Isaiah 62 commentary

The Son of God here assures his church of his unfailing love, and his pleading for her under all trails and difficulties. She shall be called by a new name, a pleasant name, such as she was never called by before. The state of true religion in the world, before the preaching of the gospel, no man seemed to have any real concern for. God, by his grace, has wrought that in his church, which makes her his delight. Let us thence learn motives to holiness. If the Lord rejoices over us, we should rejoice in his service.

God's professing people must be a praying people. He is not displeased with us for being earnest, as men commonly are; he bids us to cry after him, and give him no rest, Luke 11:5,6. It is a sign that God is coming to a people in mercy, when he pours out a spirit of prayer upon them. See how uncertain our creature-comforts are. See also God's mercy in giving plenty, and peace to enjoy it. Let us delight in attending the courts of the Lord, that we may enjoy the consolations of his Spirit.

Way shall be made for Christ's salvation; all difficulties shall be removed. He brings a reward of comfort and peace with him; but a work of humiliation and reformation before him; and they shall be called, The holy people, and, The redeemed of the Lord. Holiness puts honour and beauty upon any place or person, makes them admired, beloved, and sought after. Many events may have been part fulfilments of this, as earnests of more glorious times yet to come. The close connexion between the blessedness of the Jews and of the Gentiles, runs through the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus will complete his work, and he never will forsake one whom he has redeemed and sanctified.

CHAPTER 62

Is 62:1-12. Intercessory Prayers for Zion's Restoration, Accompanying God's Promises of It, as the Appointed Means of Accomplishing It.

1. I--the prophet, as representative of all the praying people of God who love and intercede for Zion (compare Is 62:6, 7; Psa 102:13-17), or else Messiah (compare Is 62:6). So Messiah is represented as unfainting in His efforts for His people (Is 42:4; 50:7).

righteousness thereof--not its own inherently, but imputed to it, for its restoration to God's favor: hence "salvation" answers to it in the parallelism. "Judah" is to be "saved" through "the Lord our (Judah's and the Church's) righteousness" (Jr 23:6).

as brightness--properly the bright shining of the rising sun (Is 60:19; 4:5; 2Sa 23:4; Pr 4:18).

lamp--blazing torch.

2. (Is 11:10; 42:1-6; 49:7, 22, 23; 60:3, 5, 16).

new name--expression of thy new and improved condition (Is 62:4), the more valuable and lasting as being conferred by Jehovah Himself (Is 62:12; Is 65:15; Re 2:17; 3:12).

3. (Zec 9:16)

in ... hand of ... Lord--As a crown is worn on the head, not "in the hand," hand must here be figurative for "under the Lord's protection" (compare De 33:3). "All His saints are in thy hand." His people are in His hand at the same time that they are "a crown of glory" to Him (Re 6:2; 19:12); reciprocally, He is "a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty" to them (Is 28:5; compare Mal 3:17).

4. be termed--be "forsaken," so as that that term could be applicable to thee.

Hephzi-bah--(2Ki 21:1), the name of Hezekiah's wife, a type of Jerusalem, as Hezekiah was of Messiah (Is 32:1): "my delight is in her."

Beulah--"Thou art married." See the same contrast of Zion's past and future state under the same figure (Is 54:4-6; Re 21:2, 4).

land ... married--to Jehovah as its Lord and Husband: implying not only ownership, but protection on the part of the Owner [Horsley].

5. thy sons--rather, changing the points, which are of no authority in Hebrew, "thy builder" or "restorer," that is, God; for in the parallel clause, and in Is 62:4, God is implied as being "married" to her; whereas her "sons" could hardly be said to marry their mother; and in Is 49:18, they are said to be her bridal ornaments, not her husband. The plural form, builders, is used of God in reverence as "husbands" (see on Is 54:5).

over the bride--in the possession of the bride (Is 65:19; Jr 32:41; Zep 3:17).

6. I--Isaiah speaking in the person of the Messiah.

watchmen upon ... walls--image from the watches set upon a city's wall to look out for the approach of a messenger with good tidings (Is 52:7, 8); the good tidings of the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon, prefiguring the return from the present dispersion (compare Is 21:6-11; 56:10; Eze 3:17; 33:7). The watches in the East are announced by a loud cry to mark the vigilance of the watchmen.

ye that ... mention ... Lord--Hebrew, "ye that are the Lord's remembrancers"; God's servants who by their prayers "put God in remembrance" of His promises (Is 43:26); we are required to remind God, as if God could, which He cannot, forget His promises (Psa 119:49; Jr 14:21).

7. no rest--Hebrew, "silence"; keep not silence yourselves, nor let Him rest in silence. Compare as to Messiah Himself, "I will not hold ... peace ... not rest" (Is 62:1); Messiah's watchmen (Is 62:6, 7) imitate Him (Is 62:1) in intercessory "prayer without ceasing" for Jerusalem (Psa 122:6; 51:18); also for the spiritual Jerusalem, the Church (Lu 18:1, 7; Ro 1:9).

a praise--(See on Is 61:11; Zep 3:20).

8. sworn by ... right hand--His mighty instrument of accomplishing His will (compare Is 45:23; He 6:13).

sons of ... stranger--Foreigners shall no more rob thee of the fruit of thy labors (compare Is 65:21, 22).

9. eat ... and praise--not consume it on their own lusts, and without thanksgiving.

drink it in ... courts--They who have gathered the vintage shall drink it at the feasts held in the courts surrounding the temple (De 12:17, 18; 14:23, &c.).

10. What Isaiah in the person of Messiah had engaged in (Is 62:1) unrestingly to seek, and what the watchmen were unrestingly to pray for (Is 62:7), and what Jehovah solemnly promised (Is 62:8, 9), is now to be fulfilled; the Gentile nations are commanded to "go through the gates" (either of their own cities [Rosenmuller] or of Jerusalem [Maurer]), in order to remove all obstacles out of "the way of the people (Israel)" (see on Is 7:14; Is 40:3; 52:10-12).

standard--for the dispersed Jews to rally round, with a view to their return (Is 49:22; 11:12).

11. salvation--embodied in the Saviour (see Zec 9:9).

his work--rather, recompense (Is 40:10).

12. Sought out--Sought after and highly prized by Jehovah; answering to "not forsaken" in the parallel clause; no longer abandoned, but loved; image from a wife (Is 62:4; Jr 30:14).

For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace - These are the words of Jehovah declaring his purpose relative to the events predicted in the preceding chapter.

Thou shalt be called by a new name - Viz., Christian - or, as in the fourth verse, חפצי בה chephtsi bah, "my delight is in her" - because she has now received that command, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Hear Him."

Thy land Beulah - בעולה beulah, married. In the prophets, a desolate land is represented under the notion of a widow; an inhabited land, under that of a married woman, who has both a husband and children.

For as a young man - so - The particles of comparison are not at present in the Hebrew Text: but the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee seem to have read in their copies כ caph prefixed to the verb, כי כיבעל ki keyibal which seems to have been omitted by mistake of a transcriber, occasioned by the repetition of the same two letters. And before the verb in the second line a MS. adds כן ken, so; which the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee seem also to have had in their copies. In the third line of this verse the same MS. has in like manner וכמשוש vechimsos, and two MSS. and the Babylonish Talmud כמשוש kimsos, adding the כ caph; and in the fourth line, the Babylonish Talmud likewise adds כן ken, so, before the verb.

Sir John Chardin, in his note on this place, tells us, "that it is the custom in the east for youths, that were never married, always to marry virgins; and widowers, however young, to marry widows." - Harmer, Observ. 2 p. 482.

So shall thy sons marry thee - For בניך banayich, thy sons, Bishop Lowth reads, restorer or builder, as he does not consider the word as the plural of בן ben, a son, but the participle benoni of the verb בנה banah, he built. I do not see that we gain much by this translation. Thy sons shall dwell in thee, Vulgate; and so the Septuagint and Chaldee.

Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence - The faithful, and in particular the priests and Levites, are exhorted by the prophet to beseech God with unremitted importunity (compare Luk 18:1, etc.) to hasten the redemption of Sion. The image in this place is taken from the temple service; in which there was appointed a constant watch, day and night, by the Levites: and among them this seems to have belonged particularly to the singers, see 1Chr 9:33. Now the watches in the east, even to this day, are performed by a loud cry from time to time of the watchmen, to mark the time, and that very frequently, and in order to show that they themselves are constantly attentive to their duty. Hence the watchmen are said by the prophet, Isa 52:8, to lift up their voice; and here they are commanded, not to keep silence; and the greatest reproach to them is, that they are dumb dogs; they cannot bark; dreamers; sluggards, loving to slumber, Isa 56:10. "The watchmen in the camp of the caravans go their rounds crying one after another, 'God is one, he is merciful:' and often add, 'Take heed to yourselves.'" Tavernier, Voyage de Perse, 54:1 chap. 10. The hundred and thirty-fourth Psalm gives us an example of the temple watch. The whole Psalm is nothing more than the alternate cry of two different divisions of the watch. The first watch addresses the second, reminding them of their duty; the second answers by a solemn blessing. The address and the answer seem both to be a set form, which each division proclaimed, or sung aloud, at stated intervals, to notify the time of the night: -

First Chorus "Come on now, bless ye Jehovah, all ye servants of Jehovah;

Ye that stand in the house of Jehovah in the nights;

Lift up your hands towards the sanctuary,

And bless ye Jehovah."

