Isaiah 66 commentary

The Jews gloried much in their temple. But what satisfaction can the Eternal Mind take in a house made with men's hands? God has a heaven and an earth of his own making, and temples of man's making; but he overlooks them, that he may look with favour to him who is poor in spirit and serious, self-abasing and self-denying; whose heart truly sorrows for sin: such a heart is a living temple for God. The sacrifice of the wicked is not only unacceptable, but a great offence to God. And he that now offers a sacrifice after the law, does in effect set aside Christ's sacrifice. He that burns incense, puts contempt upon the incense of Christ's intercession, and is as if he blessed an idol. Men shall be deceived by the vain confidences with which they deceive themselves. Unbelieving hearts, and unpurified consciences, need no more to make them miserable, than to have their own fears brought upon them. Whatever men put in the place of the priesthood, atonement, and intercession of Christ, will be found hateful to God.

The prophet turns to those that trembled at God's word, to comfort and encourage them. The Lord will appear, to the joy of the humble believer, and to the confusion of hypocrites and persecutors. When the Spirit was poured out, and the gospel went forth from Zion, multitudes were converted in a little time. The word of God, especially his promises, and ordinances, are the consolations of the church. The true happiness of all Christians is increased by every convert brought to Christ. The gospel brings with it, wherever it is received in its power, such a river of peace, as will carry us to the ocean of boundless and endless bliss. Divine comforts reach the inward man; the joy of the Lord will be the strength of the believer. Both God's mercy and justice shall be manifested, and for ever magnified.

A prophetic declaration is given of the Lord's vengeance on all enemies of his church, especially that of all antichristian opposers of the gospel in the latter days. 19,20, set forth the abundance of means for conversion of sinners. These expressions are figurative, and express the plentiful and gracious helps for bringing God's elect home to Christ. All shall be welcome; and nothing shall be wanting for their assistance and encouragement. A gospel ministry shall be set up in the church; they would have solemn worship before the Lord. In the last verse the nature of the punishment of sinners in the world to come is represented. Then shall the righteous and wicked be separated. Our Saviour applies this to the everlasting misery and torment of impenitent sinners in the future state. To the honour of that free grace which thus distinguishes them, let the redeemed of the Lord, with humility, and not without holy trembling, sing triumphant songs. With this affecting representation of the opposite states of the righteous and wicked, characters which include the whole human race, Isaiah concludes his prophecies. May God grant, for Christ's sake, that our portion may be with those who fear and love his name, who cleave to his truths, and persevere in every good work, looking to receive from the Lord Jesus Christ the gracious invitation, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

CHAPTER 66

Is 66:1-24. The Humble Comforted, the Ungodly Condemned, at the Lord's Appearing: Jerusalem Made a Joy on Earth.

This closing chapter is the summary of Isaiah's prophecies as to the last days, hence the similarity of its sentiments with what went before.

1. heaven ... throne ... where is ... house ... ye build--The same sentiment is expressed, as a precautionary proviso for the majesty of God in deigning to own any earthly temple as His, as if He could be circumscribed by space (1Ki 8:27) in inaugurating the temple of stone; next, as to the temple of the Holy Ghost (Ac 7:48, 49); lastly here, as to "the tabernacle of God with men" (Is 2:2, 3; Eze 43:4, 7; Re 21:3).

where--rather, "what is this house that ye are building, &c.--what place is this for My rest?" [Vitringa].

2. have been--namely, made by Me. Or, absolutely, were things made; and therefore belong to Me, the Creator [Jerome].

look--have regard.

poor--humble (Is 57:15).

trembleth at ... word--(2Ki 22:11, 19; Ezr 9:4). The spiritual temple of the heart, though not superseding the outward place of worship, is God's favorite dwelling (Joh 14:23). In the final state in heaven there shall be "no temple," but "the Lord God" Himself (Re 21:22).

3. God loathes even the sacrifices of the wicked (Is 1:11; Pr 15:8; 28:9).

is as if--Lowth not so well omits these words: "He that killeth an ox (presently after) murders a man" (as in Eze 23:39). But the omission in the Hebrew of "is as if"--increases the force of the comparison. Human victims were often offered by the heathen.

dog's neck--an abomination according to the Jewish law (De 23:18); perhaps made so, because dogs were venerated in Egypt. He does not honor this abomination by using the word "sacrifice," but uses the degrading term, "cut off a dog's neck" (Ex 13:13; 34:20). Dogs as unclean are associated with swine (Mt 7:6; 2Pe 2:22).

oblation--unbloody: in antithesis to "swine's blood" (Is 65:4).

burneth--Hebrew, "he who offereth as a memorial oblation" (Le 2:2).

they have chosen--opposed to the two first clauses of Is 66:4: "as they have chosen their own ways, &c., so I will choose their delusions.

4. delusions--(2Th 2:11), answering to "their own ways" (Is 66:3; so Pr 1:31). However, the Hebrew means rather "vexations," "calamities," which also the parallelism to "fears" requires; "choose their calamities" means, "choose the calamities which they thought to escape by their own ways."

their fears--the things they feared, to avert which their idolatrous "abominations" (Is 66:3) were practised.

I called ... none ... answer--(See on Is 65:12; Is 65:24; Jr 7:13).

did ... chose--not only did the evil deed, but did it deliberately as a matter of choice (Ro 1:32). "They chose that in which I delighted not"; therefore, "I will choose" that in which they delight not, the "calamities" and "fears" which they were most anxious to avert.

before mine eyes--(See on Is 65:3).

5. tremble at ... word--the same persons as in Is 66:2, the believing few among the Jews.

cast you out for my name's sake--excommunicate, as if too polluted to worship with them (Is 65:5). So in Christ's first sojourn on earth (Mt 10:22; Joh 9:22, 34; 16:2; 15:21). So it shall be again in the last times, when the believing shall be few (Lu 18:8).

Let the Lord be glorified--the mocking challenge of the persecutors, as if their violence towards you was from zeal for God. "Let the Lord show Himself glorious," namely, by manifesting Himself in your behalf; as the parallelism to, "He shall appear to your joy," requires (as in Is 5:19; compare Is 28:15; 57:4). So again Christ on the cross (Mt 27:42, 43).

appear to your joy--giving you "joy" instead of your "rebuke" (Is 25:8, 9).

6. God, from Jerusalem and His "temple," shall take vengeance on the enemy (Eze 43:1-8; Zec 12:2, 3; 14:3, 19-21). The abrupt language of this verse marks the suddenness with which God destroys the hostile Gentile host outside: as Is 66:5 refers to the confounding of the unbelieving Jews.

voice of noise--that is, the Lord's loud-sounding voice (Psa 68:33; 29:3-9; 1Th 4:16).

7. she--Zion.

Before ... travailed ... brought forth--The accession of numbers, and of prosperity to her, shall be sudden beyond all expectation and unattended with painful effort (Is 54:1, 4, 5). Contrast with this case of the future Jewish Church the travail-pains of the Christian Church in bringing forth "a man child" (Re 12:2, 5). A man child's birth is in the East a matter of special joy, while that of a female is not so; therefore, it here means the manly sons of the restored Jewish Church, the singular being used collectively for the plural: or the many sons being regarded as one under Messiah, who shall then be manifested as their one representative Head.

8. earth--rather, to suit the parallelism, "is a country (put for the people in it) brought forth in one day?" [Lowth]. In English Version it means, The earth brings forth its productions gradually, not in one day (Mr 4:28).

at once--In this case, contrary to the usual growth of the nations by degrees, Israel starts into maturity at once.

for--rather, "is a nation born at once, that Zion has, so soon as she travailed, brought forth?" [Maurer].

9. cause to bring forth, and shut--rather, "Shall I who beget, restrain the birth?" [Lowth], (Is 37:3; Ho 13:13); that is, Shall I who have begun, not finish My work of restoring Israel? (1Sa 3:12; Ro 11:1; Php 1:6).

shut--(compare Re 3:7, 8).

10. love ... mourn for her--(Psa 102:14, 17, 20; 122:6).

11. suck--(Is 60:5, 16; 61:6; 49:23).

abundance--Hebrew, "the ray-like flow of her opulence," that is, with the milk spouting out from her full breasts (answering to the parallel, "breast of her consolations") in ray-like streams [Gesenius].

12. extend--I will turn peace (prosperity) upon her, like a river turned in its course [Gesenius]. Or, "I will spread peace over her as an overflowing river" [Barnes], (Is 48:18).

flowing stream--as the Nile by its overflow fertilizes the whole of Egypt.

borne upon ... sides--(See on Is 60:4).

her ... her--If "ye" refers to the Jews, translate, "ye shall be borne upon their sides ... their knees," namely, those of the Gentiles, as in Is 49:22; and as "suck" (Is 60:16) refers to the Jews sucking the Gentile wealth. However, English Version gives a good sense: The Jews, and all who love Jehovah (Is 66:10), "shall suck, and be borne" by her as a mother.

13. mother--(Is 49:15).

comforteth--(Is 40:1, 2).

14. bones--which once were "dried up" by the "fire" of God's wrath (La 1:13), shall live again (Pr 3:8; 15:30; Eze 37:1, &c.).

flourish ... herb--(Ro 11:15-24).

known toward--manifested in behalf of.

15. (Is 9:5; Psa 50:3; Ha 3:5; 2Th 1:8; 2Pe 3:7).

chariots ... whirlwind--(Jr 4:13).

render--as the Hebrew elsewhere (Job 9:13; Psa 78:38) means to "allay" or "stay wrath." Maurer translates it so here: He stays His anger with nothing but fury," &c.; nothing short of pouring out all His fiery fury will satisfy His wrath.

fury--"burning heat" [Lowth], to which the parallel, "flames of fire," answers.

16. Rather, "With fire will Jehovah judge, and with His sword (He will judge) all flesh." The parallelism and collocation of the Hebrew words favor this (Is 65:12).

all flesh--that is, all who are the objects of His wrath. The godly shall be hidden by the Lord in a place of safety away from the scene of judgment (Is 26:20, 21; Psa 31:20; 1Th 4:16, 17).

17. in ... gardens--Hebrew and the Septuagint rather require, "for (entering into) gardens," namely, to sacrifice there [Maurer].

behind one tree--rather, "following one," that is, some idol or other, which, from contempt, he does not name [Maurer]. Vitringa, &c., think the Hebrew for "one," Ahhadh, to be the name of the god; called Adad (meaning One) in Syria (compare Ac 17:23). The idol's power was represented by inclined rays, as of the sun shining on the earth. Gesenius translates, "following one," namely, Hierophant ("priest"), who led the rest in performing the sacred rites.

in ... midst--namely, of the garden (see on Is 65:3, 4).

mouse--legally unclean (Le 11:29) because it was an idol to the heathen (see on Is 37:36; 1Sa 6:4). Translate, "the field mouse," or "dormouse" [Bochart]. The Pharisees with their self-righteous purifications, and all mere formalists, are included in the same condemnation, described in language taken from the idolatries prevalent in Isaiah's times.

18. know--not in the Hebrew. Rather, understand the words by aposiopesis; it is usual in threats to leave the persons threatened to supply the hiatus from their own fears, owing to conscious guilt: "For I ... their works and thoughts," &c.; namely, will punish [Maurer].

it shall come--the time is come that I will, &c. [Maurer].

gather ... nations--against Jerusalem, where the ungodly Jews shall perish; and then the Lord at last shall fight for Jerusalem against those nations: and the survivors (Is 66:19) shall "see God's glory" (Zec 12:8, 9; 14:1-3, 9).

tongues--which have been many owing to sin, being confounded at Babel, but which shall again be one in Christ (Da 7:14; Zep 3:9; Re 7:9, 10).

19. sign--a banner on a high place, to indicate the place of meeting for the dispersed Jewish exiles, preparatory to their return to their land (Is 5:26; 11:12; 62:10).

those that escape of them--the Gentile survivors spared by God (see on Is 66:18; Zec 14:16). Is 2:2, 3; Mi 5:7; and Zec 14:16-19 represent it, not that the Jews go as missionaries to the Gentiles, but that the Gentiles come up to Jerusalem to learn the Lord's ways there.

Tarshish--Tartessus in Spain, in the west.

Pul--east and north of Africa: probably the same as Philoe, an island in the Nile, called by the Egyptians Pilak, that is, the border country, being between Egypt and Ethiopia [Bochart].

Lud--the Libyans of Africa (Ge 10:13), Ludim being son of Mizraim (Egypt): an Ethiopian people famous as bowmen (Jr 46:9): employed as mercenaries by Tyre and Egypt (Eze 27:10; 30:5).

Tubal--Tibarenians, in Asia Minor, south of the Caucasus, between the Black Sea and Araxes. Or, the Iberians [Josephus]. Italy [Jerome].

Javan--the Greeks; called Ionians, including all the descendants of Javan, both in Greece and in Asia Minor (Ge 10:2-4).

my glory ... Gentiles--(Mal 1:11).

20. they--the Gentiles (Is 66:19).

bring ... your brethren--the Jews, back to the Holy Land (Is 49:22). It cannot mean the mere entrance of the Jews into the Christian Church; for such an entrance would be by faith, not upon "horses, litters, and mules" [Houbigant]. "Offering" is metaphorical, as in Ro 15:16.

horses--not much used by the Jews. The Gentiles are here represented as using their modes of conveyance to "bring" the Jews to Jerusalem.

chariots--as these are not found in Oriental caravans, translate, "vehicles," namely, borne, not drawn on wheels.

litters--covered sedans for the rich.

upon swift beasts--dromedaries: from Hebrew root, "to dance," from their bounding motion, often accelerated by music [Bochart]. Panniers were thrown across the dromedaries' back for poorer women [Horsley].

21. of them--the Gentiles.

priests ... Levites--for spiritual worship: enjoying the direct access to God which was formerly enjoyed by the ministers of the temple alone (1Pe 2:9; Re 1:6).

22. (Is 65:17; 2Pe 3:13; Re 21:1).

23. Literally, "As often as the new moon (shall be) in its own new moon," that is, every month (Zec 14:16).

sabbath--which is therefore perpetually obligatory on earth.

all flesh--(Psa 65:2; 72:11).

before me--at Jerusalem (Jr 3:16, 17).

24. go forth, and look--as the Israelites looked at the carcasses of the Egyptians destroyed at the Red Sea (Ex 14:30; compare Is 26:14-19; Psa 58:10; 49:14; Mal 4:1-3).

carcasses, &c.--(Is 66:16), those slain by the Lord in the last great battle near Jerusalem (Zec 12:2-9; 14:2-4); type of the final destruction of all sinners.

worm ... not die--(Mr 9:44, 46, 48). Image of hell, from bodies left unburied in the valley of Hinnom (whence comes Gehenna, or "hell"), south of Jerusalem, where a perpetual fire was kept to consume the refuse thrown there (Is 30:33). It shall not be inconsistent with true love for the godly to look with satisfaction on God's vengeance on the wicked (Re 14:10). May God bless this Commentary, and especially its solemn close, to His glory, and to the edification of the writer and the readers of it, for Jesus' sake!

And all those things have been "And all these things are mine" - A word absolutely necessary to the sense is here lost out of the text: לי li, mine. It is preserved by the Septuagint and Syriac.

He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man "He that slayeth an ox killeth a man" - These are instances of wickedness joined with hypocrisy; of the most flagitious crimes committed by those who at the same time affected great strictness in the performance of all the external services of religion. God, by the Prophet Ezekiel, upbraids the Jews with the same practices: "When they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it," Eze 23:39. Of the same kind was the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in our Savior's time:" who devoured widows' houses, and for a pretense made long prayers," Mat 23:14.

The generality of interpreters, by departing from the literal rendering of the text, have totally lost the true sense of it, and have substituted in its place what makes no good sense at all; for it is not easy to show how, in any circumstances, sacrifice and murder, the presenting of legal offerings and idolatrous worship, can possibly be of the same account in the sight of God.

He that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood "That maketh an oblation offereth swine's blood" - A word here likewise, necessary to complete the sense, is perhaps irrecoverably lost out of the text. The Vulgate and Chaldee add the word offereth, to make out the sense; not, as I imagine, from any different reading, (for the word wanted seems to have been lost before the time of the oldest of them as the Septuagint had it not in their copy,; but from mere necessity.

Le Clerc thinks that מעלה maaleh is to be repeated from the beginning of this member; but that is not the case in the parallel members, which have another and a different verb in the second place, "דם dam, sic Versiones; putarem tamen legendum participium aliquod, et quidem זבח zabach, cum sequatur ח cheth, nisi jam praecesserat." - Secker. Houbigant supplies אכל achal, eateth. After all, I think the most probable word is that which the Chaldee and Vulgate seem to have designed to represent; that is, מקריב makrib, offereth.

In their abominations - ובשקוציהם ubeshikkutseyhem, "and in their abominations;" two copies of the Machazor, and one of Kennicott's MSS. have ובגלוליהם ubegilluleyhem, "and in their idols." So the Vulgate and Syriac.

Your brethren that hated you - said "Say ye to your brethren that hate you" - The Syriac reads אמרו לאחיכם imru laacheychem; and so the Septuagint, Edit. Comp. ειπατε αδελφοις ὑμων· and MS. Marchal. has αδελφοις· and so Cyril and Procopius read and explain it. It is not easy to make sense of the reading of the Septuagint in the other editions; ειπατε αδελφοι ἡμων τοις μισουσιν ὑμας· but for ἡμων, our, MS. 1. D. 2 also has ὑμων, your.

A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord - It is very remarkable that similar words were spoken by Jesus, son of Ananias, previously to the destruction of Jerusalem. See his very affecting history related by Josephus, War, B. vi., chap. v.

Who hath seen "And who hath seen" - Twenty MSS., (four ancient), of Kennicott's, and twenty-nine of De Rossi's, and two ancient of my own, and the two oldest editions, with two others, have ומי umi, adding the conjunction ו vau; and so read all the ancient versions. And who hath seen?

Shall I bring to the birth - האני אשביר haani ashbir, num ego matricem frangam; Montanus. The word means that which immediately precedes the appearance of the fetus - the breaking forth of the liquor amnii. This also is an expression that should be studiously avoided in prayers and sermons.

With the abundance of her glory "From her abundant stores" - For מזיז mizziz, from the splendor, two MSS. and the old edition of 1488, have מזיו mizziv; and the latter ז zain is upon a rasure in three other MSS. It is remarkable that Kimchi and Sal. ben Melec, not being able to make any thing of the word as it stands in the text, say it means the same with מזיו mizziv; that is, in effect, they admit of a various reading, or an error in the text. But as Vitringa observes, what sense is there in sucking nourishment from the splendor of her glory? He therefore endeavors to deduce another sense of the word זיז ziz; but, as far as it appears to me, without any authority. I am more inclined to accede to the opinion of those learned rabbins, and to think that there is some mistake in the word; for that in truth is their opinion, though they disguise it by saying that the corrupted word means the very same with that which they believe to be genuine. So in Isa 41:24 they say that אפע apha, a viper, means the same with אפס ephes, nothing; instead of acknowledging that one is written by mistake instead of the other. I would propose to read in this place מזין mizzin or מזן mizzen, which is the reading of one of De Rossi's MS., (instead of מזיז meziz), from the stores, from זון zun, to nourish, to feed; see Gen 45:23;2Chr 11:23; Psa 144:13. And this perhaps may be meant by Aquila, who renders the word by απο παντοδαπιας· with which that of the Vulgate, ab omnimoda gloria, and of Symmachus and Theodotion, nearly agree. The Chaldee follows a different reading, without improving the sense; מיין meyin, from the wine. - L.

Like a river, and - like a flowing stream "Like the great river, and like the overflowing stream" - That is, the Euphrates, (it ought to have been pointed כנהר cannahar, ut fluvius ille, as the river), and the Nile.

Then shall ye suck "And ye shall suck at the breast" - These two words על שד al shad, at the breast, seem to have been omitted in the present text, from their likeness to the two words following; על צד al tsad, at the side. A very probable conjecture of Houbigant. The Chaldee and Vulgate have omitted the two latter words instead of the two former. See note on Isa 60:4 (note).

The Lord will come with fire "Jehovah shall come as a fire" - For באש baesh, in fire, the Septuagint had in their copy קאש kaesh, as a fire; ὡς πυρ.

To render his anger with fury "To breathe forth his anger in a burning heat" - Instead of להשב lehashib, as pointed by the Masoretes, to render, I understand it as להשב lehashshib, to breathe, from נשב nashab.

Behind one tree "After the rites of Achad" - The Syrians worshipped a god called Adad, Plin. Nat. Hist. 37:11; Macrob. Sat. 1:23. They held him to be the highest and greatest of the gods, and to be the same with Jupiter and the sun; and the name Adad, says Macrobius, signifies one; as likewise does the word Achad in Isaiah. Many learned men therefore have supposed, and with some probability, that the prophet means the same pretended deity. אחד achad, in the Syrian and Chaldean dialects, is חד chad; and perhaps by reduplication of the last letter to express perfect unity, it may have become חדד chadad, not improperly expressed by Macrobius Adad, without the aspirate. It was also pronounced by the Syrians themselves, with a weaker aspirate, הדד hadad, as in Benhadad, Hadadezer, names of their kings, which were certainly taken from their chief object of worship. This seems to me to be a probable account of this name.

But the Masoretes correct the text in this place. Their marginal reading is אחת achath which is the same word, only in the feminine form; and so read thirty MSS. (six ancient) and the two oldest editions. This Le Clerc approves, and supposes it to mean Hecate, or the moon; and he supports his hypothesis by arguments not at all improbable. See his note on the place.

