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Matthew Henry |
I S A I A H.
CHAP. XXXII.
This chapter seems to be such a prophecy of the reign of Hezekiah as
amounts to an abridgment of the history of it, and this with an eye to
the kingdom of the Messiah, whose government was typified by the
thrones of the house of David, for which reason he is so often called
“the Son of David.” Here is,
I. A prophecy of that good work of reformation with which he should
begin his reign, and the happy influence it should have upon the
people, who had been wretchedly corrupted and debauched in the reign of
his predecessor,
II. A prophecy of the great disturbance that would be given to the
kingdom in the middle of his reign by the Assyrian invasion,
III. A promise of better times afterwards, towards the latter end of
his reign, in respect both of piety and peace
(ver. 15-20),
which promise may be supposed to look as far forward as the days of the
Messiah.
| The Reign of Justice. | B. C. 726. |
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1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes
shall rule in judgment.
2 And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a
covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears
of them that hear shall hearken.
4 The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and
the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the
churl said to be bountiful.
6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will
work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against
the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause
the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth
wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when
the needy speaketh right.
8 But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal
things shall he stand.
We have here the description of a flourishing kingdom. “Blessed art
thou, O land! when it is thus with thee, when kings, princes, and
people, are in their places such as they should be.” It may be taken as
a directory both to magistrates and subjects, what both ought to do, or
as a panegyric to Hezekiah, who ruled well and saw something of the
happy effects of his good government, and it was designed to make the
people sensible how happy they were under his administration and how
careful they should be to improve the advantages of it, and withal to
direct them to look for the kingdom of Christ, and the times of
reformation which that kingdom should introduce. It is here promised
and prescribed, for the comfort of the church,
I. That magistrates should do their duty in their places, and the
powers answer the great ends for which they were ordained of God,
1. There shall be a king and princes that shall reign and rule; for it
cannot go well when there is no king in Israel. The princes must have a
king, a monarch over them as supreme, in whom they may unite; and the
king must have princes under him as officers, by whom he may act,
They both shall know their place and fill it up. The king shall reign,
and yet, without any diminution to his just prerogative, the princes
shall rule in a lower sphere, and all for the public good.
2. They shall use their power according to law, and not against it.
They shall reign in righteousness and in judgment, with wisdom and
equity, protecting the good and punishing the bad; and those kings and
princes Christ owns as reigning by him who decree justice,
Such a King, such a Prince, Christ himself is; he reigns by rule, and
in righteousness will he judge the world,
ch. ix. 7; xi. 4.
3. Thus they shall be great blessings to the people
(v. 2):
A man, that man, that king that reigns in righteousness,
shall be as a hiding-place. When princes are as they should be
people are as they would be.
(1.) They are sheltered and protected from many mischiefs. This good
magistrate is a covert to the subject from the tempest of injury and
violence; he defends the poor and fatherless, that they be not
made a prey of by the mighty. Whither should oppressed innocency flee,
when blasted by reproach or borne down by violence, but to the
magistrate as its hiding-place? To him it appeals, and by him it is
righted.
(2.) They are refreshed and comforted with many blessings. This good
magistrate gives such countenance to those that are poor and in
distress, and such encouragement to every thing that is praiseworthy,
that he is as rivers of water in a dry place, cooling and
cherishing the earth and making it fruitful, and as the shadow of a
great rock, under which a poor traveller may shelter himself from
the scorching heat of the sun in a weary land. It is a great
reviving to a good man, who makes conscience of doing his duty, in the
midst of contempt and contradiction, at length to be backed, and
favoured, and smiled upon in it by a good magistrate. All this, and
much more, the man Christ Jesus is to all the willing faithful subjects
of his kingdom. When the greatest evils befal us, not only the wind,
but the tempest, when storms of guilt and wrath beset us and beat upon
us, they drive us to Christ, and in him we are not only safe, but
satisfied that we are so; in him we find rivers of water for those that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, all the refreshment and comfort
that a needy soul can desire, and the shadow, not of a tree, which sun
or rain may beat through, but of a rock, of a great rock, which reaches
a great way for the shelter of the traveller. Some observe here that as
the covert, and the hiding-place, and the rock, do themselves receive
the battering of the wind and storm, to save those from it that take
shelter in them, so Christ bore the storm himself to keep it off from
us.
