that promise comes in immediately upon an
   express prohibition of the Pagan rites of divination and the consulting
   of wizards and familiar spirits: "You shall not need to do that" (said
   Moses), "for, to your much better satisfaction, you shall have prophets
   divinely inspired, by whom you may know from God himself both what to
   do and what to expect." But as Jacob's dying prophecy concerning the
   sceptre in Judah, and the lawgiver between his feet, did not begin to
   be remarkably fulfilled till David's time, most of the Judges being of
   other tribes, so Moses's promise of a succession of prophets began not
   to receive its accomplishment till Samuel's time, a little before the
   other promise began to emerge and operate; and it was an introduction
   to the other, for it was by Samuel, as a prophet, that David was
   anointed king, which was an intimation that the prophetical office of
   our Redeemer should make way, both in the world and in the heart, for
   his kingly office; and therefore when he was asked, Art thou a king?
   (John xviii. 37) he answered, not evasively, but very pertinently, I
   came to bear witness to the truth, and so to rule as a king purely by
   the power of truth.

   During the government of the Judges there was a pouring out of the
   Spirit, but more as a Spirit of skill and courage for war than as a
   Spirit of prophecy. Deborah is indeed called prophetess, because of her
   extraordinary qualifications for judging Israel; but that is the only
   mention of prophecy, that I remember, in all the book of Judges.
   Extraordinary messages were sent by angels, as to Gideon and Manoah;
   and it is expressly said that before the word of the Lord came to
   Samuel (1 Sam. iii. 1) it was precious, it was very scarce, there was
   no open vision. And it was therefore with more than ordinary solemnity
   that the word of the Lord came first to Samuel; and by degrees notice
   and assurance were given to all Israel that Samuel was established to
   be a prophet of the Lord, 1 Sam. iii. 20. In Samuel's time, and by him,
   the schools of the prophets were erected, by which prophecy was
   dignified and provision made for a succession of prophets; for it
   should seem that in those colleges, hopeful young men were bred up in
   devotion, in a constant attendance upon the instruction the prophets
   gave from God, and under a strict discipline, as candidates, or
   probationers, for prophecy, who were called the sons of the prophets;
   and their religious exercises of prayer, conference, and psalmody
   especially, are called prophesyings; and their præfect, or president,
   is called their father, 1 Sam. x. 12. Out of these God ordinarily chose
   the prophets he sent; and yet not always: Amos was no prophet nor
   prophet's son (Amos vii. 14), had not his education in the schools of
   the prophets, and yet was commissioned to go on God's errands, and
   (which is observable) though he had not academical education himself,
   yet he seems to speak of it with great respect when he reckons it among
   the favours God had bestowed upon Israel that he raised up of their
   sons for prophets and of their young men for Nazarites, Amos ii. 11.

   It is worth noting that when the glory of the priesthood was eclipsed
   by the iniquity of the house of Eli, the desolations of Shiloh, and the
   obscurity of the ark, there was then a more plentiful effusion of the
   Spirit of prophecy than had been before; a standing ministry of another
   kind was thereby erected, and a succession of it kept up. And thus
   afterwards, in the kingdom of the ten tribes, where there was no legal
   priesthood at all, yet there were prophets and prophets; sons; in
   Ahab's time we meet with a hundred of them, whom Obadiah his by fifty
   in a cave, 1 Kings xviii. 4. When the people of God, who desired to
   know his mind, were deprived of one way of instruction, God furnished
   them with another, and a less ceremonious one; for he left not himself
   without witness, nor them without a guide. And when they had no temple
   or altar that they could attend upon with any safety or satisfaction
   then had private meetings at the prophets' houses, to which the devout
   faithful worshippers of God resorted (as we find the good Shunamite
   did, 2 Kings iv. 23), and where they kept their new-moons and their
   sabbaths, comfortably, and to their edification.

   David was himself a prophet; so St. Peter calls him (Acts ii. 30); and,
   though we read not of God's speaking to him by dreams and visions, yet
   we are sure that the Spirit of the Lord spoke by him, and his word was
   in his tongue (2 Sam. xxiii. 2), and he had those about him that were
   seers, that were his seers, as Gad and Iddo, that brought him messages
   from God, and wrote the history of his times. And now the productions
   of the Spirit of prophecy were translated into the service of the
   temple, not only in the model of the house which the Lord made David
   understand in writing by his hand upon him (1 Chron. xxviii. 19), but
   in the worship performed there; for there we find Asaph, Heman, and
   Jeduthun, prophesying with harps and other musical instruments,
   according to the order of the king, not to foretel things to come, but
   to give thanks and to praise the Lord (1 Chron. xxv. 1-3); yet, in
   their psalms, they spoke much of Christ and his kingdom, and the glory
   to be revealed.

   In the succeeding reigns, both of Judah and Israel, we frequently meet
   with prophets sent on particular errands to Rehoboam, Jeroboam, Asa,
   and other kings, who, it is probable, instructed the people in the
   things of God at other times, though it is not recorded. But, prophecy
   growing into contempt with many, God revived the honour of it, and put
   a new lustre upon it, in the power given to Elijah and Elisha to work
   miracles, and the great things that God did by them for the confirming
   of the people's faith in it, and the awakening of their regard to it, 2
   Kings ii. 3; iv. 1, 38; v. 22; vi. 1. In their time, and by their
   agency, it should seem, the schools of the prophets were revived, and
   we find sons of the prophets, fellows of those sacred colleges,
   employed in carrying messages to the great men, as to Ahab (1 Kings xx.
   35), and to Jehu, 2 Kings ix. 1.

   Hitherto, the prophets of the Lord delivered their messages by word of
   mouth, only we read of one writing which came from Elijah the prophet
   to Jehoram king of Israel, 2 Chron. xxi. 12. The histories of those
   times which are left us were compiled by prophets, under a divine
   direction; and, when the Old Testament is divided into the law and the
   Prophets, the historical books are, for that reason, reckoned among the
   prophets. But, in the later times of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel,
   some of the prophets were divinely inspired to write their prophecies,
   or abstracts of them, and to leave them upon record, for the benefit of
   after-ages, that the children who should be born might praise the Lord
   for them, and, by comparing the event with the prediction, might have
   their faith confirmed. And, probably, those later prophets spoke more
   fully and plainly of the Messiah and his kingdom than their
   predecessors had done, and for that reason their prophecies were put in
   writing, not only for the encouragement of the pious Jews that looked
   for the consolation of Israel, but for the use of us Christians, upon
   whom the ends of the world have come, as David's psalms had been for
   the same reason, that the Old Testament and the New might mutually give
   light and lustre to each other. Many other faithful prophets there were
   at the same time, who spoke in God's name, who did not commit their
   prophecies to writing, but were of those whom God sent, rising up
   betimes and sending them, the contempt of whom, and of their messages,
   brought ruin without remedy upon that sottish people, that knew not the
   day of their visitation. In their captivity they had some prophets,
   some to show them how long; and though it was not by a prophet, like
   Moses, that they were brought out of Babylon, as they had been out of
   Egypt, but by Joshua the high priest first, and afterwards by Ezra the
   scribe, to show that God can do his work by ordinary means when he
   pleases, yet, soon after their return, the Spirit of prophecy was
   poured out plentifully, and continued (according to the Jews'
   computation) forty years in the second temple, but ceased in Malachi.
   Then (say the rabbin) the Holy Spirit was taken from Israel, and they
   had the benefit only of the Bathkol--the daughter of a voice, that is,
   a voice from heaven, which they look upon to be the lowest degree of
   divine revelation. Now herein they are witnesses against themselves for
   rejecting the true Messiah, for our Lord Jesus, and he only was spoken
   to by a voice from heaven at his baptism, his transfiguration, and his
   entrance on his sufferings.

   In John the Baptist prophecy revived, and therefore in him the gospel
   is said to begin, when the church had had no prophets for above 300
   years. We have not only the vox populi--the voice of the people to
   prove John a prophet, for all the people counted him so, but vox
   Dei--the voice of God too; for Christ calls him a prophet, Matt. xi. 9,
   10. He had an extraordinary commission from God to call people to
   repentance, was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, and
   was therefore called the prophet of the Highest, because he went before
   the face of the Lord, to prepare his way (Luke i. 15, 16); and though
   he did no miracle, nor gave any sign or wonder, yet this proved him a
   true prophet, that all he said of Christ was true, John x. 41. Nay, and
   this proved him more than a prophet, than any of the other prophets,
   that whereas by other prophets Christ was discovered as at a great
   distance, by him he was discovered as already come, and he was enabled
   to say, Behold the Lamb of God. But after the ascension of our Lord
   Jesus there was a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of prophecy
   than ever before; then was the promise fulfilled that God would pour
   out his Spirit upon all flesh (and not as hitherto upon the Jews only),
   and their sons and their daughters should prophesy, Acts ii. 16, &c.
   The gift of tongues was one new product of the Spirit of prophecy, and
   given for a particular reason, that, the Jewish pale being taken down,
   all nations might be brought into the church. These and other gifts of
   prophecy, being for a sign, have long since ceased and laid aside, and
   we have no encouragement to expect the revival of them; but, on the
   contrary, are directed to call the scriptures the more sure word of
   prophecy, more sure than voices from heaven; and to them we are
   directed to take heed, to search them, and to hold them fast, 2 Pet. i.
   19. All God's spiritual Israel know that they are established to be the
   oracles of God (1 Sam. iii. 20), and if any add to, or take from, the
   book of that prophecy, they may read their doom in the close of it; God
   shall take blessings from them, and add curses to them, Rev. xxii. 18,
   19).

   Now concerning the prophets of the Old Testament, whose writings are
   before us, observe,

   I. That they were all holy men. We are assured by the apostle that the
   prophecy came in old time by holy men of God (and men of God they were
   commonly called, because they were devoted to him), who spoke as they
   were moved by the Holy Ghost. They were men, subject to like passions
   as we are (so Elijah, one of the greatest of them, is said to have
   been, Jam. v. 17); but they were holy men, men that in the temper of
   their minds, and the tenour of their lives, were examples of serious
   piety. Though there were many pretenders, that, without warrant, said
   Thus saith the Lord, when he sent them not, and some that prophesied in
   Christ's name, but he never knew them, and they indeed were workers of
   iniquity (Matt. vii. 22, 23), and though the cursing blaspheming lips
   of Balaam and Caiaphas, even when they actually designed mischief, were
   over-ruled to speak oracles, yet none were employed and commissioned to
   speak as prophets but those that had received the Spirit of grace and
   sanctification; for holiness becomes God's house. The Jewish doctors
   universally agree in this rule, That the Spirit of prophecy never rests
   upon any but a holy and wise man, and one whose passions are allayed,
   [23] or, as others express it, a humble man and a man of fortitude,
   that is, one that has power to keep his sensual animal part in due
   subjection to religion and right reason. And some of them [24] give
   this rule, That the Spirit of prophecy does not reside where there are
   either, on the one hand, grief and melancholy, or, on the other hand,
   laughter and lightness of behaviour, and impertinent idle talk: and it
   is commonly observed by them, both from the musical instruments used in
   the schools of the prophets in Samuel's time and from the instance of
   Elisha's calling for a minstrel (2 Kings iii. 15), that the divine
   presence does not reside with sadness, but with cheerfulness, and
   Elisha, they say, had not yet recovered himself from the sorrow he
   conceived at parting with Elijah. They have also a tradition (but I
   know no ground for it) that all the while Jacob mourned for Joseph, the
   Shechinah, or Holy Spirit, withdrew from him. Yet I believe that when
   David intimates that by his sin in the matter of Uriah he had lost the
   right Spirit, and the free Spirit, Ps. li. 10, 12 (which therefore he
   begs might be renewed in him and restored to him), it was not because
   he was under grief, but because he was under guilt. And therefore, in
   order to the return of that right and free Spirit, he prays that God
   would create in him a clean heart.

   II. That they had all a full assurance in themselves of their divine
   mission; and (though they could not always prevail to satisfy others)
   they were abundantly satisfied themselves that what they delivered as
   from God, and in his name, was indeed from him; and with the same
   assurance did the apostles speak of the word of life, as that which
   they had heard, and seen, and looked on, and which their hands had
   handled, 1 John i. 1. Nathan spoke from himself when he encouraged
   David to build the temple, but afterwards knew he spoke from God when,
   in his name, he forbade him to do it. God had various ways of making
   known to his prophets the messages they were to deliver to his people;
   it should seem, ordinarily, to have been by the ministry of angels. In
   the Apocalypse Christ is expressly said to have signified by his angel
   to his servant John, Rev. i. 1. It was sometimes done in a vision when
   the prophet was awake, sometimes in a dream when the prophet was
   asleep, and sometimes by a secret but strong impression upon the mind
   of the prophet. But Maimonides has laid down, as a maxim, That all
   prophecy makes itself known to the prophet that it is prophecy indeed;
   that is, says another of the rabbin, By the vigour and liveliness of
   the perception whereby he apprehends the thing propounded (which
   Jeremiah intimates when he says, The word of the Lord was as a fire in
   my bones, Jer. xx. 9), and therefore they always spoke with great
   assurance, knowing they should be justified, Isa. i. 7.

   III. That in their prophesying, both in receiving their message from
   God and in delivering it to the people, they always kept possession of
   their own souls. Dan. x. 8. Though sometimes their bodily strength was
   overpowered by the abundance of the revelations, and their eyes were
   dazzled with the visionary light, as in the instances of Daniel and
   John (Rev. i. 17), yet still their understanding remained with them,
   and the free exercise of their reason. This is excellently well
   expressed by a learned writer of our own: [25] "The prophetical Spirit,
   seating itself in the rational powers as well as in the imagination,
   did never alienate the mind, but inform and enlighten it; and those
   that were actuated by it always maintained a clearness and consistency
   of reason, with strength and solidity of judgment. "For" (says he
   afterwards [26] ) "God did not make use of idiots or fools to reveal
   his will by, but such whose intellects were entire and perfect; and he
   imprinted such a clear copy of his truth upon them as that it became
   their own sense, being digested fully into their understandings, so
   that they were able to deliver and represent it to others as truly as
   any can paint forth his own thoughts." God's messengers were speaking
   men, not speaking trumpets. The Fathers frequently took notice of this
   difference between the prophets of the Lord and the false
   prophets--that the pretenders to prophecy (who either were actuated by
   an evil spirit or were under the force of a heated imagination)
   underwent alienations of mind, and delivered what they had to say in
   the utmost agitation and disorder, as the Pythian prophetess, who
   delivered her infernal oracles with many antic gestures, tearing her
   hair and foaming at the mouth. And by this rule they condemned the
   Montanists, who pretended to prophecy, in the second century, that what
   they said was in a way of ecstasy, not like rational men, but like men
   in a frenzy. Chrysostom, [27] having described the furious violent
   motions of the pretenders to prophecy, adds, Ho de Prophetes ouch
   houtos--A true prophet does not do so. Sed mente sobriâ, et constanti
   animi staut, et intelligens quæ profert, omnia pronunciat--He
   understands what he utters, and utters it soberly and calmly. And
   Jerome, in his preface to his Commentaries upon Nahum, observes that it
   is called the book of the vision of Nahum. Non enim loquitur en
   ekstasei, sed est liber intelligentis omnia quæ loquitur--For he speaks
   not in an ecstasy, but as one who understands every thing he says. And
   again, [28] Non ut amens loquitur propheta, nec in morem insanientium
   foeminarum dat sine mente sonum--The prophet speaks not as an insane
   person, nor like women wrought into fury, does he utter sound without
   sense.

   IV. That they all aimed at one and the same thing, which was to bring
   people to repent of their sins and to return to God and to do their
   duty to him. This was the errand on which all God messengers were sent,
   to beat down sin, and to revive and advance serious piety. The burden
   of every son was, Turn you now every one from his evil way; amend your
   ways and your doings, and execute judgment between a man and his
   neighbour, Jer. vii. 3, 5. See Zech. vii. 8, 9; viii. 16. The scope and
   design of all their prophecies were to enforce the precepts and
   sanctions of the law of Moses, the moral law, which is of universal and
   perpetual obligation. Here is nothing of the ceremonial institutes, of
   the carnal ordinances that were imposed only till the times of
   reformation, Heb. ix. 10. Those were now waxing old and ready to vanish
   away; but they make it their business to press the great and weighty
   matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and truth.

   V. That they all bore witness to Jesus Christ and had an eye to him.
   God raising up the horn of salvation for us, in the house of his
   servant David, was consonant to, and in pursuance of, what he spoke by
   the mouth of his holy prophets who have been since the world began,
   Luke i. 69, 70. They prophesied of the grace that should come to us,
   and it was the Spirit of Christ in them, one and the same Spirit, that
   testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that
   should follow, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11. Christ was then made known, and yet
   comparatively hid, in the predictions of the prophets, as before in the
   types of the ceremonial law. And the learned Huetius [29] observes it
   as really admirable that so many persons, in different ages, should
   conspire with one consent, as it were, to foretel, some one particular
   and others another, concerning Christ, all which had, at length, their
   full accomplishment in him. Ab ipsis mundi incunabulis, per quatuor
   annorum millia, uno ore venturum Christum prædixerunt viri complures,
   in ejusque ortu, vitâ, virtutibus, rebus gestis, morte, ac totâ denique
   Oikonomia præmonstranda consenserunt--From the earliest period of time,
   for 4000 years, a great number of men have predicted the advent of
   Christ, and presented a harmonious statement of his birth, life,
   character, actions, and death, and of that economy which he came to
   establish.

   VI. That these prophets were generally hated and abused in their
   several generations by those that lived with them. Stephen challenges
   his judges to produce an instance to the contrary: Which of the
   prophets have not your fathers persecuted? Yea, and, as it should seem,
   for this reason, because they showed before of the coming of the Just
   One, Acts vii. 52. Some there were that trembled at the word of God in
   their mouths, but by the most they were ridiculed and despised, and (as
   ministers are now by profane people) made a jest of (Hos. ix. 7); the
   prophet was the fool in the play. Wherefore came this mad fellow unto
   thee? (2 Kings ix. 11) said one of the captains concerning one of the
   sons of the prophets! The Gentiles never treated their false prophets
   so ill as the Jews did their true prophets, but, on the contrary, had
   them always in veneration. The Jews' mocking the messengers of the
   Lord, killing the prophets, and stoning those that were sent unto them,
   was as amazing unaccountable an instance of the enmity that is in the
   carnal mind against God as any that can be produced. And this makes
   their rejection of Christ's gospel the less strange, that the Spirit of
   prophecy, which, for many ages, was so much the glory of Israel, in
   every age met with so much opposition, and there were those that always
   resisted the Holy Ghost in the prophets, and turned that glory into
   shame, Acts vii. 51. But this was it that was the measure-filling sin
   of Israel, that brought upon them both their first destruction by the
   Chaldeans and their final ruin by the Romans, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16.

   VII. That though men slighted these prophets, God owned them and put
   honour upon them. As they were men of God, his immediate servants and
   his messengers, so he always showed himself the Lord God of the holy
   prophets (Rev. xxii. 6), stood by them and strengthened them, and by
   his Spirit they were full of power; and those that slighted them, when
   they had lost them, were made to know, to their confusion, that a
   prophet had been among them. What was said of one of the primitive
   fathers of the prophets was true of them all, The Lord was with them,
   and did let none of their words fall to the ground, 1 Sam. iii. 19.
   What they said by way of warning and encouragement, for the enforcing
   of their calls to repentance and reformation, was to be understood
   conditionally. When God spoke by them either, on the one hand, to build
   and to plant, or, on the other hand, to pluck up and pull down, the
   change of the people's way might produce a change of God's way (Jer.
   xviii. 7-10); such was Jonah's prophecy of Nineveh's ruin within forty
   days; or God might sometimes be better than his word in granting a
   reprieve. But what they said by way of prediction of a particular
   matter, and as a sign, did always come to pass exactly as it was
   foretold; yea, and the general predictions, sooner or later, took hold
   even of those that would fain have got clear of them (Zech. i. 6); for
   this is that which God glories in, that he confirms the word of his
   servants and performs the counsel of his messengers, Isa. xliv. 26.

   In the opening these prophecies I have endeavoured to give the genuine
   sense of them, as far as I could reach it, by consulting the best
   expositors, considering the scope and coherence, and comparing
   spiritual things with spiritual, the spiritual things of the Old
   Testament with those of the New, and especially by prayer to God for
   the guidance and direction of the Spirit of truth. But, after all, thee
   are many things here dark and hard to be understood, concerning the
   certain meaning of which though I could not gain myself, much less
   expect to give my reader, full satisfaction, Yet I have not, with the
   unlearned and unstable, wrested them to the destruction of any, 2 Pet.
   iii. 16. It is the prerogative of the Lamb of God to take this book and
   to open all its seals. I have likewise endeavoured to accommodate these
   prophecies to the use and service of those who desire to faith and
   holiness. And we shall find that whatever is given by inspiration of
   God is profitable (2 Tim. iii. 16), though not all alike profitable,
   not all alike easy or improvable; but, when the mystery of God shall be
   finished, we shall see, what we are now bound to believe, that there is
   not one idle word in all the prophecies of this book. What God has
   said, as well as what he does, we know not now, but we shall know
   hereafter.

   The pleasure I have had in studying and meditating upon those parts of
   these prophecies which are plain and practical, and especially those
   which are evangelical, has been an abundant balance to, and recompence
   for, the harder tasks we have met with in other parts that are more
   obscure. In many parts of this field the treasure must be dug for, as
   that in the mines; but in other parts the surface is covered with rich
   and precious products, with corn, and flocks, of which we may say, as
   was said of Noah, These same have comforted us greatly concerning our
   work and the toil of our hands, and have made it very pleasant and
   delightful; God grant it may be no less so to the readers!

   And now let me desire the assistance of my friends, in setting up my
   Eben-Ezer here, in a thankful acknowledgment that hitherto the Lord has
   helped me. I desire to praise God that he has spared my life to finish
   the Old Testament, and has graciously given me some tokens of his
   presence with me in carrying this work, though the more I reflect upon
   myself the more unworthy I see myself of the honour of being thus
   employed, and the more need I see of Christ and his merit and grace.
   Remember me, O my God! for good, and spare me according to the
   multitude of thy mercies. The Lord forgive what is mine, and accept
   what is his own!

   I purpose, if God continue my life and health, according to the measure
   of the grace given to me, and in a constant and entire dependence upon
   divine strength, to go through the New Testament in two volumes more. I
   intimated in my preface to the first volume that I had drawn up some
   expositions upon some parts of the New Testament; namely, The gospels
   of St. Matthew and St. John; but they are so large that, to make them
   bear some proportion to the rest, it is necessary that they be much
   contracted, so that I shall be obliged to write them all over again,
   and to make considerable alterations, and therefore I cannot expect
   they should be published but as these hitherto have been, if God
   permit, a volume every other year. I shall begin it now shortly, if the
   Lord will, and apply myself to it as closely as I can; and I earnestly
   desire the prayers of all that wish well to that undertaking that, if
   the Lord spare me to go on with it, I may be enabled to do it well, and
   so as that by it some may be led into the riches of the full assurance
   of understanding in the mystery of God, even of the Father and of
   Christ, Col. ii. 2. And, if it shall please God to remove me by death
   before it be finished, I trust I shall be able to say not only, Welcome
   his blessed will, but, Welcome that blessed world, in which, though now
   we know in part, and prophesy but in part, that knowledge which is
   perfect will come, and that which is partial will be done away (1 Cor.
   xiii. 8-10, 12), in which all our mistakes will be rectified, all our
   doubts resolved, all our deficiencies made up, all our endeavours in
   preaching, catechising, and expounding, superseded and rendered
   useless, and all our prayers swallowed up in everlasting praises,--in
   which prophecy, now so much admired, shall fail, and tongues shall
   cease, and the knowledge we have now shall vanish away, as the light of
   the morning-star does when the sun has risen,--in which we shall no
   longer see through a glass darkly, but face to face. In a believing,
   comfortable, well-grounded, expectation of that true and perfect light,
   I desire to continue, living and dying; in a humble and diligent
   preparation for it let me spend my time, and in the full enjoyment of
   it Oh that I may spend a glorious eternity!

         July 18, 1712. M. H.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [9] Demonstrat. Evang. pag. 15.

   [10] Cosmol. sacra, lib. 4, cap. 6.

   [11] Cicero de Divin. lib. 1.

   [12] (Apol. cap. 20).

   [13] Du Pin, Hist. of the Canon. lib. 1, cap. 2.

   [14] De Præcipuis Divinationum Generibus, A. 1591.

   [15] De Verâ ac Falsâ Prophetiâ, A. 1696.

   [16] Vid. Virg. Æneid. lib. 6.

   [17] Ad Græcos Cohortat. juxta finem.

   [18] Apol. 2. p. mihi. 66. l.

   [19] Quæst. et Respons. p. 436.

   [20] (Aug. de Div. Dei, lib. 18, cap. 23.)

   [21] Demonstrat. p. 748.

   [22] Orig. Sacr. B. 2, c. 4.

   [23] See Mr. Smith on Prophecy.

   [24] Gemara Schab. c. 2.

   [25] Smith on Prophecy, p. 190.

   [26] Pag. 266.

   [27] In 1 Co. 12. 1.

   [28] Prolog. in Habac.

   [29] Demonstrat. Evang. p. 737.
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     __________________________________________________________________

Isaiah
     __________________________________________________________________

   AN

EXPOSITION,

W I T H   P R A C T I C A L   O B S E R V A T I O N S,

OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET

I S A I A H.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Prophet is a title that sounds very great to those that understand it,
   though, in the eye of the world, many of those that were dignified with
   it appeared very mean. A prophet is one that has a great intimacy with
   Heaven and a great interest there, and consequently a commanding
   authority upon earth. Prophecy is put for all divine revelation (2 Pet.
   i. 20, 21), because that was most commonly by dreams, voices, or
   visions, communicated to prophets first, and by them to the children of
   men, Num. xii. 6. Once indeed God himself spoke to all the thousands of
   Israel from the top of Mount Sinai; but the effect was so intolerably
   dreadful that they entreated God would for the future speak to them as
   he had done before, by men like themselves, whose terror should not
   make them afraid, nor their hands be heavy upon them, Job xxxiii. 7.
   God approved the motion (they have well said, says he, Deut. v. 27,
   28), and the matter was then settled by consent of parties, that we
   must never expect to hear from God any more in that way, but by
   prophets, who received their instructions immediately from God, with a
   charge to deliver them to his church. Before the sacred canon of the
   Old Testament began to be written there were prophets, who were instead
   of Bibles to the church. Our Saviour seems to reckon Abel among the
   prophets, Matt. xxiii. 31, 35. Enoch was a prophet; and by him that was
   first in prediction which is to be last in execution--the judgment of
   the great day. Jude 14, Behold, the Lord comes with his holy myriads.
   Noah was a preacher of righteousness. God said of Abraham, He is a
   prophet, Gen. xx. 7. Jacob foretold things to come, Gen. xlix. 1. Nay,
   all the patriarchs are called prophets. Ps. cv. 15, Do my prophets no
   harm. Moses was, beyond all comparison, the most illustrious of all the
   Old-Testament prophets, for with him the Lord spoke face to face, Deut.
   xxxiv. 10. He was the first writing prophet, and by his hand the first
   foundations of holy writ were laid. Even those that were called to be
   his assistants in the government had the spirit of prophecy, such a
   plentiful effusion was there of that spirit at that time, Num. xi. 25.
   But after the death of Moses, for some ages, the Spirit of the Lord
   appeared and acted in the church of Israel more as a martial spirit
   than as a spirit of prophecy, and inspired men more for acting than
   speaking. I mean in the time of the judges. We find the Spirit of the
   Lord coming upon Othniel, Gideon, Samson, and others, for the service
   of their country, with their swords, not with their pens. Messages were
   then sent from heaven by angels, as to Gideon and Manoah, and to the
   people, Judges ii. 1. In all the book of judges there is never once
   mention of a prophet, only Deborah is called a prophetess. Then the
   word of the Lord was precious; there was no open vision, 1 Sam. iii. 1.
   They had the law of Moses, recently written; let them study that. But
   in Samuel prophecy revived, and in him a famous epocha, or period of
   the church began, a time of great light in a constant uninterrupted
   succession of prophets, till some time after the captivity, when the
   canon of the Old Testament was completed in Malachi, and then prophecy
   ceased for nearly 400 years, till the coming of the great prophet and
   his forerunner. Some prophets were divinely inspired to write the
   histories of the church. But they did not put their names to their
   writings; they only referred for proof to the authentic records of
   those times, which were known to be drawn up by prophets, as Gad, Iddo,
   &c. David and others were prophets, to write sacred songs for the use
   of the church. After them we often read of prophets sent on particular
   errands, and raised up for special public services, among whom the most
   famous were Elijah and Elisha in the kingdom of Israel. But none of
   these put their prophecies in writing, nor have we any remains of them
   but some fragments in the histories of their times; there was nothing
   of their own writing (that I remember) but one epistle of Elijah's, 2
   Chron. xxi. 12. But towards the latter end of the kingdoms of Judah and
   Israel, it pleased God to direct his servants the prophets to write and
   publish some of their sermons, or abstracts of them. The dates of many
   of their prophecies are uncertain, but the earliest of them was in the
   days of Uzziah king of Judah, and Jeroboam the second, his
   contemporary, king of Israel, about 200 years before the captivity, and
   not long after Joash had slain Zechariah the son of Jehoiada in the
   courts of the temple. If they begin to murder the prophets, yet they
   shall not murder their prophecies; these shall remain as witnesses
   against them. Hosea was the first of the writing prophets; and Joel,
   Amos, and Obadiah, published their prophecies about the same time.
   Isaiah began some time after, and not long; but his prophecy is placed
   first, because it is the largest of them all, and has most in it of him
   to whom all the prophets bore witness; and indeed so much of Christ
   that he is justly styled the Evangelical Prophet, and, by some of the
   ancients, a fifth Evangelist. We shall have the general title of this
   book (v. 1) and therefore shall here only observe some things,

   I. Concerning the prophet himself. He was (if we may believe the
   tradition of the Jews) of the royal family, his father being (they say)
   brother to king Uzziah. He was certainly much at court, especially in
   Hezekiah's time, as we find in his story, to which many think it is
   owing that his style is more curious and polite than that of some other
   of the prophets, and, in some places, exceedingly lofty and soaring.
   The Spirit of God sometimes served his own purpose by the particular
   genius of the prophet; for prophets were not speaking trumpets, through
   which the Spirit spoke, but speaking men, by whom the Spirit spoke,
   making use of their natural powers, in respect both of light and flame,
   and advancing them above themselves.

   II. Concerning the prophecy. It is transcendently excellent and useful;
   it was so to the church of God then, serving for conviction of sin,
   direction in duty, and consolation in trouble. Two great distresses of
   the church are here referred to, and comfort prescribed in reference to
   them, that by Sennacherib's invasion, which happened in his own time,
   and that of the captivity in Babylon, which happened long after; and in
   the supports and encouragements laid up for each of these times of need
   we find abundance of the grace of the gospel. There are not so many
   quotations in the gospels out of any, perhaps not out of all, the
   prophecies of the Old Testament, as out of this; nor such express
   testimonies concerning Christ, witness that of his being born of a
   virgin (ch. vii.) and that of his sufferings, ch. liii. The beginning
   of this book abounds most with reproofs for sin and threatenings of
   judgment; the latter end of it is full of wood words and comfortable
   words. This method the Spirit of Christ took formerly in the prophets
   and does still, first to convince and then to comfort; and those that
   would be blessed with the comforts must submit to the convictions.
   Doubtless Isaiah preached many sermons, and delivered many messages to
   the people, which are not written in this book, as Christ did; and
   probably these sermons were delivered more largely and fully than they
   are here related, but so much is left on record as Infinite Wisdom
   thought fit to convey to us on whom the ends of the world have come;
   and these prophecies, as well as the histories of Christ, are written
   that we might believe on the name of the Son of God, and that,
   believing, we might have life through his name; for to us is the gospel
   here preached as well as unto those that lived then, and more clearly.
   O that it may be mixed with faith!
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. I.

   The first verse of this chapter is intended for a title to the whole
   book, and it is probable that this was the first sermon that this
   prophet was appointed to publish and to affix in writing (as Calvin
   thinks the custom of the prophets was) to the door of the temple, as
   with us proclamations are fixed to public places, that all might read
   them (Hab. ii. 2), and those that would might take out authentic copies
   of them, the original being, after some time, laid up by the priests
   among the records of the temple. The sermon which is contained in this
   chapter has in it, I. A high charge exhibited, in God's name, against
   the Jewish church and nation, 1. For their ingratitude, ver. 2, 3. 2.
   For their incorrigibleness, ver. 5. 3. For the universal corruption and
   degeneracy of the people, ver. 4, 6, 21, 22. 4. For the perversion of
   justice by their rulers, ver. 23. II. A sad complaint of the judgments
   of God, which they had brought upon themselves by their sins, and by
   which they were brought almost to utter ruin, ver. 7-9. III. A just
   rejection of those shows and shadows of religion which they kept up
   among them, notwithstanding this general defection and apostasy, ver.
   10-15. IV. An earnest call to repentance and reformation, setting
   before them life and death, life if they compiled with the call and
   death if they did not, ver. 16-20. V. A threatening of ruin to those
   that would not be reformed, ver. 24, 28-31. VI. A promise of a happy
   reformation at last, and a return to their primitive purity and
   prosperity, ver. 25-27. And all this is to be applied by us, not only
   to the communities we are members of, in their public interests, but to
   the state of our own souls.

    The Vision of Isaiah. (b. c. 738.)

   1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah
   and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings
   of Judah.

   Here is, I. The name of the prophet, Isaiah, or Jesahiahu (for so it is
   in the Hebrew), which, in the New Testament is read Esaias. His name
   signifies the salvation of the Lord--a proper name for a prophet by
   whom God gives knowledge of salvation to his people, especially for
   this prophet, who prophesies so much of Jesus the Saviour and of the
   great salvation wrought out by him. He is said to be the son of Amoz,
   not Amos the prophet (the two names in the Hebrew differ more than in
   the English), but, as the Jews think, of Amoz the brother, or son, of
   Amaziah king of Judah, a tradition as uncertain as that rule which they
   give, that, where a prophet's father is named, he also was himself a
   prophet. The prophets' pupils and successors are indeed often called
   their sons, but we have few instances, if any, of their own sons being
   their successors.

   II. The nature of the prophecy. It is a vision, being revealed to him
   in a vision, when he was awake, and heard the words of God, and saw the
   visions of the Almighty (as Balaam speaks, Num. xxiv. 4), though
   perhaps it was not so illustrious a vision at first as that afterwards,
   ch. vi. 1. The prophets were called seers, or seeing men, and therefore
   their prophecies are fitly called visions. It was what he saw with the
   eyes of his mind, and foresaw as clearly by divine revelation, was as
   well assured of it, as fully apprised of it, and as much affected with
   it, as if he had seen it with his bodily eyes. Note 1. God's prophets
   saw what they spoke of, knew what they said, and require our belief of
   nothing but what they themselves believed and were sure of, John vi.
   69; 1 John i. 1. 2. They could not but speak what they saw, because
   they saw how much all about them were concerned in it, Acts iv. 20; 2
   Cor. iv. 13.

   III. The subject of the prophecy. It was what he saw concerning Judah
   and Jerusalem, the country of the two tribes, and that city which was
   their metropolis; and there is little in it relating to Ephraim, or the
   ten tribes, of whom there is so much said in the prophecy of Hosea.
   Some chapters there are in this book which relate to Babylon, Egypt,
   Tyre, and some other neighbouring nations; but it takes its title from
   that which is the main substance of it, and is therefore said to be
   concerning Judah and Jerusalem, the other nations spoken of being such
   as the people of the Jews had concern with. Isaiah brings to them in a
   special manner, 1. Instruction; for it is the privilege of Judah and
   Jerusalem that to them pertain the oracles of God. 2. Reproof and
   threatening; for if in Judah, where God is known, if in Salem, where
   his name is great, iniquity be found, they, sooner than any other,
   shall be reckoned with for it. 3. Comfort and encouragement in evil
   times; for the children of Zion shall be joyful in their king.

   IV. The date of the prophecy. Isaiah prophesied in the days of Uzziah,
   Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. By this it appears, 1. That he prophesied
   long, especially if (as the Jews say) he was at last put to death by
   Manasseh, to a cruel death, being sawn asunder, to which some suppose
   the apostle refers, Heb. xi. 37. From the year that king Uzziah died
   (ch. vi. 1) to Hezekiah's sickness and recovery was forty-seven years;
   how much before, and after, he prophesied, is not certain; some reckon
   sixty, others eighty years in all. It was an honour to him, and a
   happiness to his country, that he was continued so long in his
   usefulness; and we must suppose both that he began young and that he
   held out to old age; for the prophets were not tied, as the priests
   were, to a certain age, for the beginning or ending of their
   administration. 2. That he passed through variety of times. Jotham was
   a good king, and Hezekiah a better, and no doubt gave encouragement to
   and took advice from this prophet, were patrons to him, and he a
   privy-counsellor to them; but between them, and when Isaiah was in the
   prime of his time, the reign of Ahaz was very profane and wicked; then,
   no doubt, he was frowned upon at court, and, it is likely, forced to
   abscond. Good men and good ministers must expect bad times in this
   world, and prepare for them. Then religion was run down to such a
   degree that the doors of the house of the Lord were shut up and
   idolatrous altars were erected in every corner of Jerusalem; and
   Isaiah, with all his divine eloquence and messages immediately from God
   himself, could not help it. The best men, the best ministers, cannot do
   the good they would do in the world.

    The Degeneracy of Israel; The Sinfulness of Israel; The Sufferings of
    Israel. (b. c. 738.)

   2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I
   have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against
   me.   3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but
   Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.   4 Ah sinful
   nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children
   that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked
   the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.   5 Why
   should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole
   head is sick, and the whole heart faint.   6 From the sole of the foot
   even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and
   bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound
   up, neither mollified with ointment.   7 Your country is desolate, your
   cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your
   presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.   8 And the
   daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a
   garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.   9 Except the Lord of hosts
   had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom,
   and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

   We will hope to meet with a brighter and more pleasant scene before we
   come to the end of this book; but truly here, in the beginning of it,
   every thing looks very bad, very black, with Judah and Jerusalem. What
   is the wilderness of the world, if the church, the vineyard, has such a
   dismal aspect as this?

   I. The prophet, though he speaks in God's name, yet, despairing to gain
   audience with the children of his people, addresses himself to the
   heavens and the earth, and bespeaks their attention (v. 2): Hear, O
   heavens! and give ear, O earth! Sooner will the inanimate creatures
   hear, who observe the law and answer the end of their creation, than
   this stupid senseless people. Let the lights of the heaven shame their
   darkness, and the fruitfulness of the earth their barrenness, and the
   strictness of each to its time their irregularity. Moses begins thus in
   Deut. xxxii. 1, to which the prophet here refers, intimating that now
   those times had come which Moses there foretold, Deut. xxxi. 29. Or
   this is an appeal to heaven and earth, to angels and then to the
   inhabitants of the upper and lower world. Let them judge between God
   and his vineyard; can either produce such an instance of ingratitude?
   Note, God will be justified when he speaks, and both heaven and earth
   shall declare his righteousness, Mic. vi. 1, 2; Ps. l. 6.

   II. He charges them with base ingratitude, a crime of the highest
   nature. Call a man ungrateful, and you can call him no worse. Let
   heaven and earth hear and wonder at, 1. God's gracious dealings with
   such a peevish provoking people as they were: "I have nourished and
   brought them up as children; they have been well fed and well taught"
   (Deut. xxxii. 6); "I have magnified and exalted them" (so some), "not
   only made them grow, but made them great--not only maintained them, but
   preferred them--not only trained them up, but raised them high." Note,
   We owe the continuance of our lives and comforts, and all our
   advancements, to God's fatherly care of us and kindness to us. 2. Their
   ill-natured conduct towards him, who was so tender of them: "They have
   rebelled against me," or (as some read it) "they have revolted from me;
   they have been deserters, nay traitors, against my crown and dignity."
   Note, All the instances of God's favour to us, as the God both of our
   nature and of our nurture, aggravate our treacherous departures from
   him and all our presumptuous oppositions to him--children, and yet
   rebels!

   III. He attributes this to their ignorance and inconsideration (v. 3):
   The ox knows, but Israel does not. Observe, 1. The sagacity of the ox
   and the ass, which are not only brute creatures, but of the dullest
   sort; yet the ox has such a sense of duty as to know his owner and to
   serve him, to submit to his yoke and to draw in it; the ass has such a
   sense of interest as to know has master's crib, or manger, where he is
   fed, and to abide by it; he will go to that of himself if he be turned
   loose. A fine pass man has come to when he is shamed even in knowledge
   and understanding by these silly animals, and is not only sent to
   school to them (Prov. vi. 6, 7), but set in a form below them (Jer.
   viii. 7), taught more than the beasts of the earth (Job xxxv. 11) and
   yet knowing less. 2. The sottishness and stupidity of Israel. God is
   their owner and proprietor. He made us, and his we are more than our
   cattle are ours; he has provided well for us; providence is our
   Master's crib; yet many that are called the people of God do not know
   and will not consider this, but ask, "What is the Almighty that we
   should serve him? He is not our owner; and what profit shall we have if
   we pray unto him? He has no crib for us to feed at." He had complained
   (v. 2) of the obstinacy of their wills; They have rebelled against me.
   Here he runs it up to its cause: "Therefore they have rebelled because
   they do not know, they do not consider." The understanding is darkened,
   and therefore the whole soul is alienated from the life of God, Eph.
   iv. 18. "Israel does not know, though their land is a land of light and
   knowledge; in Judah is God known, yet, because they do not live up to
   what they know, it is in effect as if they did not know. They know; but
   their knowledge does them no good, because they do not consider what
   they know; they do not apply it to their case, nor their minds to it."
   Note, (1.) Even among those that profess themselves God's people, that
   have the advantages and lie under the engagements of his people, there
   are many that are very careless in the affairs of their souls. (2.)
   Inconsideration of what we do know is as great an enemy to us in
   religion as ignorance of what we should know. (3.) Therefore men revolt
   from God, and rebel against him, because they do not know and consider
   their obligations to God in duty, gratitude, and interest.

   IV. He laments the universal pravity and corruption of their church and
   kingdom. The disease of sin was epidemic, and all orders and degrees of
   men were infected with it; Ah sinful nation! v. 4. The prophet bemoans
   those that would not bemoan themselves: Alas for them! Woe to them! He
   speaks with holy indignation at their degeneracy, and a dread of the
   consequences of it. See here,

   1. How he aggravates their sin, and shows the malignity that there was
   in it, v. 4. (1.) The wickedness was universal. They were a sinful
   nation; the generality of the people were vicious and profane. They
   were so in their national capacity. In the management of their public
   treaties abroad, and in the administration of public justice at home,
   they were corrupt. Note, It is ill with a people when sin becomes
   national. (2.) It was very great and heinous in its nature. They were
   laden with iniquity; the guilt of it, and the curse incurred by that
   guilt, lay very heavily upon them. It was a heavy charge that was
   exhibited against them, and one which they could never clear themselves
   from; their wickedness was upon them as a talent of lead, Zec. v. 7, 8.
   Their sin, as it did easily beset them and they were prone to it, was a
   weight upon them, Heb. xii. 1. (3.) They came of a bad stock, were a
   seed of evil-doers. Treachery ran in their blood; they had it by kind,
   which made the matter so much the worse, more provoking and less
   curable. They rose up in their fathers' stead, and trod in their
   fathers' steps, to fill up the measure of their iniquity, Num. xxxii.
   14. They were a race and family of rebels. (4.) Those that were
   themselves debauched did what they could to debauch others. They were
   not only corrupt children, born tainted, but children that were
   corrupters, that propagated vice, and infected others with it--not only
   sinners, but tempters--not only actuated by Satan, but agents for him.
   If those that are called children, God's children, that are looked upon
   as belonging to his family, be wicked and vile, their example is of the
   most malignant influence. (5.) Their sin was a treacherous departure
   from God. They were deserters from their allegiance: "They have
   forsaken the Lord, to whom they had joined themselves; they have gone
   away backward, are alienated or separated from God, have turned their
   back upon him, deserted their colours, and quitted their service." When
   they were urged forward, they ran backward, as a bullock unaccustomed
   to the yoke, as a backsliding heifer, Hos. iv. 16. (6.) It was an
   impudent and daring defiance of him: They have provoked the Holy One of
   Israel unto anger wilfully and designedly; they knew what would anger
   him, and that they did. Note, The backslidings of those that have
   professed religion and relation to God are in a special manner
   provoking to him.

   2. How he illustrates it by a comparison taken from a sick and diseased
   body, all overspread with leprosy, or, like Job's, with sore boils, v.
   5, 6. (1.) The distemper has seized the vitals, and so threatens to be
   mortal. Diseases in the head and heart are most dangerous; now the
   head, the whole head, is sick--the heart, the whole heart, is faint.
   They had become corrupt in their judgment: the leprosy was in their
   head. They were utterly unclean; their affection to God and religion
   was cold and gone; the things which remained were ready to die away,
   Rev. iii. 2. (2.) It has overspread the whole body, and so becomes
   exceedingly noisome; From the sole of the foot even to the head, from
   the meanest peasant to the greatest peer, there is no soundness, no
   good principles, no religion (for that is the health of the soul),
   nothing but wounds and bruises, guilt and corruption, the sad effects
   of Adam's fall, noisome to the holy God, painful to the sensible soul;
   they were so to David when he complained (Ps. xxxviii. 5), My wounds
   stink, and are corrupt, because of my foolishness. See Ps. xxxii. 3, 4.
   No attempts were made for reformation, or, if they were, they proved
   ineffectual: The wounds have not been closed, not bound up, nor
   mollified with ointment. While sin remains unrepented of the wounds are
   unsearched, unwashed, the proud flesh in them not cut out, and while,
   consequently, it remains unpardoned, the wounds are not mollified or
   closed up, nor any thing done towards the healing of them and the
   preventing of their fatal consequences.

   V. He sadly bewails the judgments of God which they had brought upon
   themselves by their sins, and their incorrigibleness under those
   judgments. 1. Their kingdom was almost ruined, v. 7. So miserable were
   they that both their towns and their lands were wasted, and yet so
   stupid that they needed to be told this, to have it shown to them.
   "Look and see how it is; your country is desolate; the ground is not
   cultivated, for want of inhabitants, the villages being deserted, Judg.
   v. 7. And thus the fields and vineyards become like deserts, all grown
   over with thorns, Prov. xxiv. 31. Your cities are burned with fire, by
   the enemies that invade you" (fire and sword commonly go together); "as
   for the fruits of your land, which should be food for your families,
   strangers devour them; and, to your greater vexation, it is before your
   eyes, and you cannot prevent it; you starve while your enemies surfeit
   on that which should be your maintenance. The overthrow of your country
   is as the overthrow of strangers; it is used by the invaders, as one
   might expect it should be used by strangers." Jerusalem itself, which
   was as the daughter of Zion (the temple built on Zion was a mother, a
   nursing mother, to Jerusalem), or Zion itself, the holy mountain, which
   had been dear to God as a daughter, was now lost, deserted, and exposed
   as a cottage in a vineyard, which, when the vintage is over, nobody
   dwells in or takes any care of, and looks as mean and despicable as a
   lodge or hut, in a garden of cucumbers; and every person is afraid of
   coming near it, and solicitous to remove his effects out of it, as if
   it were a besieged city, v. 8. And some think, it is a calamitous state
   of the kingdom that is represented by a diseased body, v. 6. Probably
   this sermon was preached in the reign of Ahaz, when Judah was invaded
   by the kings of Syria and Israel, the Edomites and the Philistines, who
   slew many, and carried many away into captivity, 2 Chron. xxviii. 5,
   17, 18. Note, National impiety and immorality bring national
   desolation. Canaan, the glory of all lands, Mount Zion, the joy of the
   whole earth, both became a reproach and a ruin; and sin made them so,
   that great mischief-maker. 2. Yet they were not all reformed, and
   therefore God threatens to take another course with them (v. 5): "Why
   should you be stricken any more, with any expectation of doing you good
   by it, when you increase revolts as your rebukes are increased? You
   will revolt more and more, as you have done," as Ahaz particularly did,
   who, in his distress, trespassed yet more against the Lord, 2 Chron.
   xxviii. 22. Thus the physician, when he sees the patient's case
   desperate, troubles him no more with physic; and the father resolves to
   correct his child no more when, finding him hardened, he determines to
   disinherit him. Note, (1.) There are those who are made worse by the
   methods God takes to make them better; the more they are stricken the
   more they revolt; their corruptions, instead of being mortified, are
   irritated and exasperated by their afflictions, and their hearts more
   hardened. (2.) God, sometimes, in a way of righteous judgment, ceases
   to correct those who have been long incorrigible, and whom therefore he
   designs to destroy. The reprobate silver shall be cast, not into the
   furnace, but to the dunghill, Jer. vi. 29, 30. See Ezek. xxiv. 13; Hos.
   iv. 14. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.

