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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
I S A I A H.
CHAP. XXX.
The prophecy of this chapter seems to relate (as that in the foregoing
chapter) to the approaching danger of Jerusalem and desolations of
Judah by Sennacherib’s invasion. Here is,
I. A just reproof to those who, in that distress, trusted to the
Egyptians for help, and were all in a hurry to fetch succours from Egypt,
II. A terrible threatening against those who slighted the good advice
which God by his prophets gave them for the repose of their minds in
that distress, assuring them that whatever became of others the
judgment would certainly overtake them,
III. A gracious promise to those who trusted in God, that they should
not only see through the trouble, but should see happy days after it,
times of joy and reformation, plenty of the means of grace, and
therewith plenty of outward good things and increasing joys and
triumphs
(ver. 18-26),
and many of these promises are very applicable to gospel grace.
IV. A prophecy of the total rout and ruin of the Assyrian army, which
should be an occasion of great joy and an introduction to those happy
times,
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1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take
counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not
of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my
mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and
to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and
the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to
Hanes.
5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit
them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a
reproach.
6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of
trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion,
the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches
upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the
bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose:
therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to
sit still.
It was often the fault and folly of the people of the Jews that, when
they were insulted by their neighbours on one side, they sought for
succour from their neighbours on the other side, instead of looking up
to God and putting their confidence in him. Against the Israelites
they sought to the Syrians,
Against the Syrians they sought to the Assyrians,
Against the Assyrians they here sought to the Egyptians, and Rabshakeh
upbraided them with so doing,
Now observe here,
I. How this sin of theirs is described, and what there was in it that
was provoking to God. When they saw themselves in danger and distress,
1. They would not consult God. They would do things of their own heads,
and not advise with God, though they had a ready and certain way of
doing it by Urim or prophets. They were so confident of the prudence of
their own measures that they thought it needless to consult the oracle;
nay, they were not willing to put it to that issue: “They take
counsel among themselves, and one from another; but they do not ask
counsel, much less will they take counsel, of me. They cover with a
covering” (they think to secure themselves with one shelter or
other, which may serve to cover them from the violence of the storm),
“but not of my Spirit” (not such as God by his Spirit, in the
mouth of his prophets, directed them to), “and therefore it will prove
too short a covering, and a refuge of lies.”
2. They could not confide in God. They did not think it enough to have
God on their side, nor were they at all solicitous to make him their
friend, but they strengthened themselves in the strength of
Pharaoh; they thought him a powerful ally, and doubted not but to
be able to cope with the Assyrian while they had him for them. The
shadow of Egypt (and it was but a shadow) was the covering in which
they wrapped themselves.
II. What was the evil of this sin.
1. It bespoke them rebellious children; and a woe is here
denounced against them under that character,
v. 1.
They were, in profession, God’s children; but, not trusting in him,
they were justly stigmatized as rebellious; for, if we distrust God’s
providence, we do in effect withdraw ourselves from our allegiance.
2. They added sin to sin. It was sin that brought them into distress;
and then, instead of repenting, they trespassed yet more against the
Lord,
2 Chron. xxviii. 22.
And those that had abused God’s mercies to them, making them the fuel
of their lusts, abused their afflictions too, making them an excuse for
their distrust of God; and so they make bad worse, and add sin to sin;
and those that do so, as they make their own chain heavy, so it is just
with God to make their plagues wonderful. Now that which aggravated
their sin was,
(1.) That they took so much pains to secure the Egyptians for their
allies: They walk to go down to Egypt, travel up and down to
find an advantageous road thither; but they have not asked at my
mouth, never considered whether God would allow and approve of it
or no.
(2.) That they were at such a vast expense to do it,
v. 6.
They load the beasts of the south (horses fetched from Egypt,
which lay south from Judea) with their riches, fancying, as it is
common with people in a fright, that they were safer any where than
where they were. Or they sent their riches thither as bribes to
Pharaoh’s courtiers, to engage them in their interests, or as pay for
their army. God would have helped them gratis; but, if they
will have help from the Egyptians, they must pay dearly for it, and
they seem willing to do so. The riches that are so spent will turn to
a bad account. They carried their effects to Egypt through a land (so
it may be read) of trouble and anguish, that vast howling wilderness
which lay between Canaan and Egypt, whence come the lion and fiery
serpent,
Deut. viii. 15.
They would venture through that dangerous wilderness, to bring what
they had to Egypt. Or it may be meant of Egypt itself, which had been
to Israel a house of bondage and therefore a land of trouble and
anguish, and which abounded in ravenous and venomous creatures. See
what dangers men run into that forsake God, and what dangers they will
run into in pursuance of their carnal confidences and their
expectations from the creature.