Whatever the particular mode of idolatry which the prophet refers to might be, the general sense of the place is perfectly clear. But the Chaldee and Syriac, and after them Symmachus and Theodotion, cut off at once all these difficulties, by taking the word אחד achad in its common meaning, not as a proper name; the two latter rendering the sentence thus: Οπισω αλληλων εν μεσῳ εσθιοντων το κρεας το χοιρειον; "One after another, in the midst of those that eat swine's flesh." I suppose they all read in their copies אחד אחד achad achad, one by one, or perhaps אחד אחר אחד achad achar achad, one after another. See a large dissertation on this subject in Davidis Millii Dissertationes Selectae, Dissert. vi. - L.

I know not what to make of this place; it is certain that our translation makes no sense, and that of the learned prelate seems to me too refined. Kimchi interprets this of the Turks, who are remarkable for ablutions. "Behind one in the midst" he understands of a large fish-pond placed in the middle of their gardens. Others make אחד achad a deity, as above; and a deity of various names it is supposed to be, for it is Achad, and Chad, and Hadad, and Achath, and Hecat, an Assyrian idol. Behynd the fyrst tree or the gate withine forth. - Old MS. Bible.

For I know their works - A word is here lost out of the present text, leaving the text quite imperfect. The word is יודע yodea, knowing, supplied from the Syriac. The Chaldee had the same word in the copy before him, which he paraphrases by קדמי גלן kedemi gelon, their deeds are manifest before me; and the Aldine and Complutensian editions of the Septuagint acknowledge the same word επισταμαι, which is verified by MS. Pachom. and the Arabic version. I think there can be little doubt of its being genuine. The concluding verses of this chapter refer to the complete restoration of the Jews, and to the destruction of all the enemies of the Gospel of Christ, so that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge and glory of the Lord. Talia saecla currite! Lord, hasten the time!

It shall come "And I come" - For באה baah, which will not accord with any thing in the sentence, I read בא ba, with a MS.; the participle answering to יודע yodea, with which agree the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. Perhaps it ought to be ובא veba, when I shall come, Syr.; and so the Septuagint, according to Edit. Ald. and Complut., and Cod. Marchal.

That draw the bow - I much suspect that the words משכי קשת moshechey kesheth, who draw the bow, are a corruption of the word משך meshek, Moschi, the name of a nation situated between the Euxine and Caspian seas; and properly joined with תבל tubal, the Tibareni. See Bochart, Phaleg. Isa 3:12. The Septuagint have μοσοχ, without any thing of the drawers of the bow: the word being once taken for a participle, the bow was added to make sense of it קשת kesheth, the bow, is omitted in a MS. and by the Septuagint.

That have not heard my fame "Who never heard my name" - For שמעי shimi, my fame, I read, with the Septuagint and Syriac, שמי shemi, my name.

And in chariots "And in counes" - There is a sort of vehicle much used in the east, consisting of a pair of hampers or cradles, thrown across a camel's back, one on each side; in each of which a person is carried. They have a covering to defend them from the rain and the sun. Thevenot calls them counes, 1 p. 356. Maillet describes them as covered cages hanging on both sides of a camel. "At Aleppo," says Dr. Russell, "women of inferior condition in longer journeys are commonly stowed, one on each side of a mule, in a sort of covered cradles." Nat. Hist. of Aleppo, p. 89. These seem to be what the prophet means by the word צבים tsabbim. Harmer's Observations, 1 p. 445.

And for Levites - For ללוים laleviyim, fifty-nine MSS., (eight ancient), have וללוים velaleviyim, adding the conjunction ו vau, which the sense seems necessarily to require: and so read all the ancient versions. See Jos 3:3, and the various readings on that place in Kennicott's Bible.

For their worm shall not die - These words of the prophet are applied by our blessed Savior, Mar 9:44, to express the everlasting punishment of the wicked in Gehenna, or in hell. Gehenna, or the valley of Hinnom, was very near to Jerusalem to the south-east: it was the place where the idolatrous Jews celebrated that horrible rite of making their children pass through the fire, that is, of burning them in sacrifice to Moloch. To put a stop to this abominable practice, Josiah defiled, or desecrated, the place, by filling it with human bones, 2Kgs 23:10, 2Kgs 23:14; and probably it was the custom afterwards to throw out the carcasses of animals there, when it also became the common burying place for the poorer people of Jerusalem. Our Savior expressed the state of the blessed by sensible images; such as paradise, Abraham's bosom, or, which is the same thing, a place to recline next to Abraham at table in the kingdom of heaven. See Mat 8:11. Coenabat Nerva cum paucis. Veiento proxies, atque etiam in sinu recumbebat. "The Emperor Nerva supped with few. Veiento was the first in his estimation, and even reclined in his bosom." Plin. Epist. 4:22. Compare Joh 13:23; for we could not possibly have any conception of it but by analogy from worldly objects. In like manner he expressed the place of torment under the image of Gehenna; and the punishment of the wicked by the worm which there preyed on the carcasses, and the fire that consumed the wretched victims. Marking however, in the strongest manner, the difference between Gehenna and the invisible place of torment; namely, that in the former the suffering is transient: - the worm itself which preys upon the body, dies; and the fire which totally consumes it, is soon extinguished: - whereas in the figurative Gehenna the instruments of punishment shall be everlasting, and the suffering without end; "for there the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

These emblematical images, expressing heaven and hell, were in use among the Jews before our Savior's time; and in using them he complied with their notions. "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God," says the Jew to our Savior, Luk 14:15. And in regard to Gehenna, the Chaldee paraphrase as I observed before on Isa 30:33, renders everlasting or continual burnings by "the Gehenna of everlasting fire." And before his time the son of Sirach, 7:17, had said, "The vengeance of the ungodly is fire and worms." So likewise the author of the book of Judith, chap. 16:17: "Wo to the nations rising up against my kindred: the Lord Almighty will take vengeance of them in the day of judgment, in putting fire and worms in their flesh;" manifestly referring to the same emblem. - L.

Kimchi's conclusion of his notes on this book is remarkable: - "Blessed be God who hath created the mountains and the hills,

And hath endued me with strength to finish the book of salvation:

He shall rejoice us with good tidings and reports;

He shall show us a token for good: -

And the end of his miracles he shall cause to approach us."

Several of the Versions have a peculiarity in their terminations: -

And they shall be to a satiety of sight to all flesh.

Vulgate.

And thei schul ben into fyllyng of sigt to all fleshe.

Old MS. Bible.

And they shall be as a vision to all flesh.

Septuagint.

And the wicked shall be punished in hell till the righteous shall say, - It is enough.

Chaldee.

They shall be an astonishment to all flesh; So that they shall be a spectacle to all beings.

Syriac.

The end of the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet.

Praise to God who is truly praiseworthy.

Arabic.

One of my old Hebrew MSS. after the twenty-first verse repeats the twenty-third: "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord."

The heaven - The highest heaven, is the place where I shew myself in my majesty. So Psal 11:4 Psal 103:19 Matt 5:34. Hence we are taught to pray; our father which art in heaven. And the earth is my footstool - Or a place wherein I set my feet, Matt 5:35. The house - Can there be an house built, that will contain me? My rest - Or where is the place wherein I can be said to rest in a proper sense?

Have been - They were not only made by God, but kept in being by him. Look - Yet God will look with a favourable eye to him that hath a broken and contrite spirit, whose heart is subdued to the will of God, and who is poor, and low in his own eyes. Trembleth - Who trembleth when he hears God's threatening words, and hears every revelation of his will with reverence.

He that, &c. - Solomon, Prov 15:8, gives a full commentary on the whole verse; The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. As if - From hence it is plain, that the prophet is not here reflecting upon idolatrous worship, but formal worship: upon those who in a formality worshipped the true God, and by acts which he had appointed. God by the prophet declares, that these mens services were no more acceptable to him than murder, idolatry, or the most horrid profanation of his name. Own ways - They live as they lust. Delight - They take pleasure in their sins.

Chuse - They have chosen to mock and delude me, I will chuse to suffer them to delude themselves; they have chosen to work wickedness, I will chuse the effect. Their fears - That is, the things which they feared. Did not hear - God accounts that those do not hear, who do not obey his will.

You - That truly fear God. Your brethren - By nation. Cast you out - That cast you out of their synagogues, cast you out of their city, and some of you out of the world. For my names sake - For my sake; for your adherence to my law. Glorified - Thinking they did God good service, John 16:2.

A voice - The expression of a prophetical extasy, as if he said, I hear a sad and affrighting noise; it comes not from the city only, but from the temple, wherein these formalists have so much gloried. There is a noise of soldiers slaying, and of the poor people shrieking or crying out. Of the Lord - A voice of the Lord, not in thunder, but that rendereth recompence to his enemies. Thus he seems to express the destruction of the Jews by the Roman armies, as a thing at that time doing.

Before - The whole verse is expressive of a great and sudden salvation, which God would work for his church, like the delivery of a woman, and that of a man - child, before her travail, and without pain. Doubtless it refers to the coming of Christ, and the sudden propagation of the gospel.

For - As soon as the voice of the gospel put the church of the Jews into her travail, in Christ's and the Apostles time, it presently brought forth.

Shall I - I, that in the ordinary course of my providence use to give a birth to women, to whom I have given a power to conceive, shall I not give a birth to my people, whom by my promises I have made to conceive such expectations? And shut - Nor shall Zion once only bring forth, but she shall go on, her womb shall not be shut, she shall every day bring forth more and more children, and my presence shall be with my church, to the end of the world.

Consolations - The gospel doctrine was their breasts of consolation. Her glory - Christ was the glory of the people of Israel, though he was also a light to the Gentiles.

Like a river - It is plain this prophecy relates to a farther conversion of the Jews than hath been yet seen. Ye - Ye Jews also. Her sides - The Gentiles were borne upon the sides of Jerusalem and dandled upon her knees, as first hearing from the Apostles (who were members of the Jewish church) the glad tidings of salvation.

As one whom, &c. - That is, in the most tender, and compassionate way.

Rejoice - The peace of the church and the propagation of the kingdom of Christ, is always the cause of an heart rejoicing to such as fear God, so that they flourish like an herb in the spring. The hand - The power, protection, and influence of God.

With fire - With terrible judgments, or with fire in a proper sense, understanding it of the fire with which enemies use to consume places brought under their power. Whirlwind - With a sudden sweeping judgment. Fury - That is, with fervour; for fury properly taken is not in God. Rebukes - They had contemned the rebukes of the law, now God will rebuke them with fire, and sword.

Plead - God at first pleads with sinners by words, but if he cannot so prevail, he will plead with them in a way by which he will overcome; by fire, pestilence and blood. All flesh - Thus he threatens to do with all the wicked Jews. The slain - Those whom God should cause to be slain.

Gardens - In which they worshipped idols. In the midst - Behind one of the trees, or one by one behind the trees. The abominations - All those beasts forbidden the Jews for meat. God will not only destroy gross idolaters, but all those who make no conscience of yielding obedience to the law of God in such things as seemed to them of a minute nature, and such as they easily might have obeyed.

Come - It shall come to pass that I will cast them off, and then l will gather all nations, &c. My glory - My oracles, my ordinances, which hitherto have been locked up in the church of the Jews, and been their glory, shall be published to the Gentiles.

A sign - By this may be understood Christ, Luke 2:34, or the ministry of the word attended with miracles, these were set up among the Jews first, then among the Gentiles. Afar off - To all the quarters of the world. They shall - This was eminently made good after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the believers among the Jews, as well as the apostles went about publishing the gospel to all people, which was declaring the Lord's glory.

Your brethren - Those who are the children of Abraham, not considered as the father of the Jewish nation only, but considered as the father of many nations, and as the father of the faithful, and so are your brethren, shall be brought out of all nations for an offering to the Lord. Holy mountain - And they shall be brought into the church, which began at Jerusalem. As - And they shall come with as much joy and gladness, with as much sincerity and holiness, as the Godly Jews do when they bring their offerings in clean vessels.

For priests - God will find among the converted Gentiles those who though they are not of the tribe of Levi, yet shall do the true work of priests and Levites.

The new heavens - The new state of the church to be raised up under the Messiah. Remain - As I intend that shall abide, so there shall be a daily succession of true believers for the upholding of it.

And, &c. - In the gospel - church there shall be as constant and settled a course of worship (though of another nature) as ever was in the Jewish church: Christians are not bound to keep the Jewish sabbaths or new - moons. But New Testament worship is expressed by Old Testament phrases. The Jews were only obliged to appear three times in a year at Jerusalem, but (saith the prophet) the gospel - church shall worship God from one sabbath to another.

1 THus saith the LORD , The heaven is my throne , and the earth is my footstool : where is the house that ye build unto me ? and where is the place of my rest ?

The Heaven, that is, the highest Heavens, are the place where I most manifest my power and glory, and shew my self in my Majesty. So Psal. 11. 4. Psal. 103. 19. Matth. 5. 34. Hence we, are taught to pray; Our Father which art in Heaven.

And the Earth is my footstool, or place wherein I set my feet, Matth. 5. 35.

Can there be an house builded, that will contain me, who can encompass the Heavens and the Earth with an house?

Or, where is the place wherein I can be said to rest in a proper sense? The Ark [illegible: 1+ letters]deed called God's footstool, and the place of his rest, in a figurative sense, because there God manifested himself, though in degrees much beneath the manifestations of himself in Heaven, but properly, God hath no certain place of Rest.

Marginal references: 1 Ein. 8. 27. Act. 7. 48, 49. & 17. 24.

2 For all those things hath my hand made , and all those things have been , saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, & trembleth at my word .

The Heavens and the Earth are the work of my hands, Gen. 1. 1. Ioh. 1. 3. (some expound it of the Temple, and the Sacrifices.)

They were not onely made by God, but subsisted and were kept in being by him. These things were not therefore valued by him, nor could he have any need of, or respect to an house which is but a very little part of the Earth; he having made the Heavens and the Earth, had all them at his command, and how could he need a Temple? or, wherein could he be advantaged from it?

who trembleth when he heareth God's threatning words, nor ever heareth any revelation of the Divine Will without a just Reverence.

g But God will look with a respec[illegible: 1+ letters], and with a favourable Eye to him that hath a broken and contrite spirit, whose heart is subdued to the Will of God, and who is poor, and low in his own Eyes, Mat. 5. 3. Luke 6. 20. And

Marginal references: Psa. 34. 18. & 51. 17. Chap. 57. 15.; Ezr. 9. 4. & 10. 3. Prov. 28. 14. & v. 5.

3 He that killeth an ox , is as if he slew a man: he that sacrificeth a lamb , as if he cut off a dogs neck : he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swines blood: he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol : yea, they have chosen their own ways ▪ and their soul delighteth in their abominations ▪

Solomon, Prov. 15. 8. gives us a short, but full commentary on this whole verse; The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. He that kill[illegible: 1+ letters] an ox, that is, for Sacrifice, as it is expounded by the next words, He that sacrificeth a Lamb.

The comparison shew[illegible: 1+ letters]th God's detestation of ceremonial performances from men of wicked hearts and lives.

From hence it is plain, that the Prophet is not here reflecting upon Idolatrous Worship, but Formal Worship: for to say, He that burneth Incense to an Idol, is as he that blesseth an Idol, is but to say, he that blesseth an Idol, blesseth an Idol; but upon those who in a formality worshipped the true God, and by acts which he had appointed, such were offering Sacrifices, Oblation, Incense. God by the Prophet declares, that these mens Services were no more acceptable to him then Murther, Idolatry, or the most horrid prophanation of his name such would, cutting off a dogs neck for Sacrifice, have been, or offering Swines blood so little do ritual performances, though instituted by God himself, please God when they are but meer formalities, as they alwaies are,

When those that perform them, live as they list, leud, and loose lives, and think to save themselves by their prayers, like the Whore, Prov. 7. 14, 15.

Not only [illegible: 1 word] by humane frailty, but taking pleasure in their sins, Prov. 15. 26. to offer a Sacrifice with an heart resolved (when it is offered) to go on in sinful courses, is to offer it with an evil mind. This is a dreadful text to persons who will murder, and steal, and swear▪ and c[illegible: 1+ letters]rse, and lie, and commit Adultery, and then come and stand before God in his house, which is called by his name, that is, come to serve him in acts of Worship, Levit. 10. 3. See Psal. 50. 16, 17, 18. Isaiah 1. 11, 12, 13, 14. Ier. 7. 9, 10. Mat. 7▪ 21, 22, 23. Iohn 4. 24. 1 Tim. 4. 8.

Marginal references: Or kid.; Deut. 23. 18.; Heb. makes a memorial of.

4 I also will chuse their delusions , and bring their fears upon them , because when I called none did answer , when I spake, they did not hear , but they did evil before mine Eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

They had made their choice, they chose not the ways of God, but their own ways, that which God delighted not in, as in the latter part of this verse, therefore (saith God) I will also chuse

Their delusions, or illusions, or devices, Montanus translates it, adinventionibus, it is a Noun derived from a word which signifies to speak childishly, or corruptly, the word in this form is only used in this text, and in 1 Sam. 25. 3. it signifieth studies, or works, Psal. 12. 4. Isa. 3. 4. Hos. 4. 9. It is an ordinary thing for God thus generally to declare his justice against men. That he will deal with sinners, as they deal with him, so Psal. 18. 25, 26. Lev. 26. 27. Ier. 34. 17. Prov. 1. 24. 28. The meaning is, I will be no kinder to them, then they have been to me. They have chosen to mock and delude me, I will chuse to suffer them to delude themselves, or they have chosen to work wickedness, I will chuse to bring the fruit of their works upon them. They have chosen the cause, I will chuse the effect.

That is (say some) the things which they feared, and did these things to avoid, as Ier. 42. 16. Eze. 11. 8. Others by their fears chuse rather to understand such terrors and affrightments as are natural to men upon the prospect of great evils, as Ier. 20. 4. as God in mercy delivereth his people from their fears, Psal. 34. 4. So in judgment he causeth [illegible: 1+ letters]ears as a great judgment to possess sinners, Lev. 26. 16. Deut. 28. 66.

Because when by my Prophets, I exhorted you to your duty: very few yielded obedience, see Prov. 1. 24. ch. 65. 12. Ier. 7. 13.

Hearing here signifieth hearkning, or obeying, not hearing is expounded by doing evil, and chusing that wherein God delighted not, God accounts that those do not hea[illegible: 1+ letters], who do not obey his will.

Marginal references: Devic[illegible: 1+ letters]s.; Prov. 1. 24. ch. 65. 12. Jer. 7. 13.

5 Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word : your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my names sake said, Let the Lord be glorified but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed .

The Prophet turneth his discourse from den[illegible: 1+ letters]uncing judgment against the Idolaters, and formalists amongst the Jews to such as feared God, whose religion is described by a trembling at his word, as v. 2. such a turning of the Prophets discourse was, ch. 50. 10. ch. 51. 1. 7. The same words belong not to Saints and presumptuous Sinners.

Your Brethren, by Nation, or by external profession in Religion, tho [illegible: 1+ letters]alse brethren, Gal. 2. 4. Thus Paul calls all the rejected [illegible: 1+ letters]ews Brethren, Rom. 9. 3.

That either shut you out of their intimate society, or (which is more probable) excommunicate, and cast you out of their Synagogues, or cast you out of their City, and some of you out of the world, Iohn 9. 35. 22. Iohn 16. 2.

i. e. For my sake, for your owning me, and adherence to m[illegible: 1+ letters] law, said.

Either mocking you as the Jews did Christ, [illegible: 1 word] hanging upon the cross, Mat. 27. 43. Luke 23. 35. thus they mocked at David, Psal. 42. 3. Or, Let the Lord be glorified, thinking they did God good service, Io[illegible: 1+ letters]n 16. 2.

There will come a day when God shall appear and let them know his judgment concerning their violence, and rage, then you shall have joy, and they shall be ashamed, 2 Thes. 4. 16, 17, 18.

Marginal references: V. 2.; Ch. 5. 1[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

6 A voice of noise from the city , a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendreth recompence to his Enemies .

The expression of a Prophetical extasy, as much as methinks I already hear a voice of noise, rather a sad and affrighting noise, then the noise of Triumphers (as some think) yea, it comes not from the City only, but from the Temple, wherein these formalists have so much gloried, and reposed so much confidence, there is a noise of Soldiers slaying, and of the Priests or poor people fled thither, shrieking or crying out.

A voice of the Lord, not in thunder, which is sometimes called so, Psal. 29. 3, 4, 5, &c. but that rendreth recompence to his enemies. Thus, the noise of Soldiers, the roaring of Guns, the sounds of Drums and Trumpets are the Voice of the Lord. Thus the Prophet seemeth to express the destruction of the Jews by the Roman Armies, as if a thing at that time doing.

7 Before she travailed she brought forth, before her pain came, she was delivered of a manchild .

The whole verse is expressive of a great and sudden salvation, which God would work for his Church, like the delivery of a woman, and that of a man-child before her travel, and without pain. The onely doubt is, whether it referreth to the deliverance of the People out of Babylon, or the worlds surprizal with the Messiah, and the sudden and strange propagation of the Gospel, and it is a question not easily determined. The delivery of the Jews out of Babylon, indeed was without struglings or any pain, not like their deliverance from Egypt, after the wasting of their enemies by ten successive Plagues but by the kind Proclamation of Cyrus, but it seems not to have been sudden only as to the day, & hour, & manner, for Daniel understood by Books that the time was come, Dan. 9. 2. and the people had a prospect of it 70 years before, Ier. 25. 12. & 29. 10. The Prophecy therefore seems rather to refer to the coming of Christ, and the sudden propagation of the Gospel. The Popish Interpreters applying it to the Virgin Mary bringing forth Christ is like other of their [illegible: 1+ letters]ond dreams.

8 Who hath heard such a thing ? who hath seen such things ? shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a Nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travelled, she brought forth children ?

