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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
Z E P H A N I A H.
CHAP. III.
We now return to Jerusalem, and must again hear what God has to say to
her,
I. By way of reproof and threatening, for the abundance of wickedness
that was found in her, of which divers instances are given, with the
aggravations of them,
II. By way of promise of mercy and grace, which God had yet in reserve
for them. Two general heads of promises here are:–
1. That God would bring in a glorious work of reformation among them,
cleanse them from their sins, and bring them home to himself; many
promises of this kind here are,
2. That he would bring about a glorious work of salvation for them,
when he had thus prepared them for it,
Thus the “Redeemer shall come to Zion,” and to clear his own way, shall
“turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” These promises were to have their
full accomplishment in gospel-times and gospel-graces.
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1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing
city!
2 She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she
trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
3 Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are
evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her
priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to
the law.
5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do
iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he
faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
6 I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made
their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are
destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none
inhabitant.
7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive
instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I
punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their
doings.
One would wonder that Jerusalem, the holy city, where God was known,
and his name was great, should be the city of which this black
character is here given, that a place which enjoyed such abundance of
the means of grace should become so very corrupt and vicious, and that
God should permit it to be so; yet so it is, to show that the law
made nothing perfect; but if this be the true character of
Jerusalem, as no doubt it is (for God’s judgments will make none worse
than they are), it is no wonder that the prophet begins with woe to
her. For the holy God hates sin in those that are nearest to him,
nay, in them he hates it most. A sinful state is, and will be, a woeful
state.
I. Here is a very bad character given of the city in general. How has
the faithful city become a harlot!
1. She shames herself; she is filthy and polluted
(v. 1),
has made herself infamous (so some read it), the
gluttonous city (so the margin), always cramming, and making
provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it. Sin is the
filthiness and pollution of persons and places, and makes them odious
in the sight of the holy God.
2. She wrongs her neighbours and inhabitants; she is the oppressing
city. Never any place had statutes and judgments so
righteous as this city had, and yet, in the administration of the
government, never was more unrighteousness.
3. She is very provoking to her God, and in every respect walks
contrary to him,
v. 2.
He had given his law, and spoken to her by his servants the prophets,
telling her what was the good she should do and what the evil she
should avoid; but she obeyed not his voice, nor made conscience
of doing as he commanded her, in any thing. He had taken her under an
excellent discipline, both of the word and of the rod; but she did not
receive the instruction of the one nor the correction of the other, did
not submit to God’s will nor answer his end in either. He encouraged
her to depend upon him, and his power and promise, for deliverance from
evil and supply with good; but she trusted not in the Lord; her
confidence was placed in her alliances with the nations more than in
her covenant with God. He gave her tokens of his presence, and
instituted ordinances of communion for her with himself; but she
drew not near to her God, did not meet him where he appointed
and where he promised to meet her. She stood at a distance, and said
to the Almighty, Depart.
II. Here is a very bad character of the leading men in it; those that
should by their influence suppress vice and profaneness there are the
great patterns and patrons of wickedness, and those that should be her
physicians are really her worst disease.
1. Her princes are ravenous and barbarous as roaring
lions that make a prey of all about them, and they are universally
feared and hated; they use their power for destruction, and not for
edification.
2. Her judges, who should be the protectors of injured
innocence, are evening wolves, rapacious and greedy, and their
cruelty and covetousness both insatiable: They gnaw not the bones
till the morrow; they take so much delight and pleasure in cruelty
and oppression that when they have devoured a good man they reserve the
bones, as it were, for a sweet morsel, to be gnawed the next morning,
3. Her prophets, who pretend to be special messengers from
heaven to them, are light and treacherous persons, fanciful, and
of a vain imagination, frothy and airy, and of a loose conversation,
men of no consistency with themselves, in whom one can put no
confidence. They were so given to bantering that it was hard to say
when they were serious. Their pretended prophecies were all a sham, and
they secretly laughed at those that were deluded by them.