II. That subjects should do their duty in their places.
1. They shall be willing to be taught, and to understand things aright.
They shall lay aside their prejudices against their rulers and
teachers, and submit to the light and power of truth,
v. 3.
When this blessed work of reformation is set on foot, and men do their
parts towards it, God will not be wanting to do his: Then the eyes
of those that see, of the prophets, the seers, shall not be
dim; but God will bless them with visions, to be by them
communicated to the people; and those that read the word written shall
no longer have a veil upon their hearts, but shall see things clearly.
Then the ears of those that hear the word preached shall
hearken diligently and readily receive what they hear, and not be
so dull of hearing as they have been. This shall be done by the grace
of God, especially gospel-grace; for the hearing ear, and the seeing
eyes, the Lord has made, has new-made, even both of them.
2. There shall be a wonderful change wrought in them by that which is
taught them,
v. 4.
(1.) They shall have a clear head, and be able to discern things that
differ, and distinguish concerning them. The heart of those that
were hasty and rash, and could not take time to digest and
consider things, shall now be cured of their precipitation, and
shall understand knowledge; for the Spirit of God will open
their understanding. This blessed work Christ wrought in his disciples
after his resurrection
as a specimen of what he would do for all his people, in giving them an
understanding,
The pious designs of good princes are likely to take effect when their
subjects allow themselves liberty to consider, and to think, so freely
as to take things right.
(2.) They shall have a ready utterance: The tongue of the
stammerers, that used to blunder whenever they spoke of the things
of God, shall now be ready to speak plainly, as those
that understand what they speak of, that believe, and therefore speak.
There shall be a great increase of such clear, distinct, and methodical
knowledge in the things of God, that those from whom one would not have
expected it shall speak intelligently of these things, very much to the
honour of God and the edification of others. Their hearts being full of
this good matter, their tongues shall be as the pen of a ready
writer,
Ps. xlv. 1.
3. The differences between good and evil, virtue and vice, shall be
kept up, and no more confounded by those who put darkness for light and
light for darkness
(v. 5):
The vile shall no more be called liberal.
(1.) Bad men shall no more be preferred by the prince. When a king
reigns in justice he will not put those in places of honour and power
that are ill-natured, and of base and sordid spirits, and care not what
injury or mischief they do so they may but compass their own ends. Such
as vile persons (as Antiochus is called,
when they are advanced they are called liberal and
bountiful; they are called benefactors
but it shall not always be thus; when the world grows wiser men shall
be preferred according to their merit, and honour (which was never
thought seemly for a fool,
shall no longer be thrown away upon such.
(2.) Bad men shall be no more had in reputation among the people, nor
vice disguised with the colours of virtue. It shall no more be said to
Nabal, Thou art Nadib (so the words are); such a covetous
muck-worm as Nabal was, a fool but for his money, shall not be
complimented with the title of a gentleman or a prince; nor shall they
call a churl, that minds none but himself, does no good with
what he has, but is an unprofitable burden of the earth, My
lord; or, rather, they shall not say of him, He is rich; for
so the word signifies. Those only are to be reckoned rich that are rich
in good works; not those that have abundance, but those that use it
well. In short, it is well with a people when men are generally valued
by their virtue, and usefulness, and beneficence to mankind, and not by
their wealth or titles of honour. Whether this was fulfilled in the
reign of Hezekiah, and how far it refers to the kingdom of Christ (in
which we are sure men are judged of by what they are, not by what they
have, nor is any man’s character mistaken), we will not say; but it
prescribes an excellent rule both to prince and people, to respect men
according to their personal merit. To enforce this rule, here is a
description both of the vile person and of the liberal; and by it we
shall see such a vast difference between them that we must quite forget
ourselves if we pay that respect to the vile person and the churl which
is due only to the liberal.