The Prophet calls either to the whole world, or to such as feared God amongst the Iews, to admire God in his stupendious works of Providence, either in the easie manner of the deliverance of the Jews out of the Captivity of Babylon, without any pain, without so much as one throw; or else in the erecting of his Gospel Church, into which all the Jews that received Christ, were gathered as well as the Gentiles making both one, Eph. 2. 14.

Which seems to be meant by the Earths bringing forth in one day as great a work of Providence, as if all the women in the world should have brought forth in a day; or as if all the plants of the Earth had brought [illegible: 1 word] their flowers and fruit in one day.

As soon as the Church of the Jews began to move out of the Captivity of Babylon, God put it into the hearts of multitudes to go up, Exod. 1. 5 ch. 2. 1, 2, &c. Or, as soon as the voice of the Gospel put the Church of the Jews into her Travel in Iohn the Baptists, Christ's, and the Apostles times, it presently brought [illegible: 1+ letters]orth. In Iohn Baptist's time, the Kingdom of Heaven suffered violence, and the violent took it by force, Mat. 11. 12. and it continued so, as 3000 were converted at Peters Sermon, Acts 2. The Gentiles were the Children of Zion, being planted into their stock▪ the law of the Gospel first going out of Zion.

9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord , shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God .

The work before spoken of, seeme[illegible: 1+ letters]h not after the manner of men, who do things that are great gradually, nor in an ordinary course of nature, whose motions also bring things by degrees to their perfection, but you must consider who it is that speaketh (saith the Lord) now as is the God, so is his strength. Again, men may undertake things, and for want of power not bring them to perfection, but shall I do such a thing? I have by many prophecies and promises secured you in the expectation of such a thing, and shall I not by my Providence effect it? I, that in the ordinary course of my providence use to give a birth to Women, to whom. I have given a power to conceive, shall I not give a birth to Zion, to my people, whom by my [illegible: 1 word], and promises I have made to conceive such hopes, and expectations?

Nor shall Zion once only bring [illegible: 1+ letters]rth, but she shall go on teeming, her womb shall not be shut, she shall every▪day bring forth more and more children, my presence shall be with my Church to that end, to the end of the world.

Marginal references: Or [illegible: 1 word].

10 Rejoyce ye with Hierusalem, and be glad with her all ye that love her: rejoyce for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her .

There is nothing more ordinary amongst men, then for friends, and neighbours, to meet together with their friends recovered from affliction, or brought into a better state to rejoice with them especially such friends as in their afflictions have mourned with them. Thus Mary, Luk. 1. 40. went to rejoice with Elizabeth and Iobs friends came to rejoice with him, Iob 42. 11. The Prophet in like manner calls to all the friends of Hierusalem, especially such as in the days of her affliction had mourned for her, to come and [illegible: 1+ letters] joice and be glad with her, upon the prospect of her better state after the Babylonish Captivity: or at least in the time of the Messiah, for though joy and gladness be the affection of the Soul that works upon its union with its desirable object, and the deliverance of the people out of Babylon was not to be for many years after this, nor the M[illegible: 1+ letters]ssias to come▪ or many years after that, yet faith being the evidence of things not seen, there is a rejoicing of hope, hope giving the Soul an union with its object hoped for, and these things were now pr[illegible: 1+ letters]sent to believers who by faith called the things that were not as if they were: because they had the security of a divine Revelation for them, and they were already existent in their necessary causes.

11 That you may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations , that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory .

Hierusalem is here s[illegible: 1+ letters]t out as the mother of us all, as indeed she was, for out of Zion wen[illegible: 1+ letters] forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Hierusale[illegible: 1+ letters], I[illegible: 1+ letters]aiah 2, 3. Christ was of the seed of Abraham, he was sent to the los[illegible: 1+ letters] She[illegible: 1+ letters]p of the house of Israel, and is called, Rom. 15. 8. the Minister of the Circumcision: they were the Olive, the Branches; the Gentiles but a wild Olive, grafted in amongst them, Rom. 11. 17. we sucked at their breasts, Christ was first preached to them, the 12. the 70. were all of them.

The Gospel doctrine was their breasts of consolation. Christ was in the first place,

The glory of the p[illegible: 1+ letters] ple Israel, though he was also a light to lighten the Gentiles, Lu. 2. 32. we are required to rejoice with Hierusalem. That we may suck and be Satisfied, &c. Intimating, that our joy should not be a meer act of charity to them, but a proper expression of our sense of Gods goodness to our selves, who should suck and be Satisfied from the glad tidings of the Gospel first published unto them, and our selves be inlightned from what was at first the glory of Israel.

12 For thus saith the Lord, Behold I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream , then shall ye suck , ye shall be born upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees q.

That this promise respects the times of the Messias seems plain; not only from the consideration that no history giveth us any account of any great or long peace or prosperity the Jews had before that time, nor indeed then, if we understand it not of a Spiritual Gospel peace, which Christ preached to them that were nigh as well as to those [illegible: 1+ letters]sar off, Eph. 2. 17.

It also appears from the mention of the glor[illegible: 1+ letters] of the Gentiles a[illegible: 1+ letters] a flowing stream, which can hardly be understood of any thing but Christ and the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. But I leave it to the issues of Providence to expound and determine, whether the Prophecy of this text doth not relate, to a further conversion and calling of the Jews then [illegible: 1+ letters]ath been yet seen.

When Christ was revealed to the Jews not those only of the Gentiles, but those of the Jews who belonged to Gods election sucked Gospel doctrine, the Gentiles were born upon the sides of Hierusalem and dandled upon her knees, as first hearing from the Apostles who were some of the Daughters of Hierusalem, members of the Jewish-Church, the glad tidings of Salvation.

Marginal references: Chap. 48. 18. & 60. 5.; Cha. 60. 16.; Chap. 49. 22. & 60. 4.

13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Hierusalem.

That is, in the most tender, and compassionating way imaginable, the husband doth not comfort his wife with that tenderness, and those bowels that the mother comforteth the Child after it hath received some fall, or mischief. Hierusalem now mourneth, and you mo[illegible: 1+ letters]rn with her, but she shall recover from her affliction and from her sorrows, and shall be comforted and you that mourn for her, shall partake of her joys, as you now share with her in her afflictions, God in the day that he wipeth tears from her Eyes, shall also wipe them from yours: and you shall have as great an occasion of joy from the happy, as now you have of sorrow from the afflicted state of Hierusalem.

14 And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb : and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants , and his indignation toward his Enemies .

The peace, and tranquillity of the Church and the propagation of the Kingdom of Christ, is always the cause of an heart rejoycing to such as fear God, Psal. 105. 3. the reason is because it is the greatest object of their desires which are then satisfied, and their thoughts are then at rest, and besides they are members of the same body so as their own bones, which before are dry and withered, Eze. 37. 1, 2. and the sinews, and the flesh, comes again upon them, and the skin covers them above, so as they flourish like an herb in the spring, all whose verdure and beauty in the winter was concealed in the root hid in the earth.

And in this the power, protection, and influence of God for, of and upon such as truly serve and obey him, shall be made manifest and known.

But the wicked shall be under a quite contrary dispensation, Psal. 1. 4. As they have had a day which hath been to you the power of darkness: so you shall have a day, which shall be to them the power of darkness, as Gods hand shall be upon and toward such as fear me, to cover, and bless, and influence them, so his indignation shall in that day be shewed towards those of your nation who have declared themselves the enemies of the Lord.

15 For behold the Lord will come with fire , and with his chariots, with a whirle-wind , to render his anger with fury , and his rebukes with flames of fire.

Here the Prophet comes more particularly to expound what indignation should be shewed towards his enemies. That is, with terrible Judgments, nothing being more terrible, and wasting then fire or with fire in a proper sense, understanding it of the fire with which enemies use to consume places brought under their power.

with a sudden sweeping Judgment that like a whirl-wind shall destroy this people.

With fury, that is, with fervor, for [illegible: 1+ letters]ury properly so taken is not in God, ch. 27. 4. but God sometimes executes justice and Judgment more smartly and severely.

By reb[illegible: 1+ letters]kes, he means punishments, for it is said God will execute them with flames of fire. They had contemned the rebukes of his law, now God will rebuke them with fire, and sword.

16 For by fire, and by his sword, will the Lord plead with all flesh , and the slain of the Lord shall be many .

This kind of rebuking is also called a pleading with them, so he threatens to plead against Gog with Pestilence, and blood, Ezek▪ 38. 22. God at first pleads with sinners by words▪ but if he cannot so prevail, he will plead with them in a way by which he will overcome by fire, pestilence and blood.

Thus he threatens to do with all sinners, or with all the wicked Jews.

To the fire he threatens to add the Sword, so as the slain of the Lord, that is, those whom God should cause to be slain, should be many.

17. They that sanctifie themselves, and purifie themselves in the gardens , behind one tree in the midst , eating swines flesh , and the abominations , and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.

That the Jews might not think that the Judgments threatned, concerned only the Heathen, he tells them they concerned them, the Idol Worshippers amongst them and not Idolaters only, but such as broke his laws about mea[illegible: 1+ letters]s, which he had prohibited them to Eat. Those that sanctified and purifyed themselves in gardens, gardens in which they Worshipped Idols, ch. 1. 29. & ▪ 65. 3. 4. Kings 14. 23. & 15 13. the word translated gardens signifieth such as were thick planted with trees, and had groves in them, where they set their Idols, 1 King. 15. 13. hence the Idol is called the Grove▪ 2 Kings 23. 6. they had also in these Gardens Pools where they washed themselves in a way of preparation for their Idol-Worship, as the Priest by Gods Ordinance was to bath himself, Num. 19. 7.

[illegible: 1 word] one [illegible: 1 word] the trees, or one by one behind the Trees. Some think that Achar is here a proper name of an Idol, behind which, or behind whose Temple these Idolaters were wont to purifie themselves. These Gardens were places too as well for brutish Lusts as Idol-Worship as may be learned from 1 Kin. 14. 24. 2 Kin. 23. 7. and they by these washings thought to make themselves clean.

Eating Swines flesh, forbidden, Lev. 11. 7. Deut. 14. 8.

And the abomination, either any abominable things, or all those Beasts forbidden the Jews for meat, Lev. 11. 9, 10, &c. Some think a particular abominable thing is here meant, & think it is the Weasel which Lev. 11. 29. is joined with the Mouse, which is here next mentioned. The word which we translate Mouse being no where [illegible: 1+ letters]ound but there, and here, and 1 Sam. 6. 4, 5, 11, 18. some think it is not that creature we call a Mouse, (because a Mouse is properly no creeping thing; but the word Lev. 11. 29. signifyeth a creeping thing,) they therefore think it rather signifieth some Serpent. It is a matter of no great consequence. The sense is, that God would not only destroy the open and gross Idolaters and superstitious persons, but all those also who had made no Conscience of yielding Obedience to the Law of God in such things as seemed to them of a minute nature, and such as they easily might have yielded Obedience to; he saith that they shall all perish together. In the day of Judgment the Idolatrous P[illegible: 1+ letters]n, and Papist, and the leud and disobedient Protestant shall fare alike. It will be an hard thing for a thinking Soul to see how Baptism, and a membership in the Christian Church, should save men from Gods Wrath, without Holiness, more than Circumcision and Membership in the Jewish Church.

Marginal references: Ch. 65. 3, 4.; One after another.

18 For I know their works, & their thoughts , it shall come that I will gather all nations , and tongues, and they shall see my glory .

The Hebrew is thus, word for word; And I their works, and their thoughts, coming together all nations, and languages, and they shall come and see my Glory. So that it is necessary for Interpreters to supply some words to make out the sense. And the sense will differ according to the Nature and sense of those supplied words. We supply the Verb know, as Amos 5. 12. others supply I have noted. Others make it a question. And I should I endure their thoughts and their works? Others, But as for me O their works, and their thoughts! Some make these words, for I know their works and their thoughts it shall come, one sentence, and to relate to the judgments before threatned, v. 15, 16 and the latter words a new sentence, and a promise of the call of the Gentiles. If we thus divide the words into two sentences, the former part doth but assert the certainty of the Judgment that should come upon this People, and the confirmation or reason of it from the Omniscience and Iustice of God. They have done these things, and I know it, and am of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. I know I have marked their thoughts and works (before mentioued,) O the vileness of them! Should I suffer, should I endure them? No. It shall come, either the Judgments before threatned shall come: or it shall come to pass, that I will cast them off, and then I will gather all nations, &c.

So as it shall come, may either refer to the threatning of Judgments in the former part, or the promise of calling the Gentiles in the latter part of the verse. Others make the verse one entire sentence, and the sense thus, seeing I know their works, &c. or when the time shall come, that I shall let them by my vengeance know, that I know their works. I will gather all Nations and Languages.

I will call the Gentiles into my Church, and

My Oracles, my holy Institutions and Ordinances, which hitherto have been locked up in the Church of the Jews, Rom. 3. 2. and been their glory, shall be published to the Gentiles. Psal. 97. 6. Isa. 40. 5.

19 And I will set a sign amongst them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations , to Tarshish, Pul and Lud that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the Isles afar off , that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. .

It is on all hands agreed that this Verse is a Prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles.

Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal, Ia[illegible: 1+ letters]an, to Europe, Asia, and Africa, to all the quarters of the World, (see the Latin Synopsis, and the English Annot. large discourses of these particular places,) to all Nations that had never before heard of God, or his true Worship,

And they shall every where preach the Gospel, and set up my Gospel-Ordinances and Institutions. This was eminently made good upon the Apostles leaving the Jews, and turning to the Gentiles, Act. 13 46. and more fully after the destruction of Ierusalem, when the Believers among the Jews, as well as the Apostles, went about publishing the Gospel to all People, which was the declaring of the Lords glory.

n By sign here some understand an Ensign, as the word signifies, Psal. 74. 4. which is a military sign to gather people together, by this may be understood Christ, Luk. 2. 34. See Isa. 11. 10. or as others the ministry of the Word attended with miracles (often called signs) these were set up amongst the Jews first, then among the Gentiles. Others (but less probably) understand by sign a mark of distinction, like that mentioned, Ezek. 9. 4. so as, saith he, some shall escape and not be destroyed. and for those that shall escape, I will send them to

20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations: upon horses, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts , to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD , as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel unto the house of the LORD .

Those who are the Children of Abraham, not considered as the Father of the Jewish Nation onely, but considered as the Father of many Nations, and as the Father of the Faithful, or who are the Children of God. being believers, and receiving Christ; and so are your Brethren, (how contemptible soever you judge them,) shall be brought out of all Nations for an offering to the Lord, God will have no more offerings of Bullocks, and Rams, or Lambs, but of Men, and Women, reasonable services, Rom. 12. 1. he will have an offering up of the Gentiles, Rom. 15. 16.

And because the Gentiles are many of them far off from Ierusalem, and as yet further off from God, Eph. 2. 17. God will find out fit means for this end, as Horses, and Litters, and Mules, and swift Beasts are to bring Me[illegible: 1+ letters] and Women long Journeys.

And they shall be brought into the Church, which began at Ierusalem, and this you may be assured of, for the Lord hath said it, who cannot ly nor repent.

And they shall come with as much joy and gladness, with as much sincerity and holiness as the Godly Jews use and exercise when they bring their offerings in clean vessels.

Marginal references: Or, c[illegible: 1+ letters]hes.

21 And I will take of them for priests, and for Levites , saith the LORD.

Le[illegible: 1+ letters]t the Jews, being assured that the Tribe of Levi, which God anciently chose to minister before him, was among them, should say, Alas if the Gentiles should be brought in, where would they have Priests or Levites? God here by his Prophet tells them, he would provide Priests, he would take of them, of these converted Heathens, for Priests and Levites, that is for Gospel-Ministers, to teach and to instruct People, which was the Priests work of old, Deut. 33. 10. 2 Chron. 17. 7, 9. Mal. 2. 6. (for they are mightily mistaken, that think the Priests amongst the Jews had nothing to do, but to sacrifice and burn incense, which work is ceased,) saith the Prophet, God will find amongst the converted Gentiles those who though they be not of the Tribe of Levi, or House of Aaron, yet shall they do the true work of Priests and Levites.

Marginal references: Ex. 29. 6. Ch. 61. 6. 1 Pet. 2. 9. Rev. 1. 6.

22 For as the new heavens, and the new earth which I will make; shall remain before me (saith the Lord) so shall your seed, and your name remain .

The new state of the Church to be raised up under the Messias.

As I intend that shall abide, so there shall be a daily succession of true Believers for the upholding of it, for if Believers could fail from the Earth, the Church made up of them onely, as the true Members of it must fail also.

This whole verse is onely a promise of the perpetuity of the Gospel Church, and the not failing of the additions to it of such as shall be saved, till the World shall have an end

Marginal references: Ch. 65. 17. 2 Pet. 3. 13. Rev. 21. 1.

23 And it shall come to pass that from new moon to another; and from one sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

In the Gospel-Church, there shall be as constant and settled a course of Worship (though of another nature) as ever was in the Jewish Church, Christians are not bound to keep the Jewish Sabbaths or New-moons, Gal. 4. 10, 11. Col. 2. 16. But New Testament Worship is often expressed by Old Testament Phrases. The Jews were onely obliged to appear Three times in a year at Ierusalem, but (saith the Prophet) the Gospel-Church shall worship God from one Sabbath to another.

Marginal references: from new moon to his new moon, and from sabbath to his sabbath. Zech. 14. 16.

24 And they shall go forth , and look upon the carkasses of the men that have sinned against me : for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched , and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

Either the Gentiles, or the sincerer part of the Jews shall go forth from their places, or from Ierusalem, or, go out of their graves at the last day.

And look upon the vengeance I have taken upon these vile Idolaters and Formalists, for their satisfaction, Psal. 58. 10. they shall see none of them alive, but they shall see their car[illegible: 1+ letters]asses.

For the worms that feed on their slain carcasses shall not suddenly dye, and the Enemies fire burning up their Habi[illegible: 1+ letters]ions shall not go out till they be wholly consumed: and after this Life, and at the day of Judgment, they shall go into eternal torments. See Mar. 9. 44, 46, 48. where they will feel a worm of Conscience that shall never die, and a fiery Wrath of God upon their Souls and Bodies, that shall never go out.

Marginal references: Mar. 9. 44, 46, 48.

Isa 66:1-4

Although the note on which this prophecy opens is a different one from any that has yet been struck, there are many points in which it coincides with the preceding prophecy. For not only is Isa 65:12 repeated here in Isa 66:4, but the sharp line of demarcation drawn in chapter 65, between the servants of Jehovah and the worldly majority of the nation with reference to the approaching return to the Holy Land, is continued here. As the idea of their return is associated immediately with that of the erection of a new temple, there is nothing at all to surprise us, after what we have read in Isa 65:8., in the fact that Jehovah expresses His abhorrence at the thought of having a temple built by the Israel of the captivity, as the majority then were, and does so in such words as those which follow in Isa 66:1-4 : “Thus saith Jehovah: The heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. What kind of house is it that ye would build me, and what kind of place for my rest? My hand hath made all these things; then all these thing arose, saith Jehovah; and at such persons do I look, at the miserable and broken-hearted, and him that trembleth at my word. He that slaughtereth the ox is the slayer of a man; he that sacrificeth the sheep is a strangler of dogs; he that offereth a meat-offering, it is swine’s blood; he that causeth incense to rise up in smoke, blesseth idols. As they have chosen their ways, and their soul cheriseth pleasure in their abominations; so will I choose their ill-treatments, and bring their terrors upon them, because I called and no one replied, I spake and they did not hear, and they did evil in mine eyes, and chose that in which I took no pleasure." Hitzig is of opinion that the author has broken off here, and proceeds quite unexpectedly to denounce the intention to build a temple for Jehovah. Those who wish to build he imagines to be those who have made up their minds to stay behind in Chaldea, and who, whilst their brethren who have returned to their native land are preparing to build a temple there, want to have one of their own, just as the Jews in Egypt built one for themselves in Leontopolis. Without some such supposition as this, Hitzig thinks it altogether impossible to discover the thread which connects the different vv. together. This view is at any rate better than that of Umbreit, who imagines that the prophet places us here “on the loftiest spiritual height of the Christian development.” “In the new Jerusalem,” he says, “there will be no temple seen, nor any sacrifice; Jehovah forbids these in the strongest terms, regarding them as equivalent to mortal sins.” But the prophet, if this were his meaning, would involve himself in self-contradiction, inasmuch as, according to Isa 56:1-12 and 60, there will be a temple in the new Jerusalem with perpetual sacrifice, which this prophecy also presupposes in Isa 66:20. (cf., Isa 66:6); and secondly, he would contradict other prophets, such as Ezekiel and Zechariah, and the spirit of the Old Testament generally, in which the statement, that whoever slaughters a sacrificial animal in the new Jerusalem will be as bad as a murderer, has no parallel, and is in fact absolutely impossible. According to Hitzig’s view, on the other hand, v. 3 a affirms, that the worship which they would be bound to perform in their projected temple would be an abomination to Jehovah, however thoroughly it might be made to conform to the Mosaic ritual. But there is nothing in the text to sustain the idea, that there is any intention here to condemn the building of a temple to Jehovah in Chaldaea, nor is such an explanation by any means necessary to make the text clear. The condemnation on the part of Jehovah has reference to the temple, which the returning exiles intend to build in Jerusalem. The prophecy is addressed to the entire body now ready to return, and says to the whole without exception, that Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth, does not stand in need of any house erected by human hands, and then proceeds to separate the penitent from those that are at enmity against God, rejects in the most scornful manner all offerings in the form of worship on the part of the latter, and threatens them with divine retribution, having dropped in Isa 66:3-4 the form of address to the entire body. Just as in the Psalm of Asaph (Ps 50) Jehovah refuses animal and other material offerings as such, because the whole of the animal world, the earth and the fulness thereof, are His possession, so here He addresses this question to the entire body of the exiles: What kind of house is there that ye could build, that would be worthy of me, and what kind of place that would be worthy of being assigned to me as a resting-place? On mâqōm menūchâthı̄, locus qui sit requies mea (apposition instead of genitive connection). He needs no temple; for heaven is His throne, and the earth His footstool. He is the Being who filleth all, the Creator, and therefore the possessor, of the universe; and if men think to do Him a service by building Him a temple, and forget His infinite majesty in their concern for their own contemptible fabric, He wants to temple at all. “All these” refer, as if pointing with the finger, to the world of visible objects that surround us. ויּהיוּ (from היה, existere, fieri) is used in the same sense as the ויהי which followed the creative יהי. In this His exaltation He is not concerned about a temple; but His gracious look is fixed upon the man who is as follows (zeh pointing forwards as in Isa 58:6), viz., upon the mourner, the man of broken heart, who is filled with reverential awe at the word of His revelation.