4. Her priests, who are teachers by office and have the charge
of the holy things, are false to their trust and betray it. They were
to preserve the purity of the sanctuary, but they did themselves
pollute it, and the sacred offices of it, which they were to
attend upon–such priests as Hophni and Phinehas, who by their wicked
lives made the sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred. They were
to expound and apply the law, and to judge according to it; but,
in their explications and applications of it, they did violence to
the law; they corrupted the sense of it, and perverted it to the
patronising of that which was directly contrary to it. By forced
constructions, they made the law to speak what they pleased, to serve a
turn, and so, in effect, made void the law.
III. We have here the aggravations of this general corruption of all
orders and degrees of men in Jerusalem.
1. They had the tokens of God’s presence among them, and all the
advantages that could be of knowing his will, with the strongest
inducements possible to do it, and yet they persisted in their
disobedience,
v. 5.
(1.) They had the honour and privilege of the Shechinah, God’s dwelling
in their land, so as he dwelt not with any other people: “The just
Lord is in the midst of thee, to take cognizance of all thou doest
amiss and give countenance to all thou doest well; he is in the midst
of thee as a holy God, and therefore thy pollutions are the more
offensive,
He is in the midst of you as a just God, and therefore will punish the
affronts you put upon him, and the wrongs and injuries you do to one
another.”
(2.) They had God’s own example set before them, in the discovery he
made of himself to them, that they might conform to it: “He will not
do iniquity, and therefore you should not;” for this was the great
rule of their institution, “Be you holy, for I am holy. God will
be true to you; be not you then false to him.”
(3.) He sent to them his prophets, rising up early and sending them:
Every morning he brings his judgment to light, as duly as the
morning comes; he fails not. He shows them plainly what the good
is which he requires of them, and puts them in mind of it; he wakens
morning by morning
(Isa. l. 4),
wakens his prophets with the rising sun, to bring to light the things
which belong to their peace. So that, upon the whole matter, what more
could have been done to his vineyard, to make it fruitful?
And yet, after all, the unjust know no shame; those that have
been unjust are unjust still, and are not ashamed of their
unrighteousness, neither can they blush. If they had any sense
of honour, any shame left in them, they would not go so directly
contrary to their profession and to the instructions given them. But
those that are past shame are past cure.
2. God had set before their eyes some remarkable monuments of his
justice, which were designed for warning to them
(v. 6):
I have cut off the nations, the seven nations of Canaan, which
the land spewed out for their wickedness, upon which they had this
caution given them, to take heed lest it spew them out also,
Lev. xviii. 28.
Or it may refer to some of the neighbouring nations that were made
desolate for their wickedness, especially to the nations of Israel, the
ten tribes. Their towers were desolate, their high towers,
their strong towers, their pride and power broken; their streets
were wasted, so that none passed along through them; their
cities were destroyed and laid in ruins; no man was
to be found in them, no inhabitant, all were slain or carried
into captivity. The enemies did it, but God avows it: I cut them
off, says he. And God designed this for an admonition to Jerusalem
“I said, Surely thou wilt fear me; surely these judgments upon
others will deter thee from the like wicked practices; surely thou
wilt receive instruction by these providences; it ought to be
expected that thou wouldst not continue to sin like the nations when
thou seest the ruin which their sin brought upon them.” They could not
but see their own house in danger when their neighbour’s was on fire;
and, when we are frightened, God should be feared.
3. He had set before them life and death, good and evil, both in his
word and in his providence.
(1.) He had assured them of the continuance of their prosperity if they
would fear him and receive instruction, for so their dwelling would
not be cut off as their neighbour’s was; if they took the warning
given them, and reformed, what was past should be pardoned, and their
tranquility lengthened out.
(2.) He had made them feel the smart of the rod, though he reprieved
them from the sword: Howsoever I punished them, that, being
chastened, they might not be condemned. Such various methods did God
take with them, to reclaim them, but all in vain; they were not won
upon by gentle methods, nor had severe ones any effect, for they
rose early, and corrupted all their doings; they were more resolute
and eager in their wicked courses than ever, more studious and
solicitous in making provision for their lusts, and let slip no
opportunity for the gratification of them. God rose up early, to
send them his prophets, to reduce and reclaim them, but they
were up before him, to shut and bolt the door against them.