   VI. He comforts himself with the consideration of a remnant that should
   be the monuments of divine grace and mercy, notwithstanding this
   general corruption and desolation, v. 9. See here, 1. How near they
   were to an utter extirpation. They were almost like Sodom and Gomorrah
   in respect both of sin and ruin, had grown almost so bad that there
   could not have been found ten righteous men among them, and almost as
   miserable as if none had been left alive, but their country turned into
   a sulphureous lake. Divine Justice said, Make them as Admah; set them
   as Zeboim; but Mercy said, How shall I do it? Hos. xi. 8, 9. 2. What it
   was that saved them from it: The Lord of hosts left unto them a very
   small remnant, that were kept pure from the common apostasy and kept
   safe and alive from the common calamity. This is quoted by the apostle
   (Rom. ix. 27), and applied to those few of the Jewish nation who in his
   time embraced Christianity, when the body of the people rejected it,
   and in whom the promises made to the fathers were accomplished. Note,
   (1.) In the worst of times there is a remnant preserved from iniquity
   and reserved for mercy, as Noah and his family in the deluge, Lot and
   his in the destruction of Sodom. Divine grace triumphs in
   distinguishing by an act of sovereignty. (2.) This remnant is often a
   very small one in comparison with the vast number of revolting ruined
   sinners. Multitude is no mark of the true church. Christ's is a little
   flock. (3.) It is God's work to sanctify and save some, when others are
   left to perish in their impurity. It is the work of his power as the
   Lord of hosts. Except he had left us that remnant, there would have
   been none left; the corrupters (v. 4) did what they could to debauch
   all, and the devourers (v. 7) to destroy all, and they would have
   prevailed of God himself had not interposed to secure to himself a
   remnant, who are bound to give him all the glory. (4.) It is good for a
   people that have been saved from utter ruin to look back and see how
   near they were to it, just upon the brink of it, to see how much they
   owed to a few good men that stood in the gap, and that that was owing
   to a good God, who left them these good men. It is of the Lord's
   mercies that we are not consumed.

    The Vanity of Mere Ritual Obedience. (b. c. 738.)

   10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law
   of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.   11 To what purpose is the
   multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the
   burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not
   in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.   12 When ye
   come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread
   my courts?   13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination
   unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
   cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.   14 Your
   new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble
   unto me; I am weary to bear them.   15 And when ye spread forth your
   hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers,
   I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

   Here, I. God calls to them (but calls in vain) to hear his word, v. 10.
   1. The title he gives them is very strange; You rulers of Sodom, and
   people of Gomorrah. This intimates what a righteous thing it would have
   been with God to make them like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect of ruin
   (v. 9), because that had made themselves like Sodom and Gomorrah in
   respect of sin. The men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners before the
   Lord exceedingly (Gen. xiii. 13), and so were the men of Judah. When
   the rulers were bad, no wonder the people were so. Vice overpowered
   virtue, for it had the rulers, the men of figure, on its side; and it
   out-polled it, for it had the people, the men of number, on its side.
   The streams being thus strong, no less a power than that of the Lord of
   hosts could secure a remnant, v. 9. The rulers are boldly attacked here
   by the prophet as rulers of Sodom; for he knew not how to give
   flattering titles. The tradition of the Jews is that for this he was
   impeached long after, and put to death, as having cursed the gods and
   spoken evil of the ruler of his people. 2. His demand upon them is very
   reasonable: "Hear the word of the Lord, and give ear to the law of our
   God; attend to that which God has to say to you, and let his word be a
   law to you." The following declaration of dislike to their sacrifices
   would be a kind of new law to them, though really it was but an
   explication of the old law; but special regard is to be had to it, as
   is required to the like, Ps. l. 7, 8. "Hear this, and tremble; hear it,
   and take warning."

   II. He justly refuses to hear their prayers and accept their services,
   their sacrifices and burnt-offerings, the fat and blood of them (v.
   11), their attendance in his courts (v. 12), their oblations, their
   incense, and their solemn assemblies (v. 13), their new moons and their
   appointed feasts (v. 14), their devoutest addresses (v. 15); they are
   all rejected, because their hands were full of blood. Now observe,

   1. There are many who are strangers, nay, enemies, to the power of
   religion, and yet seem very zealous for the show and shadow and form of
   it. This sinful nation, this seed of evil-doers, these rulers of Sodom
   and people of Gomorrah, brought, not to the altars of false gods (they
   are not here charged with that), but to the altar of the God of Israel,
   sacrifices, a multitude of them, as many as the law required and rather
   more--not only peace-offerings, which they themselves had their share
   of, but burnt-offerings, which were wholly consumed to the honour of
   God; nor did they bring the torn, and lame, and sick, but fed beasts,
   and the fat of them, the best of the kind. They did not send others to
   offer their sacrifices for them, but came themselves to appear before
   God. They observed the instituted places (not in high places or groves,
   but in God's own courts), and the instituted time, the new moons, and
   sabbaths, and appointed feasts, none of which they omitted. Nay, it
   should seem, they called extraordinary assemblies, and held solemn
   meetings for religious worship, besides those that God had appointed.
   Yet this was not all: they applied to God, not only with their
   ceremonial observances, but with the exercises of devotion. They
   prayed, prayed often, made many prayers, thinking they should be heard
   for their much speaking; nay, they were fervent and importunate in
   prayer, they spread forth their hands as men in earnest. Now we should
   have thought these, and, no doubt, they thought themselves, a pious
   religious people; and yet they were far from being so, for (1.) Their
   hearts were empty of true devotion. They came to appear before God (v.
   12), to be seen before him (so the margin reads it); they rested in the
   outside of the duties; they looked no further than to be seen of men,
   and went no further than that which men see. (2.) Their hands were full
   of blood. They were guilty of murder, rapine, and oppression, under
   colour of law and justice. The people shed blood, and the rulers did
   not punish them for it; the rulers shed blood, and the people were
   aiding and abetting, as the elders of Jezreel were to Jezebel in
   shedding Naboth's blood. Malice is heart-murder in the account of God;
   he that hates his brother in his heart has, in effect, his hands full
   of blood.

   2. When sinners are under the judgments of God they will more easily be
   brought to fly to their devotions than to forsake their sins and reform
   their lives. Their country was now desolate, and their cities were
   burnt (v. 7), which awakened them to bring their sacrifices and
   offerings to God more constantly than they had done, as if they would
   bribe God Almighty to remove the punishment and give them leave to go
   on in the sin. When he slew them, then they sought him, Ps. lxxviii.
   34. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, ch. xxvi. 16. Many that
   will readily part with their sacrifices will not be persuaded to part
   with their sins.

   3. The most pompous and costly devotions of wicked people, without a
   thorough reformation of the heart and life, are so far from being
   acceptable to God that really they are an abomination to him. It is
   here shown in a great variety of expressions that to obey is better
   than sacrifice; nay, that sacrifice, without obedience, is a jest, an
   affront and provocation to God. The comparative neglect which God here
   expresses of ceremonial observance was a tacit intimation of what they
   would come to at last, when they would all be done away by the death of
   Christ. What was now made little of would in due time be made nothing
   of. "Sacrifice and offering, and prayer made in the virtue of them,
   thou wouldest not; then said I, Lo, I come." Their sacrifices are here
   represented,

   (1.) As fruitless and insignificant; To what purpose is the multitude
   of your sacrifices? v. 11. They are vain oblations, v. 13. In vain do
   they worship me, Matt. xv. 9. Their attention to God's institutions was
   all lost labour, and served not to answer any good intention; for, [1.]
   It was not looked upon as any act of duty or obedience to God: Who has
   required these things at your hands? v. 12. Not that God disowns his
   institutions, or refuses to stand by his own warrants; but in what they
   did they had not an eye to him that required it, nor indeed did he
   require it of those whose hands were full of blood and who continued
   impenitent. [2.] It did not recommend them to God's favour. He
   delighted not in the blood of their sacrifices, for he did not look
   upon himself as honoured by it. [3.] It would not obtain any relief for
   them. They pray, but God will not hear, because they regard iniquity
   (Ps. lxvi. 18); he will not deliver them, for, though they make many
   prayers, none of them come from an upright heart. All their religious
   service turned to no account to them. Nay,

   (2.) As odious and offensive. God did not only not accept them, but he
   did detest and abhor them. "They are your sacrifices, they are none of
   mine; I am full of them, even surfeited with them." He needed them not
   (Ps. l. 10), did not desire them, had had enough of them, and more than
   enough. Their coming into his courts he calls treading them, or
   trampling upon them; their very attendance on his ordinances was
   construed into a contempt of them. Their incense, though ever so
   fragrant, was an abomination to him, for it was burnt in hypocrisy and
   with an ill design. Their solemn assemblies he could not away with,
   could not see them with any patience, nor bear the affront they gave
   him. The solemn meeting is iniquity; though the thing itself was not,
   yet, as they managed it, it became so. It is a vexation (so some read
   it), a provocation, to God, to have ordinances thus prostituted, not
   only by wicked people, but to wicked purposes: "My soul hates them;
   they are a trouble to me, a burden, an incumbrance; I am perfectly sick
   of them, and weary of bearing them." God is never weary of hearing the
   prayers of the upright, but soon weary of the costly sacrifices of the
   wicked. He hides his eyes from their prayers, as that which he has an
   aversion to and is angry at. All this is to show, [1.] That sin is very
   hateful to God, so hateful that it makes even men's prayers and their
   religious services hateful to him. [2.] That dissembled piety is double
   iniquity. Hypocrisy in religion is of all things most abominable to the
   God of heaven. Jerome applies the passage to the Jews in Christ's time,
   who pretended a great zeal for the law and the temple, but made
   themselves and all their services abominable to God by filling their
   hands with the blood of Christ and his apostles, and so filling up the
   measure of their iniquities.

    A Call to Repentance; Repentance and Reformation Urged. (b. c. 738.)

   16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from
   before mine eyes; cease to do evil;   17 Learn to do well; seek
   judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the
   widow.   18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:
   though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
   they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.   19 If ye be willing
   and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:   20 But if ye refuse
   and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the
   Lord hath spoken it.

   Though God had rejected their services as insufficient to atone for
   their sins while they persisted in them, yet he does not reject them as
   in a hopeless condition, but here calls upon them to forsake their
   sins, which hindered the acceptance of their services, and then all
   would be well. Let them not say that God picked quarrels with them; no,
   he proposes a method of reconciliation. Observe here,

   I. A call to repentance and reformation: "If you would have your
   sacrifices accepted, and your prayers answered, you must begin your
   work at the right end: Be converted to my law" (so the Chaldee begins
   this exhortation), "make conscience of second-table duties, else expect
   not to be accepted in the acts of your devotion." As justice and
   charity will never atone for atheism and profaneness, so prayers and
   sacrifices will never atone for fraud and oppression; for righteousness
   towards men is as much a branch of pure religion as religion towards
   God is a branch of universal righteousness.

   1. They must cease to do evil, must do no more wrong, shed no more
   innocent blood. This is the meaning of washing themselves and making
   themselves clean, v. 16. It is not only sorrowing for the sin they had
   committed, but breaking off the practice of it for the future, and
   mortifying all those vicious affections and dispositions which inclined
   them to it. Sin is defiling to the soul. Our business is to wash
   ourselves from it by repenting of it and turning from it to God. We
   must put away not only that evil of our doings which is before the eye
   of the world, by refraining from the gross acts of sin, but that which
   is before God's eyes, the roots and habits of sin, that are in our
   hearts; these must be crushed and mortified.

   2. They must learn to do well. This was necessary to the completing of
   their repentance. Note, It is not enough that we cease to do evil, but
   we must learn to do well. (1.) We must be doing, not cease to do evil
   and then stand idle. (2.) We must be doing good, the good which the
   Lord our God requires and which will turn to a good account. (3.) We
   must do it well, in a right manner and for a right end; and, (4.) We
   must learn to do well; we must take pains to get the knowledge of our
   duty, be inquisitive concerning it, in care about it, and accustom
   ourselves to it, that we may readily turn our hands to our work and
   become masters of this holy art of doing well. He urges them
   particularly to those instances of well-doing wherein they had been
   defective, to second-table duties: "Seek judgment; enquire what is
   right, that you may do it; be solicitous to be found in the way of your
   duty, and do not walk carelessly. Seek opportunities of doing good:
   Relieve the oppressed, those whom you yourselves have oppressed; ease
   them of their burdens, ch. lviii. 6. You, that have power in your
   hands, use it for the relief of those whom others do oppress, for that
   is your business. Avenge those that suffer wrong, in a special manner
   concerning yourselves for the fatherless and the widow, whom, because
   they are weak and helpless, proud men trample upon and abuse; do you
   appear for them at the bar, on the bench, as there is occasion. Speak
   for those that know not how to speak for themselves and that have not
   wherewithal to gratify you for your kindness." Note, We are truly
   honouring God when we are doing good in the world; and acts of justice
   and charity are more pleasing to him than all burnt-offerings and
   sacrifices.

   II. A demonstration, at the bar of right reason, of the equity of God's
   proceedings with them: "Come now, and let us reason together (v. 18);
   while your hands are full of blood I will have nothing to do with you,
   though you bring me a multitude of sacrifices; but if you wash, and
   make yourselves clean, you are welcome to draw nigh to me; come now,
   and let us talk the matter over." Note, Those, and those only, that
   break off their league with sin, shall be welcome into covenant and
   communion with God; he says, Come now, who before forbade them his
   courts. See Jam. iv. 8. Or rather thus: There were those among them who
   looked upon themselves as affronted by the slights God put upon the
   multitude of their sacrifices, as ch. lviii. 3, Wherefore have we
   fasted (say they) and thou seest not? They represented God as a hard
   Master, whom it was impossible to please. "Come," says God, "let us
   debate the matter fairly, and I doubt not but to make it out that my
   ways are equal, but yours are unequal," Ezek. xviii. 25. Note, Religion
   has reason on its side; there is all the reason in the world why we
   should do as God would have us do. The God of heaven condescends to
   reason the case with those that contradict him and find fault with his
   proceedings; for he will be justified when he speaks, Ps. li. 4. The
   case needs only to be stated (as it is here very fairly) and it will
   determine itself. God shows here upon what terms they stood (as he
   does, Ezek. xviii. 21-24; xxxiii. 18, 19) and then leaves it to them to
   judge whether these terms are not fair and reasonable.

   1. They could not in reason expect any more then, if they repented and
   reformed, they should be restored to God's favour, notwithstanding
   their former provocations. "This you may expect," says God, and it is
   very kind; who could have the face to desire it upon any other terms?
   (1.) It is very little that is required, "only that you be willing and
   obedient, that you consent to obey" (so some read it), "that you
   subject your wills to the will of God, acquiesce in that, and give up
   yourselves in all things to be ruled by him who is infinitely wise and
   good" Here is no penance imposed for their former stubbornness, nor the
   yoke made heavier or bound harder on their necks; only, "Whereas
   hitherto you have been perverse and refractory, and would not comply
   with that which was for your own good, now be tractable, be governable"
   He does not say, "If you be perfectly obedient," but, "If you be
   willingly so;" for, if there be a willing mind, it is accepted. (2.)
   That is very great which is promised hereupon. [1.] That all their sins
   should be pardoned to them, and should not be mentioned against them.
   "Though they be as red as scarlet and crimson, though you lie under the
   guilt of blood, yet, upon your repentance, even that shall be forgiven
   you, and you shall appear in the sight of God as white as snow." Note,
   The greatest sinners, if they truly repent, shall have their sins
   forgiven them, and so have their consciences pacified and purified.
   Though our sins have been as scarlet and crimson, as deep dye, a double
   dye, first in the wool of original corruption and afterwards in the
   many threads of actual transgression--though we have been often dipped,
   by our many backslidings, into sin, and though we have lain long
   soaking in it, as the cloth does in the scarlet dye, yet pardoning
   mercy will thoroughly discharge the stain, and, being by it purged as
   with hyssop, we shall be clean, Ps. li. 7. If we make ourselves clean
   by repentance and reformation (v. 16), God will make us white by a full
   remission. [2.] That they should have all the happiness and comfort
   they could desire. "Be but willing and obedient, and you shall eat the
   good of the land, the land of promise; you shall have all the blessings
   of the new covenant, of the heavenly Canaan, all the good of the land."
   Those that go on in sin, though they may dwell in a good land, cannot
   with any comfort eat the good of it; guilt embitters all; but, if sin
   be pardoned, creature-comforts become comforts indeed.

   2. They could not in reason expect any other than that, if they
   continued obstinate in their disobedience, they should be abandoned to
   ruin, and the sentence of the law should be executed upon them; what
   can be more just? (v. 20); "If you refuse and rebel, if you continue to
   rebel against the divine government and refuse the offers of the divine
   grace, you shall be devoured with the sword, with the sword of your
   enemies, which shall be commissioned to destroy you--with the sword of
   God's justice, his wrath, and vengeance, which shall be drawn against
   you; for this is that which the mouth of the Lord has spoken, and which
   he will make good, for the maintaining of his own honour." Note, Those
   that will not be governed by God's sceptre will certainly and justly be
   devoured by his sword.

   "And now life and death, good and evil, are thus set before you. Come,
   and let us reason together. What have you to object against the equity
   of this, or against complying with God's terms?"

    The Degeneracy of Jerusalem; Reformation of the Church. (b. c. 738.)

   21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! it was full of judgment;
   righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.   22 Thy silver is
   become dross, thy wine mixed with water:   23 Thy princes are
   rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and
   followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth
   the cause of the widow come unto them.   24 Therefore saith the Lord,
   the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine
   adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:   25 And I will turn my
   hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy
   tin:   26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy
   counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The
   city of righteousness, the faithful city.   27 Zion shall be redeemed
   with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.   28 And the
   destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together,
   and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.   29 For they shall
   be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be
   confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.   30 For ye shall be as
   an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.   31 And
   the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they
   shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

   Here, I. The woeful degeneracy of Judah and Jerusalem is sadly
   lamented. See, 1. What the royal city had been, a faithful city,
   faithful to God and the interests of his kingdom among men, faithful to
   the nation and its public interests. It was full of judgment; justice
   was duly administered upon the thrones of judgment which were set
   there, the thrones of the house of David, Ps. cxxii. 5. Men were
   generally honest in their dealings, and abhorred to do an unjust thing.
   Righteousness lodged in it, was constantly resident in their palaces
   and in all their dwellings, not called in now and then to serve a turn,
   but at home there. Note, Neither holy cities nor royal ones, neither
   places where religion is professed nor places where government is
   administered, are faithful to their trust if religion do not dwell in
   them. 2. What it had now become. That beauteous virtuous spouse was now
   debauched, and become an adulteress; righteousness no longer dwelt in
   Jerusalem (terras Astræa reliquit--Astrea left the earth); even
   murderers were unpunished and lived undisturbed there; nay, the princes
   themselves were so cruel and oppressive that they had become no better
   than murderers; an innocent man might better guard himself against a
   troop of banditti or assassins than against a bench of such judges.
   Note, It is a great aggravation of the wickedness of any family or
   people that their ancestors were famed for virtue and probity; and
   commonly those that thus degenerate prove the most wicked of all men.
   Corruptio optimi est pessima--That which was originally the best
   becomes when corrupted the worst, Luke xi. 26; Eccl. iii. 16. See Jer.
   xxii. 15-17. The degeneracy of Jerusalem is illustrated, (1.) By
   similitudes (v. 22): Thy silver has become dross. This degeneracy of
   the magistrates, whose character is the reverse of that of their
   predecessors, is a great a reproach and injury to the kingdom as the
   debasing of their coin would be and the turning of their silver into
   dross. Righteous princes and righteous cities are as silver for the
   treasury, but unrighteous ones are as dross for the dunghill. How has
   the gold become dim! Lam. iv. 1. Thy wine is mixed with water, and so
   has become flat and sour. Some understand both these literally: the
   wine they sold was adulterated, it was half water; the money they paid
   was counterfeit, and so they cheated all they dealt with. But it is
   rather to be taken figuratively: justice was perverted by their
   princes, and religion and the word of God were sophisticated by their
   priests, and made to serve what turn they pleased. Dross may shine like
   silver, and the wine that is mixed with water may retain the colour of
   wine, but neither is worth any thing. Thus they retained a show and
   pretence of virtue and justice, but had no true sense of either. (2.)
   By some instances (v. 23): "Thy princes, that should keep others in
   their allegiance to God and subjection to his law, are themselves
   rebellious, and set God and his law at defiance." Those that should
   restrain thieves (proud and rich oppressors, those worst of robbers,
   and those that designedly cheat their creditors, who are no better),
   are themselves companions of thieves, connive at them, do as they do,
   and with greater security and success, because they are princes, and
   have power in their hands; they share with the thieves they protect in
   their unlawful gain ( Ps. l. 18) and cast in their lot among them,
   Prov. i. 13, 14. [1.] The profit of their places is all their aim, to
   make the best hand they can of them, right or wrong. They love gifts,
   and follow after rewards; they set their hearts upon their salary, the
   fees and perquisites of their offices, and are greedy of them, and
   never think they can get enough; nay, they will do any thing, though
   ever so contrary to law and justice, for a gift in secret. Presents and
   gratuities will blind their eyes at any time, and make them pervert
   judgment. These they love and are eager in the pursuit of, Hos. ix. 18.
   [2.] The duty of their places is none of their care. They ought to
   protect those that are injured, and take cognizance of the appeals made
   to them; why else were they preferred? But they judge not the
   fatherless, take no care to guard the orphans, nor does the cause of
   the widow come unto them, because the poor widow has no bribe to give,
   with which to make way for her and to bring her cause on. Those will
   have a great deal to answer for who, when they should be the patrons of
   the oppressed, are their greatest oppressors.

   II. A resolution is taken up to redress these grievances (v. 24):
   Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of
   Israel--who has power to make good what he says, who has hosts at
   command for the executing of his purposes, and whose power is engaged
   for his Israel--Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries. Observe,

   1. Wicked people, especially wicked rulers that are cruel and
   oppressive, are God's enemies, his adversaries, and shall so be
   accounted and so dealt with. If the holy seed corrupt themselves, they
   are the foes of his own house.

   2. They are a burden to the God of heaven, which is implied in his
   easing himself of them. The Mighty One of Israel, that can bear any
   thing, nay, that upholds all things, complains of his being wearied
   with men's iniquities, ch. xliii. 24. Amos ii. 13.

   3. God will find out a time and a way to ease himself of this burden,
   by avenging himself on those that thus bear hard upon his patience. He
   here speaks as one triumphing in the foresight of it: Ah. I will ease
   me. He will ease the earth of the burden under which it groans (Rom.
   viii. 21, 22), will ease his own name of the reproaches with which it
   is loaded. He will be eased of his adversaries, by taking vengeance on
   his enemies; he will spue them out of his mouth, and so be eased of
   them, Rev. iii. 16. He speaks with pleasure of the day of vengeance
   being in his heart, ch. lxiii. 4. If God's professing people conform
   not to his image, as the Holy One of Israel (v. 4), they shall feel the
   weight of his hand as the Mighty One of Israel: his power, which was
   wont to be engaged for them, shall be armed against them. In two ways
   God will ease himself of this grievance:--

   (1.) By reforming his church, and restoring good judges in the room of
   those corrupt ones. Though the church has a great deal of dross in it,
   yet it shall not be thrown away, but refined (v. 25): "I will purely
   purge away thy dross. I will amend what is amiss. Vice and profaneness
   shall be suppressed and put out of countenance, oppressors displaced,
   and deprived of their power to do mischief." When things are ever so
   bad God can set them to rights, and bring about a complete reformation;
   when he begins he will make an end, will take away all the tin.
   Observe, [1.] The reformation of a people is God's own work, and, if
   ever it be done, it is he that brings it about: "I will turn my hand
   upon thee; I will do that for the reviving of religion which I did at
   first for the planting of it." He can do it easily, with the turn of
   his hand; but he does it effectually, for what opposition can stand
   before the arm of the Lord revealed? [2.] He does it by blessing them
   with good magistrates and good ministers of state (v. 26): "I will
   restore thy judges as at the first, to put the laws in execution
   against evil-doers, and thy counsellors, to transact public affairs, as
   at the beginning," either the same persons that had been turned out or
   others of the same character. [3.] He does it by restoring judgment and
   righteousness among them (v. 27), by planting in men's minds principles
   of justice and governing their lives by those principles. Men may do
   much by external restraints; but God does it effectually by the
   influences of his Spirit, as a Spirit of judgment, ch. iv. 4; xxviii.
   6. See Ps. lxxxv. 10, 11. [4.] The reformation of a people will be the
   redemption of them and their converts, for sin is the worst captivity,
   the worst slavery, and the great and eternal redemption is that by
   which Israel is redeemed from all his iniquities (Ps. cxxx. 8), and the
   blessed Redeemer is he that turns away ungodliness from Jacob (Rom. xi.
   26), and saves his people from their sins, Matt. i. 21. All the
   redeemed of the Lord shall be converts, and their conversion is their
   redemption: "Her converts, or those that return of her (so the margin),
   shall be redeemed with righteousness." God works deliverance for us by
   preparing us for it with judgment and righteousness. [5.] The reviving
   of a people's virtues is the restoring of their honour: Afterwards thou
   shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city; that is,
   First, "Thou shalt be so;" the reforming of the magistracy is a good
   step towards the reforming of the city and the country too. Secondly,
   "Thou shalt have the praise of being so;" and a greater praise there
   cannot be to any city than to be called the city of righteousness, and
   to retrieve the ancient honour which was lost when the faithful city
   became a harlot, v. 21.

   (2.) By cutting off those that hate to be reformed, that they may not
   remain either as snares or as scandals to the faithful city. [1.] it is
   an utter ruin that is here threatened. They shall be destroyed and
   consumed, and not chastened and corrected only. The extirpation of them
   will be necessary to the redemption of Zion. [2.] It is a universal
   ruin, which will involve the transgressors and the sinners together,
   that is, the openly profane that have quite cast of all religion, and
   the hypocrites that live wicked lives under the cloak of a religious
   profession--they shall both be destroyed together, for they are both
   alike an abomination to God, both those that contradict religion and
   those that contradict themselves in their pretensions to it. And those
   that forsake the Lord, to whom they had formerly joined themselves,
   shall be consumed, as the water in the conduit-pipe is soon consumed
   when it is cut off from the fountain. [3.] It is an inevitable ruin;
   there is no escaping it. First, Their idols shall not be able to help
   them, the oaks which they have desired, and the gardens which they have
   chosen; that is, the images, the dunghill-gods, which they had
   worshipped in their groves and under the green trees, which they were
   fond of and wedded to, for which they forsook the true God, and which
   they worshipped privately in their own garden even when idolatry was
   publicly discountenanced. "This was the practice of the transgressors
   and the sinners; but they shall be ashamed of it, not with a show of
   repentance, but of despair, v. 29. They shall have cause to be ashamed
   of their idols; for, after all the court they have made to them, they
   shall find no benefit by them; but the idols themselves shall go into
   captivity," ch. xlvi. 1, 2. Note, Those that make creatures their
   confidence are but preparing confusion for themselves. You were fond of
   the oaks and the gardens, but you yourselves shall be, 1. "Like an oak
   without leaves, withered and blasted, and stripped of all its
   ornaments." Justly do those wear no leaves that bear no fruit; as the
   fig-tree that Christ cursed. 2. "Like a garden without water, that is
   neither rained upon nor watered with the foot (Deut. xi. 10), that had
   no fountain (Cant. iv. 15), and consequently is parched, and all the
   fruits of it gone to decay." Thus shall those be that trust in idols,
   or in an arm of flesh, Jer. xvii. 5, 6. But those that trust in God
   never find him as a wilderness, or as waters that fail, Jer. ii. 31.
   Secondly, They shall not be able to help themselves (v. 31): "Even the
   strong man shall be as tow not only soon broken and pulled to pieces,
   but easily catching fire; and his work (so the margin reads it), that
   by which he hopes to fortify and secure himself, shall be as a spark to
   his own tow, shall set him on fire, and he and his work shall burn
   together. His counsels shall be his ruin; his own skin kindles the fire
   of God's wrath, which shall burn to the lowest hell, and none shall
   quench it." When the sinner has made himself as tow and stubble, and
   God makes himself to him as a consuming fore, what can prevent the
   utter ruin of the sinner?

   Now all this is applicable, 1. To the blessed work of reformation which
   was wrought in Hezekiah's time after the abominable corruptions of the
   reign of Ahaz. Then good men came to be preferred, and the faces of the
   wicked were filled with shame. 2. To their return out of their
   captivity in Babylon, which had thoroughly cured them of idolatry. 3.
   To the gospel-kingdom and the pouring out of the Spirit, by which the
   New-Testament church should be made a new Jerusalem, a city of
   righteousness. 4. To the second coming of Christ, when he shall
   thoroughly purge his floor, his field, shall gather the wheat into his
   barn, into his garner, and burn the chaff, the tares, with unquenchable
   fire.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. II.

   With this chapter begins a new sermon, which is continued in the two
   following chapters. The subject of this discourse is Judah and
   Jerusalem, ver. 1. In this chapter the prophet speaks, I. Of the glory
   of the Christians, Jerusalem, the gospel-church in the latter days, in
   the accession of many to it (ver. 2, 3), and the great peace it should
   introduce into the world (ver. 4), whence he infers the duty of the
   house of Jacob, ver. 5. II. Of the shame of the Jews, Jerusalem, as it
   then was, and as it would be after its rejection of the gospel and
   being rejected of God. 1. Their sin was their shame, ver. 6-9. 2. God
   by his judgments would humble them and put them to shame, ver. 10-17.
   3. They should themselves be ashamed of their confidence in their idols
   and in an arm of flesh, ver. 18-22. And now which of these Jerusalems
   will we be the inhabitants of--that which is full of the knowledge of
   God, which will be our everlasting honour, or that which is full of
   horses and chariots, and silver and gold, and such idols, which will in
   the end be our shame?

    Increase of the Church Predicted. (b. c. 758.)

   1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and
   Jerusalem.   2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the
   mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the
   mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall
   flow unto it.   3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us
   go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob;
   and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for
   out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
   Jerusalem.   4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke
   many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and
   their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against
   nation, neither shall they learn war any more.   5 O house of Jacob,
   come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

   The particular title of this sermon (v. 1) is the same with the general
   title of the book (ch. i. 1), only that what is there called the vision
   is here called the word which Isaiah saw (or the matter, or thing,
   which he saw), the truth of which he had as full an assurance of in his
   own mind as if he had seen it with his bodily eyes. Or this word was
   brought to him in a vision; something he saw when he received this
   message from God. John turned to see the voice that spoke with him.
   Rev. i. 12.

   This sermon begins with the prophecy relating to the last days, the
   days of the Messiah, when his kingdom should be set up in the world, at
   the latter end of the Mosaic economy. In the last days of the earthly
   Jerusalem, just before the destruction of it, this heavenly Jerusalem
   should be erected, Heb. xii. 22; Gal. iv. 26. Note, Gospel times are
   the last days. For 1. They were long in coming, were a great while
   waited for by the Old-Testament saints, and came at last. 2. We are not
   to look for any dispensation of divine grace but what we have in the
   gospel, Gal. i. 8, 9. 3. We are to look for the second coming of Jesus
   Christ at the end of time, as the Old-Testament saints did for his
   first coming; this is the last time, 1 John ii. 18.

   Now the prophet here foretels,

   I. The setting up of the Christian church, and the planting of the
   Christian religion, in the world. Christianity shall then be the
   mountain of the Lord's house; where that is professed God will grant
   his presence, receive his people's homage, and grant instruction and
   blessing, as he did of old in the temple of Mount Zion. The gospel
   church, incorporated by Christ's charter, shall then be the rendezvous
   of all the spiritual seed of Abraham. Now it is here promised, I. That
   Christianity shall be openly preached and professed; it shall be
   prepared (so the margin reads it) in the top of the mountains, in the
   view and hearing of all. Hence Christ's disciples are compared to a
   city on a hill, which cannot be hid, Matt. v. 14. They had many eyes
   upon them. Christ himself spoke openly to the world, John xviii. 20.
   What the apostles did was not done in a corner, Acts xxvi. 26. It was
   the lighting of a beacon, the setting up of a standard. Its being every
   where spoken against supposes that it was every where spoken of. 2.
   That is shall be firmly fixed and rooted; it shall be established on
   the top of the everlasting mountains, built upon a rock, so that the
   gates of hell shall not prevail against it, unless they could pluck up
   mountains by the roots. He that dwells safely is said to dwell on high,
   ch. xxxiii. 16. The Lord has founded the gospel Zion. 3. That it shall
   not only overcome all opposition, but overtop all competition; it shall
   be exalted above the hills. This wisdom of God in a mystery shall
   outshine all the wisdom of this world, all its philosophy and all its
   politics. The spiritual worship which it shall introduce shall put down
   the idolatries of the heathen; and all other institutions in religion
   shall appear mean and despicable in comparison with this. See Ps. lxvi.
   16. Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which God desires to
   dwell in.

   II. The bringing of the Gentiles into it. 1. The nations shall be
   admitted into it, even the uncircumcised, who were forbidden to come
   into the courts of the temple at Jerusalem. The partition wall, which
   kept them out, kept them off, shall be taken down. 2. All nations shall
   flow into it; having liberty of access, they shall improve their
   liberty, and multitudes shall embrace the Christian faith. They shall
   flow into it, as streams of water, which denotes the abundance of
   converts that the gospel should make and their speed and cheerfulness
   in coming into the church. They shall not be forced into it, but shall
   naturally flow into it. Thy people shall be willing, all volunteers,
   Ps. cx. 3. To Christ shall the gathering of the people be, Gen. xlix.
   10. See ch. lx. 4, 5.

   III. The mutual assistance and encouragement which this confluence of
   converts shall give to one another. Their pious affections and
   resolutions shall be so intermixed that they shall come in in one full
   stream. As, when the Jews from all parts of the country went up thrice
   a year to worship at Jerusalem, they called on their friends in the
   road and excited them to go along with them, so shall many of the
   Gentiles court their relations, friends, and neighbours, to join with
   them in embracing the Christian religion (v. 3): "Come, and let us go
   up to the mountain of the Lord; though it be uphill and against the
   heart, yet it is the mountain of the Lord, who will assist the assent
   of our souls towards him." Note, Those that are entering into covenant
   and communion with God themselves should bring as many as they can
   along with them; it becomes Christians to provoke one another to good
   works, and to further the communion of saints by inviting one another
   into it: not, "Do you go up to the mountain of the Lord, and pray for
   us, and we will stay at home;" nor, "We will go, and do you do as you
   will;" but, "Come, and let us go, let us go in concert, that we may
   strengthen one another's hands and support one another's reputation:"
   not, "We will consider of it, and advise about it, and go hereafter;"
   but, Come, and let us go forthwith. See Ps. cxxii. 1. Many shall say
   this. Those that have had it said to them shall say it to others. The
   gospel church is here called, not only the mountain of the Lord, but
   the house of the God of Jacob; for in it God's covenant with Jacob and
   his praying seed is kept up and has its accomplishment; for to us now,
   as unto them, he never said, Seek you me in vain, ch. xlv. 19. Now see
   here, 1. What they promise themselves in going up to the mountain of
   the Lord; There he will teach us of his ways. Note, God's ways are to
   be learned in his church, in communion with his people, and in the use
   of instituted ordinances--the ways of duty which he requires us to walk
   in, the ways of grace in which he walks towards us. It is God that
   teaches his people, by his word and Spirit. It is worth while to take
   pains to go up to his holy mountain to be taught his ways, and those
   who are willing to take that pains shall never find it labour in vain.
   Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. 2. What they
   promise for themselves and one another: "If he will teach us his ways,
   we will walk in his paths; is he will let us know our duty, we will by
   his grace make conscience of doing it." Those who attend God's word
   with this humble resolution shall not be sent away without their
   lesson.

   IV. The means by which this shall be brought about: Out of Zion shall
   go forth the law, the New-Testament law, the law of Christ, as of old
   the law of Moses from Mount Sinai, even the word of the Lord from
   Jerusalem. The gospel is a law, a law of faith; it is the word of the
   Lord; it went forth from Zion, where the temple was built, and from
   Jerusalem. Christ himself began in Galilee, Matt. iv. 23; Luke xxiii.
   5. But, when he commissioned his apostles to preach the gospel to all
   nations, he appointed them to begin in Jerusalem, Luke xxiv. 47. See
   Rom. xv. 19. Though most of them had their homes in Galilee, yet they
   must stay at Jerusalem, there to receive the promise of the Spirit,
   Acts i. 4. And in the temple on Mount Zion they preached the gospel,
   Acts v. 20. This honour was allowed to Jerusalem, even after Christ was
   crucified there, for the sake of what it had been. And it was by this
   gospel, which took rise from Jerusalem, that the gospel church was
   established on the top of the mountains. This was the rod of divine
   strength, that was sent forth out of Zion, Ps. cx. 2.

   V. The erecting of the kingdom of the Redeemer in the world: He shall
   judge among the nations. He whose word goes forth out of Zion shall by
   that word not only subdue souls to himself, but rule in them, v. 4. He
   shall, in wisdom and justice, order and overrule the affairs of the
   world for the good of his church, and rebuke and restrain those that
   oppose his interest. By his Spirit working on men's consciences he
   shall judge, and rebuke shall try men and check them; his kingdom is
   spiritual, and not of this world.

   VI. The great peace which should be the effect of the success of the
   gospel in the world (v. 4): They shall beat their swords into
   ploughshares; their instruments of war shall be converted into
   implements of husbandry; as, on the contrary, when war is proclaimed,
   ploughshares are beaten into swords, Joel iii. 10. Nations shall then
   not lift up sword against nation, as they now do, neither shall they
   learn war any more, for they shall have no more occasion for it. This
   does not make all war absolutely unlawful among Christians, nor is it a
   prophecy that in the days of the Messiah there shall be no wars. The
   Jews urge this against the Christians as an argument that Jesus is not
   the Messiah, because this promise is not fulfilled. But, 1. It was in
   part fulfilled in the peaceableness of the time in which Christ was
   born, when wars had in a great measure ceased, witness the taxing, Luke
   ii. 1. 2. The design and tendency of the gospel are to make peace and
   to slay all enmities. It has in it the most powerful obligations and
   inducements to peace; so that one might reasonably have expected it
   should have this effect, and it would have had it if it had not been
   for those lusts of men from which come wars and fightings. 3. Jew and
   Gentiles were reconciled and brought together by the gospel, and there
   were no more such wars between them as there had been; for they became
   one sheepfold under one shepherd. See Eph. ii. 15. 4. The gospel of
   Christ, as far as it prevails, disposes men to be peaceable, softens
   men's spirits, and sweetens them; and the love of Christ, shed abroad
   in the heart, constrains men to love one another. 5. The primitive
   Christians were famous for brotherly love; their very adversaries took
   notice of it. 6. We have reason to hope that this promise shall yet
   have a more full accomplishment in the latter times of the Christian
   church, when the Spirit shall be poured out more plentifully from on
   high. Then there shall be on earth peace. Who shall live when God doeth
   this? But do it he will in due time, for he is not a man that he should
   lie.

   Lastly, Here is a practical inference drawn from all this (v. 5): O
   house of Jacob! come you, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. By
   the house of Jacob is meant either, 1. Israel according to the flesh.
   Let them be provoked by this to a holy emulation, Rom. xi. 14. "Seeing
   the Gentiles are thus ready and resolved for God, thus forward to go up
   to the house of the Lord, let us stir up ourselves to go too. Let is
   never be said that the sinners of the Gentiles were better friends to
   the holy mountain than the house of Jacob." Thus the zeal of some
   should provoke many. Or, 2. Spiritual Israel, all that are brought to
   the God of Jacob. Shall there be such great knowledge in gospel times
   (v. 3) and such great peace (v. 4), and shall we share in these
   privileges? Come then, and let us live accordingly. What ever others
   do, come, O come! let us walk in the light of the Lord. (1.) Let us
   walk circumspectly in the light of this knowledge. Will God teach us
   his ways? Will he show us his glory in the face of Christ? Let us then
   walk as children of the light and of the day, Eph. v. 8; 1 Thess. v. 8;
   Rom. xiii. 12. (2.) Let us walk comfortably in the light of this peace.
   Shall there be no more war? Let us then go on our way rejoicing, and
   let this joy terminate in God, and be our strength, Neh. viii. 10. Thus
   shall we walk in the beams of the Sun of righteousness.

    A Charge against the Israelites. (b. c. 758.)

   6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because
   they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the
   Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
   7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end
   of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there
   any end of their chariots:   8 Their land also is full of idols; they
   worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have
   made:   9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth
   himself: therefore forgive them not.

   The calling in of the Gentiles was accompanied with the rejection of
   the Jews; it was their fall, and the diminishing of them, that was the
   riches of the Gentiles; and the casting off of them was the reconciling
   of the world (Rom. xi. 12-15); and it should seem that these verses
   have reference to that, and are designed to justify God therein, and
   yet it is probable that they are primarily intended for the convincing
   and awakening of the men of that generation in which the prophet lived,
   it being usual with the prophets to speak of the things that then were,
   both in mercy and judgment, as types of the things that should be
   hereafter. Here is,

   I. Israel's doom. This is set forth in two words, the first and the
   last of this paragraph; but they are two dreadful words, and which
   speak, 1. Their case sad, very sad (v. 6): Therefore thou hast forsaken
   thy people. Miserable is the condition of that people whom God has
   forsaken, and great certainly must the provocation be if he forsake
   those that have been his own people. This was the deplorable case of
   the Jewish church after they had rejected Christ. Migremus hinc--Let us
   go hence. Your house is left unto you desolate, Matt. xxiii. 38.
   Whenever any sore calamity came upon the Jews thus far the Lord might
   be said to forsake them that he withdrew his help and succour from
   them, else they would not have fallen into the hands of their enemies.
   But God never leaves any till they first leave him. 2. Their case
   desperate, wholly desperate (v. 9): Therefore forgive them not. This
   prophetical prayer amounts to a threatening that they should not be
   forgiven, and some think it may be read: And thou wilt not forgive
   them. This refers not to particular persons (many of them repented and
   were pardoned), but to the body of that nation, against whom an
   irreversible doom was passed, that they should be wholly cut off and
   their church quite dismantled, never to be formed into such a body
   again, nor ever to have their old charter restored to them.

   II. Israel's desert of this doom, and the reasons upon which it is
   grounded. In general, it is sin that brings destruction upon them; it
   is this, and nothing but this, that provokes God to forsake his people.
   The particular sins which the prophet specifies are such as abounded
   among them at that time, which he makes mention of for the conviction
   of those to whom he then preached, rather than that which afterwards
   proved the measure-filling sin, their crucifying Christ and persecuting
   his followers; for the sins of every age contributed towards the making
   up of the dreadful account at last. And there was a partial and
   temporary rejection of them by the captivity in Babylon hastening on,
   which was a type of their final destruction by the Romans, and which
   the sins here mentioned brought upon them. Their sins were such as
   directly contradicted all God's kind and gracious designs concerning
   them.

   1. God set them apart for himself, as a peculiar people, distinguished
   from, and dignified above, all other people (Num. xxiii. 9); but they
   were replenished from the east; they naturalized foreigners, not
   proselyted, and encouraged them to settle among them, and mingled with
   them, Hos. vii. 8. Their country was peopled with Syrians and
   Chaldeans, Moabites and Ammonites, and other eastern nations, and with
   them they admitted the fashions and customs of those nations, and
   pleased themselves in the children of strangers, were fond of them,
   preferred their country before their own, and thought the more they
   conformed to them the more polite and refined they were; thus did they
   profane their crown and their covenant. Note, Those are in danger of
   being estranged from God who please themselves with those who are
   strangers to him, for we soon learn the ways of those whose company we
   love.

   2. God gave them his oracles, which they might ask counsel of, not only
   the scriptures and the seers, but the breast-plate of judgment; but
   they slighted these, and became soothsayers like the Philistines,
   introduced their arts of divination, and hearkened to those who by the
   stars, or the clouds, or the flight of birds, or the entrails of
   beasts, or other magic superstitions, pretended to discover things
   secret or foretel things to come. The Philistines were noted for
   diviners, 1 Sam. vi. 2. Note, Those who slight true divinity are justly
   given up to lying divinations; and those will certainly be forsaken of
   God who thus forsake him and their own mercies for lying vanities.

   3. God encouraged them to put their confidence in him, and assured them
   that he would be their wealth and strength; but, distrusting his power
   and promise, they made gold their hope, and furnished themselves with
   horses and chariots, and relied upon them for their safety, v. 7. God
   had expressly forbidden even their kings to multiply horses to
   themselves and greatly to multiply silver and gold, because he would
   have them to depend upon himself only; but they did not think their
   interest in God made them a match for their neighbours unless they had
   as full treasures of silver and gold, and as formidable hosts of
   chariots and horses, as they had. It is not having silver and gold,
   horses and chariots, that is a provocation to God, but, (1.) Desiring
   them insatiably, so that there is no end of the treasures, no end of
   the chariots, no bounds or limits set to the desire of them. Those
   shall never have enough in God (who alone is all-sufficient) that never
   know when they have enough of this world, which at the best is
   insufficient. (2.) Depending upon them, as if we could not be safe, and
   easy, and happy, without them, and could not but be so with them.

   4. God himself was their God, the sole object of their worship, and he
   himself instituted ordinances of worship for them; but they slighted
   both him and his institutions, v. 8. Their land was full of idols;
   every city had its god (Jer. xi. 13); and, according to the goodness of
   their lands, they made goodly images, Hos. x. 1. Those that think one
   God too little will find two too many, and yet hundreds were not
   sufficient; for those that love idols will multiply them; so sottish
   were they, and so wretchedly infatuated, that they worshipped the work
   of their own hands, as if that could be a god to them which was not
   only a creature, but their creature and that which their own fancies
   had devised and their own fingers had made. It was an aggravation of
   their idolatry that God had enriched them with silver and gold, and yet
   of that silver and gold they made idols; so it was, Jeshurun waxed fat,
   and kicked, see Hos. ii. 8.

   5. God had advanced them, and put honour upon them; but they basely
   diminished and disparaged themselves (v. 9): The mean man boweth down
   to his idol, a thing below the meanest that has any spark of reason
   left. Sin is a disparagement to the poorest and those of the lowest
   rank. It becomes the mean man to bow down to his superiors, but it ill
   becomes him to bow down to the stock of a tree, ch. xliv. 19. Nor is it
   only the illiterate and poor-spirited that do this, but even the great
   men forgets his grandeur and humbles himself to worship idols, deifies
   men no better than himself, and consecrates stones so much baser than
   himself. Idolaters are said to debase themselves even to hell, ch.
   lvii. 9. What a shame it is that great men think the service of the
   true God below them and will not stoop to it, and yet will humble
   themselves to bow down to an idol! Some make this a threatening that
   the mean men shall be brought down, and the great men humbled, by the
   judgments of God, when they come with commission.

    The Doom of Idolaters. (b. c. 758.)

   10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the
   Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.   11 The lofty looks of man
   shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and
   the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.   12 For the day of the
   Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon
   every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:   13 And upon
   all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all
   the oaks of Bashan,   14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all
   the hills that are lifted up,   15 And upon every high tower, and upon
   every fenced wall,   16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon
   all pleasant pictures.   17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed
   down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone
   shall be exalted in that day.   18 And the idols he shall utterly
   abolish.   19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into
   the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his
   majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.   20 In that day
   a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they
   made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
   21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged
   rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he
   ariseth to shake terribly the earth.   22 Cease ye from man, whose
   breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

   The prophet here goes on to show what a desolation would be brought
   upon their land when God should have forsaken them. This may refer
   particularly to their destruction by the Chaldeans first, and
   afterwards by the Romans, or it may have a general respect to the
   method God takes to awaken and humble proud sinners, and to put them
   out of conceit with that which they delighted in and depended on more
   than God. We are here told that sooner or later God will find out a
   way,

   I. To startle and awaken secure sinners, who cry peace to themselves,
   and bid defiance to God and his judgments (v. 10): "Enter into the
   rock; God will attack you with such terrible judgments, and strike you
   with such terrible apprehensions of them, that you shall be forced to
   enter into the rock, and hide yourself in the dust, for fear of the
   Lord. You shall lose all your courage, and tremble at the shaking of a
   leaf; your heart shall fail you for fear (Luke xxi. 26), and you shall
   flee when none pursues," Prov. xxviii. 1. To the same purport, v. 19.
   They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the
   earth, the darkest the deepest places; they shall call to the rocks and
   mountains to fall on them, and rather crush them than not cover them,
   Hos. x. 8. It was so particularly at the destruction of Jerusalem by
   the Romans (Luke xxiii. 30) and of the persecuting pagan powers, Rev.
   vi. 16. And all for fear of the Lord, and of the glory of his majesty,
   looking upon him then to be a consuming fire and themselves as stubble
   before him, when he arises to shake terribly the earth, to shake the
   wicked out of it (Job xxxviii. 13), and to shake all those earthly
   props and supports with which they have buoyed themselves up, to shake
   them from under them. Note, 1. With God is terrible majesty, and the
   glory of it is such as sooner or later will oblige us all to flee
   before him. 2. Those that will not fear God and flee to him will be
   forced to fear him and flee from him to a refuge of lies. 3. It is
   folly for those that are pursued by the wrath of God to think to escape
   it, and to hide or shelter themselves from it. 4. The things of the
   earth are things that will be shaken; they are subject to concussions,
   and hastening towards a dissolution. 5. The shaking of the earth is,
   and will be, a terrible thing to those who set their affections wholly
   on things of the earth. 6. It will be in vain to think of finding
   refuge in the caves of the earth when the earth itself is shaken; there
   will be no shelter then but in God and in things above.