III. What would be the consequence of it.
1. The Egyptians would receive their ambassadors, would address them
very respectfully, and be willing to treat with them
(v. 4):
His princes were at Zoan, at Pharaoh’s court there, and had
their audience of the king, who encouraged them to depend upon his
friendship and the succours he would send them. But,
2. They would not answer their expectation: They could not profit
them,
v. 5.
For God says, They shall not profit them
(v. 6),
and every creature is that to us (and no more) which he makes it to be.
The forces they were to furnish them with could not be raised in time;
or, when they were raised, they were not fit for service, and they
would not venture any of their veteran troops in the expedition; or the
march was so long that they could not come up when they had occasion
for them; or the Egyptians would not be cordial to Israel, but would
secretly incline to the Assyrians, upon some account or other: The
Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose,
v. 7.
They shall hinder and hurt, instead of helping. And therefore,
3. These people, that were now so fond of the Egyptians, would at
length be ashamed of them, and of all their expectations from them and
confidence in them
(v. 3):
“The strength of Pharaoh, which was your pride, shall be your
shame; all your neighbours will upbraid you, and you will upbraid
yourselves, with your folly in trusting to it. And the shadow of
Egypt, that land shadowing with wings
(ch. xviii. 1),
which was your confidence, shall be your confusion; it will not only
disappoint you, and be the matter of your shame, but it will weaken all
your other supports, and be an occasion of mischief to you.” God
afterwards threatens the ruin of Egypt for this very thing, because
they had dealt treacherously with Israel and been a staff of a
reed to them,
The princes and ambassadors of Israel, who were so forward to court an
alliance with them, when they come among them shall see so much of
their weakness, or rather of their baseness, that they shall all be
ashamed of a people that could not be a help or profit to them, but
a shame and reproach,
v. 5.
Those that trust in God, in his power, providence, and promise, are
never made ashamed of their hope; but those that put confidence in any
creature will sooner or later find it a reproach to them. God is true,
and may be trusted, but every man a liar, and must be suspected. The
Creator is a rock of ages, the creature a broken reed. We cannot expect
too little from man nor too much from God.
IV. The use and application of all this
(v. 7):
“Therefore have I cried concerning this matter, this project of
theirs. I have published it, that all might take notice of it. I have
pressed it as one in earnest. Their strength is to sit still, in
a humble dependence upon God and his goodness and a quiet submission to
his will, and not to wander about and put themselves to great trouble
to seek help from this and the other creature.” If we sit still in a
day of distress, hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the
Lord, and using only lawful regular methods for our own preservation,
this will be the strength of our souls both for services and
sufferings, and it will engage divine strength for us. We weaken
ourselves, and provoke God to withdraw from us, when we make flesh our
arm, for then our hearts depart from the Lord. When we have tired
ourselves by seeking for help from creatures we shall find it the best
way of recruiting ourselves to repose in the Creator. Here I am, let
him do with me as he pleases.
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8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a
book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children
that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets,
Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things,
prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause
the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye
despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and
stay thereon:
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to
fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly
at an instant.
14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel
that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall
not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the
hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In
returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in
confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore
shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall
they that pursue you be swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the
rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon
the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.
Here,
I. The preface is very awful. The prophet must not only preach this,
but he must write it
(v. 8),
write it in a table, to be hung up and exposed to public view;
he must carefully note it, not in loose papers which might be
lost or torn, but in a book, to be preserved for posterity,
in perpetuam rei memoriam–for a standing testimony against this
wicked generation; let it remain not only to the next succeeding ages,
but for ever and ever, while the world stands; and so it shall, for the
book of the scriptures no doubt, shall continue, and be read, to the
end of time. Let it be written,
1. To shame the men of the present age, who would not hear and heed it
when it was spoken. Let it be written, that it may not be lost; their
children may profit by it, though they will not.
2. To justify God in the judgments he was about to ring upon them;
people will be tempted to think he was too hard upon them, and
over-severe, unless they know how very bad they were, how very
provoking, and what fair means God tried with them before he brought it
to this extremity.
3. For warning to others not to do as they did, lest they should fare
as they fared. It is designed for admonition to those of the remotest
place and age, even those upon whom the ends of the world have
come,
1 Cor. x. 11.
It may be of use for God’s ministers not only to preach, but to write;
for that which is written remains.
II. The character given of the profane and wicked Jews is very sad. He
must, if he will draw them in their own colours, write this concerning
them (and we are sure he does not bear false witness against them, nor
make them worse than they were, for the judgment of God is according to
truth), That this is a rebellious people,
v. 9.
The Jews were, for aught we know, the only professing people God had
then in the world, and yet many of them were a rebellious people.
