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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
I S A I A H.
CHAP. LXIII.
In this chapter we have,
I. God coming towards his people in ways of mercy and deliverance, and
this is to be joined to the close of the foregoing chapter, where it
was said to Zion, “Behold, thy salvation comes;” for here it is shown
how it comes,
II. God’s people meeting him with their devotions, and addressing
themselves to him with suitable affections; and this part of the
chapter is carried on to the close of the next. In this we have,
1. A thankful acknowledgment of the great favours God had bestowed upon
them,
2. The magnifying of these favours, from the consideration of God’s
relation to them
(ver. 8),
his compassionate concern for them
(ver. 9),
their unworthiness
(ver. 10),
and the occasion which it gave both him and them to call to mind former
mercies,
3. A very humble and earnest prayer to God to appear for them in their
present distress, pleading God’s mercy
(ver. 15),
their relation to him
(ver. 16),
their desire towards him
(ver. 17),
and the insolence of their enemies,
So that, upon the whole, we learn to embrace God’s promises with an
active faith, and then to improve them, and make use of them, both in
prayers and praises.
| The Triumphs of the Messiah. | B. C. 706. |
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1 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from
Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the
greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty
to save.
2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments
like him that treadeth in the wine-fat?
3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there
was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and
trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon
my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of
my redeemed is come.
5 And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered
that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought
salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.
6 And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them
drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the
earth.
It is a glorious victory that is here enquired into first and then
accounted for.
1. It is a victory obtained by the providence of God over the enemies
of Israel; over the Babylonians (say some), whom Cyrus conquered and
God by him, and they will have the prophet to make the first discovery
of him in his triumphant return when he is in the country of Edom: but
this can by no means be admitted, because the country of Babylon is
always spoken of as the land of the north, whereas Edom lay south from
Jerusalem, so that the conqueror would not return through that country;
the victory therefore is obtained over the Edomites themselves, who had
triumphed in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans
and cut off those who, making their way as far as they could from the
enemy, escaped to the Edomites
(Obad. 12, 13),
and were therefore reckoned with when Babylon was; for no doubt that
prophecy was accomplished, though we do not meet in history with the
accomplishment of it
Bozrah shall become a desolation. Yet this victory over Edom is
put as an instance or specimen of the like victories obtained over
other nations that had been enemies to Israel. This over the Edomites
is named for the sake of the old enmity of Esau against Jacob
and perhaps with an allusion to David’s glorious triumphs over the
Edomites, by which it should seem, more than by any other of his
victories, he got himself a name,
Ps. lx., title, 2 Sam. viii. 13, 14.
But this is not all:
2. It is a victory obtained by the grace of God in Christ over our
spiritual enemies. We find the garments dipped in blood adorning him
whose name is called The Word of God,
Rev. xix. 13.
And who that is we know very well; for it is through him that we are
more than conquerors over those principalities and powers which on the
cross he spoiled and triumphed over.
In this representation of the victory we have,
I. An admiring question put to the conqueror,
It is put by the church, or by the prophet in the name of the church.
He sees a mighty hero returning in triumph from a bloody engagement,
and makes bold to ask him two questions:–
1. Who he is. He observes him to come from the country of Edom, to come
in such apparel as was glorious to a soldier, not embroidered or laced,
but besmeared with blood and dirt. He observes that he does not come as
one either frightened or fatigued, but that he travels in the
greatness of his strength, altogether unbroken.
| Triumphant and victorious he appears,
And honour in his looks and habit wears. How strong he treads! how stately doth he go! Pompous and solemn is his pace, And full of majesty, as is his face; Who is this mighty hero–who?– |
| MR. NORRIS.
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The question, Who is this? perhaps means the same with that
which Joshua put to the same person when he appeared to him with his
sword drawn
(Josh. v. 13):
Art thou for us or for our adversaries? Or, rather, the same
with that which Israel put in a way of adoration
(Exod. xv. 11):
Who is a God like unto thee?
2. The other question it, “Wherefore art thou red in thy
apparel? What hard service hast thou been engaged in, that thou
carriest with thee these marks of toil and danger?” Is it possible that
one who has such majesty and terror in his countenance should be
employed in the mean and servile work of treading the
wine-press? Surely it is not. That which is really the glory of the
Redeemer seems, primâ facie–at first, a disparagement to
him, as it would be to a mighty prince to do the work of the
wine-dressers and husbandmen; for he took upon him the form of a
servant, and carried with him the marks of servitude.