We may see from Psa 51:9 what the link of connection is between Isa 66:2 and Isa 66:3. So far as the mass of the exiles were concerned, who had not been humbled by their sufferings, and whom the preaching of the prophet could not bring to reflection, He did not want any temple or sacrifice from them. The sacrificial acts, to which such detestable predicates are here applied, are such as end with the merely external act, whilst the inward feelings of the person presenting the sacrifice are altogether opposed to the idea of both the animal sacrifice and the meat-offering, more especially to that desire for salvation which was symbolized in all the sacrifices; in other words, they are sacrificial acts regarded as νεκρὰ ἔργα, the lifeless works of men spiritually dead. The articles of hasshōr and hasseh are used as generic with reference to sacrificial animals. The slaughter of an ox was like the slaying (makkēh construct with tzere) of a man (for the association of ideas, see Gen 49:6); the sacrifice (zōbhēăch like shâchat is sometimes applied to slaughtering for the purpose of eating; here, however, it refers to an animal prepared for Jehovah) of a sheep like the strangling of a dog, that unclean animal (for the association of ideas, see Job 30:1); the offerer up (me‛ōlēh) of a meat-offering (like one who offered up) swine’s blood, i.e., as if he was offering up the blood of this most unclean animal upon the altar; he who offered incense as an 'azkârâh (see at Isa 1:13) like one who blessed 'âven, i.e., godlessness, used here as in 1Sa 15:23, and also in Hosea in the change of the name of Bethel into Beth 'Aven, for idolatry, or rather in a concrete sense for the worthless idols themselves, all of which, according to Isa 41:29, are nothing but 'âven. Rosenmüller, Gesenius, Hitzig, Stier, and even Jerome, have all correctly rendered it in this way, “as if he blessed an idol” (quasi qui benedicat idolo); and Vitringa, “cultum exhibens vano numini” (offering worship to a vain god). Such explanations as that of Luther, on the other hand, viz., “as if he praised that which was wrong,” are opposed to the antithesis, and also to the presumption of a concrete object to מברך (blessing); whilst that of Knobel, “praising vainly” ('âven being taken as an acc. Adv.), yields too tame an antithesis, and is at variance with the usage of the language. In this condemnation of the ritual acts of worship, the closing prophecy of the book of Isaiah coincides with the first (Isa 1:11-15). But that it is not sacrifices in themselves that are rejected, but the sacrifices of those whose hearts are divided between Jehovah and idols, and who refuse to offer to Him the sacrifice that is dearest to Him (Psa 51:19, cf., Psa 50:23), is evident from the correlative double-sentence that follows in Isa 66:3 and Isa 66:4, which is divided into two masoretic verses, as the only means of securing symmetry. Gam ... gam, which means in other cases, “both ... and also,” or in negative sentences “neither ... nor,” means here, as in Jer 51:12, “as assuredly the one as the other,” in other words, “as ... so.” They have chosen their own ways, which are far away from those of Jehovah, and their soul has taken pleasure, not in the worship of Jehovah, but in all kinds of heathen abominations (shiqqūtsēhem, as in many other places, after Deu 29:16); therefore Jehovah wants no temple built by them or with their co-operation, nor any restoration of sacrificial worship at their hands. But according to the law of retribution, He chooses tha‛ălūlēhem, vexationes eorum (lxx τὰ ἐμπαίγματα αὐτῶν: see at Isa 3:4), with the suffix of the object: fates that will use them ill, and brings their terrors upon them, i.e., such a condition of life as will inspire them with terror (megūrōth, as in Psa 34:5).

Isa 66:5

From the heathenish majority, with their ungodly hearts, the prophet now turns to the minority, consisting of those who tremble with reverential awe when they hear the word of God. They are called to hear how Jehovah will accept them in defiance of their persecutors. “Hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye that tremble at His word: your brethren that hate you, that thrust you from them for my name’s sake, say, 'Let Jehovah get honour, that we may see your joy:' they will be put to shame.” They that hate them are their own brethren, and (what makes the sin still greater) the name of Jehovah is the reason why they are hated by them. According to the accents, indeed (מנדיכם rebia, סמי pashta), the meaning would be, “your brethren say ...  'for my name’s sake (i.e., for me = out of goodness and love to us) will Jehovah glorify Himself,' - then we shall see your joy, but - they will be put to shame.” Rashi and other Jewish expositors interpret it in this or some similar way; but Rosenmüller, Stier, and Hahn are the only modern Christian expositors, who have done so, following the precedent of earlier commentators, who regarded the accents as binding. Luther, however, very properly disregarded them. If סמי למען be taken in connection with יכבד, it gives only a forced sense, which disturbs the relation of all the clauses; whereas this is preserved in all respects in the most natural and connected manner if we combine שמי למען with מנדּיכם שׂנאיכם, as we must do, according to such parallels as Mat 24:9. נדּה from נר, to scare away or thrust away (Amo 6:3, with the object in the dative), corresponds to ἀφορίζειν in Luk 6:22 (compare Joh 16:22, “to put out of the synagogue”). The practice of excommunication, or putting under the ban (niddūi), reaches beyond the period of the Herodians (see Eduyoth v. 6),Compare Wiesner: Der Bann in seiner gesch. Entwickelung auf dem Boden des Judenthums, 1864. at any rate as far back as the times succeeding the captivity; but in the passage before us it is quite sufficient to understand niddâh in the sense of a defamatory renunciation of fellowship. To the accentuators this שמי למען מנדיכם appeared quite unintelligible. They never considered that it had a confessional sense here, which certainly does not occur anywhere else: viz., “for my name’s sake, which ye confess in word and deed.” With unbelieving scorn they say to those who confess Jehovah, and believe in the word of the true redemption: Let Jehovah glorify Himself (lit. let Him be, i.e., show Himself, glorious = yikkâbēd, cf., Job 14:21), that we may thoroughly satisfy ourselves with looking at your joy. They regard their hope as deceptive, and the word of the prophet as fanaticism. These are they, who, when permission to return is suddenly given, will desire to accompany them, but will be disappointed, because they did not rejoice in faith before, and because, although they do now rejoice in that which is self-evident, they do this in a wrong way.

Isa 66:6

The city and temple, to which they desire to go, are nothing more, so far as they are concerned, than the places from which just judgment will issue. “Sound of tumult from the city! Sound from the Temple! Sound of Jehovah, who repays His enemies with punishment.” All three קול, to the second of which שׁאון must be supplied in thought, are in the form of interjectional exclamations (as in Isa 52:8). In the third, however, we have omitted the note of admiration, because here the interjectional clause approximates very nearly to a substantive clause (“it is the sound of Jehovah”), as the person shouting announces here who is the originator and cause of the noise which was so enigmatical at first. The city and temple are indeed still lying in ruins as the prophet is speaking; but even in this state they both preserve the holiness conferred upon them. They are the places where Jehovah will take up His abode once more; and even now, at the point at which promise and fulfilment coincide, they are in the very process of rising again. A loud noise (like the tumult of war) proceeds from it. It is Jehovah, He who is enthroned in Zion and rules from thence (Isa 31:9), who makes Himself heard in this loud noise (compare Joe 3:16 with the derivative passage in Amo 1:2); it is He who awards punishment or reckons retribution to His foes. In other cases גּמוּל (השׁהיב) שׁלּם generally means to repay that which has been worked out (what has been deserved; e.g., Psa 137:8, compare Isa 3:11); but in Isa 59:18 gemūl was the parallel word to chēmâh, and therefore, as in Isa 35:4, it did not apply to the works of men, but to the retribution of the judge, just as in Jer 51:6, where it is used quite as absolutely. We have therefore rendered it “punishment;” “merited punishment” would express both sides of this double-sided word. By “His enemies,” according to the context, we are to understand primarily the mass of the exiles, who were so estranged from God, and yet withal so full of demands and expectations.

Isa 66:7-9

All of these fall victims to the judgment; and yet Zion is not left either childless or without population. “Before she travailed she brought forth; before pains came upon her, she was delivered of a boy. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen anything like it? Are men delivered of a land in one day? or is a nation begotten at once? For Zion hath travailed, yea, hath brought forth her children. Should I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith Jehovah: or should I, who cause to bring forth, shut it? saith thy God.” Before Zion travaileth, before any labour pains come upon her (chēbhel with tzere), she has already given birth, or brought with ease into the world a male child (hı̄mlit like millēt, in Isa 34:15, to cause to glide out). This boy, of whom she is delivered with such marvellous rapidity, is a whole land full of men, an entire nation. The seer exclaims with amazement, like Zion herself in Isa 49:21, “who hath heard such a thing, or seen anything like it? is a land brought to the birth (hăyūchal followed by 'erets for hăthūchal, as in Gen 13:6; Isa 9:18; Ges. §147), i.e., the population of a whole land (as in Jdg 18:30), and that in one day, or a nation born all at once (yivvâlēd, with munach attached to the kametz, and metheg to the tzere)? This unheard-of event has taken place now, for Zion has travailed, yea, has also brought forth her children,” - not one child, but her children, a whole people that calls her mother.There is a certain similarity in the saying, with which a talmudic teacher roused up the sleepy scholars of the Beth ha-Midrash: “There was once a woman, who was delivered of 600,000 children in one day,” viz., Jochebed, who, when she gave birth to Moses, brought 600,000 to the light of freedom (Exo 12:37). “For” (kı̄) presupposes the suppressed thought, that this unexampled event has now occurred: yâledâh follows châlâh with gam, because chı̄l signifies strictly parturire; yâl, parere. Zion, the mother, is no other than the woman of the sun in Rev 12; ; but the child born of her there is the shepherd of the nations, who proceeds from her at the end of the days, whereas here it is the new Israel of the last days; for the church, which is saved through all her tribulations, is both the mother of the Lord, by whom Babel is overthrown, and the mother of that Israel which inherits the promises, that the unbelieving mass have failed to obtain. Isa 66:9 follows with an emphatic confirmation of the things promised. Jehovah inquires: “Should I create the delivery (cause the child to break through the matrix) and not the birth (both hiphil, causative), so that although the child makes an effort to pass the opening of the womb, it never comes to the light of day? Or should I be one to bring it to the birth, and then to have closed, viz., the womb, so that the word of bringing forth should remain ineffectual, when all that is required is the last effort to bring to the light the fruit of the womb?” From the expression “thy God,” we see that the questions are addressed to Zion, whose faith they are intended to strengthen. According to Hofmann (Schriftbeweis, ii. 1, 149, 150), the future יאמר affirms what Jehovah will say, when the time for bringing forth arrives, and the perfect אמר what He is saying now: “Should I who create the bringing forth have shut up?” And He comforts the now barren daughter Zion (Isa 54:1) with the assurance, that her barrenness is not meant to continue for ever. “The prediction,” says Hofmann, “which is contained in ה יאמר, of the ultimate issue of the fate of Zion, is so far connected with the consolation administered for the time present, that she who is barren now is exhorted to anticipate the time when the former promise shall be fulfilled.” But this change in the standpoint is artificial, and contrary to the general use of the expression ה יאמר elsewhere (see at Isa 40:1). Moreover, the meaning of the two clauses, which constitute here as elsewhere a disjunctive double question in form more than in sense, really runs into one. The first member affirms that Jehovah will complete the bringing to the birth; the second, that He will not ultimately frustrate what He has almost brought to completion: an ego sum is qui parere faciat et (uterum) occluserim (occludam)? There is no other difference between יאמר and אמר, than that the former signifies the word of God which is sounding at the present moment, the latter the word that has been uttered and is resounding still. The prophetic announcement of our prophet has advanced so far, that the promised future is before the door. The church of the future is already like the fruit of the body ripe for the birth, and about to separate itself from the womb of Zion, which has been barren until now. The God by whom everything has been already so far prepared, will suddenly cause Zion to become a mother - a boy, viz., a whole people after Jehovah’s own heart, will suddenly lie in her lap, and this new-born Israel, not the corrupt mass, will build a temple for Jehovah.

Isa 66:10-11

In the anticipation of such a future, those who inwardly participate in the present sufferings of Zion are to rejoice beforehand in the change of all their suffering into glory. “Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and exult over her, all ye that love her; be ye delightfully glad with her, all ye that mourn over her, that he may suck and be satisfied with the breast of her consolations, that ye may sip and delight yourselves in the abundance of her glory.” Those who love Jerusalem (the abode of the church, and the church itself), who mourn over her (hith'abbēl, inwardly mourn, 1Sa 15:35, prove and show themselves to be mourners and go into mourning, b. Moëd katan 20 b, the word generally used in prose, whereas אבל, to be thrown into mourning, to mourn, only occurs in the higher style; compare ציּון אבלי, Isa 57:18; Isa 61:2-3; Isa 60:20), these are even now to rejoice in spirit with Jerusalem and exult on her account (bâh), and share her ecstatic delight with her ('ittâh), in order that when that in which they now rejoice in spirit shall be fulfilled, they may suck and be satisfied, etc. Jerusalem is regarded as a mother, and the rich actual consolation, which she receives (Isa 51:3), as the milk that enters her breasts (shōd as in Isa 60:16), and from which she now supplies her children with plentiful nourishment. זיז, which is parallel to שׁד (not זיו, a reading which none of the ancients adopted), signifies a moving, shaking abundance, which oscillates to and fro like a great mass of water, from זאזא, to move by fits and starts, for pellere movere is the radical meaning common in such combinations of letters as זא, זע, רא, Psa 42:5, to which Bernstein and Knobel have correctly traced the word; whereas the meaning emicans fluxus (Schröder), or radians copia (Kocher), to pour out in the form of rays, has nothing to sustain it in the usage of the language.

Isa 66:12

The reason is now given, why the church of the future promises such abundant enjoyment to those who have suffered with her. “For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I guide peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like an overflowing stream, that ye may suck; ye shall be borne upon arms, and fondled upon knees.” Jehovah guides or turns (Gen 39:21) peace to Jerusalem, the greatest of all inward blessings, and at the same time the most glorious of all the outward blessings, that are in the possession of the Gentile world (kâbhōd as in Isa 56:6), both of them in the richest superabundance (“like a river,” as in Isa 48:18), so that (perf. cons.) “ye may be able to suck yourselves full according to your heart’s desire” (Isa 60:16). The figure of the new maternity of Zion, and of her children as quasimodogeniti, is still preserved. The members of the church can then revel in peace and wealth, like a child at its mother’s breasts. The world is now altogether in the possession of the church, because the church is altogether God's. The allusion to the heathen leads on to the thought, which was already expressed in a similar manner in Isa 49:22 and Isa 60:4 : “on the side (arm or shoulder) will ye be carried, and fondled (שׁעשׁע, pulpal of the pilpel שׁעשׁע, Isa 11:8) upon the knees,” viz., by the heathen, who will vie with one another in the effort to show you tenderness and care (Isa 49:23).

Isa 66:13

The prophet now looks upon the members of the church as having grown up, as it were, from childhood to maturity: they suck like a child, and are comforted like a grown-up son. “Like a man whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” Hitzig says that 'ı̄sh is not well chosen; but how easily could the prophet have written bēn (son), as in Isa 49:15! He writes 'ı̄sh, however, not indeed in the unmeaning sense in which the lxx has taken it, viz., ὡς εἴ τινα μήτηρ παρακαλέσει, but looking upon the people, whom he had previously thought of as children, as standing before him as one man. Israel is now like a man who has escaped from bondage and returned home from a foreign land, full of mournful recollections, the echoing sounds of which entirely disappear in the maternal arms of divine love there in Jerusalem, the beloved home, which was the home of its thoughts even in the strange land.

Isa 66:14

Wherever they look, joy now meets their eye. “And ye will see, and your heart will be joyful, and your bones will flourish like young herbage; and thus does the hand of Jehovah make itself known in His servants, and fiercely does He treat His enemies.” They will see, and their heart will rejoice, i.e., (cf., Isa 53:11; Isa 60:5) they will enjoy a heart-cheering prospect, and revive again with such smiling scenery all around. The body is like a tree The bones are its branches. These will move and extend themselves in the fulness of rejuvenated strength (compare Isa 58:11, et ossa tua expedita faciet); and thus will the hand of Jehovah practically become known (venwde‛âh, perf. cons.) in His servants - that hand under whose gracious touch all vernal life awakens, whether in body or in mind. And thus is it with the surviving remnant of Israel, whereas Jehovah is fiercely angry with His foes. The first את is used in a prepositional sense, as in Psa 67:2, viz., “in His servants, so that they come to be acquainted with it”; the second in an accusative sense, for zâ'am is either connected with על, or as in Zec 1:12; Mal 1:4, with the accusative of the object. It is quite contrary to the usage of the language to take both את according to the phrase (עס) את (רעה) מובה עשׂה.

Isa 66:15

The prophecy now takes a new turn with the thought expressed in the words, “and fiercely does He treat His enemies.” The judgment of wrath, which prepares the way for the redemption and ensures its continuance, is described more minutely in Isa 66:15 : “For behold Jehovah, in the fire will He come, and His chariots are like the whirlwind, to pay out His wrath in burning heat, and His threatening passeth into flames of fire.” Jehovah comes bâ'ēsh, in igne (Jerome; the lxx, on the contrary, render it arbitrarily ὡς πῦρ kâ'ēsh), since it is the fiery side of His glory, in which He appears, and fire pours from Him, which is primarily the intense excitement of the powers of destruction within God Himself (Isa 10:17; Isa 30:27; Psa 18:9), and in these is transformed into cosmical powers of destruction (Isa 29:6; Isa 30:30; Psa 18:13). He is compared to a warrior, driving along upon war-chariots resembling stormy wind, which force everything out of their way, and crush to pieces whatever comes under their wheels. The plural מרכּבתיו (His chariots) is probably not merely amplifying, but a strict plural; for Jehovah, the One, can manifest Himself in love or wrath in different places at the same time. The very same substantive clause מרכבתיו וכסופה occurs in Jer 4:13, where it is not used of Jehovah, however, but of the Chaldeans. Observe also that Jeremiah there proceeds immediately with a derivative passage from Hab 1:8. In the following clause denoting the object, אפּו בּחמה להשׁיב, we must not adopt the rendering, “to breathe out His wrath in burning heat” (Hitzig), for hēshı̄bh may mean respirare, but not exspirare (if this were the meaning, it would be better to read להשּׁיב from נשׁב, as Lowth does); nor “ut iram suam furore sedet” (Meier), for even in Job 9:13; Psa 78:38, עפו השיב does not mean to still or cool His wrath, but to turn it away or take it back; not even “to direct His wrath in burning heat” (Ges., Kn.), for in this sense hēshı̄bh would be connected with an object with ל, אל (Job 15:13), על (Isa 1:25). It has rather the meaning reddere in the sense of retribuere (Arab. athâba, syn. shillēm), and “to pay back, or pay out, His wrath” is equivalent to hēshı̄bh nâqâm (Deu 32:41, Deu 32:43), Hence עפו בחמה does not stand in a permutative relation instead of a genitive one (viz., in fervore, riâ suâ = irae suae), but is an adverbial definition, just as in Isa 42:25. That the payment of the wrath deserved takes place in burning heat, and His rebuke (ge‛ârâh) in flames of fire, are thoughts that answer to one another.

Isa 66:16

Jehovah appears with these warlike terrors because He is coming for a great judgment. “For in the midst of fire Jehovah holds judgment, and in the midst of His sword with all flesh; and great will be the multitude of those pierced through by Jehovah.” The fire, which is here introduced as the medium of judgment, points to destructive occurrences of nature, and the sword to destructive occurrences of history. At the same time all the emphasis is laid here, as in Isa 34:5-6 (cf., Isa 27:1), upon the direct action of Jehovah Himself. The parallelism in Isa 66:16 is progressive. Nishpat 'ēth, “to go into judgment with a person,” as in Eze 38:22 (cf., עם in Isa 3:14, Joe 3:2; 2Ch 22:8; μετά, Luk 11:31-32). We find a resemblance to Isa 66:16 in Zep 2:12, and this is not the only resemblance to our prophecy in that strongly reproductive prophet.

