Isaiah 55 commentary

All are welcome to the blessings of salvation, to whom those blessings are welcome. In Christ there is enough for all, and enough for each. Those satisfied with the world, that see no need of Christ, do not thirst. They are in no uneasiness about their souls: but where God gives grace, he gives a thirst after it; and where he has given a thirst after it, he will give it. Come to Christ, for he is the Fountain opened, he is the Rock smitten. Come to holy ordinances, to the streams that make glad the city of our God. Come to the healing waters, come to the living waters, Rev. 22:17. Our Saviour referred to this, John 7:37. Come, and buy; make it your own by application of the grace of the gospel to yourselves. Come, and eat; make it still more your own, and enjoy it. The world comes short of our expectations; we promise ourselves, at least, water in it, and we are disappointed; but Christ outdoes our expectations. We come to him, and we find wine and milk. The gifts offered to us are such as no price can be set upon. The things offered are already paid for; for Christ purchased them at the full price of his own blood, I Pet. 1:19. Our wants are beyond number, and we have nothing to supply them; if Christ and heaven are ours, we see ourselves for ever indebted to free grace. Hearken diligently; let the proud heart stoop; not only come, but accept God's offers. All the wealth and pleasure in the world, will not yield solid comfort and content to the soul. They do not satisfy even the appetites of the body; for all is vanity and vexation. Let the disappointments we meet with in the world, help to drive us to Christ, and to seek for satisfaction in him only. Then, and not before, we shall find rest for our souls. Hear, and your soul shall live. On what easy terms is happiness offered us! By the sure mercies of David, we are to understand the Messiah. All his mercies are covenant mercies; they are purchased by him, they are promised in him, and out of his hand they are dispensed to us. We know not how to find the way to the waters, but Christ is given to be a Leader, a Commander, to show us what to do, and enable us to do it. Our business is to obey him, and follow him. And there is no coming to the Father but by him. He is the Holy One of Israel, true to his promises; and he has promised to glorify Christ, by giving him the heathen for his inheritance.

Here is a gracious offer of pardon, and peace, and of all happiness. It shall not be in vain to seek God, now his word is calling to us, and his Spirit is striving with us. But there is a day coming when he will not be found. There may come such a time in this life; it is certain that at death and judgment the door will be shut. There must be not only a change of the way, but a change of the mind. We must alter our judgments about persons and things. It is not enough to break off from evil practices, we must strive against evil thoughts. To repent is to return to our Lord, against whom we have rebelled. If we do so, God will multiply to pardon, as we have multiplied to offend. But let none trifle with this plenteous mercy, or use it as an occasion to sin. Men's thoughts concerning sin, Christ, and holiness, concerning this world and the other, vastly differ from God's; but in nothing more than in the matter of pardon. We forgive, and cannot forget; but when God forgives sin, he remembers it no more. The power of his word in the kingdoms of providence and grace, is as certain as in that of nature. Sacred truth produces a spiritual change in the mind of men, which neither rain nor snow can make on the earth. It shall not return to the Lord without producing important effects. If we take a special view of the church, we shall find what great things God has done, and will do for it. The Jews shall come to their own land; this shall represent the blessings promised. Gospel grace will make a great change in men. Delivered from the wrath to come, the converted sinner finds peace in his conscience; and love constrains him to devote himself to the service of his Redeemer. Instead of being profane, contentious, selfish, or sensual, behold him patient, humble, kind, and peaceable. The hope of helping in such a work should urge us to spread the gospel of salvation. And do thou help us, O Spirit of all truth, to have such views of the fulness, freeness, and greatness of the rich mercy in Christ, as may remove from us all narrow views of sovereign grace.

CHAPTER 55

Is 55:1-13. The Call of the Gentile World to Faith the Result of God's Grace to the Jews First.

1. every one--After the special privileges of Israel (Is 54:1-17) there follow, as the consequence, the universal invitation to the Gentiles (Lu 24:47; Ro 11:12, 15).

Ho--calls the most earnest attention.

thirsteth--has a keen sense of need (Mt 5:6).

waters ... wine and milk--a gradation. Not merely water, which is needed to maintain life at all, but wine and milk to strengthen, cheer, and nourish; the spiritual blessings of the Gospel are meant (Is 25:6; So 5:1; Joh 7:37). "Waters," plural, to denote abundance (Is 43:20; 44:3).

no money--Yet, in Is 55:2, it is said, "ye spend money." A seeming paradox. Ye are really spiritual bankrupts: but thinking yourselves to have money, namely, a devotion of your own making, ye lavish it on that "which is not bread," that is, on idols, whether literal or spiritual.

buy ... without money--another paradox. We are bought, but not with a price paid by ourselves (1Co 6:20; 1Pe 1:18, 19). In a different sense we are to "buy" salvation, namely, by parting with everything which comes between us and Christ who has bought it for us and by making it our own (Mt 13:44, 46; Lu 12:33; Re 3:18).

2. not bread--(Ha 2:13). "Bread of deceit" (Pr 20:17). Contrast this with the "bread of life" (Joh 6:32, 35; also Lu 14:16-20).

satisfieth not--(Ec 1:8; 4:8).

hearken ... and eat--When two imperatives are joined, the second expresses the consequence of obeying the command in the first (Ge 42:18). By hearkening ye shall eat. So in Is 55:1, "buy and eat." By buying, and so making it your own, ye shall eat, that is, experimentally enjoy it (Joh 6:53). Compare the invitation (Pr 9:5, 6; Mt 22:4).

fatness--(Psa 36:8; 63:5).

3. me ... live--by coming to me ye shall live: for "I am the life" (Joh 14:6).

everlasting covenant--(Jr 32:40; 2Sa 23:5).

with you ... David--God's covenant is with the antitypical David, Messiah (Eze 34:23), and so with us by our identification with Him.

sure--answering to "everlasting," irrevocable, unfailing, to be relied on (Psa 89:2-4, 28, 29, 34-36; Jr 33:20, 21; 2Sa 7:15, 16; 2Co 1:18-20).

mercies of David--the mercies of grace (Is 63:7; Joh 1:16) which I covenanted to give to David, and especially to Messiah, his antitype. Quoted in Ac 13:34.

4. him--the mystical David (Eze 37:24, 25; Jr 30:9; Ho 3:5). Given by God (Is 49:6).

witness--He bore witness even unto death for God, to His law, claims, and plan of redeeming love (Joh 18:37; Re 1:5). Revelation is a "testimony"; because it is propounded to be received on the authority of the Giver, and not merely because it can be proved by arguments.

commander--"preceptor" [Horsley]; "lawgiver" [Barnes].

to the people--rather, "peoples."

5. thou--Jehovah addresses Messiah.

call ... run--God must call, before man can, or will, run (So 1:4; Joh 6:44). Not merely come, but run eagerly.

thou knowest not--now as thy people (so in Mt 7:23).

nation ... nations--gradation; from Israel, one nation, the Gospel spread to many nations, and will do so more fully on Israel's conversion.

knew not thee--(Is 52:15; Ep 2:11, 12).

because of ... thy God ... glorified thee--(Is 60:5, 9; Zec 8:23); where similar language is directed to Israel, because of the identification of Israel with Messiah, who is the ideal Israel (Mt 2:15; compare with Ho 11:1; see Ac 3:13).

6. The condition and limit in the obtaining of the spiritual benefits (Is 55:1-3): (1) Seek the Lord. (2) Seek Him while He is to be found (Is 65:1; Psa 32:6; Mt 25:1-13; Joh 7:34; 8:21; 2Co 6:2; He 2:3; 3:13, 15).

call--casting yourselves wholly on His mercy (Ro 10:13). Stronger than "seek"; so "near" is more positive than "while He may be found" (Ro 10:8, 9).

near--propitious (Psa 34:18; 145:18).

7. unrighteous--Hebrew, "man of iniquity"; true of all men. The "wicked" sins more openly in "his way"; the "unrighteous" refers to the more subtle workings of sin in the "thoughts." All are guilty in the latter respect, thought many fancy themselves safe, because not openly "wicked in ways" (Psa 94:11). The parallelism is that of gradation. The progress of the penitent is to be from negative reformation, "forsaking his way," and a farther step, "his thoughts," to positive repentance, "returning to the Lord" (the only true repentance, Zec 12:10), and making God his God, along with the other children of God (the crowning point; appropriation of God to ourselves: "to our God"). "Return" implies that man originally walked with God, but has apostatized. Isaiah saith, "our God," the God of the believing Israelites; those themselves redeemed desire others to come to their God (Psa 34:8; Re 22:17).

abundantly pardon--Literally, "multiply to pardon," still more than "have mercy"; God's graciousness is felt more and more the longer one knows Him (Psa 130:7).

8. For--referring to Is 55:7. You need not doubt His willingness "abundantly to pardon" (compare Is 55:12); for, though "the wicked" man's "ways," and "the unrighteous man's thoughts," are so aggravated as to seem unpardonable, God's "thoughts" and "ways" in pardoning are not regulated by the proportion of the former, as man's would be towards his fellow man who offended him; compare the "for" (Psa 25:11; Ro 5:19).

9. (Psa 57:10; 89:2; 103:11). "For" is repeated from Is 55:8. But Maurer, after the negation, translates, "but."

10. The hearts of men, once barren of spirituality, shall be made, by the outpouring of the Spirit under Messiah, to bear fruits of righteousness (Is 5:6; De 32:2; 2Sa 23:4; Psa 72:6).

snow--which covers plants from frost in winter; and, when melted in spring, waters the earth.

returneth not--void; as in Is 55:11; it returns not in the same shape, or without "accomplishing" the desired end.

bud--germinate.

11. (Mt 24:35). Rain may to us seem lost when it falls on a desert, but it fulfils some purpose of God. So the gospel word falling on the hard heart; it sometimes works a change at last; and even if so, it leaves men without excuse. The full accomplishment of this verse, and Is 55:12, 13, is, however, to be at the Jews' final restoration and conversion of the world (Is 11:9-12; 60:1-5, 21).

12. go out--from the various countries in which ye (the Jews) are scattered, to your own land (Eze 11:17).

led--by Messiah, your "Leader" (Is 55:4; Is 52:12; Mi 2:12, 13).

mountains ... trees, &c.--images justly used to express the seeming sympathy of nature with the joy of God's people. For, when sin is removed, the natural world shall be delivered from "vanity," and be renewed, so as to be in unison with the regenerated moral world (Is 44:23; Psa 98:8; Ro 8:19-22).

13. thorn--emblem of the wicked (2Sa 23:6; Mi 7:4).

fir tree--the godly (Is 60:13; Psa 92:12). Compare as to the change wrought, Ro 6:19.

brier--emblem of uncultivation (Is 5:6).

myrtle--Hebrew, Hedes, from which comes Hedassah, the original name of Esther. Type of the Christian Church; for it is a lowly, though beautiful, fragrant, and evergreen shrub (Psa 92:13, 14).

for a name ... everlasting sign--a perpetual memorial to the glory of Jehovah (Jr 13:11; 33:9).