   II. To humble and abase proud sinners, that look big, and think highly
   of themselves, and scornfully of all about them (v. 11): The lofty
   looks of man shall be humbled. The eyes that aim high, the countenance
   in which the pride of the heart shows itself, shall be cast down in
   shame and despair. And the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
   their spirits shall be broken, and they shall be crest-fallen, and
   those things which they were proud of they shall be ashamed of. It is
   repeated (v. 17), The loftiness of man shall be bowed down. Note, Pride
   will, one way or other, have a fall. Men's haughtiness will be brought
   down, either by the grace of God convincing them of the evil of their
   pride, and clothing them with humility, or by the providence of God
   depriving them of all those things they were proud of and laying them
   low. Our Saviour often laid it down for a maxim that he who exalts
   himself shall be abased; he shall either abase himself in true
   repentance or God will abase him and pour contempt upon him. Now here
   we are told,

   1. Why this shall be done: because the Lord alone will be exalted.
   Note, Proud men shall be vilified because the Lord alone will be
   magnified. It is for the honour of God's power to humble the proud; by
   this he proves himself to be God, and disproves Job's pretensions to
   rival with him, Job xl. 11-14. Behold every one that is proud, and
   abase him; then will I also confess unto thee. It is likewise for the
   honour of his justice. Proud men stand in competition with God, who is
   jealous for his own glory, and will not suffer men either to take to
   themselves or give to another that which is due to him only. They
   likewise stand in opposition to God; they resist him, and therefore he
   resists them; for he will be exalted among the heathen (Ps. xlvi. 10),
   and there is a day coming in which he alone will be exalted, when he
   shall have put down all opposing rule, principality, and power, 1 Cor.
   xv. 24.

   2. How this shall be done: by humbling judgments, that shall mortify
   men, and bring them down (v. 12): The day of the Lord of hosts, the day
   of his wrath and judgment, shall be upon every one that is proud. He
   now laughs at their insolence because he sees that his day is coming,
   this day, which will be upon them ere they are aware, Ps. xxxvii. 13.
   This day of the Lord is here said to be upon all the cedars of Lebanon,
   that are high and lifted up. Jerome observes that the cedars are said
   to praise God (Ps. cxlviii. 9) and are trees of the Lord (Ps. civ. 16),
   of his planting (Isa. xli. 19), and yet here God's wrath fastens upon
   the cedars, which denotes (says he) that some of every rank of men,
   some great men, will be saved, and some perish. It is brought in as an
   instance of the strength of God's voice that it breaks the cedars (Ps.
   xxix. 5), and here the day of the Lord is said to be upon the cedars,
   those of Lebanon, they were the straightest and statliest,--upon the
   oaks, those of Bashan, that were the strongest and sturdiest,--upon the
   natural elevations and fortresses, the highest mountains and the hills
   that are lifted up (v. 14), that overtop the valleys and seem to push
   the skies,--and upon the artificial fastnesses, every high tower and
   every fenced wall, v. 15. Understand these, (1.) As representing the
   proud people themselves, that are in their own apprehensions like the
   cedars and the oaks, firmly rooted, and not to be stirred by any storm,
   and looking on all around them as shrubs; these are the high mountains
   and the lofty hills that seem to fill the earth, that are gazed on by
   all, and think themselves immovable, but lie most obnoxious to God's
   thunderstrokes. Feriuntique summos fulmina montes--The highest hills
   are most exposed to lightning. And before the power of God's wrath
   these mountains are scattered and these hills bow and melt like wax,
   Hab. iii. 6; Ps. lxvi. 8. These vaunting men, who are as high towers in
   which the noisy bells are hung, on which the thundering murdering
   cannon are planted--these fenced walls, that fortify themselves with
   their native hardiness, and intrench themselves in their
   fastnesses--shall be brought down. (2.) As particularizing the things
   they are proud of,in which they trust, and of which they make their
   boast. The day of the Lord shall be upon those very things in which
   they put their confidence as their strength and security; he will take
   from the all their armour wherein they trusted. Did the inhabitants of
   Lebanon glory in their cedars, and those of Bashan in their oaks, such
   as no country could equal? The day of the Lord should rend those
   cedars, those oaks, and the houses built of them. Did Jerusalem glory
   in the mountains that were round about it, as its impregnable
   fortifications, or in its walls and bulwarks? These should be levelled
   and laid low in the day of the Lord. Besides those things that were for
   their strength and safety they were proud, [1.] Of their trade abroad;
   but the day of the Lord shall be upon all the ships of Tarshish; they
   shall be broken as Jehoshaphat's were, shall founder at sea or be
   ship-wrecked in harbour. Zebulun was a haven of ships, but should now
   no more rejoice in his going out. When God is bringing ruin upon a
   people he can sink all the branches of their revenue. [2.] Of their
   ornaments at home; but the day of the Lord shall be upon all pleasant
   pictures, the painting of their ships (so some understand it) or the
   curious pieces of painting they brought home in their ships from other
   countries, perhaps from Greece, which afterwards was famous for
   painters. Upon every thing that is beautiful to behold; so some read
   it. Perhaps they were the pictures of their relations, and for that
   reason pleasant, or of their gods, which to the idolaters were
   delectable things; or they admired them for the fineness of their
   colours or strokes. There is no harm in making pictures, nor in
   adorning our rooms with them, provided they transgress not either the
   second or the seventh commandment. But to place our pictures among our
   pleasant things, to be fond of them and proud of them, to spend that
   upon them which should be laid out in charity, and to set out hearts
   upon them, as it ill becomes those who have so many substantial things
   to take pleasure in, so it tends to provoke God to strip us of all such
   vain ornaments.

   III. To make idolaters ashamed of their idols, and of all the affection
   they have had for them and the respect they have paid to them (v. 18):
   The idols he shall utterly abolish. When the Lord alone shall be
   exalted (v. 17) he will not only pour contempt upon proud men, who like
   Pharaoh exalt themselves against him, but much more upon all pretended
   deities, who are rivals with him for divine honours. They shall be
   abolished, utterly abolished. Their friends shall desert them; their
   enemies shall destroy them; so that, one way or other, an utter
   riddance shall be made of them. See here, 1. The vanity of false gods;
   they cannot secure themselves, so far are they from being able to
   secure their worshippers. 2. The victory of the true God over them; for
   great is the truth and will prevail. Dagon fell before the ark, and
   Baal before the Lord God of Elijah. The gods of the heathen shall be
   famished (Zeph. ii. 11), and by degrees shall perish, Jer. x. 11. The
   rightful Sovereign will triumph over all pretenders. And, as God will
   abolish idols, so their worshippers shall abandon them, either from a
   gracious conviction of their vanity and falsehood (as Ephraim when he
   said, What have I to do any more with idols?) or from a late and sad
   experience of their inability to help them, and a woeful despair of
   relief by them, v. 20. When men are themselves frightened by the
   judgments of God into the holes of the rocks and caves of the earth,
   and find that they do thus in vain shift for their own safety, they
   shall cast their idols, which they have made their gods, and hoped to
   make their friends in the time of need, to the moles and to the bats,
   any where out of sight, that, being freed from the incumbrance of them,
   they may go into the clefts of the rocks, for fear of the Lord, v. 21.
   Note, (1.) Those that will not be reasoned out of their sins sooner or
   later shall be frightened out of them. (2.) God can make men sick of
   those idols that they have been most fond of, even the idols of silver
   and the idols of gold, the most precious. Covetous men make silver and
   gold their idols, money their god; but the time may come when they may
   feel it as much their burden as ever they made it their confidence, and
   may find themselves as much exposed by it as ever they hoped they
   should be guarded by it, when it tempts their enemy, sinks their ship,
   or retards their flight. There was a time when the mariners threw the
   wares, and even the wheat into the sea (Jonah i. 5; Acts xxvii. 38),
   and the Syrians cast away their garments for haste, 2 Kings vii. 15. Or
   men may cast it away out of indignation at themselves for leaning upon
   such a broken reed. See Ezek. vii. 19. The idolaters here throw away
   their idols because they are ashamed of them and of their own folly in
   trusting to them, or because they are afraid of having them found in
   their possession when the judgments of God are abroad; as the thief
   throws away his stolen goods then he is searched for or pursued. (3.)
   The darkest holes, where the moles and the bats lodge, are the fittest
   places for idols, that have eyes and see not; and God can force men to
   cast their own idols there (ch. xxx. 22), when they are ashamed of the
   oaks which they have desired, ch. i. 29. Moab shall be ashamed of
   Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, Jer. xlviii. 13.
   (4.) It is possible that sin may be both loathed and left and yet not
   truly repented of--loathed because surfeited on, left because there is
   no opportunity of committing it, yet not repented of out of any love to
   God, but only from a slavish fear of his wrath.

   IV. To make those that have trusted in an arm of flesh ashamed of their
   confidence (v. 22): "Cease from man. The providences of God concerning
   you shall speak this aloud to you, and therefore take warning
   beforehand, that you may prevent the uneasiness and shame of
   disappointment; and consider, 1. How weak man is: His breath is in his
   nostrils, puffed out every moment, soon gone for good and all." Man is
   a dying creature, and may die quickly; our nostrils, in which our
   breath is, are of the outward parts of the body; what is there is like
   one standing at the door, ready to depart; nay the doors of the
   nostrils are always open, the breath in them may slip away ere we are
   aware, in a moment. Wherein then is man to be accounted of? Alas! no
   reckoning is to be made of him, for he is not what he seems to be, what
   he pretends to be, what we fancy him to be. Man is like vanity, nay, he
   is vanity, he is altogether vanity, he is less, he is lighter, than
   vanity, when weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. "2. How wise
   therefore those are that cease from man;" it is our duty, it is our
   interest, to do so. "Put not your trust in man, nor make even the
   greatest and mightiest of men your confidence; cease to do so. Let not
   your eye be to the power of man, for it is finite and limited, derived
   and depending; it is not from him that your judgment proceeds. Let not
   him be your fear, let not him be your hope; but look up to the power of
   God, to which all the powers of men are subject and subordinate; dread
   his wrath, secure his favour, take him for your help, and let your hope
   be in the Lord your God."
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. III.

   The prophet, in this chapter, goes on to foretel the desolations that
   were coming upon Judah and Jerusalem for their sins, both that by the
   Babylonians and that which completed their ruin by the Romans, with
   some of the grounds of God's controversy with them. God threatens, I.
   To deprive them of all the supports both of their life and of their
   government, ver. 1-3. II. To leave them to fall into confusion and
   disorder, ver. 4, 5, 12. III. To deny them the blessing of magistracy,
   ver. 6-8. IV. To strip the daughters of Zion of their ornaments, ver.
   17-24. V. To lay all waste by the sword of war, ver. 25, 26. The sins
   that provoked God to deal thus with them were, 1. Their defiance of
   God, ver. 8. 2. Their impudence, ver. 9. 3. The abuse of power to
   oppression and tyranny, ver. 12-15. 4. The pride of the daughters of
   Zion, ver. 16. In the midst of the chapter the prophet is directed how
   to address particular persons. (1.) To assure good people that it
   should be well with them, notwithstanding those general calamities,
   ver. 10. (2.) To assure wicked people that, however God might, in
   judgment, remember mercy, yet it should go ill with them, ver. 11. O
   that the nations of the earth, at this day, would hearken to rebukes
   and warnings which this chapter gives!

    Judgments Denounced. (b. c. 758.)

   1 For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from
   Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of
   bread, and the whole stay of water,   2 The mighty man, and the man of
   war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,   3
   The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and
   the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.   4 And I will give
   children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.   5 And
   the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by
   his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the
   ancient, and the base against the honourable.   6 When a man shall take
   hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast
   clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:   7
   In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be a healer; for in my
   house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
     8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue
   and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his
   glory.

   The prophet, in the close of the foregoing chapter, had given a
   necessary caution to all not to put confidence in man, or any creature;
   he had also given a general reason for that caution, taken from the
   frailty of human life and the vanity and weakness of human powers. Here
   he gives a particular reason for it--God was now about to ruin all
   their creature-confidences, so that they should meet with nothing but
   disappointments in all their expectations from them (v. 1): The stay
   and the staff shall be taken away, all their supports, of what kind
   soever, all the things they trusted to and looked for help and relief
   from. Their church and kingdom had now grown old and were going to
   decay, and they were (after the manner of aged men, Zech. viii. 4)
   leaning on a staff: now God threatens to take away their staff, and
   then they must fall of course, to take away the stays of both the city
   and the country, of Jerusalem and of Judah, which are indeed stays to
   one another, and, if one fail, the other feels from it. He that does
   this is the Lord, the Lord of hosts--Adon, the Lord that is himself the
   stay or foundation; if that stay depart, all other stays certainly
   break under us, for he is the strength of them all. He that is the
   Lord, the ruler, that has authority to do it, and the Lord of hosts,
   that has the ability to do it, he shall take away the stay and the
   staff. St. Jerome refers this to the sensible decay of the Jewish
   nation after they had crucified our Saviour, Rom. xi. 9, 10. I rather
   take it as a warning to all nations not to provoke God; for if they
   make him their enemy, he can and will thus make them miserable. Let us
   view the particulars.

   I. Was their plenty a support to them? It is so to any people; bread is
   the staff of life: but God can take away the whole stay of bread, and
   the whole stay of water; and it is just with him to do so when fulness
   of bread becomes an iniquity (Ezek. xvi. 49), and that which was given
   to be provision for the life is made provision for the lusts. He can
   take away the bread and the water by withholding the rain, Deut.
   xxviii. 23, 24. Or, if he allow them, he can take away the stay of
   bread and the stay of water by withholding his blessing, by which man
   lives, and not by bread only, and which is the staff of bread (Matt.
   iv. 4), and then the bread is not nourishing nor the water refreshing,
   Hag. i. 6. Christ is the bread of life and the water of life; if he be
   our stay, we shall find that this is a good part not to be taken away,
   John iv. 14; vi. 27.

   II. Was their army a support to them--their generals, and commanders,
   and military men? These shall be taken away, either cut off by the
   sword or so discouraged with the defeats they meet with that they shall
   throw up their commissions and resolve to act no more; or they shall be
   disabled by sickness, or dispirited, so as to be unfit for business;
   The mighty men, and the man of war, and even the inferior officer, the
   captain of fifty, shall be removed. It bodes ill with a people when
   their valiant men are lost. Let not the strong man therefore glory in
   his strength, nor any people trust too much to their mighty men; but
   let the strong people glorify God and the city of the terrible nations
   fear him, who can make them weak and despicable, ch. xxv. 3.

   III. Were their ministers of state a support to them--their learned
   men, their politicians, their clergy, their wits and virtuoso? These
   also should be taken away--the judges, who were skilled in the laws,
   and expert in administering justice,--the prophets, whom they used to
   consult in difficult cases,--the prudent, who were celebrated as men of
   sense and sagacity above all others and were assistants to the judges,
   the diviners (so the word is), those who used unlawful arts, who,
   though rotten stays, yet were stayed on, (but it may be taken, as we
   read it, in a good sense),--the ancients, elders in age, in
   office,--the honourable man, the gravity of whose aspect commands
   reverence and whose age and experience make him fit to be a counsellor.
   Trade is one great support to a nation, even manufactures and
   handicraft trades; and therefore, when the whole stay is broken, the
   cunning artificer too shall be taken away; and the last is the eloquent
   orator, the man skilful of speech, who in some cases may do good
   service, though he be none of the prudent or the ancient, by putting
   the sense of others in good language. Moses cannot speak well, but
   Aaron can. God threatens to take these away, that is, 1. To disable
   them for the service of their country, making judges fools, taking away
   the speech of the trusty and the understanding of the aged, Job xii.
   17, &c. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; and we
   cannot be sure that those who have been serviceable to us shall always
   be so. 2. To put an end to their days; for the reason why princes are
   not to be trusted in is because their breath goeth forth, Ps. cxlvi. 3,
   4. Note, The removal of useful men by death, in the midst of their
   usefulness, is a very threatening symptom to any people.

   IV. Was their government a support to them? It ought to have been so;
   it is the business of the sovereign to bear up the pillars of the land,
   Ps. lxxv. 3. But it is here threatened that this stay should fail them.
   When the mighty men and the prudent are removed children shall be their
   princes--children in age, who must be under tutors and governors, who
   will be clashing with one another and making a prey of the young king
   and his kingdom-children in understanding and disposition, childish
   men, such as are babes in knowledge, no more fit to rule than a child
   in the cradle. These shall rule over them, with all the folly,
   fickleness, and frowardness, of a child. And woe unto thee, O land!
   when thy king is such a one! Eccl. x. 16.

   V. Was the union of the subjects among themselves, their good order and
   the good understanding and correspondence that they kept with one
   another, a stay to them? Where this is the case a people may do better
   for it, though their princes be not such as they should be; but it is
   here threatened that God would send an evil spirit among them too (as
   Judg. ix. 23), which would make them, 1. Injurious and unneighbourly
   one towards another (v. 5): "The people shall be oppressed every one by
   his neighbour," and their princes, being children, will take no care to
   restrain the oppressors or relieve the oppressed, nor is it to any
   purpose to appeal to them (which is a temptation to every man to be his
   own avenger), and therefore they bite and devour one another and will
   soon be consumed one of another. Then homo homini lupus--man becomes a
   wolf to man; jusque datum sceleri--wickedness receives the stamp of
   law; nec hospes ab hospite tutus--the guest and the host are in danger
   from each other. 2. Insolent and disorderly towards their superiors. It
   is as ill an omen to a people as can be when the rising generation
   among them are generally untractable, rude, and ungovernable, when the
   child behaves himself proudly against the ancient, whereas he should
   rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man, Lev.
   xix. 32. When young people are conceited and pert, and behave
   scornfully towards their superiors, their conduct is not only a
   reproach to themselves, but of ill consequence to the public; it
   slackens the reins of government and weakens the hands that hold them.
   It is likewise ill with a people when persons of honour cannot support
   their authority, but are affronted by the base and beggarly, when
   judges are insulted and their powers set at defiance by the mob. Those
   have a great deal to answer for who do this.

   VI. It is some stay, some support, to hope that, though matters may be
   now ill-managed, yet other may be raised up, who may manage better? Yet
   this expectation also shall be frustrated, for the case shall be so
   desperate that no man of sense or substance will meddle with it.

   1. The government shall go a begging, v. 6. Here, (1.) It is taken for
   granted that there is no way of redressing all these grievances, and
   bringing things into order again, but by good magistrates, who shall be
   invested with power by common consent, and shall exert that power for
   the good of the community. And it is probable that this was, in many
   places, the true origin of government; men found it necessary to unite
   in a subjection to one who was thought fit for such a trust, in order
   to the welfare and safety of them all, being aware that they must
   either be ruled or ruined. Here therefore is the original contract: "Be
   thou our ruler, and we will be subject to thee, and let this ruin be
   under thy hand, to be repaired and restored, and then to be preserved
   and established, and the interests of it advanced, ch. lviii. 12. Take
   care to protect us by the sword of war from being injured from abroad,
   and by the sword of justice from being injurious to another, and we
   will bear faith and true allegiance to thee." (2.) The case is
   represented as very deplorable, and things as having come to a sad
   pass; for, [1.] Children being their princes, every man will think
   himself fit to prescribe who shall be a magistrate, and will be for
   preferring his own relations; whereas, if the princes were as they
   should be, it would be left entirely to them to nominate the rulers, as
   it ought to be. [2.] Men will find themselves under a necessity even of
   forcing power into the hands of those that are thought to be fit for
   it: A man shall take hold by violence of one to make him a ruler,
   perceiving him ready to resist the motion: nay, he shall urge it upon
   his brother; whereas, commonly, men are not willing that their equals
   should be their superiors, witness the envy of Joseph's brethren. [3.]
   It will be looked upon as ground sufficient for the preferring of a man
   to be a ruler that he has clothing better than his neighbours--a very
   poor qualification to recommend a man to a place of trust in the
   government. It was a sign that the country was much impoverished when
   it was a rare thing to find a man that had good clothes, or could
   afford to buy himself an alderman's gown or a judge's robes; and it was
   proof enough that the people were very unthinking when they had so much
   respect to a man in gay clothing, with a gold ring ( Jam. ii. 2, 3),
   that, for the sake thereof, they would make him their ruler. It would
   have been some sense to have said, "Thou hast wisdom, integrity,
   experience; be thou our ruler." But it was a jest to say, Thou hast
   clothing; be thou our ruler. A poor wise man, though in vile raiment,
   delivered a city, Eccl. ix. 15. We may allude to this to show how
   desperate the case of fallen man was when our Lord Jesus was pleased to
   become our brother, and, though he was not courted, offered himself to
   be our ruler and Saviour, and to take this ruin under his hand.

   2. Those who are thus pressed to come into office will swear themselves
   off, because, though they are taken to be men of some substance, yet
   they know themselves unable to bear the charges of the office and to
   answer the expectations of those that choose them (v. 7): He shall
   swear (shall lift up the hand, the ancient ceremony used in taking the
   oath) I will not be a healer; make not me a ruler. Note, Rulers must be
   healers, and good rulers will be so; they must study to unite their
   subjects, and not to widen the differences that are among them. Those
   only are fit for government that are of a meek, quiet, healing, spirit.
   They must also heal the wounds that are given to any of the interests
   of their people, by suitable applications. But why will he not be a
   ruler? Because in my house is neither bread nor clothing. (1.) If he
   said true, it was a sign that men's estates were sadly ruined when even
   those who made the best appearance really wanted necessaries--a common
   case, and a piteous one. Some who, having lived fashionably, are
   willing to put the best side outwards, are yet, if the truth were
   known, in great straits, and go with heavy hearts for want of bread and
   clothing. (2.) If he did not speak truth, it was a sign that men's
   consciences were sadly debauched, when, to avoid the expense of an
   office, they would load themselves with the guilt of perjury, and
   (which is the greatest madness in the world) would damn their souls to
   save their money, Matt. xvi. 26. (3.) However it was, it was a sign
   that the case of the nation was very bad when nobody was willing to
   accept a place in the government of it, as despairing to have either
   credit or profit by it, which are the two things aimed at in men's
   common ambition of preferment.

   3. The reason why God brought things to this sad pass, even among his
   own people (which is given either by the prophet or by him that refused
   to be a ruler); it was not for want of good will to his country, but
   because he saw the case desperate and past relief, and it would be to
   no purpose to attempt it (v. 8): Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is
   fallen; and they may thank themselves. They have brought their
   destruction upon their own heads, for their tongue and their doings are
   against the Lord; in word and action they broke the law of God and
   therein designed an affront to him; they wilfully intended to offend
   him, in contempt of his authority and defiance of his justice. Their
   tongue was against the Lord, for they contradicted his prophets; and
   their doings were no better, for they acted as they talked. It was an
   aggravation of their sin that God's eye was upon them, and that his
   glory was manifested among them; but they provoked him to his face, as
   if the more they knew of his glory the greater pride they took in
   slighting it, and turning it into shame. And this, this, is it for
   which Jerusalem is ruined. Note, The ruin both of persons and people is
   owing to their sins. If they did not provoke God, he would do them no
   hurt, Jer. xxv. 6.

    Judgments Denounced.. (b. c. 758.)

   9 The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they
   declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for
   they have rewarded evil unto themselves.   10 Say ye to the righteous,
   that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their
   doings.   11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the
   reward of his hands shall be given him.   12 As for my people, children
   are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which
   lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.   13 The
   Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.   14 The
   Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the
   princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the
   poor is in your houses.   15 What mean ye that ye beat my people to
   pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.

   Here God proceeds in his controversy with his people. Observe,

   I. The ground of his controversy. It was for sin that God contended
   with them; if they vex themselves, let them look a little further and
   they will see that they must thank themselves: Woe unto their souls!
   For they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Alas for their souls! (so
   it may be read, in a way of lamentation), for they have procured evil
   to themselves, v. 9. Note, The condition of sinners is woeful and very
   deplorable. Note, also, It is the soul that is damaged and endangered
   by sin. Sinners may prosper in their outward estates, and yet at the
   same time there may be a woe to their souls. Note, further, Whatever
   evils befals sinners it is of their own procuring, Jer. ii. 19. That
   which is here charged upon then is, 1. That the shame which should have
   restrained them from their sins was quite thrown off and they had grown
   impudent, v. 9. This hardens men against repentance, and ripens them
   for ruin, as much as anything: The show of their countenance doth
   witness against them that their minds are vain, and lewd, and
   malicious; their eyes declare plainly that they cannot cease from sin,
   2 Pet. ii. 14. One may look them in the face and guess at the desperate
   wickedness that there is in their hearts: They declare their sin as
   Sodom, so impetuous, so imperious, are their lusts, and so impatient of
   the least check, and so perfectly are all the remaining sparks of
   virtue extinguished in them. The Sodomites declared their sin, not only
   by the exceeding greatness of it (Gen. xiii. 13), so that it cried to
   heaven (Gen. xviii. 20), but by their shameless owning of that which
   was most shameful (Gen. xix. 5); and thus Judah and Jerusalem did: they
   were so far from hiding it that they gloried in it, in the bold
   attempts they made upon virtue, and the victory they gained over their
   own convictions. They had a whore's forehead (Jer. iii. 3) and could
   not blush, Jer. vi. 15. Note, Those that have grown impudent in sin are
   ripe for ruin. Those that are past shame (we say) are past grace, and
   then past hope. 2. That their guides, who should direct them in the
   right way, put them out of the way (v. 12): "Those who lead thee (the
   princes, priests, and prophets) mislead thee; they cause thee to err."
   Either they preached to them that which was false and corrupt, or, if
   they preached that which was true and good, they contradicted it by
   their practices, and the people would soon follow a bad example than a
   good exhortation. Thus they destroyed the ways of their paths, pulling
   down with one hand what they built up with the other. Que te
   beatificant--Those that call thee blessed cause thee to err; so some
   read it. Their priests applauded them, as if nothing were amiss among
   them, cried Peace, peace, to them, as if they were in no danger; and
   thus they caused them to go on in their errors. 3. That their judges,
   who should have patronized and protected the oppressed, were themselves
   the greatest oppressors, v. 14, 15. The elders of the people, and the
   princes, who had learning and could not but know better things, who had
   great estates and were not under the temptation of necessity to
   encroach upon those about them, and who were men of honour and should
   have scorned to do a base thing, yet they have eaten up the vineyard.
   God's vineyard, which they were appointed to be the dressers and
   keepers of, they burnt (so the word signifies); they did as ill by it
   as its worst enemies could do, Ps. lxxx. 16. Or the vineyards of the
   poor they wrested out of their possession, as Jezebel did Naboth's, or
   devoured the fruits of them, fed their lusts with that which should
   have been the necessary food of indigent families; the spoil of the
   poor was hoarded up in their houses; when God came to search for stolen
   goods there he found it, and it was a witness against them. It was to
   be had, and they might have made restitution, but would not. God
   reasons with these great men (v. 15): "What mean you, that you beat my
   people into pieces? What cause have you for it? What good does it do
   you?" Or, "What hurt have they done you? Do you think you had power
   given you for such a purpose as this?" Note, There is nothing more
   unaccountable, and yet nothing which must more certainly be accounted
   for, than the injuries and abuses that are done to God's people by
   their persecutors and oppressors. "You grind the faces of the poor; you
   put them to as much pain and terror as if they were ground in a mill,
   and as certainly reduce them to dust by one act of oppression after
   another." Or, "Their faces are bruised and crushed with the blows you
   have given them; you have not only ruined their estates, but have given
   them personal abuses." Our Lord Jesus was smitten on the face, Matt.
   xxvi. 67.

   II. The management of this controversy. 1. God himself is the
   prosecutor (v. 13): The Lord stands up to plead, or he sets himself to
   debate the matter, and he stands to judge the people, to judge for
   those that were oppressed and abused; and he will enter into judgment
   with the princes, v. 14. Note, The greatest of men cannot exempt or
   secure themselves from the scrutiny and sentence of God's judgment, nor
   demur to the jurisdiction of the court of heaven. 2. The indictment is
   proved by the notorious evidence of the fact: "Look upon the
   oppressors, and the show of their countenance witnesses against them
   (v. 9); look upon the oppressed, and you see how their faces are
   battered and abused," v. 15. 3. The controversy is already begun in the
   change of the ministry. To punish those that had abused their power to
   bad purposes God sets those over them that had not sense to use their
   power to any good purposes: Children are their oppressors, and women
   rule over them (v. 12), men that have as weak judgments and strong
   passions as women and children: this was their sin, that their rulers
   were such, and it became a judgment upon them.

   III. The distinction that shall be made between particular persons, in
   the prosecution of this controversy (v. 10, 11): Say to the righteous,
   It shall be well with thee. Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with
   him. He had said (v. 9), they have rewarded evil to themselves, in
   proof of which he here shows that God will render to every man
   according to his works. Had they been righteous, it would have been
   well with them; but, if it be ill with them, it is because they are
   wicked and will be so. Thus God stated the matter to Cain, to convince
   him that he had no reason to be angry, Gen. iv. 7. Or it may be taken
   thus: God is threatening national judgments, which will ruin the public
   interests. Now, 1. Some good people might fear that they should be
   involved in that ruin, and therefore God bids the prophets comfort them
   against those fears: "Whatever becomes of the unrighteous nation, let
   the righteous man know that he shall not be lost in the crowd of
   sinners; the Judge of all the earth will not slay the righteous with
   the wicked (Gen. xviii. 25); no, assure him, in God's name, that it
   shall be well with him. The property of the trouble shall be altered to
   him, and he shall be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. He shall
   have divine supports and comforts, which shall abound as afflictions
   abound, and so it shall be well with him." When the whole stay of bread
   is taken away, yet in the day of famine the righteous shall be
   satisfied; they shall eat the fruit of their doings--they shall have
   the testimony of their consciences for them that they kept themselves
   pure from the common iniquity, and therefore the common calamity is not
   the same thing to them that it is to others; they brought no fuel to
   the flame, and therefore are not themselves fuel for it. 2. Some wicked
   people might hope that they should escape that ruin, and therefore God
   bids the prophets shake their vain hopes: "Woe to the wicked; it shall
   be ill with him, v. 11. To him the judgments shall have sting, and
   there shall be wormwood and gall in the affliction and misery." There
   is a woe to wicked people, and, though they may think to shelter
   themselves from public judgments, yet it shall be ill with them; it
   will grow worse and worse with them if they repent not, and the worst
   of all will be at last; for the reward of their hands shall be given
   them, in the day when every man shall receive according to the things
   done in the body.

    The Vanity of the Daughters of Zion. (b. c. 758.)

   16 Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
   and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and
   mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:   17
   Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the
   daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts.   18
   In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling
   ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like
   the moon,   19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,   20
   The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the
   tablets, and the earrings,   21 The rings, and nose jewels,   22 The
   changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the
   crisping pins,   23 The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and
   the veils.   24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell
   there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of
   well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of
   sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.   25 Thy men shall fall by
   the sword, and thy mighty in the war.   26 And her gates shall lament
   and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

   The prophet's business was to show all sorts of people what they had
   contributed to the national guilt and what share they must expect in
   the national judgments that were coming. Here he reproves and warns the
   daughters of Zion, tells the ladies of their faults; and Moses, in the
   law, having denounced God's wrath against the tender and delicate woman
   (the prophets being a comment upon the law, Deut. xxviii. 56), he here
   tells them how they shall smart by the calamities that are coming upon
   them. Observe,

   I. The sin charged upon the daughters of Zion, v. 16. The prophet
   expressly vouches God's authority for what he said, lest it should be
   thought it was unbecoming in him to take notice of such things, and
   should be resented by the ladies: The Lord saith it. "Whether they will
   hear, or whether they will forbear, let them know that God takes notice
   of, and is much displeased with, the folly and vanity of proud women,
   and his law takes cognizance even of their dress." Two things that here
   stand indicted for--haughtiness and wantonness, directly contrary to
   that modesty, shamefacedness, and sobriety, with which women ought to
   adorn themselves, 1 Tim. ii. 9. They discovered the disposition of
   their mind by their gait and gesture, and the lightness of their
   carriage. They are haughty, for they walk with stretched-forth necks,
   that they may seem tall, or, as thinking nobody good enough to speak to
   them or to receive a look or a smile from them. Their eyes are wanton,
   deceiving (so the word is); with their amorous glances they draw men
   into their snares. They affect a formal starched way of going, that
   people may look at them, and admire them, and know they have been at
   the dancing-school, and have learned the minuet-step. They go mincing,
   or nicely tripping, not willing to set so much as the sole of their
   foot to the ground, for tenderness and delicacy. They make a tinkling
   with their feet, having, as some think, chains, or little bells, upon
   their shoes, that made a noise: they go as if they were fettered (so
   some read it), like a horse tramelled, that he may learn to pace. Thus
   Agag came delicately, 1 Sam. xv. 32. Such a nice affected mien is not
   only a force upon that which is natural, and ridiculous before men, men
   of sense; but as it is an evidence of a vain mind, it is offensive to
   God. And two things aggravated it here: 1. That these were the
   daughters of Zion, the holy mountain, who should have behaved with the
   gravity that becomes women professing godliness. 2. That it should
   seem, by the connexion, they were the wives and daughters of the
   princes who spoiled and oppressed the poor (v. 14, 15) that they might
   maintain the pride and luxury of their families.

   II. The punishments threatened for this sin; and they answer the sin as
   face answers to face in a glass, v. 17, 18. 1. They walked with
   stretched-forth necks, but God will smite with a scab the crown of
   their head, which shall lower their crests, and make them ashamed to
   show their heads, being obliged by it to cut off their hair. Note,
   Loathsome diseases are often sent as the just punishment of pride, and
   are sometimes the immediate effect of lewdness, the flesh and the body
   being consumed by it. 2. They cared not what they laid out in
   furnishing themselves with great variety of fine clothes; but God will
   reduce them to such poverty and distress that they shall not have
   clothes sufficient to cover their nakedness, but their uncomeliness
   shall be exposed through their rags. 3. They were extremely fond and
   proud of their ornaments; but God will strip them of those ornaments,
   when their houses shall be plundered, their treasures rifled, and they
   themselves led into captivity. The prophet here specifies many of the
   ornaments which they used as particularly as if he had been the keeper
   of their wardrobe or had attended them in their dressing-room. It is
   not at all material to enquire what sort of ornaments these
   respectively were and whether the translations rightly express the
   original words; perhaps 100 years hence the names of some of the
   ornaments that are now in use in our own land will be as little
   understood as some of those here mentioned now are. Fashions alter, and
   so do the names of them; and yet the mention of them is not in vain,
   but is designed to expose the folly of the daughters of Zion; for, (1.)
   Many of these things, we may suppose, were very odd and ridiculous,
   and, if they had not been in fashion, would have been hooted at. They
   were fitter to be toys for children to play with than ornaments for
   grown people to go to Mount Zion in. (2.) Those things that were decent
   and convenient, as the linen, the hoods, and the veils, needed not be
   provided in such abundance and variety. It is necessary to have apparel
   and proper that all should have it according to their rank; but what
   occasion was there for so many changeable suits of apparel (v. 22),
   that they might not be seen two days together in the same suit? "They
   must have (as the homily against excess of apparel speaks) one gown for
   the day, another for the night--one long, another short--one for the
   working day, another for the holy-day--one of this colour, another of
   that colour--one of cloth, another of silk or damask--one dress afore
   dinner, another after--one of the Spanish fashion, another Turkey--and
   never content with sufficient." All this, as it is an evidence of pride
   and vain curiosity, so must needs spend a great deal in gratifying a
   base lust that ought to be laid out in works of piety and charity; and
   it is well if poor tenants be not racked, or poor creditors defrauded
   to support it. (3.) The enumeration of these things intimates what care
   they were in about them, how much their hearts were upon them, what an
   exact account they kept of them, how nice and critical they were about
   them, how insatiable their desire was of them, and how much of their
   comfort was bound up in them. A maid could forget none of these
   ornaments, though they were ever so many (Jer. ii. 32), but they would
   report them as readily, and talk of them with as much pleasure, as if
   they had been things of the greatest moment. The prophet did not speak
   of these things as in themselves sinful (they might lawfully be had and
   used), but as things which they were proud of and should therefore be
   deprived of.

   III. They were very nice and curious about their clothes; but God would
   make those bodies of theirs, which were at such expense to beautify and
   make easy, a reproach and burden to them (v. 24): Instead of sweet
   smell (those tablets, or boxes, of perfume, houses of the soul or
   breath, as they are called, v. 20, margin) there shall be stink,
   garments grown filthy with being long worn, or from some loathsome
   disease or plasters for the cure of it. Instead of a rich embroidered
   girdle used to make the clothes sit tight, there shall be a rent, a
   rending of the clothes for grief, or old rotten clothes rent into rags.
   Instead of well-set hair, curiously plaited and powdered, there shall
   be baldness, the hair being plucked off or shaven, as was usual in
   times of great affliction (ch. xv. 2; Jer. xvi. 6), or in great
   servitude, Ezek. xxix. 18. Instead of a stomacher, or a scarf or sash,
   there shall be a girding of sackcloth, in token of deep humiliation;
   and burning instead of beauty. Those that had a good complexion, and
   were proud of it, when they are carried into captivity shall be tanned
   and sun-burnt; and it is observed that the best faces are soonest
   injured by the weather. From all this let us learn, 1. Not to be nice
   and curious about our apparel, not to affect that which is gay and
   costly, nor to be proud of it. 2. Not to be secure in the enjoyment of
   any of the delights of sense, because we know not how soon we may be
   stripped of them, nor what straits we may be reduced to.

   IV. They designed by these ornaments to charm the gentlemen, and win
   their affections (Prov. vii. 16, 17), but there shall be none to be
   charmed by them (v. 25): Thy men shall fall by the sword, and the
   mighty in the war, The fire shall consume them, and then the maidens
   shall not be given in marriage; as it is, Ps. lxxviii. 63. When the
   sword comes with commission the mighty commonly fall first by it,
   because they are most forward to venture. And, when Zion's guards are
   cut off, no marvel that Zion's gates lament and mourn (v. 26), the
   enemies having made themselves masters of them; and the city itself,
   being desolate, being emptied or swept, shall sit upon the ground like
   a disconsolate widow. If sin be harboured with in the walls,
   lamentation and mourning are near the gates.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. IV.

   In this chapter we have, I. A threatening of the paucity and scarceness
   of man (ver. 1), which might fitly enough have been added to the close
   of the foregoing chapter, to which it has a plain reference. II. A
   promise of the restoration of Jerusalem's peace and purity,
   righteousness and safety, in the days of the Messiah, ver. 2-6. Thus,
   in wrath, mercy is remembered, and gospel grace is a sovereign relief,
   in reference to the terrors of the law and the desolations made by sin.

    Humiliation of the Daughters of Zion. (b. c. 758.)

   1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We
   will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called
   by thy name, to take away our reproach.

   It was threatened (ch. iii. 25) that the mighty men should fall by the
   sword in war, and it was threatened as a punishment to the women that
   affected gaiety and a loose sort of conversation. Now here we have the
   effect and consequence of that great slaughter of men, 1. That though
   Providence has so wisely ordered that, communibus annis--on an average
   of years, there is nearly an equal number of males and females born
   into the world, yet, through the devastations made by war, there should
   scarcely be one man in seven left alive. As there are deaths attending
   the bringing forth of children, which are peculiar to the woman, who
   was first in transgression, so, to balance that, there are deaths
   peculiar to men, those by the sword in the high places of the field,
   which perhaps devour more than child-bed does. Here it is foretold that
   such multitudes of men should be cut off that there should be seven
   women to one man. 2. That by reason of the scarcity of men, though
   marriage should be kept up for the raising of recruits and the
   preserving of the race of mankind upon earth, yet the usual method of
   it should be quite altered,--that, whereas men ordinarily make their
   court to the women, the women should now take hold of the men,
   foolishly fearing (as Lot's daughters did, when they saw the ruin of
   Sodom and perhaps thought it reached further than it did) that in a
   little time there would be none left (Gen. xix. 31),--that whereas
   women naturally hate to come in sharers with others, seven should now,
   by consent, become the wives of one man,--and that whereas by the law
   the husband was obliged to provide food and raiment for his wife (Exod.
   xxi. 10), which with many would be the most powerful argument against
   multiplying wives, these women will be bound to support themselves;
   they will eat bread of their own earning, and wear apparel of their own
   working, and the man they court shall be at no expense upon them, only
   they desire to be called his wives, to take away the reproach of a
   single life. They are willing to be wives upon any terms, though ever
   so unreasonable; and perhaps the rather because in these troublesome
   times it would be a kindness to them to have a husband for their
   protector. Paul, on the contrary, thinks the single state preferable in
   a time of distress, 1 Cor. vii. 26. It were well if this were not
   introduced here partly as a reflection upon the daughters of Zion,
   that, notwithstanding the humbling providences they were under (ch.
   iii. 18), they remained unhumbled, and, instead of repenting of their
   pride and vanity, when God was contending with them for them, all their
   care was to get husbands--that modesty, which is the greatest beauty of
   the fair sex, was forgotten, and with them the reproach of vice was
   nothing to the reproach of virginity, a sad symptom of the
   irrecoverable desolations of virtue.

    The Future Glory of Zion. (b. c. 758.)

   2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious,
   and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that
   are escaped of Israel.   3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is
   left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy,
   even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:   4 When
   the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and
   shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the
   spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.   5 And the Lord will
   create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her
   assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire
   by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.   6 And there
   shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and
   for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

   By the foregoing threatenings Jerusalem is brought into a very
   deplorable condition: every thing looks melancholy. But here the sun
   breaks out from behind the cloud. Many exceedingly great and precious
   promises we have in these verses, giving assurance of comfort which may
   be discerned through the troubles, and of happy days which shall come
   after them, and these certainly point at the kingdom of the Messiah,
   and the great redemption to be wrought out by him, under the figure and
   type of the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem by the reforming reign
   of Hezekiah after Ahaz and the return out of their captivity in
   Babylon; to both these events the passage may have some reference, but
   chiefly to Christ. It is here promised, as the issue of all these
   troubles,

   I. That God will raise up a righteous branch, which shall produce
   fruits of righteousness (v. 2): In that day, that same day, at that
   very time, when Jerusalem shall be destroyed and the Jewish nation
   extirpated and dispersed, the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up;
   and then shall be the reviving of the church, when every one shall fear
   the utter ruin of it.

   1. Christ himself shall be exalted. He is the branch of the Lord, the
   man the branch; it is one of prophetical names, my servant the branch
   (Zech. iii. 8; vi. 12), the branch of righteousness (Jer. xxiii. 5;
   xxxiii. 15), a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch out of his
   roots (ch. xi. 1), and this, as some think, is alluded to when he is
   called a Nazarene, Matt. ii. 23. Here he is called the branch of the
   Lord, because planted by his power and flourishing to his praise. The
   ancient Chaldee paraphrase here reads it, The Christ, or Messiah, of
   the Lord. He shall be the beauty, and glory, and joy. (1.) He shall
   himself be advanced to the joy set before him and the glory which he
   had with the Father before the world was. He that was a reproach of
   men, whose visage was marred more than any man's, is now, in the upper
   world, beautiful and glorious, as the sun in his strength, admired and
   adored by angels. (2.) He shall be beautiful and glorious in the esteem
   of all believers, shall gain an interest in the world, and a name among
   men above every name. To those that believe he is precious, he is an
   honour (1 Pet. ii. 7), the fairest of ten thousand (Cant. v. 10), and
   altogether glorious. Let us rejoice that he is so, and let him be so to
   us.

   2. His gospel shall be embraced. The success of the gospel is the fruit
   of the branch of the Lord; all the graces and comforts of the gospel
   spring from Christ. But it is called the fruit of the earth because it
   sprang up in this world and was calculated for the present state. And
   Christ compares himself to a grain of wheat, that falls into the ground
   and dies, and so brings forth much fruit, John xii. 24. The success of
   the gospel is represented by the earth's yielding her increase (Ps.
   lxvii. 6), and the planting of the Christian church is God's sowing it
   to himself in the earth, Hos. ii. 23. We may understand it of both the
   persons and the things that are the products of the gospel: they shall
   be excellent and comely, shall appear very agreeable and be very
   acceptable to those that have escaped of Israel, to that remnant of the
   Jews which was saved from perishing with the rest in unbelief, Rom. xi.
   5. Note, If Christ be precious to us, his gospel will be so and all its
   truths and promises--his church will be so, and all that belong to it.
   These are the good fruit of the earth, in comparison with which all
   other things are but weeds. It will be a good evidence to us that we
   are of the chosen remnant, distinguished from the rest that are called
   Israel, and marked for salvation, if we are brought to see a
   transcendent beauty in Christ, and in holiness, and in the saints, the
   excellent ones of the earth. As a type of this blessed day, Jerusalem,
   after Sennacherib's invasion and after the captivity in Babylon, should
   again flourish as a branch, and be blessed with the fruits of the
   earth. Compare ch. xxxvii. 31, 32. The remnant shall again take root
   downward and bear fruit upward. And if by the fruit of the earth here
   we understand the good things of this life, we may observe that these
   have peculiar sweetness in them to the chosen remnant, who, having a
   covenant--right to them, have the most comfortable use of them. If the
   branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious in our eyes, even the
   fruit of the earth also will be excellent and comely, because then we
   may take it as the fruit of the promise, Ps. xxxvii. 16; 1 Tim. iv. 8.

   II. That God will reserve to himself a holy seed, v. 3. When the
   generality of those that have a place and a name in Zion and in
   Jerusalem shall be cut off as withered branches, by their own unbelief,
   yet some shall be left. Some shall remain, some shall still cleave to
   the church, when its property is altered and it has become Christian;
   for God will not quite cast off his people, Rom. xi. 1. There is here
   and there one that is left. Now, 1. This is a remnant according to the
   election of grace (as the apostle speaks, Rom. xi. 5), such as are
   written among the living, marked in the counsel and fore-knowledge of
   God for life and salvation, written to life (so the word is), designed
   and determined for it unalterably; for "what I have written I have
   written." Those that are kept alive in killing dying times were written
   for life in the book of divine Providence; and shall we not suppose
   those who are rescued from a greater death to be such as were written
   in the Lamb's book of life? Rev. xiii. 8. As many as were ordained unto
   eternal life believed to the salvation of the soul, Acts xiii. 48.
   Note, All that were written among the living shall be found among the
   living, every one; for of all that were given to Christ he will lose
   none. 2. It is a remnant under the dominion of grace; for every one
   that is written among the living, and is accordingly left, shall be
   called holy, shall be holy, and shall be accepted of God accordingly.
   Those only that are holy shall be left when the Son of man shall gather
   out of his kingdom every thing that offends; and all that are chosen to
   salvation are chosen to sanctification. See 2 Thess. ii. 13; Eph. i. 4.

   III. That God will reform his church and will rectify and amend
   whatever is amiss in it, v. 4. Then the remnant shall be called holy,
   when the Lord shall have washed away their filth, washed it from among
   them by cutting off the wicked persons, washed it from within them by
   purging out the wicked thing. They shall not be called so till they are
   in some measure made so. Gospel times are times of reformation (Heb.
   ix. 10), typified by the reformation in the days of Hezekiah and that
   after captivity, to which this promise refers. Observe, 1. The places
   and persons to be reformed. Jerusalem, though the holy city, needed
   reformation; and, being the holy city, the reformation of that would
   have a good influence upon the whole kingdom. The daughters of Zion
   also must be reformed, the women in a particular manner, whom he had
   reproved, ch. iii. 16. When they were decked in their ornaments they
   thought themselves wondrously clean; but, being proud of them, the
   prophet call them their filth, for no sin is more abominable to God
   than pride. Or by the daughters of Zion may be meant the country towns
   and villages, which were related to Jerusalem as the mother-city, and
   which needed reformation. 2. The reformation itself. The filth shall be
   washed away; for wickedness is filthiness, particularly blood-shed, for
   which Jerusalem was infamous (2 Kings xxi. 16), and which defiles the
   land more than any other sin. Note, The reforming of a city is the
   cleansing of it. When vicious customs and fashions are suppressed, and
   the open practice of wickedness is restrained, the place is made clean
   and sweet which before was a dunghill; and this is not only for its
   credit and reputation among strangers, but for the comfort and health
   of the inhabitants themselves. 3. The author of the reformation: The
   Lord shall do it. Reformation-work is God's work; if any thing be done
   to purpose in it, it is his doing. But how? By the judgment of his
   providence the sinners were destroyed and consumed; but it is by the
   Spirit of his grace that they are reformed and converted. This is the
   work that is done, not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the
   Lord of hosts (Zech. iv. 6), working both upon the sinners themselves
   that are to be reformed and upon magistrates, ministers, and others
   that are to be employed as instruments of reformation. The Spirit
   herein acts, (1.) As a spirit of judgment, enlightening the mind,
   convincing the conscience,--as a spirit of wisdom, guiding us to deal
   prudently, (Isa. lii. 13),--as a discerning, distinguishing, Spirit,
   separating between the precious and the vile. (2.) As a Spirit of
   burning, quickening and invigorating the afflictions, and making men
   zealously affected in a good work. The Spirit works as fire, Matt. iii.
   11. An ardent love to Christ and souls, and a flaming zeal against sin,
   will carry men on with resolution in their endeavours to turn away
   ungodliness from Jacob. See Isa. xxxii. 15, 16.