Second Chorus "Jehovah bless thee out of Sion;

He that made heaven and earth." "Ye who stand in the place of the watch, in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord; and ye praise through the nights;" - says the Chaldee paraphrase on the second line. And this explains what is here particularly meant by proclaiming, or making remembrance of, the name of Jehovah: the form, which the watch made use of on these occasions, was always a short sentence, expressing some pious sentiment, of which Jehovah was the subject; and it is remarkable, that the custom in the east in this respect also still continues the very same; as appears by the example above given from Tavernier.

And this observation leads to the explanation of an obscure passage in the Prophet Malachi, Mal 2:12. "Jehovah will cut off the man that doeth this;

The watchman and the answerer, from the tabernacles of Jacob;

And him that presenteth an offering to Jehovah God of hosts." ער וענה er veoneh, the master and the scholar, says our translation, after the Vulgate: the son and the grandson, says the Syriac and Chaldee, as little to the purpose: Arias Montanus has given it vigilantem et respondentem, "the watchman and the answerer;" that is, the Levite and "him that presenteth an offering to Jehovah," that is, the priest. - L. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence. Is not this clause an address to the ministers of Christ, to continue in supplication for the conversion of the Jewish people? Kimchi seems to think that the watchmen are the interceding angels!

But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord - This and the following line have reference to the law of Moses: "Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil; but thou must eat them before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose," Deu 12:17, Deu 12:18. "And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years it shall be as uncircumcised unto you; it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal. And in the fifth year ye shall eat the fruit thereof," Lev 19:23-25. This clearly explains the force of the expressions, "shall praise Jehovah," and "shall drink it in my sacred courts."

Five MSS., one ancient, have יאכלוהו yocheluhu, they shall eat it, fully expressed: and so likewise ישתוהו yishtuhu, they shall drink it, is found in nineteen MSS., three of them ancient. - L.

Of the people "For the people" - Before the word העם haam, the people, two MSS. insert יהוה Yehovah; one MS. adds the same word after; and eight MSS., three ancient, instead of העם haam, have יהוה Yehovah, and so likewise one edition. But though it makes a good sense either way, I believe it to be an interpolation, as the ancient Versions do not favor it. The Septuagint indeed read עמי ammi, my people. - L.

Unto the end of the world - אל קצה הארץ el ketseh haarets - Instead of אל el, to, עד ad, Unto, is the reading of two of Kennicott's MSS.; and one of mine has מקצה mikketseh, "From the end of the earth."

Behold, thy salvation cometh "Lo, thy Savior cometh" - So all the ancient Versions render the word ישעך yishech.

Behold, his reward - See note on Isa 40:10, Isa 40:11. This reward he carries as it were in his hand. His work is before him - he perfectly knows what is to be done; and is perfectly able to do it. He will do what God should do, and what man cannot do; and men should be workers with him. Let no man fear that the promise shall not be fulfilled on account of its difficulty, its greatness, the hinderances in the way, or the unworthiness of the person to whom it is made. It is God's work; he is able to do it, and as willing as he is able.

They shall call them - These characteristics seem to be put in their inverted order. -

1. God will not forsake them.

2. They shall be sought out.

3. They shall be redeemed. And,

4. Be in consequence a holy people.

1. When God calls, it is a proof that he has not forsaken.

2. When he seeks, it is a proof he is waiting to be gracious.

3. When the atonement is exhibited, all things are then ready.

4. And when that is received, holiness of heart and life is then to be kept continually in view, as this is the genuine work of God's Spirit; and without holiness none shall see the Lord.

Zion's sake - Zion and Jerusalem are both put for the church, Heb 12:22. My peace - These seem to be the words of the prophet strongly resolving, notwithstanding all difficulties, to solicit God for the church's happiness, and constantly excite to the belief of it by his preaching, though it were long before it came, for Isaiah lived near two hundred years before this was accomplished. Righteousness - With reference to the Babylonians, understand it of the righteousness of God, who hath promised his people deliverance, and he must be righteous, and so understand salvation before; or rather, the vindicating of his people's cause in the eyes of the nations by the ruin of the Babylonians; he will shew that his people have a righteous cause. Lamp - And to that purpose is set up where it may be seen continually, to signify how eminently conspicuous this prosperous estate of the church should be among the nations, and as it may particularly relate to revealing of Christ unto the world.

A new name - The church shall be more renowned than ever, both in respect of her condition, and so called Hephzi - bah, and of her relation, and so called Beulah, and this new name the Lord gives them accordingly, ver.4.

Crown of glory - An expression to set forth the dignity of her state. In the hand - Preserved and defended by God's hand. Royal diadem - The same thing with the former for substance. Or, the royal priesthood, whereof the apostle speaks, 1Pet 2:9.

Forsaken - As a woman forsaken by her husband. Thy land - The inhabitants of the land. Hephzi - bah - My delight is in her; a new name agreeing with her new condition. Beulah - Married; agreeing to her new relation. Married - Thou shalt see the increase of thy children again in the land, as the fruit of thy married condition, which by reason of thy being forsaken of thy husband, were in a manner wasted and decayed: and this refers to the great enlargement of the church in the gospel days.

Day nor night - There shall be a vigilant and industrious ministry. Ye - That is, are his servants. And here especially are meant his servants in ordinary, his remembrancers, such as put God in mind of his promise, and such as make the Lord to be remembered, putting his people in mind of him.

A praise - By sending the Messiah, and those labourers into his vineyard, whereby the church may be established, and settled on sure foundations, and so become a matter of praise to God. All the nations shall praise him for her.

But - Thou shalt not sow, and another reap, as formerly. Courts - In my courts: holiness being put for God himself.

Go through - It is doubled by way of emphasis. Go meet the Gentiles, whom God purposes to bring into the church. Prepare - Let them not have any obstructions in their way. Stones - That there be no stumbling - stone, or offence in their way. Standard - An allusion to soldiers, that set up their standard that the army may know where to repair from all quarters.

Zion - To Jerusalem, or the church. Thy salvation - Thy saviour. Reward - The reward due to the work.

1 FOR Zions sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness , and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth .

viz. The Churches sake, Sion, and Ierusalem being both put for the Church. Heb. 12. 22.

These seem to be the words of the Prophet strongly resolving, notwithstanding all difficulties, to solicit God for the Churches happiness, and constantly excite to the belief of it by his Preaching, though it were long ere it came, for Isaiah lived near 200 years before this was accomplished, but his Prophecy lived, and the tenour of it was continued by other Prophets, whom the Lord stirred up to be still establishing his people till this Salvation was wrought; his meaning might be, as long as he lived, he would never hold his peace; or he might include himself among those, who should be then alive, as Paul doth among the other Saints, 1 Thess. 4. 17. we which are alive. Thus may we also include God speaking these words as some would have it, viz. By the mouth of Isaiah, and other of his holy Prophets, that never held their peace, till they saw this blessed state of the Church appear.

With reference to the Babylonians understand it of the Righteousness of God, who hath promised his people deliverance, and he must be Righteous, and so understand Salvation before; or rather, the vindicating of his people's cause in the Eyes of the Nations by the ruin of the Babylonians, he will shew that his people have a Righteous cause: or with reference to the Church, till Christ, who is her Righteousness shall appear and be manifested in the Gospel.

Clearing up their miserable, and dark estate which the Church might be supposed to be in before Christ's coming with much joy, and happiness.

And to that purpose is set up where it may be seen continually, to signify how eminently conspicuous this prosperous estate of the Church should be among the Nations, and as it may particularly relate to revealing of Christ unto the world.

2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness , and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name .

See what is said in the foregoing verse, some read thy Iust One, viz. Jesus Christ.

Those that were wont to scorn thee, shall now be taken with the admiration of thy Glory.

Not the seed of Abraham, or the Children of Israel, but of God, that whereas they were by nature the Children of Wrath, now by Grace they shall be the Children of God: Or, another Name, as it is said of Tongues. Compare Mark 16. 17. with Acts 2. 4. Or, a Name, the honour whereof shall make them famous, as Gen. 11. 4. they shall be called Christians. Or, The Church shall be more renowned then ever, both in respect of her condition, and so called Hephzi-bah, and of her Relation, and so called Beulah, and this new name the Lord gives them accordingly, ver. 4.

Marginal references: Ch. 65. 15. see ver. 12.

3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD , and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

An Expression to set forth the dignity of her state.

i. e. Either, as placed upon thee by God's hand, that he will dispose of, or dispense to thee, an usual form of speech in Scripture, as Hag. 1. 1. by the hand of Haggai, so Mal. 1. 1. Or, In the hand of God: He shall so manage thine honourable estate, that thou shalt be a Crown, a Credit and Honour to him, and so the word Crown may be used for any kind of ornament, or matter of Honour: Or, preserved, and defended by Gods Hand, a Phrase that expresseth it to be out of all danger, as to put a Mans Life in his hands is to expose it to dangers, Iudg. 12. 3. 1 Sam. 19. 5. & 28. 21.

The same thing with the former for substance. Or, the royal Priesthood, whereof the Apostle speaks, 1 Pet. 2. 9.

Marginal references: Zech. 9. 16.

4 Thou shalt no more be termed, Forsaken ; neither shall thy land▪ any more be termed desolate : but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah , and thy land Beulah : for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married .

As a Woman forsaken by her Husband, contemptible, and of low esteem.

i. e. The Inhabitants of the Land, a Metonymy of the Subject.

Though it be now almost void of Inhabitants it shall be impeopled again.

i. e. Be▪ as you have frequently had such instances.

My delight is in her, a new Name agreeing with her new Condition.

Married, agreeing to her new Relation, she shall be as one well married, to the great improvement of her state. Ier. 3. 14. Hos. 2. 18, 19, 20.