Ho, every one that thirsteth - "Water," says Zimchi, "is a metaphor for the law and wisdom: as the world cannot subsist without water, so it is impossible that it can subsist without wisdom. The law is also compared to wine and milk: to wine because wine rejoiceth the heart, as it is written: 'The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart,' Psa 19:8. It is compared also to milk, because milk is the subsistence of the child; so are the words of the law the nourishment of his soul who walks in the Divine teaching, and grows up under it."

Come, buy wine and milk - In ancient times our forefathers used what is now called the old third person singular, ending in eth, for the imperative mood. We have a fine example of His in the first verses of this chapter. I shall present them as they stand in my old MS. Bible: - Alle gee thirstinge cummeth to wateris: and gee that han not sylver, goth forth and bieth, and etith. Cummeth, bieth without silver, and without eny chaungyng, wyn and mylc. Heerith gee, heering me and etith gode thinge, and deliten schal in fattnesse your soule. Bowith in your eie and cummeth to mee, heerith and liven schal your soule. And I shall smyten with gou, everlastynge covenant, the faithful mercies of David.

Wherefore do ye spend - Why should ye be so zealously attached to a doctrine from which your souls derive neither comfort nor nourishment?

I will make an everlasting covenant - Hebrews אכרתה לכם ברית עולם echrethah lachem berith olam, "I will cut the old or everlasting covenant sacrifice with you." That covenant sacrifice which was pointed out of old from the very beginning; and which is to last to the consummation of ages; viz., the Lamb of God that was slain from the foundation of the world.

The sure mercies of David - That is, says Kimchi, "The Messiah," called here David; as it is written, "David my servant shall be a prince over you."

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found - Rab. David Kimchi gives the true sense of this passage: "Seek ye the Lord, because he may be found: call upon him, because he is near. Repent before ye die, for after death there is no conversion of the soul."

For as the heavens are higher - I am persuaded that כ caph, the particle of comparison, is lost in this place, from the likeness of the particle כי ki, immediately preceding it. So Houbigant and Secker. And their remark is confirmed by all the ancient Versions, which express it; and by the following passage of Psa 103:11, which is almost the same: - הארץ על שמים כגבה כי haarets al shamayim chigboah ki יראיו על חסדו גבר yereaiv al chasdo gabar "For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So high is his goodness over them that fear him."

Where, by the nature of the sentence, the verb in the second line ought to be the same with that in the first; גבה gabah, not גבר gabar: so Archbishop Secker conjectured; referring however to Psa 117:2.

The mountains and the hills - These are highly poetical images to express a happy state attended with joy and exultation.

Ipsi laetitia voces ad sidera jactant

Intonsi montes: ipsae jam carmina rupes,

Ipsa sonant arbusta.

Virg. Ecl. 5:61. "The mountain tops unshorn, the rocks rejoice;

The lowly shrubs partake of human voice."

Dryden.

Instead of the thorn "Instead of the thorny bushes" - These likewise (see note on Isa 55:12, and on Isa 54:11 (note)) are general poetical images, expressing a great and happy change for the better. The wilderness turned into a paradise, Lebanon into Carmel: the desert of the Gentiles watered with the heavenly snow and rain, which fail not to have their due effect, and becoming fruitful in piety and righteousness: or, as the Chaldee gives the moral sense of the emblem, "instead of the wicked shall arise the just; and instead of sinners, such as fear to sin." Compare Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2; Isa 41:19.

And instead of - The conjunction ו vau is added, ותחת vetachath, in forty-five MSS. of Kennicott's several of De Rossi's, and five editions; and it is acknowledged by all the ancient Versions. The Masoretes therefore might have safely received it into the text, and not have referred us for it to the margin. But this is no uncommon case with them. Even in our own Version the best reading is very often found in the margin.

Thirsteth - For the grace of God and the blessings of the gospel. This thirst implies a vehement, and active, and restless desire after it. No money - Those who are most worthless and wicked, if they do but thirst may be welcome. Buy - Procure or receive that which is freely offered. Wine and milk - All gospel - blessings; in particular, that peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, which are better than wine, and that love of God which nourishes the soul, as milk does the body.

Money - All your time, and strength, and cost. Not bread - For those things which can never nourish or satisfy you, such as worldly goods, or pleasures. Eat ye - That which is truly and solidly, and everlastingly good. In fatness - In this pleasant food of gospel - enjoyments.

An everlasting covenant - That everlasting covenant of grace and peace which I made with Abraham, and his seed. Of David - Even that covenant which was made first with Abraham, and then with David, concerning those glorious and sure blessings which God hath promised to his people, one and the chief of which was giving Christ to die for their sins. David here seems to be put for the son of David.

Behold - I have appointed, and will in due time actually give. Him - The David last mentioned, even Christ. A witness - To declare the will of God concerning the duty and salvation of men, to bear witness to truth, to confirm God's promises, and, among others, those which respect the calling of the Gentiles: to be a witness of both parties of that covenant made between God and men. The people - To all people.

Thou - Thou, O Messiah. Call - To the knowledge of thyself. Knewest not - With that special knowledge which implies approbation. Because - Because the Lord shall by many tokens, manifest himself to be thy God, and thee to be his son and faithful servant. Glorify thee - By confirming thy word with illustrious signs and miracles, and particularly by thy resurrection, and glorious ascension.

Seek - Labour to get the knowledge of God's will, and to obtain his grace and favour. While - In this day of grace, while he offers mercy and reconciliation. Near - Ready and desirous to receive you to mercy.

Return - By sincere repentance, and faith.

For - If any man injure you, especially if he do it greatly and frequently, you are slow and backward to forgive him. But I am ready to forgive all penitents, how many, and great, and numberless soever their sins be.

The snow - Which in its season contributes to the fruitfulness of the earth. Returneth not - Without effect. And bread - That it may bring forth store of bread - corn, both for mens present supplies, and for seed for the next year.

My word - My promises, concerning the pardon of the greatest sinners. Void - Without success.

Therefore - Ye shall be released from your bondage. Peace - Safely and triumphantly. Clap - There shall be a general rejoicing, so that even the senseless creatures shall seem to rejoice with you.

Instead - Whereas your land was filled with thorns and briars, as was foretold, they shall be rooted out, and it shall be planted with fir - trees and myrtle - trees, and such other trees, as are useful either for fruit or for delight. The church shall be delivered from pernicious things, and replenished with all divine graces and blessings. It - This wonderful change shall bring much honour to God. A sign - For a monument, of God's infinite power, and faithfulness, and love to his people to all succeeding generations.

1 HO, every one that thirsteth , come ye to the waters , and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk , without money, and without price.

Not only Jews but Gentiles. The Prophet having largely discoursed of Christ, ch. 53. and of the Church of Christ, ch. 54. doth here invite all persons to come to Christ, and to his Church.

For the Grace of God, and the blessings of the Gospel. This thirst implies a vehement, and active, and restless Desire after it, not to be satisfied with any thing short of it.

Which are mentioned either 1. As the place where they were to buy the following commodities, it being usual to convey provisions to Cities by Rivers Or rather 2. As the commodity to be bought, the Graces and comforts of Gods Spirit, which are frequently compared to Waters, as Isa. 12. 3. & 35. 6, 7. Ioh. 7. 37, 38. and elsewhere, and which are designed by all these Metaphorical Expressions of Waters▪ Wine, Milk, and Bread.

Even those who are most poor▪ in the World, and those who are most worthless and wicked, if they do but thirst, may be welcome.

i. e. Procure or receive that which is freely offered to you if you do but come for it, and are willing to take it. Thus buying is used, Pro. 23. 23. Rev. 3. 18. Nor can this be understood of buying properly, because here is no price paid.

Which are Synecdochically put for all sorts of provisions; which also are to be understood of Spiritual and Gospel-Blessings, as is evident from the following words.

Marginal references: Joh 4. 14. & 7. 37. Rev. 21. 6. & 22. 17.

2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread , and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me , and eat ye that which is good , and let your soul delight itself in fatness .

All your time, and strength, and cost in seeking it.

For those vain or foolish things which can never nourish or satisfie you, such as worldly goods, or your own Inventions, Superstitions and Idolatries.

Unto my Doctrine and Counsel.

That which is truly, and solidly, and everlastingly good, and not such things which though they be called, and seem to be good, yet really are evil, and most pernicious to men.

In this fat and most pleasant food of Gospel-enjoyments.

Marginal references: Heb. weigh.

3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear , and your soul shall live , and I will make an everlasting covenant with you , even the sure mercies of David .

Hearken attentively and obediently to my counsel: hearing being oft put for, obeying, as Deut. 18. 15. 1 Sam. 15. 22, 23. Psal. 95. 7. &c.

To wit, comfortably and happily; which only is worthy of the name of Life.

That everlasting Covenant of Grace and Peace which I made with Abraham, and his Seed, the Israelites, I am ready to make it with every one of you thirsting Gentiles.

Even that Covenant which was made first with Abraham, and then with David, concerning the exhibition of those glorious and sure Mercies or Blessings which God hath promised to his People, one and the chief of which Mercies was the giving of Christ to die for their sins, and to rise again for their justification. This Exposition may receive light and strength by comparing this place with Act. 13. 33, 34. He mentions David rather than Abraham, either 1. Because these Promises, and especially that great promise, which is the foundation of all the rest, concerning Christ and his eternal Kingdom, were far more frequently, and expresly, & fully made & revealed to David, than they were to Abraham. Or 2. Because David was a more evident and illustrious type of Christ than Abraham was, as being raised from a mean condition to the highest honour, being made a great and most victorious and righteous King, and the first King of that Throne upon which the Messiah was to fit. Or 3. Because the name of David is not here put personally for the King of that Name, but patronimically for the Messiah who was to be Davids Son and Successor, and who is therefore called David in the prophetical Scriptures, as Ier. 30. 9. Ezek. 34. 23, 24. & 37. 24, 25. Hos. 3. 5. as Rehoboam upon the same account is called David, 1 Kin. 12. 16. And this is the more probable, because the next verse, which hath a manifest Relation to this verse, is confessedly understood of Christ.

Marginal references: 2 Sam. 7. 8. 2 Chr. 6. 42. Ps. 89. 24. 28, 29, 33, 37. Act. 13. 34.

4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people , a leader and commander to the people.

The David last mentioned, even Christ, the Son and Successor of David, as is plain and certain from the titles and works ascribed to him in this and in the following Verse. But of this see the last note upon the former verse.

To be a Prophet or Teacher, to declare the counsel and will of God concerning the duty and Salvation of Men, to bear witness unto the truth, as Christ himself affirmeth, Ioh. 18. 37. to confirm Gods Promises, Rom. 15. 8. and, amongst others, those which respect the calling and reconciliation of the Gentiles, to be a witness for both parties of that Covenant made between God and Men.