Their wickedness was universal: All their doings were corrupted;
and it was all owing to themselves; they could not lay the blame upon
the tempter, but they alone must bear it; they themselves wilfully and
designedly corrupted all their doings; for every man is
tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed.
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8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that
I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the
nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine
indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall
be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they
may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one
consent.
10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the
daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.
11 In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings,
wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take
away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and
thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.
12 I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor
people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD.
13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies;
neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for
they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Things looked very bad with Jerusalem in the
she has got into a very bad name, and seems to be incorrigible,
incurable, mercy-proof and judgment-proof. Now one would think it
should follow, Therefore expect no other but that she should be utterly
abandoned and rejected as reprobate silver; since they will not
be wrought upon by prophets or providences, let them be made a
desolation as their neighbours have been. But behold and wonder at the
riches of divine grace, which takes occasion from man’s badness to
appear so much the more illustrious. They still grew worse and worse,
therefore wait you upon me, saith the Lord,
v. 8.
“Since the law, it seems, will make nothing perfect, the
bringing in of a better hope shall. Let those that lament the
corruptions of the church wait upon God, till he send his Son
into the world, to save his people from their sins, till he send
his gospel to reform and refine his church, and to purify to himself a
peculiar people both of Jews and Gentiles.” And there were those who,
according to this direction and encouragement, waited for
redemption, for this redemption in Jerusalem; and long-looked-for
came at last,
For judgment Christ will come into this world,
John ix. 39.
I. To avenge what has been done amiss against his church, to bring down
and destroy the enemies of it, its spiritual enemies, of which the
destruction of Babylon, and other oppressors of God’s people, in the
Old-Testament times, was a type, and would be a happy presage. He will
rise up to the prey, to lead captivity captive
to conquer and spoil the powers of darkness, and the powers on earth
that set themselves against the Lord and his anointed; he will
break them with a rod of iron
his determination is to gather the nations and to assemble
the kingdoms. By the gospel of Christ preached to every creature
all nations are summoned, as it were, to appear in a body before the
Lord Jesus, who is about to set up his kingdom in the world. But, since
the greatest part of mankind will not obey the summons, he will pour
upon them his indignation, for he that believes not is condemned
already. At the time of the setting up of the kingdom of the
Messiah, there shall be on earth distress of nations with
perplexity
(Luke xxi. 25),
great tribulation, such as never was, nor ever shall be,
Matt. xxiv. 21.
Then God pours upon the nations his indignation, even all his fierce
anger, for their indignation and fierce anger against the Messiah
and his kingdom,
Then all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of his
jealousy; both Jews and Gentiles shall be reckoned with for their
enmity to the gospel. Principalities and powers shall be spoiled, and
made a show of openly, and the victorious Redeemer shall triumph
over them. The end of those that continue to be of the earth, and to
mind earthly things, after God has set up the kingdom of
heaven among men, shall be destruction
they shall be devoured with the fire of God’s jealousy.
II. To amend what he finds amiss in his church. When God intends the
restoration of Israel, and the revival of their peace and prosperity,
he makes way for the accomplishment of his purpose by their reformation
and the revival of their virtue and piety; for this is God’s method,
both with particular persons and with communities, first to make them
holy and then to make them happy. These promises were in part
accomplished after the return of the Jews out of Babylon, when by their
captivity they were thoroughly cured of their idolatry; and this was
all the fruit, even the taking away of sin. But they look further, to
the blessed effects of the gospel and the grace of it, to those
times of reformation in which we live,
1. It is promised that there shall be a reformation in men’s discourse,
which had been generally corrupt, but should now be with grace seasoned
with salt
(v. 9):
“Then will I turn to the people a pure language; I will turn the
people to such a language from that evil communication which has
almost ruined all good manners among them.” Note, Converting
grace refines the language, not by making the phrases witty, but the
substance wise. Among the Jews, after the captivity, there needed a
reformation of the dialect, for they had mingled the language of Canaan
with that of Ashdod
and that grievance shall be redressed. But that is not all: their
language shall be purified from all profaneness, filthiness, and
falsehood. I will turn them to a choice language (so some read
it); they shall not speak rashly, but with caution and deliberation;
they shall choose out their words. Note, An air of purity and
piety in common conversation is a very happy omen to any people; other
graces, other blessings, shall be given where God gives a pure language
to those who have been a people of unclean lips.