   IV. That God will protect his church, and all that belong to it (v. 5,
   6); when they are purified and reformed they shall no longer lie
   exposed, but God will take a particular care of them. Those that are
   sanctified are well fortified; for God will be to them a guide and a
   guard.

   1. Their tabernacles shall be defended, v. 5.

   (1.) This writ of protection refers to, [1.] Their dwelling places, the
   tabernacles of their rest, their own houses, where they worship God
   alone, and with their families. That blessing which is upon the
   habitation of the just shall be a protection to it, Prov. iii. 33. In
   the tabernacles of the righteous shall the voice of rejoicing and
   salvation be, Ps. cxviii. 15. Note, God takes particular cognizance and
   care of the dwelling-places of his people, of every one of them, the
   poorest cottage as well as the statliest palace. When iniquity is put
   far from the tabernacle the Almighty shall be its defence, Job xxiii.
   23, 26. [2.] Their assemblies or tabernacles of meeting for religious
   worship. No mention is made of the temple, for the promise points at a
   time when not one stone of that shall be left upon another; but all the
   congregations of Christians, though but two or three met together in
   Christ's name, shall be taken under the special protection of heaven;
   they shall be no more scattered, no more disturbed, nor shall any
   weapon formed against them prosper. Note, we ought to reckon it a great
   mercy if we have liberty to worship God in public, free from the alarms
   of the sword of war or persecution.

   (2.) This writ of protection is drawn up, [1.] In a similitude taken
   from the safety of the camp of Israel when they marched through the
   wilderness. God will give to the Christian church as real proofs,
   though not so sensible, of his care of them, as he then gave to Israel.
   The Lord will again create a cloud and smoke by day, to screen them
   from the scorching heat of the sun, and the shining of a flaming fire
   by night, to enlighten and warm the air, which in the night is cold and
   dark. See Exod. xiii. 21; Neh. ix. 19. This pillar of cloud and fire
   interposed between the Israelites and the Egyptians, Exod. xiv. 20.
   Note, Though miracles have ceased, yet God is the same to the
   New-Testament church that he was to Israel of old; the very same
   yesterday, to-day, and for ever. [2.] In a similitude taken from the
   outside cover of rams' skins and badgers' skins that was upon the
   curtains of the tabernacle, as if every dwelling place of Mount Zion
   and every assembly were as dear to God as that tabernacle was: Upon all
   the glory shall be a defense, to save it from wind and weather. Note,
   The church on earth has its glory. Gospel truths and ordinances, the
   scriptures and the ministry, are the church's glory; and upon all this
   glory there is a defence, and ever shall be, for the gates of hell
   shall not prevail against the church. If God himself be the glory in
   the midst of it, he will himself be a wall of fire around about it,
   impenetrable and impregnable. Grace in the soul is the glory of it, and
   those that have it are kept by the power of God as in a strong-hold, 1
   Pet. i. 5.

   2. Their tabernacle shall be a defence to them, v. 6. God's tabernacle
   was a pavilion to the saints (Ps. xxvii. 5); but, when that is taken
   down, they shall not want a covert: the divine power and goodness shall
   be a tabernacle to all the saints. God himself will be their
   hiding-place (Ps. xxxii. 7); they shall be at home in him, Ps. xci. 9.
   He will himself be to them as the shadow of a great rock (ch. xxxii. 2)
   and his name a strong tower, Prov. xviii. 10. He will be not only a
   shadow from the heat in the daytime, but a covert from storm and rain.
   Note, In this world we must expect change of weather and all the
   inconveniences that attend it; we shall meet with storm and rain in
   this lower region, and at other times the heat of the day no less
   burdensome; but God is a refuge to his people in all weathers.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. V.

   In this chapter the prophet, in God's name, shows the people of God
   their transgressions, even the house of Jacob their sins, and the
   judgments which were likely to be brought upon them for their sins, I.
   By a parable, under the similitude of an unfruitful vineyard,
   representing the great favours God had bestowed upon them, their
   disappointing his expectations from them, and the ruin they had thereby
   deserved, ver. 1-7. II. By an enumeration of the sins that did abound
   among them, with a threatening of punishments that should answer to the
   sins. 1. Covetousness, and greediness of worldly wealth, which shall be
   punished with famine, ver. 8-10. 2. Rioting, revelling, and drunkenness
   (ver. 11, 12, 22, 23), which shall be punished with captivity and all
   the miseries that attend it, ver. 13-17. 3. Presumption in sin, and
   defying the justice of God, ver. 18, 19. 4. Confounding the
   distinctions between virtue and vice, and so undermining the principles
   of religion, ver. 20. 5. Self-conceit, ver. 21. 6. Perverting justice,
   for which, and the other instances of reigning wickedness among them, a
   great and general desolation in threatened, which should lay all waste
   (ver. 24, 25), and which should be effected by a foreign invasion (ver.
   26-30), referring perhaps to the havoc made not long after by
   Sennacherib's army.

    Israel Compared to a Vineyard. (b. c. 758.)

   1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his
   vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:   2
   And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it
   with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also
   made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth
   grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.   3 And now, O inhabitants of
   Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my
   vineyard.   4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I
   have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring
   forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?   5 And now go to; I will
   tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge
   thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and
   it shall be trodden down:   6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be
   pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will
   also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.   7 For the
   vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of
   Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold
   oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

   See what variety of methods the great God takes to awaken sinners to
   repentance by convincing them of sin, and showing them their misery and
   danger by reason of it. To this purport he speaks sometimes in plain
   terms and sometimes in parables, sometimes in prose and sometimes in
   verse, as here. "We have tried to reason with you (ch. i. 18); now let
   us put your case into a poem, inscribed to the honour of my well
   beloved." God the Father dictates it to the honour of Christ his well
   beloved Son, whom he has constituted Lord of the vineyard. The prophet
   sings it to the honour of Christ too, for he is his well beloved. The
   Old-Testament prophets were friends of the bridegroom. Christ is God's
   beloved Son and our beloved Saviour. Whatever is said or sung of the
   church must be intended to his praise, even that which (like this)
   tends to our shame. This parable was put into a song that it might be
   the more moving and affecting, might be the more easily learned and
   exactly remembered, and the better transmitted to posterity; and it is
   an exposition of he song of Moses (Deut. xxxii.), showing that what he
   then foretold was now fulfilled. Jerome says, Christ the well-beloved
   did in effect sing this mournful song when he beheld Jerusalem and wept
   over it (Luke xix. 41), and had reference to it in the parable of the
   vineyard (Matt. xxi. 33, &c.), only here the fault was in the vines,
   there in the husbandmen. Here we have,

   I. The great things which God had done for the Jewish church and
   nation. When all the rest of the world lay in common, not cultivated by
   divine revelation, that was his vineyard, they were his peculiar
   people. He acknowledged them as his own, set them apart for himself.
   The soil they were planted in was extraordinary; it was a very fruitful
   hill, the horn of the son of oil; so it is in the margin. There was
   plenty, a cornucopia; and there was dainty: they did there eat the fat
   and drink the sweet, and so were furnished with abundance of good
   things to honour God with in sacrifices and free-will offerings. The
   advantages of our situation will be brought into the account another
   day. Observe further what God did for this vineyard. 1. He fenced it,
   took it under his special protection, kept it night and day under his
   own eye, lest any should hurt it, ch. xxvii. 2, 3. If they had not
   themselves thrown down their fence, no inroad could have been made upon
   them, Ps. cxxv. 2; cxxxi. 4. 2. He gathered the stones out of it, that,
   as nothing from without might damage it, so nothing within might
   obstruct its fruitfulness. He proffered his grace to take away the
   stony heart. 3. He planted it with the choicest vine, set up a pure
   religion among them, gave them a most excellent law, instituted
   ordinances very proper for the keeping up of their acquaintance with
   God, Jer. ii. 21. 4. He built a tower in the midst of it, either for
   defence against violence or for the dressers of the vineyard to lodge
   in; or rather it was for the owner of the vineyard to sit in, to take a
   view of the vines (Cant. vii. 12)--a summer-house. The temple was this
   tower, about which the priests lodged, and where God promised to meet
   his people, and gave them the tokens of his presence among them and
   pleasure in them. 5. He made a wine-press therein, set up his altar, to
   which the sacrifices, as the fruits of the vineyard, should be brought.

   II. The disappointment of his just expectations from them: He looked
   that it should bring forth grapes, and a great deal of reason he had
   for that expectation. Note, God expects vineyard-fruit from those that
   enjoy vineyard-privileges, not leaves only, as Mark xi. 12. A bare
   profession, though ever so green, will not serve: there must be more
   than buds and blossoms. Good purposes and good beginnings are good
   things, but not enough; there must be fruit, a good heart and a good
   life, vineyard fruit, thoughts and affections, words and actions,
   agreeable to the Spirit, which is the fatness of the vineyard (Gal. v.
   22, 23), answerable to the ordinances, which are the dressings of the
   vineyard, acceptable to God, the Lord of the vineyard, and fruit
   according to the season. Such fruit as this God expects from us,
   grapes, the fruit of the vine, with which they honour God and man
   (Judg. ix. 13); and his expectations are neither high nor hard, but
   righteous and very reasonable. Yet see how his expectations are
   frustrated: It brought forth wild grapes; not only no fruit at all, but
   bad fruit, worse than none, grapes of Sodom, Deut. xxxii. 32. 1. Wild
   grapes are the fruits of the corrupt nature, fruit according to the
   crabstock, not according to the engrafted branch, from the root of
   bitterness, Heb. xii. 15. Where grace does not work corruption will. 2.
   Wild grapes are hypocritical performances in religion, that look like
   grapes, but are sour or bitter, and are so far from being pleasing to
   God that they are provoking, as theirs mentioned in ch. i. 11.
   Counterfeit graces are wild grapes.

   III. An appeal to themselves whether upon the whole matter God must not
   be justified and they condemned, v. 3, 4. And now the case is plainly
   stated: O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah! judge, I pray
   you, betwixt me and my vineyard. This implies that God was blamed about
   them. There was a controversy between them and him; but the equity was
   so plain on his side that he could venture to put the decision of the
   controversy to their own consciences. "Let any inhabitant of Jerusalem,
   any man of Judah, that has but the use of his reason and a common sense
   of equity and justice, speak his mind impartially in this matter." Here
   is a challenge to any man to show, 1. Any instance wherein God had been
   wanting to them: What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I
   have not done in it? He speaks of the external means of fruitfulness,
   and such as might be expected from the dresser of a vineyard, from whom
   it is not required that he should change the nature of the vine. What
   ought to have been done more? so it may be read. They had everything
   requisite for instruction and direction in their duty, for quickening
   them to it and putting them in mind of it. No inducements were wanting
   to persuade them to it, but all arguments were used that were proper to
   work either upon hope or fear; and they had all the opportunities they
   could desire for the performance of their duty, the new moons, and the
   sabbaths, and solemn feasts; They had the scriptures, the lively
   oracles, a standing ministry in the priests and Levites, besides what
   was extraordinary in the prophets. No nation had statutes and judgments
   so righteous. 2. Nor could any tolerable excuse be offered for their
   walking thus contrary to God. "Wherefore, what reason can be given why
   it should bring forth wild grapes, when I looked for grapes?" Note, The
   wickedness of those that profess religion, and enjoy the means of
   grace, is the most unreasonable unaccountable thing in the world, and
   the whole blame of it must lie upon the sinners themselves. "If thou
   scornest, thou alone shalt bear it, and shalt not have a word to say
   for thyself in the judgment of the great day." God will prove his own
   ways equal and the sinner's ways unequal.

   IV. Their doom read, and a righteous sentence passed upon them for
   their bad conduct towards God (v. 5, 6): "And now go to, since nothing
   can be offered in excuse of the crime or arrest of the judgement, I
   will tell you what I am now determined to do to my vineyard. I will be
   vexed and troubled with it no more; since it will be good for nothing,
   it shall be good for nothing; in short, it shall cease to be a
   vineyard, and be turned into a wilderness: the church of the Jews shall
   be unchurched; their charter shall be taken away, and they shall become
   lo-ammi--not my people." 1. "They shall no longer be distinguished as a
   peculiar people, but be laid in common: I will take away the hedge
   thereof, and then it will soon be eaten up and become as bare as other
   ground." They mingled with the nations and therefore were justly
   scattered among them. 2. "They shall no longer be protected as God's
   people, but left exposed. God will not only suffer the wall to go to
   decay, but he will break it down, will remove all their defences from
   them, and then they will become an easy prey to their enemies, who have
   long waited for an opportunity to do them a mischief, and will now
   tread them down and trample upon them." 3. "They shall no longer have
   the face of a vineyard, and the form and shape of a church and
   commonwealth, but shall be levelled and laid waste." This was fulfilled
   when Jerusalem for their sakes was ploughed as a field, Mic. iii. 12.
   4. "No more pains shall be taken with them by magistrates or ministers,
   the dressers and keepers of their vineyard; it shall not be pruned nor
   digged, but every thing shall run wild, and nothing shall come up but
   briers and thorns, the products of sin and the curse," Gen. iii. 18.
   When errors and corruptions, vice and immorality, go without check or
   control, no testimony borne against them, no rebuke given them or
   restraint put upon them, the vineyard is unpruned, is not dressed, or
   ridded; and then it will soon be like the vineyard of the man void of
   understanding, all grown over with thorns. 5. "That which completes its
   woe is that the dews of heaven shall be withheld; he that has the key
   of the clouds will command them that they rain no rain upon it, and
   that alone is sufficient to run it into a desert." Note, God in a way
   of righteous judgment, denies his grace to those that have long
   received it in vain. The sum of all is that those who would not bring
   forth good fruit should bring forth none. The curse of barrenness is
   the punishment of the sin of barrenness, as Mark xi. 14. This had its
   partial accomplishment in the destruction of Jerusalem by the
   Chaldeans, its full accomplishment in the final rejection of the Jews,
   and has its frequent accomplishment in the departure of God's Spirit
   from those persons who have long resisted him and striven against him,
   and the removal of his gospel from those places that have been long a
   reproach to it, while it has been an honour to them. It is no loss to
   God to lay his vineyard waste; for he can, when he please, turn a
   wilderness into a fruitful field; and when he does thus dismantle a
   vineyard, it is but as he did by the garden of Eden, which, when man
   had by sin forfeited his place in it, was soon levelled with common
   soil.

   V. The explanation of this parable, or a key to it (v. 7), where we are
   told, 1. What is meant by the vineyard (it is the house of Israel, the
   body of the people, incorporated in one church and commonwealth), and
   what by the vines, the pleasant plants, the plants of God's pleasure,
   which he had been pleased in and delighted in doing good to; they are
   the men of Judah; these he had dealt graciously with, and from them he
   expected suitable returns. 2. What is meant by the grapes that were
   expected and the wild grapes that were produces: He looked for judgment
   and righteousness, that the people should be honest in all their
   dealings and the magistrates should strictly administer justice. This
   might reasonably be expected among a people that had such excellent
   laws and rules of justice given them (Deut. iv. 8); but the fact was
   quite otherwise; instead of judgment there was the cruelty of the
   oppressors, and instead of righteousness the cry of the oppressed.
   Every thing was carried by clamour and noise, and not by equity and
   according to the merits of the cause. It is sad with a people when
   wickedness has usurped the place of judgment, Eccl. iii. 16. It is very
   sad with a soul when instead of the grapes of humility, meekness,
   patience, love, and contempt of the world, which God looks for, there
   are the wild grapes of pride, passion, discontent, malice, and contempt
   of God--instead of the grapes of praying and praising, the wild grapes
   of cursing and swearing, which are a great offence to God. Some of the
   ancients apply this to the Jews in Christ's time, among whom God looked
   for righteousness (that is, that they should receive and embrace
   Christ), but behold a cry, that cry, Crucify him, crucify him.

    Worldly-Mindedness Reproved; The Punishment of the Sensual. (b. c. 758.)

   8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till
   there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the
   earth!   9 In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses
   shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.   10 Yea,
   ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer
   shall yield an ephah.   11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the
   morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night,
   till wine inflame them!   12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret,
   and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work
   of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.   13
   Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no
   knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude
   dried up with thirst.   14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and
   opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude,
   and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.   15 And
   the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be
   humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:   16 But the Lord
   of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be
   sanctified in righteousness.   17 Then shall the lambs feed after their
   manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

   The world and the flesh are the two great enemies that we are in danger
   of being overpowered by; yet we are in no danger if we do not ourselves
   yield to them. Eagerness of the world, and indulgence of the flesh, are
   the two sins against which the prophet, in God's name, here denounces
   woes. These were sins which then abounded among the men of Judah, some
   of the wild grapes they brought forth (v. 4), and for which God
   threatens to bring ruin upon them. They are sins which we have all need
   to stand upon our guard against and dread the consequences of.

   I. Here is a woe to those who set their hearts upon the wealth of the
   world, and place their happiness in that, and increase it to themselves
   by indirect and unlawful means (v. 8), who join house to house and lay
   field to field, till there be no place, no room for anybody to live by
   them. If they could succeed, they would be placed alone in the midst of
   the earth, would monopolize possessions and preferments, and engross
   all profits and employments to themselves. Not that it is a sin for
   those who have a house and a field, of they have wherewithal, to
   purchase another; but

   1. Their fault is, (1.) That they are inordinate in their desires to
   enrich themselves, and make it their whole care and business to raise
   an estate, as if they had nothing to mind, nothing to seek, nothing to
   do, in this world, but that. They never know when they have enough, but
   the more they have the more they would have; and, like the daughters of
   the horseleech, they cry, Give, give. They cannot enjoy what they have,
   nor do good with it, but are constantly contriving and studying to make
   it more. They must have variety of houses, a winter-house, and a
   summer-house, and if another man's house or field lie convenient to
   theirs, as Naboth's vineyard to Ahab's, they must have that too, or
   they cannot be easy. (2.) That they are herein careless of others, nay,
   and injurious to them. They would live so as to let nobody live but
   themselves. So that their insatiable covetings may be gratified, they
   care not what becomes of all about them, what encroachments they make
   upon their neighbours' rights, what hardships they put upon those that
   they have power over or advantage against, nor what base and wicked
   arts they use to heap up treasure to themselves. They would swell so
   big as to fill all space, and yet are still unsatisfied (Eccl. v. 10),
   as Alexander, who, when he fancied he had conquered the world, wept
   because he had not another world to conquer. Deficiente terrâ, non
   impletur avaritia--If the whole earth were monopolized, avarice would
   thirst for more. What! will you be placed alone in the midst of the
   earth? (so some read it); will you be so foolish as to desire it, when
   we have so much need of the service of others and so much comfort in
   their society? Will you be so foolish as to expect that the earth shall
   be forsaken for us (Job xviii. 4), when it is by multitudes that the
   earth is to be replenished? An propter vos solos tanta terra creata
   est?--Was the wide world created merely for you? Lyra.

   2. That which is threatened as the punishment of this sin is that
   neither the houses nor the fields they were thus greedy of should turn
   to any account, v. 9, 10. God whispered it to the prophet in his ear,
   as he speaks in a like case (ch. xxii. 14): It was revealed in my ears
   by the Lord of hosts (as God told Samuel a thing in his ear, 1 Sam. ix.
   15); he thought he heard it still sounding in his ears; but he
   proclaimed it, as he ought, upon the house-tops, Matt. x. 27. (1.) That
   the houses they were so fond of should be untenanted, should stand long
   empty, and should yield them no rent, and go out of repair: Many houses
   shall be desolate, the people that should dwell in them, being cut off
   by sword, famine, or pestilence, or carried into captivity; or trade
   being dead, and poverty coming upon the country like an armed man,
   those that had been housekeepers were forced to become lodgers, or
   shift for themselves elsewhere. Even great and fair houses, that would
   invite tenants, and (there being a scarcity of tenants) might be taken
   at low rates, shall stand empty without inhabitants. God created not
   the earth in vain; he formed it to be inhabited, ch. xlv. 18. But men's
   projects are often frustrated, and what they frame answers not the
   intention. We have a saying, That fools build houses for wise men to
   live in; but sometimes, as the event proves, they are built for no man
   to live in. God has many ways to empty the most populous cities. (2.)
   That the fields they were so fond of should be unfruitful (v. 10): Ten
   acres of vineyard shall yield only such a quantity of grapes as will
   make but one bath of wine (which was about eight gallons), and the seed
   of a homer, a bushel's sowing of ground, shall yield but an ephah,
   which was the tenth part of a homer; so that through the barrenness of
   the ground, or the unreasonableness of the weather, they should not
   have more than a tenth part of their seed again. Note, Those that set
   their hearts upon the world will justly be disappointed in their
   expectations from it.

   II. Here is a woe to those that dote upon the pleasures and delights of
   sense, v. 11, 12. Sensuality ruins men as certainly as worldliness and
   oppression. As Christ pronounces a woe against those that are rich, so
   also against those that laugh now and are full (Luke vi. 24, 25), and
   fare sumptuously, Luke xvi. 19. Observe,

   1. Who the sinners are against whom this woe is denounced. (1.) They
   are such as are given to drink; they make their drinking their
   business, have their hearts upon it, and overcharge themselves with it.
   They rise early to follow strong drink, as husbandmen and tradesmen do
   to follow their employments; as if they were afraid of losing time from
   that which is the greatest misspending of time. Whereas commonly those
   that are drunken are drunken in the night, when they have despatched
   the business of the day, these neglect business, abandon it, and give
   up themselves to the service of the flesh; for they sit at their cups
   all day, and continue till night, till wine inflame them--inflame their
   lusts (chambering and wantonness follow upon rioting and
   drunkenness)--inflame their passions; for who but such have contentions
   and wounds without cause? Prov. xxiii. 29-35. They make a perfect trade
   of drinking; nor do they seek the shelter of the night for this work of
   darkness, as men ashamed of it, but count it a pleasure to riot in the
   day-time. See 2 Pet. ii. 13. (2.) They are such as are given to mirth.
   They have their feasts, and they are so merrily disposed that they
   cannot dine or sup without music, musical instruments of all sorts,
   like David (Amos vi. 5), like Solomon (Eccl. ii. 8); the harp and the
   viol, the tabret and pipe, must accompany the wine, that every sense
   may be gratified to a nicety; they take the timbrel and harp, Job xxi.
   12. The use of music is lawful in itself; but when it is excessive,
   when we set our hearts upon it, misspend time in it, so that it crowds
   our spiritual and divine pleasures and draws away the heart from God,
   then it turns into sin for us. (3.) They are such as never give their
   mind to any thing that is serious: They regard not the work of the
   Lord; they observe not his power, wisdom, and goodness, in those
   creatures which they abuse and subject to vanity, nor the bounty of his
   providence in giving them those good things which they make the food
   and fuel of their lusts. God's judgments have already seized them, and
   they are under the tokens of his displeasure, but they regard not; they
   consider not the hand of God in all these things; his hand is lifted
   up, but they will not see, because they will not disturb themselves in
   their pleasures nor think what God is doing with them.

   2. What the judgments are which are denounced against them, and in part
   executed. It is here foretold, (1.) that they should be dislodged; the
   land should spue out these drunkards (v. 13): My people (so they call
   themselves, and were proud of it) have therefore gone into captivity,
   are as sure to go as if they were gone already, because they have no
   knowledge; how should they have knowledge when by their excessive
   drinking they make sots and fools of themselves? They set up for wits;
   but because they regard not God's controversy with them, nor take any
   care to make their peace with him, they may truly be said to have no
   knowledge; and the reason is because they will have none; they are
   inconsiderate and wilful, and are therefore destroyed for lack of
   knowledge. (2.) That they should be impoverished, and come to want that
   which they had wasted and abused to excess: Even their glory are men of
   famine, subject to it and slain by it; and their multitude are dried up
   with thirst. Both the great men and the common people are ready to
   perish for want of bread and water. This is the effect of the failure
   of the corn (v. 10), for the king himself is served of the field, Eccl.
   v. 9. And when the vintage fails the drunkards are called upon to weep,
   because the new wine is cut off from their mouth (Joel i. 5), and not
   so much because now they want it as because when they had it they
   abused it. It is just with God to make men want that for necessity
   which they have abused to excess. (3.) What multitudes should be cut
   off by famine and sword (v. 14): Therefore hell has enlarged herself.
   Tophet, the common burying-place, proves too little; so many are there
   to be buried that they shall be forced to enlarge it. The grave has
   opened her mouth without measure, never saying, It is enough, Prov.
   xxx. 15, 16. It may be understood of the place of the damned; luxury
   and sensuality fill these regions of darkness and horror; there those
   are tormented who made a god of their belly, Luke xvi. 25; Phil. iii.
   19. (4.) That they should be humbled and abased, and all their honours
   laid in the dust. This will be done effectually by death and the grave:
   Their glory shall descend, not only to the earth, but into it; it shall
   not descend after them (Ps. xlix. 17), to stand them in any stead on
   the other side death, but it shall die and be buried with them--poor
   glory, which will thus wither! Did they glory in their numbers? Their
   multitude shall go down to the pit, Ezek. xxxi. 18; xxxii. 32. Did they
   glory in the figure they made? Their pomp shall be at an end; their
   shouts with which they triumphed, and were attended. Did they glory in
   their mirth? Death will turn it into mourning; he that rejoices and
   revels, and never knows what it is to be serious, shall go thither
   where there are weeping and wailing. Thus the mean man and the mighty
   man meet together in the grave and under mortifying judgments. Let a
   man be ever so high, death will bring him low--ever so mean, death will
   bring him lower, in the prospect of which the eyes of the lofty should
   now be humbled, v. 15. It becomes those to look low that must shortly
   be laid low.

   3. What the fruit of these judgments shall be.

   (1.) God shall be glorified, v. 16. He that is the Lord of hosts, and
   the holy God, shall be exalted and sanctified in the judgment and
   righteousness of these dispensations. His justice must be owned in
   bringing those low what exalted themselves; and herein he is glorified,
   [1.] As a God is irresistible power. He will herein be exalted as the
   Lord of hosts, that is able to break the strongest, humble the
   proudest, and tame the most unruly. Power is not exalted but in
   judgment. It is the honour of God that, though he has a mighty arm, yet
   judgment and justice are always the habitation of his throne, Ps.
   lxxxix. 13, 14. [2.] As a God of unspotted purity. He that is holy,
   infinitely holy, shall be sanctified (that is, shall be owned and
   declared to be holy) in the righteous punishment of proud men. Note,
   When proud men are humbled the great God is honoured, and ought to be
   honoured by us.

   (2.) Good people shall be relieved and succoured (v. 17): Then shall
   the lambs feed after their manner; the meek ones of the earth, who
   followed the Lamb, who were persecuted, and put into fear by those
   proud oppressors, shall feed quietly, feed in the green pastures, and
   there shall be none to make them afraid. See Ezek. xxxiv. 14. When the
   enemies of the church are cut off then have the churches rest. They
   shall feed at their pleasure; so some read it. Blessed are the meek,
   for they shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in abundant
   peace. They shall feed according to their order or capacity (so others
   read it), as they are able to hear the word, that bread of life.

   (3.) The country shall be laid waste, and become a prey to the
   neighbours: The waste places of the fats ones, the possessions of those
   rich men that lived at their ease, shall be eaten by strangers that
   were nothing akin to them. In the captivity the poor of the land were
   left for vine-dressers and husbandmen (2 Kings xxv. 12); these were the
   lambs that fed in the pastures of the fats ones, which were laid in
   common for strangers to eat. When the church of the Jews, those fat
   ones, was laid waste, their privileges were transferred to the
   Gentiles, who had been long strangers, and the lambs of Christ's flock
   were welcome to them.

    Denunciations against Sin. (b. c. 758.)

   18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it
   were with a cart rope:   19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten
   his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of
   Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!   20 Woe unto them that
   call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light
   for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!   21 Woe
   unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own
   sight!   22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of
   strength to mingle strong drink:   23 Which justify the wicked for
   reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!   24
   Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth
   the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom
   shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of
   hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.   25 Therefore
   is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath
   stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the
   hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the
   streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is
   stretched out still.   26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations
   from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and,
   behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:   27 None shall be weary
   nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the
   girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be
   broken:   28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their
   horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a
   whirlwind:   29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar
   like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and
   shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.   30 And in that
   day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if
   one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is
   darkened in the heavens thereof.

   Here are, I. Sins described which will bring judgments upon a people:
   and this perhaps is not only a charge drawn up against the men of Judah
   who lived at that time, and the particular articles of that charge,
   though it may relate primarily to them, but is rather intended for
   warning to all people, in all ages, to take heed of these sins, as
   destructive both to particular persons and to communities, and exposing
   men to God's wrath and his righteous judgments. Those are here said to
   be in a woeful condition,

   1. Who are eagerly set upon sin, and violent in their sinful pursuits
   (v. 18), who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, who take as much pains
   to sin as the cattle do that draw a team, who put themselves to the
   stretch for the gratifying of their inordinate appetites, and, to
   humour a base lust, offer violence to nature itself. They think
   themselves as sure of compassing their wicked project as if they were
   pulling it towards them with strong cart-ropes; but they will find
   themselves disappointed, for they will prove cords of vanity, which
   will break when they come to any stress. For the righteous Lord will
   cut in sunder the cords of the wicked, Ps. cxxix. 4; Job iv. 8; Prov.
   xxii. 8. They are by long custom and confirmed habits so hardened in
   sin that they cannot get clear of it. Those that sin through infirmity
   are drawn away by sin; those that sin presumptuously draw iniquity to
   them, in spite of the oppositions of Providence and the checks of
   conscience. Some by sin understand the punishment of sin: they pull
   God's judgments upon their own heads as it were, with cart-ropes.

   2. Who set the justice of God at defiance, and challenge the Almighty
   to do his worst (v. 19): They say, Let him make speed, and hasten his
   work; this is the same language with that of the scoffers of the last
   days, who say, Where is the promise of his coming? and therefore it is
   that, like them, they draw iniquity with cords of vanity, are violent
   and daring in sin, and walk after their own lusts, 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4.
   (1.) They ridicule the prophets, and banter them. It is in scorn that
   they call God the Holy One of Israel, because the prophets used with
   great veneration to call him so. (2.) They will not believe the
   revelation of God's wrath from heaven against their ungodliness and
   unrighteousness; unless they see it executed, they will not know it, as
   if the curse were brutum fulmen--a mere flash, and all the threatenings
   of the word bugbears to frighten fools and children. (3.) If God should
   appear against them, as he has threatened, yet they think themselves
   able to make their part good with him, and provoke him to jealousy, as
   if they were stronger than he, 1 Cor. x. 22. "We have heard his word,
   but it is all talk; let him hasten his work, we shall shift for
   ourselves well enough." Note, Those that wilfully persist in sin
   consider not the power of God's anger.

   3. Who confound and overthrow the distinctions between moral good and
   evil, who call evil good and moral evil (v. 20), who not only live in
   the omission of that which is good, but condemn it, argue against it,
   and, because they will not practise it themselves, run it down in
   others, and fasten invidious epithets upon it--not only do that which
   is evil, but justify it, and applaud it, and recommend it to others as
   safe and good. Note, (1.) Virtue and piety are good, for they are light
   and sweet, they are pleasant and right; but sin and wickedness are
   evil; they are darkness, all the fruit of ignorance and mistake, and
   will be bitterness in the latter end. (2.) Those do a great deal of
   wrong to God, and religion, and conscience, to their own souls, and to
   the souls of others, who misrepresent these, and put false colours upon
   them--who call drunkenness good fellowship, and covetousness good
   husbandry, and, when they persecute the people of God, think they do
   him good service--and, on the other hand, who call seriousness
   ill-nature, and sober singularity ill-breeding, who say all manner of
   evil falsely concerning the ways of godliness, and do what they can to
   form in men's minds prejudices against them, and this in defiance of
   evidence as plain and convincing as that of sense, by which we
   distinguish, beyond contradiction, between light and darkness, and
   between that which to the taste is sweet and that which is bitter.

   4. Who though they are guilty of such gross mistakes as these have a
   great opinion of their own judgments, and value themselves mightily
   upon their understanding (v. 21): They are wise in their own eyes; they
   think themselves able to disprove and baffle the reproofs and
   convictions of God's word, and to evade and elude both the searches and
   the reaches of his judgments; they think they can outwit Infinite
   Wisdom and countermine Providence itself. Or it may be taken more
   generally: God resists the proud, those particularly who are conceited
   of their own wisdom and lean to their own understanding; such must
   become fools, that they may be truly wise, or else, at their end they
   shall appear to be fools before all the world.

   5. Who glory in it as a great accomplishment that they are able to bear
   a great deal of strong liquor without being overcome by it (v. 22), who
   are mighty to drink wine, and use their strength and vigour, not in the
   service of their country, but in the service of their lusts. Let
   drunkards know from this scripture that, (1.) They ungratefully abuse
   their bodily strength, which God has given them for good purposes, and
   by degrees cannot but weaken it. (2.) It will not excuse them from the
   guilt of drunkenness that they can drink hard and yet keep their feet.
   (3.) Those who boast of their drinking down others glory in their
   shame. (4.) How light soever men make of their drunkenness, it is a sin
   which will certainly lay them open to the wrath and curse of God.

   6. Who, as judges, pervert justice, and go counter to all rules of
   equity, v. 23. This follows upon the former; they drink and forget the
   law (Prov. xxxi. 5), and err through wine (ch. xxviii. 7), and take
   bribes, that they may have wherewithal to maintain their luxury. They
   justify the wicked for reward, and find some pretence or other to clear
   him from his guilt and shelter him from punishment; and they condemn
   the innocent, and take away their righteousness from them, that is,
   overrule their pleas, deprive them of the means of clearing up their
   innocency, and give judgment against them. In causes between man and
   man, might and money would at any time prevail against right and
   justice; and he who was ever so plainly in the wrong would with a small
   bribe carry the cause and recover the costs. In criminal causes, though
   the prisoner ever so plainly appeared to be guilty, yet for a reward
   they would acquit him; if he were innocent, yet if he did not fee them
   well, nay, if they were feed by the malicious prosecutor, or if they
   themselves had spleen against him, they would condemn him.

   II. The judgments described, which these sins would bring upon them.
   Let not those expect to live easily who live thus wickedly; for the
   righteous God will take vengeance, v. 24-30. Here we may observe,

   1. How complete this ruin will be, and how necessarily and unavoidably
   it will follow upon their sins. He had compared this people to a vine
   (v. 7), well fixed, and which, it was hoped, would be flourishing and
   fruitful; but the grace of God towards it was received in vain, and
   then the root became rottenness, being dried up from beneath, and the
   blossom would of course blow off as dust, as a light and worthless
   thing, Job xviii. 16. Sin weakens the strength, the root, of a people,
   so that they are easily rooted up; it defaces the beauty, the blossoms,
   of a people, and takes away the hopes of fruit. The sin of
   unfruitfulness is punished with the plague of unfruitfulness. Sinners
   make themselves as stubble and chaff, combustible matter, proper fuel
   to the fire of God's wrath, which then of course devours and consumes
   them, as the fire devours the stubble, and nobody can hinder it, or
   cares to hinder it. Chaff is consumed, unhelped and unpitied.

   2. How just the ruin will be: Because they have cast away the law of
   the Lord of hosts, and would not have him to reign over them; and, as
   the law of Moses was rejected and thrown off, so the word of the Holy
   One of Israel by his servants the prophets, putting them in mind of his
   law and calling them to obedience, was despised and disregarded. God
   does not reject men for every transgression of his law and word; but,
   when his word is despised and his law cast away, what can they expect
   but that God should utterly abandon them?

   3. Whence this ruin should come (v. 25): it is destruction from the
   Almighty. (1.) The justice of God appoints it; for that is the anger of
   the Lord which is kindled against his people, his necessary vindication
   of the honour of his holiness and authority. (2.) The power of God
   effects it: He has stretched forth his hand against them. That hand
   which had many a time been stretched out for them against their enemies
   is now stretched out against them at full length and in its full
   vigour; and who knows the power of his anger? Whether they are sensible
   of it or no, it is God that has smitten them, has blasted their vine
   and made it wither.

   4. The consequences and continuance of this ruin. When God comes forth
   in wrath against a people the hills tremble, fear seizes even their
   great men, who are strong and high, the earth shakes under men and is
   ready to sink; and as this feels dreadful (what does more so than an
   earthquake?) so what sight can be more frightful than the carcases of
   men torn with dogs, or thrown as dung (so the margin reads it) in the
   midst of the streets? This intimates that great multitudes should be
   slain, not only soldiers in the field of battle, but the inhabitants of
   their cities put to the sword in cold blood, and that the survivors
   should neither have hands nor hearts to bury them. This is very
   dreadful, and yet such is the merit of sin that, for all this, God's
   anger is not turned away; that fire will burn as long as there remains
   any of the stubble and chaff to be fuel for it; and his hand, which he
   stretched forth against his people to smite them, because they do not
   by prayer take hold of it, nor by reformation submit themselves to it,
   is stretched out still.

   5. The instruments that should be employed in bringing this ruin upon
   them: it should be done by the incursions of a foreign enemy, that
   should lay all waste. No particular enemy is named, and therefore we
   are to take it as a prediction of all the several judgments of this
   kind which God brought upon the Jews, Sennacherib's invasion soon
   after, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans first and at
   last by the Romans; and I think it is to be looked upon also as a
   threatening of the like desolation of those countries which harbour and
   countenance those sins mentioned in the foregoing verses; it is an
   exposition of those woes. When God designs the ruin of a provoking
   people,

   (1.) He can send a great way off for instruments to be employed in
   effecting it; he can raise forces from afar, and summon them from the
   end of the earth to attend his service, v. 26. Those who know him not
   are made use of to fulfil his counsel, when, by reason of their
   distance, they can scarcely be supposed to have any ends of their own
   to serve. If God set up his standard, he can incline men's hearts to
   enlist themselves under it, though perhaps they know not why or
   wherefore. When the Lord of hosts is pleased to make a general muster
   of the forces he has at his command, he has a great army in an instant,
   Joel ii. 2, 11. He needs not sound a trumpet, nor beat a drum, to give
   them notice or to animate them; no, he does but hiss to them, or rather
   whistle to them, and that is enough; they hear that, and that puts
   courage into them. Note, God has all the creatures at his beck.

   (2.) He can make them come into the service with incredible expedition:
   Behold, they shall come with speed swiftly. Note, [1.] Those who will
   do God's work must not loiter, must not linger, nor shall they when his
   time has come. [2.] Those who defy God's judgments will be ashamed of
   their insolence when it is too late; they said scornfully (v. 19), Let
   him make speed, let him hasten his work, and they shall find, to their
   terror and confusion, that he will; in one hour has the judgment come.

   (3.) He can carry them on in the service with amazing forwardness and
   fury. This is described here in very elegant and lofty expressions, v.
   27-30. [1.] Though their marches be very long, yet none among them
   shall be weary; so desirous they be to engage that they shall forget
   their weariness, and make no complaints of it. [2.] Though the way be
   rough, and perhaps embarrassed by the usual policies of war, yet none
   among them shall stumble, but all the difficulties in their way shall
   easily be got over. [3.] Though they be forced to keep constant watch,
   yet none shall slumber nor sleep, so intent shall they be upon their
   work, in prospect of having the plunder of the city for their pains.
   [4.] They shall not desire any rest of relaxation; they shall not put
   off their clothes, nor loose the girdle of their loins, but shall
   always have their belts on and swords by their sides. [5.] They shall
   not meet with the least hindrance to retard their march or oblige them
   to halt; not a latchet of their shoes shall be broken which they must
   stay to mend, as Josh. ix. 13. [6.] Their arms and ammunition shall all
   be fixed, and in good posture; their arrows sharp, to wound deep, and
   all their bows bent, none unstrung, for they expect to be soon in
   action. [7.] Their horses and chariots of war shall all be fit for
   service; their horses so strong, so hardy, that their hoofs shall be
   like flint, far from being beaten, or made tender, by their long march;
   and the wheels of their chariots not broken, or battered, or out of
   repair, but swift like a whirlwind, turning round so strongly upon
   their axle-trees. [8.] All the soldiers shall be bold and daring (v.
   29): Their roaring, or shouting, before a battle, shall be like a lion,
   who with his roaring animates himself, and terrifies all about him.
   Those who would not hear the voice of God speaking to them by his
   prophets, but stopped their ears against their charms, shall be made to
   hear the voice of their enemies roaring against them and shall not be
   able to turn a deaf ear to it. They shall roar like the roaring of the
   sea in a storm; it roars and threatens to swallow up, as the lion roars
   and threatens to tear in pieces. [9.] There shall not be the least
   prospect of relief or succour. The enemy shall come in like a flood,
   and there shall be none to lift up a standard against him. He shall
   seize the prey, and none shall deliver it, none shall be able to
   deliver it, nay, none shall so much as dare to attempt the deliverance
   of it, but shall give it up for lost. Let the distressed look which way
   they will, every thing appears dismal; for, if God frowns upon us, how
   can any creature smile? First, Look round to the earth, to the land, to
   that land that used to be the land of light and the joy of the whole
   earth, and behold darkness and sorrow, all frightful, all mournful,
   nothing hopeful. Secondly, Look up to heaven, and there the light is
   darkened, where one would expect to have found it. If the light is
   darkened in the heavens, how great is that darkness! If God hide his
   face, no marvel the heavens hide theirs and appear gloomy, Job xxxiv.
   29. It is our wisdom, by keeping a good conscience, to keep all clear
   between us and heaven, that we may have light from above even when
   clouds and darkness are round about us.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. VI.

   Hitherto, it should seem, Isaiah had prophesied as a candidate, having
   only a virtual and tacit commission; but here we have him (if I may so
   speak) solemnly ordained and set apart to the prophetic office by a
   more express or explicit commission, as his work grew more upon his
   hands: or perhaps, having seen little success of his ministry, he began
   to think of giving it up; and therefore God saw fit to renew his
   commission here in this chapter, in such a manner as might excite and
   encourage his zeal and industry in the execution of it, though he
   seemed to labour in vain. In this chapter we have, I. A very awful
   vision which Isaiah saw of the glory of God (ver. 1-4), the terror it
   put him into (ver. 5), and the relief given him against that terror by
   an assurance of the pardon of his sins, ver. 6, 7. II. A very awful
   commission which Isaiah received to go as a prophet, in God's name
   (ver. 8), by his preaching to harden the impenitent in sin and ripen
   them for ruin (ver. 9-12) yet with a reservation of mercy for a
   remnant, (ver. 13). And it was as to an evangelical prophet that these
   things were shown him and said to him.

    Isaiah's Heavenly Vision. (b. c. 758.)

   1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
   throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.   2 Above
   it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered
   his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did
   fly.   3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the
   Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.   4 And the posts
   of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was
   filled with smoke.

   The vision which Isaiah saw when he was, as is said of Samuel,
   established to be a prophet of the Lord (1 Sam. iii. 20), was intended,
   1. To confirm his faith, that he might himself be abundantly satisfied
   of the truth of those things which should afterwards be made known to
   him. This God opened the communications of himself to him; but such
   visions needed not to be afterwards repeated upon every revelation.
   Thus God appeared at first as a God of glory to Abraham (Acts vii. 2),
   and to Moses, Exod. iii. 2. Ezekiel's prophecies and St. John's, begin
   with visions of the divine glory. 2. To work upon his affections, that
   he might be possessed with such a reverence of God as would both
   quicken him and fix him to his service. Those who are to teach others
   the knowledge of God ought to be well acquainted with him themselves.

   The vision is dated, for the greater certainty of it. It was in the
   year that king Uzziah died, who had reigned, for the most part, as
   prosperously and well as any of the kings of Judah, and reigned very
   long, above fifty years. About the time that he died, Isaiah saw this
   vision of God upon a throne; for when the breath of princes goes forth,
   and they return to their earth, this is our comfort, that the Lord
   shall reign for ever, Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4, 10. Israel's king dies, but
   Israel's God still lives. From the mortality of great and good men we
   should take occasion to look up with an eye of faith to the King
   eternal, immortal. King Uzziah died under a cloud, for he was shut up
   as a leper till the day of his death. As the lives of princes have
   their periods, so their glory is often eclipsed; but, as God is
   everliving, so his glory is everlasting. King Uzziah dies in an
   hospital, but the King of kings still sits upon his throne.

   What the prophet here saw is revealed to us, that we, mixing faith with
   that revelation, may in it, as in a glass, behold the glory of the
   Lord; let us turn aside therefore, and see this great sight with humble
   reverence.

   I. See God upon his throne, and that throne high and lifted up, not
   only above other thrones, as it transcends them, but over other
   thrones, as it rules and commands them. Isaiah saw not Jehovah--the
   essence of God (no man has seen that, or can see it), but Adonai--his
   dominion. He saw the Lord Jesus; so this vision is explained John xii.
   41, that Isaiah now saw Christ's glory and spoke of him, which is an
   incontestable proof of the divinity of our Saviour. He it is who when,
   after his resurrection, he sat down on the right hand of God, did but
   sit down where he was before, John xvii. 5. See the rest of the Eternal
   Mind: Isaiah saw the Lord sitting, Ps. xxix. 10. See the sovereignty of
   the Eternal Monarch: he sits upon a throne--a throne of glory, before
   which we must worship,--a throne of government, under which we must be
   subject,--and a throne of grace, to which we may come boldly. This
   throne is high, and lifted up above all competition and contradiction.

   II. See his temple, his church on earth, filled with the manifestations
   of his glory. His throne being erected at the door of the temple (as
   princes sat in judgment at the gates), his train, the skirts of his
   robes, filled the temple, the whole world (for it is all God's temple,
   and, as the heaven is his throne, so the earth is his footstool), or
   rather the church, which is filled enriched, and beautified with the
   tokens of God's special presence.

   III. See the bright and blessed attendants on his throne, in and by
   whom his glory is celebrated and his government served (v. 2): Above
   the throne, as it were hovering about it, or nigh to the throne, bowing
   before it, with an eye to it, the seraphim stood, the holy angels, who
   are called seraphim-burners; for he makes his ministers a flaming fire,
   Ps. civ. 4. They burn in love to God, and zeal for his glory and
   against sin, and he makes use of them as instruments of his wrath when
   he is a consuming fire to his enemies. Whether they were only two or
   four, or (as I rather think) an innumerable company of angels, that
   Isaiah saw, is uncertain; see Dan. vii. 10. Note, It is the glory of
   the angels that they are seraphim, have heat proportionable to their
   light, have abundance, not only of divine knowledge, but of holy love.
   Special notice is taken of their wings (and of no other part of their
   appearance), because of the use they made of them, which is designed
   for instruction to us. They had each of them six wings, not stretched
   upwards (as those whom Ezekiel saw, ch. i. 11), but, 1. Four were made
   use of for a covering, as the wings of a fowl, sitting, are; with the
   two upper wings, next to the head, they covered their faces, and with
   the two lowest wings they covered their feet, or lower parts. This
   bespeaks their great humility and reverence in their attendance upon
   God, for he is greatly feared in the assembly of those saints, Ps.
   lxxxix. 7. They not only cover their feet, those members of the body
   which are less honourable (1 Cor. xii. 23), but even their faces.
   Though angel's faces, doubtless, are much fairer than those of the
   children of men (Acts vi. 15), yet in the presence of God, they cover
   them, because they cannot bear the dazzling lustre of the divine glory,
   and because, being conscious of an infinite distance from the divine
   perfection, they are ashamed to show their faces before the holy God,
   who charges even his angels with folly if they should offer to vie with
   him, Job iv. 18. If angels be thus reverent in their attendance on God,
   with what godly fear should we approach his throne! Else we do not the
   will of God as the angels do it. Yet Moses, when he went into the mount
   with God, took the veil from off his face. See 2 Cor. iii. 18. 2. Two
   were made use of for flight; when they are sent on God's errands they
   fly swiftly (Dan. ix. 21), more swiftly with their own wings than if
   they flew on the wings of the wind. This teaches us to do the work of
   God with cheerfulness and expedition. Do angels come upon the wing from
   heaven to earth, to minister for our good, and shall not we soar upon
   the wing from earth to heaven, to share with them in their glory? Luke
   xx. 36.