Not only to my People of Israel, but to all People, Gentiles no less than Jews, as is evident from the following verse, and from Isa. 49. 6. and divers other places.

A soveraign Prince to give them Laws, and exact their Obedience, and in case of their Obedience to give them Protection and Rewards.

o I have already appointed, and will in due time actually give.

5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not , and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee , because of the LORD thy God , and for the holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee .

Thou, O Messiah, of whom he now spake, v. 4. and to whom he suddenly turneth his speech, as is very common in the Prophets.

To wit, unto thy self, and to the knowledg of thy self, as appears from the following words, and by thee unto acquaintance and fellowship with God.

Or rather, didst not know, to wit, with that special knowledg which implies approbation, and tender Care and Affection, as words of knowledg are most frequently used in Scripture: the Gentiles to whom, in former times, thou didst not make known thy Law and Covenant, and the way of Salvation. Act. 14. 16. & 17. 30.

That had but little knowledge of God, and no knowledg of the Messiah.

Upon thy call shall speedily and readily come to thee to receive Instructions from thee, and to follow thee whithersoever thou shalt lead them.

Because the Lord shall by many evident and unquestionable tokens, manifest himself to be thy God, and thee to be his Son and faithful servant.

Because the God of Israel, who is the only true God, will highly honour thee by his singular presence with thee, by his almighty Power accompanying thy Word, and making it wonderfully effectual for the conversion of an innumerable company, both of Jews and Gentiles, and by confirming thy Word with illustrious signs and miracles, and particularly by thy Resurrection and glorious Ascension. These and other like considerations were the motives which convinced the Gentiles, that Christ was the true Messiah, and the Religion which he taught was the true Religion.

Marginal references: Or, knewest not.

6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found ; call ye upon him while he is near .

Having discoursed of the Office and Work of Christ, and shewed that he should call People and Nations to himself, and to God, he now endeavours to persuade the People to hearken to his Call, and to seek the Lord, i. e. To labour to get the knowledge of Gods Will, and to obtain his Grace and Favour; neither of which things were to be done but in and through Christ. And this Invitation or exhortation is general like that v. 1. reaching to all Nations, both Jews and Gentiles, implying, that both of them had lost him and his Favour, and were gone astray from him. Seek him ye Gentiles, whom he now inviteth so to do, and will assist in finding him. And seeing the Gentiles seek him earnestly, let their example provoke you Jews to imitate them therein, and take heed that you do not reject him whom they will receive and own.

In this day of Grace, whilest he offereth Mercy and Reconciliation to you; which he will not always do. Compare Prov. 1. 24, &c. Luk. 19. 44. 2 Cor. 6. 2.

Near to you by his gracious presence and offers, in his Ordinances, ready and desirous to receive you to Mercy upon the following conditions.

Marginal references: Ps. 32. 6.

7 Let the wicked man forsake his way , and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him return unto the LORD , and he will have mercy upon him, and to our GOD , for he will abundantly pardon .

Any wicked man, either Jew or Gentile.

His evil or wicked way, as is evident from the foregoing word, and as it is more fully expressed, Ier. 18. 11. & 25. 5. which is called his way, because it is natural, and customary, and dear to him, and in opposition to Gods good way: his sinful course or manner of Life. Let him cease to do evil, as it is Isa. 1. 16. This he adds to intimate that Mens seeking and calling upon God will do them no good without Reformation of their Lives.

The sinful devices and purposes of his Mind. Thus he strikes at the root of sinful actions, and sheweth that the heart must be purged and changed as well as the outward actions.

As he hath departed from God by sin, let him turn to him by sincere Repentance, and the practice of all Gods precepts. Whereby he intimates that a meer abstinence from wicked courses is not sufficient, without the exercise of the contrary Graces, that we must not only cease to do evil, but also learn to do well, as it is prescribed, Isa. 1. 16.

To the God of Israel, who is and hath shewed himself to be a most merciful and gracious God.

He useth so many Words and Arguments to encourage them to Repentance, because the persons here invited were guilty of Idolatry, Apostacy, and many other gross wickednesses: which he knew, when they came to themselves, and to a serious sense of their sins, and of the just and holy Nature and Law of God, would be an insupportable burden to their awakened Consciences, and make them very prone to conclude, that God either could not or would not pardon such horrid Delinquencies, and therefore would rather drive them from God, than draw them to him.

Marginal references: Heb. the man of iniquity.; Heb. he will multiply to pardon.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways , saith the LORD.

My disposition and carriage is vastly differing from yours. If any man provoke or injure you, especially if he do it greatly and frequently and maliciously, you are very slow and backward to forgive him, and if you do or seem to forgive him, and promise to forget, and pass it by, yet you retain a secret grudge in your hearts, and upon the least occasion, and sleight offence, you forget your Promise, and you are soon weary with forgiving, and prone to revenge your selves upon him; but it is not so with me: For I am slow to anger, and ready to forgive all true penitents, how many, and great, and numberless soever their sins be, and my Promises of Mercy and Pardon shall be infallibly made good to them. And therefore you need not fear to come to me, or to find Mercy and acceptance with me.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth , so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Inexpressibly and infinitely: for the distance between the Earth and the highest Heavens is unmeasurable by any man upon Earth.

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither , but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater .

Which in its season contributes to the fruitfulness of the Earth as well as the Rain.

To wit, void or without effect, as it is expressed in the next verse: or immediately: it is not drawn up again as soon as it is come down, but abides for a convenient time upon the Earth, until it do that work for which it was sent.

That it may bring forth store of Bread-corn, both for mens present supplies, and for seed for the next year.

Marginal references: Deut. 32. 2▪

11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void , but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it .

My promises before recited concerning the sending of the Messiah, and the blessing of his Labours with such wonderful success, and concerning the reconciliation and pardon of the greatest sinners, and concerning the Redemption and Salvation of his People.

Without success. It is an allusion to an Ambassadour who returns without dispatching that business for which he was sent.

It shall have that effect which I intended, it shall certainly be fulfilled in manner before expressed.

Marginal references: Ch. 45. 23. Mat 10. 13.

12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace : the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands .

Or, Therefore: because God hath promised it▪ and therefore will effect it.

Ye shall be released from the place and state of your Bondage. He alludes to their going out of Egypt, which was a type of their succeeding deliverances, and especially of their Redemption by Christ from the power of sin and of the Devil.

Or, be led along, be conducted by the gracious and powerful presence of God, as you were in the Wilderness.

Safely and triumphantly without fear of being retaken and brought back into slavery by your Enemies.

There shall be a great and a general rejoycing at your deliverance: so that even the senseless Creatures shall seem to rejoice with you and for you.

Marginal references: Ps. 96. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. & 98. 8. Ch. 35. 1.; 1 Chr. 16. 33.

13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree : and it shall be to the LORD for a name , for an everlasting sign s that shall not be cut off .

Whereas your Land was filled with Thorns and Briars, as was foretold, Isa. 7. 24. they shall be rooted out, and it shall be planted with Fir-trees and Myrtle-trees, and such other Trees, which are useful either for Fruit or for Delight. Or, this Promise may be answerable to that Ezek. 28. 24. There shall be no more a pricking briar unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn, &c. but instead of them shall be such Trees as shall yield shade and refreshment. The meaning is, The Church shall be delivered from pernicious men and things, and replenished with sincere and serious Believers, and with all sorts of divine Graces and Blessings.

This wonderful change shall bring much honour to that God by whom it is wrought.

Which shall never be abolished, but shall always live and flourish in the Minds and mouths of Men.

t For a Monument, or evident and glorious Token of Gods infinite Power, and Faithfulness, and Love to his People unto all succeeding Generations.

Marginal references: Ch. 41. 19, 20.

Isa 55:1-2

All things are ready; the guests are invited; and nothing is required of them except to come. “Alas, all ye thirsty ones, come ye to the water; and ye that have no silver, come ye, buy, and eat! Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without payment! Wherefore do ye weigh silver for that which is not bread, and the result of your labour for that which satisfieth not? O hearken ye to me, and eat the good, and let your soul delight itself in fat.” Hitzig and Knobel understand by water, wine, and milk, the rich material blessings which awaited the exiles on their return to their fatherland, whereas they were now paying tribute and performing service inf Babylon without receiving anything in return. But the prophet was acquainted with something higher than either natural water (Isa 54:3, cf., Isa 41:17) or natural wine (Isa 25:6). He knew of an eating and drinking which reached beyond the mere material enjoyment (Isa 65:13); and the expression ה טּוּב, whilst it includes material blessings (Jer 31:12), is not exhausted by them (Isa 63:7, cf., Psa 27:13), just as התענּג in Isa 58:14 (cf., Psa 37:4, Psa 37:11) does not denote a feeling or worldly, but of spiritual joy. Water, wine, and milk, as the fact that water is placed first clearly shows, are not the produce of the Holy Land, but figurative representations of spiritual revival, recreation, and nourishment (cf., 1Pe 2:2, “the sincere milk of the word”). The whole appeal is framed accordingly. When Jehovah summons the thirsty ones of His people to come to the water, the summons must have reference to something more than the water to which a shepherd leads his flock. And as buying without money or any other medium of exchange is an idea which neutralizes itself in the sphere of natural objects, wine and ilk are here blessings and gifts of divine grace, which are obtained by grace (χάριτι, gratis), their reception being dependent upon nothing but a sense of need, and a readiness to accept the blessings offered. Again, the use of the verb שׁברוּ, which is confined in other passages to the purchase of cereals, is a sufficient proof that the reference is not to natural objects, but to such objects as could properly be compared to cereals. The bread and other provisions, which Israel obtained in its present state of punishment, are called “not bread,” and “not serving to satisfy,” because that which truly satisfies the soul comes from above, and being of no earthly nature, is to be obtained by those who are the most destitute of earthly supplies. Can any Christian reader fail to recall, when reading the invitation in Isa 55:1, the words of the parable in Mat 22:4, “All things are now ready?” And does not Isa 55:2 equally suggest the words of Paul in Rom 11:6, “If by grace, then is it no more of works?” Even the exclamation hoi (alas! see Isa 18:1), with which the passage commences, expresses deep sorrow on account of the unsatisfied thirst, and the toilsome labour which affords nothing but seeming satisfaction. The way to true satisfaction is indicated in the words, “Hearken unto me:” it is the way of the obedience of faith. In this way alone can the satisfaction of the soul be obtained.