Thou shalt see the encrease of thy Children again in thy Land, as the fruit of thy married condition, which by reason of thy being forsaken of thy Husband, were in a manner wasted and decayed: And this refers to the great enlargement of the Church in the Gospel days: Or rather, shall be possessed, as the word ba[illegible: 1+ letters]l properly signifies, and so it answers to desolate, thou shalt be no more desolate, but possessed, and this helps to solve a difficulty in the next verse, which otherwise may seem an impropriety, That the Sons should marry the Mother.

Marginal references: Hos. 1. 10. 1 Pet. 2. 10.; Ch. 54. 67.; That is, my delight is in her.; That is, married.

5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin , so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

This is delivered as a demonstration of what was said in the close of the 4th verse, and it is said Young, and Virgin to note their suitableness, not Old, and Young, but such as may delight each in other, signifying that mutual content that would be in all parties, thus it was at the first preaching of the Gospel, Act. 2. 41, to 47.

Whereas it is improbable that the Spirit of God should carry on so sacred a Prophecy by a similitude so abhorrent [illegible: 1+ letters]o Nature, the Son should marry the Mother, the scruple is easily satisfied by taking the word in its right signification to possess, as in the foregoing verse, reading it thus, as a young man marrieth or possesseth a Virgin, so shall thy Land be inhabited or possessed by thy Sons, they shall dwell with thee as a man dwells with his Wife, and thus the LXX. And it is said Sons to distinguish them from strangers, by whom she should not any longer be inhabited, but by her own natives, and expressed by marrying to signifie not only their unity of affection in the evenness of their living, but of Faith in their common profession called the Common Faith, Tit. 1. 4. according to which Paul calls him his Son.

Taketh delight in her, so shall thy God, viz. Christ, God and Man, in thee; see ver. 4. Christ is often called a Bridegroom, and his Church a Bride, 2 Cor. 11. 2. Rev. 21. 2, 9.

Marginal references: Heb. with the joy of the bridegroom.; Ch. 65. 19.

6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night : ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence ;

Understand by these, either 1. Angels, as they are called, Dan. 4. 13, 23. Or 2. Magistrates, see chap. 56. 10. Or rather 3. Ministers. When once the Church shall be restored again, God will undertake for its Safety and Protection, partly by Magistracy, and partly by Ministry, whom he here by a Metaphorical Allegory calls Watchmen, but the next words seem principally to intimate Spiritual Watchmen, thy spiritual safety, Heb. 13. 17. and said to be upon the Walls, as being thence able to espy dangers at the greater distance, Cant. 1. 7.

There shall be a most vigilant, and industrious Ministry, their constancy being intimated by Day and Night, either in Praying or Teaching, or warning, this being their Office.

i. e. Are his servants; To make mention of one▪ is, according to the Hebrew Phrase, to be servant to him of whom we make mention, ch. 26. 13. And here especially are meant his Servants in ordinary, his Remembrancers, either such as put God in mind of his Promise, like such Officers that great Men have about them on purpose to mind them of the publick affairs; Or, such as make the Lord to be remembred, putting his People in mind of him.

This seems to be the charge that he gives to his Watchmen, that they never prove remi[illegible: 1+ letters]s or negligent.

Marginal references: Ezek. 3. 17. & 33. 7.; [illegible: 1 word] that are the Lords remembrancers. Ch. 43. 26.

7 And give him no rest , till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth .

The same with the foregoing Verse, and very acceptable to God, Luke 11. 8, 9, 10.

By sending the Messiah, and those Labourers into his Vineyard, whereby the Church may be established, and settled on sure foundations, and so become matter of Praise to God, All the Nations may praise him for her, Psal. 67. 3, 4. Or, that she may be praised, and become renowned, and famous in the Eyes of the World, see ch. 60. 9. & 61. 9, 11.

Marginal references: Heb. silenc[illegible: 1+ letters].

8 The LORD hath sworn by his right hand , and by the arm of his strength, surely , I will no more give thy corn t[illegible: 1+ letters] be meat for thine enemies, and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured :

This, and the next Verse are much to the same purpose, wherein the Prophet, to encourage them to their industrious endeavours, tells them that the Lord had sworn to see to the prosperity of Jerusalem; And he names the Hand to signifie his faithfulness, as the giving of our hand notes our Fidelity, and Arm to signifie his Power, the Arm of his strength, i. e. his strong Arm; these being eminently to be engaged, and put forth for his People, he swears by them.

Or, I[illegible: 1+ letters] I give, an usual Aposiopesis, an abrupt form of swearing, implying somthing of an imprecation, as great as can be expressed, q. d. never account me Faithful, or Almighty, if I accomplish not this.

See ch. 61. 5.

The meaning is, that Meat, and Drink, and all necessaries, that thou hast laboured for, the Babylonians took away from thee, but now it shall be so no more, he will not give thee up to the Will of thine Enemies.

Marginal references: Heb. If I give, &c.; Deu. 28. 31. &c. Jer. 5. 17.

9 But they that have gathered it , shall eat it, and praise the LORD ; and they that have brought it together, shall drink it in the courts of my holiness .

i. e. The Wine mentioned in the former verse, that have brought it from their several Vineyards, and laid it up in their Cellars, every one shall eat the fruit of his own labours, thou shalt not sow, and another reap, as formerly.

They themselves shall praise him, viz. for his Bounty, and Goodness; and others also, that shall be partakers with them; God will be bountiful, and they shall be thankful.

As I have commanded Deut. 14. 23. in my Courts: Holiness being put for God himself by a Metonymy of the Adjunct, alluding to those anniversary Feasts, and Thank-offerings that were to be eaten in those places about the Temple, and perhaps in special to that part which was appropriated to the Priests, implying herein, that they should be all Priests, and, for ought I know, here may be an allusion to the great Gospel-feast, or Thank offering in the Lords Supper, these Promises being not onely applicable to, but do point at the Soul-protections, and the Soul-provisions of the Church of Christ.

Marginal references: See Deu. 12. 12. & 14. 26. & 16. 11, 14.

10 Go through, go through the gates ; prepare-ye the way of the people, cast up, cast up the high way, gather out the stones , lift up a standard for the people .

It is doubled by way of Emphasis, q. d. make hast to your own Land, as if Cyrus should say, get ye out of Captivity as soon as you will, ch. 48. 20. Or, it may intimate an invitation issued out from them at Ierusalem to those that were sca[illegible: 1+ letters]tered about in the Captivity, therein possibly typifying the going of Christs Disciples into the various parts of the World, to bring those that were scattered up and down into the Church. Or, go meet the Gentiles, whom God purposeth to bring into the Church, that by pure Doctrine, and your holy Lives they may be the sooner won.

Let them not have any obstructions in their way, he seems to call upon others to prepare the way for them; Thus Iohn was sent to prepare the way for Christ as was prophecied, ch. 40. 3. accordingly it is ordered to be cast up, see ch. 57. 14.

That there be no stumbling stone, or offence in their way: Or, q. d. go to and fro, and remove every scandal that they may boggle at, Rom. 14. 13. The former notes the [illegible: 1 word] of their [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] before; this the [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1+ letters]o [illegible: 1 word].

A[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] to Sold[illegible: 1+ letters]ers, tha[illegible: 1+ letters] us[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] up their [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] the Army may know wh[illegible: 1+ letters]er to [illegible: 1 word] from [illegible: 1 word] quarters. See [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. 22. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] that it may be more vi[illegible: 1+ letters]ble, [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]. 11. 10▪ 11, 12. and [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] Christ held [illegible: 1 word] in the preaching of the Gospel.

Or, over the People.

Marginal references: Ch. 40. 3. & 57. 14.

11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion , Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

This may be understood of Cyrus his Proclamation being there [illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] by God, see 2 [illegible: 1 word]. 36. 22, &c

i. e. To [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word], or the Church, the sum of which Proclamation is in the following words.

Either 1. The time of it is come chap 56. 1. & 6[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1. Or rather 2. The Person that effects it, thy Savior, by a Me [illegible: 1+ letters] my o[illegible: 1+ letters] the Efficient, Luk. 2. 30.

i. e. the Reward due to the wo[illegible: 1+ letters]k, the same thing with the former; see of this on ch. 4[illegible: 1+ letters]. 10. Or, his work is ready cut out for him, which he is to do: Or, he will industriously s[illegible: 1+ letters]t himself about the work that is before him; I[illegible: 1+ letters]h. 4. 34. and he is said to bring it with him, viz. the reward, that he will give to his true Worshippers, Or, he brings eternal Salvation with him, or the Reward of Redemption which is the Subject of the next Chapter.

Marginal references: Zech. 9. [illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word] 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word]; Ch. 4▪ 1 R[illegible: 1+ letters]v 22 12.; [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

12 And they shall call them, The holy people , the redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, sought out , a city not forsaken .

Or, they shall be called, or they shall be a peculiar separate People, co. 4. 3.

Or, one sound that was lost, see Ezek. 34. 16. Or, [illegible: 1 word] o[illegible: 1+ letters]t, or [illegible: 1+ letters]or, as one in great esteem, one that the Gentiles should see[illegible: 1+ letters] to join themselves withal, so as to be one Church with [illegible: 1+ letters]er: That reproach should be wiped off from her, that this is S[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] man seeketh after, Jer. 30. 17. Or, cared for, viz. by God, whom he hath out of infinite Love gathered to himself.