[1.] A vile person and a churl will do mischief, and the more if he be
preferred and have power in his hand; his honours will make him worse
and not better,
See the character of these base ill-conditioned men. First, They
are always plotting some unjust thing or other, designing ill either to
particular persons or to the public, and contriving how to bring it
about; and so many silly piques they have to gratify, and mean
revenges, that there appears not in them the least spark of generosity.
Their hearts will be still working some iniquity or other. Observe,
There is the work of the heart, as well as the work of the hands. As
thoughts are words to God, so designs are works in his account. See
what pains sinners take in sin. They labour at it; their hearts are
intent upon it, and with a great deal of art and application they
work iniquity. They devise wicked devices with all the
subtlety of the old serpent and a great deal of deliberation, which
makes the sin exceedingly sinful; and the more there is of plot and
management in a sin the more there is of Satan in it. Secondly,
They carry on their plots by trick and dissimulation. When they are
meditating iniquity, they practise hypocrisy, feign themselves
just men,
The most abominable mischiefs shall be disguised with the most
plausible pretences of devotion to God, regard to man, and concern for
some common good. Those are the vilest of men that intend the worst
mischiefs when they speak fair. Thirdly, They speak
villainy. When they are in a passion you will see what they are by
the base ill language they give to those about them, which no way
becomes men of rank and honour; or, in giving verdict or judgment, they
villainously put false colours upon things, to pervert justice.
Fourthly, They affront God, who is a righteous God and loves
righteousness: They utter error against the Lord, and therein
they practise profaneness; for so the word which we translate
hypocrisy signifies. They give an unjust sentence, and then
profanely make use of the name of God for the ratification of it; as
if, because the judgment is God’s
(Deut. i. 17),
therefore their false and unjust judgment was his. This is uttering
error against the Lord, under pretence of uttering truth and
justice for him; and nothing can be more impudently done against God
than to use his name to patronise wickedness. Fifthly, They
abuse mankind, those particularly whom they are bound to protect and
relieve.
1. Instead of supplying the wants of the poor, they impoverish them,
they make empty the souls of the hungry; either taking away the
food they have, or, which is almost equivalent, denying the supply
which they want and which they have to give. And they cause the
drink of the thirsty to fail; they cut off the relief they used to
have, though they need it as much as ever. Those are vile persons
indeed that rob the spital.
2. Instead of righting the poor, when they appeal to their judgment,
they contrive to destroy the poor, to ruin them in their courts of
judicature with lying words in favour of the rich, to whom they are
plainly partial; yea, though the needy speak right, though the evidence
be ever so full for them to make out the equity of their cause, it is
the bribe that governs them, not the right. Sixthly, These
churls and vile persons have always had instruments about them, that
are ready to serve their villainous purposes: All their servants are
wicked. There is no design so palpably unjust but there may be
found those that would be employed as tools to put it in execution.
The instruments of the churl are evil, and one cannot expect
otherwise; but this is our comfort, that they can do no more mischief
than God permits them.
[2.] One that is truly liberal, and deserves the honour of being called
so, makes it his business to do good to every body according as his
sphere is,
v. 8.
Observe, First, The care he takes, and the contrivances he has,
to do good. He devises liberal things. As much as the churl or
niggard projects how to save and lay up what he has for himself only,
so much the good charitable man projects how to use and lay out what he
has in the best manner for the good of others. Charity must be
directed by wisdom, and liberal things done prudently and with device,
that the good intention of them may be answered, that it may not be
charity misplaced. The liberal man, when he has done all the liberal
things that are in his own power, devises liberal things for others to
do according to their power, and puts them upon doing them.
Secondly, the comfort he takes, and the advantage he has, in
doing good: By liberal things he shall stand, or be established.