Isa 55:3-5

And in this way it is possible to obtain not only the satisfaction of absolute need, but a superabundant enjoyment, and an overflowing fulfilment of the promise. “Incline your ear, and come to me: hear, and let your soul revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the true mercies of David. Behold, I have set him as a witness for nations, a prince and commander of nations. Behold, thou wilt call a mass of people that thou knowest not; and a mass of people that knoweth thee not will hasten to thee, for the sake of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, that He hath made thee glorious.” The expression “make a covenant” (kârath berı̄th) is not always applied to a superior in relation to an inferior (compare, on the contrary, Ezr 10:3); but here the double-sided idea implied in pactio is confined to one side alone, in the sense of a spontaneous sponsio having all the force of a covenant (Isa 61:8; compare 2Ch 7:18, where kârath by itself signifies “to promise with the force of a covenant”), and also of the offer of a covenant or anticipated conclusion of a covenant, as in Eze 34:25, and in the case before us, where “the true mercies of David” are attached to the idea of offering or granting involved in the expression, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you,” as a more precise definition of the object. All that is required on the part of Israel is hearing, and coming, and taking: let it do this, and it will be pervaded by new life; and Jehovah will meet with with an everlasting covenant, viz., the unchangeable mercies of David. Our interpretation of this must be dependent chiefly upon whether Isa 55:4 is regarded as looking back to the history of David, or looking forward to something future. In the latter case we are either to understand by “David” the second David (according to Hos 3:5; Jer 30:9; Eze 34:24), so that the allusion is to the mercies granted in the Messiah, and according to Isa 9:7, enduring “from henceforth even for ever;” or else David is the son of Jesse, and “the mercies of David” are the mercies bestowed upon him, which are called “the true mercies” as mercies promised and running into the future (Psa 89:50; 2Ch 6:42), in which case Isa 55:4 explains what David will become in the person of his antitype the second David. The directly Messianic application of the name “David” is to be objected to, on the ground that the Messiah is never so called without further remark; whilst the following objections may be adduced to the indirectly Messianic interpretation of Isa 55:4 (David in the Messiah). (1.) The change of the tense in Isa 55:4, Isa 55:5, which requires that we should assume that Isa 55:4 points backwards into the past, and Isa 55:5 forwards into the future.F. Philippi observes that הן, which refers to the future in Isa 55:5 at any rate, must be taken as referring to the same sphere of time as that which immediately precedes. But hēn in Isaiah points sometimes backwards (Isa 50:1; Isa 64:4), sometimes forwards; and where two follow one another, of which the one points backwards and the other forwards, the former is followed by the perfect, the latter by the future (Isa 50:1-2). But if they both point to the future, the future tense is used in both instances (Isa 50:9). A better argument in favour of the prophetic interpretation of Isa 55:4 might be drawn from the fact that נתתּי הן may mean “I give (set, lay, or make) even now” (e.g., Jer 1:9). But what we have said above is sufficient proof that this is not the meaning here (if this were the meaning, we should rather expect נתתּיו הן). (2.) That the choice of the expression in Isa 55:4, Isa 55:5 is designed to represent what Israel has to look for in the future as going beyond what was historically realized in David; for in Isa 55:5 the mass of the heathen world, which has hitherto stood out of all relation to Israel, answers to the לאמּים.   (3.) That the juxtaposition of the Messiah and Israel would be altogether without parallel in these prophecies (chapters 40-66), and contrary to their peculiar character; for the earlier stereotype idea of the Messiah is here resolved into the idea of the “servant of Jehovah,” from which it returns again to its primary use, i.e., from the national basis to the individual, by means of the ascending variations through which this expression passes, and thus reaches a more comprehensive, spiritual, and glorified form. The personal “servant of Jehovah” is undoubtedly no other than the “Son of David” of the earlier prophecy; but the premises, from which we arrive at this conclusion in connection with our prophet, are not that the “servant of Jehovah” is of the seed of David and the final personal realization of the promise of a future king, but that he is of the nation of Israel, and the final personal realization of the idea of Israel, both in its inward nature, and in its calling in relation to the whole world of nations.

Consequently Isa 55:4 and Isa 55:5 stand to one another in the relation of type and antitype, and the “mercies of David” are called “the true mercies” (Probably with an allusion to 2Sa 7:16; cf., Psa 89:29-30), as being inviolable-mercies which had both been realized in the case of David himself, and would be realized still further, inasmuch as they must endure for an everlasting future, and therefore be further and further fulfilled, until they have reached that lofty height, on the summit of which they will remain unchangeable for ever. It is of David the son of Jesse that Jehovah says in Isa 55:4, “I have given him for a witness to peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.” So far as the sense is concerned, נגיד is as much a construct as מצוּה. In the application to David of the term עד, which never means anything but testis, witness, in these prophecies, we may clearly see the bent of the prophet’s mind towards what is spiritual. David had subdued nations by the force of arms, but his true and loftiest greatness consisted in the fact that he was a witness of the nations - a witness by the victorious power of his word, the conquering might of his Psalms, the attractive force of his typical life. What he expresses so frequently in the Psalms as a resolution and a vow, viz., that he will proclaim the name of Jehovah among the nations (Psa 18:50; Psa 57:10), he has really fulfilled: he has not only overcome them by bloody warfare, but by the might of his testimony, more especially as “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2Sa 23:1). What David himself was able to say in Psa 18:43, “People that I did not know served me,” will be fulfilled to a still wider extent in the experience of Israel. Having been presented with the promised “inviolable mercies of David,” it will effect a spiritual conquest over the heathen world, even over that portion which has hitherto stood in no reciprocal relation to it, and gain possession of it for itself for the sake of Jehovah, whom it has for its God, and to the Holy One of Israel (ל of the object, in relation to which, or at the instigation of which, anything is done), because He hath glorified it (His people: פארך is not a pausal form for פארך, cf., Isa 54:6, but for פארך, פארך, hence = פארך, cf., ענך, Isa 30:19); so that joining themselves to Israel is the same as joining themselves to God and to the church of the God of revelation (cf., Isa 60:9, where Isa 55:5 is repeated almost word for word).

Isa 55:6-7

So gracious is the offer which Jehovah now makes to His people, so great are the promises that He makes to it, viz., the regal glory of David, and the government of the world by virtue of the religion of Jehovah. Hence the exhortation is addressed to it in Isa 55:6 and Isa 55:7 : “Seek ye Jehovah while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to Jehovah, and He will have compassion upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” They are to seek to press into the fellowship of Jehovah (dârash with the radical meaning terere, to acquire experimental knowledge or confidential acquaintance with anything) now that He is to be found (Isa 65:1, compare the parallelism of words and things in Jer 29:14), and to call upon Him, viz., for a share in that superabundant grace, ow that He is near, i.e., now that He approaches Israel, and offers it. In the admonition to repentance introduced in Isa 55:7, both sides of the μετάνοια find expression, viz., turning away from sinful self-will, and turning to the God of salvation. The apodosis with its promises commences with וירחמהוּ - then will He have compassion upon such a man; and consequently לסלוח כּי־ירבּה (with כּי because the fragmentary sentence ואל־אלהינוּ did not admit of the continuation with ו) has not a general, but an individual meaning (vid., Psa 130:4, Psa 130:7), and is to be translated as a future (for the expression, compare Isa 26:17).

Isa 55:8-9

The appeal, to leave their own way and their own thoughts, and yield themselves to God the Redeemer, and to His word, is now urged on the ground of the heaven-wide difference between the ways and thoughts of this God and the despairing thoughts of men (Isa 40:27; Isa 49:24), and their aimless labyrinthine ways. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah: no, heaven is high above the earth; so high are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.” The kı̄ (imo) introduces the undeniable statement of a fact patent to the senses, for the purpose of clearly setting forth, by way of comparison, the relation in which the ways and thoughts of God stand to those of man. There is no necessity to supply כאשׁר after כּי, as Hitzig and Knobel do. It is simply omitted, as in Isa 62:5 and Jer 3:20, or like כּן in Pro 26:11, etc. On what side the heaven-wide elevation is to be seen, is shown in what follows. They are not so fickle, so unreliable, or so powerless.

Isa 55:10-11

This is set forth under a figure drawn from the rain and the snow. “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, till it has moistened the earth, and fertilized it, and made it green, and offered seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will my word be which goeth forth out of my mouth: it will not return to me fruitless, till it has accomplished that which I willed, and prosperously carried out that for which I sent it.” The rain and snow come down from the sky, and return not thither till they have .... The perfects after אם כּי are all to be understood as such (Ewald, §356,a). Rain and snow return as vapour to the sky, but not without having first of all accomplished the purpose of their descent. And so with the word of Jehovah, which goeth forth out of His mouth (יצא, not יצא, Isa 45:23, because it is thought of as still going on in the preaching of the prophet): it will not return without having effected its object, i.e., without having accomplished what was Jehovah’s counsel, or “good pleasure” - without having attained the end for which it was sent by Jehovah (constr. as in 2Sa 11:22; 1Ki 14:6). The word is represented in other places as the messenger of God (Isa 9:8; Psa 107:20; Psa 147:15.). The personification presupposes that it is not a mere sound or letter. As it goeth forth out of the mouth of God it acquires shape, and in this shape is hidden a divine life, because of its divine origin; and so it runs, with life from God, endowed with divine power, supplied with divine commissions, like a swift messenger through nature and the world of man, there to melt the ice, as it were, and here to heal and to save; and does not return from its course till it has given effect to the will of the sender. This return of the word to God also presupposes its divine nature. The will of God, which becomes concrete and audible in the word, is the utterance of His nature, and is resolved into that nature again as soon as it is fulfilled. The figures chosen are rich in analogies. As snow and rain are the mediating causes of growth, and therefore the enjoyment of what is reaped; so is the soil of the human heart softened, refreshed, and rendered productive or prolific by the word out of the mouth of Jehovah; and this word furnishes the prophet, who resembles the sower, with the seed which he scatters, and brings with it bread which feeds the souls: for every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is bread (Deu 8:3).

Isa 55:12-13

The true point of comparison, however, is the energy with which the word is realized. Assuredly and irresistibly will the word of redemption be fulfilled. “For ye will go out with joy, and be led forth in peace: the mountains and the hills will break out before you into shouting, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn will cypresses shoot up, and instead of the fleabane will myrtles shoot up: and it will be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting memorial that will not be swept away.” “With joy,” i.e., without the hurry of fear (Isa 52:12); “in peace,” i.e., without having to fight their way through or flee. The idea of the sufferer falls back in הוּבל behind that of a festal procession (Psa 45:15-16). In applying the term kaph (hand) to the trees, the prophet had in his mind their kippōth, or branches. The psalmist in Psa 98:8 transfers the figure created by our prophet to the waves of the streams. Na‛ătsūts (from nâ‛ats, to sting) is probably no particular kind of thorn, such, for example, as the fuller’s thistle, but, as in Isa 7:19, briers and thorns generally. On sirpad, see Ges. Thes.; we have followed the rendering, κόυζα, of the lxx. That this transformation of the vegetation of the desert is not to be taken literally, any more than in Isa 41:17-20, is evident from the shouting of the mountains, and the clapping of hands on the part of the trees. On the other hand, however, the prophet says something more than that Israel will return home with such feelings of joy as will cause everything to appear transformed. Such promises as those which we find here and in Isa 41:19 and Isa 35:1-2, and such exhortations as those which we find in Isa 44:23; Isa 49:13, and Isa 52:9, arise from the consciousness, which was common to both prophets and apostles, that the whole creation will one day share in the liberty and glory of the children of God (Rom 8:21). This thought is dressed up sometimes in one for, and sometimes in another. The psalmists after the captivity borrowed the colours in which they painted it from our prophet (see at Psa 96:1-13 and Psa 98:1-9). והיה is construed as a neuter (cf., בּראתיו, Isa 45:8), referring to this festal transformation of the outer world on the festive return of the redeemed. אות is treated in the attributive clause as a masculine, as if it came from אוּת, to make an incision, to crimp, as we have already indicated; but the Arabic âyat, shows that it comes from אוה, to point out, and is contracted from ăwăyat, and therefore was originally a feminine.

