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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
I S A I A H.
CHAP. XIX.
As Assyria was a breaking rod to Judah, with which it was smitten, so
Egypt was a broken reed, with which it was cheated; and therefore God
had a quarrel with them both. We have before read the doom of the
Assyrians; now here we have the burden of Egypt, a prophecy concerning
that nation,
I. That it should be greatly weakened and brought low, and should be as
contemptible among the nations as now it was considerable, rendered so
by a complication of judgments which God would bring upon them,
II. That at length God’s holy religion should be brought into Egypt,
and set up there, in part by the Jews that should flee thither for
refuge, but more fully by the preachers of the gospel of Christ,
through whose ministry churches should be planted in Egypt in the says
of the Messiah
(ver. 18-25),
which would abundantly balance all the calamities here threatened.
| The Doom of Egypt. | B. C. 710. |
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1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift
cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be
moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the
midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they
shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against
his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and
I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the
idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar
spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel
lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the
LORD of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall
be wasted and dried up.
6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of
defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall
wither.
7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks,
and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away,
and be no more.
8 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle
into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the
waters shall languish.
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave
networks, shall be confounded.
10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that
make sluices and ponds for fish.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the
wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto
Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them
tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath
purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph
are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are
the stay of the tribes thereof.
14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst
thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof,
as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head
or tail, branch or rush, may do.
16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be
afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of
hosts, which he shaketh over it.
17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every
one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself,
because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath
determined against it.
Though the land of Egypt had of old been a house of bondage to the
people of God, where they had been ruled with rigour, yet among the
unbelieving Jews there still remained much of the humour of their
fathers, who said, Let us make us a captain and return into
Egypt. Upon all occasions they trusted to Egypt for help
(ch. xxx. 2),
and thither they fled, in disobedience to God’s express command, when
things were brought to the last extremity in their own country,
Rabshakeh upbraided Hezekiah with this,
While they kept up an alliance with Egypt, and it was a powerful ally,
they stood not in awe of the judgments of God; for against them they
depended upon Egypt to protect them. Nor did they depend upon the power
of God when at anytime they were in distress; but Egypt was their
confidence. To prevent all this mischief, Egypt must be mortified, and
many ways God here tells them he will take to mortify them.
I. The gods of Egypt shall appear to them to be what they always really
were, utterly unable to help them,
v. 1.
“The Lord rides upon a cloud, a swift cloud, and shall come into
Egypt. As a judge goes in state to the bench to try and condemn the
malefactors, or as a general takes the field with his troops to crush
the rebels, so shall God come into Egypt with his judgments; and when
he comes he will certainly overcome.” In all this burden of Egypt here
is no mention of any foreign enemy invading them; but God himself will
come against them, and raise up the causes of their destruction from
among themselves. He comes upon a cloud, above the reach of the
opposition or resistance. He comes apace upon a swift cloud; for their
judgment lingers not when the time has come. He rides upon the wings
of the wind, with a majesty far excelling the greatest pomp and
splendour of earthly princes. He makes the clouds his chariots,
Ps. xviii. 9; civ. 3.
When he comes the idols of Egypt shall be moved, shall be
removed at his presence, and perhaps be made to fall as Dagon did
before the ark. Isis, Osiris, and Apis, those celebrated idols of
Egypt, being found unable to relieve their worshippers, shall be
disowned and rejected by them. Idolatry had got deeper rooting in Egypt
than in any land besides, even the most absurd idolatries; and yet now
the idols shall be moved and they shall be ashamed of them. When the
Lord brought Israel out of Egypt he executed judgments upon the gods
of the Egyptians
no marvel then if, when he comes, they begin to tremble. The Egyptians
shall seek to the idols, when they are at their wits’ end, and
consult the charmers and wizards
(v. 3);
but all in vain; they see their ruin hastening on them
notwithstanding.
II. The militia of Egypt, that had been famed for their valour, shall
be quite dispirited and disheartened. No kingdom in the world was ever
in a better method of keeping up a standing army than the Egyptians
were; but now their heroes, that used to be celebrated for courage,
shall be posted for cowards: The heart of Egypt shall melt in the
midst of it, like wax before the fire
(v. 1);
the spirit of Egypt shall fail,
v. 3.
