Isaiah

Chapter 1

Ver. 1. The vision of Isaiah.] That which was not unfitly affirmed of a modern expositor, {a} that his commentaries on this prophecy of Isaiah are mole parvi, eruditione mangni, small in bulk, but great in worth, may much more fitly be spoken of the prophecy itself, which is aureus quantivis precii libellus, worth its weight in gold. A "great roll" or "volume" it is called, {#Isa 8:1} because it is magnum in parvo, much in a little; and it is said there to be "written with a man’s pen," that is, plainly and perspicuously; so little reason was there that John Haselbach, professor at Vienna, should read twenty-one years to his auditors upon this first chapter only, and yet not finish it. {b} I confess there is no prophecy but hath its obscurity—the picture of prophecy is said to hang in the Pope’s library like a matron with her eyes covered—and Jerome saith that this of Isaiah containeth all rhetoric, ethics, and theology. But if brevity and suavity, which Fulgentius maketh to be the greatest graces of a sentence—if eloquence of style, and evidence of vision may carry it with the reader, here they are eminently met in this seraphical orator, of whom we may far better say than the learned critic doth of Livy, Non ita copiosus ut nimius; neque ira suavis ut lascicus; nec adeo lenis ut remissus: non sic tristis ut horridus; neque ita simplex ut nudus; aut adeo comptus ut affectata compositione calamistris videatur inustus. Par verbis materia, par sententia rebus, &c. {c} A courtier he was, and a master of speech; a man of noble birth, and as noble a spirit; not the first of the holy prophets, and yet worthily set in the first place—as St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is for like cause set before the rest—because in abundance of visions he exceedeth his fellows; and in speaking of the Lord Christ, he delivereth himself more like an evangelist than a prophet, and is therefore called the evangelical prophet. {d} In the New Testament he is cited by Christ and his apostles sixty different times at least; and by the more devoted heathens he was not a little respected, as appeareth by the history of that Ethiopian eunuch. {#Ac 8:26-40}

The vision.] That is, The several visions or doctrines so certainly and clearly revealed to him by God, as if he had seen them with his bodily eyes. See #Isa 2:1 Na 1:1. For they are not to be hearkened to who hold that these seers, the prophets, understood not their own prophecies, {#1Pe 1:10,11} though it is true that those "holy men of God spake as they were moved," acted, and powerfully carried on (φερομενοι) to see and say as they did, by the Holy Ghost. {#2Pe 1:21}

Of Isaiah.] Which signifieth "God’s health." He would indeed have healed that perverse people to whom he was sent; but they "would not be healed," as he sadly complaineth, {#Isa 44:4 53:1} turning them over to God with a Non convertentur; They will not repent, let them therefore perish. When there is no hope of curing, there must be cutting.

The Son of Amoz.] Who likewise was a prophet, say the Hebrews, and of royal extraction.

Which he saw.] Not which I saw; thus he speaketh for modesty sake. Luther {e} wittily saith, that Haec ego feci, haec ego feci, shows men to be nothing else but faeces, dregs.

Concerning Judah and Jerusalem.] The inhabitants whereof lived in God’s good land, but would not live by God’s good laws; to them was objected, as afterwards to the Athenians, Eos scire quae recta sunt, sed facere nolle, that they knew what was right, but had no mind to do it, though this and other prophets used their best oratory in inviting those of them that did rebel, inciting those that did neglect, hastening those that did linger, and recalling those that did wander, to sue out their pardons, and make their peace with their Maker.

In the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.] And longer too, if that be true which the Hebrews tell us, that at the age of one hundred twenty-six years he was sawn asunder by Manasseh (his grandson by the mother’s side) with a wooden saw. {f} Sure it is that Manasseh was a most bloody persecutor, and perhaps not inferior to Dioclesian, in whose days such cruelty was exercised toward the Christian bishops and others, Ut totum orcurn dicas in orbem effusum, ubi nemo nisi tortus vel terror sit, { g} as if hell had been broken loose, and all men turned either torturers or tortured.

{a} Snepfius.

{b} Mercat. Atlas.

{c} Casaub.

{d} Jerome. Est in fragmentis Demadis, orationes Demosthenis esse ονομαστι καλας. De Isaiae visionibus idem puta. Conciones habet poenitentiales, comminatorias et consolatorias.

{e} Luth. in Ps. cxxvii.

{f} Jerome, lib. xv. in Isa. in fine.

{g} Bussieres.

Ver. 2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth.] Exordium patheticum! Moses-like, he calleth heaven and earth, brutas illas mutasque creaturas, to record against God’s rebels, whose stupendous stupidity is hereby taxed. {#De 4:26,30:19 31:28} Heaven and earth do hear and obey God’s voice, for "they are all his servants," {#Ps 119:91} keeping their constant course. Only man, that great heteroclite, {a} breaketh order, and is therefore worse than other creatures, because he should be better.