2. That the worship of God, according to his will, shall be more
closely applied to, and more unanimously concurred in. Instead of
sacrifice and incense, they shall call upon the name of the
Lord. Prayer is the spiritual offering with which God must be
honoured; and, to prepare and fit us for that duty, it is necessary
that we have a pure language. We are utterly unfit to take God’s
name into our lips, unless they be pure lips. The purifying of the
language in common conversation is necessary to the acceptableness of
the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart on our devotion;
for how can sweet waters and bitter come out of the same
fountain?
James iii. 9-12.
It is likewise promised that their language being thus purified they
shall serve God with one consent, with one shoulder (so
the word is), alluding to oxen in the yoke, that draw even. When
Christians are unanimous in the service of God the work goes on
cheerfully. This is the effect of the pure language, purified from
passion, envy, and censoriousness. Note, Purity is the way to unity;
the reformation of manners is the way to a comprehension. The
wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable.
3. That those that were driven from God shall return to him and be
accepted of him
(v. 10):
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, that is, from Egypt (so
described,
or from some other very remote country–my suppliants, even the
daughter of my dispersed, shall bring my offering. Those that by
reason of their distance had almost forgotten God, their obligations to
him, shall be put in mind of him, as the prodigal son was of his
father’s house, in the far country. Those that by reason of their
dispersion, under the tokens of his displeasure, might be afraid of
coming to him, yet even they shall be gathered under his wings; the
daughter of his dispersed, that is afar off, will be
found among those whom the Lord our God shall call; and, though
they are dispersed, he will own them for his; his calling them my
dispersed puts honour upon them, sufficient to counterbalance all
the disgrace of their dispersion. These shall come,
(1.) With their humble petitions: They are my suppliants. Note,
True converts are suppliants to God; they do not plead, but make
supplication to their Judge
(Job ix. 15);
and wherever they are, though beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, a
great way off from his house of prayer, he has his eye upon them and
his ear open to them; they are his suppliants.
(2.) With their spiritual sacrifices: They shall bring my
offering, shall bring themselves as spiritual sacrifices to God
(Rom. xii. 1);
the conversion of the Gentiles is called the offering up of the
Gentiles
(Rom. xv. 16);
and with themselves they shall bring the gospel-sacrifices of prayer,
and praise, and alms, with which God is well pleased.
4. That sin and sinners shall be purged out from among them,
God will take away,
(1.) Their just reproach: In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for
all thy doings. They shall be ashamed as penitents, and shall
continue to be so (see
but they shall not be ashamed as sinners that return to folly again.
“Thou shalt not be ashamed, that is, thou shalt no more do a
shameful thing, as thou hast done.” The guilt of sin being taken away
by pardoning mercy, the reproach of it shall be rolled away from the
sinner’s own conscience, that being purified, and
pacified, and cleansed from dead works. When wickedness
and wicked people abound in a nation those few in it that are good are
ashamed of them and of their land; but when sinners are converted, and
the land reformed, that shame and the cause of it are removed.
(2.) Their unjust glorying: “I will take away out of the midst of
thee, not only the profane, who are a shame to thy land, but the
hypocrites, who appear beautiful outwardly, and rejoice in thy
pride, in the holy city, the holy house.” These were indeed
Israel’s glory, but they made them their pride, and rejoiced in them,
as if they were an invincible bulwark to secure them in their sinful
ways; they relied on them as their righteousness and strength, boasting
of the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord
(Jer. vii. 4);
they were haughty because of the holy mountain, were conceited
of themselves, scornful of others, and set even the judgments of God at
defiance. Note, Church-privileges, when they are not duly improved as
they ought to be, are often made the matter of men’s pride and the
ground of their security. But that haughtiness is the most offensive to
God which is supported and fed by the pretensions of holiness. This God
will silence and take away.