1. They rebelled against their own convictions and covenants: “They are
lying children, that will not stand to what they say, that
promise fair, but perform nothing;” when he took them into covenant
with himself he said of them, Surely they are my people, children
that will not lie
(ch. lxiii. 8);
but they proved otherwise.
2. They rebelled against the divine authority: “They are children
that will not hear the law of the Lord, nor heed it, but will do as
they have a mind, let God himself say what he will to the
contrary.”
III. The charge drawn up against them is very high and the sentence
passed upon them very dreadful. Two things they here stand charged
with, and their doom is read for both, a fearful doom:–
1. They forbade the prophets to speak to them in God’s name, and to
deal faithfully with them.
(1.) This their sin is described,
They set themselves so violently against the prophets to hinder them
from preaching, or at least from dealing plainly with them in their
preaching, did so banter them and browbeat them, that they did in
effect say to the seers, See not. They had the light, but they
loved darkness rather. It was their privilege that they had seers among
them, but they did what they could to put out their eyes–that they had
prophets among them, but they did what they could to stop their mouths;
for they tormented them in their wicked ways,
Those that silence good ministers, and discountenance good preaching,
are justly counted, and called, rebels against God. See what it
was in the prophets’ preaching with which they found themselves
aggrieved.
[1.] The prophets told them of their faults, and warned them of their
misery and danger by reason of sin, and they could not bear that. They
must speak to them smooth things, must flatter them in their sins, and
say that they did well, and there was no harm, no peril, in the course
of life they lived in. Let a thing be ever so right and true, if it be
not smooth, they will not hear it. But if it be agreeable to the good
opinion they have of themselves, and will confirm them in that, though
it be ever so false and ever so great a cheat upon them, they will have
it prophesied to them. Those deserve to be deceived that desire to be
so.
[2.] The prophets stopped them in their sinful pursuits, and stood in
their way like the angel in Balaam’s road, with the sword of God’s
wrath drawn in their hand; so that they could not proceed without
terror. And this they took as a great insult. When they went on
frowardly in the way of their hearts they said to the prophets, “Get
you out of the way, turn aside out of the paths. What do you do in
our way? Cannot you let us alone to do as we please?” Those have their
hearts fully set in them to do evil that bid their faithful monitors to
stand out of their way. Forbear, why shouldst thou be smitten?
2 Chron. xxv. 16.
[3.] The prophets were continually telling them of the Holy One of
Israel, what an enemy he is to sin ad how severely he will reckon with
sinners; and this they could not endure to hear of. Both the thing
itself and the expression of it were too serious for them; and
therefore, if the prophets will speak to them, they will make it their
bargain that they shall not call God the Holy One of Israel; for
God’s holiness is that attribute which wicked people most of all dread.
Let us no more be troubled with that state-preface (as Mr. White calls
it) to your impertinent harangues. Those have reason to fear perishing
in their sins that cannot bear to be frightened out of them.
(2.) Now what is the doom passed upon them for this? We have it,
Observe,
[1.] Who it is that gives judgment upon them: Thus saith the Holy
One of Israel. That title of God which they particularly excepted
against the prophet makes use of. Faithful ministers will not be driven
from using such expressions as are proper to awaken sinners, though
they be displeasing. We must tell men that God is the Holy One of
Israel, and so they shall find him, whether they will hear or
whether they will forbear.
[2.] What the ground of the judgment is: Because they despise this
word–wither, in general, every word that the prophets said to
them, or this word in particular, which declares God to be the Holy
One of Israel: “they despise this, and will neither make it their
fear, to stand in awe of it, nor make it their hope, to put any
confidence in it; but, rather than they will be beholden to the Holy
One of Israel, they will trust in oppression and
perverseness, in the wealth they have got and the interest they
have made by fraud and violence, or in the sinful methods they have
taken for their own security, in contradiction to God and his will. On
these they lean, and therefore it is just that they should fall.”
[3.] What the judgment is that is passed upon them: “This iniquity
shall be to you as a breach ready to fall. This confidence of yours
will be like a house built upon the sand, which will fall in the storm
and bury the builder in the ruins of it. Your contempt of that word of
God which you might build upon will make every thing else you trust
like a wall that bulges out, which, if any weight be laid upon it,
comes down, nay, which often sinks with its own weight.” The ruin they
would hereby bring upon themselves should be, First, A
surprising ruin: The breaking shall come suddenly, at an
instant, when they do not expect it, which will make it the more
frightful, and when they are not prepared or provided for it, which
will make it the more fatal. Secondly, An utter ruin, universal
and irreparable: “Your and all your confidences shall be not only weak
as the potter’s clay
(ch. xxix. 16),
but broken to pieces as the potter’s vessel. He that has the rod
of iron shall break it
and he shall not spare, shall not have any regard to it, nor be in care
to preserve or keep whole any part of it. But, when once it is broken
so as to be unfit for use, let it be dashed, let it be crushed, all to
pieces, so that there may not remain one sherd big enough to
take up a little fire or water“–two things we have daily
need of, and which poor people commonly fetch in a piece of a broken
pitcher. They shall not only be as a bowing wall
(Ps. lxii. 3),
but as a broken mug or glass, which is good for nothing, nor can ever
be made whole again.