II. An admirable answer returned by him.
1. He tells who he is: I that speak in righteousness, mighty to
save. He is the Saviour. God was Israel’s Saviour out of the hand
of their oppressors; the Lord Jesus is ours; his name, Jesus,
signifies a Saviour, for he saves his people from their
sins. In the salvation wrought he will have us to take notice,
(1.) Of the truth of his promise, which is therein performed: He speaks
in righteousness, and will therefore make good every word that
he has spoken with which he will have us to compare what he does, that,
setting the word and the work the one over against the other, what he
does may ratify what he has said and what he has said may justify what
he does.
(2.) Of the efficacy of his power, which is therein exerted: He is
mighty to save, able to bring about the promised redemption,
whatever difficulties and oppositions may lie in the way of it.
| ‘Tis I who to my promise faithful stand,
I, who the powers of death, hell, and the grave, Have foil’d with this all-conquering hand, I, who most ready am, and mighty too, to save. |
| MR. NORRIS.
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2. He tells how he came to appear in this hue
(v. 3):
I have trodden the wine-press alone. Being compared to one that
treads in the wine-fat, such is his condescension, in the midst of his
triumphs, that he does not scorn the comparison, but admits it and
carries it on. He does indeed tread the wine-press, but it is
the great wine-press of the wrath of God
(Rev. xiv. 19),
in which we sinners deserved to be cast; but Christ was pleased to cast
our enemies into it, and to destroy him that had the power of
death, that he might deliver us. And of this the bloody work which
God sometimes made among the enemies of the Jews, and which is here
foretold, was a type and figure. Observe the account the conqueror
gives of his victory.
(1.) He gains the victory purely by his own strength: I have trodden
the wine-press alone,
v. 3.
When God delivered his people and destroyed their enemies, if he made
use of instruments, he did not need them. But among his people, for
whom the salvation was to be wrought, no assistance offered itself;
they were weak and helpless, and had no ability to do any thing for
their own relief; they were desponding and listless, and had no heart
to do any thing; they were not disposed to give the least stroke or
struggle for liberty, neither the captives themselves nor any of their
friends for them
(v. 5):
“I looked, and there was none to help, as one would have
expected, nothing of a bold active spirit appeared among them; nay,
there was not only none to lead, but, which was more strange, there
was none to uphold, none that would come in as a second, that had
the courage to join with Cyrus against their oppressors; therefore
my arm brought about the salvation; not by created might
or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, my own
arm.” Note, God can help when all other helpers fail; nay, that is his
time to help, and therefore for that very reason he will put forth his
own power so much the more gloriously. But this is most fully
applicable to Christ’s victories over our spiritual enemies, which he
obtained by a single combat. He trod the wine-press of his Father’s
wrath alone, and triumphed over principalities and powers in
himself,
Col. ii. 15.
Of the people there was none with him; for, when he entered the
lists with the powers of darkness, all his disciples forsook him and
fled. There was non to help, none that could, none that
durst; and he might well wonder that among the children of men, whose
concern it was, there was not only none to uphold, but that
there were so many to oppose and hinder it if they could.
(2.) He undertakes the war purely out of his own zeal. It is in his
anger, it is in his fury, that he treads down his
enemies
(v. 3),
and that fury upholds him and carries him on in this enterprise,
v. 5.
God wrought salvation for the oppressed Jews purely because he was very
angry with the oppressing Babylonians, angry at their idolatries and
sorceries, their pride and cruelty, and the injuries they did to his
people, and, as they increased their abominations and grew more
insolent and outrageous, his anger increased to fury. Our Lord Jesus
wrought out our redemption in a holy zeal for the honour of his Father
and the happiness of mankind, and a holy indignation at the daring
attempts Satan had made upon both; this zeal and indignation upheld him
throughout his whole undertaking. Two branches there were of this zeal
that animated him:–
[1.] He had a zeal against his and his people’s enemies: The day of
vengeance is in my heart
(v. 4),
the day fixed in the eternal counsels for taking vengeance on them;
this was written in his heart, so that he could not forget it, could
not let it slip; his heart was full of it, and it lay as a charge, as a
weight, upon him, which made him push on this holy war with so much
vigour. Note, There is a day fixed for divine vengeance, which may be
long deferred, but will come at last; and we may be content to wait for
it, for the Redeemer himself does so, though his heart is upon it.