Isa 66:17

The judgment predicted here is a judgment upon nations, and falls not only upon the heathen, but upon the great mass of Israel, who have fallen away from their election of grace and become like the heathen. “They that consecrate themselves and purify themselves for the gardens behind one in the midst, who eat swine’s flesh and abomination and the field-mouse-they will come to an end together, saith Jehovah.” The persons are first of all described; and then follows the judgment pronounced, as the predicate of the sentence. They subject themselves to the heathen rites of lustration, and that with truly bigoted thoroughness, as is clearly implied by the combination of the two synonyms hammithqaddeshı̄m and hammittahărı̄m (hithpael with an assimilated tav), which, like the Arabic qadusa and tahura, are both traceable to the radical idea ἀφορίζειν. The אל of תונּגּה־לא is to be understood as relating to the object or behoof: their intention being directed to the gardens as places of worship (Isa 1:29; Isa 65:3), ad sacra in lucis obeunda, as Shelling correctly explains. In the chethib בּתּוך אחד אחר, the אחד (for which we may also read אחד, the form of connection, although the two pathachs of the text belong to the keri) is in all probability the hierophant, who leads the people in the performances of the rites of religious worship and as he is represented as standing in the midst (בּתּוך) of the worshipping crowd that surrounds him, 'achar (behind, after) cannot be understood locally, as if they formed his train or tail, but temporally or in the way of imitation. He who stands in their midst performs the ceremonies before them, and they follow him, i.e., perform them after him. This explanation leaves nothing to be desired. The keri, 'achath, is based upon the assumption that 'achad must refer to the idol, and substitutes therefore the feminine, no doubt with an allusion to 'ăshērâh, so that battâvekh (in the midst) is to be taken as referring not to the midst of the worshipping congregation, but to the midst of the gardens. This would be quite as suitable; for even if it were not expressly stated, we should have to assume that the sacred tree of Astarte, or her statue, occupied the post of honour in the midst of the garden, and 'achar would correspond to the phrase in the Pentateuch, אחרים אלהים אחרי זנה. But the foregoing expression, sanctificantes et mundantes se (consecrating and purifying), does not favour this sense of the word 'achar (why not ל = לכבוד?), nor do we see why the name of the goddess should be suppressed, or why she should be simply hinted at in the word אחת (one). אחד (אחד) has its sufficient explanation in the antithesis between the one choir-leader and the many followers; but if we take 'achath as referring to the goddess, we can find no intelligible reason or object.

Some again have taken both 'achad and 'achath to be the proper name of the idol. Ever since the time of Scaliger and Groitus, 'achad has been associated with the Phoenician  ̓́Αδωδος βασιλεὺς θεῶν mentioned by Sanchuniathon in Euseb. praep. ev. 1, 10, 21, or with the Assyrian sun-god Adad, of whom Macrobius says (Saturn. 1, 23), Ejus nominis interpretatio significat unus; but we should expect the name of a Babylonian god here, and not of a Phoenician or Assyrian (Syrian) deity. Moreover, Macrobius’ combination of the Syrian Hadad with 'achad was a mere fancy, arising from an imperfect knowledge of the language. Clericus’ combination of 'achath with Hecate, who certainly appears to have been worshipped by the Harranians as a monster, though not under this name, and not in gardens (which would not have suited her character), is also untenable. Now as 'achath cannot be explained as a proper name, and the form of the statement does not favour the idea that 'achar 'achath or 'achar 'achad refers to an idol, we adopt the reading 'achad, and understand it to refer to the hierophant or mystagogue. Jerome follows the keri, and renders it post unam intrinsecus. The reading post januam is an ancient correction, which is not worth tracing to the Aramaean interpretation of 'achar 'achad, “behind a closed door,” and merely rests upon some rectification of the unintelligible post unam. The Targum renders it, “one division after another,” and omits battâvekh. The lxx, on the other hand, omits 'achar 'achad, reads ūbhattâvekh, and renders it καὶ ἐν τοῖς προθύροις (in the inner court). Symmachus and Theodoret follow the Targum and Syriac, and render it ὀπίσω ἀλλήλων, and then pointing the next word בּתוך (which Schelling and Böttcher approve), render the rest ἐν μέσω ἐσθιόντων τὸ κρέας τὸ χοιρεῖον (in the midst of those who eat, etc.). But אכלי commences the further description of those who were indicated first of all by their zealous adoption of heathen customs. Whilst, on the one hand, they readily adopt the heathen ritual; they set themselves on the other hand, in the most daring way, altogether above the law of Jehovah, by eating swine’s flesh (Isa 65:4) and reptiles (sheqets, abomination, used for disgusting animals, such as lizards, snails, etc., Lev 7:21; Lev 11:11),See Levysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, pp. 218-9. and more especially the mouse (Lev 11:29), or according to Jerome and Zwingli the dormouse (glis esculentus), which the Talmud also mentions under the name דברא עכברא (wild mouse) as a dainty bit with epicures, and which was fattened, as is well known, by the Romans in their gliraria.See Levysohn, id. pp. 108-9. A special delicacy was glires isicio porcino, dormice with pork stuffing; see Brillat-Savarin’s Physiologie des Geschmacks, by C. Vogt, p. 253.

However inward and spiritual may be the interpretation given to the law in these prophecies, yet, as we see here, the whole of it, even the laws of food, were regarded as inviolable. So long as God Himself had not taken away the hedges set about His church, every wilful attempt to break through them was a sin, which brought down His wrath and indignation.

Isa 66:18

The prophecy now marks out clearly the way which the history of Israel will take. It is the same as that set forth by Paul, the prophetic apostle, in Rom 9-11 as the winding but memorable path by which the compassion of God will reach its all-embracing end. A universal judgment is the turning-point. “And I, their works and their thoughts - it comes to pass that all nations and tongues are gathered together, that they come and see my glory.” This v. commences in any case with a harsh ellipsis. Hofmann, who regards Isa 66:17 as referring not to idolatrous Israelites, but to the idolatrous world outside Israel, tries to meet the difficulty by adopting this rendering: “And I, saith Jehovah, when their thoughts and actions succeed in bringing together all nations and tongues (to march against Jerusalem), they come and see my glory (i.e., the alarming manifestation of my power).” But what is the meaning of the opening ואנכי (and I), which cannot possibly strengthen the distant כּבודי, as we should be obliged to assume? Or what rule of syntax would warrant our taking בּאה וּמחשׁבתיהם מעשׂיהם as a participial clause in opposition to the accents? Again, it is impossible that ואנכי should mean “et contra me;” or ומחשׁבתיהם מעשׂיהם, “in spite of their works and thoughts,” as Hahn supposes, which leaves ואנכי sevael hc quite unexplained; not to mention other impossibilities which Ewald, Knobel, and others have persuaded themselves to adopt. If we wanted to get rid of the ellipsis, the explanation adopted by Hitzig would recommend itself the most strongly, viz., “and as for me, their works and thoughts have come, i.e., have become manifest (ἥκασιν, Susanna v. 52), so that I shall gather together.” But this separation of לקבּץ בּאה (it is going to gather together) is improbable: moreover, according to the accents, the first clause reaches as far as ומחסבתיהם (with the twin-accent zakeph-munach instead of zakeph and metheg); whereupon the second clause commences with באה, which could not have any other disjunctive accent than zakeph gadol according to the well-defined rules (see, for example, Num 13:27). But if we admit the elliptical character of the expression, we have not to supply ידעתּי (I know), as the Targ., Syr., Saad., Ges., and others do, but, what answers much better to the strength of the emotion which explains the ellipsis, אפקד (I will punish). The ellipsis is similar in character to that of the “Quos ego” of Virgil (Aen. i. 139), and comes under the rhetorical figure aposiopesis: “and I, their works and thoughts (I shall now how to punish).” The thoughts are placed after the works, because the reference is more especially to their plans against Jerusalem, that work of theirs, which has still to be carried out, and which Jehovah turns into a judgment upon them. The passage might have been continued with kı̄ mishpâtı̄ (for my judgment), like the derivative passage in Zep 3:8; but the emotional hurry of the address is still preserved: בּאה (properly accented as a participle) is equivalent to העת(בּא) בּאה  in Jer 51:33; Eze 7:7, Eze 7:12 (cf., הבּאים, Isa 27:6). At the same time there is no necessity to supply anything, since באה by itself may also be taken in a neuter sense, and signify venturum (futurum) est (Eze 39:8). The expression “peoples and tongues” (as in the genealogy of the nations in Gen. 10) is not tautological, since, although the distinctions of tongues and nationalities coincided at first, yet in the course of history they diverged from one another in many ways. All nations and all communities of men speaking the same language does Jehovah bring together (including the apostates of Israel, cf., Zec 14:14): these will come, viz., as Joel describes it in Joe 3:9., impelled by enmity towards Jerusalem, but not without the direction of Jehovah, who makes even what is evil subservient to His plans, and will see His glory - not the glory manifest in grace (Ewald, Umbreit, Stier, Hahn), but His majestic manifestation of judgment, by which they, viz., those who have been encoiled by sinful conduct, are completely overthrown.

Isa 66:19-20

But a remnant escapes; and this remnant is employed by Jehovah to promote the conversion of the Gentile world and the restoration of Israel. “And I set a sign upon them, and send away those that have escaped from them to the Gentiles to Tarshiish, Phûl, and Lûd, to the stretchers of the bow, Tûbal and Javan - the distant islands that have not heard my fame and have not seen my glory, and they will proclaim my glory among the Gentiles. And they will bring your brethren out of all heathen nations, a sacrifice for Jehovah, upon horses and upon chariots, and upon litters and upon mules and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain, to Jerusalem, saith Jehovah, as the children of Israel bring the meat-offering in a clear vessel to the house of Jehovah.” The majority of commentators understand vesamtı̄ bâhem 'ōth (and I set a sign upon them) as signifying, according to Exo 10:2, that Jehovah will perform such a miraculous sign upon the assembled nations as He formerly performed upon Egypt (Hofmann), and one which will outweigh the ten Egyptian 'ōthōth and complete the destruction commenced by them. Hitzig supposes the 'ōth to refer directly to the horrible wonder connected with the battle, in which Jehovah fights against them with fire and sword (compare the parallels so far as the substance is concerned in Joe 3:14-16, Zep 3:8, Eze 38:18., Zec 14:12.). But since, according to the foregoing threat, the expression “they shall see my glory” signifies that they will be brought to experience the judicial revelation of the glory of Jehovah, if vesamtı̄ bâhem 'ōth (and I set a sign upon them) were to be understood in this judicial sense, it would be more appropriate for it to precede than to follow. Moreover, this vesamtı̄ bâhem 'ōth would be a very colourless description of what takes place in connection with the assembled army of nations. It is like a frame without a picture; and consequently Ewald and Umbreit are right in maintaining that what follows directly after is to be taken as the picture for this framework. The 'ōth (or sign) consists in the unexpected and, with this universal slaughter, the surprising fact, that a remnant is still spared, and survives this judicial revelation of glory. This marvellous rescue of individuals out of the mass is made subservient in the midst of judgment to the divine plan of salvation. those who have escaped are to bring to the far distant heathen world the tidings of Jehovah, the God who has been manifested in judgment and grace, tidings founded upon their own experience. It is evident from this, that notwithstanding the expression “all nations and tongues,” the nations that crowd together against Jerusalem and are overthrown in the attempt, are not to be understood as embracing all nations without exception, since the prophet is able to mention the names of many nations which were beyond the circle of these great events, and had been hitherto quite unaffected by the positive historical revelation, which was concentrated in Israel. By Tarshish Knobel understand the nation of the Tyrsenes, Tuscans, or Etruscans; but there is far greater propriety in looking for Tarshish, as the opposite point to 'Ophir, in the extreme west, where the name of the Spanish colony Tartessus resembles it in sound. In the middle ages Tunis was combined with this. Instead of ולוּד פּוּל we should probably read with the lxx ולוּד פּוּט, as in Eze 27:10; Eze 30:5. Stier decides in favour of this, whilst Hitzig and Ewald regard פול as another form of פוט. The epithet קשׁת משׁכי (drawers of the bow) is admirably adapted to the inhabitants of Pūt, since this people of the early Egyptian Phet (Phaiat) is represented ideographically upon the monuments by nine bows. According to Josephus, Ant. i. 6, 2, a river of Mauritania was called Phout, and the adjoining country Phoute; and this is confirmed by other testimonies. As Lud is by no means to be understood as referring to the Lydians of Asia Minor here, if only because they could not well be included among the nations of the farthest historico-geographical horizon in a book which traces prophetically the victorious career of Cyrus, but signifies rather the undoubtedly African tribe, the לוד which Ezekiel mentions in Isa 30:5 among the nations under Egyptian rule, and in Isa 27:10 among the auxiliaries of the Tyrians, and which Jeremiah notices in Jer 46:9 along with Put as armed with bows; Put and Lud form a fitting pair in this relation also, whereas Pul is never met with again. The Targum renders it by פּוּלאי, i.e., (according to Bochart) inhabitants of Φιλαί, a Nile island of Upper Egypt, which Strabo (xvii. 1, 49) calls “a common abode of Ethiopians and Egyptians” (see Parthey’s work, De Philis insula); and this is at any rate better than Knobel’s supposition, that either Apulia (which was certainly called Pul by the Jews of the middle ages) or Lower Italy is intended here. Tubal stands for the Tibarenes on the south-east coast of the Black Sea, the neighbours of the Moschi (משׁך), with whom they are frequently associated by Ezekiel (Eze 27:13; Eze 38:2-3; Eze 39:1); according to Josephus (Ant. i. 6, 1), the (Caucasian) Iberians. Javan is a name given to the Greeks, from the aboriginal tribe of the Bawones. The eye is now directed towards the west: the “isles afar off” are the islands standing out of the great western sea (the Mediterranean), and the coastlands that project into it. To all these nations, which have hitherto known nothing of the God of revelation, either through the hearing of the word or through their own experience, Jehovah sends those who have escaped; and they make known His glory there, that glory the judicial manifestation of which they have just seen for themselves.

The prophet is speaking here of the ultimate completion of the conversion of the Gentiles; for elsewhere this appeared to him as the work of the Servant of Jehovah, for which Cyrus the oppressor of the nations prepared the soil. His standpoint here resembles that of the apostle in Rom 11:25, who describes the conversion of the heathen world and the rescue of all Israel as facts belonging to the future; although at the time when he wrote this, the evangelization of the heathen foretold by our prophet in Isa 42:1. was already progressing most rapidly. A direct judicial act of God Himself will ultimately determine the entrance of the Pleroma of the Gentiles into the kingdom of God, and this entrance of the fulness of the Gentiles will then lead to the recovery of the diaspora of Israel, since the heathen, when won by the testimony borne to Jehovah by those who have been saved, “bring your brethren out of all nations.” On the means employed to carry this into effect, including kirkârōth, a species of camels (female camels), which derives its name from its rapid swaying motion, see the Lexicons.The lxx render it σκιαδίων, i.e., probably palanquins. Jerome observes on this, quae nos dormitoria interpretari possumus vel basternas. (On this word, with which the name of the Bastarnians as ̔Αμαξόβιοι is connected, see Hahnel’s Bedeutung der Bastarner für das german. Alterthum, 1865, p. 34.)

The words are addressed, as in Isa 66:5, to the exiles of Babylonia. The prophet presupposes that his countrymen are dispersed among all nations to the farthest extremity of the geographical horizon. In fact, the commerce of the Israelites, which had extended as far as India and Spain ever since the time of Solomon, the sale of Jewish prisoners as slaves to Phoenicians, Edomites, and Greeks in the time of king Joram (Oba 1:20; Joe 3:6; Amo 1:6), the Assyrian captivities, the free emigrations - for example, of those who stayed behind in the land after the destruction of Jerusalem and then went down to Egypt - had already scattered the Israelites over the whole of the known world (see at Isa 49:12). Umbreit is of opinion that the prophet calls all the nations who had turned to Jehovah “brethren of Israel,” and represents them as marching in the most motley grouping to the holy city. In that case those who were brought upon horses, chariots, etc., would be proselytes; but who would bring them? This explanation is opposed not only to numerous parallels in Isaiah, such as Isa 60:4, but also to the abridgment of the passage in Zep 3:10 : “From the other side of the rivers of Ethiopia (taken from Isa 18:1-7) will they offer my worshippers, the daughters of my dispersed ones, to me for a holy offering.” It is the diaspora of Israel to which the significant name “my worshippers, the daughters of my dispersed ones,” is there applied. The figure hinted at in minchâtı̄ (my holy offering) is given more elaborately here in the book of Isaiah, viz., “as the children of Israel are accustomed (fut. as in Isa 6:2) to offer the meat-offering” (i.e., that which was to be placed upon the altar as such, viz., wheaten flour, incense, oil, the grains of the first-fruits of wheat, etc.) “in a pure vessel to the house of Jehovah,” not in the house of Jehovah, for the point of comparison is not the presentation in the temple, but the bringing to the temple. The minchah is the diaspora of Israel, and the heathen who have become vessels of honour correspond to the clean vessels.

Isa 66:21

The latter, having been incorporated into the priestly congregation of Jehovah (Isa 61:6), are not even excluded from the priestly and Levitical service of the sanctuary. “And I will also add some of them to the priests, to the Levites, saith Jehovah.” Hitzig and Knobel suppose mēhem to refer to the Israelites thus brought home. But in this case something would be promised, which needed no promise at all, since the right of the native cohen and Levites to take part in the priesthood and temple service was by no means neutralized by their sojourn in a foreign land. And even if the meaning were that Jehovah would take those who were brought home for priests and Levites, without regard to their Aaronic or priestly descent, or (as Jewish commentators explain it) without regard to the apostasy, of which through weakness they had made themselves guilty among the heathen; this ought to be expressly stated. But as there is nothing said about any such disregard of priestly descent or apostasy, and what is here promised must be something extraordinary, and not self-evident, meehem must refer to the converted heathen, by whom the Israelites had been brought home. Many Jewish commentators even are unable to throw off the impression thus made by the expression mēhem (of them); but they attempt to get rid of the apparent discrepancy between this statement and the Mosaic law, by understanding by the Gentiles those who had been originally Israelites of Levitical and Aaronic descent, and whom Jehovah would single out again. David Friedländer and David Ottensosser interpret it quite correctly thus: “Mēhem, i.e., of those heathen who bring them home, will He take for priests and Levites, for all will be saints of Jehovah; and therefore He has just compared them to a clean vessel, and the Israelites offered by their hand to a minchâh.” The majority of commentators do not even ask the question, in what sense the prophet uses lakkōhănı̄m lalevayyim (to the priests, to the Levites) with the article. Joseph Kimchi, however, explains it thus: “הכהנים לצורך, to the service of the priests, the Levites, so that they (the converted heathen) take the place of the Gibeonites (cf., Zec 14:21), and therefore of the former Cananaean nethı̄nı̄m” (see Köhler, Nach-exil. Proph. iii. p. 39). But so interpreted, the substance of the promise falls behind the expectation aroused by מהם וגם. Hofmann has adopted a more correct explanation, viz.: “God rewards them for this offering, by taking priests to Himself out of the number of the offering priests, who are added as such to the Levitical priests.” Apart, however, from the fact that ללוים לכהנים cannot well signify “for Levitical priests” according to the Deuteronomic  הכהנים, since this would require הלוים לכהנים (inasmuch as such permutative and more precisely defining expressions as Gen 19:9; Jos 8:24 cannot be brought into comparison); the idea “in addition to the priests, to the Levites,” is really implied in the expression (cf., Isa 56:8), as they would say לאשּׁה לקח and not לאשׁה, and would only use לנּשׁים לקח in the sense of adding to those already there. The article presupposes the existence of priests, Levites (asyndeton, as in Isa 38:14; Isa 41:29; Isa 66:5), to whom Jehovah adds some taken from the heathen. When the heathen shall be converted, and Israel brought back, the temple service will demand a more numerous priesthood and Levitehood than ever before; and Jehovah will then increase the number of those already existing, not only from the מובאים, but from the מביאים also. The very same spirit, which broke through all the restraints of the law in Isa 56:1-12, is to be seen at work here as well. Those who suppose mēhem to refer to the Israelites are wrong in saying that there is no other way, in which the connection with Isa 66:22 can be made intelligible. Friedländer had a certain feeling of what was right, when he took Isa 66:21 to be a parenthesis and connected Isa 66:22 with Isa 66:20. There is no necessity for any parenthesis, however. The reason which follows, relates to the whole of the previous promise, including Isa 66:21; the election of Israel, as Hofmann observes, being equally confirmed by the fact that the heathen exert themselves to bring back the diaspora of Israel to their sacred home, and also by the fact that the highest reward granted to them is, that some of them are permitted to take part in the priestly and Levitical service of the sanctuary.

Isa 66:22 “For as the new heaven and the new earth, which I am about to make, continue before me, saith Jehovah, so will your family and your name continue.” The great mass of the world of nations and of Israel also perish; but the seed and name of Israel, i.e., Israel as a people with the same ancestors and an independent name, continues for ever, like the new heaven and the new earth; and because the calling of Israel towards the world of nations is now fulfilled and everything has become new, the former fencing off of Israel from other nations comes to an end, and the qualification for priesthood and Levitical office in the temple of God is no longer merely natural descent, but inward nobility. The new heaven and the new earth, God’s approaching creation (quae facturus sum), continue eternally before Him (lephânai as in Isa 49:16), for the old ones pass away because they do not please God; but these are pleasing to Him, and are eternally like His love, whose work and image they are. The prophet here thinks of the church of the future as being upon a new earth and under a new heaven. But he cannot conceive of the eternal in the form of eternity; all that he can do is to conceive of it as the endless continuance of the history of time.

Isa 66:23 “And it will come to pass: from new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh will come, to worship before me, saith Jehovah.” New moons and Sabbaths will still be celebrated therefore; and the difference is simply this, that just as all Israel once assembled in Jerusalem at the three great feasts, all flesh now journey to Jerusalem every new moon and every Sabbath. דּי (construct דּי) signifies that which suffices, then that which is plentiful (see Isa 40:16), that which is due or fitting, so that (שׁבת) חדשׁ מדּי (with a temporal, not an explanatory min, as Gesenius supposes) signifies “from the time when, or as often as what is befitting to the new moon (or Sabbath) occurs” (cf., Isa 28:19). If (בשׁבת) בחדשׁ be added, בּ is that of exchange: as often as new moon (Sabbath) for new moon (Sabbath) is befitting, i.e., ought to occur: 1Sa 7:16; Zec 14:16 (cf., 1Sa 1:7; 1Ki 10:25; 1Ch 27:1 : “year by year,” “month by month”). When we find (בּשׁבּתּו) בּחדשׁו as we do here, the meaning is, “as often as it has to occur on one new moon (or Sabbath) after the other,” i.e., in the periodical succession of one after another. At the same time it might be interpreted in accordance with 1Ki 8:59, בּיומו יום דּבר, which does not mean the obligation of one day after the other, but rather “of a day on the fitting day” (cf., Num 28:10, Num 28:14), although the meaning of change and not of a series might be sustained in the passage before us by the suffixless mode of expression which occurs in connection with it.