The providence of God will reward him for his liberality with a settled
prosperity and an established reputation. The grace of God will give
him abundance of satisfaction and confirmed peace in his own bosom.
What disquiets others shall not disturb him; his heart is fixed. This
is the recompence of charity,
Some read it, The prince, or honourable man, will take honourable
courses; and by such honourable or ingenuous courses he shall stand or
be established. It is well with a land when the honourable of it
are indeed men of honour and scorn to do a base thing, when its king is
thus the son of nobles.
| Joyful Prospects. | B. C. 726. |
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9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye
careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
10 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women:
for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless
ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon
your loins.
12 They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine.
13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and
briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
14 Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the
city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for
ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the
wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted
for a forest.
16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and
righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect
of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in
sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
19 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city
shall be low in a low place.
20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth
thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
In these verses we have God rising up to judgment against the vile
persons, to punish them for their villainy; but at length returning in
mercy to the liberal, to reward them for their liberality.
I. When there was so great a corruption of manners, and so much
provocation given to the holy God, bad times might well be expected,
and here is a warning given of such times coming. The alarm is sounded
to the women that were at ease
(v. 9)
and the careless daughters, to feed whose pride, vanity, and
luxury, their husbands and fathers were tempted to starve the poor. Let
them hear what the prophet has to say to them in God’s name: “Rise
up, and hear with reverence and attention.”
1. Let them know that God was about to bring wasting desolating
judgments upon the land in which they lived in pleasure and were
wanton. This seems to refer primarily to the desolations made by
Sennacherib’s army when he seized all the fenced cities of Judah: but
then those words, many days and years, must be rendered (as the
margin reads them) days above a year, that is, something above a
year shall this havock be in the making: so long it was from the first
entrance of that army into the land of Judah to the overthrow of it.
But it is applicable to the wretched disappointment which those will
certainly meet with, first or last, that set their hearts upon the
world and place their happiness in it: You shall be troubled, you
careless women. It will not secure us from trouble to cast away
care when we are at ease; nay, to those who affect to live carelessly
even little troubles will be great vexations and press hard upon them.
They were careless and at ease because they had money enough and mirth
enough; but the prophet here tells them,
(1.) That the country whence they had their tents and dainties should
shortly be laid waste: “The vintage shall fail; and then what
will you do for wine to make merry with? The gathering of fruit
shall not come, for there shall be none to be gathered, and you
will find the want of them,
You will want the teats, the good milk from the cows, the
pleasant fields and their productions:” the useful fields that are
serviceable to human life are the pleasant ones. “You will want the
fruitful vine, and the grapes it used to yield you.” The abuse of
plenty is justly punished with scarcity; and those deserve to be
deprived of the supports of life who make them the food and fuel of
lust and prepare them for Baal.
(2.) That the cities too, the cities of Judah, where they lived at
ease, spent their rents, and made themselves merry with their dainties,
should be laid waste
(v. 13, 14):
Briers and thorns, the fruits of sin and the curse, shall
come up, not only upon the land of my people, which shall
lie uncultivated, but upon all the houses of joy–the
play-houses, the gaming-houses, the taverns–in the joyous
cities. When a foreign army was ravaging the country the houses of
joy, no doubt, became houses of mourning; then the palaces, or
noblemen’s houses, were forsaken by their owners, who perhaps fled to
Egypt for refuge; the multitude of the city were left by their leaders
to shift for themselves. Then the stately houses shall be for dens
for ever, which had been as forts and towers for strength and
magnificence. They shall be abandoned; the owners shall never return to
them; every body shall look upon them to be like Jericho, an anathema;
so that, even when peace returns, they shall not be rebuilt, but shall
be thrown to the waste: A joy of wild asses and a pasture of
flocks. Thus is many a house brought to ruin by sin. Jam seges
est ubi Troja fuit–Corn grows on the site of Troy.
2. In the foresight of this let them tremble and be troubled,
strip themselves, and gird sackcloth upon their loins,
v. 11.