See v. 4. The meaning is, that thus they shall esteem the Gospel Church; sh[illegible: 1+ letters] shall be accosted with such salutations as these are, the Holy People, the R[illegible: 1+ letters]ned of the Lord, &c.

Isa 62:1-3

Nearly all the more recent commentators regard the prophet himself as speaking here. Having given himself up to praying to Jehovah and preaching to the people, he will not rest or hold his peace till the salvation, which has begun to be realized, has been brought fully out to the light of day. It is, however, really Jehovah who commences thus: “For Zion’s sake I shall not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I shall not rest, till her righteousness breaks forth like morning brightness, and her salvation like a blazing torch. And nations will see they righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and men will call thee by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will determine. And thou wilt be an adorning coronet in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the lap of thy God.” It is evident that Jehovah is the speaker here, both from Isa 62:6 and also from the expression used; for châshâh is the word commonly employed in such utterances of Jehovah concerning Himself, to denote His leaving things in their existing state without interposing (Isa 65:6; Isa 57:11; Isa 64:11). Moreover, the arguments which may be adduced to prove that the author of chapters 40-66 is not the speaker in Isa 61:1-11, also prove that it is not he who is continuing to speak of himself in Isa 62:1-12 Jehovah, having now begun to speak and move on behalf of Zion, will “for Zion’s sake,” i.e., just because it is Zion, His own church, neither be silent nor give Himself rest, till He has gloriously executed His work of grace. Zion is now in the shade, but the time will come when her righteousness will go forth as nōgah, the light which bursts through the night (Isa 60:19; Isa 59:9; here the morning sunlight, Pro 4:18; compare shachar, the morning red, Isa 58:8); or till her salvation is like a torch which blazes. יבער belongs to כלפּיד (mercha) in the form of an attributive clause = בּער, although it might also be assumed that יבער stands by attraction for תבער (cf., Isa 2:11; Ewald, §317,c). The verb בּער, which is generally applied to wrath (e.g., Isa 30:27), is here used in connection with salvation, which has wrath towards the enemies of Zion as its obverse side: Zion’s tsedeq (righteousness) shall become like the morning sunlight, before which even the last twilight has vanished; and Zion’s yeshū‛âh is like a nightly torch, which sets fire to its own material, and everything that comes near it. The force of the conjunction עד (until) does not extend beyond Isa 62:1. From Isa 62:2 onwards, the condition of things in the object indicated by עד is more fully described. The eyes of the nations will be directed to the righteousness of Zion, the impress of which is now their common property; the eyes of all kings to her glory, with which the glory of none of them, nor even of all together, can possibly compare. And because this state of Zion is a new one, which has never existed before, her old name is not sufficient to indicate her nature. She is called by a new name; and who could determine this new name? He who makes the church righteous and glorious, He, and He alone, is able to utter a name answering to her new nature, just as it was He who called Abram Abraham, and Jacob Israel. The mouth of Jehovah will determine it (נקב, to pierce, to mark, to designate in a signal and distinguishing manner, nuncupare; cf., Amo 6:1; Num 1:17). It is only in imagery that prophecy here sees what Zion will be in the future: she will be “a crown of glory,” “a diadem,” or rather a tiara (tsenı̄ph; Chethib tsenūph = mitsnepheth, the head-dress of the high priest, Exo 28:4; Zec 3:5; and that of the king, Eze 21:31) “of regal dignity,” in the hand of her God (for want of a synonym of “hand,” we have adopted the rendering “in the lap” the second time that it occurs). Meier renders יהוה בּיד (בּכף) Jovae sub praesidio, as though it did not form part of the figure. But it is a main feature in the figure, that Jehovah holds the crown in His hand. Zion is not the ancient crown which the Eternal wears upon His head, but the crown wrought out in time, which He holds in His hand, because He is seen in Zion by all creation. The whole history of salvation is the history of the taking of the kingdom, and the perfecting of the kingdom by Jehovah; in other words, the history of the working out of this crown.

Isa 62:4-5

Zion will be once more the beloved of God, and her home the bride of her children. “Men will no more call thee 'Forsaken one;' and thy land they will no more call 'Desert:' but men will name thee 'My delight in her,' and thy home 'Married one:' for Jehovah hath delight in thee, and thy land is married. For the young man marrieth the maiden, thy children will marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth in the bride, thy God will rejoice in thee.” The prophecy mentions new names, which will now take the place of the old ones; but these names indicate what Zion appears to be, not her true nature which is brought to the light. In the explanatory clause לך stands at the head, because the name of Zion is given first in distinction from the name of her land. Zion has hitherto been called ‛ăzūbhâh, forsaken by Jehovah, who formerly loved her; but she now receives instead the name of chephtsı̄-bhâh (really the name of a woman, viz., the wife of Hezekiah, and mother of Manasseh, 2Ki 21:1), for she is now the object of true affection on the part of Jehovah. With the rejoicing of a bridegroom in his bride (the accusative is used here in the same sense as in גדלה שׂמחה שׂמח; Ges. §138, 1) will her God rejoice in her, turning to her again with a love as strong and deep as the first love of a bridal pair. And the land of Zion’s abode, the fatherland of her children, was hitherto called shemâmâh; it was turned into a desert by the heathen, and the connection that existed between it and the children of the land was severed; but now it shall be called be‛ūlâh, for it will be newly married. A young man marries a virgin, thy children will marry thee: the figure and the fact are placed side by side in the form of an emblematical proverb, the particle of comparison being omitted (see Herzog’s Cyclopaedia, xiv 696, and Ges. §155, 2,h). The church in its relation to Jehovah is a weak but beloved woman, which has Him for its Lord and Husband (Isa 54:5); but in relation to her home she is the totality of those who are lords or possessors (ba‛alē, 2Sa 6:2) of the land, and who call the land their own as it were by right of marriage. Out of the loving relation in which the church stands to its God, there flows its relation of authority over every earthly thing of which it stands in need. In some MSS there is a break here.

Isa 62:6-7

Watchmen stationed upon the walls of Zion (says the third strophe) do not forsake Jehovah till He has fulfilled all His promise. “Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, have I stationed watchmen; all the day and all the night continually they are not silent. O ye who remember Jehovah, leave yourselves no rest! And give Him no rest, till He raise up, and till He set Jerusalem for a praise in the earth.” As the phrase hiphqı̄d ‛al signifies to make a person an overseer (president) over anything, it seems as though we ought to render the sentence before us, “I have set watchmen over thy walls.” But hiphqı̄d by itself may also mean “to appoint” (2Ki 25:23), and therefore עלח־ומתיך may indicate the place of appointment (lxx ἐπὶ τῶν τειχέων σου, upon thy walls: ̔Ιερουσαλήμ κατέστησα φύλακας). Those who are stationed upon the walls are no doubt keepers of the walls; not, however, as persons whose exclusive duty it is to keep the walls, but as those who have committed to them the guarding of the city both within and without (Sol 5:7). The appointment of such watchmen presupposes the existence of the city, which is thus to be watched from the walls. It is therefore inadmissible to think of the walls of Jerusalem as still lying in ruins, as the majority of commentators have done, and to understand by the watchmen pious Israelites, who pray for their restoration, or (according to b. Menachoth 87 a; cf., Zec 1:12) angelic intercessors. The walls intended are those of the city, which, though once destroyed, is actually imperishable (Isa 49:16) and has now been raised up again. And who else could the watchmen stationed upon the walls really be, but prophets who are called tsōphı̄m (e.g., Isa 52:8), and whose calling, according to Ezek 33, is that of watchmen? And if prophets are meant, who else can the person appointing them be but Jehovah Himself? The idea that the author of these prophecies is speaking of himself, as having appointed the shōmerı̄m, must therefore be rejected. Jehovah gives to the restored Jerusalem faithful prophets, whom He stations upon the walls of the city, that they may see far and wide, and be heard afar off. And from those walls does their warning cry on behalf of the holy city committed to their care ascent day and night to Jehovah, and their testimony go round about to the world. For after Jerusalem has been restored and re-peopled, the further end to be attained is this, that Jehovah should build up the newly founded city within (cōnēn the consequence of bânâh, Num 21:27, and ‛âsâh, Isa 45:18; Deu 32:6; cf., Isa 54:14 and Psa 87:5), and help it to attain the central post of honour in relation to those without, which He has destined for it. Such prophets of the times succeeding the captivity (nebhı̄'ı̄m 'achărōnı̄m; cf., Zec 1:4) were Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Haggai stands upon the walls of Jerusalem, and proclaims the glory of the second temple as surpassing that of the first. Zechariah points from Joshua and Zerubbabel onwards to the sprout of Jehovah, who is priest and prince in one person, and builds the true temple of God. Malachi predicts the coming of the Lord to His temple, and the rising of the Sun of righteousness. Under the eyes of these prophets the city of God rose up again, and they stand upon its pinnacles, and look thence into the glorious future that awaits it, and hasten its approach through the word of their testimony. Such prophets, who carry the good of their people day and night upon their anxious praying hearts, does Jehovah give to the Jerusalem after the captivity, which is one in the prophet’s view with the Jerusalem of the last days; and in so lively a manner does the prophet here call them up before his own mind, that he exclaims to them, “Ye who remind Jehovah, to finish gloriously the gracious work which He has begun,” give yourselves to rest (dŏmi from dâmâh = dâmam, to grow dumb, i.e., to cease speaking or working, in distinction from châshâh, to be silent, i.e., not to speak or work), and allow Him no rest till He puts Jerusalem in the right state, and so glorifies it, that it shall be recognised and extolled as glorious over all the earth. Prophecy here sees the final glory of the church as one that gradually unfolds itself, and that not without human instrumentality. The prophets of the last times, with their zeal in prayer, and in the exercise of their calling as witnesses, form a striking contrast to the blind, dumb, indolent, sleepy hirelings of the prophet’s own time (Isa 56:10).