Evangelical Invitations. (b. c. 706.)

1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. 5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

Here, I. We are all invited to come and take the benefit of that provision which the grace of God has made for poor souls in the new covenant, of that which is the heritage of the servants of the Lord (ch. liv. 17), and not only their heritage hereafter, but their cup now, v. 1. Observe,

1. Who are invited: Ho, every one. Not the Jews only, to whom first the word of salvation was sent, but the Gentiles, the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind, are called to this marriage supper, whoever can be picked up out of the highways and the hedges. It intimates that in Christ there is enough for all and enough for each, that ministers are to make a general offer of life and salvation to all, that in gospel times the invitation should be more largely made than it had been and should be sent to the Gentiles, and that the gospel covenant excludes none that do not exclude themselves. The invitation is published with an Oyez-Ho, take notice of it. He that has ears to hear let him hear.

2. What is the qualification required in those that shall be welcome—they must thirst. All shall be welcome to gospel grace upon those terms only that gospel grace be welcome to them. Those that are satisfied with the world and its enjoyments for a portion, and seek not for a happiness in the favour of God,—those that depend upon the merit of their own works for a righteousness, and see no need they have of Christ and his righteousness,—these do not thirst; they have no sense of their need, are in no pain or uneasiness about their souls, and therefore will not condescend so far as to be beholden to Christ. But those that thirst are invited to the waters, as those that labour, and are heavy-laden, are invited to Christ for rest. Note, Where God gives grace he first gives a thirsting after it; and, where he has given a thirsting after it, he will give it, Ps. lxxxi. 10.

3. Whither they are invited: Come you to the waters. Come to the water-side, to the ports, and quays, and wharfs, on the navigable rivers, into which goods are imported; thither come and buy, for that is the market-place of foreign commodities; and to us they would have been for ever foreign if Christ had not brought in an everlasting righteousness. Come to Christ; for he is the fountain opened; he is the rock smitten. Come to holy ordinances, to those streams that make glad the city of our God; come to them, and though they may seem to you plain and common things, like waters, yet to those who believe in Christ the things signified will be as wine and mile, abundantly refreshing. Come to the healing waters; come to the living waters. Whoever will, let him come, and partake of the waters of life, Rev. xxii. 17. Our Saviour referred to it, John vii. 37. If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink.

4. What they are invited to do. (1.) Come, and buy. Never did any tradesman court customers that he hoped to get by as Christ courts us to that which we only are to be gainers by. "Come and buy, and we can assure you you shall have a good bargain, which you will never repent of nor lose by. Come and buy; make it your own by an application of the grace of the gospel to yourselves; make it your own upon Christ's terms, nay, your own upon any terms, nor deliberating whether you shall agree to them." (2.) "Come, and eat; make it still more your own, as that which we eat is more our own than that which we only buy." We must buy the truth, not that we may lay it by to be looked at, but that we may feed and feast upon it, and that the spiritual life may be nourished and strengthened by it. We must buy necessary provisions for our souls, be willing to part with any thing, though ever so dear to us, so that we may but have Christ and his graces and comforts. We must part with sin, because it is an opposition to Christ, part with all opinion of our own righteousness, as standing in competition with Christ, and part with life itself, and its most necessary supports, rather than quit our interest in Christ. And, when we have bought what we need, let us not deny ourselves the comfortable use of it, but enjoy it, and eat the labour of our hands: Buy, and eat.

5. What is the provision they are invited to: "Come, and buy wine and milk, which will not only quench the thirst" (fair water would do that), "but nourish the body, and revive the spirits." The world comes short of our expectations. We promise ourselves, at least, water in it, but we are disappointed of that, as the troops of Tema, Job vi. 19. But Christ outdoes our expectations. We come to the waters, and would be glad of them, but we find there wine and milk, which were the staple commodities of the tribe of Judah, and which the Shiloh of that tribe is furnished with to entertain the gathering of the people to him, Gen. xlix. 10, 12. His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. We must come to Christ, to have milk for babes, to nourish and cherish those that are but lately born again; and with him strong men shall find that which will be a cordial to them: they shall have wine to make glad their hearts. We must part with our puddle-water, nay, with our poison, that we may procure this wine and milk.

6. The free communication of this provision: Buy it without money, and without price. A strange way of buying, not only without ready money (that is common enough), but without any money, or the promise of any; yet it seems not so strange to those who have observed Christ's counsel to Laodicea, that was wretchedly poor, to come and buy, Rev. iii. 17, 18. Our buying without money intimates, (1.) That the gifts offered us are invaluable and such as no price can be set upon. Wisdom is that which cannot be gotten for gold. (2.) That he who offers them has no need of us, nor of any returns we can make him. He makes us these proposals, not because he has occasion to sell, but because he has a disposition to give. (3.) That the things offered are already bought and paid for. Christ purchased them at the full value, with price, not with money, but with his own blood, 1 Pet. i. 19. (4.) That we shall be welcome to the benefits of the promise, though we are utterly unworthy of them, and cannot make a tender of any thing that looks like a valuable consideration. We ourselves are not of any value, nor is any thing we have or can do, and we must own it, that, if Christ and heaven be ours, we may see ourselves for ever indebted to free grace.

II. We are earnestly pressed and persuaded (and O that we would be prevailed with!) to accept this invitation, and make this good bargain for ourselves.

1. That which we are persuaded to is to hearken to God and to his proposals: "Hearken diligently unto me, v. 2. Not only give me the hearing, but approve of what I say, and apply it to yourselves (v. 3): Incline your ear, as you do to that which you find yourselves concerned in and pleased with; bow the ear, and let the proud heart stoop to the humbling methods of the gospel; bend the ear this way, that you may hear with attention and remark; hear, and come unto me; not only come and treat with me, but comply with me, come up to my terms;" accept God's offers as very advantageous; answer his demands as very fit and reasonable.

2. The arguments used to persuade us to this are taken,

(1.) From the unspeakable wrong we do to ourselves if we neglect and refuse this invitation: "Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, which will not yield you, no, not beggar's food, dry bread, when with me you may have wine and milk without money? Wherefore do you spend your labour and toil for that which will not be so much as dry bread to you, for it satisfies not?" See here, [1.] The vanity of the things of this world. They are not bread, not proper food for a soul; they afford no suitable nourishment or refreshment. Bread is the staff of the natural life, but it affords no support at all to the spiritual life. All the wealth and pleasure in the world will not make one meal's meat for a soul. Eternal truth and eternal good are the only food for a rational and immortal soul, the life of which consists in reconciliation and conformity to God, and in union and communion with him, which the things of the world will not at all befriend. They satisfy not; they yield not any solid comfort and content to the soul, nor enable it to say, "Now I have what I would have." Nay, they do not satisfy even the appetites of the body. The more men have the more they would have, Eccl. i. 8. Haman was unsatisfied in the midst of his abundance. They flatter, but they do not fill; they please for a while, like the dream of a hungry man, who awakes and his soul is empty. They soon surfeit, but they never satisfy; they cloy a man, but do not content him, or make him truly easy. It is all vanity and vexation. [2.] The folly of the children of this world. They spend their money and labour for these uncertain unsatisfying things. Rich people live by their money, poor people by their labour; but both mistake their truest interest, while the one is trading, the other toiling, for the world, both promising themselves satisfaction and happiness in it, but both miserably disappointed. God vouchsafes compassionately to reason with them: "Wherefore do you thus act against your own interest? Why do you suffer yourselves to be thus imposed upon?" Let us reason with ourselves, and let the result of these reasonings be a holy resolution not to labour for the meat that perishes, but for that which endures to everlasting life, John vi. 27. Let all the disappointments we meet with in the world help to drive us to Christ, and lead us to seek for satisfaction in him only. This is the way to make sure which will be made sure.

(2.) From the unspeakable kindness we do to ourselves if we accept this invitation and comply with it. [1.] hereby we secure to ourselves present pleasure and satisfaction: "If you hearken to Christ, you eat that which is good, which is both wholesome and pleasant, good in itself and good for you." God's good word and promise, a good conscience, and the comforts of God's good Spirit, are a continual feast to those that hearken diligently and obediently to Christ. Their souls shall delight themselves in fatness, that is, in the riches and most grateful delights. Here the invitation is not, "Come, and buy," lest that should discourage, but, "Come, and eat; come and entertain yourselves with that which will be abundantly pleasing; eat, O friends!" It is sad to think that men should need to be courted thus to their own bliss. [2.] Hereby we secure to ourselves lasting happiness: "Hear, and your soul shall live; you shall not only be saved from perishing eternally, but you shall be eternally blessed:" for less than that cannot be the life of an immortal soul. The words of Christ are spirit and life, life to spirits (John vi. 33, 63), the words of this life, Acts v. 20. On what easy terms is happiness offered to us! It is but "Hear, and you shall live." [3.] The great God graciously secures all this to us: "Come to me, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, will put myself into covenant-relations and under covenant-engagements to you, and thereby settle upon you the sure mercies of David." Note, First, If we come to God to serve him, he will covenant with us to do us good and make us happy; such are his condescension to us and concern for us. Secondly, God's covenant with us is an everlasting covenant—its contrivance from everlasting, its continuance to everlasting. Thirdly, The benefits of this covenant are mercies suited to our case, who, being miserable, are the proper objects of mercy. They come from God's mercy, and are ordered every way in kindness to us. Fourthly, They are the mercies of David, such mercies as God promised to David (Ps. lxxxix. 28, 29, &c.), which are called the mercies of David his servant, and are appealed to by Solomon, 2 Chron. vi. 42. It shall be a covenant as sure as that with David, Jer. xxxiii. 25, 26. The covenant of royalty was a figure of the covenant of grace, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Or, rather, by David here we are to understand the Messiah. Covenant-mercies are all his mercies; they are purchased by him; they are promised in him; they are treasured up in his hand, and out of his hand they are dispensed to us. He is the Mediator and trustee of the covenant; to him this is applied, Acts xiii. 34. They are the ta hosia (the word used there, and by the Septuagint here)—the holy things of David, for they are confirmed by the holiness of God (Ps. lxxxix. 35) and are intended to advance holiness among men. Fifthly, They are sure mercies. The covenant, being well-ordered in all things, is sure. It is sure in the general proposal of it; God is real and sincere, serious and in earnest, in the offer of these mercies. It is sure in the particular application of it to believers; God's gifts and callings are without repentance. They are the mercies of David, and therefore sure, for in Christ the promises are all yea and amen.