2. They slighted the gracious directions God gave them, not only how to
secure themselves and make themselves safe, but how to compose
themselves and make themselves easy; they would take their own way,
Observe here,
(1.) The method God put them into for salvation and strength. The God
that knew them, and knew what was proper for them, and desired their
welfare, gave them this prescription; and it is recommended to us all.
[1.] Would we be saved from the evil of every calamity, guarded against
the temptation of it and secured from the curse of it, which are the
only evil things in it? It must be in returning and rest, in
returning to God and reposing in him as our rest. Let us return from
our evil ways, into which we have gone aside, and rest and settle in
the way of God and duty, and that is the way to be saved. “Return from
this project of going down to Egypt, and rest satisfied in the will of
God, and then you may trust him with your safety. In returning
(in the thorough reformation of your hearts and lives) and in
rest (in an entire submission of your souls to God and a
complacency in him) you shall be saved.”
[2.] Would we be strengthened to do what is required of us and to bear
what is laid upon us? It must be in quietness and in confidence;
we must keep our spirits calm and sedate by a continual dependence upon
God, and his power and goodness; we must retire into ourselves with a
holy quietness, suppressing all turbulent and tumultuous passions, and
keeping the peace in our own minds. And we must rely upon God with a
holy confidence that he can do what he will and will do what is best
for his people. And this will be our strength; it will inspire us with
such a holy fortitude as will carry us with ease and courage through
all the difficulties we may meet with.
(2.) The contempt they put upon this prescription; they would not take
God’s counsel, though it was so much for their own good. And justly
will those die of their disease that will not take God for their
physician. We are certainly enemies to ourselves if we will not be
subjects to him. They would not so much as try the method prescribed:
“But you said, No
(v. 16),
we will not compose ourselves, for we will flee upon horses and
we will ride upon the swift; we will hurry hither and thither to
fetch in foreign aids.” They think themselves wiser than God, and that
they know what is good for themselves better than he does. When
Sennacherib took all the fenced cities of Judah, those rebellious
children would not be persuaded to sit still and patiently to expect
God’s appearing for them, as he did wonderfully at last; but they would
shift for their own safety, and thereby they exposed themselves to so
much the more danger.
(3.) The sentence passed upon them for this. Their sin shall be their
punishment: “You will flee, and therefore you shall flee; you
will be upon the full speed, and therefore so shall those be that
pursue you.” The dogs are most apt to run barking after him that rides
fast. The conquerors protected those that sat still, but pursued those
that made their escape; and so that very project by which they hoped to
save themselves was justly their ruin and the most guilty suffered
most. It is foretold,
[1.] That they should be easily cut off; they should be so dispirited
with their own fears, increased by their flight, that one of the enemy
should defeat a thousand of them, and five put an army to flight, which
could never be unless their Rock had sold them
Deut. xxxii. 30.
[2.] That they should be generally cut off, and only here and there one
should escape alone in a solitary place, and be left for a spectacle
too, as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, a warning to others
to avoid the like sinful courses and carnal confidences.
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18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious
unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have
mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed
are all they that wait for him.
19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt
weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of
thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and
the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed
into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This
is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and
when ye turn to the left.
22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of
silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt
cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get
thee hence.
23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow
the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it
shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in
large pastures.
24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground
shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the
shovel and with the fan.
25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every
high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great
slaughter, when the towers fall.
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the
sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of
seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his
people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
The closing words of the foregoing paragraph (You shall be left as a
beacon upon a mountain) some understand as a promise that a remnant
of them should be reserved as monuments of mercy; and here the prophet
tells them what good times should succeed these calamities. Or the
first words in this paragraph may be read by way of antithesis,
Notwithstanding this, yet will the Lord wait that he may be
gracious. The prophet, having shown that those who made Egypt their
confidence would be ashamed of it, here shows that those who sat still
and made God alone their confidence would have the comfort of it. It is
matter of comfort to the people of God, when the times are very bad,
that all will be well yet, well with those that fear God, when
we say to the wicked, It shall be ill with you.