[2.] He had a zeal for his people, and for all that he designed to make
sharers in the intended salvation: “The year of my redeemed has
come, the year appointed for their redemption.” There was a year
fixed for the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, and God kept time to
a day
so there was for their release out of Babylon
(Dan. ix. 2);
so there was for Christ’s coming to destroy the works of the devil; so
there is for all the deliverances of the church, and the deliverer has
an eye to it. Observe, First, With what pleasure he speaks of
his people; they are his redeemed; they are his own, dear to
him. Though their redemption is not yet wrought out, yet he calls them
his redeemed, because it shall as surely be done as if it were
done already. Secondly, With what pleasure he speaks of his
people’s redemption; how glad he is that the time has come,
though he is likely to meet with a sharp encounter. “Now that the year
of my redeemed has come, Lo, I come; delay shall be no longer.
Now will I arise, saith the Lord. Now thou shalt see what I
will do to Pharaoh.” Note, The promised salvation must be patiently
waited for till the time appointed comes; yet we must attend the
promises with our prayers. Does Christ say, Surely I come
quickly; let our hearts reply, Even so come; let the year
of the redeemed come.
(3.) He will obtain a complete victory over them all.
[1.] Much is already done; for he now appears red in his
apparel; such abundance of blood is shed that the conqueror’s
garments are all stained with it. This was predicted, long before, by
dying Jacob, concerning Shiloh (that is, Christ), that he
should wash his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of
grapes, which perhaps this alludes to,
| With ornamental drops bedeck’d I stood,
And wrote my vict’ry with my en’my’s blood. |
| MR. NORRIS.
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In the destruction of the antichristian powers we meet with abundance
of blood shed
which yet, according to the dialect of prophecy, may be understood
spiritually, and doubtless so may this here.
[2.] More shall yet be done
(v. 6):
I will tread down the people that yet stand it out against me,
in my anger; for the victorious Redeemer, when the year of
the redeemed shall have come, will go on conquering and to
conquer,
Rev. vi. 2.
When he begins he will also make an end. Observe how he will complete
his victories over the enemies of his church. First, He will
infatuate them; he will make them drunk, so that there shall be neither
sense nor steadiness in their counsels; they shall drink of the cup of
his fury, and that shall intoxicate them: or he will make them drunk
with their own blood,
Rev. xvii. 6.
Let those that make themselves drunk with the cup of riot (and then
they are in their fury) repent and reform, lest God make them drunk
with the cup of trembling, the cup of his fury. Secondly,
He will enfeeble them; he will bring down their strength, and so
bring them down to the earth; for what strength can hold out
against Omnipotence?
| Acknowledgments of Divine Goodness. | B. C. 706. |
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7 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the
praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed
on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which
he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according
to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.
8 For he said, Surely they are my people, children that
will not lie: so he was their Saviour.
9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of
his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed
them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
10 But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he
was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people,
saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with
the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit
within him?
12 That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious
arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an
everlasting name?
13 That led them through the deep, as a horse in the
wilderness, that they should not stumble?
14 As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the
LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make
thyself a glorious name.
The prophet is here, in the name of the church, taking a review, and
making a thankful recognition, of God’s dealings with his church all
along, ever since he founded it, before he comes, in the latter end of
this chapter and in the next, as a watchman upon the walls, earnestly
to pray to God for his compassion towards her in her present deplorable
state; and it was usual for God’s people, in their prayers, thus to
look back.
I. Here is a general acknowledgment of God’s goodness to them all
along,
v. 7.
It was said, in general, of God’s prophets and people
that they made mention of the Lord; now here we are told what it
is in God that they do especially delight to make mention of, and that
is his goodness, which the prophet here so makes mention of as if he
thought he could never say enough of it. He mentions the kindness of
God (which never appeared so evident, so eminent, as in his love to
mankind in sending his Son to save us,
his loving-kindness, kindness that shows itself in every thing that is
endearing; nay, so plenteous are the springs, and so various the
streams, of divine mercy, that he speaks of it in the plural
number–his loving-kindnesses; for, if we would count the fruits
of his loving-kindness, they are more in number than the sand.
With his loving-kindnesses he mentions his praises, that is, the
thankful acknowledgments which the saints make of his loving-kindness,
and the angels too. It must be mentioned, to God’s honour, what a
tribute of praise is paid to him by all his creatures in consideration
of his loving-kindness. See how copiously he speaks,
1. Of the goodness that is from God, the gifts of his
loving-kindness–all that the Lord has bestowed on us in
particular, relating to life and godliness, in our personal and family
capacity. Let every man speak for himself, speak as he has found, and
he must own that he has had a great deal bestowed upon him by the
divine bounty. But we must also mention the favours bestowed upon his
church, his great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he has
bestowed on them. Note, We must bless God for the mercies enjoyed
by others as well as for those enjoyed by ourselves, and reckon that
bestowed on ourselves which is bestowed on the house of Israel.