5. That God will have a remnant of holy, humble, serious people among
them, that shall have the comfort of their relation to him and interest
in him
(v. 12):
I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people.
When the Chaldeans carried away the Jews into captivity they left of
the poor of the land for vine-dressers and husbandmen, a type and
figure of God’s distinguished remnant, whom he sets apart for himself.
They are afflicted and poor, low in the world; such
God has chosen,
James ii. 5.
The poor are evangelized, low in their own eyes, afflicted for sin,
poor in spirit. They are God’s leaving, for it is a remnant
according to the election of grace. I have reserved them to myself,
says God
and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Note, Those whom
God designs for the glory of his name he enables to trust in his name;
and the greater their affliction and poverty in the world are the more
reason they see to trust in God, having nothing else to trust to,
6. That this select remnant shall be blessed with purity and peace,
(1.) They shall be blessed with purity, both in words and actions: They
shall neither do iniquity nor speak lies. Justice and veracity
shall command them and govern them, though they be ever so much against
their secular interest. They shall not only not speak a direct
deliberate lie, but there shall not be a deceitful tongue found in
their mouth, not in the mouth of any of them; not the least
equivocation shall come from them.
(2.) They shall be blessed with peace. They shall, as the sheep of
God’s pasture, feed and lie down, and none shall make them
afraid. They shall not be fearful themselves, nor shall any about
them be frightful to them. Note, Those that are careful not to do
iniquity need not be afraid of any calamity, for it cannot hurt them,
and therefore should not terrify them.
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14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and
rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
15 The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out
thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the
midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.
16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not:
and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will
save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his
love, he will joy over thee with singing.
18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn
assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a
burden.
19 Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and
I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out;
and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have
been put to shame.
20 At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that
I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all
people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your
eyes, saith the LORD.
After the promises of the taking away of sin, here follow promises of
the taking away of trouble; for when the cause is removed the effect
will cease. What makes a people holy will make them happy of course.
The precious promises here made to the purified people were to have
their full accomplishment in the comforts of the gospel, in the hope,
and much more in the enjoyment, of which, they are here called upon,
1. To rejoice and sing
(v. 14):
Sing, O daughter of Zion! sing for joy; Shout, O Israel!
in a holy transport and exultation; be glad and rejoice with all the
heart; let the joy be inward, let it be great. Those that love God
with all their heart have occasion with all their heart to rejoice in
him. It was promised
(v. 13)
that their sins should be mortified and their fears silenced, and then
follows, Sing and rejoice. Note, Those that reform have
cause to rejoice, whereas Israel cannot rejoice for joy as other
people, while she goes a whoring from her God. God’s promises, applied
by faith, furnish the saints with constant and abundant matter for joy;
they are filled with joy and peace in believing them.
2. To throw off all their discouragements
(v. 16):
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem (God will say it by
his prophets, by his providences, their neighbours shall say it, they
shall say it to one another), “Fear thou not, be not disposed to
fear, do not easily admit the impressions of it; when things are bad,
fear not their being worse, but hope they will mend; frighten not
thyself upon every occasion. Let not thy hands be slack or
faint; wring not thy hands in despair; drop not thy hands in
despondence; disfit not thyself for thy work and warfare by giving way
to doubts and fears. Pluck up thy spirits, and, in token of that, lift
up thy hands, the hands that hung down,
Heb. xii. 12; Isa. xxxv. 3.
Lift up thy hands in prayer to God; lift up thy hands to help thyself.”
Fear makes the hands slack, but faith and hope make them vigorous, and
the joy of the Lord will be our strength both for doing and
suffering.
Let us now see what these precious promises are which are here made to
the people of God, for the banishing of their griefs and fears and the
encouraging of their hopes and joys; and to us are these promises made
as well as to them.