   IV. Hear the anthem, or song of praise, which the angels sing to the
   honour of him that sits on the throne, v. 3. Observe,

   1. How this song was sung. With zeal and fervency--they cried aloud;
   and with unanimity--they cried to another, or one with another; they
   sang alternately, but in concert, and without the least jarring voice
   to interrupt the harmony.

   2. What the song was; it is the same with that which is sung by the
   four living creatures, Rev. iv. 8. Note, Praising God always was, and
   will be to eternity, the work of heaven, and the constant employment of
   blessed spirits above, Ps. lxxxiv. 4. Note further, The church above is
   the same in its praises; there is no change of times or notes there.
   Two things the seraphim here give God the praise of:--

   (1.) His infinite perfections in himself. Here is one of his most
   glorious titles praised: he is the Lord of hosts, of their hosts, of
   all hosts; and one of his most glorious attributes, his holiness,
   without which his being the Lord of hosts (or, as it is in the parallel
   place, Rev. iv. 8, the Lord God Almighty) could not be so much as it is
   the matter of our joy and praise; for power, without purity to guide
   it, would be a terror to mankind. None of all the divine attributes is
   so celebrated in scripture as this is. God's power was spoken twice
   (Ps. lxii. 11), but his holiness thrice, Holy, holy, holy. This
   bespeaks, [1.] The zeal and fervency of the angels in praising God;
   they even want words to express themselves, and therefore repeat the
   same again. [2.] The particular pleasure they take in contemplating the
   holiness of God; this is a subject they love to dwell upon, to harp
   upon, and are loth to leave. [3.] The superlative excellency of God's
   holiness, above that of the purest creatures. He is holy, thrice holy,
   infinitely holy, originally, perfectly, and eternally so. [4.] It may
   refer to the three person in the Godhead, Holy Father, Holy Son, and
   Holy Spirit (for it follows, v. 8, Who will go for us?) or perhaps to
   that which was, and is, and is to come; for that title of God's honour
   is added to this song, Rev. iv. 8. Some make the angels here to applaud
   the equity of that sentence which God was now about to pronounce upon
   the Jewish nation. Herein he was, and is, and will be, holy; his ways
   are equal.

   (2.) The manifestation of these to the children of men: The earth is
   full of his glory, the glory of his power and purity; for he is holy in
   all his works, Ps. cxlv. 17. The Jews thought the glory of God should
   be confined to their land; but it is here intimated that in the gospel
   times (which are pointed to in this chapter) the glory of God should
   fill all the earth, the glory of his holiness, which is indeed the
   glory of all his other attributes; this then filled the temple (v. 1),
   but, in the latter days, the earth shall be full of it.

   V. Observe the marks and tokens of terror with which the temple was
   filled, upon this vision of the divine glory, v. 4. 1. The house was
   shaken; not only the door, but even the posts of the door, which were
   firmly fixed, moved at the voice of him that cried, at the voice of
   God, who called to judgment (Ps. l. 4), at the voice of the angel, who
   praised him. There are voices in heaven sufficient to drown all the
   noises of the many waters in this lower world, Ps. xciii. 3, 4. This
   violent concussion of the temple was an indication of God's wrath and
   displeasure against the people for their sins; it was an earnest of the
   destruction of it and the city by the Babylonians first, and afterwards
   by the Romans; and it was designed to strike an awe upon us. Shall
   walls and posts tremble before God, and shall we not tremble? 2. The
   house was darkened; it was filled with smoke, which was as a cloud
   spread upon the face of his throne (Job xxvi. 9); we cannot take a full
   view of it, nor order our speech concerning it, by reason of darkness.
   In the temple above there will be no smoke, but everything will be seen
   clearly. There God dwells in light; here he makes darkness his
   pavilion, 2 Chron. vi. 1.

    Isaiah's Heavenly Vision. (b. c. 758.)

   5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
   unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for
   mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.   6 Then flew one of
   the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had
   taken with the tongs from off the altar:   7 And he laid it upon my
   mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is
   taken away, and thy sin purged.   8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord,
   saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am
   I; send me.

   Our curiosity would lead us to enquire further concerning the seraphim,
   their songs and their services; but here we leave them, and must attend
   to what passed between God and his prophet. Secret things belong not to
   us, the secret things of the world of angels, but things revealed to
   and by the prophets, which concern the administration of God's kingdom
   among men. Now here we have,

   I. The consternation that the prophet was put into by the vision which
   he saw of the glory of God (v. 5): Then said I, Woe is me! I should
   have said, "Blessed art thou, who hast been thus highly favoured,
   highly honoured, and dignified, for a time, with the privilege of those
   glorious beings that always behold the face of our Father. Blessed were
   those eyes which saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and those ears
   which heard the angels' praises." And, one would think, he should have
   said, "Happy am I, for ever happy; nothing now shall trouble me,
   nothing make me blush or tremble;" but, on the contrary, he cries out,
   "Woe is me! for I am undone. Alas for me! I am a gone man; I shall
   surely die (Judges xiii. 22; vi. 22); I am silenced; I am struck dumb,
   struck dead." Thus Daniel, when he heard the words of the angel, became
   dumb, and there was no strength, no breath, left in him, Dan. x. 15,
   17. Observe,

   1. What the prophet reflected upon in himself which terrified him: "I
   am undone if God deal with me in strict justice, for I have made myself
   obnoxious to his displeasure, because I am a man of unclean lips." Some
   think he refers particularly to some rash word he had spoken, or to his
   sinful silence in not reproving sin with the boldness and freedom that
   were necessary--a sin which God's ministers have too much cause to
   charge themselves with, and to blush at the remembrance of. But it may
   be taken more generally; I am a sinner; particularly, I have offended
   in word; and who is there that hath not? Jam. iii. 2. We all have
   reason to bewail it before the Lord, (1.) That we are of unclean lips
   ourselves; our lips are not consecrated to God; he had not had the
   first-fruits of our lips (Heb. xiii. 15), and therefore they are
   counted common and unclean, uncircumcised lips, Exod. vi. 30. Nay, they
   have been polluted with sin. We have spoken the language of an unclean
   heart, that evil communication which corrupts good manners, and whereby
   many have been defiled. We are unworthy and unmeet to take God's name
   into our lips. With what a pure lip did the angels praise God! "But,"
   says the prophet, "I cannot praise him so, for I am a man of unclean
   lips." The best men in the world have reason to be ashamed of
   themselves, and the best of their services, when they come into
   comparison with the holy angels. The angels had celebrated the purity
   and holiness of God; and therefore the prophet, when he reflects upon
   sin, calls it uncleanness; for the sinfulness of sin is its contrariety
   to the holy nature of God, and upon that account especially it should
   appear both hateful and frightful to us. The impurity of our lips ought
   to be the grief of our souls, for by our words we shall be justified or
   condemned. (2.) That we dwell among those who are so too. We have
   reason to lament not only that we ourselves are polluted, but that the
   nature and race of mankind are so; the disease is hereditary and
   epidemic, which is so far from lessening our guilt that it should
   rather increase our grief, especially considering that we have not done
   what we might have done for the cleansing of the pollution of other
   people's lips; nay, we have rather learned their way and spoken their
   language, as Joseph in Egypt learned the courtier's oath, Gen. xlii.
   16. "I dwell in the midst of a people who by their impudent sinnings
   are pulling down desolating judgments upon the land, which I, who am a
   sinner too, may justly expect to be involved in."

   2. What gave occasion for these sad reflections at this time: My eyes
   have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He saw God's sovereignty to be
   incontestable--he is the King; and his power irresistible--he is the
   Lord of hosts. These are comfortable truths to God's people, and yet
   they ought to strike an awe upon us. Note, A believing sight of God's
   glorious majesty should affect us all with reverence and godly fear. We
   have reason to be abased in the sense of that infinite distance that
   there is between us and God, and our own sinfulness and vileness before
   him, and to be afraid of his displeasure. We are undone if there be not
   a Mediator between us and this holy God, 1 Sam. vi. 20. Isaiah was thus
   humbled, to prepare him for the honour he was now to be called to as a
   prophet. Note, Those are fittest to be employed for God who are low in
   their own eyes and are made deeply sensible of their own weakness and
   unworthiness.

   II. The silencing of the prophet's fears by the good words, and
   comfortable words, with which the angel answered him, v. 6, 7. One of
   the seraphim immediately flew to him, to purify him, and so to pacify
   him. Note, God has strong consolations ready for holy mourners. Those
   that humble themselves in penitential shame and fear shall soon be
   encouraged and exalted; those that are struck down with the visions of
   God's glory shall soon be raised up again with the visits of his grace;
   he that tears will heal. Note, further, Angels are ministering spirits
   for the good of the saints, for their spiritual good. Here was one of
   the seraphim dismissed, for a time, from attending on the throne of
   God's glory, to be a messenger of his grace to a good man; and so well
   pleased was he with the office that he came flying to him. To our Lord
   Jesus himself, in his agony, there appeared an angel from heaven,
   strengthening him, Luke xxii. 43. Here is, 1. A comfortable sign given
   to the prophet of the purging away of his sin. The seraph brought a
   live coal from the altar, and touched his lips with it, not to hurt
   them, but to heal them--not to cauterize, but to cleanse them; for
   there were purifications by fire, as well as by water, and the filth of
   Jerusalem was purged by the spirit of burning, ch. iv. 4. The blessed
   Spirit works as fire, Matt. iii. 11. The seraph, being himself kindled
   with a divine fire, put life into the prophet, to make him also
   zealously affected; for the way to purge the lips from the uncleanness
   of sin is to fire the soul with the love of God. This live coal was
   taken from off the altar, either the altar of incense or that of
   burnt-offerings, for they had both of them fire burning on them
   continually. Nothing is powerful to cleanse and comfort the soul but
   what is taken from Christ's satisfaction and the intercession he ever
   lives to make in the virtue of that satisfaction. It must be a coal
   from his altar that must put life into us and be our peace; it will not
   be done with strange fire. 2. An explication of this sign: "Lo, this
   has touched thy lips, to assure thee of this, that thy iniquity is
   taken away and thy sin purged. The guilt of thy sin is removed by
   pardoning mercy, the guilt of thy tongue-sins. Thy corrupt disposition
   to sin is removed by renewing grace; and therefore nothing can hinder
   thee from being accepted with God as a worshipper, in concert with the
   holy angels, or from being employed for God as a messenger to the
   children of men." Those only who are thus purged from an evil
   conscience are prepared to serve the living God, Heb. ix. 14. The
   taking away of sin is necessary to our speaking with confidence and
   comfort either to God in prayer or from God in preaching; nor are any
   so fit to display to others the riches and power of gospel-grace as
   those who have themselves tasted the sweetness and felt the influence
   of that grace; and those shall have their sin taken away who complain
   of it as a burden and see themselves in danger of being undone by it.

   III. The renewing of the prophet's mission, v. 8. Here is a
   communication between God and Isaiah about this matter. Those that
   would assist others in their correspondence with God must not
   themselves be strangers to it; for how can we expect that God should
   speak by us if we never heard him speaking to us, or that we should be
   accepted as the mouth of others to God if we never spoke to him
   heartily for ourselves? Observe here,

   1. The counsel of God concerning Isaiah's mission. God is here brought
   in, after the manner of men, deliberating and advising with himself:
   Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? God needs not either to be
   counselled by others or to consult with himself; he knows what he will
   do, but thus he would show us that there is a counsel in his whole
   will, and teach us to consider our ways, and particularly that the
   sending forth of ministers is a work not to be done but upon mature
   deliberation. Observe, (1.) Who it is that is consulting. It is the
   Lord God in his glory, whom he saw upon the throne high and lifted up.
   It puts an honour upon the ministry that, when God would send a prophet
   to speak in his name, he appeared in all the glories of the upper
   world. Ministers are the ambassadors of the King of kings; how mean
   soever they are, he who sends them is great; it is God in three persons
   (Who will go for us? as Gen. i. 26, Let us make man), Father, Son, and
   Holy Ghost. They all concur, as in the creating, so in the redeeming
   and governing of man. Ministers are ordained in the same name into
   which all Christians are baptized. (2.) What the consultation is: Whom
   shall I send? And who will go? Some think this refers to the particular
   message of wrath against Israel, v. 9, 10. "Who will be willing to go
   on such a melancholy errand, on which they will go in the bitterness of
   their souls?" Ezek. iii. 14. But I rather take it more largely for all
   those messages which the prophet was entrusted to deliver, in God's
   name, to that people, in which that hardening work was by no means the
   primary intention, but a secondary effect of them, 2 Cor. ii. 16. Whom
   shall I send? intimating that the business was such as required a
   choice and well-accomplished messenger, Jer. xlix. 19. God now
   appeared, attended with holy angels, and yet asks, Whom shall I send?
   For he would send them a prophet from among their brethren, Heb. ii.
   17. Note, [1.] It is the unspeakable favour of God to us that he is
   pleased to send us his mind by men like ourselves, whose terror shall
   not make us afraid, and who are themselves concerned in the messages
   they bring. Those who are workers together with God are sinners and
   sufferers together with us. [2.] It is a rare thing to find one who is
   fit to go for God, and carry his messages to the children of men: Whom
   shall I send? Who is sufficient? Such a degree of courage for God and
   concern for the souls of men as is necessary to make a man faithful,
   and withal such an insight into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
   as is necessary to make a man skilful, are seldom to be met with. Such
   an interpreter of the mind of God is one of a thousand, Job xxxiii. 23.
   [3.] None are allowed to go for God but those who are sent by him; he
   will own none but those whom he appoints, Rom. x. 15. It is Christ's
   work to put men into the ministry, 1 Tim. i. 12.

   2. The consent of Isaiah to it: Then said I, Here am I; send me. He was
   to go on a melancholy errand; the office seemed to go a begging, and
   every body declined it, and yet Isaiah offered himself to the service.
   It is an honour to be singular in appearing for God, Judges v. 7. We
   must not say, "I would go if I thought I should have success;" but, "I
   will go, and leave the success to God. Here am I; send me." Isaiah had
   been himself in a melancholy frame (v. 5), full of doubts and fears;
   but now that he had the assurance of the pardon of his sin the clouds
   were blown over, and he was fit for service and forward to it. What he
   says denotes, (1.) His readiness: "Here am I, a volunteer, not pressed
   into the service." Behold me; so the word is. God says to us, Behold me
   (ch. lxv. 1), and, Here I am (ch. lviii. 9), even before we call; let
   us say so to him when he does call. (2.) His resolution; "Here I am,
   ready to encounter the greatest difficulties. I have set my face as a
   flint." Compare this with ch. l. 4-7. (3.) His referring himself to
   God: "Send me whither thou wilt; make what use thou pleasest of me.
   Send me, that is, Lord, give me commission and full instruction; send
   me, and then, no doubt, thou wilt stand by me." It is a great comfort
   to those whom God sends that they go for God, and may therefore speak
   in his name, as having authority, and be assured that he will bear them
   out.

    Judicial Blindness Threatened. (b. c. 758.)

   9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand
   not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.   10 Make the heart of this
   people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they
   see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
   their heart, and convert, and be healed.   11 Then said I, Lord, how
   long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant,
   and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,   12 And
   the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in
   the midst of the land.   13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it
   shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose
   substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed
   shall be the substance thereof.

   God takes Isaiah at his word, and here sends him on a strange
   errand--to foretel the ruin of his people and even to ripen them for
   that ruin--to preach that which, by their abuse of it, would be to them
   a savour of death unto death. And this was to be a type and figure of
   the state of the Jewish church in the days of the Messiah, when they
   should obstinately reject the gospel, and should thereupon be rejected
   of God. These verses are quoted in part, or referred to, six times, in
   the New Testament, which intimates that in gospel time these spiritual
   judgments would be most frequently inflicted; and though they make the
   least noise, and come not with observation, yet they are of all
   judgments the most dreadful. Isaiah is here given to understand these
   four things:--

   1. That the generality of the people to whom he was sent would turn a
   deaf ear to his preaching, and wilfully shut their eyes against all the
   discoveries of the mind and will of God which he had to make to them
   (v. 9): "Go, and tell this people, this foolish wretched people, tell
   them their own, tell them how stupid and sottish they are." Isaiah must
   preach to them, and they will hear him indeed, but that is all; they
   will not heed him; they will no understand him; they will not take any
   pains, nor use that application of mind which is necessary to the
   understanding of him; they are prejudiced against that which is the
   true intent and meaning of what he says, and therefore they will not
   understand him, or pretend they do not. They see indeed (for the vision
   is made plain on tables, so that he who runs may read it); but they
   perceive not their own concern in it; it is to them as a tale that is
   told. Note, There are many who hear the sound of God's word, but do not
   feel the power of it.

   2. That, forasmuch as they would not be made better by his ministry,
   they should be made worse by it; those that were wilfully blind should
   be judicially blinded (v. 10): "They will not understand or perceive
   thee, and therefore thou shalt be instrumental to make their heart fat,
   senseless, and sensual, and so to make their ears yet more heavy, and
   to shut their eyes the closer; so that, at length, their recovery and
   repentance will become utterly impossible; they shall no more see with
   their eyes the danger they are in, the ruin they are upon the brink of,
   nor the way of escape from it; they shall no more hear with their ears
   the warnings and instructions that are given them, nor understand with
   their heart the things that belong to their peace, so as to be
   converted from the error of their ways, and thus be healed." Note, (1.)
   The conversion of sinners is the healing of them. (2.) A right
   understanding is necessary to conversion. (3.) God sometimes, in a way
   of righteous judgment, gives men up to blindness of mind and strong
   delusions, because they would not receive the truth in the love of it,
   2 Thess. ii. 10-12. He that is filthy let him be filthy still. (4.)
   Even the word of God oftentimes proves a means of hardening sinners.
   The evangelical prophet himself makes the heart of this people fat, not
   only as he foretels it, passing this sentence upon them in God's name,
   and seals them under it, but as his preaching had a tendency to it,
   rocking some asleep in security (to whom it was a lovely song), and
   making others more outrageous, to whom it was such a reproach that they
   were not able to bear it. Some looked upon the word as a privilege, and
   their convictions were smothered by it (Jer. vii. 4); others looked
   upon it as a provocation, and their corruptions were exasperated by it.

   3. That the consequence of this would be their utter ruin, v. 11, 12.
   The prophet had nothing to object against the justice of this sentence,
   nor does he refuse to go upon such an errand, but asks, "Lord, how
   long?" (an abrupt question): "Shall it always be thus? Must I and other
   prophets always labour in vain among them, and will things never be
   better?" Or, (as should seem by the answer) "Lord, what will it come to
   at last? What will be in the end hereof?" In answer to this he is told
   that it should issue in the final destruction of the Jewish church and
   nation. "When the word of God, especially the word of the gospel, had
   been thus abused by them, they shall be unchurched, and consequently
   undone. Their cities shall be uninhabited, and their country houses
   too; the land shall be untilled, desolate with desolation (as it is in
   the margin), the people who should replenish the houses and cultivate
   the ground being all cut off by sword, famine, or pestilence, and those
   who escape with their lives being removed far away into captivity, so
   that there shall be a great and general forsaking in the midst of the
   land; that populous country shall become desert, and that glory of all
   lands shall be abandoned." Note, Spiritual judgments often bring
   temporal judgments along with them upon persons and places. This was in
   part fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, when
   the land, being left desolate, enjoyed her sabbaths seventy years; but,
   the foregoing predictions being so expressly applied in the New
   Testament to the Jews in our Saviour's time, doubtless this points at
   the final destruction of that people by the Romans, in which it had a
   complete accomplishment, and the effects of it that people and that
   land remain under to this day.

   4. That yet a remnant should be reserved to be the monuments of mercy,
   v. 13. There was a remnant reserved in the last destruction of the
   Jewish nation (Rom. xi. 5, At this present time there is a remnant);
   for so it was written here: But in it shall be a tenth, a certain
   number, but a very small number in comparison with the multitude that
   shall perish in their unbelief. It is that which, under the law, was
   God's proportion; they shall be consecrated to God as the tithes were,
   and shall be for his service and honour. Concerning this tithe, this
   saved remnant, we are here told, (1.) That they shall return (ch. vi.
   13; x. 21), shall return from sin to God and duty, shall return out of
   captivity to their own land. God will turn them, and they shall be
   turned. (2.) That they shall be eaten, that is, shall be accepted of
   God as the tithe was, which was meat in God's house, Mal. iii. 10. The
   saving of this remnant shall be meat to the faith and hope of those
   that wish well to God's kingdom. (3.) That they shall be like a
   timber-tree in winter, which has life, though it has no leaves: As a
   teil-tree and as an oak, whose substance is in them even when they cast
   their leaves, so this remnant, though they may be stripped of their
   outward prosperity and share with others in common calamities, shall
   yet recover themselves, as a tree in the spring, and flourish again;
   though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down. There is hope of
   a tree, though it be cut down, that it will sprout again, Job xiv. 7.
   (4.) That this distinguished remnant shall be the stay and support of
   the public interests. The holy seed in the soul is the substance of the
   man; a principle of grace reigning in the heart will keep life there;
   he that is born of God has his seed remaining in him, 1 John iii. 9. So
   the holy seed in the land is the substance of the land, keeps it from
   being quite dissolved, and bears up the pillars of it, Ps. lxxv. 3. See
   ch. i. 9. Some read the foregoing clause with this, thus: As the
   support at Shallecheth is in the elms and the oaks, so the holy seed is
   the substance thereof; as the trees that grow on either side of the
   causeway (the raised way, or terrace-walk, that leads from the king's
   palace to the temple, 1 Kings x. 5, at the gate of Shallecheth, 1
   Chron. xxvi. 16) support the causeway by keeping up the earth, which
   would otherwise be crumbling away, so the small residue of religious,
   serious, praying people, are the support of the state, and help to keep
   things together and save them from going to decay. Some make the holy
   seed to be Christ. The Jewish nation was therefore saved from utter
   ruin because out of it, as concerning the flesh, Christ was to come,
   Rom. ix. 5. Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it (ch. lxv. 8);
   and when that blessing had come, it was soon destroyed. Now the
   consideration of this is designed for the support of the prophet in his
   work. Though far the greater part should perish in their unbelief, yet
   to some his word should be a savour of life unto life. Ministers do not
   wholly lose their labour if they be but instrumental to save one poor
   soul.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. VII.

   This chapter is an occasional sermon, in which the prophet sings both
   of mercy and judgment to those that did not perceive or understand
   either; he piped unto them, but they danced not, mourned unto them, but
   they wept not. Here is, I. The consternation that Ahaz was in upon an
   attempt of the confederate forces of Syria and Israel against
   Jerusalem, ver. 1, 2. II. The assurance which God, by the prophet, sent
   him for his encouragement, that the attempt should be defeated and
   Jerusalem should be preserved, ver. 3-9. III. The confirmation of this
   by a sign which God gave to Ahaz, when he refused to ask one, referring
   to Christ, and our redemption by him, ver. 10-16. IV. A threatening of
   the great desolation that God would bring upon Ahaz and his kingdom by
   the Assyrians, notwithstanding their escape from this present storm,
   because they went on still in their wickedness, ver. 17-25. And this is
   written both for our comfort and for our admonition.

    The Distress of Ahaz; Comfort Administered to Ahaz. (b. c. 740.)

   1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of
   Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son
   of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against
   it, but could not prevail against it.   2 And it was told the house of
   David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was
   moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved
   with the wind.   3 Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet
   Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the
   upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field;   4 And say unto him,
   Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two
   tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with
   Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.   5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the
   son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,   6 Let
   us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein
   for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal:   7
   Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to
   pass.   8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus
   is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken,
   that it be not a people.   9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and
   the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely
   ye shall not be established.

   The prophet Isaiah had his commission renewed in the year that king
   Uzziah died, ch. vi. 1. Jotham his son reigned, and reigned well,
   sixteen years. All that time, no doubt, Isaiah prophesied as he was
   commanded, and yet we have not in this book any of his prophecies dated
   in the reign of Jotham; but this, which is put first, was in the days
   of Ahaz the son of Jotham. Many excellent useful sermons he preached
   which were not published and left upon record; for, if all that was
   memorable had been written, the world could not have contained the
   books, John xxi. 25. Perhaps in the reign of Ahaz, a wicked king, he
   had not opportunity to preach so much at court as in Jotham's time, and
   therefore then he wrote the more, for a testimony against them. Here
   is,

   I. A very formidable design laid against Jerusalem by Rezin king of
   Syria and Pekah king of Israel, two neighbouring potentates, who had of
   late made descents upon Judah severally. At the end of the reign of
   Jotham, the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin and Pekah, 2 Kings
   xv. 37. But now, in the second or third year of the reign of Ahaz,
   encouraged by their former successes, they entered into an alliance
   against Judah. Because Ahaz, though he found the sword over his head,
   began his reign with idolatry, God delivered him into the hand of the
   king of Syria and of the king of Israel (2 Chron. xxviii. 5), and a
   great slaughter they made in his kingdom, v. 6, 7. Flushed with this
   victory, they went up towards Jerusalem, the royal city, to war against
   it, to besiege it, and make themselves masters of it; but it proved in
   the issue that they could not gain their point. Note, The sin of a land
   brings foreign invasions upon it and betrays the most advantageous
   posts and passes to the enemy; and God sometimes makes one wicked
   nation a scourge to another; but judgment, ordinarily, begins at the
   house of God.

   II. The great distress that Ahaz and his court were in when they
   received advice of this design: It was told the house of David that
   Syria and Ephraim had signed a league against Judah, v. 2. This
   degenerate royal family is called the house of David, to put us in mind
   of that article of God's covenant with David (Ps. lxxxix. 30-33), If
   his children forsake my law, I will chasten their transgression with
   the rod; but my loving-kindness will I not utterly take away, which is
   remarkably fulfilled in this chapter. News being brought that the two
   armies of Syria and Israel were joined, and had taken the field, the
   court, the city, and the country, were thrown into consternation; The
   heart of Ahaz was moved with fear, and then no wonder that the heart of
   his people was so, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
   They were tossed and shaken, and put into a great disorder and
   confusion, were wavering and uncertain in their counsels, hurried
   hither and thither, and could not fix in any steady resolution. They
   yielded to the storm, and gave up all for gone, concluding it in vain
   to make any resistance. Now that which caused this fright was the sense
   of guilt and the weakness of their faith. They had made God their
   enemy, and knew not how to make him their friend, and therefore their
   fears tyrannised over them; while those whose consciences are kept void
   of offence, and whose hearts are fixed, trusting in God, need not be
   afraid of evil tidings; though the earth be removed, yet will not they
   fear; but the wicked flee at the shaking of a leaf, Lev. xxvi. 36.

   III. The orders and directions given to Isaiah to go and encourage Ahaz
   in his distress; not for his own sake (he deserved to hear nothing from
   God but words of terror, which might add affliction to his grief), but
   because he was a son of David and king of Judah. God had kindness for
   him for his father's sake, who must not be forgotten, and for his
   people's sake, who must not be abandoned, but would be encouraged if
   Ahaz were. Observe,

   1. God appointed the prophet to meet Ahaz, though he did not send to
   the prophet to speak with him, nor desire him to enquire of the Lord
   for him (v. 3): Go to meet Ahaz. Note, God is often found of those who
   seek him not, much more will he be found of those who seek him
   diligently. He speaks comfort to many who not only are not worthy of
   it, but do not so much as enquire after it.

   2. He ordered him to take his little son with him, because he carried a
   sermon in his name, Shear-jashub--A remnant shall return. The prophets
   sometimes recorded what they preached in the significant names of their
   children (as Hos. i. 4, 6, 9); therefore Isaiah's children are said to
   be for signs, ch. viii. 18. This son was so called for the
   encouragement of those of God's people who were carried captive,
   assuring them that they should return, at least a remnant of them,
   which was more than they could pretend to merit; yet at this time God
   was better than his word; for he took care not only that a remnant
   should return, but the whole number of those whom the confederate
   forces of Syria and Israel had taken prisoners, 2 Chron. xxviii. 15.

   3. He directed him where he should find Ahaz. He was to meet with him
   not in the temple, or the synagogue, or royal chapel, but at the end of
   the conduit of the upper pool, where he was, probably with many of his
   servants about him, contriving how to order the water-works, so as to
   secure them to the city, or deprive the enemy of the benefits of them
   (ch. xxii. 9-11; 2 Chron. xxxii. 3, 4), or giving some necessary
   directions for the fortifying of the city as well as they could; and
   perhaps finding every thing in a bad posture or defence, the conduit
   out of repair, as well as other things gone to decay, his fears
   increased, and he was now in greater perplexity than ever; therefore,
   Go, meet him there. Note, God sometimes sends comforts to his people
   very seasonably, and, what time they are most afraid, encourages them
   to trust in him.

   4. He put words in his mouth, else the prophet would not have known how
   to bring a message of good to such a bad man, a sinner in Zion, that
   ought to be afraid; but God intended it for the support of faithful
   Israelites.

   (1.) The prophet must rebuke their fears, and advise them by no means
   to yield to them, but keep their temper, and preserve the possession of
   their own souls (v. 4): Take heed, and be quiet. Note, In order to
   comfort there is need of caution; that we may be quiet, it is necessary
   that we take heed and watch against those things that threaten to
   disquiet us. "Fear not with this amazement, this fear, that weakens,
   and has torment; neither let thy heart be tender, so as to melt and
   fail within thee; but pluck up thy spirits, have a good heart on it,
   and be courageous; let not fear betray the succours which reason and
   religion offer for thy support." Note, Those who expect God should help
   them must help themselves, Ps. xxvii. 14.

   (2.) He must teach them to despise their enemies, not in pride, or
   security, or incogitancy (nothing more dangerous than so to despise an
   enemy), but in faith and dependence upon God. Ahaz's fear called them
   two powerful politic princes, for either of whom he was an unequal
   match, but, if united, he durst not look them in the face, nor make
   head against them. "No," says the prophet, "they are two tails of
   smoking firebrands; they are angry, they are fierce, they are furious,
   as firebrands, as fireballs; and they make one another worse by being
   in a confederacy, as sticks of fire put together burn the more
   violently. But they are only smoking firebrands: and where there is
   smoke there is some fire, but it may be not so much as was feared.
   Their threatenings will vanish into smoke. Pharaoh king of Egypt is but
   a noise (Jer. xlvi. 17), and Rezin king of Syria but a smoke; and such
   are all the enemies of God's church, smoking flax, that will soon be
   quenched. Nay, they are but tails of smoking firebrands, in a manner
   burnt out already; their force is spent; they have consumed themselves
   with the heat of their own anger; you may put your foot on them, and
   tread them out." The two kingdoms of Syria and Israel were now near
   expiring. Note, The more we have an eye to God as a consuming fire the
   less reason we shall have to fear men, though they are ever so furious,
   nay, we shall be able to despise them as smoking firebrands.

   (3.) He must assure them that the present design of these high allies
   (so they thought themselves) against Jerusalem should certainly be
   defeated and come to nothing, v. 5-7. [1.] That very thing which Ahaz
   thought most formidable is made the ground of their defeat--and that
   was the depth of their designs and the height of their hopes:
   "Therefore they shall be baffled and sent back with shame, because they
   have taken evil counsel against thee, which is an offence to God. These
   firebrands are a smoke in his nose (ch. lxv. 5), and therefore must be
   extinguished." First, They are very spiteful and malicious, and,
   therefore they shall not prosper. Judah had done them no wrong; they
   had no pretence to quarrel with Ahaz; but, without any reason, they
   said, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it. Note, Those that are
   vexatious cannot expect to be prosperous, those that love to do
   mischief cannot expect to do well. Secondly, They are very secure, and
   confident of success. They will vex Judah by going up against it; yet
   that is not all: they do not doubt but to make a breach in the wall of
   Jerusalem wide enough for them to march their army in at; or they count
   upon dissecting or dividing the kingdom into two parts, one for the
   king of Israel, the other for the king of Syria, who had agreed in one
   viceroy--a king to be set in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal,
   some obscure person, it is uncertain whether a Syrian or an Israelite.
   So sure were they of gaining their point that they divided the prey
   before they had caught it. Note, Those that are most scornful are
   commonly least successful, for surely God scorns the scorners. [2.] God
   himself gives them his word that the attempt should not take effect (v.
   7): "Thus saith the Lord God, the sovereign Lord of all, who brings the
   counsel of the heathen to naught (Ps. xxxiii. 10), It shall not stand,
   neither shall it come to pass; their measures shall all be broken, and
   they shall not be able to bring to pass their enterprise." Note,
   Whatever stands against God, or thinks to stand without him, cannot
   stand long. Man purposes, but God disposes; and who is he that saith
   and it cometh to pass if the Lord commands it not or countermands it?
   Lam. iii. 37. See Prov. xix. 21.

   (4.) He must give them a prospect of the destruction of these enemies,
   at last, that were now such a terror to them. [1.] They should neither
   of them enlarge their dominions, nor push their conquests any further;
   The head city of Syria is Damascus, and the head man of Damascus is
   Rezin; this he glories in, and this let him be content with, v. 8. The
   head city of Ephraim has long been Samaria, and the head man in Samaria
   is now Pekah the son of Remaliah. These shall be made to know their
   own, their bounds are fixed, and they shall not pass them, to make
   themselves masters of the cities of Judah, much less to make Jerusalem
   their prey. Note, As God has appointed men the bounds of their
   habitation (Acts xvii. 26), so he has appointed princes the bounds of
   their dominion, within which they ought to confine themselves, and not
   encroach upon their neighbours' rights. [2.] Ephraim, which perhaps was
   the more malicious and forward enemy of the two, should shortly be
   quite rooted out, and should be so far from seizing other people's
   lands that they should not be able to hold their own. Interpreters are
   much at a loss how to compute the sixty-five years within which Ephraim
   shall cease to be a people; for the captivity of the ten tribes was but
   eleven years after this: and some make it a mistake of the transcriber,
   and think it should be read within six and five years, just eleven. But
   it is hard to allow that. Others make it to be sixty-five years from
   the time that the prophet Amos first foretold the ruin of the kingdom
   of the ten tribes; and some late interpreters make it to look as far
   forward as the last desolation of that country by Esarhaddon, which was
   about sixty-five years after this; then Ephraim was so broken that it
   was no more a people. Now it was the greatest folly in the world for
   those to be ruining their neighbours who were themselves marked for
   ruin, and so near to it. See what a prophet told them at this time,
   when they were triumphing over Judah, 2 Chron. xxviii. 10. Are there
   not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?

   (5.) He must urge them to mix faith with those assurances which he had
   given them (v. 9): "If you will not believe what is said to you, surely
   you shall not be established; your shaken and disordered state shall
   not be established, your unquiet unsettled spirit shall not; though the
   things told you are very encouraging, yet they will not be so to you,
   unless you believe them, and be willing to take God's word." Note, The
   grace of faith is absolutely necessary to the quieting and composing of
   the mind in the midst of all the tosses of this present time, 2 Chron.
   xx. 20.

    The Promise of Immanuel. (b. c. 740.)

   10 Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying,   11 Ask thee a
   sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height
   above.   12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the
   Lord.   13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small
   thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?   14
   Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin
   shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.   15
   Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and
   choose the good.   16 For before the child shall know to refuse the
   evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be
   forsaken of both her kings.

   Here, I. God, by the prophet, makes a gracious offer to Ahaz, to
   confirm the foregoing predictions, and his faith in them, by such sign
   or miracle as he should choose (v. 10, 11): Ask thee a sign of the Lord
   thy God; See here the divine faithfulness and veracity. God tells us
   nothing but what he is able and ready to prove. See his wonderful
   condescension to the children of men, in that he is so willing to show
   to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, Heb. vi. 17.
   He considers our frame, and that, living in a world of sense, we are
   apt to require sensible proofs, which therefore he has favoured us with
   in sacramental signs and seals. Ahaz was a bad man, yet God is called
   the Lord his God, because he was a child of Abraham and David, and of
   the covenants made with them. See how gracious God is even to the evil
   and unthankful; Ahaz is bidden to choose his sign, as Gideon about the
   fleece (Judg. vi. 37); let him ask for a sign in the air, or earth, or
   water, for God's power is the same in all.

   II. Ahaz rudely refuses this gracious offer, and (which is not mannerly
   towards any superior) kicks at the courtesy, and puts a slight upon it
   (v. 12): I will not ask. The true reason why he would not ask for a
   sign was because, having a dependence upon the Assyrians, their forces,
   and their gods, for help, he would not thus far be beholden to the God
   of Israel, or lay himself under obligations to him. He would not ask a
   sign for the confirming of his faith because he resolved to persist in
   his unbelief, and would indulge his doubts and distrusts; yet he
   pretends a pious reason: I will not tempt the Lord; as if it would be a
   tempting of God to do that which God himself invited and directed him
   to do. Note, A secret disaffection to God is often disguised with the
   specious colours of respect to him; and those who are resolved that
   they will not trust God yet pretend that they will not tempt him.

   III. The prophet reproves him and his court, him and the house of
   David, the whole royal family, for their contempt of prophecy, and the
   little value they had for divine revelation (v. 13) "Is it a small
   thing for you to weary men by your oppression and tyranny, with which
   you make yourselves burdensome and odious to all mankind? But will you
   weary my God also with the affronts you put upon him?" As the unjust
   judge that neither feared God nor regarded man, Luke xviii. 2. You have
   wearied the Lord with your words, Mal. ii. 17. Nothing is more grievous
   to the God of heaven than to be distrusted. "Will you weary my God?
   Will you suppose him to be tired and unable to help you, or to be weary
   of doing you good? Whereas the youths may faint and be weary, you may
   have tired all your friends, the Creator of the ends of the earth
   faints not, neither is weary." ch. xl. 28-31. Or this: "In affronting
   the prophets, you think you put a slight only upon men like yourselves,
   and consider not that you affront God himself, whose messengers they
   are, and put a slight upon him, who will resent it accordingly." The
   prophet here calls God his God with a great deal of pleasure: Ahaz
   would not say, He is my God, though the prophet had invited him to say
   so (v. 11): The Lord thy God; but Isaiah will say, "He is mine." Note,
   Whatever others do, we must avouch the Lord for ours and abide by him.

   IV. The prophet, in God's name, gives them a sign: "You will not ask a
   sign, but the unbelief of man shall not make the promise of God of no
   effect: The Lord himself shall give you a sign (v. 14), a double sign."

   1. "A sign in general of his good-will to Israel and to the house of
   David. You may conclude it that he has mercy in store for you, and that
   you are not forsaken of your God, how great soever your present
   distress and danger are; for of your nation, of your family, the
   Messiah is to be born, and you cannot be destroyed while that blessing
   is in you, which shall be introduced," (1.) "In a glorious manner; for,
   whereas you have been often told that he should be born among you, I am
   now further to tell you that he shall be born of a virgin, which will
   signify both the divine power and the divine purity with which he shall
   be brought into the world,--that he shall be a extraordinary person,
   for he shall not be born by ordinary generation,--and that he shall be
   a holy thing, not stained with the common pollutions of the human
   nature, therefore incontestably fit to have the throne of his father
   David given him." Now this, though it was to be accomplished above 500
   years after, was a most encouraging sign to the house of David (and to
   them, under that title, this prophecy is directed, v. 13) and an
   assurance that God would not cast them off. Ephraim did indeed envy
   Judah (ch. xi. 13) and sought the ruin of that kingdom, but could not
   prevail; for the sceptre should never depart from Judah till the coming
   of Shiloh, Gen. xlix. 10. Those whom God designs for the great
   salvation may take that for a sign to them that they shall not be
   swallowed up by any trouble they meet with in the way. (2.) The Messiah
   shall be introduced on a glorious errand, wrapped up in his glorious
   name: They shall call his name Immanuel--God with us, God in our
   nature, God at peace with us, in covenant with us. This was fulfilled
   in their calling him Jesus--a Saviour (Matt. i. 21-25), for, if he had
   not been Immanuel--God with us, he could not have been Jesus--a
   Saviour. Now this was a further sign of God's favour to the house of
   David and the tribe of Judah; for he that intended to work this great
   salvation among them no doubt would work out for them all those other
   salvations which were to be the types and figures of this, and as it
   were preludes to this. "Here is a sign for you, not in the depth nor in
   the height, but in the prophecy, in the promise, in the covenant made
   with David, which you are no strangers to. The promised seed shall be
   Immanuel, God with us; let that word comfort you (ch. viii. 10), that
   God is with us, and (v. 8) that your land is Immanuel's land. Let not
   the heart of the house of David be moved thus (v. 2), nor let Judah
   fear the setting up of the son of Tabeal (v. 6), for nothing can cut
   off the entail on the Son of David that shall be Immanuel." Note, The
   strongest consolations, in time of trouble, are those which are
   borrowed from Christ, our relation to him, our interest in him, and our
   expectations of him and from him. Of this child it is further foretold
   (v. 15) that though he shall not be born like other children, but of a
   virgin, yet he shall be really and truly man, and shall be nursed and
   brought up like other children: Butter and honey shall he eat, as other
   children do, particularly the children of that land which flowed with
   milk and honey. Though he be conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost,
   yet he shall not therefore be fed with angels' food, but, as it becomes
   him, shall be in all things made like unto his brethren, Heb. ii. 17.
   Nor shall he, though born thus by extraordinary generation, be a man
   immediately, but, as other children, shall advance gradually through
   the several states of infancy, childhood, and youth, to that of
   manhood, and growing in wisdom and stature, shall at length wax strong
   in spirit, and come to maturity, so as to know how to refuse the evil
   and choose the good. See Luke ii. 40, 52. Note, Children are fed when
   they are little that they may be taught and instructed when they have
   grown up; they have their maintenance in order to their education.

   2. Here is another sign in particular of the speedy destruction of
   these potent princes that were now a terror to Judah, v. 16. "Before
   this child (so it should be read), this child which I have now in my
   arms" (he means not Immanuel, but Shear-jashub his own son, whom he was
   ordered to take with him for a sign, v. 3), "before this child shall
   know how to refuse the evil and choose the good" (and those who saw
   what his present stature and forwardness were would easily conjecture
   how long that would be), "before this child be three or four years
   older, the land that thou abhorrest, these confederate forces of
   Israelites and Syrians, which thou hast such an enmity to and standest
   in such dread of, shall be forsaken of both their kings, both Pekah and
   Rezin," who were in so close an alliance that they seemed as if they
   were the kings of but one kingdom. This was fully accomplished; for
   within two or three years after this, Hoshea conspired against Pekah,
   and slew him (2 Kings xv. 30), and, before that, the king of Assyria
   took Damascus, and slew Rezin, 2 Kings xvi. 9. Nay, there was a present
   event, which happened immediately, and when this child carried the
   prediction of in his name, which was a pledge and earnest of this
   future event. Shear-jashub signifies The remnant shall return, which
   doubtless points at the wonderful return of those 200,000 captives whom
   Pekah and Rezin had carried away, who were brought back, not by might
   or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. Read the story, 2
   Chron. xxviii. 8-15. The prophetical naming of this child having thus
   had its accomplishment, no doubt this, which was further added
   concerning him, should have its accomplishment likewise, that Syria and
   Israel should be deprived of both their kings. One mercy from God
   encourages us to hope for another, if it engages us to prepare for
   another.

    Judgments Announced. (b. c. 740.)

   17 The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy
   father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim
   departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.   18 And it shall come
   to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in
   the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in
   the land of Assyria.   19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of
   them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon
   all thorns, and upon all bushes.   20 In the same day shall the Lord
   shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by
   the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall
   also consume the beard.   21 And it shall come to pass in that day,
   that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;   22 And it shall
   come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall
   eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in
   the land.   23 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place
   shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings,
   it shall even be for briers and thorns.   24 With arrows and with bows
   shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and
   thorns.   25 And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock,
   there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it
   shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser
   cattle.

   After the comfortable promises made to Ahaz as a branch of the house of
   David, here follow terrible threatenings against him, as a degenerate
   branch of that house; for though the loving-kindness of God shall not
   be utterly taken away, for the sake of David and the covenant made with
   him, yet his iniquity shall be chastened with the rod, and his sin with
   stripes. Let those that will not mix faith with the promises of God
   expect to hear the alarms of his threatenings.

   I. The judgment threatened is very great, v. 17. It is very great, for
   it is general; it shall be brought upon the prince himself (high as he
   is, he shall not be out of the reach of it), and upon the people, the
   whole body of the nation, and upon the royal family, upon all thy
   father's house; it shall be a judgment entailed on posterity, and shall
   go along with the royal blood. It is very great, for it shall be
   unprecedented--days that have not come; so dark, so gloomy, so
   melancholy, as never were the like since the revolt of the ten tribes,
   when Ephraim departed from Judah, which was indeed a sad time to the
   house of David. Note, The longer men continue in sin the sorer
   punishments they have reason to expect. It is the Lord that will bring
   these days upon them, for our times are in his hand, and who can resist
   or escape the judgments he brings?

   II. The enemy that should be employed as the instrument of this
   judgment is the king of Assyria. Ahaz reposed great confidence in that
   prince for help against the confederate powers of Israel and Syria, and
   minded the less what God said to him by his prophet for his
   encouragement because he built much upon his interest in the king of
   Assyria, and had meanly promised to be his servant if he would send him
   some succours; he had also, made him a present of gold and silver, for
   which he drained the treasures both of church and state, 2 Kings xvi.
   7, 8. Now God threatens that that king of Assyria whom he made his stay
   instead of God should become a scourge to him. He was so speedily; for,
   when he came to him, he distressed him, but strengthened him not (2
   Chron. xxviii. 20), the reed not only broke under him, but ran into his
   hand, and pierced it, and thenceforward the kings of Assyria were, for
   a long time, grieving thorns to Judah, and gave them a great deal of
   trouble. Note, The creature that we make our hope commonly proves our
   hurt. The king of Assyria, not long after this, made himself master of
   the ten tribes, carried them captive, and laid their country waste, so
   as fully to answer the prediction here; and perhaps it may refer to
   that, as an explication of v. 8, where it is foretold that Ephraim
   shall be broken, that it shall not be a people; and it is easy to
   suppose that the prophet (at v. 17) turns his speech to the king of
   Israel, denouncing God's judgments against him for invading Judah. But
   the expositors universally understand it of Ahaz and his kingdom. Now
   observe, 1. Summons given to the invaders (v. 18): The Lord shall
   whistle for the fly and the bee. See ch. v. 26. Enemies that seem as
   contemptible as a fly or a bee, and are as easily crushed, shall yet,
   when God pleases, do his work as effectually as lions and young lions.
   Though they are as far distant from one another as the rivers of Egypt
   and the land of Assyria, yet they shall punctually meet to join in this
   work when God commands their attendance; for, when God has work to do,
   he will not be at a loss for instruments to do it with. 2. Possession
   taken by them, v. 19. It should seem as if the country were in no
   condition to make resistance. They find no difficulties in forcing
   their way, but come and rest all of them in the desolate valleys, which
   the inhabitants had deserted upon the first alarm, and left them a
   cheap and easy prey to the invaders. They shall come and rest in the
   low grounds like swarms of flies and bees, and shall render themselves
   impregnable by taking shelter in the holes of the rocks, as bees often
   do, and showing themselves formidable by appearing openly upon all
   thorns and all bushes; so generally shall the land be overspread with
   them. These bees shall knit upon the thorns and bushes, and there rest
   undisturbed. 3. Great desolations made, and the country generally
   depopulated (v. 20): The Lord shall shave the hair of the head, and
   beard, and feet; he shall sweep all away, as the leper, when he was
   cleansed, shaved off all his hair, Lev. xiv. 8, 9. This is done with a
   razor which is hired, either which God has hired (as if he had none of
   his own; but what he hires, and whom he employs in any service for him,
   he will pay for. See Ezek. xxix. 18, 19), or which Ahaz has hired for
   his assistance. God will make that to be an instrument of his
   destruction which he hired into his service. Note, Many are beaten with
   that arm of flesh which they trusted to rather than to the arm of the
   Lord, and which they were at a great expense upon, when by faith and
   prayer they might have found cheap and easy succour in God. 4. The
   consequences of this general depopulation. (1.) The flocks of cattle
   shall be all destroyed, so that a man who had herds and flocks in
   abundance shall be stripped of them all by the enemy, and shall with
   much ado save for his own use a young cow and two sheep--a poor stock
   (v. 21), yet he shall think himself happy in having any left. (2.) The
   few cattle that are left shall have such a large compass of ground to
   feed in that they shall give abundance of milk, and very good milk,
   such as shall produce butter enough, v. 22. There shall also be such
   want of men that the milk of one cow and two sheep shall serve a whole
   family, which used to keep abundance of servants and consume a great
   deal, but is now reduced. (3.) The breed of cattle shall be destroyed;
   so that those who used to eat flesh ( as the Jews commonly did) shall
   be necessitated to confine themselves to butter and honey, for there
   shall be no flesh for them; and the country shall be so depopulated
   that there shall be butter and honey enough for the few that are left
   in it. (4.) Good land, that used to be let well, shall be all overrun
   with briers and thorns (v. 23); where there used to be a thousand vines
   planted, for which the tenants used to pay a thousand shekels, or
   pieces of silver, yearly rent, there shall be nothing now but briers
   and thorns, no profit either for landlord or tenant, all being laid
   waste by the army of the invaders. Note, God can soon turn a fruitful
   land into barrenness; and it is just with him to turn vines into briers
   if we, instead of bringing forth grapes to him, bring forth wild
   grapes, ch. v. 4. (5.) The implements of husbandry shall be turned into
   instruments of war, v. 24. The whole land having become briers and
   thorns, the grounds that men used to come to with sickles and
   pruning-hooks to gather in the fruits they shall now come to with
   arrows and bows, to hunt for wild beasts in the thickets, or to defend
   themselves from the robbers that lurk in the bushes, seeking for prey,
   or to kill the serpents and venomous beasts that are hid there. This
   denotes a very sad change of the face of that pleasant land. But what
   melancholy change is there which sin will not make with a people? (6.)
   Where briers and thorns were wont to be of use and to do good service,
   even in the hedges, for the defence of the enclosed grounds, they shall
   be plucked up, and all laid in common. There shall be briers and thorns
   in abundance where they should not be, but none where they should be,
   v. 25. The hills that shall be digged with the mattock, for special
   use, from which the cattle used to be kept off with the fear of briers
   and thorns, shall now be thrown open, the hedges broken down for the
   boar out of the wood to waste it, Ps. lxxx. 12, 13. It shall be left at
   large for oxen to run in and less cattle. See the effect of sin and the
   curse; it has made the earth a forest of thorns and thistles, except as
   it is forced into some order by the constant care and labour of man.
   And see what folly it is to set our hearts upon possessions of lands,
   be they every so fruitful, ever so pleasant; if they lie ever so little
   neglected and uncultivated, or if they be abused by a wasteful careless
   heir or tenant, or the country be laid waste by war, they will soon
   become frightful deserts. Heaven is a paradise not subject to such
   changes.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. VIII.