They shall have no inclination, no resolution, to stand up in defence
of their country, their liberty, and property; but shall tamely and
ingloriously yield all to the invader and oppressor. The Egyptians
shall be like women
(v. 16);
they shall be frightened and put into confusion by the least alarm;
even those that dwell in the heart of the country, in the midst of it,
and therefore furthest from danger, will be as full of frights as those
that are situate on the frontiers. Let not the bold and brave be proud
or secure, for God can easily cut off the spirit of princes
and take away their hearts,
Job xii. 24.
III. The Egyptians shall be embroiled in endless dissensions and
quarrels among themselves. There shall be no occasion to bring a
foreign force upon them to destroy them; they shall destroy one another
(v. 2):
I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians. As these
divisions and animosities are their sin, God is not the author of them,
they come from men’s lusts; but God, as a Judge, permits them for their
punishment, and by their destroying differences corrects them for their
sinful agreements. Instead of helping one another, and acting each in
his place for the common good, they shall fight every one against
his brother and neighbour, whom he ought to love as
himself–city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. Egypt
was then divided into twelve provinces, or dynasties; but Psammetichus,
the governor of one of them, by setting them at variance with one
another, at length made himself master of them all. A kingdom thus
divided against itself would soon be brought to desolation. En quo
discordiâ cives perduxit miseros!–Oh the wretchedness brought
upon a people by their disagreements among themselves! It is
brought to this by a perverse spirit, a spirit of contradiction,
which the Lord would mingle, as an intoxicating draught made up of
several ingredients, for the Egyptians,
One party shall be for a thing for no other reason than because the
other is against it; that is a perverse spirit, which, if it mingle
with the public counsels, tends directly to the ruin of the public
interests.
IV. Their politics shall be all blasted, and turned into foolishness.
When God will destroy the nation he will destroy the counsel
thereof
(v. 3),
by taking away wisdom from the statesmen
(Job xii. 20),
or setting them one against another (as Hushai and Ahithophel), or by
his providence breaking their measures even when they seemed well laid;
so that the princes of Zoan are fools: they make fools of one
another, every one betrays his own folly, and divine Providence makes
fools of them all,
Pharaoh had his wise counsellors. Egypt was famous for such. But their
counsel has all become brutish; they have lost all their
forecast; one would think they had become idiots, and were bereaved of
common sense. Let no man glory then in his own wisdom, nor depend upon
that, nor upon the wisdom of those about him; for he that gives
understanding can when he please take it away. And from those it is
most likely to be taken away that boast of their policy, as Pharaoh’s
counsellors here did, and, to recommend themselves to places of public
trust, boast of their great understanding (“I am the son of the
wise, of the God of wisdom, of wisdom itself,” says one; “my father
was an eminent privy-counsellor of note in his day for wisdom”), or of
the antiquity and dignity of their families: “I am,” says another,
“the son of ancient kings.” The nobles of Egypt boasted much of
their antiquity, producing fabulous records of their succession for
above 10,000 years. This humour prevailed much among them about this
time, as appears by Herodotus, their common boast being that Egypt was
some thousands of years more ancient than any other nation. “But
where are thy wise men?
v. 12.
Let them now show their wisdom by foreseeing what ruin is coming upon
their nation, and preventing it, if they can. Let them with all their
skill know what the Lord of hosts has purposed upon Egypt, and
arm themselves accordingly. Nay, so far are they from doing this that
they themselves are, in effect, contriving the ruin of Egypt, and
hastening it on,
The princes of Noph are not only deceived themselves, but they
have seduced Egypt, by putting their kings upon arbitrary
proceedings” (by which both themselves and their people were soon
undone); “the governors of Egypt, that are the stay and cornerstones of
the tribes thereof, are themselves undermining it.” It is sad with a
people when those that undertake for their safety are helping forward
their destruction, and the physicians of the state are her worst
disease, when the things that belong to the public peace are so far
hidden from the eyes of those that are entrusted with the public
counsels that in every thing they blunder and take wrong measures; so
here
(v. 14):
They have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof. Every step
they took was a false step. They always mistook either the end or the
means, and their counsels were all unsteady and uncertain, like the
staggerings and stammerings of a drunken man in his vomit, who knows
not what he says nor where he goes. See what reason we have to pray for
our privy-counsellors and ministers of state, who are the great
supports and blessings of the state if God give them a spirit of
wisdom, but quite the contrary if he hide their heart from
understanding.