2. Of the goodness that is in God. God does good because he is good;
what he bestowed upon us must be traced up to the original; it is
according to his mercies (not according to our merits) and
according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses, which can
never be spent. Thus we should magnify God’s goodness, and speak
honourably of it, not only when we plead it (as David,
but when we praise it.
II. Here is particular notice taken of the steps of God’s mercy to
Israel ever since it was formed into a nation.
1. The expectations God had concerning them that they would conduct
themselves well,
v. 8.
When he brought them out of Egypt and took them into covenant with
himself he said, “Surely they are my people, I take them as
such, and am willing to hope they will approve themselves so,
children that will not lie,” that will not dissemble with
God in their covenantings with him, nor treacherously depart from
him by breaking their covenant and starting aside like a broken bow.
They said, more than once, All that the Lord shall say unto us we
will do and will be obedient; and thereupon he took them to be his
peculiar people, saying, Surely they will not lie. God deals
fairly and faithfully with them, and therefore expects they should deal
so with him. They are children of the covenant
(Acts iii. 25),
children of those that clave unto the Lord, and therefore it may be
hoped that they will tread in the steps of their fathers’ constancy.
Note, God’s people are children that will not lie; for those
that will are not his children but the devil’s.
2. The favour he showed them with an eye to these expectations: So
he was their Saviour out of the bondage of Egypt and all the
calamities of their wilderness-state, and many a time since he had been
their Saviour. See particularly
(v. 9)
what he did for them as their Saviour.
(1.) The principle that moved him to work salvation for them; it was
in his love and in his pity, out of mere compassion to them and
a tender affection for them, not because he either needed them or could
be benefited by them. This is strangely expressed here: In all their
affliction he was afflicted; not that the Eternal Mind is capable
of grieving or God’s infinite blessedness of suffering the least damage
or diminution (God cannot be afflicted); but thus he is pleased to show
forth the love and concern he has for his people in their affliction;
thus far he sympathizes with them, that he takes what injury is done to
them as done to himself and will reckon for it accordingly. Their cries
move him
(Exod. iii. 7),
and he appears for them as vigorously as if he were pained in their
pain. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? This is matter of
great comfort to God’s people in their affliction that God is so far
from afflicting willingly
that, if they humble themselves under his hand, he is afflicted in
their affliction, as the tender parents are in the severe
operations which the case of a sick child calls for. There is another
reading of these words in the original: In all their affliction
there was no affliction; though they were in great affliction, yet
the property of it was so altered by the grace of God sanctifying it to
them for their good, the rigour of it was so mitigated and it was so
allayed and balanced with mercies, they were so wonderfully supported
and comforted under it, and it proved so short, and ended so well, that
it was in effect no affliction. The troubles of the saints are not that
to them which they are to others; they are not afflictions, but
medicines; saints are enabled to call them light, and but for
a moment, and, with an eye to heaven as all in all, to make nothing
of them.
(2.) The person employed in their salvation–the angel of his
face, or presence. Some understand it of a created angel. The
highest angel in heaven, even the angel of his presence, that attends
next the throne of his glory, is not thought too great, too good, to be
sent on this errand. Thus the little ones’ angels are said to be those
that always behold the face of our Father,
Matt. xviii. 10.
But this is rather to be understood of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word,
that angel of whom God spoke to Moses
whose voice Israel was to obey. He is called Jehovah,
Exod. xiii. 21; xiv. 21, 24.
He is the angel of the covenant, God’s messenger to the world,
He is the angel of God’s face, for he is the express image of
his person; and the glory of God shines in the face of Christ. He
that was to work out the eternal salvation, as an earnest of that,
wrought out the temporal salvations that were typical of it.