For the Lord hath spoken it.] So #Jer 13:15, "Hear and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken it." Jehovah, whose voice "shaketh not the earth only, but the heavens also," {#Heb 12:26 Ps 104:32} at whose dreadful presence mountains melt, rocks rend asunder, and the whole fabric of heaven and earth is astonished, horribly afraid, and very desolate; {#Jer 2:12} this great Jehovah—whose name is great among the heathen. {#Mal 1:11} The Pythagoreans used to swear by τετρακτην, Quaternity, the name Jehovah consisting of four letters in the Hebrew, which also they called πηγην αεναου φυσεως, the fountain of eternity—Aphihu, even he hath spoken, or ‘is about to speak’—scil., by my mouth and ministry. {b} "Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: fear ye not me? saith Jehovah. Will ye not tremble at my presence?" &c. {#Jer 5:21,22} "Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see." {#Isa 42:18} Thus must ministers preach to the conscience, cut to the quick, rouse up themselves and wrestle with their hearers, goring their very souls with smarting pain, while they speak "as the oracles of God," {#1Pe 4:11} with all gravity and authority.

I have nourished and brought up children.] Or, Advanced, exalted them. Brevicula verba, sed causa querulandi maxima; a short but sharp contest. {c} God had adopted, educated, and advanced the people of Israel; but "Jesurun waxed fat, and kicked," as young mulets, when they have sucked, lift up the heel and kick the dam’s dugs, as hawks when fully fed forget their master.

And they have rebelled against me.] Or, Transgressed, blasphemed. Rebellion is a kind of blasphemy, {#Nu 15:30,31 Eze 20:27} and unthankfulness is, as one saith, an accumulative sin, a voluminous wickedness. Many sins are bound up in it, as Cicero saith of parricide. Solon would make no law against parricide, because he thought none would be so vile as to commit it. Lycurgus would make no law against ingratitude for like reason.

{a} A person that deviates from the ordinary rule; an ‘anomaly’.

{b} Lingua mea est calamus S.S. et guttur meum est tuba divino inflata et clangens anhelitu.—Deut. xxxii. 15.

{c} Plato Aristotelem vocabat mulum.

Ver. 3. The ox knoweth his owner.] Yea, helpeth him; whence these creatures are called iumenta a iuvando, and the ass hath his name in Greek {a} from his usefulness. Yea, the most savage creatures will be at the beck and check of those that feed them. Disobedience, therefore, is against the principles of nature, and God’s rebels fall below the stirrup of reason, yea, of sense, so great cause was there that our prophet, tantas tragoedias ageret, should begin his sermon with such a solemn contestation, "Hear, O heavens," &c. O coelum, O terram! "But Israel doth not know"— quo est stupore. He needeth to he set to school to these dullest of creatures to learn the knowledge of God and of his will, of himself and his duty. Oh, the brutish ignorance of many profligate professors! "They are a people of no understanding." {#Ps 53:4} So #Isa 44:18.

My people doth not consider.] Though "them only have I known of all the families of the earth," {#Am 3:2} culling and calling them, owning and honouring them, adopting and accepting them for my people, when I had all the world before me to choose in, {#De 10:14,15} yet they value not my benefits; they stir not up themselves, as the Hebrew word signifieth, to apprehend them, and to be affected with them. All is lost that I have laid out upon them. Unthankfulness is as a grave, which receiveth dead bodies, but rendereth them not up again without a miracle. But "should ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise?" {#De 32:6} {See Trapp on "De 32:6"}

{a} ενος from ονημι.

Ver. 4. Ah sinflul notion.] Hoi goi chote. He beginneth his complaint with a sigh, as well he might, when he saw that the better God was to them, the worse they were to him; like springs of water, which are then coldest when the sun is hottest; like the Thracian flint, which is said to burn with water, and to be quenched with oil, or like that country where drought maketh dirt, and rain dust. {a} Ah gens peccatrix! Oh, thou that art wholly made up of mischief, as Aaron once said of their forefathers in the wilderness, that they were "wholly set upon wickedness," {#Ex 32:22} and as the prophet saith, "What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?" {#Mic 1:5}

A people laden with iniquity] Great and grievous offenders, {b} guilty of many and mighty (or long) sins, {#Am 5:12} quorum amplitudine praegravanfur, yet not sensible of their burden; not heavyladen, {as #Mt 11:28} nor labouring to be delivered of that hedgehog that woundeth and teareth them in their tender inside.

A seed of evildoers.] A race of rebels, a seed of serpents: Mali corvi malum ovum: such as were as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as ever their fathers had been; {#Ac 7:51} generation after generation they held it out, and were no changelings then, neither are to this day.