Isa 62:8-9

The following strophe expresses one side of the divine promise, on which the hope of that lofty and universally acknowledged glory of Jerusalem, for whose completion the watchers upon its walls so ceaselessly exert themselves, is founded. “Jehovah hath sworn by His right hand, and by His powerful arm, Surely I no more give thy corn for food to thine enemies; and foreigners will to drink thy must, for which thou hast laboured hard. No, they that gather it in shall eat it, and praise Jehovah; and they that store it, shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.” The church will no more succumb to the tyranny of a worldly power. Peace undisturbed, and unrestricted freedom, reign there. With praise to Jehovah are the fruits of the land enjoyed by those who raised and reaped them. יגעתּ (with an auxiliary pathach, as in Isa 47:12, Isa 47:15) is applied to the cultivation of the soil, and includes the service of the heathen who are incorporated in Israel (Isa 61:5); whilst אסּף (whence מאספיו with ס raphatum) or אסף (poel, whence the reading מאספיו, cf., Psa 101:5, meloshnı̄; Psa 109:10, ve-dorshū, for which in some codd. and editions we find מאספיו, an intermediate form between piel and poel; see at Psa 62:4) and קבּץ stand in the same relation to one another as condere (horreo) and colligere (cf., Isa 11:12). The expression bechatsrōth qodshı̄, in the courts of my sanctuary, cannot imply that the produce of the harvest will never be consumed anywhere else than there (which is inconceivable), but only that their enjoyment of the harvest-produce will be consecrated by festal meals of worship, with an allusion to the legal regulation that two-tenths (ma‛ăsēr shēnı̄) should be eaten in a holy place (liphnē Jehovah) by the original possessor and his family, with the addition of the Levites and the poor (Deu 14:22-27 : see Saalschütz, Mosaisches Recht, cap. 42). Such thoughts, as that all Israel will then be a priestly nation, or that all Jerusalem will be holy, are not implied in this promise. All that it affirms is, that the enjoyment of the harvest-blessing will continue henceforth undisturbed, and be accompanied with the grateful worship of the giver, and therefore, because sanctified by thanksgiving, will become an act of worship in itself. This is what Jehovah has sworn “by His right hand,” which He only lifts up with truth, and “by His powerful arm,” which carries out what it promises without the possibility of resistance. The Talmud (b. Nazir 3 b) understand by עזו זרוע the left arm, after Dan 12:7; but the ו of ובזרוע is epexegetical.

Isa 62:10-12

The concluding strophe goes back to the standpoint of the captivity. “Go forth, go forth through the gates, clear the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the road, clear it of stones; lift up a banner above the nations! Behold, Jehovah hath caused tidings to sound to the end of the earth. Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. And men will call them the holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and men will call thee, Striven after, A city that will not be forsaken.” We cannot adopt the rendering proposed by Gesenius, “Go ye into the gates,” whether of Jerusalem or of the temple, since the reading would then be שׁערים בּאוּ (Gen 23:10) or בשּׁערים (Jer 7:2). For although בּ עבר may under certain circumstances be applied to entrance into a city (Jdg 9:26), yet it generally denotes either passing through a land (Isa 8:21; Isa 34:10; Gen 41:46; Lev 26:6, etc.), or through a nation (2Sa 20:14), or through a certain place (Isa 10:28); so that the phrase בּשּׁער עבר, which does not occur anywhere else (for in Mic 2:13, which refers, however, to the Exodus of the people out of the gates of the cities of the captivity, שׁער ויּעברוּ do not belong together), must refer to passing through the gate; and the cry בשׁערים עברוּ means just the same as מבּבל צאוּ (“Go ye forth from Babylon”) in Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11.

The call to go out of Babylon forms the conclusion of the prophecy here, just as it does in Isa 48:20-21; Isa 52:11-12. It is addressed to the exiles; but who are they to whom the command is given, “Throw up a way,” - a summons repeatedly found in all the three books of these prophecies (Isa 40:3; Isa 57:14)? They cannot be the heathen, for this is contradicted by the conclusion of the charge, “Lift ye up a banner above the nations;” nor can we adopt what seems to us a useless fancy on the part of Stier, viz., that Isa 62:10 is addressed to the watchmen on the walls of Zion. We have no hesitation, therefore, in concluding that they are the very same persons who are to march through the gates of Babylon. The vanguard (or pioneers) of those who are coming out are here summoned to open the way by which the people are to march, to throw up the road (viz., by casting up an embankment, hamsillâh, as in Isa 11:16; Isa 49:11; maslūl, Isa 35:8), to clear it of stones (siqqēl, as in Isa 5:2; cf., Hos 9:12, shikkēl mē'âdâm), and lift up a banner above the nations (one rising so high as to be visible far and wide), that the diaspora of all places may join those who are returning home with the friendly help of the nations (Isa 11:12; Isa 49:22). For Jehovah hath caused tidings to be heard to the end of the earth, i.e., as we may see from what follows, the tidings of their liberation; in other words, looking at the historical fulfilment, the proclamation of Cyrus, which he caused to be issued throughout his empire at the instigation of Jehovah (Ezr 1:1). Hitzig regards השׁמיע as expressing what had actually occurred at the time when the prophet uttered his predictions; and in reality the standpoint of the prophets was so far a variable one, that the fulfilment of what was predicted did draw nearer and nearer to it ἐν πνεύματι. But as hinnēh throughout the book of Isaiah, even when followed by a perfect, invariably points to something future, all that can be said is, that the divine announcement of the time of redemption, as having now arrived, stands out before the soul of the prophet with all the certainty of a historical fact. The conclusion which Knobel draws from the expression “to the end of the earth,” as to the Babylonian standpoint of the prophet, is a false one. In his opinion, “the end of the earth” in such passages as Psa 72:8; Zec 9:10 ('aphsē-'ârets), and Isa 24:16 (kenaph hâ'ârets), signifies the western extremity of the orbis orientalis, that is to say, the region of the Mediterranean, more especially Palestine; whereas it was rather a term applied to the remotest lands which bounded the geographical horizon (compare Isa 42:10; Isa 48:20, with Psa 2:8; Psa 22:28, and other passages). The words that follow (“Say ye,” etc.) might be taken as a command issued on the ground of the divine hishimiă‛ (“the Lord hath proclaimed”); but hishimiă‛ itself is a word that needs to be supplemented, so that what follows is the divine proclamation: Men everywhere, i.e., as far as the earth or the dispersion of Israel extends, are to say to the daughter of Zion - that is to say, to the church which has its home in Zion, but is now in foreign lands - that “its salvation cometh,” i.e., that Jehovah, its Saviour, is coming to bestow a rich reward upon His church, which has passed through sever punishment, but has been so salutarily refined. Those to whom the words “Say ye,” etc., are addressed, are not only the prophets of Israel, but all the mourners of Zion, who become mebhasserı̄m, just because they respond to this appeal (compare the meaning of this “Say ye to the daughter of Zion” with Zec 9:9 in Mat 21:5). The whole of the next clause, “Behold, His reward,” etc., is a repetition of the prophet’s own words in Isa 40:10. It is a question whether the words “and they shall call thee,” etc., contain the gospel which is to be proclaimed according to the will of Jehovah to the end of the earth (see Isa 48:20), or whether they are a continuation of the prophecy which commences with “Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed.” The latter is the more probable, as the address here passes again into an objective promise. The realization of the gospel, which Jehovah causes to be preached, leads men to call those who are now still in exile “the holy people,” “the redeemed” (lit. ransomed, Isa 51:10; like pedūyē in Isa 35:10). “And thee” - thus does the prophecy close by returning to a direct address to Zion-Jerusalem - “thee will men call derūshâh,” sought assiduously, i.e., one whose welfare men, and still more Jehovah, are zealously concerned to promote (compare the opposite in Jer 30:17) - “a city that will not be forsaken,” i.e., in which men gladly settle, and which will never be without inhabitants again (the antithesis to ‛ăzūbhâh in Isa 60:15), possibly also in the sense that the gracious presence of God will never be withdrawn from it again (the antithesis to ‛ăzūbhâh in Isa 62:4). נעזבה is the third pers. pr., like nuchâmâh in Isa 54:11 : the perfect as expressing the abstract present (Ges. §126, 3).