I. God will be gracious to them and will have mercy on them. This is
the foundation of all good. If we find favour with God, and he have
mercy upon us, we shall have comfort according to the time that we have
been afflicted.
1. The mercy in store for them is very affectingly expressed.
(1.) “He will wait to be gracious
(v. 18);
he will wait till you return to him and seek his face, and then he will
be ready to meet you with mercy. He will wait, that he may do it in the
best and fittest time, when it will be most for his glory, when it will
come to you with the most pleasing surprise. He will continually follow
you with his favours, and not let slip any opportunity of being
gracious to you.”
(2.) “He will stir up himself to deliver you, will be exalted, will be
raised up out of his holy habitation
(Zech. ii. 13),
that he may appear for you in more than ordinary instances of power and
goodness; and thus he will be exalted, that is, he will glorify
his own name. This is what he aims at in having mercy on his people.”
(3.) He will be very gracious
(v. 19),
and this in answer to prayer, which makes his kindness doubly kind:
“He will be gracious to thee, at the voice of thy cry, the cry
of thy necessity, when that is most urgent–the cry of thy prayer, when
that is most fervent. When he shall hear it, there needs no
more; at the first word he will answer thee, and say, Here I
am.” Herein he is very gracious indeed. In particular,
[1.] Those who were disturbed in the possession of their estates shall
again enjoy them quietly. When the danger is over the people shall
dwell in Zion, at Jerusalem, as they used to do; they shall dwell
safely, free from the fear of evil.
[2.] Those who were all in tears shall have cause to rejoice, and shall
weep no more; and those who dwell in Zion, the holy city, will find
enough there to wipe away tears from their eyes.
2. This is grounded upon two great truths:
(1.) That the Lord is a God of judgment; he is both wise and
just in all the disposals of his providence, true to his word and
tender of his people. If he correct his children, it is with
judgment
(Jer. x. 24),
with moderation and discretion, considering their frame. We think we
may safely refer ourselves to a man of judgment; and shall we not
commit our way to a God of judgment?
(2.) That therefore all those are blessed who wait for him, who
not only wait on him with their prayers, but wait for him with their
hopes, who will not take any indirect course to extricate themselves
out of their straits, or anticipate their deliverance, but patiently
expect God’s appearances for them in his own way and time. Because God
is infinitely wise, those are truly happy who refer their cause to
him.
II. They shall not again know the want of the means of grace,
Here,
1. It is supposed that they might be brought into straits and troubles
after this deliverance was wrought for them. It was promised
(v. 19),
that they should weep no more and that God would be gracious
to them; and yet here it is taken for granted that God may give
them the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
prisoners’ fare
coarse and sorry food, such as the poor use. When one trouble is over
we know not how soon another may succeed; and we may have an interest
in the favour of God, and such consolations as are sufficient to
prohibit weeping, and yet may have bread of adversity given us to eat
and water of affliction to drink. Let us therefore not judge of love
or hatred by what is before us.
2. It is promised that their eyes should see their teachers,
that is, that they should have faithful teachers among them, and should
have hearts to regard them and not slight them as they had done; and
then they might the better be reconciled to the bread of adversity and
the water of affliction. It was a common saying among the old Puritans,
Brown bread and the gospel are good fare. A famine of bread is
not so great a judgment as a famine of the word of God,
It seems that their teachers had been removed into corners (probably
being forced to shift for their safety in the reign of Ahaz), but it
shall be so no more. Veritas non quærit angulos–Truth seeks
no corners for concealment. But the teachers of truth may sometimes
be driven into corners for shelter; and it goes ill with the church
when it is so, when the woman with her crown of twelve stars is forced
to flee into the wilderness
(Rev. xii. 6),
when the prophets are hidden by fifty in a cave,
1 Kings xviii. 4.
But God will find a time to call the teachers out of their corners
again, and to replace them in their solemn assemblies, which shall
see their own teachers, the eyes of all the synagogue
being fastened on them,
And it will be the more pleasing because of the restraint they have
been for some time under, as light out of darkness, as life from the
dead. To all that love God and their own souls this return of faithful
teachers out of their corners, especially with a promise that they
shall not be removed into corners any more, is the most
acceptable part of any deliverance, and has comfort enough in it to
sweeten even the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. But
this is not all:
3. It is promised that they shall have the benefit, not only of the
public ministry, but of private and particular admonition and advice
(v. 21):
“Thy ears shall hear a word behind thee, calling after thee as a
man calls after a traveller that he sees going out of his road.”
Observe,
(1.) Whence this word shall come–from behind thee, from some
one whom thou dost not see, but who sees thee. “Thy eyes see thy
teachers; but this is a teacher out of sight, it is thy own conscience,
which shall now by the grace of God be awakened to do its office.”