Isa 66:24

They who go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem every new moon and Sabbath, see there with their own eyes the terrible punishment of the rebellious. “And they go out and look at the corpses of the men that have rebelled against me, for their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched, and they become an abomination to all flesh.” They perfects are perf. cons. regulated by the foregoing יבוא. ויצאוּ (accented with pashta in our editions, but more correctly with munach) refers to their going out of the holy city. The prophet had predicted in Isa 66:18, that in the last times the whole multitude of the enemies of Jerusalem would be crowded together against it, in the hope of getting possession of it. This accounts for the fact that the neighbourhood of Jerusalem becomes such a scene of divine judgment. בּ ראה always denotes a fixed, lingering look directed to any object; here it is connected with the grateful feeling of satisfaction at the righteous acts of God and their own gracious deliverance. דראון, which only occurs again in Dan 12:2, is the strongest word for “abomination.” It is very difficult to imagine the picture which floated before the prophet’s mind. How is it possible that all flesh, i.e., all men of all nations, should find room in Jerusalem and the temple? Even if the city and temple should be enlarged, as Ezekiel and Zechariah predict, the thing itself still remains inconceivable. And again, how can corpses be eaten by worms at the same time as they are being burned, or how can they be the endless prey of worms and fire without disappearing altogether from the sight of man? It is perfectly obvious, that the thing itself, as here described, must appear monstrous and inconceivable, however we may suppose it to be realized. The prophet, by the very mode of description adopted by him, precludes the possibility of our conceiving of the thing here set forth as realized in any material form in this present state. He is speaking of the future state, but in figures drawn from the present world. The object of his prediction is no other than the new Jerusalem of the world to come, and the eternal torment of the damned; but the way in which he pictures it, forces us to translate it out of the figures drawn from this life into the realities of the life to come; as has already been done in the apocryphal books of Judith Judith(16:17) and Wisdom Wisdom(7:17), as well as in the New Testament, e.g., Mar 9:43., with evident reference to this passage. This is just the distinction between the Old Testament and the New, that the Old Testament brings down the life to come to the level of this life, whilst the New Testament lifts up this life to the level of the life to come; that the Old Testament depicts both this life and the life to come as an endless extension of this life, whilst the New Testament depicts is as a continuous line in two halves, the last point in this finite state being the first point of the infinite state beyond; that the Old Testament preserves the continuity of this life and the life to come by transferring the outer side, the form, the appearance of this life to the life to come, the New Testament by making the inner side, the nature, the reality of the life to come, the δυνάμεις με λλοντος αἰῶνος, immanent in this life. The new Jerusalem of our prophet has indeed a new heaven above it and a new earth under it, but it is only the old Jerusalem of earth lifted up to its highest glory and happiness; whereas the new Jerusalem of the Apocalypse comes down from heaven, and is therefore of heavenly nature. In the former dwells the Israel that has been brought back from captivity; in the latter, the risen church of those who are written in the book of life. And whilst our prophet transfers the place in which the rebellious are judged to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem itself; in the Apocalypse, the lake of fire in which the life of the ungodly is consumed, and the abode of God with men, are for ever separated. The Hinnom-valley outside Jerusalem has become Gehenna, and this is no longer within the precincts of the new Jerusalem, because there is no need of any such example to the righteous who are for ever perfect.

In the lessons prepared for the synagogue Isa 66:23 is repeated after Isa 66:24, on account of the terrible character of the latter, “so as to close with words of consolation.”Isaiah is therefore regarded as an exception to the rule, that the prophets close their orations ותנחומים שבח בדברי (b. Berachoth 31 a), although, on the other hand, this exception is denied by some, on the ground that the words “they shall be an abhorring” apply to the Gentiles (j. Berachoth c. V. Anf. Midras Tillim on Psa 4:8).

But the prophet, who has sealed the first two sections of these prophetic orations with the words, “there is no peace to the wicked,” intentionally closes the third section with this terrible picture of their want of peace. The promises have gradually soared into the clear light of the eternal glory, to the new creation in eternity; and the threatenings have sunk down to the depth of eternal torment, which is the eternal foil of the eternal light. More than this we could not expect from our prophet. His threefold book is now concluded. It consists of twenty-seven orations. The central one of the whole, i.e., the fourteenth, is Isaiah 52:13-53:12; so that the cross forms the centre of this prophetic trilogy. Per crucem ad lucem is its watchword. The self-sacrifice of the Servant of Jehovah lays the foundation for a new Israel, a new human race, a new heaven and a new earth.

The Vanity of Mere Ritual Obedience. (b. c. 706.)

1 Thus saith the Lord , The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord : but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. 3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

Here, I. The temple is slighted in comparison with a gracious soul, v. 1, 2. The Jews in the prophet's time, and afterwards in Christ's time, gloried much in the temple and promised themselves great things from it; to humble them therefore, and to shake their vain confidence, both the prophets and Christ foretold the ruin of the temple, that God would leave it and then it would soon be desolate. After it was destroyed by the Chaldeans it soon recovered itself and the ceremonial services were revived with it; but by the Romans it was made a perpetual desolation, and the ceremonial law was abolished with it. That the world might be prepared for this, they were often told, as here, of what little account the temple was with God. 1. That he did not need it. Heaven is the throne of his glory and government; there he sits, infinitely exalted in the highest dignity and dominion, above all blessing and praise. The earth is his footstool, on which he stands, over-ruling all the affairs of it according to his will. If God has so bright a throne, so large a footstool, where then is the house they can build unto God, that can be the residence of his glory, or where is the place of his rest? What satisfaction can the Eternal Mind take in a house made with men's hands? What occasion has he, as we have, for a house to repose himself in, who faints not neither is weary, who neither slumbers nor sleeps? Or, if he had occasion, he would not tell us (Ps. l. 12), for all these things hath his hand made, heaven and all its courts, earth and all its borders, and all the hosts of both. All these things have been, have had their beginning, by the power of God, who was happy from eternity before they were, and therefore could not be benefited by them. All these things are (so some read it); they still continue, upheld by the same power that made them; so that our goodness extends not to him. If he required a house for himself to dwell in, he would have made one himself when he made the world; and, if he had made one, it would have continued to this day, as other creatures do, according to his ordinance; so that he had no need of a temple made with hands. 2. That he would not heed it as he would a humble, penitent, gracious heart. He has a heaven and earth of his own making, and a temple of man's making; but he overlooks them all, that he may look with favour to him that is poor in spirit, humble and serious, self-abasing and self-denying, whose heart is truly contrite for sin, penitent for it, and in pain to get it pardoned, and who trembles at God's word, not as Felix did, with a transient qualm that was over when the sermon was done, but with an habitual awe of God's majesty and purity and an habitual dread of his justice and wrath. Such a heart is a living temple for God; he dwells there, and it is the place of his rest; it is like heaven and earth, his throne and his footstool.

II. Sacrifices are slighted when they come from ungracious hands. The sacrifice of the wicked is not only unacceptable, but it is an abomination to the Lord (Prov. xv. 8); this is largely shown here, v. 3, 4. Observe, 1. How detestable their sacrifices were to God. The carnal Jews, after their return out of captivity, though they relapsed not to idolatry, grew very careless and loose in the service of God; they brought the torn, and the lame, and the sick for sacrifice (Mal. i. 8, 13), and this made their services abominable to God; they had no regard to their sacrifices, and therefore how could they think God would have any regard to them? The unbelieving Jews, after the gospel was preached and in it notice given of the offering up of the great sacrifice, which put an end to all the ceremonial services, continued to offer sacrifices, as if the law of Moses had been still in force and could make the comers thereunto perfect: this was an abomination. He that kills an ox for his own table is welcome to do it; but he that now kills it, that thus kills it, for God's altar, is as if he slew a man; it is as great an offence to God as murder itself; he that does it does in effect set aside Christ's sacrifice, treads under foot the blood of the covenant, and makes himself accessory to the guilt of the body and blood of the Lord, setting up what Christ died to abolish. He that sacrifices a lamb, if it be a corrupt thing, and not the male in his flock, the best he has, if he think to put God off with any thing, he affronts him, instead of pleasing him; it is as if he cut off a dog's neck, a creature in the eye of the law so vile that, whereas an ass might be redeemed, the price of a dog was never to be brought into the treasury, Deut. xxiii. 18. He that offers an oblation, a meat offering or drink-offering, is as if he thought to make atonement with swine's blood, a creature that must not be eaten nor touched, the broth of it was abominable (ch. lxv. 4), much more the blood of it. He that burns incense to God, and so puts contempt upon the incense of Christ's intercession, is as if he blessed an idol; it was as great an affront to God as if they had paid their devotions to a false god. Hypocrisy and profaneness are as provoking as idolatry. 2. What their wickedness was which made their sacrifices thus detestable. It was because they had chosen their own ways, the ways of their own wicked hearts, and not only their hands did but their souls delighted in their abominations. They were vicious and immoral in their conversations, chose the way of sin rather than the way of God's commandments, and took pleasure in that which was provoking to God; this made their sacrifices so offensive to God, ch. i. 11-15. Those that pretend to honour God by a profession of religion, and yet live wicked lives, put an affront upon him, as if he were the patron of sin. And that which was an aggravation of their wickedness was that they persisted in it, notwithstanding the frequent calls given them to repent and reform; they turned a deaf ear to all the warnings of divine justice and all the offers of divine grace: When I called, none did answer, as before, ch. lxv. 12. And the same follows here that did there: They did evil before my eyes. Being deaf to what he said, they cared not what he saw, but chose that in which they knew he delighted not. How could those expect to please him in their devotions who took no care to please him in their conversations, but, on the contrary, designed to provoke him? 3. The doom passed upon them for this. Theychose their own ways, therefore, says God, I also will choose their delusions. They have made their choice (as Mr. Gataker paraphrases it), and now I will make mine; they have taken what course they pleased with me, and I will take what course I please with them. I will choose their illusions, or mockeries (so some); as they have mocked God and dishonoured him by their wickedness, so God will give them up to their enemies, to be trampled upon and insulted by them. Or they shall be deceived by those vain confidences with which they have deceived themselves. God will make their sin their punishment; they shall be beaten with their own rod and hurried into ruin by their own delusions. God will bring their fears upon them, that is, will bring upon them that which shall be a great terror to them, or that which they themselves have been afraid of and thought to escape by sinful shifts. Unbelieving hearts, and unpurified unpacified consciences, need no more to make them miserable than to have their own fears brought upon them.

Encouragement to the Persecuted; The Enlargement of the Church. (b. c. 706.)

5 Hear the word of the Lord , ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. 6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompence to his enemies. 7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord : shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. 10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: 11 That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus saith the Lord , Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like a herb: and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.

The prophet, having denounced God's judgments against a hypocritical nation, that made a jest of God's word and would not answer him when he called to them, here turns his speech to those that trembled at his word, to comfort and encourage them; they shall not be involved in the judgments that are coming upon their unbelieving nation. Ministers must distinguish thus, that, when they speak terror to the wicked, they may not make the hearts of the righteous sad. Bone Christiane, hoc nihil ad te—Good Christian, this is nothing to thee. The prophet, having assured those that tremble at God's word of a gracious look from him (v. 2), here brings them a gracious message from him. The word of God has comforts in store for those that by true humiliation for sin are prepared to receive them. There were those (v. 4) who, when God spoke, would not hear; but, if some will not, others will. If the heart tremble at the word, the ear will be open to it. Now what is here said to them?

I. Let them know that God will plead their just but injured cause against their persecutors (v. 5): Your brethren that hated you said, Let the Lord be glorified. But he shall appear to your joy. This perhaps might have reference to the case of some of the Jews at their return out of captivity; but nothing like it appears in the history, and therefore it is rather to be referred to the first preachers and professors of the gospel among the Jews, to whose case it is very applicable. Observe, 1. How the faithful servants of God were persecuted: Their brethren hated them. The apostles were Jews by birth, and yet even in the cities of the Gentiles the Jews they met with there were their most bitter and implacable enemies and stirred up the Gentiles against them. The spouse complains (Cant. i. 6) that her mother's children were angry with her. Pilate upbraided our Lord Jesus with this, Thy own nation have delivered thee unto me, John xviii. 35. Their brethren, who should have loved them and encouraged them for their work's sake hated them, and cast them out of their synagogues, excommunicated them as if they had been the greatest blemishes, when they were really the greatest blessings, of their church and nation. This was a fruit of the old enmity in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman. Those that hated Christ hated his disciples, because they supported his kingdom and interest (John xv. 18), and they cast them out for his name's sake, because they were called by his name, and called upon his name, and laid out themselves to advance his name. Note, It is no new thing for church censures to be misapplied, and for her artillery, which was intended for her defence, to be turned against her best friends, by the treachery of her governors. And those that did this said, Let the Lord be glorified; they pretended conscience and a zeal for the honour of God and the church in it, and did it with all the formalities of devotion. Our Saviour explains this, and seems to have reference to it, John xvi. 2. They shall put you out of their synagogues, and whosoever kills you will think that he does God service. In nomine Domini incipit omne malum—In the name of the Lord commences evil of every kind. Or we may understand it as spoken in defiance of God: "You say God will be glorified in your deliverance; let him be glorified then; let him make speed and hasten his work (ch. v. 19); let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him." Some take it to be the language of the profane Jews in captivity, bantering their brethren that hoped for deliverance, and ridiculing the expectations they often comforted themselves with, that God would shortly be glorified in it. They thus did what they could to shame the counsel of the poor, Ps. xiv. 6. 2. How they were encouraged under these persecutions: "Let your faith and patience hold out yet a little while; your enemies hate you and oppress you, your brethren hate you and cast you out, but your Father in heaven loves you, and will appear for you when no one else will or dare. His providence shall order things so as shall be for comfort to you; he shall appear for your joy and for the confusion of those that abuse you and trample on you; they shall be ashamed of their enmity to you." This was fulfilled when, upon the signals given of Jerusalem's approaching ruin, the Jews' hearts failed them for fear; but the disciples of Christ, whom they had hated and persecuted, lifted up their heads with joy, knowing that their redemption drew nigh, Luke xxi. 26, 28. Though God seem to hide himself, he will in due time show himself.

II. Let them know that God's appearances for them will be such as will make a great noise in the world (v. 6): There shall be a voice of noise from the city, from the temple. Some make it the joyful and triumphant voice of the church's friends, others the frightful lamenting voice of her enemies, surprised in the city, and fleeing in vain to the temple for shelter. These voices do but echo to the voice of the Lord, who is now rendering a recompence to his enemies; and those that will not hear him speaking this terror shall hear them returning the alarms of it in doleful shrieks. We may well think what a confused noise there was in the city and temple when Jerusalem, after a long siege, was at last taken by the Romans. Some think this prophecy was fulfilled in the prodigies that went before that destruction of Jerusalem, related by Josephus in his History of the Wars of the Jews (4.388 and 6.311), that the temple-doors flew open suddenly of their own accord, and the priests heard a noise of motion or shifting in the most holy place, and presently a voice, saying, Let us depart hence. And, some time after, one Jesus Bar-Annas went up and down the city, at the feast of tabernacles, continually crying, A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against all this people.

III. Let them know that God will set up a church for himself in the world, which shall be abundantly replenished in a little time (v. 7): Before she travailed she brought forth. This is to be applied in the type to the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon, which was brought about very easily and silently, without any pain or struggle, such as was when they were brought out of Egypt; that was done by might and power (Deut. iv. 34), but this by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, Zech. iv. 6. The man-child of the deliverance is rejoiced in, and yet the mother was never in labour for it; before her pain came she was delivered. This is altogether surprising, uncommon, and without precedent, unless in the story which the Egyptian midwives told of the Hebrew women (Exod. i. 19), that they were lively and were delivered ere the midwives came in unto them. But shall the earth be made to bring forth her fruits in one day? No, it is the work of some weeks in the spring to renew the face of the earth and cover it with its products. Some read this to the same purport with the next clause, Shall a land be brought forth in one day, or shall a nation be born at once? Is it to be imagined that a woman at one birth should bring children sufficient to people a country and that they should in an instant grow up to maturity? No; something like this was done in the creation; but God has since rested from all such works, and leaves second causes to produce their effects gradually. Nihil facit per saltum—He does nothing abruptly. Yet, in this case, as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth. Cyrus's proclamation was no sooner issued out than the captives were formed into a body and were ready to make the best of their way to their own land. And the reason is given (v. 9), because it is the Lord's doing; he undertakes it whose work is perfect. If he bring to the birth in preparing his people for deliverance, he will cause to bring forth in the accomplishment of the deliverance. When every thing is ripe and ready for their release, and the number of their months is accomplished, so that the children are brought to the birth, shall not I then give strength to bring forth, but leave mother and babe to perish together in the most miserable case? How will this agree with the divine pity? Shall I begin a work and not go through with it? How will that agree with the divine power and perfection? Am I he that causes to bring forth (so the following clause may be read) and shall I restrain her? Does God cause mankind, and all the species of living creatures, to propagate, and replenish the earth, and will he restrain Zion? Will he not make her fruitful in a blessed offspring to replenish the church? Or, Am I he that begat, and should I restrain from bringing forth? Did God beget the deliverance in his purpose and promise, and will he not bring it forth in the accomplishment and performance of it? But this was a figure of the setting up of the Christian church in the world, and the replenishing of that family with children which was to be named from Jesus Christ. When the Spirit was poured out, and the gospel went forth from Zion, multitudes were converted in a little time and with little pains compared with the vast product. The apostles, even before they travailed, brought forth, and the children born to Christ were so numerous, and so suddenly and easily produced, that they were rather like the dew from the morning's womb than like the son from the mother's womb, Ps. cx. 3. The success of the gospel was astonishing; that light, like the morning, strangely diffused itself till it took hold even of the ends of the earth. Cities and nations were born at once to Christ. The same day that the Spirit was poured out there were 3000 souls added to the church. And, when this glorious work was once begun, it was carried on wonderfully, beyond what could be imagined, so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. He that brought to the birth in conviction of sin caused to bring forth in a thorough conversion to God.

IV. Let them know that their present sorrows shall shortly be turned into abundant joys, v. 10, 11. Observe, 1. How the church's friends are described; they are such as love her, and mourn with her and for her. Note, All that love God love Jerusalem; they love the church of God, and lay its interest very near their heart. They admire the beauty of the church, take pleasure in communion with it, and heartily espouse its cause. And those that have a sincere affection for the church have a cordial sympathy with her in all the cares and sorrows of her militant state. They mourn for her; all her grievances are their griefs; if Jerusalem be in distress, their harps are hung on the willow-trees. 2. How they are encouraged: Rejoice with her, and again and again I say, Rejoice. This intimates that Jerusalem shall have cause to rejoice; the days of her mourning shall be at an end, and she shall be comforted according to the time that she has been afflicted. It is the will of God that all her friends should join with her in her joys, for they shall share with her in those blessings that will be the matter of her joy. If we suffer with Christ and sorrow with his church, we shall reign with him and rejoice with her. We are here called, (1.) To bear our part in the church's praises: "Come, rejoice with her, rejoice for joy with her, rejoice greatly, rejoice and know why you rejoice, rejoice on the days appointed for public thanksgiving. You that mourned for her in her sorrows cannot but from the same principle rejoice with her in her joys." (2.) To take our part in the church's comforts. We must suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolation. The word of God, the covenant of grace (especially the promises of that covenant), the ordinances of God, and all the opportunities of attending on him and conversing with him, are the breasts, which the church calls and counts the breasts of her consolations, where her comforts are laid up, and whence by faith and prayer they are drawn. With her therefore we must suck from these breasts, by an application of the promises of God to ourselves and a diligent attendance on his ordinances; and with the consolations which are drawn hence we must be satisfied, and not be dissatisfied though we have ever so little of earthly comforts. It is the glory of the church that she has the Lord for her God, that to her pertain the adoption and the service of God; and with the abundance of this glory we must be delighted. We must take more pleasure in our relation to God and communion with him than in all the delights of the sons and daughters of men. Whatever is the glory of the church must be our glory and joy, particularly her purity, unity, and increase.

V. Let them know that he who gives them this call to rejoice will give them cause to do so and hearts to do so, v. 12-14.

1. He will give them cause to do so. For, (1.) They shall enjoy a long uninterrupted course of prosperity: I will extend, or am extending, peace to her (that is, all good to her) like a river that runs in a constant stream, still increasing till it be swallowed up in the ocean. The gospel brings with it, wherever it is received in its power, such peace as this, which shall go on like a river, supplying souls with all good and making them fruitful, as a river does the lands it passes through, such a river of peace as the springs of the world's comforts cannot send forth and the dams of the world's troubles cannot stop nor drive back nor its sand rack up, such a river of peace as will carry us to the ocean of boundless and endless bliss. (2.) There shall be large and advantageous additions made to them: The glory of the Gentiles shall come to them like a flowing stream. Gentiles converts shall come pouring into the church, and swell the river of her peace and prosperity; for they shall bring their glory with them; their wealth and honour, their power and interest, shall all be devoted to the service of God and employed for the good of the church: "Then shall you suck from the breasts of her consolations. When you see such crowding for a share in those comforts you shall be the more solicitous and the more vigorous to secure your share, not for fear of having the less for others coming in to partake of Christ" (there is no danger of that; he has enough for all and enough for each), "but their zeal shall provoke you to a holy jealousy." It is well when it does so, Rom. xi. 14; 2 Cor. ix. 2. (3.) God shall be glorified in all, and that ought to be more the matter of our joy than any thing else (v. 14): The hand of the Lord shall be known towards his servants, the protecting supporting hand of his almighty power, the supplying enriching hand of his inexhaustible goodness; the benefit which his servants have by both these shall be known to his glory as well as theirs. And, to make this the more illustrious, he will at the same time make known his indignation towards his enemies. God's mercy and justice shall both be manifested and for ever magnified.