V. The rod of government shall be turned into the serpent of tyranny
and oppression
(v. 4):
“The Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord,
not a foreigner, but one of their own, one that shall rule over them by
an hereditary right, but shall be a fierce king and rule them with
rigour,” either the twelve tyrants that succeeded Sethon, or rather
Psammetichus that recovered the monarchy again; for he speaks of one
cruel lord. Now the barbarous usage which the Egyptian task masters
gave to God’s Israel long ago was remembered against them and they were
paid in their own coin by another Pharaoh. It is sad with a people when
the powers that should be for edification are for destruction, and they
are ruined by those by whom they should be ruled, when such as this is
the manner of the king, as it is described (in terrorem–in order to
impress alarm),
VI. Egypt was famous for its river Nile, which was its wealth, and
strength, and beauty, and was idolized by them. Now it is here
threatened that the waters shall fail from the sea and the river
shall be wasted and dried up,
v. 5.
Nature shall not herein favour them as she has done. Egypt was never
watered with the rain of heaven
and therefore the fruitfulness of their country depended wholly upon
the overflowing of their river; if that therefore be dried up, their
fruitful land will soon be turned into barrenness and their harvests
cease: Every thing sown by the brooks will wither of course,
will be driven away, and be no more,
v. 7.
If the paper-reeds by the brooks, at the very mouth of them, wither,
much more the corn, which lies at a greater distance, but derives its
moisture from them. Yet this is not all; the drying up of their rivers
is the destruction,
1. Of their fortifications, for they are brooks of defence
(v. 6),
making the country difficult of access to an enemy. Deep rivers are the
strongest lines, and most hardly forced. Pharaoh is said to be a
great dragon lying in the midst of his rivers, and guarded by
them, bidding defiance to all about him,
But these shall be emptied and dried up, not by an enemy, as
Sennacherib with the sole of his foot dried up mighty rivers
and as Cyrus, who took Babylon by drawing Euphrates into many streams,
but by the providence of God, which sometimes turns water-springs
into dry ground,
Ps. cvii. 33.
2. It is the destruction of their fish, which in Egypt was much of
their food, witness that base reflection which the children of Israel
made
(Num. xi. 5):
We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely. The
drying up of the rivers will kill the fish
(Ps. cv. 29),
and will thereby ruin those who make it their business,
(1.) To catch fish, whether by angling or nets
(v. 8);
they shall lament and languish, for their trade is at an
end. There is nothing which the children of this world do more heartily
lament than the loss of that which they used to get money by.
Ploratur lachrymis amissa pecunia veris–Those are genuine tears
which are shed over lost money.
(2.) To keep fish, that it may be ready when it is called for. There
were those that made sluices and ponds for fish
(v. 10),
but they shall be broken in the purposes thereof; their business
will fail, either for want of water to fill their ponds or for want of
fish to replenish their waters. God can find ways to deprive a country
even of that which is its staple commodity. The Egyptians may
themselves remember the fish they have formerly eaten freely,
but now cannot have for money. And that which aggravates the loss of
these advantages by the river is that it is their own doing
(v. 6):
They shall turn the rivers far away. Their kings and great men,
to gratify their own fancy, will drain water from the main river to
their own houses and grounds at a distance, preferring their private
convenience before the public good, and so by degrees the force of the
river is sensibly weakened. Thus many do themselves a greater prejudice
at last than they think of,
[1.] Who pretend to be wiser than nature, and to do better for
themselves than nature has done.
[2.] Who consult their own particular interest more than the common
good. Such may gratify themselves, but surely they can never satisfy
themselves, who to serve a turn contribute to a public calamity, which
they themselves, in the long run, cannot avoid sharing in. Herodotus
tells us that Pharaoh-Necho (who reigned not long after this),
projecting to cut a free passage by water from Nilus into the Red Sea,
employed a vast number of men to make a ditch or channel for that
purpose, in which attempt he impaired the river, lost 120,000 of his
people, and yet left the work unaccomplished.