   This chapter, and the four next that follow it (to chap. xiii.) are all
   one continued discourse or sermon, the scope of which is to show the
   great destruction that should now shortly be brought upon the kingdom
   of Israel, and the great disturbance that should be given to the
   kingdom of Judah by the king of Assyria, and that both were for their
   sins; but rich provision is made of comfort for those that feared God
   in those dark times, referring especially to the days of the Messiah.
   In this chapter we have, I. A prophecy of the destruction of the
   confederate kingdoms of Syria and Israel by the king of Assyria, ver.
   1-4. II. Of the desolations that should be made by that proud
   victorious prince in the land of Israel and Judah, ver. 5-8. III. Great
   encouragement given to the people of God in the midst of those
   distractions; they are assured, 1. That the enemies shall not gain
   their point against them, ver. 9, 10. 2. That if they kept up the fear
   of God, and kept down the fear of man, they should find God their
   refuge (ver. 11-14), and while others stumbled, and fell into despair,
   they should be enabled to wait on God, and should see themselves
   reserved for better times, ver. 15-18. Lastly, He gives a necessary
   caution to all, at their peril, not to consult with familiar spirits,
   for they would thereby throw themselves into despair, but to keep close
   to the word of God, ver. 19-22. And these counsels and these comforts
   will still be of use to us in time of trouble.

    Judgments Announced. (b. c. 740.)

   1 Moreover the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in
   it with a man's pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.   2 And I took
   unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah
   the son of Jeberechiah.   3 And I went unto the prophetess; and she
   conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, Call his name
   Maher-shalal-hash-baz.   4 For before the child shall have knowledge to
   cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of
   Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.   5 The Lord
   spake also unto me again, saying,   6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth
   the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and
   Remaliah's son;   7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon
   them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of
   Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels,
   and go over all his banks:   8 And he shall pass through Judah; he
   shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the
   stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O
   Immanuel.

   In these verses we have a prophecy of the successes of the king of
   Assyria against Damascus, Samaria, and Judah, that the two former
   should be laid waste by him, and the last greatly frightened. Here we
   have,

   I. Orders given to the prophet to write this prophecy, and publish it
   to be seen and read of all men, and to leave it upon record, that when
   the thing came to pass they might know that God had sent him; for that
   was one end of prophecy, John xiv. 29. He must take a great roll, which
   would contain those five chapters fairly written in words at length;
   and he must write in it all that he had foretold concerning the king of
   Assyria's invading the country; he must write it with a man's pen, in
   the usual way and style of writing, so as that it might be legible and
   intelligible by all. See Hab. ii. 2, Write the vision, and make it
   plain. Those that speak and write of the things of God should avoid
   obscurity, and study to speak and write so as to be understood, 1 Cor.
   xiv. 19. Those that write for men should write with a man's pen, and
   not covet the pen or tongue of angels. And forasmuch as it is usual to
   put some short, but significant comprehensive title before books that
   are published, the prophet is directed to call his book
   Maher-shalal-hash-baz--Make speed to the spoil, hasten to the prey,
   intimating that the Assyrian army should come upon them with great
   speed and make great spoil. By this title the substance and meaning of
   the book would be enquired after by those that heard of it, and
   remembered by those that had read it or heard it read. It is sometimes
   a good help to memory to put much matter in few words, which serve as
   handles by which we take hold of more.

   II. The care of the prophet to get this record well attested (v. 2): I
   took unto me faithful witnesses to record; he wrote the prophecy in
   their sight and presence, and made them subscribe their names to it,
   that they might be ready, if afterwards there should be occasion, to
   make oath of it, that the prophet had so long before foretold the
   descent which the Assyrians made upon that country. He names his
   witnesses for the greater certainty, that they might be appealed to by
   any. They were two in number (for out of the mouth of two witnesses
   shall every word be established); one was Uriah the priest; he is
   mentioned in the story of Ahaz, but for none of his good deeds, for he
   humoured Ahaz with an idolatrous altar (2 Kings xvi. 10, 11); however,
   at this time, no exception lay against him, being a faithful witness.
   See what full satisfaction the prophets took care to give to all
   persons concerned of the sincerity of their intentions, that we might
   know with a full assurance the certainty of the things wherein we have
   been instructed, and that we have not followed cunningly-devised
   fables.

   III. The making of the title of his book the name of his child, that it
   might be the more taken notice of and the more effectually perpetuated,
   v. 3. His wife (because the wife of a prophet) is called the
   prophetess; she conceived and bore a son, another son, who must carry a
   sermon in his name, as the former had done (ch. vii. 3), but with this
   difference, that spoke mercy, Shear-jashub--The remnant shall return;
   but, that being slighted, this speaks judgment,
   Maher-shalal-hash-baz--In making speed to the spoil he shall hasten, or
   he has hastened, to the prey. The prophecy is doubled, even in this one
   name, for the thing was certain. I will hasten my word, Jer. i. 12.
   Every time the child was called by his name, or any part of it, it
   would serve as a memorandum of the judgments approaching. Note, It is
   good for us often to put ourselves in mind of the changes and troubles
   we are liable to in this world, and which perhaps are at the door. When
   we look with pleasure on our children it should be with the allay of
   this thought, We know not what they are yet reserved for.

   IV. The prophecy itself, which explains this mystical name.

   1. That Syria and Israel, who were now in confederacy against Judah,
   should in a very little time become an easy prey to the king of Assyria
   and his victorious army (v. 4): "Before the child, now newly born and
   named, shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and My mother" (which
   are usually some of the first things that children know and some of the
   first words that children speak), that is, "in about a year or two, the
   riches of Damascus, and the spoil of Samaria, those cities that are now
   so secure themselves and so formidable to their neighbours, shall be
   taken away before the king of Assyria, who shall plunder both city and
   country, and send the best effects of both into his own land, to enrich
   that, and as trophies of his victory." Note, Those that spoil others
   must expect to be themselves spoiled (ch. xxxiii. 1); for the Lord is
   righteous, and those that are troublesome shall be troubled.

   2. That forasmuch as there were many in Judah that were secretly in the
   interests of Syria and Israel, and were disaffected to the house of
   David, God would chastise them also by the king of Assyria, who should
   create a great deal of vexation to Judah, as was foretold, ch. vii. 17.
   Observe, (1.) What was the sin of the discontented party in Judah (v.
   6): This people, whom the prophet here speaks to, refuse the waters of
   Shiloah that go softly, despise their own country and the government of
   it, and love to run it down, because it does not make so great a
   figure, and so great a noise, in the world, as some other kings and
   kingdoms do. They refuse the comforts which God's prophets offer them
   from the word of God, speaking to them in a still small voice, and make
   nothing of them; but they rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son, who were
   the enemies of their country, and were now actually invading it; they
   cried them up as brave men, magnified their policies and strength,
   applauded their conduct, were well pleased with their successes, and
   were hearty well-wishers to their designs, and resolved to desert and
   go over to them. Such vipers does many a state foster in its bosom,
   that eat its bread, and yet adhere to its enemies, and are ready to
   quit its interests if they but seem to totter. (2.) The judgment which
   God would bring upon them for this sin. The same king of Assyria that
   should lay Ephraim and Syria waste should be a scourge and terror to
   those of their party in Judah, v. 7, 8. Because they refuse the waters
   of Shiloah, and will not accommodate themselves to the government God
   has set over them, but are uneasy under it, therefore the Lord brings
   upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, the river
   Euphrates. They slighted the land of Judah, because it had no river to
   boast of comparable to that; the river at Jerusalem was a very
   inconsiderable one. "Well," says God, "if you be such admirers of
   Euphrates, you shall have enough of it; the king of Assyria, whose
   country lies upon that river, shall come with his glory, with his great
   army, which you cry up as his glory, despising your own king because he
   cannot bring such an army as that into the field; God shall bring that
   army upon you." If we value men, if we over-value them, for their
   worldly wealth and power, it is just with God to make them thereby a
   scourge to us. It is used as an argument against magnifying rich men
   that rich men oppress us, Jam. ii. 3, 5. Let us be best pleased with
   the waters of Shiloah, that go softly, for rapid streams are dangerous.
   It is threatened that the Assyrian army should break in upon them like
   a deluge, or inundation of waters, bearing down all before it, should
   come up over all his channels, and overflow all his banks. It would be
   to no purpose to oppose or withstand them. Sennacherib and his army
   should pass through Judah, and meet with so little resistance that it
   should look more like a march through the country than a descent upon
   it. He shall reach even to the neck, that is, he shall advance so far
   as to lay siege to Jerusalem, the head of the kingdom, and nothing but
   that shall be kept out of his hands; for that was the holy city. Note,
   In the greatest deluge of trouble God can and will keep the head of his
   people above water, and so preserve their comforts and spiritual lives;
   the waters that come into their souls may reach to the neck (Ps. lxix.
   1), but there shall their proud waves be stayed. And here is another
   comfortable intimation that though the stretching out of the wings of
   the Assyrian, that bird of prey, though the right and left wing of his
   army, should fill the breadth of the land of Judah, yet still it was
   Immanuel's land. It is thy land, O Immanuel! It was to be Christ's
   land; for there he was to be born, and live, and preach, and work
   miracles. He was Zion's King, and therefore had a peculiar interest in
   and concern for that land. Note, The lands that Immanuel owns for his,
   as he does all those lands that own him, though they may be deluged,
   shall not be destroyed; for, when the enemy shall come in like a flood,
   Immanuel shall secure his own, and shall lift up a standard against
   him, ch. lix. 19.

    Judah's Encouragement. (b. c. 740.)

   9 Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces;
   and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be
   broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
   10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word,
   and it shall not stand: for God is with us.   11 For the Lord spake
   thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk
   in the way of this people, saying,   12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to
   all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye
   their fear, nor be afraid.   13 Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and
   let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.   14 And he shall be
   for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence
   to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the
   inhabitants of Jerusalem.   15 And many among them shall stumble, and
   fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

   The prophet here returns to speak of the present distress that Ahaz and
   his court and kingdom were in upon account of the threatening
   confederacy of the ten tribes and the Syrians against them. And in
   these verses,

   I. He triumphs over the invading enemies, and, in effect, sets them at
   defiance, and bids them do their worst (v. 9, 10): "O you people, you
   of far countries, give ear to what the prophet says to you in God's
   name." 1. "We doubt not but you will now make your utmost efforts
   against Judah and Jerusalem. You associate yourselves in a strict
   alliance. You gird yourselves, and again you gird yourselves; you
   prepare for action; you address yourselves to it with resolution; you
   gird on your swords; you gird up your loins. You animate and encourage
   yourselves and one another with all the considerations you can think
   of: you take counsel together, call councils of war, and all heads are
   at work about the proper methods for making yourselves masters of the
   land of Judah. You speak the word; you come to resolutions concerning
   it, and are not always deliberating; you determine what to do, and are
   very confident of the success of it, that the matter will be
   accomplished with a word's speaking." Note, It is with a great deal of
   policy, resolution, and assurance, that the church's enemies carry on
   their designs against it; and abundance of pains they take to roll a
   stone that will certainly return upon them. 2. "This is to let you know
   that all your efforts will be ineffectual. You cannot, you shall not,
   gain your point, nor carry the day: You shall be broken in pieces.
   Though you associate yourselves, though you gird yourselves, though you
   proceed with all the policy and precaution imaginable, yet, I tell you
   again and again, all your projects shall be baffled, you shall be
   broken in pieces. Nay, not only shall your attempts be ruined, but your
   attempts shall be your ruin; you shall be broken by those designs you
   have formed against Jerusalem: Your counsels shall come to nought; for
   there is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord. Your resolves will not
   be put in execution; they shall not stand. You speak the word, but who
   is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, if the Lord commandeth it not?
   What sets up itself against God, and his cause and counsel, cannot
   stand, but must inevitably fall. For God is with us" (this refers to
   the name of Immanuel--God with us); "the Messiah is to be born among
   us, and a people designed for such an honour cannot be given up to
   utter ruin. We have now the special presence of God with us in his
   temple, his oracles, his promises, and these are our defence. God is
   with us; he is on our side, to take our part and fight for us; and, if
   God be for us, who can be against us?" Thus does the daughter of Zion
   despise them.

   II. He comforts and encourages the people of God with the same comforts
   and encouragements which he himself had received. The attempt made upon
   them was very formidable; the house of David, the court and royal
   family, were at their wits' end (ch. vii. 2), and then no marvel if the
   people were in a consternation. Now,

   1. The prophet tells us how he was himself taught of God not to give
   way to such amazing fears as the people were disturbed with, nor to run
   into the same measures with them (v. 11): "The Lord spoke to me with a
   strong hand not to walk in the way of this people, not to say as they
   say nor do as they do, not to entertain the same frightful
   apprehensions of things nor to approve of their projects of making
   peace upon any terms, or calling in the help of the Assyrians." God
   instructed the prophet not to go down the stream. Note, (1.) There is a
   proneness in the best of men to be frightened at threatening clouds,
   especially when fears are epidemic. We are all too apt to walk in the
   way of the people we live among, though it be not a good way. (2.)
   Those whom God loves and owns he will instruct and enable to swim
   against the stream of common corruptions, particularly of common fears.
   He will find ways to teach his own people not to walk in the way of
   other people, but in a sober singularity. (3.) Corruption is sometimes
   so active in the hearts even of good men that they have need to be
   taught their duty with a strong hand, and it is God's prerogative to
   teach so, for he only can give an understanding and overpower the
   contradiction of unbelief and prejudice. He can teach the heart; and
   herein none teaches like him. (4.) Those that are to teach others have
   need to be themselves well instructed in their duty, and then they
   teach most powerfully when they teach experimentally. The word that
   comes from the heart is most likely to reach to the heart; and what we
   are ourselves by the grace of God instructed in we should, as we are
   able, teach others also.

   2. Now what is it that he says to God's people?

   (1.) He cautions them against a sinful fear, v. 12. It seems it was the
   way of this people at this time, and fear is catching. He whose heart
   fails him makes his brethren's heart to fail, like his heart (Deut. xx.
   8); therefore Say you not, A confederacy, to all those to whom this
   people shall say, A confederacy; that is, [1.] "Be not associated with
   them in the confederacies they are projecting and forecasting for. Do
   not join with those that, for the securing of themselves, are for
   making a league with the Assyrians, through unbelief, and distrust of
   God and their cause. Do not come into any such confederacy." Note, It
   concerns us, in time of trouble, to watch against all such fears as put
   us upon taking any indirect courses for our own security. [2.] "Be not
   afraid of the confederacies they frighten themselves and one another
   with. Do not distress yourselves with the apprehension of a confederacy
   upon every thing that stirs, nor, when any little thing is amiss, cry
   out presently, There is a plot, a plot. When they talk what dismal news
   there is, Syria is joined with Ephraim, what will become of us? must we
   fight, or must we flee, or must we yield? do not you fear their fear:
   Be not afraid of the signs of heaven, as the heathen are, Jer. x. 2. Be
   not afraid of evil tidings on earth, but let your hearts be fixed. Fear
   not that which they fear, nor be afraid as they are. Be not put into
   such a fright as causes trembling and shaking;" so the word signifies.
   Note, When the church's enemies have sinful confederacies on foot the
   church's friends should watch against the sinful fears of those
   confederacies.

   (2.) He advises them to a gracious religious fear: But sanctify the
   Lord of hosts himself, v. 13. Note, The believing fear of God is a
   special preservative against the disquieting fear of man; see 1 Pet.
   iii. 14, 15, where this is quoted, and applied to suffering Christians.
   [1.] We must look upon God as the Lord of hosts, that has all power in
   his hand and all creatures at his beck. [2.] We must sanctify him
   accordingly, give him the glory due to that name, and behave towards
   him as those that believe him to be a holy God. [3.] We must make him
   our fear, the object of our fear, and make him our dread, keep up a
   reverence of his providence and stand in awe of his sovereignty, be
   afraid of his displeasure and silently acquiesce in all his disposals.
   Were we but duly affected with the greatness and glory of God, we
   should see the pomp of our enemies eclipsed and clouded, and all their
   power restrained and under check; see Neh. iv. 14. Those that are
   afraid of the reproach of men forget the Lord their Maker, ch. li. 12,
   13. Compare Luke xii. 4, 5.

   (3.) He assures them of a holy security and serenity of mind in so
   doing (v. 14): "He shall be for a sanctuary; make him your fear, and
   you shall find him your hope, your help, your defence, and your mighty
   deliverer. He will sanctify and preserve you. He will be for a
   sanctuary," [1.] "To make you holy. He will be your sanctification;" so
   some read it. If we sanctify God by our praises, he will sanctify us by
   his grace. [2.] "To make you easy. He will be your sanctuary," to which
   you may flee for safety, and where you are privileged form all the
   arrests of fear; you shall find an inviolable refuge and security in
   him, and see yourselves our of the reach of danger. Those that truly
   fear God shall not need to fear any evil.

   III. He threatens the ruin of the ungodly and unbelieving, both in
   Judah and Israel. They have no part nor lot in the foregoing comforts;
   that God who will be a sanctuary to those who trust in him will be a
   stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, to those who leave these
   waters of Shiloah, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son, (v. 6), who
   make the creature their fear and their hope, v. 14, 15. The prophet
   foresees that the greatest part of both the houses of Israel would not
   sanctify the Lord of hosts, and to them he would be for a gin and a
   snare; he would be a terror to them, as he would be a support and stay
   to those that trusted in him. Instead of profiting by the word of God,
   they should be offended at it; and the providences of God, instead of
   leading them to him, would drive them from him. What was a savour of
   life unto life to others would be a savour of death unto death to them.
   "So that many among them shall stumble and fall; they shall fall both
   into sin and into ruin; they shall fall by the sword, shall be taken
   prisoners, and go into captivity." Note, If the things of God be an
   offence to us, they will be an undoing to us. Some apply this to the
   unbelieving Jews, who rejected Christ, and to whom he became a stone of
   stumbling; for the apostle quotes this scripture with application to
   all those who persisted in their unbelief of the gospel of Christ (1
   Pet. ii. 8); to them he is a rock of offence, because, being
   disobedient to the word, they stumble at it.

    The Importance of the Scriptures. (b. c. 740.)

   16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.   17 And I
   will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob,
   and I will look for him.   18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord
   hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of
   hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.   19 And when they shall say unto
   you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that
   peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the
   living to the dead?   20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak
   not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
   21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it
   shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret
   themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.   22
   And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness,
   dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

   In these verses we have,

   I. The unspeakable privilege which the people of God enjoy in having
   the oracles of God consigned over to them, and being entrusted with the
   sacred writings. That they may sanctify the Lord of hosts, may make him
   their fear and find him their sanctuary, bind up the testimony, v. 16.
   Note, It is a great instance of God's care of his church and love to it
   that he has lodged in it the invaluable treasure of divine revelation.
   1. It is a testimony and a law; not only this prophecy is so, which
   must therefore be preserved safely for the comfort of God's people in
   the approaching times of trouble and distress, but the whole word of
   God is so; God has attested it, and he has enjoined it. As a testimony
   it directs our faith; as a law it directs our practice; and we ought
   both to subscribe to the truths of it and to submit to the precepts of
   it. 2. This testimony and this law are bound up and sealed, for we are
   not to add to them nor diminish from them; they are a letter from God
   to man, folded up and sealed, a proclamation under the broad seal. The
   binding up and sealing of the Old Testament signified that the full
   explication of many of the prophecies of it was reserved for the
   New-Testament times. Dan. xii. 4, Seal the book till the time of the
   end; but what was then bound up and sealed is now open and unsealed,
   and revealed unto babes, Matt. xi. 25. Yet with reference to the other
   world, and the future state, still the testimony is bound up and
   sealed, for we know but in part, and prophesy but in part. 3. They are
   lodged as a sacred deposit in the hands of the disciples of the
   children of the prophets and the covenant, Acts iii. 25. This is the
   good thing which is committed to them, and which they are charged with
   the custody of, 2 Tim. i. 13, 14. Those that had prophets for their
   tutors must still keep close to the written word.

   II. The good use which we ought to make of this privilege. This we are
   taught,

   1. By the prophet's own practice and resolutions, v. 17, 18. He
   embraced the law ad the testimony, and he had the comfort of them, in
   the midst of the many discouragements he met with. Note, Those
   ministers can best recommend the word of God to others that have
   themselves found the satisfaction of relying upon it. Observe,

   (1.) The discouragements which the prophet laboured under. He specifies
   two:--[1.] The frowns of God, not so much upon himself, but upon his
   people, whose interests lay very near his heart: "He hides his face
   from the house of Jacob, and seems at present to neglect them, and lay
   them under the tokens of his displeasure." The prophet was himself
   employed in revealing God's wrath against them, and yet grieved thus
   for it, as one that did not desire the woeful day. If the house of
   Jacob forsake the God of Jacob, let it not be thought strange that he
   hides his face from them. [2.] The contempt and reproaches of men, not
   only upon himself, but upon his disciples, among whom the law and the
   testimony were sealed: I and the children whom the Lord has given me
   are for signs and wonders; we are gazed at as monsters or outlandish
   people, pointed at as we go along the streets. Probably the prophetical
   names that were given to his children were ridiculed and bantered by
   the profane scoffers of the town. I am as a wonder unto many, Ps. lxxi.
   7. God's people are the world's wonder (Zech. iii. 8) for their
   singularity, and because they run not with them to the same excess of
   riot, 1 Pet. iv. 4. The prophet was herein a type of Christ; for this
   is quoted (Heb. ii. 13) to prove that believers are Christ's children:
   Behold, I and the children whom God has given me. Parents must look
   upon their children as God's gifts, his gracious gifts; Jacob did so,
   Gen. xxxiii. 5. Ministers must look upon their converts as their
   children, and be tender of them accordingly (1 Thess. ii. 7), and as
   the children whom God has given them; for, whatever good we are
   instrumental of to others, it is owing to the grace of God. Christ
   looks upon believers as his children, whom the Father gave him (John
   xvii. 6), and both he and they are for signs and wonders, spoken
   against (Luke ii. 34), every where spoken against, Acts xxviii. 22.

   (2.) The encouragement he took in reference to these discouragements.
   [1.] He saw the hand of God in all that which was discouraging to him,
   and kept his eye upon that. Whatever trouble the house of Jacob is in,
   it comes from God's hiding his face; nay, whatever contempt was put
   upon him or his friends, it is from the Lord of hosts; he has bidden
   Shimei curse David, Job xix. 13; xxx. 11. [2.] He saw God dwelling in
   Mount Zion, manifesting himself to his people, and ready to hear their
   prayers and receive their homage. Though, for the present, he hide his
   face from the house of Jacob, yet they know where to find him and
   recover the sight of him; he dwells in Mount Zion. [3.] He therefore
   resolved to wait upon the Lord and to look for him; to attend his
   motions even while he hid his face, and to expect with a humble
   assurance his returns in a way of mercy. Those that wait upon God by
   faith and prayer may look for him with hope and joy. When we have not
   sensible comforts we must still keep up our observance of God and
   obedience to him, and then wait awhile; at evening time it shall be
   light.

   2. By the counsel and advice which he gives to his disciples, among
   whom the law and the testimony were sealed, to whom were committed the
   lively oracles.

   (1.) He supposes they would be tempted, in the day of their distress,
   to consult those that had familiar spirits, that dealt with the devil,
   asked his advice, and desired to be informed by him concerning things
   to come, that they might take their measures accordingly. Thus Saul,
   when he was in straits, made his application to the witch of Endor (1
   Sam. xxviii. 7, 15), and Ahaziah to the god of Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2.
   These conjurors had strange fantastic gestures and tones: They peeped
   and muttered; they muffled their heads, that they could neither see nor
   be seen plainly, but peeped and were peeped at. Or both the words here
   used may refer to their voice and manner of speaking; they delivered
   what they had to say with a low, hollow, broken sound, scarcely
   articulate, and sometimes in a puling or mournful tone, like a crane,
   or a swallow, or a dove, ch. xxxviii. 14. They spoke not with that
   boldness and plainness which the prophets of the Lord spoke with, but
   as those who desire to amuse people rather than to instruct them; yet
   there were those who were so wretchedly sottish as to seek to them and
   to court others to do so, even the prophet's hearers, who knew better
   things, whom therefore the prophet warns not to say, A confederacy with
   such. There were express laws against this wickedness (Lev. xix. 31;
   xx. 27), and yet it was found in Israel, is found even in Christian
   nations; but let all that have any sense of religion show it, by
   startling at the thought of it. Get thee behind me, Satan. Dread the
   use of spells and charms, and consulting those that by hidden arts
   pretend to tell fortunes, cure diseases, or discover things lost; for
   this is a heinous crime, and, in effect, denies the God that is above.

   (2.) He furnishes them with an answer to this temptation, puts words
   into their mouths. "If any go about thus to ensnare you, give them this
   reply: Should not a people seek to their God? What! for the living to
   the dead!" [1.] "Tell them it is a principle of religion that a people
   ought to seek unto their God; now Jehovah is our God, and therefore to
   him we ought to seek, and to consult with him, and not with those that
   have familiar spirits. All people will thus walk in the name of their
   God, Mic. iv. 5. Those that made the hosts of heaven their gods sought
   unto them, Jer. viii. 2. Should not a people under guilt, and in
   trouble, seek to their God for pardon and peace? Should not a people in
   doubt, in want, and in danger, seek to their God for direction, supply,
   and protection? Since the Lord is our God, and we are his people, it is
   certainly our duty to seek him." [2.] "Tell them it is an instance of
   the greatest folly in the world to seek for living men to dead idols."
   What can be more absurd than to seek to lifeless images for life and
   living comforts, or to expect that our friends that are dead should do
   that for us, when we deify them and pray to them, which our living
   friends cannot do? The dead know not any thing, nor is there with them
   any device or working, Eccl. ix. 5, 10. It is folly therefore for the
   living to make their court to them, with any expectation of relief from
   them. Necromancers consulted the dead, as the witch of Endor, and so
   proclaimed their own folly. We must live by the living, and not by the
   dead. What life or light can we look for from those that have no light
   or life themselves?

   (3.) He directs them to consult the oracles of God. If the prophets
   that were among them did not speak directly to every case, yet they had
   the written word, and to that they must have recourse. Note, Those will
   never be drawn to consult wizards that know how to make a good use of
   their Bibles. Would we know how we may seek to our God, and come to the
   knowledge of his mind? To the law and to the testimony. There you will
   see what is good, and what the Lord requires of you. Make God's
   statutes your counsellors, and you will be counselled aright. Observe,
   [1.] What use we must make of the law and the testimony: we must speak
   according to that word, that is, we must make this our standard,
   conform to it, take advice from it, make our appeals to it, and in
   every thing be overruled and determined by it, consent to those
   wholesome healing words (1 Tim. vi. 3), and speak of the things of God
   in the words which the Holy Ghost teaches. It is not enough to say
   nothing against it, but we must speak according to it. [2.] Why we must
   make this use of the law and the testimony: because we shall be
   convicted of the greatest folly imaginable if we do not. Those that
   concur not with the word of God do thereby evince that there is no
   light, no morning light (so the word is) in them; they have no right
   sense of things; they do not understand themselves, nor the difference
   between good and evil, truth and falsehood. Note, Those that reject
   divine revelation have not so much as human understanding; nor do those
   rightly admit the oracles of reason who will not admit the oracles of
   God. Some read it as a threatening: "If they speak not according to
   this word, there shall be no light to them, no good, no comfort or
   relief; but they shall be driven to darkness and despair;" as it
   follows here, v. 21, 22. What light had Saul when he consulted the
   witch? 1 Sam. xxviii. 18, 20. Or what light can those expect that turn
   away from the Father of lights?

   (4.) He reads the doom of those that seek to familiar spirits and
   regard not God's law and testimony; there shall not only be no light to
   them, no comfort or prosperity, but they may expect all horror and
   misery, v. 21, 22. [1.] The trouble they feared shall come upon them:
   They shall pass through the land, or pass to and fro in the land,
   unfixed, unsettled, and driven from place to place by the threatening
   power of an invading enemy; they shall be hardly bestead whither to go
   for the necessary supports of life, either because the country would be
   so impoverished that there would be nothing to be had, or at least
   themselves and their friends so impoverished that there would be
   nothing to be had for them; so that those who used to be fed to the
   full shall be hungry. Note, Those that go away from God go out of the
   way of all good. [2.] They shall be very uneasy to themselves, by their
   discontent and impatience under their trouble. A good man may be in
   want, but then he quiets himself, and strives to make himself easy; but
   these people when they shall be hungry shall fret themselves, and when
   they have nothing to feed on their vexation shall prey upon their own
   spirits; for fretfulness is a sin that is its own punishment. [3.] They
   shall be very provoking to all about them, nay, to all above them; when
   they find all their measures broken, and themselves at their wits' end,
   they will forget all the rules of duty and decency, and will
   treasonably curse their king and blasphemously curse their God, and
   this more than in their thought and in their bedchamber, Eccl. x. 20.
   They begin with cursing their king for managing the public affairs no
   better, as if the fault were his, when the best and wisest kings cannot
   secure success; but, when they have broken the bonds of their
   allegiance, no marvel if those of their religion do not hold them long:
   they next curse their God, curse him, and die; they quarrel with his
   providence, and reproach that, as if he had done them wrong. The
   foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against
   the Lord, Prov. xix. 3. See what need we have to keep our mouth as with
   a bridle when our heart is hot within us; for the language of
   fretfulness is commonly very offensive. [4.] They shall abandon
   themselves to despair, and, which way soever they look, shall see no
   probability of relief. They shall look upward, but heaven shall frown
   upon them and look gloomy; and how can it be otherwise when they curse
   their God? They shall look to the earth, but what comfort can that
   yield to those with whom God is at war? There is nothing there but
   trouble, and darkness, and dimness of anguish, every thing threatening,
   and not one pleasant gleam, not one hopeful prospect; but they shall be
   driven to darkness by the violence of their own fears, which represent
   every thing about them black and frightful. This explains what he had
   said v. 20, that there shall be no light to them. Those that shut their
   eyes against the light of God's word will justly be abandoned to
   darkness, and left to wander endlessly, and the sparks of their own
   kindling will do them no kindness.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. IX.

   The prophet in this chapter (according to the directions given him, ch.
   iii. 10, 11) saith to the righteous, It shall be well with thee, but
   Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him. Here are, I. Gracious
   promises to those that adhere to the law and to the testimony; while
   those that seek to familiar spirits shall be driven into darkness and
   dimness, they shall see a great light, relief in the midst of their
   distresses, typical of gospel grace. 1. In the doctrine of the Messiah,
   ver. 1-3. 2. His victories, ver. 4, 5. 3. His government and dominion
   as Immanuel, ver. 6, 7. II. Dreadful threatenings against the people of
   Israel, who had revolted from and were enemies to the house of David,
   that they should be brought to utter ruin, that their pride should
   bring them down (ver. 8-10), that their neighbours should make a prey
   of them (ver. 11, 12), that, for their impenitence and hypocrisy, all
   their ornaments and supports should be cut off (ver. 13-17), and that
   by the wrath of God against them, and their wrath one against another,
   they should be brought to utter ruin, ver. 18-21. And this is typical
   of the final destruction of all the enemies of the Son of David and his
   kingdom.

    Judgment and Mercy; The Promise of Gospel Grace; The Promise of Messiah; The
    Titles of Messiah. (b. c. 740.)

   1 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation,
   when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land
   of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way
   of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.   2 The people
   that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the
   land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.   3 Thou
   hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before
   thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they
   divide the spoil.   4 For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and
   the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of
   Midian.   5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and
   garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of
   fire.   6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
   government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
   Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
   Prince of Peace.   7 Of the increase of his government and peace there
   shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to
   order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from
   henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform
   this.

   The first words of this chapter plainly refer to the close of the
   foregoing chapter, where every thing looked black and melancholy:
   Behold, trouble, and darkness, and dimness--very bad, yet not so bad
   but that to the upright there shall arise light in the darkness (Ps.
   cxii. 4) and at evening time it shall be light, Zech. xiv. 7.
   Nevertheless it shall not be such dimness (either not such for kind or
   not such for degree) as sometimes there has been. Note, In the worst of
   times God's people have a nevertheless to comfort themselves with,
   something to allay and balance their troubles; they are persecuted, but
   not forsaken (2 Cor. iv. 9), sorrowful yet always rejoicing, 2 Cor. vi.
   10. And it is matter of comfort to us, when things are at the darkest,
   that he who forms the light and creates the darkness (ch. xlv. 7) has
   appointed to both their bounds and set the one over against the other,
   Gen. iv. 4. He can say, "Hitherto the dimness shall go, so long it
   shall last, and no further, no longer."

   I. Three things are here promised, and they all point ultimately at the
   grace of the gospel, which the saints then were to comfort themselves
   with the hopes of in every cloudy and dark day, as we now are to
   comfort ourselves in time of trouble with the hopes of Christ's second
   coming, though that be now, as his first coming then was, a thing at a
   great distance. The mercy likewise which God has in store for his
   church in the latter days may be a support to those that are mourning
   with her for her present calamities. We have here the promise,

   1. Of a glorious light, which shall so qualify, and by degrees dispel,
   the dimness, that it shall not be as it sometimes has been: Not such as
   was in her vexation; there shall not be such dark times as were
   formerly, when at first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and
   Naphtali (which lay remote and most exposed to the inroads of the
   neighbouring enemies), and afterwards he more grievously afflicted the
   land by the way of the sea and beyond Jordan (v. 1), referring probably
   to those days when God began to cut Israel short and to smite them in
   all their coasts, 2 Kings x. 32. Note, God tries what less judgments
   will do with a people before he brings greater; but if a light
   affliction do not do its work with us, to humble and reform us, we must
   expect to be afflicted more grievously; for when God judges he will
   overcome. Well, those were dark times with the land of Zebulun and
   Naphtali, and there was dimness of anguish in Galilee of the Gentiles,
   both in respect of ignorance (they did not speak according to the law
   and the testimony, and then there was no light in them, ch. viii. 20)
   and in respect of trouble, and the desperate posture of their outward
   affairs; we have both together, 2 Chron. xv. 3, 5. Israel has been
   without the true God and a teaching priest, and in those times there
   was no peace. But the dimness threatened (ch. viii. 22) shall not
   prevail to such a degree; for (v. 2) the people that walked in darkness
   have seen a great light. (1.) At this time when the prophet lived,
   there were many prophets in Judah and Israel, whose prophecies were a
   great light both for direction and comfort to the people of God, who
   adhered to the law and the testimony. Besides the written word, they
   had prophecy; there were those that had shown them how long (Ps. lxxiv.
   9), which was a great satisfaction to them, when in respect of their
   outward troubles they sat in darkness, and dwelt in the land of the
   shadow of death. (2.) This was to have its full accomplishment when our
   Lord Jesus began to appear as a prophet, and to preach the gospel in
   the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, and in Galilee of the Gentiles. And
   the Old-Testament prophets, as they were witnesses to him, so they were
   types of him. When he came and dwelt in the borders of Zebulun and
   Naphtali, then this prophecy is said to have been fulfilled, Matt. iv.
   13-16. Note, [1.] Those that want the gospel walk in darkness, and know
   not what they do nor whither they go; and they dwell in the land of the
   shadow of death, in thick darkness, and in the utmost danger. [2.] When
   the gospel comes to any place, to any soul, light comes, a great light,
   a shining light, which will shine more and more. It should be welcome
   to us, as light is to those that sit in darkness, and we should readily
   entertain it, both because if is of such sovereign use to us and
   because it brings its own evidence with it. Truly this light is sweet.

   2. Of a glorious increase, and a universal joy arising from it, (v. 3)
   "Thou, O God! hast multiplied the nation, the Jewish nation which thou
   hast mercy in store for; though it has been diminished by one sore
   judgment after another, yet now thou hast begun to multiply it again."
   The numbers of a nation are its strength and wealth if the numerous be
   industrious; and it is God that increases nations, Job xii. 23. Yet it
   follows, "Thou hast not increased the joy--the carnal joy and mirth,
   and those things that are commonly the matter and occasion thereof.
   But, notwithstanding that, they joy before thee; there is a great deal
   of serious spiritual joy among them, joy in the presence of God, with
   an eye to him." This is very applicable to the times of gospel light,
   spoken of v. 2. Then God multiplied the nation, the gospel Israel. "And
   to him" (so the Masorites read it) "thou hast magnified the joy, to
   every one that receives the light." The following words favour this
   reading: "They joy before thee; they come before thee in holy
   ordinances with great joy'; their mirth is not like that of Israel
   under their vines and fig-trees (thou hast not increased that joy), but
   it is in the favour of God and in the tokens of his grace." Note, The
   gospel, when it comes in its light and power, brings joy along with it,
   and those who receive it aright do therein rejoice, yea, and will
   rejoice; therefore the conversion of the nations is prophesied of by
   this (Ps. lxvii. 4), Let the nations be glad, and sin for joy. See Ps.
   xcvi. 11. (1.) It is holy joy: They joy before thee; they rejoice in
   spirit (as Christ did, Luke x. 21), and that is before God. In the eye
   of the world they are always as sorrowful, and yet, in God's sight,
   always rejoicing, 2 Cor. vi. 10. (2.) It is great joy; it is according
   to the joy in harvest, when those who sowed in tears, and have with
   long patience waited for the precious fruits of the earth, reap in joy;
   and as in war men rejoice when, after a hazardous battle, they divide
   the spoil. The gospel brings with it plenty and victory; but those that
   would have the joy of it must expect to go through a hard work, as the
   husbandman before he has the joy of harvest, and a hard conflict, as
   the soldier before he has the joy of dividing the spoil; but the joy,
   when it comes, will be an abundant recompence for the toil. See Acts
   viii. 8, 39.

   3. Of a glorious liberty and enlargement (v. 4, 5): "They shall rejoice
   before thee, and with good reason, for thou hast broken the yoke of his
   burden, and made him easy, for he shall no longer be in servitude; and
   thou hast broken the staff of his shoulder and the rod of his
   oppressor, that rod of the wicked which rested long on the lot of the
   righteous," as the Midianites' yoke was broken from off the neck of
   Israel by the agency of Gideon. If God makes former deliverances his
   patterns in working for us, we ought to make them our encouragements to
   hope in him and to seek to him, Ps. lxxxiii. 9. Do unto them as to the
   Midianites. What temporal deliverance this refers to is not clear,
   probably the preventing of Sennacherib from making himself master of
   Jerusalem, which was done, as in the day of Midian, by the immediate
   hand of God; and, whereas other battles were usually won with a great
   deal of noise and by the expense of much blood, this shall be done
   silently and without noise. Under his glory God shall kindle a burning
   (ch. x. 16); a fire not blown shall consume him, Job xx. 26. But
   doubtless it looks further, to the blessed fruits and effects of that
   great light which should visit those that sat in darkness; it would
   bring liberty along with it, deliverance to the captives, Luke iv. 18.
   (1.) The design of the gospel, and the grace of it, is to break the
   yoke of sin and Satan, to remove the burden of guilt and corruption,
   and to free us from the rod of those oppressors, that we might be
   brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Christ broke
   the yoke of the ceremonial law (Acts xv. 10; Gal. v. 1), and delivered
   us out of the hand of our enemies, that we might serve him without
   fear, Luke i. 74, 75. (2.) This is done by the Spirit working like fire
   (Matt. iii. 11), not as the battle of the warrior is fought, with
   confused noise; no, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal; but it
   is done with the Spirit of judgment and the Spirit of burning, ch. iv.
   4. It is done as in the day of Midian, by a work of God upon the hearts
   of men. Christ is our Gideon; it is his sword that doeth wonders.

   II. But who, where, is he that shall undertake and accomplish these
   great things for the church? The prophet tells us (v. 6, 7) they shall
   be done by the Messiah, Immanuel, that son of a virgin whose birth he
   had foretold (ch. vii. 14), and now speaks of, in the prophetic style,
   as a thing already done: the child is born, not only because it was as
   certain, and he was as certain of it as if it had been done already,
   but because the church before his incarnation reaped great benefit and
   advantage by his undertaking in virtue of that first promise concerning
   the seed of the woman, Gen. iii. 15. As he was the Lamb slain, so he
   was the child born, from the foundation of the world, Rev. xiii. 8. All
   the great things that God did for the Old-Testament church were done by
   him as the eternal Word, and for his sake as the Mediator. He was the
   Anointed, to whom God had respect (Ps. lxxxiv. 9), and it was for the
   Lord's sake, for the Lord Christ's sake, that God caused his face to
   shine upon his sanctuary, Dan. ix. 17. The Jewish nation, and
   particularly the house of David, were preserved many a time from
   imminent ruin only because that blessing was in them. What greater
   security therefore could be given to the church of God then that it
   should be preserved, and be the special care of the divine Providence,
   than this, that God had so great a mercy in reserve for it? The Chaldee
   paraphrast understands it of the man that shall endure for ever, even
   Christ. And it is an illustrious prophecy of him and of his kingdom,
   which doubtless those that waited for the consolation of Israel built
   much upon, often turned to, and read with pleasure.

   1. See him in his humiliation. The same that is the mighty God is a
   child born; the ancient of days becomes an infant of a span long; the
   everlasting Father is a Son given. Such was his condescension in taking
   our nature upon him; thus did he humble and empty himself, to exalt and
   fill us. He is born into our world. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt
   among us. He is given, freely given, to be all that to us which our
   case, in our fallen state, calls for. God so loved the world that he
   gave him. He is born to us, he is given to us, us men, and not to the
   angels that sinned. It is spoken with an air of triumph, and the angel
   seems to refer to these words in the notice he gives to the shepherds
   of the Messiah's having come (Luke ii. 11), Unto you is born, this day,
   a Saviour. Note, Christ's being born and given to us is the great
   foundation of our hopes, and fountain of our joys, in times of greatest
   grief and fear.

   2. See him in his exaltation. This child, this son, this Son of God,
   this Son of man, that is given to us, is in a capacity to do us a great
   deal of kindness; for he is invested with the highest honour and power,
   so that we cannot but be happy if he be our friend.

   (1.) See the dignity he is advanced to, and the name he has above every
   name. He shall be called (and therefore we are sure he is and shall be)
   Wonderful, Counsellor, &c. His people shall know him and worship him by
   these names; and, as one that fully answers them, they shall submit to
   him and depend upon him. [1.] He is wonderful, counsellor. Justly is he
   called wonderful, for he is both God and man. His love is the wonder of
   angels and glorified saints; in his birth, life, death, resurrection,
   and ascension, he was wonderful. A constant series of wonders attended
   him, and, without controversy, great was the mystery of godliness
   concerning him. He is the counsellor, for he was intimately acquainted
   with the counsels of God from eternity, and he gives counsel to the
   children of men, in which he consults our welfare. It is by him that
   God has given us counsel, Ps. xvi. 7; Rev. iii. 18. He is the wisdom of
   the Father, and is made of God to us wisdom. Some join these together:
   He is the wonderful counsellor, a wonder or miracle of a counsellor; in
   this, as in other things, he has the pre-eminence; none teaches like
   him. [2.] He is the mighty God--God, the mighty One. As he has wisdom,
   so he has strength, to go through with his undertaking: he is able to
   save to the utmost; and such is the work of the Mediator that no less a
   power than that of the mighty God could accomplish it. [3.] He is the
   everlasting Father, or the Father of eternity; he is God, one with the
   Father, who is from everlasting to everlasting. He is the author of
   everlasting life and happiness to them, and so is the Father of a
   blessed eternity to them. He is the Father of the world to come (so the
   LXX. reads it), the father of the gospel-state, which is put in
   subjection to him, not to the angels, Heb. ii. 5. He was, from
   eternity, Father of the great work of redemption: his heart was upon
   it; it was the product of his wisdom as the counsellor, of his love as
   the everlasting Father. [4.] He is the prince of peace. As a King, he
   preserves the peace, commands peace, nay, he creates peace, in his
   kingdom. He is our peace, and it is his peace that both keeps the
   hearts of his people and rules in them. He is not only a peaceable
   prince, and his reign peaceable, but he is the author and giver of all
   good, all that peace which is the present and future bliss of his
   subjects.

   (2.) See the dominion he is advanced to, and the throne he has above
   every throne (v. 6): The government shall be upon his shoulder--his
   only. He shall not only wear the badge of it upon his shoulder (the key
   of the house of David, ch. xxii. 22), but he shall bear the burden of
   it. The Father shall devolve it upon him, so that he shall have an
   incontestable right to govern; and he shall undertake it, so that no
   doubt can be made of his governing well, for he shall set his shoulder
   to it, and will never complain, as Moses did, of his being overcharged.
   I am not able to bear all this people, Num. xi. 11, 14. Glorious things
   are here spoken of Christ's government, v. 7. [1.] That it shall be an
   increasing government. It shall be multiplied; the bounds of his
   kingdom shall be more and more enlarged, and many shall be added to it
   daily. The lustre of it shall increase, and it shall shine more and
   more brightly in the world. The monarchies of the earth were each less
   illustrious than the other, so that what began in gold ended in iron
   and clay, and every monarchy dwindled by degrees; but the kingdom of
   Christ is a growing kingdom, and will come to perfection at last. [2.]
   That it shall be a peaceable government, agreeable to his character as
   the prince of peace. He shall rule by love, shall rule in men's hearts;
   so that wherever his government is there shall be peace, and as his
   government increases the peace shall increase. The more we are subject
   to Christ the more easy and safe we are. [3.] That it shall be a
   rightful government. He that is the Son of David shall reign upon the
   throne of David and over his kingdom, which he is entitled to. God
   shall give him the throne of his father David, Luke i. 32, 33. The
   gospel church, in which Jew and Gentile are incorporated, is the holy
   hill of Zion, on which Christ reigns, Ps. ii. 6. [4.] That it shall be
   administered with prudence and equity, and so as to answer the great
   end of government, which is the establishment of the kingdom: He shall
   order it, and settle it, with justice and judgment. Every thing is, and
   shall be, well managed, in the kingdom of Christ, and none of his
   subjects shall ever have cause to complain. [5.] That it shall be an
   everlasting kingdom: There shall be no end of the increase of his
   government (it shall be still growing), no end of the increase of the
   peace of it, for the happiness of the subjects of this kingdom shall
   last to eternity and perhaps shall be progressive in infinitum--for
   ever. He shall reign henceforth even for ever; not only throughout all
   generations of time, but, even when the kingdom shall be delivered up
   to God even the Father, the glory both of the Redeemer and the redeemed
   shall continue eternally. [6.] That God himself has undertaken to bring
   all this about: "The Lord of hosts, who has all power in his hand and
   all creatures at his beck, shall perform this, shall preserve the
   throne of David till this prince of peace is settled in it; his zeal
   shall do it, his jealousy for his own honour, and the truth of his
   promise, and the good of his church." Note, The heart of God is much
   upon the advancement of the kingdom of Christ among men, which is very
   comfortable to all those that wish well to it; the zeal of the Lord of
   hosts will overcome all opposition.