The following prophecy anticipates the question, how Israel can possibly rejoice in the recovered possession of its inheritance, if it is still to be surrounded by such malicious neighbours as the Edomites. Sixth Prophecy - Isa 63:1-6

Judgment Upon Edom and Upon the Whole World that Is Hostile to the Church

Just as the Ammonites had been characterized by a thirst for extending their territory as well as by cruelty, and the Moabites by boasting and a slanderous disposition, so were the Edomites, although the brother-nation to Israel, characterised from time immemorial by fierce, implacable, bloodthirsty hatred towards Israel, upon which they fell in the most ruthless and malicious manner, whenever it was surrounded by danger or had suffered defeat. The knavish way in which they acted in the time of Joram, when Jerusalem was surprised and plundered by Philistines and Arabians (2Ch 21:16-17), has been depicted by Obadiah. A large part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were then taken prisoners, and sold by the conquerors, some to the Phoenicians and some to the Greeks (Oba 1:20; Joe 3:1-8); to the latter through the medium of the Edomites, who were in possession of the port and commercial city of Elath on the Elanitic Gulf (Amo 1:6). Under the rule of the very same Joram the Edomites had made themselves independent of the house of David (2Ki 8:20; 2Ch 21:10), and a great massacre took place among the Judaeans settled in Idumaea; an act of wickedness for which Joel threatens them with the judgment of God (Joe 3:19), and which was regarded as not yet expiated even in the time of Uzziah, notwithstanding the fact that Amaziah had chastised them (2Ki 14:7), and Uzziah had wrested Elath from them (2Ki 14:22). “Thus saith Jehovah,” was the prophecy of Amos (Amo 1:11-12) in the first half of Uzziah’s reign, “for three transgressions of Edom, ad for four, I will not take it back, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and stifled his compassion, so that his anger tears in pieces for ever, and he keeps his fierce wrath eternally: And I let fire loose upon Teman, and it devours the palaces of Bozrah.” So also at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and the carrying away of the people, Edom took the side of the Chaldeans, rejoiced over Israel’s defeat, and flattered itself that it should eventually rule over the territory that had hitherto belonged to Israel. They availed themselves of this opportunity to slake their thirst for revenge upon Israel, placing themselves at the service of its enemies, delivering up fugitive Judaeans or else massacring them, and really obtaining possession of the southern portion of Judaea, viz., Hebron (1 Macc. 5:65; cf., Josephus, Wars of the Jews, iv 9, 7). With a retrospective glance at these, the latest manifestations of eternal enmity, Edom is threatened with divine vengeance by Jeremiah in the prophecy contained in Jer 49:7-22, which is taken for the most part from Obadiah; also in the Lamentations (Lam 4:21-22), as well as by Ezekiel (Eze 25:12-14, and especially Eze 35:1), and by the author of Psa 137:1-9, which looks back upon the time of the captivity. Edom is not always an emblematical name for the imperial power of the world: this is evident enough from Psa 137:1-9, from Isaiah 21, and also from Isaiah 34 in connection with chapter 13, where the judgment upon Edom is represented as a different one from the judgment upon Babylon. Babylon and Edom are always to be taken literally, so far as the primary meaning of the prophecy is concerned; but they are also representative, Babylon standing for the violent and tyrannical world-power, and Edom for the world as cherishing hostility and manifesting hostility to Israel as Israel, i.e., as the people of God. Babylon had no other interest, so far as Israel was concerned, than to subjugate it like other kingdoms, and destroy every possibility of its ever rising again. But Edom, which dwelt in Israel’s immediate neighbourhood, and sprang from the same ancestral house, hated Israel with hereditary mortal hatred, although it knew the God of Israel better than Babylon ever did, because it knew that Israel had deprived it of its birthright, viz., the chieftainship. If Israel should have such a people as this, and such neighbouring nations generally round about it, after it had been delivered from the tyranny of the mistress of the world, its peace would still be incessantly threatened. Not only must Babylon fall, but Edom also must be trodden down, before Israel could be redeemed, or be regarded as perfectly redeemed. The prophecy against Edom which follows here is therefore a well-chosen side-piece to the prophecy against Babel in Isa 47:1-15, at the point of time to which the prophet has been transported.

The Prosperity of the Church. (b. c. 706.)

1 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. 3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord , and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

The prophet here tells us,

I. What he will do for the church. A prophet, as he is a seer, so he is a spokesman. This prophet resolves to perform that office faithfully, v. 1. He will not hold his peace; he will not rest; he will mind his business, will take pains, and never desire to take his ease; and herein he was a type of Christ, who was indefatigable in executing the office of a prophet and made it his meat and drink till he had finished his work. Observe here, 1. What the prophet's resolution is: He will not hold his peace. He will continue instant in preaching, will not only faithfully deliver, but frequently repeat, the messages he has received from the Lord. If people receive not the precepts and promises at first, he will inculcate them and give them line upon line. And he will continue instant in prayer; he will never hold his peace at the throne of grace till he has prevailed with God for the mercies promised; he will give himself to prayer and to the ministry of the word, as Christ's ministers must (Acts vi. 4), who must labour frequently in both and never be weary of this well-doing. The business of ministers is to speak from God to his people and to God for his people; and in neither of these must they be silent. 2. What is the principle of this resolution—for Zion's sake, and for Jerusalem's, not for the sake of any private interest of his own, but for the church's sake, because he has an affection and concern for Zion, and it lies near his heart. Whatever becomes of his own house and family, he desires to see the good of Jerusalem and resolves to seek it all the days of his life, Ps. cxxii. 8, 9; cxviii. 5. It is God's Zion and his Jerusalem, and it is therefore dear to him, because it is so to God and because God's glory is interested in its prosperity. 3. How long he resolves to continue this importunity—till the promise of the church's righteousness and salvation, given in the foregoing chapter, be accomplished. Isaiah will not himself live to see the release of the captives out of Babylon, much less the bringing in of the gospel, in which grace reigns through righteousness unto life and salvation; yet he will not hold his peace till these be accomplished, even the utmost of them, because his prophecies will continue speaking of these things, and there shall in every age be a remnant that shall continue to pray for them, as successors to him, till the promises be performed, and so the prayers answered that were grounded upon them. Then the church's righteousness and salvation will go forth as brightness, and as a lamp that burns, so plainly that it will carry its own evidence along with it. It will bring honour and comfort to the church, which will hereupon both look pleasant and appear illustrious; and it will bring instruction and direction to the world, a light not only to the eyes but to the feet, and to the paths of those who before sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.

II. What God will do for the church. The prophet can but pray and preach, but God will confirm the word and answer the prayers. 1. The church shall be greatly admired. When that righteousness which is her salvation, her praise, and her glory, shall be brought forth, the Gentiles shall see it. The tidings of it shall be carried to the Gentiles, and a tender of it made to them; they may so see this righteousness as to share in it if it be not their own fault. "Even kings shall see and be in love with the glory of thy righteousness" (v. 2), shall overlook the glory of their own courts and kingdoms, and look at, and look after, the spiritual glory of the church as that which excels. 2. She shall be truly admirable. Great names make men considerable in the world, and great respect is paid them thereupon; now it is agreed that honor est in honorante—honour derives its value from the dignity of him who confers it. God is the fountain of honour and from him the church's honour comes: "Thou shalt be called by a new name, a pleasant name, such as thou wast never called by before, no, not in the day of thy greatest prosperity, and the reverse of that which thou wast called by in the day of thy affliction; thou shalt have a new character, be advanced to a new dignity, and those about thee shall have new thoughts of thee." This seems to be alluded to in that promise (Rev. ii. 17) of the white stone and in the stone a new name, and that (Rev. iii. 12) of the name of the city of my God and my new name. It is a name which the mouth of the Lord shall name, who, we are sure, miscalls nothing, and who will oblige others to call her by the name he has given her; for his judgment is according to truth and all shall concur with it sooner or later. Two names God shall give her:—(1.) He shall call her his crown (v. 3): Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, not on his head (as adding any real honour or power to him, as crowns do to those that are crowned with them), but in his hand. He is pleased to account them, and show them forth, as a glory and beauty to him. When he took them to be his people it was that they might be unto him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory (Jer. xiii. 11): "Thou shalt be a crown of glory and a royal diadem, through the hand, the good hand, of thy God upon thee; he shall make thee so, for he shall be to thee a crown of glory, ch. xxviii. 5. Thou shalt be so in his hand, that is, under his protection; he that shall put glory upon thee shall create a defence upon all that glory, so that the flowers of thy crown shall never wither nor shall its jewels be lost." (2.) He shall call her his spouse, v. 4, 5. This is a yet greater honour, especially considering what a forlorn condition she had been in. [1.] Her case had been very melancholy. She was called forsaken and her land desolate during the captivity, like a woman reproachfully divorced or left a disconsolate widow. Such as the state of religion in the world before the preaching of the gospel—it was in a manner forsaken and desolate, a thing that no man looked after nor had any real concern for. [2.] It should now be very pleasant, for God would return in mercy to her. Instead of those two names of reproach, she shall be called by two honourable names. First, She shall be called Hephzi-bah, which signifies, My delight is in her; it was the name of Hezekiah's queen, Manasseh's mother (2 Kings xxi. 1), a proper name for a wife, who ought to be her husband's delight, Prov. v. 19. And here it is the church's Maker that is her husband: The Lord delights in thee. God by his grace has wrought that in his church which makes her his delight, she being refined, and reformed, and brought home to him; and then by his providence he does that for her which makes it appear that she is his delight and that he delights to do her good. Secondly, She shall be called Beulah, which signifies married, whereas she had been desolate, a condition opposed to that of the married wife, ch. liv. 1. "Thy land shall be married, that is, it shall become fruitful again, and be replenished." Though she has long been barren, she shall again be peopled, shall again be made to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children, Ps. cxiii. 9. She shall be married, for, 1. Her sons shall heartily espouse the land of their nativity and its interests, which they had for a long time neglected, as despairing ever to have any comfortable enjoyment of it: Thy sons shall marry thee, that is, they shall live with thee and take delight in thee. When they were in Babylon, they seemed to have espoused that land, for they were appointed to settle, and to seek the peace of it, Jer. xxix. 5-7. But now they shall again marry their own land, as a young man marries a virgin that he takes great delight in, is extremely fond of, and is likely to have many children by. It bodes well to a land when its own natives and inhabitants are pleased with it, prefer it before other lands, when its princes marry their country and resolve to take their lot with it. 2. Her God (which is much better) shall betroth her to himself in righteousness, Hosea ii. 19, 20. He will take pleasure in his church: As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, is pleased with his relation to her and her affection to him, so shall thy God rejoice over thee: he shall rest in his love to thee (Zeph. iii. 17); he shall take pleasure in thee (Ps. cxlvii. 11), and shall delight to do thee good with his whole heart and his whole soul, Jer. xxxii. 41. This is very applicable to the love Christ has for his church and the complacency he takes in it, which appears so brightly in Solomon's Song, and which will be complete in heaven.