III. Jesus Christ is promised for the making good of all the other promises which we are here invited to accept of, v. 4. He is that David whose sure mercies all the blessings and benefits of the covenant are. "And God has given him in his purpose and promise, has constituted and appointed him, and in the fulness of time will as surely send him as if he had already come, to be all that to us which is necessary to our having the benefit of these preparations." He has given him freely; for what more free than a gift? There was nothing in us to merit such a favour, but Christ is the gift of God. We want one, 1. To attest the truth of the promises which we are invited to take the benefit of; and Christ is given for a witness that God is willing to receive us into his favour upon gospel terms, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, that we may venture our souls upon those promises with entire satisfaction. Christ is a faithful witness, we may take his word—a competent witness, for he lay in the bosom of the Father from eternity, and was perfectly apprised of the whole matter. Christ, as a prophet, testifies the will of God to the world; and to believe is to receive his testimony. 2. To assist us in closing with the invitation, and coming up to the terms of it. We know not how to find the way to the waters where we are to be supplied, but Christ is given to be a leader. We know not what to do that we may be qualified or it, and become sharers in it, but he is given for a commander, to show us what to do and enable us to do it. Much difficulty and opposition lie in our way to Christ; we have spiritual enemies to grapple with, but, to animate us for the conflict, we have a good captain, like Joshua, a leader and commander to tread our enemies under our feet and to put us in possession of the land of promise. Christ is a commander by his precept and a leader by his example; our business is to obey him and follow him.

IV. The Master of the feast being fixed, it is next to be furnished with guests, for the provision shall not be lost, nor made in vain, v. 5. 1. The Gentiles shall be called to this feast, shall be invited out of the highways and the hedges: "Thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, that is, that was not formerly called and owned as thy nation, that thou didst not send prophets to as to Israel, the people whom God knew above all the families of the earth." The Gentiles shall now be favoured as they never were before; their knowing God is said to be rather their being known of God, Gal. iv. 9. 2. They shall come at the call: Nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee; those that had long been afar off from Christ shall be made nigh; those that had been running from him shall run to him, with the greatest speed and alacrity imaginable. There shall be a concourse of believing Gentiles to Christ, who, being lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to him. Now see the reason, (1.) Why the Gentiles will thus flock to Christ; it is because of the Lord his God, because he is the Son of God, and is declared to be so with power, because they now see his God is one with whom they have to do, and there is no coming to him as their God but by making an interest in his Son. Those that are brought to be acquainted with God, and understand how the concern lies between them and him, cannot but run to Jesus Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man, and there is no coming to God but by him. (2.) Why God will bring them to him; it is because he is the Holy One of Israel, true to his promises, and he has promised to glorify him by giving him the heathen for his inheritance. When Greeks began to enquire after Christ he said, The hour has come that the Son of man should be glorified, John xii. 22, 23. And his being glorified in his resurrection and ascension was the great argument by which multitudes were wrought upon to run to him.

Evangelical Invitations. (b. c. 706.)

6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord , and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord . 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

We have here a further account of that covenant of grace which is made with us in Jesus Christ, both what is required and what is promised in the covenant, and of those considerations that are sufficient abundantly to confirm our believing compliance with and reliance on that covenant. This gracious discovery of God's good-will to the children of men is not to be confined either to the Jew or to the Gentile, to the Old Testament or to the New, much less to the captives in Babylon. No, both the precepts and the promises are here given to all, to every one that thirsts after happiness, v. 1. And who does not? Hear this, and live.

I. Here is a gracious offer made of pardon, and peace, and all happiness, to poor sinners, upon gospel terms, v. 6, 7.

1. Let them pray, and their prayers shall be heard and answered (v. 6): "Seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek him whom you have left by revolting from your allegiance to him and whom you have lost by provoking him to withdraw his favour from you. Call upon him now while he is near, and within call." Observe here,

(1.) The duties required. [1.] "Seek the Lord. Seek to him, and enquire of him, as your oracle. Ask the law at his mouth. What wilt thou have me to do? Seek for him, and enquire after him, as your portion and happiness; seek to be reconciled to him and acquainted with him, and to be happy in his favour. Be sorry that you have lost him; be solicitous to find him; take the appointed method of finding him, making use of Christ as your way, the Spirit as your guide, and the word as your rule." [2.] "Call upon him. Pray to him, to be reconciled, and, being reconciled, pray to him for every thing else you have need of."

(2.) The motives made use of to press these duties upon us: While he may be found—while he is near. [1.] It is implied that now God is near and will be found, so that it shall not be in vain to seek him and to call upon him. Now his patience is waiting on us, his word is calling to us, and his Spirit striving with us. Let us now improve our advantages and opportunities; for now is the accepted time. But, [2.] There is a day coming when he will be afar off, and will not be found, when the day of his patience is over, and his Spirit will strive no more. There may come such a time in this life, when the heart is incurably hardened; it is certain that at death and judgment the door will be shut, Luke xvi. 26; xiii. 25, 26. Mercy is now offered, but then judgment without mercy will take place.

2. Let them repent and reform, and their sins shall be pardoned, v. 7. Here is a call to the unconverted, to the wicked and the unrighteous—to the wicked, who live in known gross sins, to the unrighteous, who live in the neglect of plain duties: to them is the word of this salvation sent, and all possible assurance given that penitent sinners shall find God a pardoning God. Observe here,

(1.) What it is to repent. There are two things involved in repentance:—[1.] It is to turn from sin; it is to forsake it. It is to leave it, and to leave it with loathing and abhorrence, never to return to it again. The wicked must forsake his way, his evil way, as we would forsake a false way that will never bring us to the happiness we aim at, and a dangerous way, that leads to destruction. Let him not take one step more in that way. Nay, there must be not only a change of the way, but a change of the mind; the unrighteous must forsake his thoughts. Repentance, if it be true, strikes at the root, and washes the heart from wickedness. We must alter our judgments concerning persons and things, dislodge the corrupt imaginations and quit the vain pretences under which an unsanctified heart shelters itself. Note, It is not enough to break off from evil practices, but we must enter a caveat against evil thoughts. Yet this is not all: [2.] To repent is to return to the Lord; to return to him as our God, our sovereign Lord, against whom we have rebelled, and to whom we are concerned to reconcile ourselves; it is to return to the Lord as the fountain of life and living waters, which we had forsaken for broken cisterns.

(2.) What encouragement we have thus to repent. If we do so, [1.] God will have mercy. He will not deal with us as our sins have deserved, but will have compassion on us. Misery is the object of mercy. Now both the consequences of sin, by which we have become truly miserable (Ezek. xvi. 5, 6), and the nature of repentance, by which we are made sensible of our misery and are brought to bemoan ourselves (Jer. xxxi. 18), both these make us objects of pity, and with God there are tender mercies. [2.] He will abundantly pardon. He will multiply to pardon (so the word is), as we have multiplied to offend. Though our sins have been very great and very many, and though we have often backslidden and are still prone to offend, yet God will repeat his pardon, and welcome even backsliding children that return to him in sincerity.

II. Here are encouragements given us to accept this offer and to venture our souls upon it. For, look which way we will, we find enough to confirm us in our belief of its validity and value.

1. If we look up to heaven, we find God's counsels there high and transcendent, his thoughts and ways infinitely above ours, v. 8, 9. The wicked are urged to forsake their evil ways and thoughts (v. 7) and to return to God, that is, to bring their ways and thoughts to concur and comply with his; "for" (says he) "my thoughts and ways are not as yours. Yours are conversant only about things beneath; they are of the earth earthy: but mine are above, as the heaven is high above the earth; and, if you would approve yourselves true penitents, yours must be so too, and your affections must be set on things above." Or, rather, it is to be understood as an encouragement to us to depend upon God's promise to pardon sin, upon repentance. Sinners may be ready to fear that God will not be reconciled to them, because they could not find in their hearts to be reconciled to one who should have so basely and so frequently offended them. "But" (says God) "my thoughts in this matter are not as yours, but as far above them as the heaven is above the earth." They are so in other things. Men's sentiments concerning sin, and Christ, and holiness, concerning this world and the other, are vastly different from God's; but in nothing more than in the matter of reconciliation. We think God apt to take offence and backward to forgive—that, if he forgives once, he will not forgive a second time. Peter thought it a great deal to forgive seven times (Matt. xviii. 21), and a hundred pence go far with us; but God meets returning sinners with pardoning mercy; he forgives freely, and as he gives: it is without upbraiding. We forgive and cannot forget; but, when God forgives sin, he remembers it no more. Thus God invites sinners to return to him, by possessing them with good thoughts of him, as Jer. xxxi. 20.

2. If we look down to this earth, we find God's word there powerful and effectual, and answering all its great intentions, v. 10, 11. Observe here, (1.) The efficacy of God's word in the kingdom of nature. He saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; he appoints when it shall come, to what degree, and how long it shall lie there; he saith so to the small rain and the great rain of his strength, Job xxxvii. 6. And according to his order they come down from heaven, and do whatsoever he commands them upon the face of the world, whether it be for correction, or for his land, or for mercy, v. 12, 13. It returns not re infectâ—without having accomplished its end, but waters the earth, which he is therefore said to do from his chambers, Ps. civ. 13. And the watering of the earth is in order to its fruitfulness. Thus he makes it to bring forth and bud, for the products of the earth depend upon the dews of heaven; and thus it gives not only bread to the eater, present maintenance to the owner and his family, but seed likewise to the sower, that he may have food for another year. The husbandman must be a sower as well as an eater, else he will soon see the end of what he has. (2.) The efficacy of his word in the kingdom of providence and grace, which is as certain as the former: "So shall my word be, as powerful in the mouth of prophets as it is in the hand of providence; it shall not return unto me void, as unable to effect what it was sent for, or meeting with an insuperable opposition; no, it shall accomplish that which I please" (for it is the declaration of his will, according to the counsel of which he works all things) "and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." This assures us, [1.] That the promises of God shall all have their full accomplishment in due time, and not one iota or tittle of them shall fail, 1 Kings viii. 56. These promises of mercy and grace shall have as real an effect upon the souls of believers, for their sanctification and comfort, as ever the rain had upon the earth, to make it fruitful. [2.] That according to the different errands on which the word is sent it will have its different effects. If it be not a savour of life unto life, it will be a savour of death unto death; if it do not convince the conscience and soften the heart, it will sear the conscience and harden the heart; if it do not ripen for heaven, it will ripen for hell. See ch. vi. 9. One way or other, it will take effect. [3.] That Christ's coming into the world, as the dew from heaven (Hos. xiv. 5), will not be in vain. For, if Israel be not gathered, he will be glorious in the conversion of the Gentiles; to them therefore the tenders of grace must be made when the Jews refuse them, that the wedding may be furnished with guests and the gospel not return void.