VII. Egypt was famous for the linen manufacture; but that trade shall
be ruined. Solomon’s merchants traded with Egypt for linen-yarn,
Their country produced the best flax and the best hands to work it; but
those that work in fine flax shall be confounded
(v. 9),
either for want of flax to work on or for want of a demand for that
which they have worked or opportunity to export it. The decay of trade
weakens and wastes a nation and by degrees brings it to ruin. The trade
of Egypt must needs sink, for
(v. 15)
there shall not be any work for Egypt to be employed in; and
where there is nothing to be done there is nothing to be got. There
shall be a universal stop put to business, no work which either head
or tail, branch or rush, may do; nothing for high or low, weak or
strong, to do; no hire,
Zech. viii. 10.
Note, The flourishing of a kingdom depends much upon the industry of
the people; and then things are likely to do well when all hands
are at work, when the head and top-branch do not disdain to labour, and
the labour of the tail and rush is not disdained. But when the learned
professions are unemployed, the principal merchants have no stocks, and
the handicraft tradesmen nothing to do, poverty comes upon a people
as one that travaileth and as an armed man.
VIII. A general consternation shall seize the Egyptians; they shall
be afraid and fear
(v. 16),
which will be both an evidence of a universal decay and a means and
presage of utter ruin. Two things will put them into this fright:–
1. What they hear from the land of Judah; that shall be a
terror to Egypt,
v. 17.
When they hear of the desolations made in Judah by the army of
Sennacherib, considering both the near neighbourhood and the strict
alliance that was between them and Judah, they will conclude it must be
their turn next to become a prey to that victorious army. When their
neighbour’s house was on fire they could not but see their own in
danger; and therefore every one of the Egyptians that makes mention of
Judah shall be afraid of himself, expecting the bitter cup shortly to
be put into his hands.
2. What they see in their own land. They shall fear
(v. 16)
because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, and
(v. 17)
because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which from the
shaking of his hand they shall conclude he has determined
against Egypt as well as Judah. For, if judgment begin at the house of
God, where will it end? If this be done in the green tree, what
shall be done in the dry? See here,
(1.) How easily God can make those a terror to themselves that have
been, not only secure, but a terror to all about them. It is but
shaking his hand over them, or laying it upon some of their neighbours,
and the stoutest hearts tremble immediately.
(2.) How well it becomes us to fear before God when he does but shake
his hand over us, and to humble ourselves under his mighty hand when it
does but threaten us, especially when we see his counsel determined
against us; for who can change his counsel?
| Promises to Egypt. | B. C. 710. |
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18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the
language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be
called, The city of destruction.
19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst
of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the
LORD.
20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD
of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD
because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and
a great one, and he shall deliver them.
21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians
shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and
oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform
it.
22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal
it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be
intreated of them, and shall heal them.
23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to
Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian
into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with
Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be
Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel
mine inheritance.
Out of the thick and threatening clouds of the foregoing prophecy the
sun of comfort here breaks forth, and it is the sun of righteousness.
Still God has mercy in store for Egypt, and he will show it, not so
much by reviving their trade and replenishing their river again as by
bringing the true religion among them, calling them to, and accepting
them in, the worship of the one only living and true God; and these
blessings of grace were much more valuable than all the blessings of
nature wherewith Egypt was enriched. We know not of any event in which
this prophecy can be thought to have its full accomplishment short of
the conversion of Egypt to the faith of Christ, by the preaching (as is
supposed) of Mark the Evangelist, and the founding of many Christian
churches there, which flourished for many ages. Many prophecies of this
book point to the days of the Messiah; and why not this? It is no
unusual thing to speak of gospel graces and ordinances in the language
of the Old-Testament institutions. And, in these prophecies, those
words, in that day, perhaps have not always a reference to what
goes immediately before, but have a peculiar significancy pointing at
that day which had been so long fixed, and so often spoken of, when the
day-spring from on high should visit this dark world. Yet it is not
improbable (which some conjecture) that this prophecy was in part
fulfilled when those Jews who fled from their own country to take
shelter in Egypt, when Sennacherib invaded their land, brought their
religion along with them, and, being awakened to great seriousness by
the troubles they were in, made an open and zealous profession of it
there, and were instrumental to bring many of the Egyptians to embrace
it, which was an earnest and specimen of the more plentiful harvest of
souls that should be gathered in to God by the preaching of the gospel
of Christ. Josephus indeed tells us that Onias the son of Onias the
high priest, living an outlaw at Alexandria in Egypt, obtained leave of
Ptolemy Philometer, then king, and Cleopatra his queen, to build a
temple to the God of Israel, like that at Jerusalem, at Bubastis in
Egypt, and pretended a warrant for doing it from this prophecy in
Isaiah, that there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of
Egypt; and the service of God, Josephus affirms, continued in it
about 333 years, when it was shut up by Paulinus soon after the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; see Antiq. 13.62-79, and
Jewish War 7.426-436. But that temple was all along looked upon
by the pious Jews as so great an irregularity, and an affront to the
temple at Jerusalem, that we cannot suppose this prophecy to be
fulfilled in it.