The Prosperity of the Church. (b. c. 706.)

6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord , keep not silence, 7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8 The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: 9 But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord ; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.

Two things are here promised to Jerusalem:—

I. Plenty of the means of grace—abundance of good preaching and good praying (v. 6, 7), and this shows the method God takes when he designs mercy for a people; he first brings them to their duty and pours out a spirit of prayer upon them, and then brings salvation to them. Provision is made,

1. That ministers may do their duty as watchmen. It is here spoken of as a token for good, as a step towards further mercy and an earnest of it, that, in order to what he designed for them, he would set watchmen on their walls who should never hold their peace. Note, (1.) Ministers are watchmen on the church's walls, for it is as a city besieged, whose concern it is to have sentinels on the walls, to take notice and give notice of the motions of the enemy. It is necessary that, as watchmen, they be wakeful, and faithful, and willing to endure hardness. (2.) They are concerned to stand upon their guard day and night; they must never be off their watch as long as those for whose souls they watch are not out of danger. (3.) They must never hold their peace; they must take all opportunities to give warning to sinners, in season, out of season, and must never betray the cause of Christ by a treacherous or cowardly silence. They must never hold their peace at the throne of grace; they must pray, and not faint, as Moses lifted up his hands and kept them steady, till Israel had obtained the victory over Amalek, Exod. xvii. 10, 12.

2. That people may do their duty. As those that make mention of the Lord, let not them keep silence neither, let not them think it enough that their watchmen pray for them, but let them pray for themselves; all will be little enough to meet the approaching mercy with due solemnity. Note, (1.) It is the character of God's professing people that they make mention of the Lord, and continue to do so even in bad times, when the land is termed forsaken and desolate. They are the Lord's remembrancers (so the margin reads it); they remember the Lord themselves and put one another in mind of him. (2.) God's professing people must be a praying people, must be public-spirited in prayer, must wrestle with God in prayer, and continue to do so: "Keep not silence; never grow remiss in the duty nor weary of it." Give him no rest—alluding to an importunate beggar, to the widow that with her continual coming wearied the judge into a compliance. God said to Moses, Let me alone (Exod. xxxii. 10), and Jacob to Christ, I will not let thee go except thou bless me, Gen. xxxii. 26. (3.) God is so far from being displeased with our pressing importunity, as men commonly are, that he invites and encourages it; he bids us to cry after him; he is not like those disciples who discouraged a petitioner, Matt. xv. 23. He bids us make pressing applications at the throne of grace, and give him no rest, Luke xi. 5, 8. He suffers himself not only to be reasoned with, but to be wrestled with. (4.) The public welfare or prosperity of God's Jerusalem is that which we should be most importunate for at the throne of grace; we should pray for the good of the church. [1.] That it may be safe, that he would establish it, that the interests of the church may be firm, may be settled for the present and secured to posterity. [2.] That it may be great, may be a praise in the earth, that it may be praised, and God may be praised for it. When gospel truths are cleared and vindicated, when gospel ordinances are duly administered in their purity and power, when the church becomes eminent for holiness and love, then Jerusalem is a praise in the earth, then it is in reputation. (5.) We must persevere in our prayers for mercy to the church till the mercy come; we must do as the prophet's servant did, go yet seven times, till the promising cloud appear, 1 Kings xviii. 44. (6.) It is a good sign that God is coming towards a people in ways of mercy when he pours out a spirit of prayer upon them and stirs them up to be fervent and constant in their intercessions.

II. Plenty of all other good things, v. 8. This follows upon the former; when the people praise God, when all the people praise him, then shall the earth yield her increase (Ps. lxvii. 5, 6), and outward prosperity, crowning its piety, shall help to make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Observe,

1. The great distress they had been in, and the losses they had sustained. Their corn had been meat for their enemies, which they hoped would be meat for themselves and their families. Here was a double grievance, that they themselves wanted that which was necessary to the support of life and were in danger of perishing for want of it, and that their enemies were strengthened by it, had their camp victualled with it, and so were the better able to do them a mischief. God is said to give their corn to their enemies, because he not only permitted it, but ordered it, to be the just punishment both of their abuse of plenty and of their symbolizing with strangers, ch. i. 7. The wine which they had laboured for, and which in their affliction they needed for the relief of those among them that were of a heavy heart, strangers drank it, to gratify their lusts with; this sore judgment was threatened for their sins, Lev. xxvi. 16; Deut. xxviii. 33. See how uncertain our creature-comforts are, and how much it is our wisdom to labour for that meat which we can never be robbed of.

2. The great fulness and satisfaction they should now be restored to (v. 9): Those that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord. See here, (1.) God's mercy in giving plenty, and peace to enjoy it,—that the earth yields her increase, that there are hands to be employed in gathering it in, and that they are not taken off by plague and sickness, or otherwise employed in war,—that strangers and enemies do not come and gather it for themselves, or take it from us when we have gathered it,—that we eat the labour of our hands and the bread is not eaten out of our mouths,—and especially that we have opportunity and a heart to honour God with it, and that his courts are open to us and we are not restrained from attending on him in them. (2.) Our duty in the enjoyment of this mercy. We must gather what God gives, with care and industry; we must eat it freely and cheerfully, not bury the gifts of God's bounty, but make use of them. We must, when we have eaten and are full, bless the Lord, and give him thanks for his bounty to us; and we must serve him with our abundance, use it in works of piety and charity, eat it and drink it in the courts of his holiness, where the altar, the priest, and the poor must all have their share. The greatest comfort that a good man has in his meat and drink is that it furnishes him with a meat-offering and a drink-offering for the Lord his God (Joel ii. 14); the greatest comfort that he has in an estate is that it gives him an opportunity of honouring God and doing good. This wine is to be drunk in the courts of God's holiness, and therefore moderately and with sobriety, as before the Lord.

3. The solemn ratification of this promise: The Lord has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, that he will do this for his people. God confirms it by an oath, that his people, who trust in him and his word, may have strong consolation, Heb. vi. 17, 18. And, since he can swear by no greater, he swears by himself, sometimes by his being (As I live, Ezek. xxxiii. 11), sometimes by his holiness (Ps. lxxxix. 35), here by his power, his right hand (which was lifted up in swearing, Deut. xxxii. 40), and his arm of power; for it is a great satisfaction to those who build their hopes on God's promise to be sure that what he has promised he is able to perform, Rom. iv. 21. To assure us of this he has sworn by his strength, pawning the reputation of his omnipotence upon it; if he do not do it, let it be said, It was because he could not, which the Egyptians shall never say (Num. xiv. 16) nor any other. It is the comfort of God's people that his power is engaged for them, his right hand, where the Mediator sits.

The Advent of the Messiah. (b. c. 706.)

10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. 11 Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord : and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

This, as many like passages before, refers to the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, and, under the type and figure of that, to the great redemption wrought out by Jesus Christ, and the proclaiming of gospel grace and liberty through him. 1. Way shall be made for this salvation; all difficulties shall be removed, and whatever might obstruct it shall be taken out of the way, v. 10. The gates of Babylon shall be thrown open, that they may with freedom go through them; the way from Babylon to the land of Israel shall be prepared; causeways shall be made and cast up through wet and miry places, and the stones gathered out from places rough and rocky; in the convenient places appointed for their rendezvous standards shall be set up for their direction and encouragement, that they may embody for their greater safety. Thus John Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, Matt. iii. 3. And, before Christ by his graces and comforts comes to any for salvation, preparation is made for him by repentance, which is called the preparation of the gospel of peace, Eph. vi. 15. Here the way is levelled by it, there the feet are shod with it, which comes all to one, for both are in order to a journey. 2. Notice shall be given of this salvation, v. 11, 12. It shall be proclaimed to the captives that they are set at liberty and may go if they please; it shall be proclaimed to their neighbours, to all about them, to the end of the world, that God has pleaded Zion's just, injured, and despised cause. Let is be said to Zion, for her comfort, Behold, thy salvation comes (that is, thy Saviour, who brings salvation); he will bring such a work, such a reward, in this salvation, as shall be admired by all, a reward of comfort and peace with him; but a work of humiliation and reformation before him, to prepare his people for that recompence of their sufferings; and then, with reference to each, it follows, they shall be called, The holy people, and the redeemed of the Lord. The work before him, which shall be wrought in them and upon them, shall denominate them a holy people, cured of their inclination to idolatry and consecrated to God only; and the reward with him, the deliverance wrought for them, shall denominate them the redeemed of the Lord, so redeemed as none but God could redeem them, and redeemed to be his, their bonds loosed, that they might be his servants. Jerusalem shall then be called, Sought out, a city not forsaken. She had been forsaken for many years; there were neither traders nor worshippers that enquired the way to Jerusalem as formerly, when it was frequented by both. But now God will again make her considerable. She shall be sought out, visited, resorted to, and court made to her, as much as ever. When Jerusalem is called a holy city, then it is called sought out; for holiness puts an honour and beauty upon any place or person, which draws respect, and makes them to be admired, beloved, and enquired after. But this being proclaimed to the end of the world must have a reference to the gospel of Christ, which was to be preached to every creature; and it intimates, (1.) The glory of Christ. It is published immediately to the church, but is thence echoed to every nation: Behold, thy salvation cometh. Christ is not only the Saviour, but the salvation itself; for the happiness of believers is not only from him, but in him, ch. xii. 2. His salvation consists both in the work and in the reward which he brings with him; for those that are his shall neither be idle nor lose their labour. (2.) The beauty of the church. Christians shall be called saints (1 Cor. i. 2), the holy people, for they are chosen and called to salvation through sanctification. They shall be called the redeemed of the Lord; to him they owe their liberty, and therefore to him they owe their service, and they shall not be ashamed to own both. None are to be called the redeemed of the Lord but those that are the holy people; the people of God's purchase are a holy nation. And they shall be called, Sought out. God shall seek them out, and find them, wherever they are dispersed, eclipsed, or lost in a crowd; men shall seek them out, that they may join themselves to them, and not forsake them. It is good to associate with the holy people, that we may learn their ways, and with the redeemed of the Lord, that we may share in the blessings of the redemption.