I. An end shall be put to all their troubles and distresses
(v. 15):
“The Lord has taken away thy judgments, has removed all the
calamities thou hast been groaning under, which were the punishments of
thy sin; the noise of war shall be silenced, the reproach of famine
done away, and the captivity brought back. Though some grievances
remain, they shall be only afflictions, and not judgments, for sin
shall be pardoned. He has cast out thy enemy, that has thrust
himself into thy land, and triumphed over thee. He has swept out thy
enemy” (so some read it), “as dirt is swept out of the house to the
dunghill.” When they sweep out their sins with the besom of reformation
God will sweep out their enemies with the besom of destruction. If
they should need correction, they shall fall into the hands of the
Lord, whose mercies are great, and shall not again fall into the hands
of man, whose tender mercies are cruel: “Thou shalt not see evil any
more, not such evil days as thou hast seen.” Note, The way to get
clear of the evil of trouble is to keep clear from the evil of sin; and
to those that do so trouble has no real evil in it.
II. God will give them the tokens of his presence with them; though he
has long seemed to stand at a distance (they having provoked him to
withdraw), he will make it to appear that he is with them of a
truth: “The Lord is in the midst of thee, O Zion! of thee, O
Jerusalem! as the sun in the centre of the universe, to diffuse his
light and influence upon every part. He is in the midst of thee,
to preside in all thy affairs and to take care of all thy interests.”
And,
1. “He is the King of Israel
(v. 15)
and is in the midst of thee as a king in the midst of his people.” With
an eye to this, our Lord Jesus is called the King of Israel
(John i. 49);
and he is, and will be, in the midst of his church always, even to the
end of the world, to receive the homage of his subjects, and to give
out his favours to them, even where but two or three are
gathered together in his name.
2. “He is the Lord thy God, thine in covenant, and he is in the midst
of thee as thy God, whom thou hast an interest in and whose own thou
art. He has put himself into dear relations to thee, laid himself by
promise under obligations to thee, and, that thou mayest have abundant
comfort in both, he is in the midst of thee, nigh at hand to
answer both.”
3. “He that is in the midst of thee as thy God and King is
mighty, is almighty, is able to do all that for thee that thou
needest and canst desire.”
4. “He has engaged his power for thy succour: He will save. He will
be Jesus, will answer the name, for he will save his people from
their sins.”
III. God will take delight in them, and in doing them good. The
expressions of this are very lively and affecting
(v. 17):
He will rejoice over thee with joy, will not only be well
pleased with thee, upon thy repentance and reformation, and take thee
into favour, but will take a complacency in thee, as the bridegroom
does in his bride, or the bride in her ornaments,
The conversion of sinners and the consolation of saints are the joy of
angels, for they are the joy of God him-self. The church should be the
joy of the whole earth
for it is the joy of the whole heaven. He will rest in his love,
will be silent in his love, so the word is. “I will not rebuke
thee as I have done, for thy sins; I will acquiesce in thee, and in my
relation to thee.” I know not where there is the like expression of
Christ’s love to his church, unless in that song of songs,
Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of thy
eyes. O the condescensions of divine grace! The great God not only
loves his saints, but he loves to love them, is pleased that he has
pitched upon these objects of his love. He will joy over them with
singing. He that is grieved for the sin of sinners rejoices in the
graces and services of the saints, and is ready to express that joy by
singing over them. The Lord takes plea-sure in those that fear
him, and in them Jesus Christ will shortly be glorified and
admired.
IV. God will comfort Zion’s mourners, who sympathize with her in her
griefs, and will wipe away their tears
(v. 18):
I will gather those who are sorrowful for the solemn assemblies, to
whom the reproach of it was a burden. See,
1. Who those are whom God will rejoice in and make to rejoice. They are
such as are sorrowful. Those only must expect to reap in joy that sow
in tears. The sorrowful now shall be for ever joyful.