3. If we take a special view of the church, we shall find what great things God has done, and will do, for it (v. 12, 13): You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. This refers, (1.) To the deliverance and return of the Jews out of Babylon. They shall go out of their captivity, and be led forth towards their own land again. God will go before them as surely, though not as sensibly, as before their fathers in the pillar of cloud and fire. They shall go out, not with trembling, but with triumph, not with any regret to part with Babylon, or any fear of being fetched back, but with joy and peace. Their journey home over the mountains shall be pleasant, and they shall have the good-will and good wishes of all the countries they pass through. The hills and their inhabitants shall, as in a transport of joy, break forth into singing; and, if the people should altogether hold their peace, even the trees of the field would attend them with their applauses and acclamations. And, when they come to their own land, it shall be ready to bid them welcome; for, whereas they expected to find it all overgrown with briers and thorns, it shall be set with fir-trees and myrtle-trees: for, though it lay desolate, yet it enjoyed its sabbaths (Lev. xxvi. 34), which, when they were over, like the land after the sabbatical year, it was the better for. And this shall redound much to the honour of God and be to him for a name. But, (2.) Without doubt it looks further. This shall be for an everlasting sign, that it, [1.] The redemption of the Jews out of Babylon shall be a ratification of those promises that relate to gospel times. The accomplishment of the predictions relating to that great deliverance would be a pledge and earnest of the performance of all the other promises; for thereby it shall appear that he is faithful who has promised. [2.] It shall be a representation of the blessings promised and a type and figure of them. First, Gospel grace will set those at liberty that were in bondage to sin and Satan. They shall go out and be led forth. Christ shall make them free, and then they shall be free indeed. Secondly, It will fill those with joy that were melancholy. Ps. xiv. 7, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. The earth and the inferior part of the creation shall share in the joy of this salvation, Ps. xciv. 11, 12. Thirdly, It will make a great change in men's characters. Those that were as thorns and briers, good for nothing but the fire, nay, hurtful and vexatious, shall become graceful and useful as the fir-tree and the myrtle-tree. Thorns and briers came in with sin and were the fruits of the curse, Gen. iii. 18. The raising of pleasant trees in the room of them signifies the removal of the curse of the law and the introduction of gospel blessings. The church's enemies were as thorns and briers; but, instead of them, God will raise up friends to be her protection and ornament. Or it may denote the world's growing better; instead of a generation of thorns and briers, there shall come up a generation of fir-trees and myrtles; the children shall be wiser and better than the parents. And, fourthly, in all this God shall be glorified. It shall be to him for a name, by which he will be made known and praised, and by it the people of God shall be encouraged. It shall be for an everlasting sign of God's favour to them, assuring them that, though it may for a time be clouded, it shall never be cut off. The covenant of grace is an everlasting covenant; for the present blessings of it are signs of everlasting ones.

CHAP. LV.

Ver. 1. HO every one that thirſteth] Sitit ſitiri Dominus ſaith Nazianzen, O[illegible: 1 letter]at. 40. in S. Baptiſ. the Lord even thirſteth to be thirſted after; he ſeeketh ſuch to worſhip him as will worſhip him in ſpirit and in truth, Joh. 4.23. Hence this preſent Proclamation, Ho every one, of what Nation ſoever, that is duly affected with the preceding diſcourſe of Chriſts alſufficiency to ſave, chap. 53. and the Churches glory and ſafety, chap. 54.

That thirſteth] That, being ſcorched and parched with the ſenſe of ſin and fear of wrath, brayeth and breatheth after true grace and ſound comfort, as the hunted Hind doth after the water-brooks, Pſal. 42.1, 3. (See the Note there) as David did after the water of the well of Bethlehem, 2 Sam. 23.15, 16. as the Lamb of God did when roſted in the fire of his Fathers wrath he cryed aloud Sitio I thirſt; Joh. 19.28, Pſal. 22.11, 16.

Come] Non paſſibus ſed affectibus itur ad Chriſtum. Repent and beleeve the Goſpel, Mar. 1.15. Repentance is here ſet out by a word of activity. Come, buy, &c. The frame of a true repenting heart is in an active coming poſture, fitted for any ſervice; when the wicked pine away in their ſin, Ezek. 33.10. and ſo periſh eternally, Pſal. 9.17.

To the waters] To Chriſt the fountain of living water, upon which you had turned your backs, Jer. 2.13. Ortelius telleth us that in Ireland there is a certain fountain whoſe water killeth all thoſe beaſts that drink thereof; but hurteth not the people that uſually drink of it. Chriſt alſo is ſet for the fall and riſing again of many in Iſrael, Luk. 2.34. his ordinances are a ſavour of life to ſome, and of death to others, 2 Cor. 3.16.

And he that hath no money] Or moneys-worth. Many would come to Chriſt, but they would come with their coſt: wherefore they run up and down to borrow money of the creatures or of the Ordinances, uſing the means as Mediatours, and ſharking in every by-corner for comfort: but men may be ſtarved before they buy, if they go this way to work: for theſe in themſelves are broken ciſterns, empty granaries, and Horrea formicae tendunt ad inania nunquam.

In the Lord Chriſt is all fulneſs, Joh. 1.16. not of plenty only, but of bounty alſo. To this fountain if we bring but our empty veſſels well waſhed, Jer. 4.14. we ſhall return well refreſhed, and repleniſhed with good things, when the proud Self-Juſtitiary ſhall be ſent empty away, and ſhall not once taſte of Wiſdomes dainties, Prov. 9.

Buy] Emite, i. e. comparate & comed[illegible: 1 letter]te, get Chriſt with all your gettings: get him whatever elſe you go without: part with all you have to compaſs this pearle of price, Mat. 13.44, 46: and 16.24, 25. this gold cannot be too dear bought, Rev. 3.18. Heus ſaeculares, comparate vobis Biblia, animae pharmaca, ſaith Chryſoſtome, by a like expreſſion.

And eat] That is, beleeve: hic enim edere, eſt credere, and this water, this wine may be eaten alſo: nec enim rigat tantum ſed & cibat. Chriſt is to his water to cool them, wine to comfort them, milk to nouriſh them, bread to ſtrengthen them: he is all that heart can wiſh or need require. They who have once taſted how good the Lord is, cannot but thirſt after him, and be unſatisfiable, Optima demonſtratio eſt à ſenſibus: Eat therefore: it is a vertue here to be a holy glutton.

Yea come] Heb. And come: Come and come, yea come, come, come: linger not, loyter not, frame not excuſe, ſtrain not curteſie, hang not off by a ſinful baſhfulneſs; tis good manners to fall to your meat.

[non-Latin text not transcribed] Coloſ. 3. Argonaut. lib. 3. Buy wine and milk] Any thing, every thing, that is good and comfortable: for Chriſt is all and in all. As the worth and value of many pieces of ſilver is in one piece of gold, ſo all the petty excellencies ſcattered abroad in the creatures, are united in Chriſt. Apollonius writeth, that in the Court of Aeta King of Colchis, were three fountaines which flowed, one with milk, another with wine, and a third with honey: Chriſt is all this and more in one. And of beleevers it may better be ſaid than Juſtin doth of the Scythians, Lib. 2. Lacte & melle veſcuntur: nihil alienum concupiſcunt, &c. they feed upon milk and honey, they deſire nothing more than what they have: vines they have none, but gods they have; as they uſe to glory. Nazianzen and Hierom tells us, that anciently in ſome Churches they uſed to give to thoſe Proſelites whom they baptiſed, wine and milk: grounding upon this text, by a miſtake.

Without money and without price] All things for nothing, gratis: this is doubled and trebled for the comfort of poor trembling conſciences: Chriſt is rich to all that call upon his Name, Rom. 10.12. none giveth to him, Rom. 11.35. but he to all his freely, Iſa. 43.25. for the praiſe of his gloriour grace, Eph. 1.6. Tis his good pleaſure to do ſo, Luk. 12.32. And if ſo, what can man, devil or any diſtruſtful heart ſay againſt it?

Ver. 2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?] Heb. for not bread, for that which can no more feed you than thoſe huskes could the hungry Prodigal, Luk. 15.16.

Martial.Turpe eſt difficiles habere nugas: Et ſtultus labor eſt ineptiarum.

The ſaying of the Romane General to the Souldier that kept the Tents, when he ſhould have been fighting in the field, Non amo nimium diligentes, I love not thoſe that are over-diligent, will be uſed of God, if when he calleth us to the care of higher things, we buſie our ſelves only about matters of an inferiour alloy. Surely as Domitian the Emperour ſpent his time in catching flyes: and Artaxerxes in making haftes for knives: ſo do moſt men in trifles and lying vanities, neglecting the One thing neceſſary (with Martha) and preferring as thoſe Gergeſites in the Goſpel, haram domeſticam arae Dominicae, a ſwine-ſty before a Sanctuary. Betwixt ſuch and true beleevers there is as much difference as is betwixt ſubſtantial merchants who deale in rich commodities, and thoſe nugivenduli Agyrtae, who ſell gawdes, rattles and trangums: as is betwixt Spiders that catch flyes, and Eagles that hunt after Hares and Hirons; as is betwixt Fowlers that follow after Quailes, and children that run after butter-flyes. Had men but taſted of Gods bread, they would never ſet ſuch a price upon Doves-dung. Had they drunk of Chriſts wine (which is beyond the beſt Nectar or Ambroſia) they would never thirſt again after the worlds delights, Joh. 4.14. which are ſuch as whereof a man may break his neck before his faſt, Eccleſ. 1.8.

Clitorio quicunque ſitim de fonte levarit,Ovit. Metam. lib 15. Vina fugit, gaudetque meris abſtemius undis.

And your labour for that which ſatisfieth not] The world is full of pomp and pleaſure, 1 Joh. 2.15. and yet it ſatisfieth not, becauſe it is full of nothing but of emptineſs: the creature is now ever ſince the fall as the husk without the grain, the ſhell without the kirnel: yea the world paſſeth away and the luſt thereof, ver. 17. for a man cannot make his heart long to delight in the ſame things, but ipſa etiam vota, poſt uſum, faſtidio ſunt, we loath after a while what we greatly luſted after, as Amnon did Tamar. Therefore love not the world, ver. 15. labour not for the meat that periſheth, Joh. 6.27. but haſten heaven-ward, ſaying as that Pilgrim did who travelling to Jeruſalem, and by the way viſiting many brave Cities with their rare-Monuments, and meeting with many friendly entertainments, would ſay eftſoones, I muſt not ſtay here, this is not Jeruſalem.