CHAP. LXII.

Ver. 1. FOr Zions ſake I will not hold my peace] Habes hic orationem prophetae ſanctiſſimam, Pro Panegyrico Eccleſia dicto omnia quae hoc capite dicuntur rectè meo judicio accipientur. Hyper. ſaith Oecolampadius; Here we have the Prophets Oration; yea here we have the Prophets Panegyrick to the Church, ſaith Hyperius, by way of congratulation for her felicity and dignity in Chriſt her head and husband: as alſo his reſolution to be earneſt and importunate with God and men for her deliverance and reſtitution. Terentius that noble General under Valens the Emperour, a[illegible: 1 letter]ked nothing but that the Church might be freed from Arrians: and when the Emperour tore his Petition, he ſaid that he would never ask any thing for himſelf, if he might not prevail for the Church.

Ʋntil the righteouſneſſe thereof go forth as brightneſſe] Till Chriſt come in the fleſh, if I ſhould live ſo long; as long as I have any being howſoever (See the like 1 Tim. 6.14.) and after that, by my writings, which ſhall continue to the worlds end.

Ver. 2. And the Gentiles ſhall ſee thy righteouſneſſe] The Prophet here very artificially turneth his ſpeech to the Church her ſelf, as if he would pronounce his Panegyrick in her preſence: and preſently celebrateth her dignity and happineſs herein, that the Gentiles ſhould worſhip her, and be joyned unto her. Some read it, And the Gentiles ſhall ſee thy righteous one, i. e. Chriſt, who came of the Jews, was preached to the Gentiles, beleeved on in the world, received up to glory, 1 Tim. 3.16.

And thou ſhalt be called by a new name] Viz. Hephzibah, i. e. My darling: and Beulah, i. e. a married woman, ver. 4. There are that by this new name will have to be underſtood the name of ſons and daughters of the Almighty, Rev. 2.17. 2 Cor. 6. ult. Others the name of the Church Catholick. And others again the honourable name of Christians, which yet is at this day in Italy and at Rome a name of reproach,Fulk [illegible: 1 letter]h[illegible: 1 letter]m. Teſt. on Act. 11. and uſually abuſed to ſignifie a Fool or a Dolt, as Dr. Fulk proveth out of their own Authours.

Ver. 3. And thou ſhalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord] Or, a glorious crown by the hand (the good hand) of the Lord upon thee. The Saints are Gods glory, chap. 46.13. the houſe of his glory, ch. 60.7. a crown of glory and a royal diadem here: the throne of glory, Jer. 4.21. the ornament of God, Ezek. 7.20. the beauty of his ornament, and that alſo ſet in Majeſty, ib. Oh learn and labour to live up to ſuch high preferment.

Ver. 4. But thou ſhalt be called Hephzibah] i. e. My delight is in her: as if Chriſt ſhould ſay to his Church, as Judg. 14.3.—Tu mihi ſola places, Ovid. de Arte Am. Redameu[illegible: 1 letter]us ergo ſponſum. thou art mine only joy. The Lord taketh pleaſure in them that fear him, Pſal. 147.11. Let us reciprocate, love the Lord Jeſus Chriſt in ſincerity, not only with a love of Deſire, as Pſal. 42.1, 3. but alſo of Delight and complacency, ſolacing our ſelves in the fruition of him, as Pſal. 16.5, 6. and of his people thoſe excellent ones of the earth who were Davids Hephzibam, ver. 3. in whom was all his delight.

Ver. 5. For as a young man marrieth a Virgin, ſo ſhall thy Sons marry thee] This tranſlation (ſaith one who preferreth the Vulgar, The young man ſhall dwell with the Virgins) marreth the ſenſe: ſith it is improper to ſay of ſons, that they ſhall marry their mother. But I ſay that the Church never flouriſheth more, than when the ſon marrieth the mother, and doth his utmoſt to beautifie and amplifie her. See 2 Cor. 11.2.

And as the Bridegroom rejoyceth over the Bride, ſo ſhall thy God rejoyce over thee] Communicating with our ſouls his ſweeteſt favours in his Ordinances, as in the Bridal-bed, and making us to be conceived with the fruits of righteouſneſſe to everlaſting life. It is therefore a moſt unworthy thing, that men ſhould go a whoring from under him, Hoſ. 4.12. and ſeek to themſelves among the creatures, alias delieias & amaſias other ſweet-hearts.

Ver. 6. I have ſet watchmen upon thy walls] i. e. Angels, ſay ſome (who are called watchers, Dan. 4.13, 33. See the Note there) Prophets and Paſtors, ſay others, who are as watchmen upon the walls to admoniſh thee by their preaching, and to preſerve thee by their prayers to God, Chap. 21.11. Ezek. 13.17. and 31.7.

Which ſhall never hold their peace] Never but be either praying or preaching, as Act. 6.4. Deut. 33.10. Auſtin deſired that death might find him aut precantem aut praedicantem. Of Pauls unceſſancy, ſee Act. 20.31. 1 Theſ. 3.10.

Ye that make mention of the Lord] Or, ye that are the Lords rememberancers, that jogge him as it were, and mind him of his peoples neceſſities and miſeries. The Kings of Iſrael, Perſia, and of other Nations, had their Mazkirim, or Remembrancers, to mind them of thoſe matters that concerned the weale publick, and to theſe he here alludeth: All the Saints are ſuch-like Officers and muſt be active.

Keep not ſilence] Be ſtill ſuing and ſoliciting.

Ver. 7. And give him no rest] Heb. no ſilence, the ſame word as before, to quicken their diligence and to ſet forth the neceſſity of the work. Continue inſtant in prayer, Rom. 12.12. give not in, but perſevere, without remiſſion or intermiſſion.

Till he eſtabliſh, till he make Jeruſalem a praiſe] Till he ſend the Meſſiah, who may reſtore Zion, ſet up and illuſtrate his Church, &c. Such lawful petitions from honeſt hearts have unmiſcarrying returnes.

Ver. 8. The Lord hath ſworn by his right hand] i. e. By his Almighty power, or as Oecolampadius holdeth, by his Son by whom he made the worlds, and upholdeth all things, Heb. 1.2, 3.

Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies] Or if I do, yet I will give you to ſuffer with joy the ſpoyling of your goods, as knowing in your ſelves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring ſubſtance, Heb. 10 34. Spiritual ſecurity and ſafety from the devil and all the enemies of our ſouls, is alſo ſignified by this ſimilitude of protection againſt corporal enemies and plunderers, ſaith Piſcator.

Ver. 9. But they that have gathered it ſhall eat it] A ſufficiency of outward comforts they ſhall be ſure of, together with righteouſneſſe and peace and joy in the holy Ghoſt; ſo much at leaſt as ſhall ſupport their ſpirits. Mr. Paul Bain ſaith thus of himſelf, I thank God in Chriſt, Suſtentation I have, Baines letters. but ſuavities ſpiritual I taſte not any.

Shall drink it in the courts of my holineſſe] He alludeth to their manner of feaſting before the Lord, when they brought thank offerings: and the like is ſtill done by us at the Eucharist, or Lords ſupper eſpecially.

Ver. 10. Go thorow, go thorow the gates] Thus the Prophet beſpeaketh the Teachers and Keepers of the Church, with great alacrity of Spirit, and moſt ardent affection; being as it were in a ſpiritual rapture. That which he exhorteth them to do, is, rightly and faithfully to teach the people: and next, to take out of the way ſtumbling-blocks, as chap. 57.14. ſuch as are hereſies, foul offences, &c. to the ſcandal of the weak, and ſcorn of the wicked.

Lift up a standard for the people] q. d. Certa & ſolida omnia constituite, ſettle all things faſt and firm, that all men may be ſure of their way, and what they ought to follow. It was a ſad complaint of holy Melanchton, Quos fugiamus habemus: quos ſequamur, non intelligimus: but this laſted not long with thoſe firſt famous Reformers whom the Lord ſoon ſet in a courſe.

Ver. 11. Behold thy ſalvation cometh] i. e. Chriſt thy Saviour, as Luk. 2.30.

Behold his reward is with him] See on chap. 40.10. The three Beholds in this verſe, ſhould be well weighed.

And his work before him] i. e. That which he worketh for us and in us, rewarding the work of his own free grace.

Ver. 12. And they ſhall call them the holy people] Profane perſons therefore, and perſecutors of holineſſe are not to be reckoned among the people of the Lord: Are not all the Lords people holy? ſaid thoſe rebels: but that helped them not.

And thou ſhalt be called ſought out] Or much ſet by, contrary to that, Jer. 30.17. This is Zion that none ſeeketh after.