(3.) The progress and perseverance of this favour. He not only redeemed
them out of their bondage, but he bore them and carried them all the
days of old; they were weak, but he supported them by his power,
sustained them by his bounty; when they were burdened, and ready to
sink, he bore them up; in the wars they made upon the nations he stood
by them and bore them out; though they were peevish, he bore with them
and suffered their manners,
He carried them as the nursing father does the child, though they would
have tired any arms but his; he carried them as the eagle her young
upon her wings,
And it was a long time that he was troubled with them (if we may
so speak): it was all the days of old; his care of them was not
at an end even when they had grown up and were settled in Canaan. All
this was in his love and pity, ex mero motu–of his mere
good-will; he loved them because he would love them, as he says,
3. Their disingenuous conduct towards him, and the trouble they thereby
brought upon themselves
(v. 10):
But they rebelled. Things looked very hopeful and promising; one
would have thought that they should have continued dutiful children to
God, and then there was no doubt but he would have continued a gracious
Father to them; but here is a sad change on both sides, and on them
be the breach.
(1.) They revolted from their allegiance to God and took up arms
against him: They rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit with their
unbelief and murmuring, besides the iniquity of the golden calf; and
this had been their way and manner ever since. Though he was ready to
say of them, They will not lie, though he had done so much for
them, borne them and carried them, yet they thus ill requited
him, like foolish people and unwise,
Deut. xxxii. 6.
This grieved him,
The ungrateful rebellions of God’s children against him are a vexation
to his Holy Spirit.
(2.) Thereupon he justly withdrew his protection, and not only so, but
made war upon them, as a prince justly does upon the rebels. He who had
been so much their friend was turned to be their enemy and fought
against them, by one judgment after another, both in the wilderness
and after their settlement in Canaan. See the malignity and
mischievousness of sin; it makes God an enemy even to those for whom he
has done the part of a good friend, and makes him angry who was all
love and pity. See the folly of sinners; they wilfully lose him for a
friend who is the most desirable friend, and make him their enemy who
is the most formidable enemy. This refers especially to those
calamities that were of late brought upon them by their captivity in
Babylon for their idolatries and other sins. That which is both the
original and the great aggravation of their troubles was that God was
turned to be their enemy.
4. A particular reflection made, on this occasion, upon what God did
for them when he first formed them into a people: Then he remembered
the days of old,
v. 11.
(1.) This may be understood either of the people or of God.
[1.] We may understand it of the people. Israel then (spoken of as a
single person) remembered the days of old, looked into their
Bibles, read the story of God’s bringing their fathers out of Egypt,
considered it more closely than ever they did before, and reasoned upon
it, as Gideon did
(Judg. vi. 13),
Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of? “Where is he
that brought them up out of Egypt? Is he not as able to bring us up
out of Babylon? Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where is the Lord
God of our fathers?” This they consider as an inducement and an
encouragement to them to repent and return to him; their fathers were a
provoking people and yet found him a pardoning God; and why may not
they find him so if they return to him? They also use it as a plea with
God in prayer for the turning again of their captivity, like that
Note, When the present days are dark and cloudy it is good to
remember the days of old, to recollect our own and others’
experiences of the divine power and goodness and make use of them, to
look back upon the years of the right hand of the Most High
and remember that he is God, and changes not.
[2.] We may understand it of God; he put himself in mind of the days of
old, of his covenant with Abraham
he said, Where is he that brought Israel up out of the sea?
stirring up himself to come and save them with this consideration, “Why
should not I appear for them now as I did for their fathers, who were
as undeserving, as ill-deserving, as they are?” See how far off divine
mercy will go, how far back it will look, to find out a reason for
doing good to his people, when ho present considerations appear but
what make against them. Nay, it makes that a reason for relieving them
which might have been used as a reason for abandoning them. He might
have said, “I have delivered them formerly, but they have again brought
trouble upon themselves
there I will deliver them no more,”
But no; mercy rejoices against judgment, and turns the argument the
other way: “I have formerly delivered them and therefore will now.”
(2.) Which way soever we take it, whether the people plead it with God
or God with himself, let us view the particulars, and they agree very
much with the confession and prayer which the children of the captivity
made upon a solemn fast-day
&c.), which may serve as a comment on these verses which call to mind
Moses and his people, that is, what God did by Moses for his
people, especially in bringing them through the Red Sea, for that is it
that is here most insisted on; for it was a work which he much gloried
in and which his people therefore may in a particular manner encourage
themselves with the remembrance of.
[1.] God led them by the right hand of Moses
(v. 12)
and the wonder-working rod in his hand.
Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses. It
was not Moses that led them, any more than it was Moses that fed them
(John vi. 32),
but God by Moses; for it was he that qualified Moses for, called him
to, assisted and prospered him in that great undertaking. Moses is
here called the shepherd of his flock; God was the owner of the
flock and the chief shepherd of Israel
(Ps. lxxx. 1);
but Moses was a shepherd under him, and he was inured to labour and
patience, and so fitted for this pastoral care, by his being trained up
to keep the flock of his father Jethro. Herein he was a type of
Christ the good shepherd, that lays down his life for the sheep,
which was more than Moses did for Israel, though he did a great deal
for them.