2. God will not only give them cause to rejoice, but will speak comfort to them, will speak it to their hearts; and it is he only that can do that, and make it fasten there. See what he will do for the comfort of all the sons of Zion. (1.) Their country shall be their tender nurse: You shall be carried on her sides, under her arms, as little children are, and shall be dangled upon her knees, as darlings are, especially when they are weary and out of humour, and must be got to sleep. Those that are joined to the church must be treated thus affectionately. The great Shepherd gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in his bosom, and so must the under-shepherds, that they may not be discouraged. Proselytes should be favourites. (2.) God will himself be their powerful comforter: As one whom his mother comforts, when he is sick or sore, or upon any account in sorrow, so will I comfort you; not only with the rational arguments which a prudent father uses, but with the tender affections and compassions of a loving mother, that bemoans her afflicted child when it has fallen and hurt itself, that she may quiet it and make it easy, or endeavours to pacify it after she has chidden it and fallen out with it (Jer. xxxi. 20): Since I spoke against him, my bowels are troubled for him; he is a dear son, he is a pleasant child. Thus the mother comforts. Thus you shall be comforted in Jerusalem, in the favours bestowed on the church, which you shall partake of, and in the thanksgivings offered by the church, which you shall concur with. (3.) They shall feel the blessed effects of this comfort in their own souls (v. 13): When you see this, what a happy state the church is restored to, not only your tongues and your countenances, but your hearts shall rejoice. This was fulfilled in the wonderful satisfaction which Christ's disciples had in the success of their ministry. Christ, with an eye to that, tells them (John xvi. 22), Your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you. Then your bones, that were dried and withered (the marrow of them quite exhausted), shall recover a youthful strength and vigour and shall flourish like a herb. Divine comforts reach the inward man; they are marrow and moistening to the bones, Prov. iii. 8. The bones are the strength of the body; those shall be made to flourish with these comforts. The joy of the Lord will be your strength, Neh. viii. 10.

Divine Judgment; Judgment and Mercy; The Enlargement of the Church. (b. c.  706.)

15 For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. 17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord . 18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. 20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord , as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord . 21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord . 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord , so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord . 24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

These verses, like the pillar of cloud and fire, have a dark side towards the enemies of God's kingdom and all that are rebels against his crown, and a bright side towards his faithful loyal subjects. Probably they refer to the Jews in captivity in Babylon, of whom some are said to have been sent thither for their hurt, and with them God here threatens to proceed in his controversy; they hated to be reformed, and therefore should be ruined by the calamity (Jer. xxiv. 9); others were sent thither for their good, and they should have the trouble sanctified to them, should in due time get well through it and see many a good day after it. Many of the expressions here used are accommodated to that glorious dispensation; but doubtless the prophecy looks further, to the judgment for which Christ did come once, and will come again, into this world, and to the distinction which his word in both makes between the precious and the vile.

I. Christ will appear to the confusion and terror of all those that stand it out against him. Sometimes he will appear in temporal judgments. The Jews that persisted in infidelity were cut off by fire and by his sword. The ruin was very extensive; the Lord then pleaded with all flesh; and, it being his sword with which they are cut off, they are called his slain, sacrificed to his justice, and they shall be many. In the great day the wrath of God will be his fire and sword, with which he will cut off and consume all the impenitent; and his word, when it takes hold of sinners' consciences, burns like fire, and is sharper than any two-edged sword. Idolaters will especially be contended with in the day of wrath, v. 17. Perhaps some of those who returned out of Babylon retained such instances of idolatry and superstition as are here mentioned, had their idols in their gardens (not daring to set them up publicly in the high places) and there purified themselves (as the worshippers of the true God used to do) when they went about their idolatrous rites, one after another, or, as we read it, behind one tree in the midst, behind Ahad or Ehad, some idol that they worshipped by that name and in honour of which they ate swine's flesh (which was expressly forbidden by the law of God), and other abominations, as the mouse, or some other like animal. But the prophecy may refer to all those judgments which the wrath of God, according to the word of God, will bring upon provoking sinners, that live in contempt of God and are devoted to the world and the flesh: They shall be consumed together. From the happiness of heaven we find expressly excluded all idolaters, and whosoever worketh abomination, Rev. xxi. 27; xxii. 15. In the day of vengeance secret wickedness will be brought to light and brought to the account; for (v. 18), I know their works and their thoughts. God knows both what men do and from what principle and with what design they do it; and therefore is fit to judge the world, because he can judge the secrets of men, Rom. ii. 16.

II. He will appear to the comfort and joy of all that are faithful to him in the setting up of his kingdom in this world, the kingdom of grace, the earnest and first-fruits of the kingdom of glory. The time shall come that he will gather all nations and tongues to himself, that they may come and see his glory as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, v. 18. This was fulfilled when all nations were to be discipled and the gift of tongues was bestowed in order thereunto. The church had hitherto been confined to one nation and in one tongue only God was worshipped; but in the days of the Messiah the partition-wall should be taken down, and those that had been strangers to God should be brought acquainted with him and should see his glory in the gospel, as the Jews had seen it in the sanctuary. As to this, it is here promised,

1. That some of the Jewish nation should, by the grace of God, be distinguished form the rest, and marked for salvation: I will not only set up a gathering ensign among them, to which the Gentiles shall seek (as is promised, ch. xi. 12), but there shall be those among them on whom I will set a differencing sign; for so the word signifies. Though they are a corrupt degenerate nation, yet God will set apart a remnant of them, that shall be devoted to him and employed for him, and a mark shall be set upon them, with such certainty will God own them, Ezek. ix. 4. The servants of God shall be sealed in their foreheads, Rev. vii. 3. The Lord knows those that are his. Christ's sheep are marked.

2. That those who are themselves distinguished thus by the grace of God shall be commissioned to invite others to come and take the benefit of that grace. Those that escape the power of those prejudices by which the generality of that nation is kept in unbelief shall be sent to the nations to carry the gospel among them, and preach it to every creature. Note, Those who themselves have escaped the wrath to come should do all they can to snatch others also as brands out of the burning. God chooses to send those on his errands that can deliver their message feelingly and experimentally, and warn people of their danger by sin as those who have themselves narrowly escaped the danger. (1.) They shall be sent to the nations, several of which are here named, Tarshish, and Pul, and Lud, &c. It is uncertain, nor are interpreters agreed, what countries are here intended. Tarshish signifies in general the sea, yet some take it for Tarsus in Cilicia. Pul is mentioned sometimes as the name of one of the kings of Assyria; perhaps some part of that country might likewise bear that name. Lud is supposed to be Lydia, a warlike nation, famed for archers: the Lydians are said to handle and bend the bow, Jer. xlvi. 9. Tubal, some think, is Italy or Spain; and Javan most agree to be Greece, the Iones; and the isles of the Gentiles, that were peopled by the posterity of Japhet (Gen. x. 5), probably are here meant by the isles afar off, that have not heard my name, neither have seen my glory. In Judah only was God known, and there only his name was great for many ages. Other countries sat in darkness, heard no the joyful sound, saw not the joyful light. This deplorable state of theirs seems to be spoken of here with compassion; for it is a pity that any of the children of men should be at such a distance from their Maker as not to hear his name and see his glory. In consideration of this, (2.) Those that are sent to the nations shall go upon God's errand, to declare his glory among the Gentiles. The Jews that shall be dispersed among the nations shall declare the glory of God's providence concerning their nation all along, by which many shall be invited to join with them, as also by the appearances of God's glory among them in his ordinances. Some out of all languages of the nations shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, entreating him to take notice of them, to admit them into his company, and to stay a little while for them, till they are ready, "for we will go with you, having heard that God is with you," Zech. viii. 23. Thus the glory of God was in part declared among the Gentiles; but more clearly and fully by the apostles and early preachers of the gospel, who were sent into all the world, even to the isles afar off, to publish the glorious gospel of the blessed God. They went forth and preached every where, the Lord working with them, Mark xvi. 20.

3. That many converts shall hereby be made, v. 20.

(1.) They shall bring all your brethren (for proselytes ought to be owned and embraced as brethren) for an offering unto the Lord. God's glory shall not be in vain declared to them, but they shall be both invited and directed to join themselves to the Lord. Those that are sent to them shall succeed so well in their negotiation that thereupon there shall be as great flocking to Jerusalem as used to be at the time of a solemn feast, when all the males from all parts of the country were to attend there, and not to appear empty. Observe, [1.] The conveniences that they shall be furnished with for their coming. Some shall come upon horses, because they came from far and the journey was too long to travel on foot, as the Jews usually did to their feasts. Persons of quality shall come in chariots, and the aged, and sickly, and little children, shall be brought in litters or covered wagons, and the young men on mules and swift beasts. This intimates their zeal and forwardness to come. They shall spare no trouble nor charge to get to Jerusalem. Those that cannot ride on horseback shall come in litters; and in such haste shall they be, and so impatient of delay, that those that can shall ride upon mules and swift beasts. These expressions are figurative, and these various means of conveyance are heaped up to intimate (says the learned Mr. Gataker) the abundant provision of all those gracious helps requisite for the bringing of God's elect home to Christ. All shall be welcome, and nothing shall be wanting for their assistance and encouragement. [2.] The character under which they shall be brought. They shall come, not as formerly they used to come to Jerusalem, to be offerers, but to be themselves an offering unto the Lord, which must be understood spiritually, of their being presented to God as living sacrifices, Rom. xii. 1. The apostle explains this, and perhaps refers to it, Rom. xv. 16, where he speaks of his ministering the gospel to the Gentiles, that the offering up, or sacrificing, of the Gentiles might be acceptable. They shall offer themselves, and those who are the instruments of their conversion shall offer them, as the spoils which they have taken for Christ and which are devoted to his service and honour. They shall be brought as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel, with great care that they be holy, purified from sin, and sanctified to God. It is said of the converted Gentiles (Acts xv. 9) that their hearts were purified by faith. Whatever was brought to God was brought in a clean vessel, a vessel appropriated to religious uses. God will be served and honoured in the way that he has appointed, in the ordinances of his own institution, which are the proper vehicles for these spiritual offerings. When the soul is offered up to God the body must be a clean vessel for it, possessed in sanctification and honour, and not in the lusts of uncleanness (1 Thess. iv. 4, 5); and converts to Christ are not only purged from an evil conscience, but have their bodies also washed with pure water, Heb. x. 22. Now,

(2.) This may refer, [1.] To the Jews, devout men, and proselytes out of every nation under heaven, that flocked together to Jerusalem, expecting the kingdom of the Messiah to appear, Acts ii. 5, 6, 10. They came from all parts to the holy mountain of Jerusalem, as an offering to the Lord, and there many of them were brought to the faith of Christ by the gift of tongues poured out on the apostles. Methinks there is some correspondence between that history and this prophecy. The eunuch some time after came to worship at Jerusalem in his chariot and took home with him the knowledge of Christ and his holy religion. [2.] To the Gentiles, some of all nations, that should be converted to Christ, and so added to his church, which, though a spiritual accession, is often in prophecy represented by a local motion. The apostle says of all true Christians that they have come to Mount Zion, and the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. xii. 22), which explains this passage, and shows that the meaning of all this parade is only that they shall be brought into the church by the grace of God, and in the use of the means of that grace, as carefully, safely, and comfortably, as if they were carried in chariots and litters. Thus God shall persuade Japhet and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, Gen. ix. 27.

4. That a gospel ministry shall be set up in the church, it being thus enlarged by the addition of such a multitude of members to it (v. 21): I will take of them (of the proselytes, of the Gentile converts) for priests and for Levites, to minister in holy things and to preside in their religious assemblies, which is very necessary for doctrine, worship, and discipline. Hitherto the priests and Levites were all taken from among the Jews and were all of one tribe; but in gospel times God will take of the converted Gentiles to minister to him in holy things, to teach the people, to bless them in the name of the Lord, to be the stewards of the mysteries of God as the priests and Levites were under the law, to be pastors and teachers (or bishops), to give themselves to the word and prayer, and deacons to serve tables, and, as the Levites, to take care of the outward business of the house of God, Phil. i. 1; Acts vi. 2-4. The apostles were all Jews, and so were the seventy disciples; the great apostle of the Gentiles was himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews; but, when churches were planted among the Gentiles, they had ministers settled who were of themselves, elders in every church (Acts xiv. 23, Tit. i. 5), which made the ministry to spread the more easily, and to be the more familiar, and, if not the more venerable, yet the more acceptable; gospel grace, it might be hoped, would cure people of those corruptions which kept a prophet from having honour in his own country. God says, I will take, not all of them, though they are all in a spiritual sense made to our God kings and priests, but of them, some of them. It is God's work originally to choose ministers by qualifying them for and inclining them to the service, as well as to make ministers by giving them their commission. I will take them, that is, I will admit them, though Gentiles, and will accept of them and their ministrations. This is a great honour and advantage to the Gentile church, as it was to the Jewish church that God raised up of their sons for prophets and their young men for Nazarites, Amos ii. 11.

5. That the church and ministry, being thus settled, shall continue and be kept up in a succession from one generation to another, v. 22. The change that will be made by the setting up of the kingdom of the Messiah is here described to be, (1.) A very great and universal change; it shall be a new world, the new heavens and the new earth promised before, ch. lxv. 17. Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new (2 Cor. v. 17), the old covenant of peculiarity is set aside, and a new covenant, a covenant of grace, established, Heb. viii. 13. We are now to serve in newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter, Rom. vii. 6. New commandments are given relating both to heaven and earth, and new promises relating to both, and both together make a New Testament; so that they are new heavens and a new earth that God will create, and these a preparative for the new heavens and new earth designed at the end of time, 2 Pet. iii. 13. (2.) A change of God's own making; he will create the new heavens and the new earth. The change was made by him that had authority to make new ordinances, as well as power to make new worlds. (3.) It will be an abiding lasting change, a change never to be changed, a new world that will be always new, and never wax old, as that does which is ready to vanish away: It shall remain before me unalterable; for the gospel dispensation is to continue to the end of time and not to be succeeded by any other. The kingdom of Christ is a kingdom that cannot be moved; the laws and privileges of it are things that cannot be shaken, but shall for ever remain, Heb. xii. 27, 28. It shall therefore remain, because it is before God; it is under his eye, and care, and special protection. (4.) It will be maintained in a seed that shall serve Christ: Your seed, and in them your name, shall remain—a seed of ministers, a seed of Christians; as one generation of both passes away, another generation shall come; and thus the name of Christ, with that of Christians, shall continue on earth while the earth remains, and his throne as the days of heaven. The gates of hell, though they fight against the church, shall not prevail, nor wear out the saints of the Most High.

6. That the public worship of God in religious assemblies shall be carefully and constantly attended upon by all that are thus brought as an offering to the Lord, v. 23. This is described in expressions suited to the Old-Testament dispensation, to show that though the ceremonial law should be abolished, and the temple service should come to an end, yet God should be still as regularly, constantly, and acceptably worshipped as ever. Heretofore only Jews went up to appear before God, and they were bound to attend only three times a year, and the males only; but now all flesh, Gentiles as well as Jews, women as well as men, shall come and worship before God, in his presence, though not in his temple at Jerusalem, but in religious assemblies dispersed all the world over, which shall be to them as the tabernacle of meeting was to the Jews. God will in them record his name, and, though but two or three come together, he will be among them, will meet them, and bless them. And they shall have the benefit of these holy convocations frequently, every new moon and every sabbath, not, as formerly, at the three annual feasts only. There is no necessity of one certain place, as the temple was of old. Christ is our temple, in whom by faith all believers meet, and now that the church is so far extended it is impossible that all should meet at one place; but it is fit that there should be a certain time appointed, that the service may be done certainly and frequently, and a token thereby given of the spiritual communion which all Christian assemblies have with each other by faith, hope, and holy love. The new moons and the sabbaths are mentioned because, under the law, though the yearly feasts were to be celebrated at Jerusalem, yet the new moons and the sabbaths were religiously observed all the country over, in the schools of the prophets first and afterwards in the synagogues (2 Kings iv. 23, Amos viii. 5, Acts xv. 21), according to the model of which Christian assemblies seem to be formed. Where the Lord's day is weekly sanctified, and the Lord's supper monthly celebrated, and both are duly attended on, there this promise is fulfilled, there the Christian new moons and sabbaths are observed. See, here, (1.) That God is to be worshipped in solemn assemblies, and that it is the duty of all, as they have opportunity, to wait upon God in those assemblies: All flesh must come; though flesh, weak, corrupt, and sinful, let them come that the flesh may be mortified. (2.) In worshipping God we present ourselves before him, and are in a special manner in his presence. (3.) For doing this there ought to be stated times, and are so; and we must see that it is our interest as well as our duty constantly and conscientiously to observe these times.

7. That their thankful sense of God's distinguishing favour to them should be very much increased by the consideration of the fearful doom and destruction of those that persist and perish in their infidelity and impiety, v. 24. Those that have been worshipping the Lord of hosts, and rejoicing before him in the goodness of his house, shall, in order to affect themselves the more with their own happiness, take a view of the misery of the wicked. Observe, (1.) Who they are whose misery is here described. They are men that have transgressed against God, not only broken his laws, but broken covenant with him, and thought themselves able to contend with him. It may be meant especially of the unbelieving Jews that rejected the gospel of Christ. (2.) What their misery is. It is here represented by the frightful spectacle of a field of battle, covered with the carcases of the slain, that lie rotting above ground, full of worms crawling about them and feeding on them; and, if you go to burn them, they are so scattered, and it is such a noisome piece of work to get them together, that it would be endless, and the fire would never be quenched; so that they are an abhorring to all flesh, nobody cares to come near them. Now this is sometimes accomplished in temporal judgments, and perhaps never nearer the letter than in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation by the Romans, in which destruction it is computed that above two millions, first and last, were cut off by the sword, besides what perished by famine and pestilence. It may refer likewise to the spiritual judgments that came upon the unbelieving Jews, which St. Paul looks upon, and shows us, Rom. xi. 8, &c. They became dead in sins, twice dead. The church of the Jews was a carcase of a church; all its members were putrid carcases; their worm died not, their own consciences made them continually uneasy, and the fire of their rage against the gospel was not quenched, which was their punishment as well as their sin; and they became, more than ever any nation under the sun, an abhorring to all flesh. But our Saviour applies it to the everlasting misery and torment of impenitent sinners in the future state, where their worm dies not, and their fire is not quenched (Mark ix. 44); for the soul, whose conscience is its constant tormentor, is immortal, and God, whose wrath is its constant terror, is eternal. (3.) What notice shall be taken of it. Those that worship God shall go forth and look upon them, to affect their own hearts with the love of their Redeemer, when they see what misery they are redeemed from. As it will aggravate the miseries of the damned to see others in the kingdom of heaven and themselves thrust out (Luke xiii. 28), so it will illustrate the joys and glories of the blessed to see what becomes of those that died in their transgression, and it will elevate their praises to think that they were themselves as brands plucked out of that burning. To the honour of that free grace which thus distinguished them let the redeemed of the Lord with all humility, and not without a holy trembling, sing their triumphant songs.

CHAP. LXVI.

Ver. 1. THus ſaith the Lord] The ſame he ſaith in effect here in this laſt Chapter, that he had done in the firſt; rejecting the Jews vain confidence in their Temple, and Sacrifices: and ſhewing that he was neither confined to their Temple, nor contented with their Sacrifices, ſo long as the hidden man of the heart and the ſpiritual worſhip was wanting: ſo long as they neglected his Laws, and ſerved their own luſts, ver. 3.

Heaven is my throne] Caelum eſt ſolium meum: there do I manifeſt the moſt glorious and viſible ſigns of my preſence: there I am in a ſpecial manner worſhipped according to mine exccellent gre[illegible: 1 letter]tneſſe: and there my Courtiers have a more ardent zeal for me, then thoſe flatterers had for Darius, Dan. 6.7.

The earth is my foot-ſtool] So it ſhould be ours: ſith God hath in Chriſt put all things under our feet, Pſal. 8.6. The earth hath its name in Hebrew from treading upon, and Terra à terendo: theſe earthly things ſhould be trampled on, as baſe and bootleſs.

Where is the houſe that ye build unto me?] q. d. An houſe indeed I commanded to be built for me, but not to hold me, or there to keep me coopt up as in a cell; that you ſhould there hence conclude, The Temple, Gods houſe, ſhall never periſh: therefore neither ſhall we. You muſt know that I am intra, & extra, & ſupra, & circa, & infra omnia within and without, and above, and about, and beneath all things.

Entèr praeſentèr Deus hic & ubique potenter.

This the Heathens knew; Empedocles ſaid, that God was a circle the center whereof is everywhere, the circumference nowhere. This the Turks acknowledge, by building their Moſches or Temples open at the top: to ſhew that God is nowhere circumſcriptively and definitively: but repletively everywhere. He is higher then Heaven, ſaith Bernard, deeper then Hell, larger then Earth, broader then the Sea: he is nowhere, and yet evrywhere, ye he is everywhere alpreſent. The Heavens have a large place, but they have one part here, and another there: but the Lord is totally preſent whereſoever preſent: not commenſurable by any place whatſoever.