(2.) What the word shall be: “This is the way, walk you in it.
When thou art doubting, conscience shall direct thee to the way of
duty; when thou art dull and trifling, conscience shall quicken thee in
that way.” As God has not left himself without witness, so he has not
left us without guides to show us our way.
(3.) The seasonableness of this word: It shall come when you turn to
the right hand or to the left. We are very apt to miss our way;
there are turnings on both hands, and those so tracked and seemingly
straight that they may easily be mistaken for the right way. There are
right-hand and left-hand errors, extremes on each side virtue; the
tempter is busy courting us into the by-paths. It is happy then if by
the particular counsels of a faithful minister or friend, or the checks
of conscience and the strivings of God’s Spirit, we be set right and
prevented from going wrong.
(4.) The success of this word: “It shall not only be spoken, but thy
ears shall hear it; whereas God has formerly spoken once, yea,
twice, and thou hast not perceived it
now thou shalt listen attentively to these secret whispers, and hear
them with an obedient ear.” If God gives us not only the word, but the
hearing ear, not only the means of grace, but a heart to make a good
use of those means, we have reason to say, He is very gracious to us,
and reason to hope he has yet further mercy in store for us.
III. They shall be cured of their idolatry, shall fall out with their
idols, and never be reconciled to them again,
The deliverance God shall work for them shall convince them that it is
their interest, as well as duty, to serve him only; and they shall own
that, as their trouble was brought upon them for their idolatries, so
it was removed upon condition that they should not return to them. This
is also the good effect of their seeing their teachers and hearing the
word behind them; by this it shall appear that they are the better for
the means of grace they enjoy–they shall break off from their
best-beloved sin. Observe,
1. How foolishly mad they had formerly been upon their idols, in the
day of their apostasy. Idolaters are said to be mad upon their
idols
(Jer. l. 38),
doatingly fond of them. They had graven images of silver, and
molten images of gold, and, though gold needs no painting, they
had coverings and ornaments on these; they spared no cost in doing
honour to their idols.
2. How wisely mad (if I may so speak) they now were at their idols,
what a holy indignation they conceived against them in the day of their
repentance. They not only degraded their images, but defaced them, not
only defaced them, but defiled them; they not only spoiled the shape of
them, but in a pious fury threw away the gold and silver they were made
of, though otherwise valuable and convertible to a good use. They could
not find in their hearts to make any vessel of honour of them. The rich
clothes wherewith their images were dressed up they cast away as a
filthy cloth which rendered those that touched it unclean until the
evening,
Lev. xv. 23.
Note, To all true penitents sin has become very odious; they loathe it,
and loathe themselves because of it; they cast it away to the dunghill,
the fittest place for it, nay, to the cross, for they crucify the
flesh; their cry against it is, Crucify it, crucify it. They say
unto it, Abi hinc in malam rem–Get thee hence. They are
resolved never to harbour it any more. They put as far from as they can
all the occasions of sin and temptations to it, though they are as a
right eye or a right hand, and protest against it as Ephraim did
(Hos. xiv. 8),
What have I to do any more with idols? Probably this was
fulfilled in many particular persons, who, by the deliverance of
Jerusalem from Sennacherib’s army, were convinced of the folly of their
idolatry and forsook it. It was fulfilled in the body of the Jewish
nation at their return from their captivity in Babylon, for they
abhorred idols ever after; and it is accomplished daily in the
conversion of souls, by the power of divine grace, from spiritual
idolatry to the fear and love of God. Those that join themselves to the
Lord must abandon every sin, and say unto it, Get thee
hence.
IV. God will then give them plenty of all good things. When he gives
them their teachers, and they give him their hearts, so that they begin
to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, then all
other things shall be added to them
Matt. vi. 33.
And when the people are brought to praise God then shall the earth
yield her increase, and with it God, even our own God, shall bless
us,
Ps. lxvii. 5, 6.
So it follows here: “When you shall have abandoned your idols, then
shall God give the rain of your seed,”
When we return to God in a way of duty he will meet us with his
favours.
1. God will give you rain of your seed, rain to water the seed you sow,
just at the time that it calls for it, as much as it needs and no more.
Observe, How man’s industry and God’s blessing concur to the good
things we enjoy relating to the life that now is: Thou shalt sow the
ground, that is thy part, and then God will give the rain of thy
seed, that is his part. It is so in spiritual fruit; we must take
pains with our hearts and then wait on God for his grace.
2. The increase of the earth shall be rich and good, and every thing
the best of the kind; it shall be fat and fat, very fat and very
good, fat and plenteous (so we read it), good and enough of it.
Your land shall be Canaan indeed; it was remarkably so after the defeat
of Sennacherib, by the special blessing of God,
God would thus repair the losses they sustained by that devastation.