Harken diligently unto me] Heb. hearing heare, i. e. heare as for life, with utmoſt attention of body, intention of mind, and retention of memory.

And eat ye that which is good] Not only heare the Word of God, but eat it: turn it in ſuccum & ſanguinem, diſgeſt it, incorporate it into your ſouls, Jam. 1.20. for it is the heavenly Manna; that hath all manner of good taſtes in it, and properties with it, 2 Tim. 3.16.

And let your ſoul delight it ſelf in fatneſſe] Talis eſt doctrins & gratia Evangelica qua mentem ſaginat & impinguat. A good ſoul feedeth on the fat and drinketh of the ſweet that is found in the precious promiſes, Pſal. 36.8. and 63.5.

Ver. 3. Encline your ear] Hear with all your might. Alphonſus King of Arragon is renowned for his attentive hearing: ſo is our King Edward 6. who uſually ſtood, and took notes all the Sermon while. Origen chideth his hearers for nothing ſo much as for their ſeldom coming to hear Gods Word, and for their careleſs and needleſſe hearing it when they did come. whence their ſlow growth in godlineſſe.

Hear and your ſoule ſhall live] God hath ordained (as it were to croſs the devil) that as death entred into the world through the ear, by our firſt Parents liſtening to that old man ſlayer, ſo ſhould life enter into the ſoul by the ſame door, as it were. The dead ſhall hear the voyce of the Son of God, and they that hear ſhall live, Joh. 5.25. The Romaniſts hold not hearing ſo abſolutely needful:Spec. Europ. the Maſs only they make a work of duty, but the going to Sermons but a matter of conveniency, and ſuch as is left free to mens leaſures and opportunities without imputation of ſin.

And I will make an everlaſting Covenant with you] Heb. I will cut out unto them a Covenant of perpetuity. A Covenant is a cluſter of Promiſes ſolemnly made over.

Even the ſure mercies of David] Or firm, faithful. The Greek, Act. 13.34. hath it, The holy things, or the venerable things of David, that is of Chriſt: for the ratifying and aſſuring whereof it was neceſſary that Chriſt ſhould riſe from death and enter into glory: for which purpoſe Paul alledgeth this text, Act. 13.34.

Ver. 4. Behold I have given him] i. e. Chriſt called David, ver. 3. becauſe typed out by David, promiſed to him, and ſprang of him.

For a witneſſe] To teach and teſtifie his Fathers will and counſel, at which, Ʋt de veritate hac & voluntate Patris teſtaretur. being his eternal wiſdom, he had been preſent. See Rev. 3.14.

A Leader and Commander to the people] Of Chriſts Prieſtly office had been ſpoken, chap. 53. here of his Prophetical and Princely. Theſe were frequently ſet forth even in the Old Teſtament: by the Crown or golden plate on the high-Prieſts head was ſignified Chriſts Kingly office: by the breaſt plate his Prieſtly, and by the bells his Prophetical.

Ver. 5. Behold thou ſhalt call a Nation] Yea all Nations that yet dwell in darkneſs and in the ſhadow of death: being utterly ignorant of God and his will, of themſelves and their duties. But now when they ſhall know God or rather be known of him, they ſhall run to Chriſt, and yea flye as a cloud, and flock into the Church, as doves ſcour into their columbaries, ruſhing into the windows, chap. 66.8.

Becauſe of the Lord thy God] Through the mighty operation of his Spirit by the preaching of his Word. The Philoſophers though never ſo able, could hardly perſwade ſome few to embrace their Tenents. Plato went thrice into Sicily to convert Dionyſius, but could not do it. Socrates could not work upon Alcibiades, nor Cicero upon his own ſon, becauſe God was not with them, nor was willing to glorify his Son Chriſt by them, as he did afterwards by his holy Apoſtles.

Ver. 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found] Seek not his Omnipreſence (for that ye need not do, ſith he is not far from any one of us, Acts 17.27.) but his gracious preſence, his face and favour: ſeek to be in the fear of the Lord, and in the comforts of the Holy Ghoſt, in communion with him and conformity unto him; and give not over till you find it. Seek him ſeriouſly, ſeek him ſeaſonably. There is a time when men ſhall ſeek the Lord with their flocks and heards, and yet not find him, when once he hath withdrawn himſelf from them, Hoſ. 5.6.

Call ye upon him while he is near] In a time of acceptance, Pſal. 32.6. before he hath ſworn that he will not be ſpoken with, Pſal. [illegible: 1 letter]5.11. God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace, Prov. 1.24, 28.

Ver. 7. Let the wicked forſake his wayes] Or elſe never think of finding favour with God, or of calling upon him to any purpoſe: The Leapers lips ſhould be covered according to the Law: A good motion from an ill mouth will never take with God.

Pura Deus mens est, purâ vult mente vocari: Et puras juſſit pondus habere preces.

And the unrighteous man his thoughts] See Jam. 4.8. with the Note. A Pilat may waſh his hands, a Phariſee clenſe the outſide of the platter. Caſtae manus ſunt, ſed mens habet piacula, ſaid an Heathen, who ſaw by the light of nature that clean hands and foul hearts did not ſuit well.

And let him return unto the Lord] See the Notes on Zach. 1.2. Joel 2.12, 13.

For he will abundantly pardon] Heb. he will multiply to pardon: as we multiply ſins,Epiſt. 7. ad Venant. he will multiply pardons. God in Chriſt mollis est & miſericors, not an auſtere man, implacable, inexorable, but multus ad ignoſcendum, as the Vulgar here rendereth it: and Fulgentius thus deſcanteth upon it, In hoc multo nihil deeſt, in quo eſt omnipotens miſericordia & omnipotentia miſericors, &c. In this much nothing is wanting (how can there, ſay) ſith there is in it omnipotent mercy, and merciful omnipotence? A pardon of courſe He giveth us for involuntary and unavoidable infirmities; this we have included in that general pardon which we have upon our general repentance. And for other ſins (be they blaſphemies, Matth. 12.13.) God hath all plaiſters and pardons at hand and ready made and ſealed: for elſe we might dye in our ſins, while the pardon is in providing. He hath alſo hanged out his tables, as I may ſay in the holy Scriptures, ſhewing what great ſinners he hath pardoned,Act. & Mon. 109. as Adam that Arch-rebel, Manaſſeh who was all manner of naughts, David, Peter, Paul, Magdalen, &c. The Lord Hungerford of Hatesby was beheaded for buggery in Henry the eights time: The Lord Thomas Cromwel a better man, but executed together with him, cheared him up and bad him be of good comfort: for, ſaid he, If your repent and be heartily ſorry for that you have done, there is for you alſo mercy with the Lord, who for Chriſts ſake will forgive you: therefore be not diſmaid. God ſeemeth to ſay to ſinners as once the French King Francis the firſt did to one that begged pardon for ſome ill words ſpoken againſt his Majeſty; Do thou learn to ſpeak little (ſo to ſin no more) and I will not fail to pardon much: I can remit whatſoever you can commit, never doubt it.

Ver. 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts] q. d. You may think it impoſſible likely, that ſuch great and grievous ſinners as you have been, ſhould ever be received to mercy: but what talk you of your thoughts? mine are infinitely above them: neither may you meaſure my mercies by your own models. Bring broken and bleeding hearts to my Mercy-ſeat, and I ſhall ſoon think all the meritorious ſufferings of my Son, all the promiſes in my Book, all the comforts of my Spirit, all the pleaſures of my kingdom but enough for you.

Ver. 9. For as the heavens are higher then the earth] And that's no ſmall deal: ſee the Note on Pſal. 103.11, 12. Lo, ſuch is the proportion that my mercy beareth to your mercy (even the very beſt of you) that the heaven doth to the earth, i. e. That a moſt vaſt circumference doth to one little point or center.

Ver. 10. For as the rain cometh down] Simile omnium elegantiſſimum pariter & notiſſimum. Of the uſe and efficacy of fit ſimilitudes, See the Note on Hoſ. 12.10.

Ver. 11. So ſhall the word be that goeth out of my mouth] The word in general, but ſpecially the word of Promiſe: it ſhall ſurely give ſeed to the ſower, and bread to the eater, comforts of all ſorts both for the preſent, and for the future. Onely we muſt ſee that we be good ground, and then pray that the heaven may hear the earth, as Hoſ. 2.21.

But it ſhall accompliſh that which I pleaſe] It ſhall produce the ſweet fruits of righteouſneſſe, Rom. 8.13, 14. There is (ſaith a good Author) a certan ſhell-fiſh that lyeth alwaies open towards Heaven as it were looking upward, and begging one fruitful drop of dew: which being fallen, it ſhutteth preſently, and keepeth the door cloſe againſt all outward things, till it hath made a pearl of it. In reading or hearing the Promiſes, if we open our ſhells, our ſouls, the Heaven will drop the fruitful dew of grace to be employed worthily in making pearles of good works and ſolid virtues. Who is ſhe that commeth out of the wilderneſſe to joyn her ſelf to her well-beloved! Cant. 6.9.

Ver. 12. For ye ſhall go out with joy] ſc. Out of your ſpiritual bondage, worſe then that of Babylon.

The mountains and the hills] The mute and brute creatures, as they ſeem to groan together with the fathfull, Rom. 8. ſo here by a Proſopop[illegible: 1 letter]ia they are brought in as congratulating and applauding their deliverance.

Ver. 13. Inſtead of the thorn ſhall come up the fir-tree] There ſhall be a bleſſed change of men and of manners: thoſe who before were ſtark naught or good for naught, yea vexatious and miſchievous, ſhall become fruitful and beneficial:Spinis paliurus acutis. Virg. Eclog. The Fir-tree is good for many uſes, the Myrtle brings berriers of excellent taſte, as Pliny tells us. The Chaldee thus paraphraſeth here, Juſt men ſhall riſe up inſtead of ſinners, and ſuch at fear the Lord in the room of the unrighteous. Sed cave ne hic ſomnies, ſaith Oecolampadius, but be warned you dream not as ſome do, that in this world and before the day of Judgement the wicked ſhall all be rooted out. For there will alwaies be Cains to perſecute Abels, &c.

And it ſhall be to the Lord for a name] i. e. For an honour: it ſhall be much for his glory, which is the end that he propoundeth to himſelf in all that he doth: and well he may; ſith 1. He is not in danger of doing any thing through vain-glory. 2. He hath none higher then himſelf, to whom to have reſpect.

For an everlaſting ſign] In monumentum non momentaneum, Heb. for a ſign of pepetuity or eternity.

That ſhall not be cut off] Or, that it (the Church) ſhall not be cut off.