    Threatenings against Judah; Threatenings against Israel. (b. c. 740.)

   8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.   9
   And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of
   Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,   10 The bricks
   are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are
   cut down, but we will change them into cedars.   11 Therefore the Lord
   shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies
   together;   12 The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they
   shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not
   turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.   13 For the people
   turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord
   of hosts.   14 Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and
   tail, branch and rush, in one day.   15 The ancient and honourable, he
   is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.   16
   For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led
   of them are destroyed.   17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in
   their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and
   widows: for every one is a hypocrite and an evil doer, and every mouth
   speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand
   is stretched out still.   18 For wickedness burneth as the fire: it
   shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of
   the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.   19
   Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the
   people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his
   brother.   20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and
   he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they
   shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:   21 Manasseh, Ephraim;
   and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For
   all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out
   still.

   Here are terrible threatenings, which are directed primarily against
   Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes, Ephraim and Samaria, the ruin of
   which is here foretold, with all the woeful confusions that were the
   prefaces to that ruin, all which came to pass within a few years after;
   but they look further, to all the enemies of the throne and kingdom of
   Christ the Son of David, and read the doom of all the nations that
   forget God, and will not have Christ to reign over them. Observe,

   I. The preface to this prediction (v. 8): The Lord sent a word into
   Jacob, sent it by his servants the prophets. He warns before he wounds.
   He sent notice what he would do, that they might meet him in the way of
   his judgments; but they would not take the hint, took no care to turn
   away his wrath, and so it lighted upon Israel; for no word of God shall
   fall to the ground. It fell upon them as a storm of rain and hail from
   on high, which they could not avoid: It has lighted upon them, that is,
   it is as sure to come as if come already, and all the people shall know
   by feeling it what they would not know by hearing of it. Those that are
   willingly ignorant of the wrath of God revealed from heaven against sin
   and sinners shall be made to know it.

   II. The sins charged upon the people of Israel, which provoked God to
   bring these judgments upon them. 1. Their insolent defiance of the
   justice of God, thinking themselves a match for him: "They say, in the
   pride and stoutness of their heart, Let God himself do his worst; we
   will hold our own, and make our part good with him. If he ruin our
   houses, we will repair them, and make them stronger and finer than they
   were before. Our landlord shall not turn us out of doors, though we pay
   him no rent, but we will keep in possession. If the houses that were
   built of bricks be demolished in the war, we will rebuild them with
   hewn stones, that shall not so easily be thrown down. If the enemy cut
   down the sycamores, we will plant cedars in the room of them. We will
   make a hand of God's judgments, gain by them, and so outbrave them."
   Note, Those are ripening apace for ruin whose hearts are unhumbled
   under humbling providences; for God will walk contrary to those who
   thus walk contrary to him and provoke him to jealousy, as if they were
   stronger than he. 2. Their incorrigibleness under all the rebukes of
   Providence hitherto (v. 13); The people turn not unto him that smiteth
   them (they are not wrought upon to reform their lives, to forsake their
   sins, and to return to their duty), neither do they seek the Lord of
   hosts; either they are atheists, and have no religion, or idolaters,
   and seek to those gods that are the creatures of their own fancy and
   the works of their own hands. Note, That which God designs, in smiting
   us, is to turn us to himself and to set us a seeking him; and, if this
   point be not gained by less judgments, greater may be expected. God
   smites that he may not kill. 3. Their general corruption of manners and
   abounding profaneness. (1.) Those that should have reformed them helped
   to debauch them (v. 16): The leaders of this people mislead them, and
   cause them to err, by conniving at their wickedness and countenancing
   wicked people, and by setting them bad examples; and then no wonder if
   those that are led of them be deceived and so destroyed. But it is ill
   with a people when their physicians are their worst disease. "Those
   that bless this people, or call them blessed (so the margin reads it),
   that flatter them, and soothe them in their wickedness, and cry Peace,
   peace, to them, cause them to err; and those that are called blessed of
   them are swallowed up ere they are aware." We have reason to be afraid
   of those that speak well of us when we do ill; see Prov. xxiv. 24;
   xxix. 5. (2.) Wickedness was universal, and all were infected with it
   (v. 17): Every one is a hypocrite and an evil doer. If there be any
   that are good, they do not, they dare not appear, for every mouth
   speaks folly and villany; every one is profane towards God (so the word
   properly signifies) and an evil doer towards man. These two commonly go
   together: those that fear not God regard not man; and then every mouth
   speaks folly, falsehood, and reproach, both against God and man; for
   out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

   III. The judgments threatened against them for this wickedness of
   theirs; let them not think to go unpunished.

   1. In general, hereby they exposed themselves to the wrath of God,
   which should both devour as fire and darken as smoke. (1.) It should
   devour as fire (v. 18): Wickedness shall burn as the fire; the
   displeasure of God, incurred by sin, shall consume the sinners, who
   have made themselves as briers and thorns before it, and as the
   thickets of the forest, combustible matter, which the wrath of the Lord
   of hosts, the mighty God, will go through and burn together. (2.) It
   should darken as smoke. The briers and thorns, when the fire consumes
   them, shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke, so that the whole
   land shall be darkened by it; they shall be in trouble, and see no way
   out (v. 19): The people shall be as the fuel of the fire. God's wrath
   fastens upon none but those that make themselves fuel for it, and then
   they mount up as the smoke of sacrifices, being made victims to divine
   justice.

   2. God would arm the neighbouring powers against them, v. 11, 12. At
   this time the kingdom of Israel was in league with that of Syria
   against Judah; but the Assyrians, who were adversaries to the Syrians,
   when they had conquered them should invade Israel, and God would stir
   them up to do it, and join the enemies of Israel together in alliance
   against them, who yet had particular ends of their own to serve and
   were not aware of God's hand in their alliance. Note, When enemies are
   set up, and joined in confederacy against a people, God's hand must be
   acknowledged in it. Note further, Those that partake with each other in
   sin, as Syria and Israel in invading Judah, must expect to share in the
   punishment of sin. Nay, the Syrians themselves, whom they were now in
   league with, should be a scourge to them (for it is no unusual thing
   for those to fall out that have been united in sin), one attacking them
   in the front and the other flanking them or falling upon their rear; so
   that they should be surrounded with enemies on all sides, who should
   devour them with open mouth, v. 12. The Philistines were not now looked
   upon as formidable enemies, and the Syrians were looked upon as firm
   friends; and yet these shall devour Israel. When men's ways displease
   the Lord he makes even their friends to be at war with them.

   3. God would take from the midst of them those they confided in and
   promised themselves help from, v. 14, 15. Because the people seek not
   God, those they seek to and depend upon shall stand them in no stead.
   The Lord will cut off head and tail, branch and rush, which is
   explained in the next verse. (1.) Their magistrates, who were
   honourable by birth and office and were the ancients of the people,
   these were the head, these were the branch which they promised
   themselves spirit and fruit from; but because these caused them to err
   they should be cut off, and their dignity and power should be no
   protection to them when the abuse of that dignity and power was the
   great provocation: and it was a judgment upon the people to have their
   princes cut off, though they were not such as they should have been.
   (2.) Their prophets, their false prophets, were the tail and the rush,
   the most despicable of all. A wicked minister is the worst of all. A
   wicked minister is the worst of men. Corruptio optimi est pessima--The
   best things become when corrupted the worst. The blind led the blind,
   and so both fell into the ditch; and the blind leaders fell first and
   fell undermost.

   4. That the desolation should be as general as the corruption had been,
   and none should escape it, v. 17. (1.) Not those that were the objects
   of complacency. None shall be spared for love: The Lord shall have no
   joy in their young men, that were in the flower of their youth; nor
   will he say, Deal gently with the young men for my sake; no, "Let them
   fall with the rest, and with them let the seed of the next generation
   perish." (2.) Not those that were the objects of compassion. None shall
   be spared for pity: He shall not have mercy on their fatherless and
   widows, though he is, in a particular manner, the patron and protector
   of such. They had corrupted their way like all the rest; and, if the
   poverty and helplessness of their state was not an argument with them
   to keep them from sin, they could not expect it should be an argument
   with God to protect them from judgments.

   5. That they should pull one another to pieces, that every one should
   help forward the common ruin, and they should be cannibals to
   themselves and one to another: No man shall spare his brother, if he
   come in the way of his ambition of covetousness, or if he have any
   colour to be revenged on him; and how can they expect God should spare
   them when they show no compassion one to another? Men's passion and
   cruelty one against another provoke God to be angry with them all and
   are an evidence that he is so. Civil wars soon bring a kingdom to
   desolation. Such there were in Israel, when, for the transgression of
   the land, many were the princes thereof, Prov. xxviii. 2.

   (1.) In these intestine broils, men snatched on the right hand, and yet
   were hungry still, and did eat the flesh of their own arms, preyed upon
   themselves for hunger or upon their nearest relations that were as
   their own flesh, v. 20. This bespeaks, [1.] Great famine and scarcity;
   when men had pulled all they could to them it was so little that they
   were still hungry, at least God did not bless it to them, so that they
   eat and have not enough, Hag. i. 6. [2.] Great rapine and plunder.
   Jusque datum sceleri--iniquity is established by law. The hedge of
   property, which is a hedge of protection to men's estates, shall be
   plucked up, and every man shall think all that his own which he can lay
   his hands on (vivitur ex rapto, non hospes ab hospite tutus--they live
   on the spoil, and the rites of hospitality are all violated); and yet,
   when men thus catch at that which is none of their own, they are not
   satisfied. Covetous desires are insatiable, and this curse is entailed
   on that which is ill got, that it will never do well.

   (2.) These intestine broils should be not only among particular persons
   and private families, but among the tribes (v. 21): Manasseh shall
   devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, though they be combined against
   Judah. Those that could unite against Judah could not unite with one
   another; but that sinful confederacy of theirs against their neighbour
   that dwelt securely by them was justly punished by this separation of
   them one from another. Or Judah, having sinned like Manasseh and
   Ephraim, shall not only suffer with them, but suffer by them. Note,
   Mutual enmity and animosity among the tribes of God's Israel is a sin
   that ripens them for ruin, and a sad symptom of ruin hastening on
   apace. If Ephraim be against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim,
   and both against Judah, they will all soon become a very easy prey to
   the common enemy.

   6. That, though they should be followed with all these judgments, yet
   God would not let fall his controversy with them. It is the heavy
   burden of this song (v. 12, 17, 21): For all this his anger is not
   turned away, but his hand is stretched out still, that is, (1.) They do
   nothing to turn away his anger; they do not repent and reform, do not
   humble themselves and pray, none stand in the gap, none answer God's
   calls nor comply with the designs of his providences, but they are
   hardened and secure. (2.) His anger therefore continues to burn against
   them and his hand is stretched out still. The reason why the judgments
   of God are prolonged is because the point is not gained, sinners are
   not brought to repentance by them. The people turn not to him that
   smites them, and therefore he continues to smite them; for when God
   judges he will overcome, and the proudest stoutest sinner shall either
   bend or break.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. X.

   The prophet, in this chapter, is dealing, I. With the proud oppressors
   of his people at home, that abused their power, to pervert justice,
   whom he would reckon with for their tyranny, ver. 1-4. II. With a
   threatening invader of his people from abroad, Sennacherib king of
   Assyria, concerning whom observe, 1. The commission given him to invade
   Judah, ver. 5, 6. 2. His pride and insolence in the execution of that
   commission, ver. 7-11, 13, 14. 3. A rebuke given to his haughtiness,
   and a threatening of his fall and ruin, when he had served the purposes
   for which God raised him up, ver. 12, 15-19. 4. A promise of grace to
   the people of God, to enable them to bear up under the affliction, and
   to get good by it, ver. 20-23. 5. Great encouragement given to them not
   to fear this threatening storm, but to hope that, though for the
   present all the country was put into a great consternation by it, yet
   it would end well, in the destruction of this formidable enemy, ver.
   24-34. And this is intended to quiet the minds of good people in
   reference to all the threatening efforts of the wrath of the church's
   enemies. If God be for us, who can be against us? None to do us any
   harm.

    The Condemnation of Oppressors. (b. c. 740.)

   1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write
   grievousness which they have prescribed;   2 To turn aside the needy
   from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people,
   that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
   3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation
   which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where
   will ye leave your glory?   4 Without me they shall bow down under the
   prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger
   is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

   Whether they were the princes and judges of Israel of Judah, or both,
   that the prophet denounced this woe against, is not certain: if those
   of Israel, these verses are to be joined with the close of the
   foregoing chapter, which is probable enough, because the burden of that
   prophecy (for all this his anger is not turned away) is repeated here
   (v. 4); if those of Judah, they then show what was the particular
   design with which God brought the Assyrian army upon them--to punish
   their magistrates for mal-administration, which they could not legally
   be called to account for. To them he speaks woes before he speaks
   comfort to God's own people. Here is,

   I. The indictment drawn up against these oppressors, v. 1, 2. They are
   charged, 1. With making wicked laws and edicts: They decree unrighteous
   decrees, contrary to natural equity and the law of God: and what
   mischief they prescribe those under them write it, enrol it, and put it
   into the formality of a law. "Woe to the superior powers that devise
   and decree these decrees! they are not too high to be under the divine
   check. And woe to the inferior officers that draw them up, and enter
   them upon record--the writers that write the grievousness, they are not
   too mean to be within the divine cognizance. Principal and accessaries
   shall fall under the same woe." Note, It is bad to do hurt, but it is
   worse to do it with design and deliberation, to do wrong to many, and
   to involve many in the guilt of doing wrong. 2. With perverting justice
   in the execution of the laws that were made. No people had statutes and
   judgments to righteous as they had, and yet corrupt judges found ways
   to turn aside the needy from judgment, to hinder them from coming at
   their right and recovering what was their due, because they were needy
   and poor, and such as they could get nothing by nor expect any bribes
   from. 3. With enriching themselves by oppressing those that lay at
   their mercy, whom they ought to have protected. They make widows'
   houses and estates their prey, and they rob the fatherless of the
   little that is left them, because they have no friend to appear for
   them. Not to relieve them if they had wanted, not to right them if they
   were wronged, would have been crime enough in men that had wealth and
   power; but to rob them because on the side of the oppressors there was
   power, and the oppressed had no comforter (Eccl. iv. 1), was such
   apiece of barbarity as one would think none could ever be guilty of
   that had either the nature of a man or the name of an Israelite.

   II. A challenge given them with all their pride and power to outface
   the judgments of God (v. 3): "What will you do? To whom will you flee?
   You can trample upon the widows and fatherless; but what will you do
   when God riseth up?" Job xxxi. 14. Great men, who tyrannise over the
   poor, think they shall never be called to account for their tyranny,
   shall never hear of it again, or fare the worse for it; but shall not
   God visit for these things? Jer. v. 29. Will there not come a
   desolation upon those that have made others desolate? Perhaps it may
   come from far, and therefore may be long in coming; but it will come at
   last (reprieves are not pardons), and coming from far, from a quarter
   whence it was least expected, it will be the greater surprise and the
   more terrible. What will then become of these unrighteous judges? Now
   they see their help in the gate (Job xxxi. 21); but to whom will they
   then flee for help? Note, 1. There is a day of visitation coming, a day
   of enquiry and discovery, a searching day, which will bring to light,
   to a true light, every man, and every man's work. 2. The day of
   visitation will be a day of desolation to all wicked people, when all
   their comforts and hopes will be lost and gone, and buried in ruin, and
   themselves left desolate. 3. Impenitent sinners will be utterly at a
   loss, and will no know what to do in the day of visitation and
   desolation. They cannot fly and hide themselves, cannot fight it out
   and defend themselves; they have no refuge in which either to shelter
   themselves from the present evil (to whom will you flee for help?) or
   to secure to themselves better times hereafter: "Where will you leave
   your glory, to find it again when the storm is over?" The wealth they
   had got was their glory, and they had no place of safety in which to
   deposit that, but they should certainly see it flee away. If our souls
   be our glory, as they ought to be, and we make them our chief care, we
   know where to leave them, and into whose hands to commit them, even
   those of a faithful Creator. 4. It concerns us all seriously to
   consider what we shall do in the day of visitation, in a day of
   affliction, in the day of death and judgment, and to provide that we
   may do well.

   III. Sentence passed upon them, by which they are doomed, some to
   imprisonment and captivity (they shall bow down among the prisoners, or
   under them--those that were most highly elevated in sin shall be most
   heavily loaded and most deeply sunk in trouble), others to death: they
   shall fall first, and so shall fall under the rest of the slain. Those
   that had trampled upon the widows and fatherless shall themselves be
   trodden down, v. 4. "This it will come to," says God, "without me, that
   is, because you have deserted me and driven me away from you." Nothing
   but utter ruin can be expected by those that live without God in the
   world, that cast him behind their back, and so cast themselves out of
   his protection.

   And yet, for all this, his anger is not turned away, which intimates
   not only that God will proceed in his controversy with them, but that
   they shall be in a continual dread of it; they shall, to their
   unspeakable terror, see his hand still stretched out against them, and
   there shall remain nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment.

    The Pride of the King of Assyria; Sennacherib's Pride Rebuked; Destruction
    of the King of Assyria. (b. c. 740.)

   5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is
   mine indignation.   6 I will send him against a hypocritical nation,
   and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take
   the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire
   of the streets.   7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart
   think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a
   few.   8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?   9 Is not
   Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as
   Damascus?   10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and
   whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;   11
   Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to
   Jerusalem and her idols?   12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that
   when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on
   Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of
   Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.   13 For he saith, By the
   strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent:
   and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their
   treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:   14
   And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one
   gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there
   was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.   15
   Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall
   the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod
   should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff
   should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.   16 Therefore shall the
   Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under
   his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.   17
   And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a
   flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one
   day;   18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his
   fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a
   standard-bearer fainteth.   19 And the rest of the trees of his forest
   shall be few, that a child may write them.

   The destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser king of Assyria
   was foretold in the foregoing chapter, and it had its accomplishment in
   the sixth year of Hezekiah, 2 Kings xviii. 10. It was total and final,
   head and tail were all cut off. Now the correction of the kingdom of
   Judah by Sennacherib king of Assyria is foretold in this chapter; and
   this prediction was fulfilled in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, when
   that potent prince, encouraged by the successes of his predecessor
   against the ten tribes, came up against all the fenced cities of Judah
   and took them, and laid siege to Jerusalem (2 Kings xviii. 13, 17), in
   consequence of which we may well suppose Hezekiah and his kingdom were
   greatly alarmed, though there was a good work of reformation lately
   begun among them: but it ended well, in the confusion of the Assyrians
   and the great encouragement of Hezekiah and his people in their return
   to God. Now let us see here,

   I. How God, in his sovereignty, deputed the king of Assyria to be his
   servant, and made use of him as a mere tool to serve his own purposes
   with (v. 5, 6): "O Assyrian! know this, that thou art the rod of my
   anger; and I will send thee to be a scourge to the people of my wrath."
   Observe here, 1. How bad the character of the Jews was, though they
   appeared very good. They were a hypocritical nation, that made a
   profession of religion, and at this time particularly of reformation,
   but were not truly religious, not truly reformed, not so good as they
   pretended to be now that Hezekiah had brought goodness into fashion.
   When rulers are pious, and so religion is in reputation, it is common
   for nations to be hypocritical. They are a profane nation; so some read
   it. Hezekiah had in a great measure cured them of their idolatry, and
   now they ran into profaneness; nay, hypocrisy is profaneness: none
   profane the name of God so much as those who are called by that name
   and call upon it, and yet live in sin. Being a profane hypocritical
   nation, they are the people of God's wrath; they lie under his wrath,
   and are likely to be consumed by it. Note, Hypocritical nations are the
   people of God's wrath: nothing is more offensive to God than
   dissimulation in religion. See what a change sin made: those that had
   been God's chosen and hallowed people, above all people, had now become
   the people of his wrath. See Amos iii. 2. 2. How mean the character of
   the Assyrian was, though he appeared very great. He was but the rod of
   God's anger, an instrument God was pleased to make use of for the
   chastening of his people, that, being thus chastened of the Lord, they
   might not be condemned with the world. Note, The tyrants of the world
   are but the tools of Providence. Men are God's hand, his sword
   sometimes, to kill and slay (Ps. xvii. 13, 14), at other times his rod
   to correct. The staff in their hand, wherewith they smite his people,
   is his indignation; it is his wrath that puts the staff into their hand
   and enables them to deal blows at pleasure among such as thought
   themselves a match for them. Sometimes God makes an idolatrous nation,
   that serves him not at all, a scourge to a hypocritical nation, that
   serves him not in sincerity and truth. The Assyrian is called the rod
   of God's anger because he is employed by him. (1.) From him his power
   is derived: I will send him; I will give him a charge. Note, All the
   power that wicked men have, though they often use it against God, they
   always receive from him. Pilate could have no power against Christ
   unless it were given him from above, John xix. 11. (2.) By him the
   exercise of that power is directed. The Assyrian is to take the spoil
   and to take the prey, not to shed any blood. We read not of any slain,
   but he is to plunder the country, rifle the houses, drive away the
   cattle, strip the people of all their wealth and ornaments, and tread
   them down like the mire of the streets. When God's professing people
   wallow in the mire of sin it is just with God to suffer their enemies
   to tread upon them like mire. But why must the Assyrian prevail thus
   against them? Not that they might be ruined, but that they might be
   thoroughly reformed.

   II. See how the king of Assyria, in his pride, magnified himself as his
   own master, and pretended to be absolute and above all control, to act
   purely according to his own will and for his own honour. God ordained
   him for judgment, even the mighty God established him for correction
   (Hab. i. 12), to be an instrument of bringing his people to repentance,
   howbeit he means not so, nor does his heart think so, v. 7.

   1. He does not think that he is either God's servant or Israel's
   friend, either that he can do no more than God will let him or that he
   shall do no more than God will make to work for the good of his people.
   God designs to correct his people for, and so to cure them of, their
   hypocrisy, and bring them nearer to himself; but was that Sennacherib's
   design? No, it was the furthest thing from his thoughts--he means not
   so. Note, (1.) The wise God often makes even the sinful passions and
   projects of men subservient to his own great and holy purposes. (2.)
   When God makes use of men as instruments in his hand to do his work it
   is very common for him to mean one thing and them to mean another, nay,
   for them to mean quite the contrary to what he intends. What Joseph's
   brethren designed for hurt God overruled for good, Gen. l. 20. See Mic.
   iv. 11, 12. Men have their ends and God has his, but we are sure the
   counsel of the Lord shall stand. But what is it the proud Assyrian aims
   at? The heart of kings is unsearchable, but God knew what was in his
   heart.

   2. He designs nothing but to destroy and to cut off nations not a few,
   and to make himself master of them. [1.] He designs to gratify his own
   cruelty; nothing will serve but to destroy and cut off. He hopes to
   regale himself with blood and slaughter; that of particular persons
   will not suffice, he must cut off nations. It is below him to deal by
   retail; he traffics in murders by wholesale. Nations, and those not a
   few, must have but one neck, which he will have the pleasure of cutting
   off. [2.] He designs to gratify his own covetousness and ambition, to
   set up for a universal monarch, and to gather unto him all nations,
   Hab. ii. 5. An insatiable desire of wealth and dominion is that which
   carries him on in this undertaking.

   3. The prophet here brings him in vaunting, and hectoring; and by his
   general's letter to Hezekiah, written in his name, vainglory and
   arrogance seem to have entered very far into the spirit and genius of
   the man. His haughtiness and presumption are here described very
   largely, and his very language copied out, partly to represent him as
   ridiculous and partly to assure the people of God that he would be
   brought down; for that maxim generally holds true, that pride goes
   before destruction. It also intimates that God takes notice, and keeps
   an account, of all men's proud and haughty words, with which they set
   heaven and earth at defiance. Those that speak great swelling words of
   vanity shall hear of them again.

   (1.) He boasts of the great things he had done to other nations. [1.]
   He had made their kings his courtiers (v. 8): "My princes are
   altogether kings. Those that are now my princes are such as have been
   kings." Or he means that he had raised his throng to such a degree that
   his servants, and those that were in command under him, were as great,
   and lived in as much pomp, as the kings of other countries. Or those
   that were absolute princes in their own dominions held their crowns
   under him, and did him homage. This was a vainglorious boast; but how
   great is our God whom we serve, who is indeed King of kings, and whose
   subjects are made to him kings! Rev. i. 6. [2.] He had made himself
   master of their cities. He names several (v. 9) that were all alike
   reduced by him. Calno soon yielded as Carchemish did, Hamath could not
   hold out any more than Arpad, and Samaria had become his as well as
   Damascus. To support his boasts he is obliged to bring the victories of
   his predecessor into the account; for it was he that conquered Samaria,
   not Sennacherib. [3.] He had been too hard for their idols, their
   tutelar gods, had found out the kingdoms of the idols and found out
   ways to make them his own, v. 10. Their kingdoms took denomination from
   the idols they worshipped; the Moabites are called the people of
   Chemosh (Jer. xlviii. 46), because they imagined their gods were their
   patrons and protectors; and therefore Sennacherib vainly imagined that
   every conquest of a kingdom was the conquest of a god. [4.] He had
   enlarged his own dominions, and removed the bounds of the people (v.
   13), enclosing many large territories within the limits of his own
   kingdom and shifting a great way further the ancient land-marks which
   his fathers had set; he could not bear to be hemmed in so closely, but
   must have more room to thrive. By his removing the border of the people
   Mr. White understands his arbitrarily transplanting colonies from place
   to place, which was the constant practice of the Assyrians in all their
   conquests; and this is a probable interpretation. [5.] He had enriched
   himself with their wealth, and brought it into his own exchequer: I
   have robbed their treasures. In this he said truly, Great conquerors
   are often no better than great robbers. [6.] He had mastered all the
   opposition he met with: "I have put down the inhabitants as a valiant
   man. Those that sat high, and thought they say firmly, I have humbled
   and made to come down."

   (2.) He boasts of the manner in which he had done them. [1.] That he
   had done all this by his own policy and power (v. 13): "By the strength
   of my hand, for I am valiant; and by my wisdom, for I am prudent;" not
   by the permission of Providence and the blessing of God. He knows not
   that it is God that makes him what he is, and puts the staff into his
   hand, but sacrifices to his own net, Hab. i. 16. "This wealth is all
   gotten by my might and the power of my hand," Deut. viii. 17. Downright
   atheism and profaneness, as well as pride and vanity, are at the bottom
   of men's attributing their prosperity and success thus to themselves
   and their own conduct, and raising their own character upon it. [2.]
   That he had done all this with a great deal of ease, and had made but a
   sport and diversion of it, as if he had been taking birds' nests (v.
   14): my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people; and when he
   had found them there was no more difficulty in taking them than in
   rifling a nest, nor any more reluctance or regret within his own breast
   in destroying families and cities than in destroying crows'-nests;
   killing children was no more to him than killing birds. "As one gathers
   the eggs that are left in the nest by the dam, so easily have I
   gathered all the earth." Like Alexander, he thought he had conquered
   the world; and whatever prey he seized there was none that moved the
   wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped, as birds do when their nests are
   rifled. They durst not make any opposition, no, nor any complaint; such
   awe did they stand in of this mighty conqueror. They were so weak that
   they knew it was to no purpose to resist, and he was so arbitrary that
   they knew it was to no purpose to complain. Strange that ever men who
   were made to do good should take a pride and a pleasure in doing wrong,
   and doing mischief to all about them without control, and should reckon
   that their glory which is their shame! But their day will come to fall
   who thus make themselves the terror of thy mighty, and much more of the
   feeble, in the land of the living.

   (3.) He threatens what he will do to Jerusalem, which he was now about
   to lay siege to, v. 10, 11. He would master Jerusalem and her idols, as
   he had subdued other places and their idols, particularly Samaria. [1.]
   He blasphemously calls the God of Israel an idol, and sets him on a
   level with the false gods of other nations, as if none were the true
   God but Mithras, the sun, whom he worshipped. See how ignorant he was,
   and then we shall the less wonder that he was so proud. [2.] He prefers
   the graven images of other countries before those of Jerusalem and
   Samaria, when he might have known that the worshippers of the God of
   Israel were expressly forbidden to make any graven images, and if any
   did it must be by stealth, and therefore they could not be so rich and
   pompous as those of other nations. If he means the ark and the
   mercy-seat, he speaks like himself, very foolishly, and as one that
   judged by the sight of the eye, and might therefore be easily deceived
   in matters of spiritual concern. Those who make external pomp and
   splendour a mark of the true church go by the same rule. [3.] Because
   he had conquered Samaria, he concluded Jerusalem would fall of course:
   "Shall not I do so to Jerusalem? can I not as easily, and may I not as
   justly?" But it did not follow; for Jerusalem adhered to her God,
   whereas Samaria had forsaken him.

   III. See how God, in his justice, rebukes his pride and reads his doom.
   We have heard what the great king, the king of Assyria, says, and how
   big he talks. Let us now hear what the great God has to say by his
   servant the prophet, and we shall find that, wherein he deals proudly,
   God is above him.

   1. He shows the vanity of his insolent and audacious boasts (v. 15):
   Shall the axe boast itself against him that hews therewith? or shall
   the saw magnify itself against him that draws it? So absurd are the
   boasts of this proud man. "O what a dust do I make!" said the fly upon
   the cart-wheel in the fable. "What destruction do I make among the
   trees!" says the axe. Two ways the axe may be said to boast itself
   against him that hews with it:--(1.) By way of resistance and
   opposition. Sennacherib blasphemed God, insulted him, threatened to
   serve him as he had served the gods of the nations; now this was as if
   the axe should fly in the face of him that hews with it. The tool
   striving with the workman is no less absurd than the clay striving with
   the potter; and as it is a thing not to be justified that men should
   fight against God with the wit, and wealth, and power, which he gives
   them, so it is a thing not to be suffered. But if men will be thus
   proud and daring, and bid defiances to all that is just and sacred, let
   them expect that God will reckon with them; the more insolent they are
   the surer and sorer will their ruin be. (2.) By way of rivalship and
   competition. Shall the axe take to itself the praise of the work it is
   employed in? So senseless, so absurd was it for Sennacherib to say, By
   the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, v. 13. It is
   as if the rod, when it is shaken, should boast that it guides the hand
   which shakes it; whereas, when the staff is lifted up, is it not wood
   still? so the last clause may be read. If it be an ensign of authority
   (as the nobles of the people carried staves, Num. xxi. 18), if it be an
   instrument of service, either to support a weak man or to correct a bad
   man, still it is wood, and can do nothing but as it is directed by him
   that uses it. The psalmist prays that God would make the nations to
   know that they were but men (Ps. ix. 20), the staff to know that it is
   but wood.

   2. He foretels his fall and ruin.

   (1.) That when God had done his work by him he would then do his work
   upon him, v. 12. For the comfort of the people of God in reference to
   Sennacherib's invasion, though it was a dismal time with them, let them
   know, [1.] That God designed to do good to Zion and Jerusalem by this
   providence. There is a work to be done upon them, which God intends,
   and which he will perform. Note, When God lets loose the enemies of his
   church and people, and suffers them for a time to prevail, it is in
   order to the performing of some great good work upon them; and, when
   that is done, then, and not till then, he will work deliverance for
   them. When God brings his people into trouble it is to try them (Dan.
   xi. 35), to bring sin to their remembrance and humble them for it, and
   to awaken them to a sense of their duty, to teach them to pray and to
   love and help one another; and this must be the fruit, even the taking
   away of sin, ch. xxvii. 9. When these points are, in some measure,
   gained by the affliction, it shall be removed, in mercy (Lev. xxvi. 41,
   42), otherwise not; for, as the word, so the rod shall accomplish that
   for which God sends it. [2.] That when God had wrought this work of
   grace for his people he would work a work of wrath and vengeance upon
   their invaders: I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king
   of Assyria. His big words are here said to come from his stout heart,
   and they are the fruit of it; for out of the abundance of the heart the
   mouth speaks. Notice is taken too of the glory of his high looks, for a
   proud look is the indication of a proud spirit. The enemies of the
   church are commonly very high and haughty; but, sooner or later, God
   will reckon for their haughtiness. He glories in it as an incontestable
   proof of his power and sovereignty that he looks upon proud men and
   abases them, Job xl. 11, &c.

   (2.) That, how threatening soever this attempt was upon Zion and
   Jerusalem, it should certainly be baffled, and broken, and come to
   nothing, and he should not be able to bring to pass his enterprise, v.
   16, 19. Observe,

   [1.] Who it is that undertakes his destruction, and will be the author
   of it; not Hezekiah, or his princes, or the militia of Judah and
   Jerusalem (what can they do against such a potent force?), but God
   himself will do it, as the Lord of hosts, and as the light of Israel.
   First, We are sure he can do it, for he is the Lord of hosts, of all
   the hosts of heaven and earth. All the creatures are at his command; he
   makes what use he pleases on them. He is the Lord of the hosts both of
   Judah and of Assyria, and can give the victory to which he pleases. Let
   us not fear the hosts of any enemy if we have the Lord of hosts for us.
   Secondly, We have reason to hope he will do it, for he is the light of
   Israel, and his Holy One. God is light; in him are perfect brightness,
   purity, and happiness. He is light, for he is the Holy One; his
   holiness is his glory. He is Israel's light, to direct and counsel his
   people, to favour and countenance them, and so to gladden and comfort
   them in the worst of times. He is their Holy One, for he is in covenant
   with them; his holiness is engaged and employed for them. God's
   holiness is the saints' comfort; they give thanks at the remembrance of
   it, and with a great deal of pleasure call him their Holy One, Hab. i.
   12.

   [2.] How this destruction is represented. It shall be, First, As a
   consumption of the body by a disease: The Lord shall send leanness
   among his fatnesses, or his fat ones. His numerous army, that was like
   a body covered with fatness, shall be diminished, and waste away, and
   become like a skeleton. Secondly, As a consumption of buildings, or
   trees and bushes, by fire: Under his glory, that very thing which he
   glories in, he will kindle a burning, as the burning of a fire, which
   shall lay his army in ruins as suddenly as a raging fire lays a stately
   house in ashes. Some make it an allusion to the fire kindled under the
   sacrifices; for proud sinners fall as sacrifices to divine justice.
   Observe, 1. How this fire shall be kindled, v. 17. The same God that is
   a rejoicing light to those that serve him faithfully will be a
   consuming fire to those that trifle with him or rebel against him. The
   light of Israel shall be for a fire to the Assyrians, as the same
   pillar of cloud was a light to the Israelites and a terror to the
   Egyptians in the Red Sea. What can oppose, what can extinguish, such a
   fire? 2. What desolation it shall make: it shall burn and devour its
   thorns and briers, his officers and soldiers, which are of little
   worth, and vexations to God's Israel, as thorns and briers, whose end
   is to be burned, and which are easily and quickly consumed by a
   devouring fire. "Who would set the briers and thorns against me in
   battle? They would be so far from stopping the fire that they would
   inflame it. I would go through them and burn them together (ch. xxvii.
   4); they shall be devoured in one day, all cut off in an instant." When
   they cried not only Peace and safety, but Victory and triumph, then
   sudden destruction came; it came surprisingly, and was completed in a
   little time. "Even the glory of his forest (v. 18), the choice troops
   of his army, the veterans, the troops of the household, the bravest
   regiments he had, that he was most proud of and depended most upon,
   that he valued as men do their timber-trees (the glory of their forest)
   or their fruit-trees (the glory of the Carmel), shall be put as briers
   and thorns before the fire; they shall be consumed both soul and body,
   entirely consumed, not only a limb burned, but life taken away." Note,
   God is able to destroy both soul and body, and therefore we should fear
   him more than man, who can but kill the body. Great armies before him
   are but as great woods, which he can fell or fire when he pleases.

   [3.] What would be the effect of this great slaughter. The prophet
   tells us, First, That the army would hereby be reduced to a very small
   number: The rest of the trees of his forest shall be few; very few
   shall escape the sword of the destroying angel, so few that there needs
   no artist, no muster-master or secretary of war, to take an account of
   them, for even a child may soon reckon the numbers of them, and write
   the names of them. Secondly, That those few who remained should be
   quite dispirited: They shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.
   When he either falls or flees, and his colours are taken by the enemy,
   this discourages the whole army, and puts them all into confusion. Upon
   the whole matter we must say, Who is able to stand before this great
   and holy Lord God?

    Encouragement to Israel. (b. c. 740.)

   20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel,
   and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay
   upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of
   Israel, in truth.   21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of
   Jacob, unto the mighty God.   22 For though thy people Israel be as the
   sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption
   decreed shall overflow with righteousness.   23 For the Lord God of
   hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all
   the land.

   The prophet had said (v. 12) that the Lord would perform his whole work
   upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, by Sennacherib's invading the land.
   Now here we are told what that work should be, a twofold work:--

   I. The conversion of some, to whom this providence should be sanctified
   and yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, though for the present
   it was not joyous, but grievous; these are but a remnant (v. 22), the
   remnant of Israel (v. 20), the remnant of Jacob (v. 21), but a very few
   in comparison with the vast numbers of the people of Israel, who were
   as the sand of the sea. Note, Converting work is wrought but on a
   remnant, who are distinguished from the rest and set apart for God.
   When we see how populous Israel is, how numerous the members of the
   visible church are, as the sand of the sea, and yet consider that of
   these a remnant only shall be saved, that of the many that are called
   there are but few chosen, we shall surely strive to enter in at the
   strait gate and fear lest we seem to come short. This remnant of Israel
   are said to be such as had escaped of the house of Jacob, such as
   escaped the corruptions of the house of Jacob, and kept their integrity
   in times of common apostasy; and that was a fair escape. And therefore
   they escape the desolations of that house, and shall be preserved in
   safety in times of common calamity; and that also will be a fair and
   narrow escape. Their lives shall be given them for a prey, Jer. xlv. 5.
   The righteous scarcely are saved. Now, 1. This remnant shall come off
   from all confidence in an arm of flesh, this providence shall cure them
   of that: "They shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, shall
   never depend upon the Assyrians, as they have done, for help against
   their other enemies, finding that they are themselves their worst
   enemies." Ictus piscator sapit--sufferings teach caution. "They have
   now learned by dear-bought experience the folly of leaning upon that
   staff as a stay to them which may perhaps prove a staff to beat them."
   It is part of the covenant of a returning people (Hos. xiv. 3), Assyria
   shall not save us. Note, By our afflictions we may learn not to make
   creatures our confidence. 2. They shall come home to God, to the mighty
   God (one of the names given to the Messiah, ch. ix. 6), to the Holy One
   of Israel: "The remnant shall return (that was signified by the name of
   the prophet's son, Shear-jashub, ch. vii. 3), even the remnant of
   Jacob. They shall return, after the raising of the siege of Jerusalem,
   not only to the quiet possession of their houses and lands, but to God
   and to their duty; they shall repent, and pray, and seek his face, and
   reform their lives." The remnant that escape are a returning remnant:
   they shall return to God, and shall stay upon him. Note, Those only may
   with comfort stay upon God that return to him; then may we have a
   humble confidence in God when we make conscience of our duty to him.
   They shall stay upon the Holy One of Israel, in truth, and not in
   pretence and profession only. This promise of the conversion and
   salvation of a remnant of Israel is applied by the apostle (Rom. ix.
   27) to the remnant of the Jews which at the first preaching of the
   gospel received and entertained it, and sufficiently proves that it was
   no new thing for God to abandon to ruin a great many of the seed of
   Abraham in full force and virtue; for so it was now. The number of the
   children of Israel was as the sand of the sea (according to the
   promise, Gen. xxii. 17), and yet only a remnant shall be saved.

   II. The consumption of others: The Lord God of hosts shall make a
   consumption, v. 23. This is not meant (as that v. 18) of the
   consumption of the Assyrian army, but of the consumption of the estates
   and families of many of the Jews by the Assyrian army. This is taken
   notice of to magnify the power and goodness of God in the escape of the
   distinguished remnant, and to let us know what shall become of those
   that will not return to God; they shall be wasted away by this
   consumption, this general decay in the midst of the land. Observe, 1.
   It is a consumption of God's own making; he is the author of it. The
   Lord God of hosts, whom none can resist, shall make this consumption.
   2. It is decreed. It is not the product of a sudden resolve, but was
   before ordained. It is determined, not only that there shall be such a
   consumption, but it is cut out (so the word is); it is particularly
   appointed how far it shall extend and how long it shall continue, who
   shall be consumed by it and who not. 3. It is an overflowing
   consumption, that shall overspread the land, and, like a mighty torrent
   or inundation, bear down all before it. 4. Though it overflows, it is
   not at random, but in righteousness, which signifies both wisdom and
   equity. God will justly bring this consumption upon a provoking people,
   but he will wisely and graciously set bounds to it. Hitherto it shall
   come, and no further.

    Encouragement to Israel. (b. c. 740.)

   24 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that
   dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee
   with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner
   of Egypt.   25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall
   cease, and mine anger in their destruction.   26 And the Lord of hosts
   shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at
   the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it
   up after the manner of Egypt.   27 And it shall come to pass in that
   day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his
   yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the
   anointing.   28 He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at
   Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:   29 They are gone over the
   passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid;
   Gibeah of Saul is fled.   30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim:
   cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.   31 Madmenah is
   removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.   32 As
   yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against
   the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.   33 Behold,
   the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the
   high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be
   humbled.   34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with
   iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

   The prophet, in his preaching, distinguishes between the precious and
   the vile; for God in his providence, even in the same providence, does
   so. He speaks terror, in Sennacherib's invasion, to the hypocrites, who
   were the people of God's wrath, v. 6. But here he speaks comfort to the
   sincere, who were the people of God's love. The judgment was sent for
   the sake of the former; the deliverance was wrought for the sake of the
   latter. Here we have,

   I. An exhortation to God's people not to be frightened at this
   threatening calamity, nor to be put into any confusion or consternation
   by it. Let the sinners in Zion be afraid (ch. xxxiii. 14): but O my
   people, that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian, v. 24.
   Note, It is against the mind and will of God that his people, whatever
   may happen, should give way to that fear which has torment and
   amazement. Those that dwell in Zion, where God dwells and where his
   people attend him, and are employed in his service, that are under the
   protection of the bulwarks that are round about Zion (Ps. xlviii. 13),
   need not be afraid of any enemy. Let their souls dwell at ease in God.

   II. Considerations offered for the silencing of their fear.

   1. The Assyrian shall do nothing against them but what God has
   appointed and determined. They are here told before hand what he shall
   do, that it may be no surprise to them: "He shall smite thee by the
   divine permission, but it shall be only with a rod to correct thee, not
   with a sword to wound and kill; nay, he shall but lift up his staff
   against thee, threaten thee, and frighten thee, and shake the rod at
   thee, after the manner of Egypt, as the Egyptians shook their staff
   against your fathers at the Red Sea, when they said, We will pursue, we
   will overtake (Exod. xv. 9), but could not reach to do them any hurt."
   Note, We should not be frightened at those enemies that can do no more
   than frighten us.

   2. The storm shall soon blow over (v. 25): Yet a very little while--a
   little, little while (so the word is), and the indignation shall cease,
   even my anger, which is the staff in their hand (v. 5), so that when
   that ceases they are disarmed and disabled to do any further mischief.
   Note, God's anger against his people is but for a moment (Ps. xxx. 5),
   and when that ceases, and is turned away from us, we need not fear the
   fury of any man, for it is impotent passion.

   3. The enemy that threatens them shall himself be reckoned with. God's
   anger against his people shall cease in the destruction of their
   enemies; when he turns away his wrath from Israel he shall turn it
   against the Assyrian; and the rod with which he corrected his people
   shall not only be laid aside, but thrown into the fire. He lifted up
   his staff against Zion, but God shall stir up a scourge for him (v.
   26); he is a terror to God's people, but God will be a terror to him.
   The destroying angel shall be this scourge, which he can neither flee
   from nor contend with. The prophet, for the encouragement of God's
   people, quotes precedents, and puts them in mind of what God had done
   formerly against the enemies of his church, who were very strong and
   formidable, but were brought to ruin. The destruction of the Assyrian
   shall be, (1.) According to the slaughter of Midian (which was effected
   by an invisible power, but effected suddenly, and it was a total rout);
   and as, at the rock of Oreb, one of the princes of Midian, after the
   battle, was slain, so shall Sennacherib be in the temple of his god
   Nisroch, after the defeat of his forces, when he thinks the bitterness
   of death is past. Compare with this Ps. lxxxiii. 11, Make their nobles
   like Oreb and like Zeeb; and see how God's promises and his people's
   prayers agree. (2.) As his rod was upon the sea, the Red Sea, as Moses'
   rod was upon that, to divide it first for the escape of Israel and then
   to close it again for the destruction of their pursuers, so shall his
   rod now be lifted up, after the manner of Egypt, for the deliverance of
   Jerusalem and the destruction of the Assyrian. Note, It is good to
   observe a resemblance between God's latter and former appearances for
   his people, and against his and their enemies.

   4. They shall be wholly delivered from the power of the Assyrian, and
   from the fear of it, v. 27. "They shall not only be eased of the
   Assyrian army, which is now quartered upon them and which is a grievous
   yoke and burden to them, but they shall no more pay that tribute to the
   king of Assyria which before this invasion he exacted from them (2
   Kings xviii. 14), shall be no longer at his service, nor lie at his
   mercy, as they have done; nor shall he ever again put the country under
   contribution." Some think it looks further, to the deliverance of the
   Jews out of their captivity in Babylon; and further yet, to the
   redemption of believers from the tyranny of sin and Satan. The yoke
   shall not only be taken away, but it shall be destroyed. The enemy
   shall no more recover his strength, to do the mischief he has done; and
   this because of the anointing, for their sakes who were partakers of
   the anointing. (1.) For Hezekiah's sake, who was the anointed of the
   Lord, who had been an active reformer, and was dear to God. (2.) For
   David's sake. This is particularly given as the reason why God would
   defend Jerusalem from Sennacherib (ch. xxxvii. 35), For my own sake,
   and for my servant David's sake. (3.) For his people Israel's sake, the
   good people among them that had received the unction of divine grace.
   (4.) For the sake of the Messiah, the Anointed of God, whom God had an
   eye to in all the deliverances of the Old-Testament church, and hath
   still an eye to in all the favours he shows to his people. It is for
   his sake that the yoke is broken, and that we are made free indeed.

   III. A description both of the terror of the enemy and the terror with
   which many were struck by it, and the folly of both exposed, v. 28, to
   the end. Here observe,

   1. How formidable the Assyrians were and how daring and threatening
   they affected to appear. Here is a particular description of the march
   of Sennacherib, what course he steered, what swift advances he made: He
   has come to Aiath, &c. "This and the other place he has made himself
   master of, and has met with no opposition." At Michmash he has laid up
   his carriages, as if he had no further occasion for his heavy
   artillery, so easily was every place he came to reduced; or the
   store-cities of Judah, which were fortified for that purpose, had now
   become his magazines. Some remarkable pass, and an important one, he
   had taken: They have gone over the passage.

   2. How cowardly the men of Judah were, the degenerate seed of that
   lion's whelp. They were afraid; they fled upon the first alarm, and did
   not offer to make any head against the enemy. Their apostasy from God
   had dispirited them, so that one chased a thousand of them. Instead of
   a valiant shout, to animate one another, nothing was heard by
   lamentation, to discourage and weaken one another. And poor Anathoth, a
   priests' city, that should have been a pattern of courage, shrieks
   louder than any, v. 30. With respect to those that gathered themselves
   together, it was not to fight, but to flee by consent, v. 31. This is
   designed either, (1.) To show how fast the news of the enemy's progress
   flew through the kingdom: He has come to Aiath, says one; nay, says
   another, He has passed to Migron, &c. And yet, perhaps, it was not
   altogether so bad as common fame represented it. But we must watch
   against the fear, not only of evil things, but of evil tidings, which
   often make things worse than really they are, Ps. cxii. 7. Or, (2.) To
   show what imminent danger Jerusalem was in, when its enemies made so
   many bold advances towards it and its friends could not make one bold
   stand to defend it. Note, The more daring the church's enemies are, and
   the more dastardly those are that should appear for her, the more will
   God be exalted in his own strength, when, notwithstanding this, he
   works deliverance for her.

   3. How impotent his attempt upon Jerusalem shall be: he shall remain at
   Nob, whence he may see Mount Zion, and there he shall shake his hand
   against it, v. 32. He shall threaten it, and that shall be all; it
   shall be safe, and shall set him at defiance. The daughter of
   Jerusalem, to be even with him, shall shake her head at him, ch.
   xxxvii. 22.