This intimates not only that when the calamity comes they shall thus be
made to tremble and be forced to strip themselves, that then God’s
judgments would strip them and make them bare, but,
(1.) That the best prevention of the trouble would be to repent and
humble themselves for their sin, and lie in the dust before God in true
remorse and godly sorrow, which would be the lengthening out of their
tranquillity. This is meeting God in the way of his judgments, and
saving a correction by correcting our own mistakes. Those only shall
break that will not bend.
(2.) That the best preparation for the trouble would be to deny
themselves and live a life of mortification, and to sit loose to all
the delights of sense. Those that have already by a holy contempt of
this world stripped themselves can easily bear to be stripped when
trouble and death come.
II. While there was still a remnant that kept their integrity they had
reason to hope for good times at length and such times the prophet here
gives them a pleasant prospect of. Such times they saw in the latter
end of the reign of Hezekiah; but the prophecy may well be supposed to
look further, to the days of the Messiah, who is King of
righteousness and King of peace, and to whom all the
prophets bear witness. Now observe,
1. How those blessed times shall be introduced-by the pouring out of
the Spirit from on high
(v. 15),
which speaks not only of the good-will of God towards us, but the good
work of God in us; for then, and not till then, there will be good
times, when God by his grace gives men good hearts; and therefore God’s
giving his Holy Spirit to those that ask him is in effect his
giving them all good things, as appears by comparing
Luke xi. 13 with Matt. vii. 11.
This is the great thing that God’s people comfort themselves with the
hopes of, that the Spirit shall be poured out upon them, that
there shall be a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of grace than
formerly, according as the necessity of the church, in its desolate
estate, calls for. This comes from on high, and therefore they look up
to their Father in heaven for it. When God designs favours for his
church he pours out his Spirit, both to prepare his people to receive
his favours and to qualify and give success to those whom he designs to
employ as instruments of his favour; for their endeavours to repair the
desolations of the church are all fruitless until the Spirit be
poured out upon them and then the work is done suddenly. The
kingdom of the Messiah was brought in, and set up, by the pouring out
of the Spirit
(Acts ii.),
and so it is still kept up, and will be to the end.
2. What a wonderfully happy change shall then be made. That which was
a wilderness, dry and barren, shall become a fruitful
field, and that which we now reckon a fruitful field, in
comparison with what it shall be then, shall be counted for a
forest. Then shall the earth yield her increase. It is promised
that in the days of the Messiah the fruit of the earth shall shake
like Lebanon,
Ps. lxxii. 16.
Some apply this to the admission of the Gentiles into the gospel church
(which made the wilderness a fruitful field), and the rejection and
exclusion of the Jews, which made that a forest which had been a
fruitful field. On the Gentiles was poured out a spirit of life, but on
the Jews a spirit of slumber. See what is the evidence and effect of
the pouring out of the Spirit upon any soul; it is thereby made
fruitful, and has its fruit unto holiness. Three things go to make
these times happy:–
(1.) Judgment and righteousness,
When the Spirit is poured out upon a land, then judgment shall dwell
in the wilderness and turn it into a fruitful field, and
righteousness shall remain in the fruitful field and make it yet
more fruitful. Ministers shall expound the law and magistrates execute
it, and both so judiciously and faithfully that by both the bad shall
be made good and the good made better. Among all sorts of people, the
poor and low and unlearned, that are neglected as the wilderness, and
the rich and great and learned, that are valued as the fruitful field,
there shall be right thoughts of things, good principles commanding,
and conscience made of good and evil, sin and duty. Or in all parts of
the land, both champaign and enclosed, country and city, the ruder
parts and those that are more cultivated and refined, justice shall be
duly administered. The law of Christ introduces a judgment or rule by
which we must be governed, and the gospel of Christ a righteousness by
which we must be saved; and, wherever the Spirit is poured out, both
these dwell and remain as an everlasting righteousness.