Ver. 2. For all thoſe things hath my hand made] And could not I then have made my ſelf an houſe without your help, if I had lifted or needed? Required I a Temple for any other uſe or purpoſe but for the furtherance of your faith in Chriſt, and love one to another? Theſe things have I made, yet theſe all I regard not, in compariſon: but

To this man will I look] viz. With ſpecial intimation of my care and kindneſs, q, d. To thee be it ſpoken, I have an eye to thee. [non-Latin text not transcribed].

Even to him that is poor and of a contrite ſpirit] Sept. Humble and quiet, Vera Sabbata agens, that being poor in ſpirit hath a Sabbath of spirit, comforting himſelf in the Lord his God: to ſuch God looketh. He cannot look upwards, ſaith One, becauſe he hath none above him: nor on either ſide,Humilitas eſt thronus ſapphirinus in quo Deus cum majeſtate reſidet. becauſe he hath none equal unto him: therefore he is ſaid to look down, and that alſo upon the humble and broken-hearted, with ſingular delight and complacency.

And trembleth as my Word] viz. With a filial fear flowing from faith in Chriſt, trembling at the threatnings before they come into execution. This is a point of ſingular prudence: for God therefore threateneth that he may not inflict puniſhment: but they that tremble not in hearing, ſhall be cruſht to peeces in feeling, ſaid that Martyr. What then will be the end of ſuch as hear the menaces of Gods mouth no otherwiſe, then they do the ſtories of forrain wars, or the predictions of a Prognoſtication, which they think may come to paſs, and it may be not?

Ver. 3. He that killeth an Ox, is as if he ſlew a Man] Unleſs, together with his Ox, he kill his corruptions, and lay faſt hold upon Chriſt (who himſelf wa ſacrificed for us, 1 Cor. 5.7.) by a lively faith. Heathens ſacrificed men to Saturn: dogs alſo and ſwine and other unclean creatures to their other dunghil-dieties. Maſs-prieſts do the like by their cruelty, hypocriſy, idolatry, impudency, luxury: their prayers therefore, faſtings, pennances, pilgrimages, &c. are diſaccepted.

He that ſacrificeth a Lamb] Unleſs withal he ſacrifice his luſts, and look to the Lamb of God, ſlain from the beginning of the world, &c.

As if he cut off a dogs neck] Heb. as if he necked a dog, that is, decolled him, beheaded him for ſacrifice: this was abſolutely forbidden, Deut. 23.18. Excerebraret. Vulg. Plut. [non-Latin text not transcribed], The Athenians alſo ſuffered not a dog to enter into their Tower dedicated to Minerva, for his heat in Venery and ill ſavour, ſaith Plutarch.

He that offereth an oblation] Unleſs withal he preſent his body for a ſacrifice holy and acceptable unto God, as Rom. 12.1.

Is as if he offered ſwines blood] Blood was not to be offered at all in an oblation or meat-offering, but meal, oyle, wine, Levit. 2. much leſs ſwines blood. See Levit. 11.7.

He that burneth incenſe] In honour of me, unleſs his heart aſcend up withal in thoſe pillars of ſweet ſmoke, as Manoahs Angel did in the ſmoke of the ſacrifice.

Is as if he bleſſed an Idol] i. e. Gave thankes to an Idol (called here by a name that ſignifyeth vanity or vexation) as if he were a God: in doing whereof, God holdeth himſelf leſs diſhonoured, then by their hypocritical ſervices performed to himſelf, Ezek. 20.39.

Be[illegible: 1 letter]n. Yea they have choſen their own wayes] Which muſt needs be naught: Nemo ſibi de ſuo palpet: Are ye not carnal and walk as men, ſaith Paul; that is, as naughty men? Horreo quicquid de meo eſt, ut meus ſim.

Ver. 4. I alſo will chuſe their deluſions] As they have had their will, ſo will I have mine another while. I will make them to periſh by their mockeries, idque ex lege talionis, See chap. 65.11.12. They thought to cozen me by an out-ſide-ſervice: but it ſhall appear that they have cozened themſelves, when I bring upon them mercedem multiplicis petulantiae corum (as Piſcator rendereth it) the reward of their manyfold petulancies, and illuſions.

And will bring their fear upon them] Inducam nivem ſuper eos qui timuerunt à pruina. They have feared the coming of the Chaldees, and come they ſhall. So their poſterity feared the Romans, Joh. 11. and they felt their fury. See Prov. 10.24. with the Note.

Becauſe when I called, &c.] See chap. 65.12.

Ver. 5. Hear the Word of the Lord, ye that tremble, &c.] Here's a word of comfort for you, who being lowly and meek-ſpirited, are the apter to be trampled on, and abuſed by the fat bulls of Baſan: where the hedge is loweſt, thoſe beaſts will leap over: and every crow will be pulling off wooll from a ſheeps ſides.

Your brethren] By race, and place, but not by Grace.

That hated you] For like cauſe as Cain hated Abel, 1 Joh. 3.12. for trembling at Gods judgements whilſt they do yet hang in the threatnings.

And caſt you out] Either out of their company as not fit to be converſed with, chap. 65.5. or out of their Synagogue by excommunications, as fit to be cut off: See 1 Theſ. 2.14. Papiſts at this day do the like: whence that Proverb In nomine Domini incip[illegible: 1 letter]t omne malum: Ye begin in a wrong name ſaid that Martyr, when they began the ſentence of death againſt him with In the name of God, Amen.

Let the Lord be glorified] With ſuch like goodly words and ſpecious pretences did thoſe odious hypocrites palliate and varniſh over their abominations: they would perſecute godly men, and moleſt them with Church-cenſures, and ſay Let the Lord be glorified: So do Papiſts and other Sectaries deal by the Orthodox. Becket offered (but ſubdolouſly) to ſubmit to his Sovereign, ſalvo honere Dei, ſo far as might ſtand with Gods glory.Speed. 508. Anno 1386. The Conſpiratours in King Richard the ſeconds time endorſed all their letters with Glory be to God on high, on earth peace, good-will towards men. The Swenck feldians ſtiled themſelves The Confeſſours of the glory of Chriſt: and Gentiles the Antitrinitarian, when he was called to anſwer, ſaid that he was drawn to maintain his cauſe through touch of conſcience; and when he was to dye for his blaſphemy, he ſaid that he did ſuffer for the glory of the moſt high God: ſo eaſy a matter it is to draw a fair glove upon a foul hand, &c. Some for Let the Lord be glorified, render it Gravis eſt Dominus, The Lord is burdenſom or heavy: and they parallel it with thoſe ſayings in the Goſpel, This is an hard ſaying, Thou art an auſtere man, We will not have this man to reign over us, &c.

But he ſhall appear to your joy] Parallel to that, your ſorrow ſhall be turned into joy. How did ſome of the Martyrs rejoyce when excommunicated, degraded, &c.

Diod.Ver. 6. A voice of noiſe from the City] This is a Prophetical deſcription of the laſt deſtruction of Jeruſalem and the Temple by the Romans.

A voice from the Temple] Wherin they ſo much gloryed, where they had oft heard Chriſt and his Apoſtles preaching repentance unto life: but now have their ears filled with hideous and horrid outcries of ſuch as were ſlain even in the very Temple, which they defended as long as they were able, and till it was fited: That which Joſephus reporteth of Jeſus the ſon of Ananis a plain Country-fellow, is very remarkable; viz. that for four years together before the laſt devaſtation, he went about the City day and night, crying as he went, in the words of this text almoſt, A voice from the Eaſt, Lib. 7. B[illegible: 1 letter]lli. cap. 12. a voice from the Weſt, a voice from the four Winds, a voice againſt Jeruſalem and the Temple, a voice againſt all the people, Woe, woe, woe to Jeruſalem: and thus he continued to do till at length roaring out louder then ordinary, Woe to Jeruſalem and to me alſo, he was ſlain upon the wall with a ſtone ſhot out of an Engin, as Joſephus reporteth.

That rendereth recompence to his enemies] So they are here called who pretended ſo much to the glorifying of God, ver. 5. Falſe friends are true enemies.

Ver. 7. Before ſhe travelled, ſhe brought forth] Quum nondum parturiret paperit, underſtand it of Zion, or of the Church Chriſtian, which receiveth her children, that is, Converts, ſuddainly on a cluſter before ſhe thought to have done,Subito ac ſimul. Margaret Counteſſe of Henneburg. and in far greater numbers then ſhe could ever have beleeved. That Lady that brought forth as many as a birth as are dayes in the year was nothing to her: nor thoſe Hebrew women; Exod. 1.10.

She was delivered of a man-child] For the which there is ſo great joy, Joh. 16.21▪ and which is uſually more able and active than a woman-child: ſo, good and bold Chriſtians, ſtrong in faith; unleſs he meaneth Chriſt himſelf (ſaith Dioda[illegible: 1 letter] ) who is formed by faith in every beleevers heart; Gal. 4.19.

Ver. 8. Who hath heard ſuch a thing? who hath ſeen ſuch things?] The birth of a man would ſeem a miracle, were it not ſo ordinary; miracula aſſiduitate vileſcunt: but the birth of a whole Nation at once, how much more?

Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?] Yes, if the day be long enough, as among the Hyperboreans, of whom it is written that they ſow ſhortly after the Sun-riſing, and reap before the Sun-ſet: becauſe the whole half year is one continual day with them. But the words here ſhould be rather read, Can a land; Heresbach. de re ruſt. or a countrey be brought forth in one day? a Nation be born at once? Cardinal Pool abuſed this Scripture in a letter to Pope Julius 3. applying it to the bringing in of Popery again here ſo univerſally and ſuddainly in Queen Maryes dayes. So he did alſo another, when at his firſt return hither from beyond ſea, he blaſphemouſly ſaluted the ſame Queen Mary with thoſe words of the Angel, Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Ver. 9. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cauſe to bring forth?] i. e. Shall I ſet upon a work and not go through with it? God began and finiſhed his work of Creation: Chriſt is both Authour and finiſher of his peoples faith, Heb. 12.2. The holy Ghoſt will ſanctifie the Elect wholly, and keep them blameleſſe unto the coming of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, 1 Theſ. 5.23. Neſcit tarda molimina Spiritus ſancti gratia, ſaith Ambroſe: Otherwiſe his power and mercy would not equally appear to his people in regeneration, as the power and mercy of the Father and the Son in Creation and Redemption.

Ver. 10. Rejoyce ye with Jeruſalem] As friends uſe to do with her that is newly made a mother, Luk. 1.58.

Rejoyce for joy with her] Out of the Church there is no ſolid joy: See Hoſ. 9.1. with the Note. Others may revel, the godly only rejoyce, their joy is not that of the mouth but of the heart: nec in labris naſcitur ſed fibris, it doth not only ſmooth the brow, but fills the breaſt: wet the mouth, but warm the heart, &c.

Ver. 11. That ye may ſuck and be ſatisfied with the breſts of her conſolations] Zion is not only a fruitful mother, but a joyful nurſe: God giveth her the bleſſings both of the belly and of the breſts; and theſe breſts of hers are full-ſtrutting with the ſincere milk of the Word, that rational milk, 1 Pet. 2.2. the ſweet and precious promiſes of the Goſpel. Theſe breſts of conſolation we muſt ſuck, as the babe doth the mothers dug, as long as he can get a drop out of it, and then ſucks ſtill till more cometh. Let us ſuck the blood of the Promiſes, ſaith one, as a dog that hath got the blood of the bear, he hangs on, and will hardly be beaten off. Let us extort and oppreſs the Promiſes (ſaith another deſcanting upon this text) as a rich man oppreſſeth a poor man, and getteth out of him all that he hath: ſo deale thou with the Promiſes, for they are rich, there is a price in them; conſider it to the utmoſt, wring it out. The world layeth forth her two breaſts (or botches rather) of Profit and Pleaſure, and hath enow to ſuck them though they can never thereby be ſatisfied: And ſhall almamater Eccleſia, want thoſe that ſhall milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory?

Ver. 12. Behold I will extend peace to her] This and the following Promiſes are the delicious milk ſpoken of before, ſc. pax copioſa & p[illegible: 1 letter]rennis, peace as a river, as the waters cover the ſea: joy unſpeakable and full of glory, Gods fatherly care, motherly affection, &c. all that heart can wiſh, or need require.

Like a river] As Euphrates, ſaith the Chaldee.

Like a flowing ſtream] Or overflowing as Nilus, Claudian.—Qui cunctis amnibus extat Ʋtilior.

Ye ſhall be born upon her ſide] Humaniſſime & ſuaviſſime trāctabimini, ye ſhall be born in the Churches armes, laid to her breſts, ſet in her lap, dandled on her knees, &c. Hac Similitudine nihil fierà poteſt ſuavius. See Num. 11.12.

Ver. 13. And as one whom his mother comforteth] Her darling and dandling, eſpecially, when ſhe perceiveth it to make a lip and to be diſpleaſed: mothers alſo are very kind to and careful of their children when they are grown to be men:A Lapide in Iſai. 56.20. as Monica was to Auſtin, and as Matres Hollandicae the mothers in Holland, of whom it is reported, quod prae aliis matribus mirè filios ſuos etiam grandaevos ament, ideóque eos vocant & tractant ut pueros. See Iſa. 46.4. with the Note.

Ver. 14. And when ye ſee this, your heart ſhall rejoyce] Videbitis, gaudebitis: you ſhall ſee that I do not give you good words only, but that I am in good earneſt, ye ſhall know it within your ſelves, in the workings of your own hearts, as Heb. 10.34.

And your bones ſhall flouriſh like an herb] i. e. They ſhall be filled again with moiſture and marrow. See Ezek. 37.10, 11. you ſhall be fair-liking and reflouriſh.

And the hand of the Lord] i. e. His infinite power, tantorum beneficiorum in piis operatrix, the efficient cauſe of all theſe comforts.

Ver. 15. For behold the Lord will come with fire] With hell-fire, ſay the Rabbines here, with the fire of the laſt day, ſay we, whereof his particular judgements are as pledges and preludes.

And with his charrets like a whirlwind] As he did, when he ſent forth his armies (the Romans) and deſtroyed thoſe murtherers (the Jews) and burnt up their City, Mat. 22.7. And when they would have reedified their City and Temple under Julian the Apoſtate who in hatred to Chriſtians, animated them thereunto, balls of fire broke forth of the earth, which marred their work, and deſtroyed many thouſands of them.

Ver. 16. For with fire] Then which nothing is more formidable.

And with his ſword] Which is no ordinary one, chap. 27.1.

Ver. 17. In the gardens] Where theſe Idolaters had ſet up Altars, offered ſacrifices,Donec me flumine vivo. Abluero. Virg. Qui noctem in flumine purgas: Perſ. i. e. nocturnam Venerem. and had their ponds, wherein when they were about to ſacrifice, heathen-like, they waſhed and purified themſelves one after another, and not together, which they held to be the beſt way of purifying. This they did alſo not apart and in private, but in the midſt, ut hoc modo oculos in nudis lavantium, praeſertim muliercularum, corporibus paſcerent, that they might feed their eyes with the ſight of thoſe parts which nature would have hid: for your Pagan ſuperſtitions were oft-times contrary to natural honeſty.

Behind one tree in the midſt] Or as others render it after, or behind Ahad, which was the name of a Syrian Idol,Saturnal. lib. 1. cap. 23. repreſenting the Sun, as Macrobius telleth us, calling him Adad.

Ver. 18. For I know (or, I will puniſh) their works and their thoughts] Or, yea their thoughts which they may think to be free. See Jer. 6.19.

It ſhall come to paſſe that I will gather] It is eaſie to obſerve, that this Chapter conſiſteth of various paſſages interwoven the one within the other: of judgments to the wicked, of mercyes and comforts to the godly, &c.

All Nations and tongues] A plain Prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles to the Kingdom of Chriſt: for which purpoſe the miraculous gift of tongues was beſtowed upon the Apoſtles.

And they ſhall come and ſee my glory] i. e. In Chriſt, who is the brightneſs of his Fathers glory: and in ſending of whom the glory of his truth, wiſdom, power, juſtice and goodneſs ſhone forth, as the Sun at noon.

Ver. 19. And I will ſet a ſign among them] This ſign may very well be that viſible pouring out of the gifts of the Holy Ghoſt on the day of Pentecoſt, under the ſymbol of wind and fire,Scultet. Act. 2. together with the ſignes and wonders whereby the Apoſtles doctrine was confirmed. Others make this ſigne to be the Profeſſion of the Chriſtian faith. Some alſo, the Doctrine of the Goſpel, and eſpecially the Sacraments.

And I will ſend thoſe that eſcape of them] i. e. The Apoſtles and their fellow-helpers; ſuch as were Barnabas, Silas, Lucas, &c.

To Tarſhiſh, Pul] To all parts of the Word, Eaſt, Weſt, North and South.

That draw the bow] The Moſches or Moſcovites, ſay the Septuagint: the Turkes, ſaith one of the Rabbines. See the Notes on Rev. 9.15, 16, 17.

Ver. 20. And they ſhall bring all your brethren] Now become all your brethren in Chriſt: Sanctior eſt copula cordis quam corporis, Religion is the ſtrongeſt eye.

Ʋpon horſes, and in charets, and in litters] i. e. With much ſwiftneſſe and ſweetneſſe: though ſick, weakly and unfit for travel, yet rather in litters than not at all. The Apoſtles became all things to all men that they might gain them to Chriſt.

Ver. 21. And I will alſo take of them for Prieſts and for Levites] For Evangelical Paſtors and Teachers: who have a diſtinct function and employment in the Church of the New Teſtament, as the Prieſts and Levites had in that of the Old, to teach inſtruct, and edifie Gods people.

Ver. 22. For as the new heaven] So ſhall there be a true Church and a Miniſtry for the good of my people to the worlds end. It ſhall not be taken away as is the Jewiſh Polity and Hierarchy.

Ver. 23. And it ſhall come to paſſe that from one new-Moon to another] God ſhall be ſerved with all diligence and delight. In the Kingdom of Chriſt here, but eſpecially in heaven, it ſhall be holy-day all the week, as we ſay; a conſtant ſolemnity, a perpetual Sabbath.Act. & Mon. King Edgar ordained that the Lords day ſhould be kept here in England from Saturday nine of the clock, till Munday morning. The Ebionites kept the Saturday with the Jews, and the Sunday with the Chriſtians. But here it is foretold (and we ſee it fulfilled) that all fleſh, i. e. all the faithful, whether Jews or Gentiles, ſhall not only keep every day holy-day (1 Cor. 5.8.) by reſting from ſin, and rejoycing in God; but ſhall alſo both in ſeaſon and out of ſeaſon have their Church-meetings for holy ſervices, worſhipping God (from day to day, and from month to month, as the phraſe is, Eſth. 3.7.) in ſpirit and in truth, and having the continual feaſt of a good conſcience.

Ver. 24. And they ſhall go forth and look upon the carkaſſes] Rhetoricians tell us that in the introduction to a diſcourſe [non-Latin text not transcribed] milder affections ſuit beſt to inſinuate: but in the concluſion [non-Latin text not transcribed] paſſionate paſſages, ſuch as may leave a ſting behind them and ſtick by the hearers. This Art the Prophet here uſeth: for being now to period his Prophecy, he giveth all ſorts to know what they ſhall truſt to. The godly ſhall go forth, i. e. ſalvi evadent, liberi abibunt, they ſhall have ſafety here and ſalvation hereafter. They ſhall alſo look upon the carkaſſes, &c. they ſhall be eye-witneſſes of Gods exemplary judgements executed on the wicked, that would not have Chriſt to reign over them, (Rev. 19.21.) who ſhall be puniſhed with everlaſting deſtruction from the glory of the Lord and from the preſence of his power, 2 Theſ. 1.9. This the righteous ſhall ſee, and fear, and laugh at them, Pſal. 52.6. giving God the glory of his juſtice and goodneſs. Some think they ſhall have at laſt day, a real ſight of hell, and the damned there, Rev. 14.10. and this may very well be. Oh that wicked men would in their dayly meditations take a turn or two in hell, and ſo be forewarned to fly from the wrath to come. Is it nothing to have the worm of conſcience ever grubbing upon their entrails, and the fire of Gods vengeance feeding upon their ſouls and fleſh throughout all eternity? Oh that eternity of extremity! Think of it ſeaſonably and ſeriouſly, that ye never ſuffer it. The Jewiſh Maſters have, in ſome copies, wholly left out this laſt verſe: as in other copies they repeat (both here and in the end of Eccleſiastes, Lamentations and Malachy) the laſt verſe ſave one, which is more ſweet and fuller of comfort; and that for this reaſon, that the Reader may not be ſent away ſad,Amama in Antibarb. and ſo fall into deſperation. But of that there is no ſuch danger, ſith moſt people are over ſlight in their thoughts of hell-torments, regarding them no more than they do a fire painted on the wall, or a ſerpent wrought in Arras. And beſides, Non ſinit in Gehennam incidere, Gehennae meminiſſe, ſaith Chyſoſtom: to remember hell, is a good means to preſerve us from it. This verſe hath ſufficient authority from our Saviours citing of it, Mar. 9.44. See the Note there, Plato alſo (if that be any thing) in his deſcription of hell (which he calleth [non-Latin text not transcribed] a fiery lake) ſaith the ſame as here,In Phaed. pag. 400. Inde dictus eſt Moſes Atticus. that their worm dyeth not, neither is their fire quenched. He might poſſibly have read Iſaiah as he had done Moſes. Tis thought, Laertius telleth us, that he travelled into Egypt, where he converſed with ſome Hebrews, and learned much of them.

And they ſhall be an abhorring to all fleſh] i. e. All good men abominate them now as ſo many living Ghoſts, walking carkaſes, Eph. 2.2. Prov. 29. ult. and ſhall much more at the laſt day, when they ſhall ariſe again to everlaſting ſhame and contempt, Dan. 12.

Scribendo haec ſtudui bene de pietate mereri; Sed quicquid potui, Gratia, Chriſts, tua eſt.