3. Not only the tillage, but the pasture-ground should be remarkably
fruitful: The cattle shall feed in large pastures; those that
are at grass shall have room enough, and the oxen and asses that are
kept up for use, to ear the ground, which must be the better fed for
their being worked, shall eat clean provender. The corn shall
not be given them in the chaff as usual, to make it go the further, but
they shall have good clean corn fit for man’s use, being winnowed
with the fan. The brute-creatures shall share in the abundance; it
is fit they should, for they groan under the burden of the curse which
man’s sin has brought upon the earth.
4. Even the tops of the mountains, that used to be barren, shall be so
well watered with the rain of heaven that there shall be rivers and
streams there, and running down thence to the valleys
(v. 25),
and this in the day of the great slaughter that should be made
by the angel in the camp of the Assyrians, when the towers and
batteries they had erected for the carrying on of the siege of
Jerusalem, the army being slain, should fall of course. It is
probable that this was fulfilled in the letter of it, and that about
the same time that that army was cut off there were extraordinary rains
in mercy to the land.
V. The effect of all this should be extraordinary comfort and joy to
the people of God,
Light shall increase; that is, knowledge shall increase (when the
prophecies are accomplished they shall be fully understood) or rather
triumph shall: the light of the joy that is sown for the righteous
shall now come up with a great increase. The light of the moon shall
become as bright and as strong as that of the sun, and that of
the sun shall increase proportionably and be as the light of
seven days; every one shall be much more cheerful and appear much
more pleasant than usual. There shall be a high spring-tide of joy in
Judah and Jerusalem, upon occasion of the ruin of the Assyrian army,
when the Lord binds up the breach of his people, not only saves
them from being further wounded, but heals the wounds that have been
given them by this invasion and makes up all their losses. The great
distress they were reduced to, their despair of relief, and the
suddenness of their deliverance, would much augment their joy. This is
not unfitly applied by many to the light which the gospel brought into
the world to those that sat in darkness, which has far exceeded the
Old-Testament light as that of the sun does that of the moon, and which
proclaims healing to the broken-hearted, and the binding up of their
wounds.
| Judgments on Assyria. | B. C. 720. |
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27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with
his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full
of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the
midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity:
and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing
them to err.
29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy
solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with
a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One
of Israel.
30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and
shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of
his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with
scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be
beaten down, which smote with a rod.
32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass,
which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and
harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is
prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof
is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of
brimstone, doth kindle it.
This terrible prediction of the ruin of the Assyrian army, though it is
a threatening to them, is part of the promise to the Israel of God,
that God would not only punish the Assyrians for the mischief they had
done to the Israel of God, but would disable and deter them from doing
the like again; and this prediction, which would now shortly be
accomplished, would ratify and confirm the foregoing promises, which
should be accomplished in the latter days. Here is,
I. God Almighty angry, and coming forth in anger against the Assyrians.
He is here introduced in all the power and all the terror of his wrath,
The name of Jehovah, which the Assyrians disdain and set at a
distance from them, as if they were out of its reach and it could do
them no harm, behold, it comes from far. A messenger in the name
of the Lord comes from as far off as heaven itself. He is a messenger
of wrath, burning with his anger. God’s lips are full of
indignation at the blasphemy of Rabshakeh, who compared the God of
Israel with the gods of the heathen; his tongue is as a devouring
fire, for he can speak his proud enemies to ruin; his very breath
comes with as much force as an overflowing stream, and with it he shall
slay the wicked,
He does not stifle or smother his resentments, as men do theirs when
they are either causeless or impotent; but he shall cause his
glorious voice to be heard when he proclaims war with an enemy that
sets him at defiance,
He shall display the indignation of his anger, anger in the
highest degree; it shall be as the flame of a devouring fire,
which carries and consumes all before it, with lightning or
dissipation, and with tempest and hailstones, all which are the
formidable phenomena of nature, and therefore expressive of the terror
of the Almighty God of nature.
II. The execution done by this anger of the Lord. Men are often angry
when they can only threaten and talk big; but when God causes his
glorious voice to be heard that shall not be all: he will show the
lighting down of his arm too,
The operations of his providence shall accomplish the menaces of his
word. Those that would not see the lifting up of his arm
shall feel the lighting down of it, and find, to their cost, that the
burden thereof is heavy
(v. 27),
so heavy that they cannot bear it, nor bear up against it, but must
unavoidably sink and be crushed under it. Who knows the power of
his anger or imagines what an offended God can do? Five things are
here prepared for the execution:–
1. Here is an overflowing stream, that shall reach to the
midst of the neck, shall quite overwhelm the whole body of the
army, and Sennacherib only, the head of it, shall keep above water and
escape this stroke, while yet he is reserved for another in the house
of Nisroch his god. The Assyrian army had been to Judah as an
overflowing stream, reaching even to the neck
and now the breath of God’s wrath will be so to it.