(2.) Peace and quietness,
The peace here promised is of two kinds:–
[1.] Inward peace,
This follows upon the indwelling of righteousness,
Those in whom that work is wrought shall experience this blessed
product of it. It is itself peace, and the effect of it is quietness
and assurance for ever, that is, a holy serenity and security of
mind, by which the soul enjoys itself and enjoys its God, and it is not
in the power of this world to disturb it in those enjoyments. Note,
Peace, and quietness, and everlasting assurance may be expected, and
shall be found, in the way and work of righteousness. True satisfaction
is to be had only in true religion, and there it is to be had without
fail. Those are the quiet and peaceable lives that are spent in all
godliness and honesty,
1 Tim. ii. 2.
First, Even the work of righteousness shall be peace. In
the doing of our duty we shall find abundance of true pleasure, a
present great reward of obedience in obedience. Though the work of
righteousness may be toilsome and costly, and expose us to contempt,
yet it is peace, such peace as is sufficient to bear our charges.
Secondly, The effect of righteousness shall be quietness and
assurance, not only to the end of time, of our time, and in the
end, but to the endless ages of eternity. Real holiness is real
happiness now and shall be perfect happiness, that is, perfect
holiness, for ever.
[2.] Outward peace,
It is a great mercy when those who by the grace of God have quiet and
peaceable spirits are by the providence of God made to dwell in
quiet and peaceable habitations, not disturbed in their houses or
solemn assemblies. When the terror of Sennacherib’s invasion was over,
the people, no doubt, were more sensible than ever of the mercy of a
quiet habitation, not disturbed with the alarms of war. Let every
family study to keep itself quiet from strifes and jars within, not two
against three and three against two in the house, and then put itself
under God’s protection to dwell safely, and to be quiet from the
fear of evil without. Jerusalem shall be a peaceable habitation;
compare
Even when it shall hail, and there shall be a violent battering
storm coming down on the forest that lies bleak, then shall
Jerusalem be a quiet resting-place, for the city shall be low in a
low place, under the wind, not exposed (as those cities are that
stand high) to the fury of the storm, but sheltered by the mountains
that are round about Jerusalem,
Ps. cxxv. 2.
The high forts and towers are brought down
(v. 14),
but the city that lies low shall be a quiet resting-place. Those are
most safe, and may dwell most at ease, that are humble, and are willing
to dwell low,
Those that would dwell in a peaceable habitation must be willing to
dwell low, and in a low place. Some think here is an allusion to the
preservation of the land of Goshen from the plague of hail, which made
great destruction in the land of Egypt.
(3.) Plenty and abundance. There shall be such good crops gathered in
every where, and every year, that the husbandmen shall be commended,
and though happy, who sow beside all water
(v. 20),
who sow all the grounds that are fit for seedness, who cast their
bread, or bread-corn, upon the water,
Eccl. xi. 1.
God will give the increase, but then the husbandman must be
industrious, and mind his business, and sow beside all waters; and, if
he do this, the corn shall come up so thick and rank that he shall turn
in his cattle, even the ox and the ass, to eat the tops of it and keep
it under. This is applicable,
[1.] To the preaching of the word. Some think it points at the ministry
of the apostles, who, as husbandmen, went forth to sow their seed
they sowed beside all waters; they preached the gospel wherever they
came. Waters signify people, and they preached to multitudes. Wherever
they found men’s hearts softened, and moistened, and disposed to
receive the word, they cast in the good seed. And whereas, by the law
of Moses, the Jews were forbidden to plough with an ox and an ass
together
which intimated that Jews and Gentiles should not intermix, now that
distinction shall be taken away, and both the ox and the ass, both Jews
and Gentiles, shall be employed in, and enjoy the benefit of, the
gospel husbandry.
[2.] To works of charity. When God sends these happy times blessed are
those that improve them in doing good with what they have, that sow
beside all waters, that embrace all opportunities of relieving the
necessitous; for in due season they shall reap.
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