[2.] He put his holy Spirit within him; the Spirit of God was among
them, and not only his providence, but his grace, did work for
them.
Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them. The spirit of
wisdom and courage, as well as the Spirit of prophecy, was put into
Moses, to qualify him for that service among them to which he was
called; and some of his spirit was put upon the seventy elders,
This was a great blessing to Israel, that they had among them not only
inspired writings, but inspired men.
[3.] He carried them safely through the Red Sea, and thereby saved them
out of the hands of Pharaoh. First, He divided the water before
them
(v. 12),
so that it gave them not only passage, but protection, not only opened
them a lane, but erected them a wall on either side. Secondly, He
led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness, or in
the plain
(v. 13);
they and their wives and children, with all their baggage, went as
easily and readily through the bottom of the sea (though we may suppose
it muddy or stony, or both) as a horse goes along upon even ground; so
that they did not stumble, though it was an untrodden path, which
neither they nor any one else ever went before. If God make us a way,
he will make it plain and level; the road he opens to his people he
will lead them in. Thirdly, To complete the mercy, he
brought them up out of the sea,
v. 11.
Though the ascent, it is likely, was very steep, dirty, slippery, and
unconquerable (at least by the women and children, and the men,
considering how they were loaded,
and how fatigued), yet God by his power brought them up from the depths
of the earth; and it was a kind of resurrection to them; it was as
life from the dead.
[4.] He brought them safely to a place of rest: As a beast goes down
into the valley, carefully and gradually, so the Spirit of the
Lord caused him to rest. Many a time in their march through the
wilderness they had resting-places provided for them by the direction
of the Spirit of the Lord in Moses,
And at length they were made to rest finally in Canaan, and the Spirit
of the Lord gave them that rest according to the promise. It is by the
Spirit of the Lord that God’s Israel are caused to return to God and
repose in him as their rest.
[5.] All this he did for them by his own power, for his own praise.
First, It was by his own power, as the God of nature, that has
all the powers of nature at his command; he did it with his glorious
arm, the arm of his gallantry, or bravery; so the word
signifies. It was not Moses’s rod, but God’s glorious arm, that did it.
Secondly, It was for his own praise, to make himself an
everlasting name
(v. 12),
a glorious name
(v. 14),
that he might be glorified, everlastingly glorified, upon this account.
This is that which God is doing in the world with his glorious arm, he
is making to himself a glorious name, and it shall last to endless
ages, when the most celebrated names of the great ones of the earth
shall be written in the dust.
| Earnest Pleadings. | B. C. 706. |
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15 Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy
holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength,
the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they
restrained?
16 Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant
of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our
father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.
17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and
hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake,
the tribes of thine inheritance.
18 The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little
while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
19 We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were
not called by thy name.
The foregoing praises were intended as an introduction to this prayer, which is continued to the end of the next chapter, and it is an affectionate, importunate, pleading prayer. It is calculated for the time of the captivity. As they had promises, so
they had prayers, prepared for them against that time of need, that
they might take with them words in turning to the Lord, and say unto
him what he himself taught them to say, in which they might the better
hope to prevail, the words being of God’s own inditing. Some good
interpreters think this prayer looks further, and that it expresses the
complaints of the Jews under their last and final rejection from God
and destruction by the Romans; for there is one passage in it
which is applied to the grace of the gospel by the apostle
(1 Cor. ii. 9),
that grace for the rejecting of which they were rejected. In these
verses we may observe,
I. The petitions they put up to God.
1. That he would take cognizance of their case and of the desires of
their souls towards him: Look down from heaven, and behold,
v. 15.
They knew very well that God sees all, but they prayed that he would
regard them, would condescend to favour them, would look upon them with
an eye of compassion and concern, as he looked upon the affliction of
his people in Egypt when he was about to appear for their deliverance.
In begging that he would only look down upon them and behold them they
did in effect appeal to his justice against their enemies, and pray for
judgment against them (as Jehoshaphat,
Behold, how they reward us. Wilt thou not judge them?),
implicitly confiding in his mercy and wisdom as to the way in which he
will relieve them
Look upon my affliction and my pain): Look down from the habitation
of thy holiness and of thy glory. God’s holiness is his glory.