   4. How fatal it would prove, in the issue, to himself. When he shakes
   his hand at Jerusalem, and is about to lay hands on it, then is God's
   time to appear against him; for Zion is the place of which God has
   said, This is my rest for ever; therefore those who threaten it affront
   God himself. Then the Lord shall lop the bough with terror and cut down
   the thickets of the forest, v. 33, 34. (1.) The pride of the enemy
   shall be humbled, the boughs that are lifted up on high shall be lopped
   off, the high and stately trees shall be hewn down; that is, the
   haughty shall be humbled. Those that lift up themselves in competition
   with God or opposition to him shall be abased. (2.) The power of the
   enemy shall be broken: The thickets of the forest he shall cut down.
   When the Assyrian soldiers were under their arms, and their spears
   erect, they looked like a forest, like Lebanon; but, when in one night
   they all became as dead corpses, the pikes were laid on the ground, and
   Lebanon was of a sudden cut down by a mighty one, by the destroying
   angel, who in a little time slew so many thousands of them: and, if
   this shall be the exit of that proud invader, let not God's people be
   afraid of him. Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that
   shall die?
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. XI.

   It is a very good transition in prophecy (whether it be so in rhetoric
   or no), and a very common one, to pass from the prediction of the
   temporal deliverances of the church to that of the great salvation,
   which in the fulness of time should be wrought out by Jesus Christ, of
   which the other were types and figures, to which all the prophets bore
   witness; and so the ancient Jews understood them. For what else was it
   that raised so great an expectation of the Messiah at the time he came.
   Upon occasion of the prophecy of the deliverance of Jerusalem from
   Sennacherib, here comes in a prophecy concerning Messiah the Prince. I.
   His rise out of the house of David, ver. 1. II. His qualifications for
   his great undertaking, ver. 2, 3. III. The justice and equity of his
   government, ver. 3-5. IV. The peaceableness of his kingdom, ver. 6-9.
   V. The accession of the Gentiles to it (ver. 10), and with them the
   remnant of the Jews, that should be united with them in the Messiah's
   kingdom (ver. 11-16) and of all this God would now shortly give them a
   type, and some dark representation, in the excellent government of
   Hezekiah, the great peace which the nation should enjoy under him,
   after the ruin of Sennacherib's design, and the return of many of the
   ten tribes out of their dispersion to their brethren of the land of
   Judah, when they enjoyed that great tranquility.

    Prophecy of the Messiah; The Government of Messiah. (b. c. 740.)

   1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a
   Branch shall grow out of his roots:   2 And the spirit of the Lord
   shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit
   of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the
   Lord;   3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the
   Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither
   reprove after the hearing of his ears:   4 But with righteousness shall
   he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:
   and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the
   breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.   5 And righteousness
   shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his
   reins.   6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
   shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the
   fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.   7 And the cow
   and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and
   the lion shall eat straw like the ox.   8 And the sucking child shall
   play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on
   the cockatrice' den.   9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
   mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as
   the waters cover the sea.

   The prophet had before, in this sermon, spoken of a child that should
   be born, a son that should be given, on whose shoulders the government
   should be, intending this for the comfort of the people of God in times
   of trouble, as dying Jacob, many ages before, had intended the prospect
   of Shiloh for the comfort of his seed in their affliction in Egypt. He
   had said (ch. x. 27) that the yoke should be destroyed because of the
   anointing; now here he tells us on whom that anointing should rest. He
   foretels,

   I. That the Messiah should, in due time, arise out of the house of
   David, as that branch of the Lord which he had said (ch. iv. 2) should
   be excellent and glorious; the word is Netzer, which some think is
   referred to in Matt. ii. 23, where it is said to be spoken by the
   prophets of the Messiah that he should be called a Nazarene. Observe
   here, 1. Whence this branch should arise-from Jesse. He should be the
   son of David, with whom the covenant of royalty was made, and to whom
   it was promised with an oath that of the fruit of his loins God would
   raise of Christ, Acts ii. 30. David is often called the son of Jesse,
   and Christ is called so, because he was to be not only the Son of
   David, but David himself, Hos. iii. 5. 2. The meanness of his
   appearance. (1.) He is called a rod, and a branch; both the words here
   used signify a weak, small, tender product, a twig and a sprig (so some
   render them), such as is easily broken off. The enemies of God's church
   were just before compared to strong and stately boughs (ch. x. 33),
   which will not, without great labour, be hewn down, but Christ to a
   tender branch (ch. liii. 2); yet he shall be victorious over them. (2.)
   He is said to come out of Jesse rather than David, because Jesse lived
   and died in meanness and obscurity; his family was of small account (1
   Sam. xviii. 18), and it was in a way of contempt and reproach that
   David was sometimes called the son of Jesse, 1 Sam. xxii. 7. (3.) He
   comes forth out of the stem, or stump, of Jesse. When the royal family,
   that had been as a cedar, was cut down, and only the stump of it left,
   almost levelled with the ground and lost in the grass of the field
   (Dan. iv. 15), yet it shall sprout again (Job xiv. 7); nay, it shall
   grow out of his roots, which are quite buried in the earth, and, like
   the roots of flowers in the winter, have no stem appearing above
   ground. The house of David was reduced and brought very low at the time
   of Christ's birth, witness the obscurity and poverty of Joseph and
   Mary. The Messiah was thus to begin his estate of humiliation, for
   submitting to which he should be highly exalted, and would thus give
   early notice that his kingdom was not of this world. The Chaldee
   paraphrase reads this, There shall come forth a King from the sons of
   Jesse, and the Messiah (or Christ) shall be anointed out of his sons'
   sons.

   II. That he should be every way qualified for that great work to which
   he was designed, that this tender branch should be so watered with the
   dews of heaven as to become a strong rod for a sceptre to rule, v. 2.
   1. In general, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The Holy
   Spirit, in all his gifts and graces, shall not only come, but rest and
   abide upon him; he shall have the Spirit not by measure, but without
   measure, the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him, Col. i. 19; ii. 9.
   He began his preaching with this (Luke iv. 18), The Spirit of the Lord
   is upon me. 2. In particular, the spirit of government, by which he
   should be every way fitted for that judgment which the Father has
   committed to him and given him authority to execute (John v. 22, 27),
   and not only so, but should be made the fountain and treasury of all
   grace to believers, that from his fulness they might all receive the
   Spirit of grace, as all the members of the body derive animal spirits
   from the head. (1.) He shall have the spirit of wisdom and
   understanding, of counsel and knowledge; he shall thoroughly understand
   the business he is to be employed in. No man knows the Father but the
   Son, Matt. xi. 27. What he is to make known to the children of men
   concerning God, and his mind and will, he shall be himself acquainted
   with and apprised of, John i. 18. He shall know how to administer the
   affairs of his spiritual kingdom in all the branches of it, so as
   effectually to answer the two great intentions of it, the glory of God
   and the welfare of the children of men. The terms of the covenant shall
   be settled by him, and ordinances instituted, in wisdom: treasures of
   wisdom shall be hid in him; he shall be our counsellor, and shall be
   made of God to us wisdom. (2.) The spirit of courage, or might, or
   fortitude. The undertaking was very great, abundance of difficulty must
   be broken through, and therefore it was necessary that he should be so
   endowed that he might not fail or be discouraged, ch. xlii. 4. He was
   famed for courage in his teaching the way of God in truth, and not
   caring for any man, Matt. xxii. 16. (3.) The spirit of religion, or the
   fear of the Lord; not only he shall himself have a reverent affection
   for his Father, as his servant (ch. xlii. 1), and he was heard in that
   he feared (Heb. v. 7), but he shall have a zeal for religion, and shall
   design the advancement of it in his whole undertaking. Our faith in
   Christ was never designed to supersede and jostle out, but to increase
   and support, our fear of the Lord.

   III. That he should be accurate, and critical, and very exact in the
   administration of his government and the exercise of the power
   committed to him (v. 3): The Spirit wherewith he shall be clothed shall
   make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord--of an acute
   smell or scent (so the word is), for the apprehensions of the mind are
   often expressed by the sensations of the body. Note, 1. Those are most
   truly and valuably intelligent that are so in the fear of the Lord, in
   the business of religion, for that is both the foundation and top-stone
   of wisdom. 2. By this it will appear that we have the Spirit of God, if
   we have spiritual senses exercised, and are of quick understanding in
   the fear of the lord. Those have divine illumination that know their
   duty and know how to go about it. 3. Therefore Jesus Christ had the
   spirit without measure, that he might perfectly understand his
   undertaking; and he did so, as appears not only in the admirable
   answers he gave to all that questioned with him, which proved him to be
   of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, but in the management
   of his whole undertaking. He has settled the great affair of religion
   so unexpectedly well (so as effectually to secure both God's honour and
   man's happiness) that, it must be owned, he thoroughly understood it.

   IV. That he should be just and righteous in all the acts of his
   government, and there should appear in it as much equity as wisdom. He
   shall judge as he expresses it himself, and as he himself would be
   judged of, John vii. 24. 1. Not according to outward appearance (v. 3):
   he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, with respect of persons
   (Job xxxiv. 19) and according to outward shows and appearances, not
   reprove after the hearing of his ears, by common fame and report, and
   the representations of others, as men commonly do; nor does he judge of
   men by the fair words they speak, calling him, Lord, Lord, or their
   plausible actions before the eye of the world, which they do to be seen
   of men; but he will judge by the hidden man of the heart, and the
   inward principles men are governed by, of which he is an infallible
   witness. Christ will judge the secrets of men (Rom. ii. 16), will
   determine concerning them, not according to their own pretensions and
   appearances (that were to judge after the sight of the eyes), not
   according to the opinion others have of them (that were to judge after
   the hearing of the ears), but we are sure that his judgment is
   according to truth. 2. He will judge righteous judgment (v. 5):
   Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins. He shall be righteous
   in the administration of his government, and his righteousness shall be
   his girdle; it shall constantly compass him and cleave to him, shall be
   his ornament and honour; he shall gird himself for every action, shall
   gird on his sword for war in righteousness; his righteousness shall be
   his strength, and shall make him expeditious in his undertakings, as a
   man with his loins girt. In conformity to Christ, his followers must
   have the girdle of truth (Eph. vi. 14) and it will be the stability of
   the times. Particularly, (1.) He shall in righteousness plead for the
   people that are poor and oppressed; he will be their protector (v. 4):
   With righteousness shall he judge the poor; he shall judge in favour
   and defence of those that have right on their side, though they are
   poor in the world, and because they are poor in spirit. It is the duty
   of princes to defend and deliver the poor (Ps. lxxxii. 3, 4), and the
   honour of Christ that he is the poor man's King, Ps. lxxii. 2, 4. He
   shall debate with evenness for the meek of the earth, or of the land;
   those that bear the injuries done them with meekness and patience are
   in a special manner entitled to the divine care and protection. I, as a
   deaf man, heard not, for thou wilt hear, Ps. xxxviii. 13, 14. Some read
   it, He shall reprove or correct the meek of the earth with equity. If
   his own people, the meek of the land, do amiss, he will visit their
   transgression with the rod. (2.) He shall in righteousness plead
   against his enemies that are proud and oppressors (v. 4): But he shall
   smite the earth, the man of the earth, that doth oppress (see Ps. x.
   18), the men of the world, that mind earthly things only (Ps. xvii.
   14); these he shall smite with the rod of his mouth, the word of his
   mouth, speaking terror and ruin to them; his threatenings shall take
   hold of them, and be executed upon them. With the breath of his lips,
   by the operation of his Spirit, according to his word, and working with
   and by it, he shall slay the wicked. He will do it easily, with a
   word's speaking, as he laid those flat who came to seize him, by saying
   I am he, John xviii. 6. Killing terrors shall arrest their consciences,
   killing judgments shall ruin them, their power, and all their
   interests; and in the other world everlasting tribulation will be
   recompensed to those that trouble his poor people. The apostle applies
   this to the destruction of the man of sin, whom he calls that wicked
   one (2 Thess. ii. 8) whom the Lord will consume with the spirit of his
   mouth. And the Chaldee here reads it, He shall slay that wicked
   Romulus, or Rome, as Mr. Hugh Broughton understands it.

   V. That there should be great peace and tranquillity under his
   government; this is an explication of what was said in ch. ix. 6, that
   he should be the Prince of peace. Peace signifies two things:--

   1. Unity or concord, which is intimated in these figurative promises,
   that even the wolf shall dwell peaceably with the lamb; men of the most
   fierce and furious dispositions, who used to bite and devour all about
   them, shall have their temper so strangely altered by the efficacy of
   the gospel and grace of Christ that they shall live in love even with
   the weakest and such as formerly they would have made an easy prey of.
   So far shall the sheep be from hurting one another, as sometimes they
   have done (Ezek. xxxiv. 20, 21), that even the wolves shall agree with
   them. Christ, who is our peace, came to slay all enmities and to settle
   lasting friendships among his followers, particularly between Jews and
   Gentiles: when multitudes of both, being converted to the faith of
   Christ, united in one sheep-fold, then the wolf and the lamb dwelt
   together; the wolf did not so much as threaten the lamb, nor was the
   lamb afraid of the wolf. The leopard shall not only not tear the kid,
   but shall lie down with her: even their young ones shall lie down
   together, and shall be trained up in a blessed amity, in order to the
   perpetuating of it. The lion shall cease to be ravenous and shall eat
   straw like the ox, as some think all the beasts of prey did before the
   fall. The asp and the cockatrice shall cease to be venomous, so that
   parents shall let their children play with them and put their hands
   among them. A generation of vipers shall become a seed of saints, and
   the old complaint of homo homini lupus--man is a wolf to man, shall be
   at an end. Those that inhabit the holy mountain shall live as amicably
   as the creatures did that were with Noah in the ark, and it shall be a
   means of their preservation, for they shall not hurt nor destroy one
   another as they have done. Now, (1.) This is fulfilled in the wonderful
   effect of the gospel upon the minds of those that sincerely embrace it;
   it changes the nature, and makes those that trampled on the meek of the
   earth, not only meek like them, but affectionate towards them. When
   Paul, who had persecuted the saints, joined himself to them, then the
   wolf dwelt with the lamb. (2.) Some are willing to hope it shall yet
   have a further accomplishment in the latter days, when swords shall be
   beaten into ploughshares.

   2. Safety or security. Christ, the great Shepherd, shall take such care
   of the flock that those who would hurt them shall not; they shall not
   only not destroy one another, but no enemy from without shall be
   permitted to give them any molestation. The property of troubles, and
   of death itself, shall be so altered that they shall not do any real
   hurt to, much less shall they be the destruction of, any that have
   their conversation in the holy mountain, 1 Pet. iii. 13. Who, or what,
   can harm us, if we be followers of him that is good? God's people shall
   be delivered, not only from evil, but from the fear of it. Even the
   sucking child shall without any terror play upon the hole of the asp;
   blessed Paul does so when he says, Who shall separate us from the love
   of Christ? and, O death! where is thy sting?

   Lastly, Observe what shall be the effect, and what the cause, of this
   wonderful softening and sweetening of men's tempers by the grace of
   God. 1. The effect of it shall be tractableness, and a willingness to
   receive instruction: A little child shall lead those who formerly
   scorned to be controlled by the strongest man. Calvin understands it of
   their willing submission to the ministers of Christ, who are to
   instruct with meekness and not to use any coercive power, but to be as
   little children, Matt. xviii. 3. See 2 Cor. viii. 5. 2. The cause of it
   shall be the knowledge of God. The more there is of that the more there
   is of a disposition to peace. They shall thus live in love, for the
   earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, which shall
   extinguish men's heats and animosities. The better acquainted we are
   with the God of love the more shall we be changed into the same image
   and the better affected shall we be to all those that bear his image.
   The earth shall be as full of this knowledge as the channels of the sea
   are of water--so broad and extensive shall this knowledge be and so far
   shall it spread--so deep and substantial shall this knowledge be, and
   so long shall it last. There is much more of the knowledge of God to be
   got by the gospel of Christ than could be got by the law of Moses; and,
   whereas then in Judah only was God known, now all shall know him, Heb.
   viii. 11. But that is knowledge falsely so called which sows discord
   among men; the right knowledge of God settles peace.

    Advancement of Messiah's Kingdom. (b. c. 740.)

   10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand
   for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his
   rest shall be glorious.   11 And it shall come to pass in that day,
   that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the
   remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from
   Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar,
   and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.   12 And he shall set
   up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of
   Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four
   corners of the earth.   13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and
   the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy
   Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.   14 But they shall fly upon
   the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them
   of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and
   the children of Ammon shall obey them.   15 And the Lord shall utterly
   destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall
   he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven
   streams, and make men go over dry-shod.   16 And there shall be a
   highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from
   Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the
   land of Egypt.

   We have here a further prophecy of the enlargement and advancement of
   the kingdom of the Messiah, under the type and figure of the
   flourishing condition of the kingdom of Judah in the latter end of
   Hezekiah's reign, after the defeat of Sennacherib.

   I. This prediction was in part accomplished when the great things God
   did for Hezekiah and his people proved as an ensign, inviting the
   neighbouring nations to them to enquire of the wonders done in the
   land, on which errand the king of Babylon's ambassadors came. To them
   the Gentiles sought; and Jerusalem, the rest or habitation of the Jews,
   was then glorious, v. 10. Then many of the Israelites who belonged to
   the kingdom of the ten tribes, who upon the destruction of that kingdom
   by the king of Assyria were forced to flee for shelter into all the
   countries about and to some that lay very remote, even to the islands
   of the sea, were encouraged to return to their own country and put
   themselves under the protection and government of the king of Judah,
   the rather because it was an Assyrian army by which their country had
   been ruined and that was not routed. This is said to be a recovery of
   them the second time (v. 11), such an instance of the power and
   goodness of God, and such a reviving to them, as their first
   deliverance out of Egypt was. Then the outcasts of Israel should be
   gathered in, and brought home, and those of Judah too, who, upon the
   approach of the Assyrian army, shifted for their own safety. Then the
   old feud between Ephraim and Judah shall be forgotten, and they shall
   join against the Philistines and their other common enemies, v. 13, 14.
   Note, Those who have been sharers with each other in afflictions and
   mercies, dangers and deliverances, ought in consideration thereof to
   unite for their joint and mutual safety and protection; and it is
   likely to be well with the church when Ephraim and Judah are one
   against the Philistines. Then, whatever difficulties there may be in
   the way of the return of the dispersed, the Lord shall find out some
   way or other to remove them, as when he brought Israel out of Egypt he
   dried up the Red Sea and Jordan (v. 15) and led them to Canaan through
   the invincible embarrassments of a vast howling wilderness, v. 16. The
   like will he do this second time, or that which shall be equivalent.
   When God's time has come for the deliverance of his people mountains of
   opposition shall become plain before him. Let us not despair therefore
   when the interests of the church seem to be brought very low; God can
   soon turn gloomy days into glorious ones.

   II. It had a further reference to the days of the Messiah and the
   accession of the Gentiles to his kingdom; for to these the apostle
   applies v. 10, of which the following verses are a continuation. Rom.
   xv. 12, There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall rise to reign
   over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. That is a key to
   this prophecy, which speaks of Christ as the root of Jesse, or a branch
   out of his roots (v. 1), a root out of a dry ground, ch. liii. 2. He is
   the root of David (Rev. v. 5), the root and offspring of David Rev.
   xxii. 16.

   1. He shall stand, or be set up, for an ensign of the people. When he
   was crucified he was lifted up from the earth, that, as an ensign of
   beacon, he might draw the eyes and the hearts of all men unto him, John
   xii. 32. He is set up as an ensign in the preaching of the everlasting
   gospel, in which the ministers, as standard-bearers, display the banner
   of his love, to allure us to him (Cant. i. 4), the banner of his truth,
   under which we may enlist ourselves, to engage in a holy war against
   sin and Satan. Christ is the ensign to which the children of God that
   were scattered abroad are gathered together (John xi. 51), and in him
   they meet as the centre of their unity.

   2. To him shall the Gentiles seek. We read of Greeks that did so (John
   xii. 21, We would see Jesus), and upon that occasion Christ spoke of
   his being lifted up, to draw all men to him. The apostle, from the LXX.
   (or perhaps the LXX. from the apostle, in the editions after Christ)
   reads it (Rom. xv. 12), In him shall the Gentiles trust; they shall
   seek to him with a dependence on him.

   3. His rest shall be glorious. Some understand this of the death of
   Christ (the triumphs of the cross made even that glorious), others of
   his ascension, when he sat down to rest at the right hand of God. Or
   rather it is meant of the gospel church, that Mount Zion of which
   Christ has said, This is my rest, and in which he resides. This, though
   despised by the world, having upon it the beauty of holiness, is truly
   glorious, a glorious high throne, Jer. xvii. 12.

   4. Both Jews and Gentiles shall be gathered to him, v. 11. A remnant of
   both, a little remnant in comparison, which shall be recovered, as it
   were, with great difficulty and hazard. As formerly God delivered his
   people, and gathered them out of all the countries whither they were
   scattered (Ps. cvi. 47; Jer. xvi. 15, 16), so he will a second time, in
   another way, by the powerful working of the Spirit of grace with the
   word. He shall set his hand to do it; he shall exert his power, the arm
   of the Lord shall be revealed to do it. (1.) There shall be a remnant
   of the Jews gathered in: The outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of
   Judah (v. 12), many of whom, at the time of the bringing of them in to
   Christ, were Jews of the dispersion, the twelve tribes that were
   scattered abroad (James i. 1; 1 Pet. i. 1), shall flock to Christ; and
   probably more of those scattered Jews were brought into the church, in
   proportion, than of those which remained in their own land. (2.) Many
   of the nations, the Gentiles, shall be brought in by the lifting up of
   the ensign. Jacob foretold concerning Shiloh that to him should the
   gathering of the people be. Those that were strangers and foreigners
   shall be made nigh. The Jews were jealous of Christ's going to the
   dispersed among the Gentiles and of his teaching the Gentiles, John
   vii. 35.

   5. There shall be a happy accommodation between Judah and Ephraim, and
   both shall be safe from their adversaries and have dominion over them,
   v. 13, 14. The coalescence between Judah and Israel at that time was a
   type and figure of the uniting of Jews and Gentiles, who had been so
   long at variance in the gospel church. The house of Judah shall walk
   with the house of Israel (Jer. iii. 18) and become one nation (Ezek.
   xxxvii. 22); so the Jews and Gentiles are made of twain one new man
   (Eph. ii. 15), and, being at peace one with another, those that are
   adversaries to them both shall be cut off; for they shall fly upon the
   shoulders of the Philistines, as an eagle strikes at her prey, shall
   spoil those on the west side of them, and then they shall extend their
   conquests eastward over the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites. The
   gospel of Christ shall be successful in all parts, and some of all
   nations shall become obedient to the faith.

   6. Every thing that might hinder the progress and success of the gospel
   shall be taken out of the way. As when God brought Israel out of Egypt
   he dried up the Red Sea and Jordan before them (ch. lxiii. 11, 12), and
   as afterwards when he brought up the Jews out of Babylon he prepared
   them their way (ch. lxii. 10), so when Jews and Gentiles are to be
   brought together into the gospel church all obstructions shall be
   removed (v. 15, 16), difficulties that seemed insuperable shall be
   strangely got over, the blind shall be led by a way that they knew not.
   See ch. xlii. 15, 16; xliii. 19, 20. Converts shall be brought in
   chariots and in litters, ch. lxvi. 20. Some think it is the further
   accession of multitudes to the church that is pointed at in that
   obscure prophecy of the drying up of the river Euphrates, that the way
   of the kings of the east may be prepared (Rev. xvi. 12), which seems to
   refer to this prophecy. Note, When God's time has come for the bringing
   of nations, or particular persons, home to himself, divine grace will
   be victorious over all opposition. At the presence of the Lord the sea
   shall flee and Jordan be driven back; and those who set their faces
   heavenward will find there are not such difficulties in the way as they
   thought there were, for there is a highway thither, ch. xxxv. 8.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. XII.

   The salvation promised in the foregoing chapter was compared to that of
   Israel "in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt;" so that
   chapter ends. Now as Moses and the children of Israel then sang a song
   of praise to the glory of God (Exod. xv. 1) so shall the people of God
   do in that day when the root of Jesse shall stand for an ensign of the
   people and shall be the desire and joy of all nations. In that day, I.
   Every particular believer shall sing a song of praise for his own
   interest in that salvation, ver. 1, 3). "Thou shalt say, Lord, I will
   praise thee." Thanksgiving-work shall be closet-work. II. Many in
   concert shall join in praising God for the common benefit arising from
   this salvation (ver. 4-6): "You shall say, Praise you the Lord."
   Thanksgiving-work shall be congregation-work; and the praises of God
   shall be publicly sung in the congregations of the upright.

    A Song of Praise. (b. c. 740.)

   1 And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though
   thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou
   comfortedst me.   2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not
   be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is
   become my salvation.   3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of
   the wells of salvation.

   This is the former part of the hymn of praise which is prepared for the
   use of the church, of the Jewish church when God would work great
   deliverances for them, and of the Christian church when the kingdom of
   the Messiah should be set up in the world in despite of the opposition
   of the powers of darkness: In that day thou shalt say, O Lord! I will
   praise thee. The scattered church, being united into one body, shall,
   as one man, with one mind and one mouth, thus praise God, who is one
   and his name one. In that day, when the Lord shall do these great
   things for thee, thou shalt say, O Lord! I will praise thee. That is,

   I. "Thou shalt have cause to say so." The promise is sure, and the
   blessings contained in it are very rich, and, when they are bestowed,
   will furnish the church with abundant matter for rejoicing and
   therefore with abundant matter for thanksgiving. The Old-Testament
   prophecies of gospel times are often expressed by the joy and praise
   that shall then be excited; for the inestimable benefits we enjoy by
   Jesus Christ require the most elevated and enlarged thanksgivings.

   II. "Thou shalt have a heart to say so." All God's other gifts to his
   people shall be crowned with this. He will give them grace to ascribe
   all the glory of them to him, and to speak of them upon all occasions
   with thankfulness to his praise. Thou shalt say, that is, thou oughtest
   to say so. In that day, when many are brought home to Jesus Christ and
   flock to him as doves to their windows, instead of envying the kind
   reception they find with Christ, as the Jews grudged the favour shown
   to the Gentiles, thou shalt say, O Lord! I will praise thee. Note, we
   ought to rejoice in, and give thanks for, the grace of God to others as
   well as to ourselves.

   1. Believers are here taught to give thanks to God for the turning away
   of his displeasure from them and the return of his favour to them (v.
   1): O Lord! I will praise thee, though thou wast angry with me. Note,
   Even God's frowns must not put us out of tune for praising him; though
   he be angry with us, though he slay us, yet we must put our trust in
   him and give him thanks. God has often just cause to be angry with us,
   but we have never any reason to be angry with him, nor to speak
   otherwise than well of him; even when he blames us we must praise him.
   Thou was angry with us, but thy anger is turned away. Note, (1.) God is
   sometimes angry with his own people and the fruits of his anger do
   appear, and they ought to take notice of this, that they may humble
   themselves under his mighty hand. (2.) Though God may for a time be
   angry with his people, yet his anger shall at length be turned away; it
   endures but for a moment, nor will he contend for ever. By Jesus
   Christ, the root of Jesse, God's anger against mankind was turned away;
   for he is our peace. (3.) Those whom God is reconciled to he comforts;
   even the turning away of his anger is a comfort to them; yet that is
   not all: those that are at peace with God may rejoice in hope of the
   glory of God, Rom. v. 1, 2. Nay, God sometimes brings his people into a
   wilderness that there he may speak comfortably to them, Hosea ii. 14.
   (4.) The turning away of God's anger, and the return of his comforts to
   us, ought to be the matter of our joyful thankful praises.

   2. They are taught to triumph in God and their interest in him (v. 2):
   "Behold, and wonder; God is my salvation; not only my Saviour, by whom
   I am saved, but my salvation, in whom I am safe. I depend upon him as
   my salvation, for I have found him to be so. He shall have the glory of
   all the salvations that have been wrought for me, and from him only
   will I expect the salvations I further need, and not from hills and
   mountains: and if God be my salvation, if he undertake my eternal
   salvation, I will trust in him to prepare me for it and preserve me to
   it. I will trust him with all my temporal concerns, not doubting but he
   will make all to work for my good. I will be confident, that is, I will
   be always easy in my own mind." Note, Those that have God for their
   salvation may enjoy themselves with a holy security and serenity of
   mind. Let faith in God as our salvation be effectual, (1.) To silence
   our fears. We must trust, and not be afraid, not be afraid that the God
   we trust in will fail us; no, there is no danger of that; not be afraid
   of any creature, though ever so formidable and threatening. Note, Faith
   in God is a sovereign remedy against disquieting tormenting fears. (2.)
   To support our hopes. Is the Lord Jehovah our salvation? Then he will
   be our strength and song. We have work to do and temptations to resist,
   and we may depend upon him to enable us for both, to strengthen us with
   all might by his Spirit in the inner man, for he is our strength; his
   grace is so, and that grace shall be sufficient for us. We have many
   troubles to undergo, and must expect griefs in a vale of tears; and we
   may depend upon him to comfort us in all our tribulations, for he is
   our song; he giveth songs in the night. If we make God our strength,
   and put our confidence in him, he will be our strength; if we make him
   our song, and place our comfort in him, he will be our song. Many good
   Christians have God for their strength who have him not for their song;
   they walk in darkness: but light is sown for them. And those that have
   God for their strength ought to make him their song, that is, to give
   him the glory of it (see Ps. lxviii. 35) and to take to themselves the
   comfort of it, for he will become their salvation. Observe the title
   here given to God: Jah, Jehovah. Jah is the contraction of Jehovah, and
   both signify his eternity and unchangeableness, which are a great
   comfort to those that depend upon him as their strength and their song.
   Some make Jah to signify the Son of God made man; he is Jehovah, and in
   him we may glory as our strength, and song, and salvation.

   3. They are aught to derive comfort to themselves from the love of God
   and all the tokens of that love (v. 3): "Therefore, because the Lord
   Jehovah is your strength and song and will be your salvation, you shall
   draw water with joy." Note, The assurances God has given us of his
   love, and the experiences we have had of the benefit and comfort of his
   grace, should greatly encourage our faith in him and our expectations
   from him: "Out of the wells of salvation in God, who is the fountain of
   all good to his people, you shall draw water with joy. God's favour
   shall flow forth to you, and you shall have the comfort of it and make
   use of the blessed fruits of it." Note, (1.) God's promises revealed,
   ratified, and given out to us, in his ordinances, are wells of
   salvation; wells of the Saviour (so some read it), for in them the
   Saviour and salvation are made known to us and made over to us. (2.) It
   is our duty by faith to draw water out of these wells, to take to
   ourselves the benefit and comfort that are treasured up for us in them,
   as those that acknowledge all our fresh springs to be there and all our
   fresh streams to be thence, Ps. lxxxvii. 7. (3.) Water is to be drawn
   out of the wells of salvation with a great deal of pleasure and
   satisfaction. It is the will of God that we should rejoice before him
   and rejoice in him (Deut. xxvi. 11), be joyful in his house of prayer
   (Isa. lvi. 7), and keep his feasts with gladness, Acts ii. 46.

    A Song of Praise. (b. c. 740.)

   4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name,
   declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is
   exalted.   5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things:
   this is known in all the earth.   6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant
   of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

   This is the second part of this evangelical song, and to the same
   purport with the former; there believers stir up themselves to praise
   God, here they invite and encourage one another to do it, and are
   contriving to spread his praise and draw in others to join with them in
   it. Observe,

   I. Who are here called upon to praise God--the inhabitants of Zion and
   Jerusalem, whom God had in a particular manner protected from
   Sennacherib's violence, v. 6. Those that have received distinguishing
   favours from God ought to be most forward and zealous in praising him.
   The gospel church is Zion. Christ is Zion's King. Those that have a
   place and a name in the church should lay out themselves to diffuse the
   knowledge of Christ and to bring many to him. Thou inhabitress of Zion;
   the word is feminine. Let the weaker sex be strong in the Lord, and out
   of their mouth praise shall be perfected.

   II. How they must praise the Lord. 1. By prayer: Call upon his name. As
   giving thanks for former mercy is a decent way of begging further
   mercy, so begging further mercy is graciously accepted as a thankful
   acknowledgment of the mercies we have received. In calling upon God's
   name we give unto him some of the glory that is due to his name as our
   powerful and bountiful benefactor. 2. By preaching and writing. We must
   not only speak to God, but speak to others concerning him, not only
   call upon his name, but (as the margin reads it) proclaim his name; let
   others know something more from us than they did before concerning God,
   and those things whereby he has made himself known. Declare his doings,
   his counsels (so some read it); the work of redemption is according to
   the counsel of his will, and in that and other wonderful works that he
   has done we must take notice of his thoughts which are to us-ward, Ps.
   xl. 5. Declare these among the people, among the heathen, that they may
   be brought into communion with Israel and the God of Israel. When the
   apostles preached the gospel to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem,
   then this scripture was fulfilled, that his doings should be declared
   among the people and that what he has done should be known in all the
   earth. 3. By a holy exultation and transport of joy: "Cry out and
   shout; welcome the gospel to yourselves and publish it to others with
   huzzas and loud acclamations, as those that shout for victory (Exod.
   xxxii. 18) or for the coronation of a king," Num. xxiii. 21.

   III. For what they must praise the Lord. 1. Because he has glorified
   himself. Remember it yourselves, and make mention of it to others, that
   his name is exalted, has become more illustrious and more conspicuous;
   in this every good man rejoices. 2. Because he has magnified his
   people: He has done excellent things for them, which make them look
   great and considerable. 3. Because he is, and will be, great among
   them: Great is the Holy One, for he is glorious in holiness; therefore
   great, because holy. True goodness is true greatness. He is great as
   the Holy One of Israel, and in the midst of them, praised by them (Ps.
   lxxvi. 1), manifesting himself among them, and appearing gloriously in
   their behalf. It is the honour and happiness of Israel that the God who
   is in covenant with them, and in the midst of them, is infinitely
   great.
     __________________________________________________________________

I S A I A H.

  CHAP. XIII.

   Hitherto the prophecies of this book related only to Judah and Israel,
   and Jerusalem especially; but now the prophet begins to look abroad,
   and to read the doom of divers of the neighbouring states and kingdoms:
   for he that is King of saints is also King of nations, and rules in the
   affairs of the children of men as well as in those of his own children.
   But the nations to whom these prophecies do relate were all such as the
   people of God were in some way or other conversant and concerned with,
   such as had been kind or unkind to Israel, and accordingly God would
   deal with them, either in favour or in wrath; for the Lord's portion is
   his people, and to them he has an eye in all the dispensations of his
   providence concerning those about them, Deut. xxxii. 8, 9. The
   threatenings we find here against Babylon, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, Tyre,
   &c., were intended for comfort to those in Israel that feared God, but
   were terrified and oppressed by those potent neighbours, and for alarm
   to those among them that were wicked. If God would thus severely reckon
   with those for their sins that knew him not, and made no profession of
   his name, how severe would he be with those that were called by his
   name and yet lived in rebellion against him! And perhaps the directing
   of particular prophecies to the neighbouring nations might invite some
   of those nations to the reading of the Jews' Bible, and so they might
   be brought to their religion. This chapter, and that which follows,
   contain what God had to say to Babylon and Babylon's king, who were at
   present little known to Israel, but would in process of time become a
   greater enemy to them than any other had been, for which God would at
   last reckon with them. In this chapter we have, I. A general rendezvous
   of the forces that were to be employed against Babylon, ver. 1-5. II.
   The dreadfully bloody work that those forces should make in Babylon,
   ver. 6-18. III. The utter ruin and desolation of Babylon, which this
   should end in, ver. 19-22.

    The Doom of Babylon. (b. c. 739.)

   1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.   2 Lift
   ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake
   the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.   3 I have
   commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for
   mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.   4 The noise of a
   multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous
   noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts
   mustereth the host of the battle.   5 They come from a far country,
   from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his
   indignation, to destroy the whole land.

   The general title of this book was, The vision of Isaiah the son of
   Amoz, ch. i. 1. Here we have that which Isaiah saw, which was
   represented to his mind as clearly and fully as if he had seen it with
   his bodily eyes; but the particular inscription of this sermon is the
   burden of Babylon. 1. It is a burden, a lesson they were to learn (so
   some understand it), but they would be loth to learn it, and it would
   be a burden to their memories, or a load which should lie heavily upon
   them and under which they should sink. Those that will not make the
   word of God their rest (ch. xxviii. 12; Jer. vi. 16) shall find it made
   a burden to them. 2. It is the burden of Babylon or Babel, which at
   this time was a dependent upon the Assyrian monarchy (the metropolis of
   which was Nineveh), but soon after revolted from it and became a
   monarchy of itself, and a very potent one, in Nebuchadnezzar. This
   prophet afterwards foretold the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, ch.
   xxxix. 6. Here he foretels the reprisals God would make upon Babylon
   for the wrongs done to his people. In these verses a summons is given
   to those powerful and warlike nations whom God would make us of as the
   instruments of his wrath for the destruction of Babylon: he afterwards
   names them (v. 17) the Medes, who, in conjunction with the Persians,
   under the command of Darius and Cyrus, were the ruin of the Babylonian
   monarchy.

   I. The place doomed to destruction is Babylon; it is here called the
   gates of the nobles (v. 2), because of the abundance of noblemen's
   houses that were in it, stately ones and richly furnished, which would
   invite the enemy to come, in hopes of a rich booty. The gates of nobles
   were strong and well guarded, and yet they would be no fence against
   those who came with commission to execute God's judgments. Before his
   power and wrath palaces are no more than cottages. Nor is it only the
   gates of the nobles, but the whole land, that is doomed to destruction
   (v. 5); for, though the nobles were the leaders in persecuting and
   oppressing God's people, yet the whole land concurred with them in it.

   II. The persons brought together to lay Babylon waste are here called,
   1. God's sanctified ones (v. 3), designed for this service and set
   apart to it by the purpose and providence of God, disengaged from other
   projects, that they might wholly apply themselves to this, such as were
   qualified for that to which they were called, for what work God employs
   men in he does in some measure fit them for. It intimates likewise that
   in God's intention, though not in theirs, it was a holy war; they
   designed only the enlargement of their own empire, but God designed the
   release of his people and a type of the destruction of the
   New-Testament Babylon. Cyrus, the person principally concerned, was
   justly called a sanctified one, for he was God's anointed (ch. xlv. 1)
   and a figure of him that was to come. It is a pity but all soldiers,
   especially those that fight the Lord's battles, should be in the
   strictest sense sanctified ones; and it is a wonder that those dare be
   profane ones who carry their lives in their hands. 2. They are called
   God's mighty ones, because they had their might from God and were now
   to use it for him. It is said of Cyrus that in this expedition God held
   his right hand, ch. xlv. 1. God's sanctified ones are his mighty ones.
   Those whom God calls he qualifies; and those whom he makes holy he
   makes strong in spirit. 3. They are said to rejoice in his highness,
   that is, to serve his glory and the purposes of it with great alacrity.
   Though Cyrus did not know God, nor actually design his honour in what
   he did, yet God used him as his servant (ch. xlv. 4, I have surnamed
   thee as my servant, though thou hast not known me), and he rejoiced in
   those successes by which God exalted his own name. 4. They are very
   numerous, a multitude, a great people, kingdoms of nations (v. 4), not
   rude and barbarous, but modelled and regular troops, such as are
   furnished out by well-ordered kingdoms. The great God has hosts at his
   command. 5. They are far-fetched: They come from a far country, from
   the end of heaven. The vast country of Assyria lay between Babylon and
   Persia. God can make those a scourge and ruin to his enemies that lie
   most remote from them and therefore are least dreaded.

   III. The summons given them is effectual, their obedience ready, and
   they make a very formidable appearance: A banner is lifted up upon the
   high mountain, v. 2. God's standard is set up, a flag of defiance hung
   out against Babylon. It is erected on high, where all may see it;
   whoever will may come and enlist themselves under it, and they shall be
   taken immediately into God's pay. Those that beat up for volunteers
   must exalt the voice in making proclamation, to encourage soldiers to
   come in; they must shake the hand, to beckon those at a distance and to
   animate those that have enlisted themselves. And they shall not do this
   in vain; God has commanded and called those whom he designs to make use
   of (v. 3) and power goes along with his calls and commands, which
   cannot be resisted. He that makes men able to serve him can, when he
   pleases, make them willing too. It is the Lord of hosts that musters
   the host of the battle, v. 4. He raises them, brings them together,
   puts them in order, reviews them, has an exact account of them in his
   muster-roll, sees that they be all in their respective posts, and gives
   them their necessary orders. Note, All the hosts of war are under the
   command of the Lord of hosts; and that which makes them truly
   formidable is that, when they come against Babylon, the Lord comes, and
   brings them with him as the weapons of his indignation, v. 5. Note,
   Great princes and armies are but tools in God's hand, weapons that he
   is pleased to make use of in doing his work, and it is his wrath that
   arms them and gives them success.

    The Doom of Babylon. (b. c. 739.)

   6 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a
   destruction from the Almighty.   7 Therefore shall all hands be faint,
   and every man's heart shall melt:   8 And they shall be afraid: pangs
   and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman
   that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall
   be as flames.   9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with
   wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy
   the sinners thereof out of it.   10 For the stars of heaven and the
   constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be
   darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to
   shine.   11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked
   for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to
   cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.   12 I will
   make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden
   wedge of Ophir.   13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth
   shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and
   in the day of his fierce anger.   14 And it shall be as the chased roe,
   and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his
   own people, and flee every one into his own land.   15 Every one that
   is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto
   them shall fall by the sword.   16 Their children also shall be dashed
   to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their
   wives ravished.   17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
   which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight
   in it.   18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and
   they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not
   spare children.

   We have here a very elegant and lively description of the terrible
   confusion and desolation which should be made in Babylon by the descent
   which the Medes and Persians should make upon it. Those that were now
   secure and easy were bidden to howl and make sad lamentation; for,

   I. God was about to appear in wrath against them, and it is a fearful
   thing to fall into his hands: The day of the Lord is at hand (v. 6), a
   little day of judgment, when God will act as a just avenger of his own
   and his people's injured cause. And there are those who will have
   reason to tremble when that day is at hand. The day of the Lord cometh,
   v. 9. Men have their day now, and they think to carry the day; but God
   laughs at them, for he sees that his day is coming, Ps. xxxvii. 13.
   Fury is not with God, and yet his day of reckoning with the Babylonians
   is said to be cruel with wrath and fierce anger. God will deal in
   severity with them for the severities they exercised upon God's people;
   with the froward, with the cruel, he will show himself froward, will
   show himself cruel, and give the blood-thirsty blood to drink.

   II. Their hearts shall fail them, and they shall have neither courage
   nor comfort left; they shall not be able either to resist the judgment
   coming or to bear up under it, either to oppose the enemy or to support
   themselves, v. 7, 8. Those that in the day of their peace were proud,
   and haughty, and terrible (v. 11), shall, when trouble comes, be quite
   dispirited and at their wits' end: All hands shall be faint, and unable
   to hold a weapon, and every man's heart shall melt, so that they shall
   be ready to die for fear. The pangs of their fear shall be like those
   of a woman in hard labour, and they shall be amazed one at another. In
   frightening themselves, they shall frighten one another; they shall
   wonder to see those tremble that used to be bold and daring; or they
   shall be amazed looking one at another, as men at a loss, Gen. xlii. 1.
   Their faces shall be as flames, pale as flames, through fear (so some),
   or red as flames sometimes are, blushing at their own cowardice; or
   their faces shall be as faces scorched with the flame, or as theirs
   that labour in the fire, their visage blacker than a coal, or like a
   bottle in the smoke, Ps. cxix. 83.

   III. All comfort and hope shall fail them (v. 10): The stars of heaven
   shall not give their light, but shall be clouded and overcast; the sun
   shall be darkened in his going forth, rising bright, but lost again, a
   certain sign of foul weather. They shall be as men in distress at sea,
   when neither sun nor stars appear, Acts xxvii. 20. It shall be as
   dreadful a time with them as it would be with the earth if all the
   heavenly luminaries were turned into darkness, a resemblance of the day
   of judgment, when the sun shall be turned into darkness. The heavens
   frowning thus is an indication of the displeasure of the God of heaven.
   When things look dark on earth, yet it is well enough if all be clear
   upwards; but, if we have no comfort thence, wherewith shall we be
   comforted?

   IV. God will visit them for their iniquity; and all this is intended
   for the punishment of sin, and particularly the sin of pride, v. 11.
   This puts wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery, 1. That sin
   must now have its punishment. Though Babylon be a little world, yet,
   being a wicked world, it shall not go unpunished. Sin brings desolation
   on the world of the ungodly; and when the kingdoms of the earth are
   quarrelling with one another it is the fruit of God's controversy with
   them all. 2. That pride must now have its fall: The haughtiness of the
   terrible must now be laid low, particularly of Nebuchadnezzar and his
   son Belshazzar, who had, in their pride, trampled upon, and made
   themselves very terrible to, the people of God. A man's pride will
   bring him low.

   V. There shall be so great a slaughter as will produce a scarcity of
   men (v. 12): I will make a man more precious than fine gold. You could
   not have a man to be employed in any of the affairs of state, not a man
   to be enlisted in the army, not a man to match a daughter to, for the
   building up of a family, if you would give any money for one. The
   troops of the neighbouring nations would not be hired into the service
   of the king of Babylon, because they saw every thing go against him.
   Populous countries are soon depopulated by war. And God can soon make a
   kingdom that has been courted and admired to be dreaded and shunned by
   all, as a house that is falling, or a ship that is sinking.

   VI. There shall be a universal confusion and consternation, such a
   confusion of their affairs that it shall be like the shaking of the
   heavens with dreadful thunders and the removing of the earth by no less
   dreadful earthquakes. All shall go to rack and ruin in the day of the
   wrath of the Lord of hosts, v. 13. And such a consternation shall seize
   their spirits that Babylon, which used to be like a roaring lion and a
   raging bear to all about her, shall become as a chased roe and as a
   sheep that no man takes up, v. 14. The army they shall bring into the
   field, consisting of troops of divers nations (as great armies usually
   do), shall be so dispirited by their own apprehensions and so dispersed
   by their enemies' sword that they shall turn every man to his own
   people; each man shall shift for his own safety; the men of might shall
   not find their hands (Ps. lxxvi. 5), but take to their heels.

   VII. There shall be a general scene of blood and horror, as is usual
   where the sword devours. No wonder that every one makes the best of his
   way, since the conqueror gives no quarter, but puts all to the sword,
   and not those only that are found in arms, as is usual with us even in
   the most cruel slaughters (v. 15): Every one that is found alive shall
   be run through, as soon as ever it appears that he is a Babylonian.
   Nay, because the sword devours one as well as another, every one that
   is joined to them shall fall by the sword; those of other nations that
   come in to their assistance shall be cut off with them. It is dangerous
   being in bad company, and helping those whom God is about to destroy.
   Those particularly that join themselves to Babylon must expect to share
   in her plagues, Rev. xviii. 4. And, since the most sacred laws of
   nature, and of humanity itself, are silenced by the fury of war (though
   they cannot be cancelled), the conquerors shall, in the most barbarous
   brutish manner, dash the children to pieces, and ravish the wives.
   Jusque datum sceleri--Wickedness shall have free course, v. 16. They
   had thus dealt with God's people (Lam. v. 11), and now they shall be
   paid in their own coin, Rev. xiii. 10. It was particularly foretold
   (Ps. cxxxvii. 9) that the little ones of Babylon should be dashed
   against the stones. How cruel soever and unjust those were that did it,
   God was righteous who suffered it to be done, and to be done before
   their eyes, to their greater terror and vexation. It was just also that
   the houses which they had filled with the spoil of Israel should be
   spoiled and plundered. What is got by rapine is often lost in the same
   manner.

   VIII. The enemy that God will send against them shall be inexorable,
   probably being by some provocation or other more than ordinarily
   exasperated against them; or, in whatever way it may be brought about,
   God himself will stir up the Medes to use this severity with the
   Babylonians. He will not only serve his own purposes by their
   dispositions and designs, but will put it into their hearts to make
   this attempt upon Babylon, and suffer them to prosecute it with all
   this fury. God is not the author of sin, but he would not permit it if
   he did not know how to bring glory to himself out of it. These Medes,
   in conjunction with the Persians, shall make thorough work of it; for,
   1. They shall take no bribes, v. 17. All that men have they would give
   for their lives, but the Medes shall not regard silver; it is blood
   they thirst for, not gold; no man's riches shall with them be the
   ransom of his life. 2. They shall show no pity (v. 18), not to the
   young men that are in the prime of their time--they shall shoot them
   through with their bows, and then dash them to pieces; not to the age
   of innocency--they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb, nor
   spare little children, whose cries and frights one would think should
   make even marble eyes to weep, and hearts of adamant to relent. Pause a
   little here and wonder, (1.) That men should be thus cruel and inhuman,
   and so utterly divested of all compassion; and in it see how corrupt
   and degenerate the nature of man has become. (2.) That the God of
   infinite mercy should suffer it, nay, and should make it to be the
   execution of his justice, which shows that, though he is gracious, yet
   he is th