Observe how the conversion of Egypt is here described.
I. They shall speak the language of Canaan, the holy language,
the scripture-language; they shall not only understand it, but use it
(v. 18);
they shall introduce that language among them, and converse freely with
the people of God, and not, as they used to do, by an
interpreter,
Gen. xlii. 23.
Note, Converting grace, by changing the heart, changes the language;
for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Five cities
in Egypt shall speak this language; so many Jews shall come to
reside in Egypt, and they shall so multiply there, that they shall soon
replenish five cities, one of which shall be the city of Heres, or of
the sun, Heliopolis, where the sun was worshipped, the most infamous of
all the cities of Egypt for idolatry; even there shall be a wonderful
reformation, they shall speak the language of Canaan. Or it may be
taken thus, as we render it–That for every five cities that shall
embrace religion there shall be one (a sixth part of the cities of
Egypt) that shall reject it, and that shall be called a city of
destruction, because it refuses the methods of salvation.
II. They shall swear to the Lord of hosts, not only swear by him,
giving him the honour of appealing to him, as all nations did to the
gods they worshipped; but they shall by a solemn oath and vow devote
themselves to his honour and bind themselves to his service. They shall
swear to cleave to him with purpose of heart, and shall worship him,
not occasionally, but constantly. They shall swear allegiance to him as
their King, to Christ, to whom all judgment is committed.
III. They shall set up the public worship of God in their land
(v. 19):
There shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land
of Egypt, an altar on which they shall do sacrifice and
oblation
(v. 21);
therefore it must be understood spiritually. Christ, the great altar,
who sanctifies every gift, shall be owned there, and the gospel
sacrifices of prayer and praise shall be offered up; for by the law of
Moses there was to be no altar for sacrifice but that at Jerusalem. In
Christ Jesus all distinction of nations is taken away; and a spiritual
altar, a gospel church, in the midst of the land of Egypt, is as
acceptable to God as one in the midst of the land of Israel; and
spiritual sacrifices of faith and love, and a contrite heart, please
the Lord better than an ox or bullock.
IV. There shall be a face of religion upon the nation, and an open
profession made of it, discernible to all who come among them. Not only
in the heart of the country, but even in the borders of it,
there shall be a pillar, or pillars, inscribed, To
Jehovah, to his honour, as before there had been such pillars set
up in honour of false gods. As soon as a stranger entered upon the
borders of Egypt he might perceive what God they worshipped. Those that
serve God must not be ashamed to own him, but be forward to do any
thing that may be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts.
Even in the land of Egypt he had some faithful worshippers, who boasted
of their relation to him and made his name their strong tower, or
bulwark, on their borders, with which their coasts were fortified
against all assailants.
V. Being in distress, they shall seek to God, and he shall be found of
them; and this shall be a sign and a witness for the Lord of
hosts that he is a God hearing prayer to all flesh
that come to him,
v. 20.
See
When they cry to God by reason of their oppressors, the cruel lords
that shall rule over them
(v. 4)
he shall be entreated of them
(v. 22);
whereas he had told his people Israel, who had made it their own choice
to have such a king, that they should cry to him by reason of their
king, and he would not hear them,
1 Sam. viii. 18.
VI. They shall have an interest in the great Redeemer. When they were
under the oppression of cruel lords perhaps God sometimes raised them
up mighty deliverers, as he did for Israel in the days of the judges;
and by them, though he had smitten the land, he healed it again; and,
upon their return to God in a way of duty, he returned to them in a way
of mercy, and repaired the breaches of their tottering state. For
repenting Egyptians shall find the same favour with God that repenting
Ninevites did. But all these deliverances wrought for them, as those
for Israel, were but figures of gospel salvation. Doubtless Jesus
Christ is the Saviour and the great one here spoken of, whom God
will send the glad tidings of to the Egyptians, and by whom he will
deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, that they may
serve him without fear,
Luke i. 74, 75.