Heaven is his habitation, the throne of his glory, where he most
manifests his glory, and whence he is said to look down upon the earth,
His holiness is in a special manner celebrated there by the blessed
angels
there his holy ones attend him, and are continually about him; so that
it is the habitation of his holiness. It is an encouragement to
all his praying people, who desire to be holy as he is holy, that he
dwells in a holy place.
2. That he would take a course for their relief
(v. 17):
“Return; change thy way towards us, and proceed not in thy
controversy with us; return in mercy, and let us have not only a
gracious look towards us, but thy gracious presence with us.” God’s
people dread nothing more than his departures from them and desire
nothing more than his returns to them.
II. The complaints they made to God. Two things they complained of:–
1. That they were given up to themselves, and God’s grace did not
recover them,
It is a strange expostulation, “Why hast thou made us to err from
thy ways, that is, many among us, the generality of us; and this
complaint we have all of us some cause to make that thou hast
hardened our heart from thy fear.” Some make it to be the language
of those among them that were impious and profane; when the prophets
reproved them for the error of their ways, their hardness of
heart, and contempt of God’s word and commandments, they
with a daring impudence charged their sin upon God, made him the author
of it, and asked why doth he then find fault? Note, Those are
wicked indeed that lay the blame of their wickedness upon God. But I
rather take it to be the language of those among them that lamented the
unbelief and impenitence of their people, not accusing God of being the
author of their wickedness, but complaining of it to him. They owned
that they had erred from God’s ways, that their hearts
had been hardened from his fear, that they had not received the
impressions which the fear of God ought to make upon them and this was
the cause of all their errors from his ways; or from his fear
may mean from the true worship of God, and that is a hard heart indeed
which is alienated from the service of a God so incontestably great and
good. Now this they complain of, as their great misery and burden, that
God had for their sins left them to this, had permitted them to err
from his ways and had justly withheld his grace, so that their
hearts were hardened from his fear. When they ask, Why hast
thou done this? it is not as charging him with wrong, but lamenting
it as a sore judgment. God had caused them to err and hardened their
hearts, not only by withdrawing his Spirit from them, because they
had grieved, and vexed, and quenched him
(v. 10),
but by a judicial sentence upon them (Go, make the heart of this
people fat,
ch. vi. 9, 10)
and by his providences concerning them, which had proved sad occasions
for their departure from him. David complains of his banishment,
because in it he was in effect bidden to go and serve other
gods,
1 Sam. xxvi. 19.
Their troubles had alienated many of them from God, and prejudiced them
against his service; and, because the rod of the wicked had lain
long on their lot, they were ready to put forth their hand unto
iniquity
(Ps. cxxv. 3),
and this was the thing they complained most of; their afflictions were
their temptations, and to many of them invincible ones. Note, Convinced
consciences complain most of spiritual judgments and dread that most in
an affliction which draws them from God and duty.
2. That they were given up to their enemies, and God’s providence did
not rescue and relieve them
(v. 18):
Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. As it was a
grief to them that in their captivity the generality of them had lost
their affection to God’s worship, and had their hearts hardened from it
by their affliction, so it was a further grief that they were deprived
of their opportunities of worshipping God in solemn assemblies. They
complained not so much of the adversaries treading down their houses
and cities as of their treading down God’s sanctuary, because thereby
God was immediately affronted, and they were robbed of the comforts
they valued most and took most pleasure in.
III. The pleas they urged with God for mercy and deliverance.
1. They pleaded the tender compassion God used to show to his people
and his ability and readiness to appear for them,
The most prevailing arguments in prayer are those that are taken
from God himself; such these are. Where is thy zeal and thy
strength? God has a zeal for his own glory, and for the comfort of
his people; his name is Jealous; and he is a jealous God; and he
has strength proportionable to secure his own glory and the interest of
his people, in despite of all opposition. Now where are these? Have
they not formerly appeared? Why do they not appear now? It cannot be
that divine zeal, which is infinitely wise and just, should be cooled,
that divine strength, which is infinite, should be weakened. Nay, his
people had experienced not only his zeal and his strength, but the
sounding of his bowels, or rather the yearning of them, such a
degree of compassion to them as in men causes a commotion and agitation
within them, as
My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled
together; and
My bowels are troubled (or sound) for him. “Thus God used
to be affected towards his people, and to express a multitude of
mercies towards them; but where are they now? Are they
restrained?
Ps. lxxvii. 9.
Has God, who so often remembered to be gracious, now forgotten to be
so? Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? It can never
be.” Note, We may ground good expectations of further mercy upon our
experiences of former mercy.