2. Here is a sieve of vanity, with which God would sift those
nations of which the Assyrian army was composed,
The great God can sift nations, for they are all before him as the
small dust of the balance; he will sift them, not to gather out of them
any that should be preserved, but so as to shake them one against
another, put them into great consternation, and shake them all away at
last; for it is a sieve of vanity (which retains nothing) that they are
shaken with, and they are found all chaff.
3. Here is a bridle, which God has in their jaws, to curb and
restrain them from doing the mischief they would do, and to force and
constrain them to serve his purposes against their own will,
God particularly says of Sennacherib
that he will put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips. It is a
bridle causing them to err, forcing them to such methods as will
certainly be destructive to themselves and their interest and in which
they will be infatuated. God with a word guides his people into the
right way
(v. 21),
but with a bridle he turns his enemies headlong upon their own ruin.
4. Here is a rod and a staff, even the voice of the
Lord, his word giving orders concerning it, with which the
Assyrian shall be beaten down,
v. 31.
The Assyrian had been himself a rod in God’s hand for the chastising of
his people, and had smitten them,
That was a transient rod; but against the Assyrian shall go forth a
grounded staff, that shall give a steady blow, shall stick close to
him and strike home, so as to leave an impression upon him. It is a
staff with a foundation, founded upon the enemies’ deserts and God’s
determinate counsel. It is a consumption determined
(ch. x. 23),
and therefore there is no escaping it, no getting out of the reach of
it; it shall pass in every place where an Assyrian is found, and the
Lord shall lay it upon him, and cause it to rest,
Such is the woeful case of those that persist in enmity to God: the
wrath of God abides on them.
5. Here is Tophet ordained and prepared for them,
The valley of the son of Hinnom, adjoining to Jerusalem, was called
Tophet. In that valley, it is supposed, many of the Assyrian
regiments lay encamped, and were there slain by the destroying angel;
or there the bodies of those that were so slain were burned. Hezekiah
had lately, and from yesterday (so the word is) ordained
it; that is, say some, he had cleared it of the images that were
set up in it, to which they there burnt their children, and so prepared
it to be a receptacle for the dead bodies of their enemies, for the
king of Assyria (that is, for his army) it is prepared, and
there is fuel enough ready to burn them all; and they shall be consumed
as suddenly and effectually as if the fire were kept burning by a
continual stream of brimstone, for such the breath of the Lord, his
word and his wrath, will be to it. Now as the prophet, in the foregoing
promises, slides insensibly into the promises of gospel graces and
comforts, so here, in the threatening of the ruin of Sennacherib’s
army, he points at the final and everlasting destruction of all
impenitent sinners. Our Saviour calls the future misery of the damned
Gehenna, in allusion to the valley of Hinnom, which gives some
countenance to the applying of this to that misery, as also that in the
Apocalypse it is so often called the lake that burns with fire and
brimstone. This is said to be prepared of old for the devil and his
angels, for the greatest of sinners, the proudest, and that think
themselves not accountable to any for what they say and do; even for
kings it is prepared. It is deep and large, sufficient to
receive the world of the ungodly; the pile thereof is fire and much
wood. God’s wrath is the fire, and sinners make themselves fuel to
it; and the breath of the Lord (the power of his anger)
kindles it, and will keep it ever burning. See
Wherefore stand in awe and sin not.
III. The great joy which this should occasion to the people of God. The
Assyrian’s fall is Jerusalem’s triumph
(v. 29):
You shall have a song as in the night, a psalm of praise such as
those sing who by night stand in the house of the Lord, and sing
to his glory who gives songs in the night. It shall not be a
song of vain mirth, but a sacred song, such as was sung when a holy
solemnity was kept in a grave and religious manner. Our joy in the fall
of the church’s enemies must be a holy joy, gladness of heart, as
when one goes, with a pipe (such as the sons of the prophets used
when they prophesied,
to the mountain of the Lord, there to celebrate the praises of
the Mighty One of Israel. Nay, in every place where the divine
vengeance shall pursue the Assyrians they shall not only fall
unlamented, but all their neighbours shall attend their fall with
tabrets and harps, pleased to see how God, in battles of
shaking, such as shake them out of the world, fights with them
(v. 32);
for when the wicked perish there is shouting; and it is with a
particular satisfaction that wise and good men see the ruin of those
who, like the Assyrians, have insolently bidden defiance to God and
trampled upon all mankind.
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