Jesus Christ delivered the Gentile nations from the service of dumb
idols, and did himself both purchase and preach liberty to the
captives.
VII. The knowledge of God shall prevail among them,
1. They shall have the means of knowledge. For many ages in Judah
only was God known, for there only were the lively oracles found;
but now the Lord, and his name and will, shall be known to
Egypt. Perhaps this may in part refer to the translation of the Old
Testament out of Hebrew into Greek by the LXX., which was done at
Alexandria in Egypt, by the command of Ptolemy king of Egypt; and it
was the first time that the scriptures were translated into any other
language. By the help of this (the Grecian monarchy having introduced
their language into that country) the Lord was known to Egypt,
and a happy omen and means it was of his being further known.
2. They shall have grace to improve those means. It is promised not
only that the Lord shall be known to Egypt, but that the Egyptians
shall know the Lord; they shall receive and entertain the light
granted to them, and shall submit themselves to the power of it. The
Lord is known to our nation, and yet I fear there are many of our
nation that do not know the Lord. But the promise of the new covenant
is that all shall know the Lord, from the least even to the
greatest, which promise is sure to all the seed. The effect of this
knowledge of God is that they shall vow a vow to the Lord and
perform it. For those do not know God aright who either are not
willing to come under binding obligations to the Lord or do not make
good those obligations.
VIII. They shall come into the communion of saints. Being joined to the
Lord, they shall be added to the church, and be incorporated with all
the saints.
1. All enmities shall be slain. Mortal feuds there had been between
Egypt and Assyria; they often made war upon one another; but now
there shall be a highway between Egypt and Assyria
(v. 23),
a happy correspondence settled between he two nations; they shall trade
with one another, and every thing that passes between them shall be
friendly. The Egyptians shall serve (shall worship the true
God) with the Assyrians; and therefore the Assyrians shall come
into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria. Note, It becomes those who
have communion with the same God, through the same Mediator, to keep up
an amicable correspondence with one another. The consideration of our
meeting at the same throne of grace, and our serving with each other in
the same business of religion, should put an end to all heats and
animosities, and knit our hearts to each other in holy love.
2. The Gentile nations shall not only unite with each other in the
gospel fold under Christ the great shepherd, but they shall all be
united with the Jews. When Egypt and Assyria become partners in serving
God Israel shall make a third with them
(v. 24);
they shall become a three-fold cord, not easily broken. The
ceremonial law, which had long been the partition-wall between Jews and
Gentiles, shall be taken down, and then they shall become one
sheep-fold under one shepherd. Thus united, they shall be a
blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall
bless,
v. 24, 25.
(1.) Israel shall be a blessing to them all, because of them, as
concerning the flesh, Christ came, and they were the natural
branches of the good olive, to whom did originally pertain its root
and fatness, and the Gentiles were but grafted in among
them,
Rom. xi. 17.
Israel lay between Egypt and Assyria, and was a blessing to them both
by bringing them to meet in that word of the Lord which went forth from
Jerusalem, and that church which was first set up in the land of
Israel. Qui conveniunt in aliquo tertio inter se conveniunt–Those
who meet in a third meet in each other. Israel is that third in
whom Egypt and Assyria agree, and is therefore a blessing; for those
are real and great blessings to their generation who are instrumental
to unite those that have been at variance.
(2.) They shall all be a blessing to the world: so the Christian church
is, made up of Jews and Gentiles; it is the beauty, riches, and support
of the world.
(3.) They shall all be blessed of the Lord.
[1.] They shall all be owned by him as his. Though Egypt was formerly a
house of bondage to the people of God, and Assyria an unjust invader of
them, all this shall now be forgiven and forgotten, and they shall be
as welcome to God as Israel. They are all alike his people whom he
takes under his protection. They are formed by him, for they are the
work of his hands; not only as a people, but as
his people. They are formed for him; for they are his
inheritance, precious in his eyes, and dear to him, and from whom he
has his rent of honour out of this lower world.
[2.] They shall be owned together by him as jointly his, his in
concert; they shall all share in one and the same blessing. Note,
Those that are united in the love and blessing of God ought, for that
reason, to be united to each other in charity.
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