2. What is the great matter of sorrow to Zion’s mourners, when Zion is
in mourning. Many are her calamities. The city is ruined, and the
palaces are demolished; trade is at an end, and the administration of
public justice; but all these are nothing to them in comparison with
the desolations of the sanctuary, the destruction of the temple and the
altar, to attend on which, in solemn feasts, all Israel used to come
together three times a year. It is for those sacred solemn assemblies
that they are sorrowful,
(1.) Because they are dispersed; there is no temple to come up to, or,
if there were, no people to come up to it; so that the solemn feasts
and sabbaths are forgotten in Zion,
Lam. ii. 6.
Note, The restraining of public assemblies for religious worship, the
scattering of them by their enemies, or the forsaking of them by their
friends, so that either there are no assemblies or not solemn ones, is
a very sorrowful thing to all good people. If the ways of Zion
mourn, the sons of Zion mourn too. And hereby they make it to
appear that they are indeed of Zion, living members of that body with
the grievances of which they are so sensibly affected.
(2.) Because they are despised; the reproach of the solemn assemblies
is a burden to them. It had been the lot of the solemn assemblies to
lie under a great deal of reproach. Satan and his instruments having a
particular spite at them, as the great support of the interest of God’s
kingdom among men. Black and odious characters have been put upon those
assemblies; and this is a burden to all those that have a cordial
concern for the glory of God and the welfare of the souls of men. They
reckon that the reproaches of those who reproach the solemn assemblies
fall upon them, fall foul upon them.
V. God will recover the captives out of the hands of their oppressors,
and bring home the banished that seemed to be expelled,
1. Their enemies shall be disabled to detain them in bondage: “At
that time I will undo all that afflict thee, will break their
power, and blast their counsels, so that they shall be forced to
surrender the prey they have taken.” Conficiam–I will take them to
task; “I will be doing with them shortly, and so as to make an end
of them.” Note, Those that abuse and oppress God’s people take the
ready way to undo themselves.
2. They shall be enabled to assert and recover their liberty, and all
the difficulties in the way of it shall be surmounted. Is the church
weak and wounded? I will save her that halts, as was promised,
He will help her when she cannot help herself; even the lame shall
take the prey,
Isa. xxxiii. 23.
Is she dispersed, and not likely to incorporate for her common benefit?
I will gather her that was driven out, and bring her again at
the time that I gather her. One act of mercy and grace shall serve
both to collect them out of their dispersions and to conduct them to
their own land. When the people’s hearts are prepared, the work
will be done suddenly; and who can hinder it if God undertake to effect
it? “I will turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the
Lord; you shall plainly discern the hand of God in it, and say,
This is the Lord’s doing.“
VI. God will by all this put honour upon them and gain them respect
from all about them. Israel was at first made high above all nations
in praise and fame,
Deut. xxvi. 19.
The reproach brought upon them was therefore one of the sorest of their
grievances (nothing cuts deeper to those that are in honour than
disgrace does); and therefore when God returns, in mercy, to his
church, it is here promised that she shall regain her credit; all the
reproach shall be for ever rolled way, as Israel’s at Gilgal,
The church shall be as honourable as ever she had been despicable.
1. Even those that reproached her shall be made to respect her: “I
will get them praise and fame in every land, where they have been put
to shame, that the same who were the witnesses of their disgrace
may see cause to change their mind concerning them.” Those that said,
“This is Zion whom no man looks after,” shall say, “This is Zion whom
the great God looks after.” And she that was looked upon to be the
offscouring of the earth now appears to be the darling of
heaven.
2. Even those that never knew her shall be brought to honour her
(v. 20):
I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the
earth. So the Jewish church was when the fear of the Jews
fell upon their neighbours
and some of all nations said, we will go with you, for we have heard
that God is with you,
Zech. viii. 23.
So the Christian church was when it was made to flourish in the world,
for there is that in it which may justly recommend it to the value and
esteem of all the people of the earth. And so the universal church of
the firstborn will be in the great day, when the saints shall be
brought together to Christ, that he may be admired and glorified in
them, and they admired and glorified in him before angels and men. Then
will God’s Israel be made a name and a praise to eternity.
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