2. They pleaded God’s relation to them as their Father
(v. 16):
“Thy tender mercies are not restrained, for they are the tender mercies
of a father, who, though he may be for a time displeased with his
child, will yet, through the force of natural affection, soon be
reconciled. Doubtless thou art our Father, and therefore thy
bowels will years towards us.” Such good thoughts of God as these we
should always keep up in our hearts. However it be, yet God is
good; for he is our Father. They own themselves fatherless if he be
not their Father, and so cast themselves upon him with whom the
fatherless findeth mercy,
Hos. xiv. 3.
It was the honour of their nation that they had Abraham to their
father
(Matt. iii. 9),
who was the friend of God, and Israel, who was a prince with God; but
what the better were they for that unless they had God himself for
their Father? “Abraham and Israel cannot help us; they have not the
power that God has; they are dead long since, and are ignorant of
us, and acknowledge us not; they know not what our case is, nor
what our wants are, and therefore know not which way to do us a
kindness. If Abraham and Israel were alive with us, they would
intercede for us and advise us; but they have gone to the other world,
and we know not that they have any communication at all with this
world, and therefore they are not capable of doing us any kindness any
further than that we have the honour of being called their children.”
When the father is dead his sons come to honour and he knows it
not,
Job xiv. 21.
“But thou, O Lord! art our Father still (the fathers of our
flesh may call themselves ever-loving; but they are not
ever-living; it is God only that is the immortal Father, that
always knows us, and is never at a distance from us), and therefore
our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name, the name by which we
will know and own thee. It is the name by which from of old thou hast
been known; thy people have always looked upon thee as the God to whom
they might appeal to redress their grievances and plead their cause.
Nay” (according to the sense some give of this place), “though Abraham
and Israel not only cannot, but would not, help us, thou wilt. They
have not the pity thou hast. We are so degenerate and corrupt that
Abraham and Israel would not own us for their children, yet we fly to
thee as our Father. Abraham cast out his son Ishmael; Jacob
disinherited his son Reuben and cursed Simeon and Levi; but our
heavenly Father, in pardoning sin, is God, and not man,”
3. They pleaded God’s interest in them, that he was their Lord, their
owner and proprietor: “We are thy servants; what service we can do thou
art entitled to, and therefore we ought not to serve strange kings and
strange gods: Return for thy servants’ sake.” As a father finds
himself obliged by natural affection to relieve and protect his child,
so a master thinks himself obliged in honour to rescue and protect his
servant: “We are thine by the strongest engagements, as well as
the highest endearments. Thou hast borne rule over us; therefore, Lord,
assert thy own interest, maintain thy own right; for we are called
by thy name, and therefore whither shall we go but to thee, to be
righted and protected? We are thine, save us
(Ps. cxix. 94),
thy own, acknowledge us. We are the tribes of thy inheritance,
not only thy servants, but thy tenants; we are thine, not only to do
work for thee, but to pay rent to thee. The tribes of Israel are God’s
inheritance, whence issue the little praise and worship that he
receives from this lower world; and wilt thou suffer thy own servants
and tenants to be thus abused?”
4. They pleaded that they had had but a short enjoyment of the land of
promise and the privileges of the sanctuary
(v. 18):
The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while.
From Abraham to David were but fourteen generations, and from David to
the captivity but fourteen more
(Matt. i. 17),
and that was but a little while in comparison with what might have been
expected from the promise of the land of Canaan for an everlasting
possession
and from the power that was put forth to bring them into that land and
settle them in it. “Though we are the people of thy holiness,
distinguished from other people and consecrated to thee, yet we are
soon dislodged.” But this they might thank themselves for; they were,
in profession, the people of God’s holiness, but it was their
wickedness that turned them out of the possession of that land.
5. They pleaded that those who had and kept possession of their land
were such as were strangers to God, such as he had no service or honour
from: “Thou never didst bear rule over them, nor did they ever
yield thee any obedience; they were not called by thy name, but
professed relation to other gods and were the worshippers of them. Will
God suffer those that do not stand in any relation to him to trample
upon those that do?” Some give another reading of this: “We have
become as those over whom thou didst never bear rule and who were never
called by thy name; we are rejected and abandoned, despised and
trampled upon, as if we never had been in thy service nor had thy name
called upon us.” Thus the shield of Saul was vilely cast away, as
though he had not been anointed with oil. But the covenant that
seems to be forgotten shall be remembered again.
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