Children that are corrupters.] Or, Destroyers, dingthrifts, ασωτοι quasi ασωστοι, destroy goods, such as the Roman prodigal, who gloried that of a large patrimony left him by his parents, he had now left himself nothing praeter coelum et caenum; or that other in the Gospel, who had drawn much of his portion through his throat, and spent the rest on harlots. Lo! such ill husbands for their souls were these Jews here spoken of, seipsis assidue facti deteriores, while they woefully wasted their time and strength in the pursuit of their lusts: "cursed children." {#2Pe 2:14}

They have forsaken the Lord.] Which is such a foul enormity, as good Jeremiah thinks the very heaven sweateth at, and the earth groaneth under. {#Jer 2:12,13}

They have provoked unto anger.] As if they had a mind to wrestle a fall, and try masteries with him. The Vulgate rendereth it, They have blasphemed. {See Trapp on "Isa 1:2"}

They are gone away backward.] A lienaverunt se retrorsum, certatim exardescentes in apostasiam; as the moon when fullest of light getteth farther off from the sun. They had turned upon God the back and not the face, by a shameful apostasy, even then when they frequently trod his courts, {#Isa 1:12} and departed not thence, haply, any otherwise than the Jews at this day do, out of their synagogues with their faces still toward the ark, like crabs going backward.

{a} Siccitas dat lutum, imbres pulverem. —- Plin,

{b} Gens quae non nisi peccare didicit. -Scult. Secura et petulans. -Piscat. #Lu 15:30.

Ver. 5. Why should ye be stricken any more?] This was the heaviest stroke that ever Judah felt from the hand of God; like as Ephraim’s sorest judgment was, "He is joined to idols, let him alone" {#Ho 4:17} -q.d., He is incorrigible, irreclaimable, let him go on and perish: I’ll not any longer foul my fingers with him. Oh fearful sentence! To prosper in sin is a grievous plague, and a sign of one given up by God. To be like the smith’s dog, whom neither the hammers above him, nor the sparks of fire falling round about him can awaken, is to be in a desperate condition. To wax worse by chastisements, {as #2Ch 28:22} is a sure sign of reprobate silver, {#Jer 6:30} of a dead and dedolent disposition. {#Eph 4:18} God as a loving father, verba, verbera, beneficia, supplicia miseuerat, had done all that could be done to do them good; but all would not do: such was their obstinace.

The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint.] Head, heart, feet; princes, priests, and common people, as they had all sinned, so they all had their payment. Sin is a universal sickness, like those diseases which physicians say are corruptio totius substantiae, a corruption of the whole substance. And national sins bring national plagues, wherein all sorts suffer, as they did in the days of Ahaz, de quibus haud dubie loquitur hic propheta, saith Scultetus: though others think the prophet here speaketh rather of those miseries inflicted upon Judah by Hazael king of Syria {#2Ki 12:17,18} and by Joash king of Israel, {#2Ki 14:8-14} wherein all sorts had their share—none escaped scot free.

Ver. 6. From the sole of the foot.] Totum est pro vulnere corpus, The whole body politic was deadly diseased, and it was our prophet’s unhappiness to be the physician to a dying state; Tunc etenim docta plus valet arte malum.

There is no soundness.] Nec sanitas in corpore, nec sanctitas in corde. Heu, heu, Domine Deus. Neither soundness in body nor soundness in heart, Alas, alas oh God, God.

But wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.] And those also such as would not be cured, but called for cutting off. Immedicabile vulnus ense recidendum est.

They have not been closed.] Neither will be. Non est malagma imponere, say the Septuagint here. You will not endure to have them searched or suppled: what hope therefore of healing? If the Sun of righteousness shall shine upon us with healing under his wings, we must repent and believe the gospel. {#Mr 1:15}

Ver. 7. Your country is desolate.] Here the prophet speaketh plainly, what before, parabolically. Thus many times the Scripture explaineth itself. {#Job 7:3-9}

Your cities are burnt.] So that there is sometimes but an hour’s time, inter civitatem magnam et nullam, saith Seneca, between a fair city and a heap.

Your land, strangers devour it.] That is, enemies; in which sense also a harlot is called "a strange woman," seemingly a friend, but really an enemy: {a} she will destroy his peace who is overcome by her.

In your presence.] To your greater grief. Witness the experience hereof in our late stripping and desolating times, whereof we have here a kind of theological picture.

{a} Zar, " alienum" significat et "hostem."

Ver. 8. And the daughter of Zion.] Jerusalem, which is called the daughter of Zion, say some, because standing at the foot of that hill as a daughter; it comes out from between the feet, being also cherished and tendered by God as his daughter. Howbeit, as dear as she was to him, she fell into deep distress when she became undutiful. Abused mercy turneth into fury.

Is left as a cottage in a vineyard.] As a shed or booth, whereof after the vintage there is little use or regard.

As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.] Or, Melons, which, when ripe, lie on the ground. So, saith one, do God’s ripest and best servants, being humble, and meanly conceited of themselves.

As a besieged city.] Besieged, though at a distance; as Rome was at the time when Saguntum was beleagured.

Ver. 9. Except the Lord.] Jehovah, the Essentiator et Induperator, the Maker and Monarch of the universe.

Had left unto us a very small remnant.] Which he reserved for royal use; pulling them as "a brand out of the fire," {#Zec 3:2} or as "two legs or a piece of an ear taken by the shepherd out of the mouth of a lion." {#Am 3:12} The apostle, after the Septuagint, rendereth it "a seed," {#Ro 9:29} in allusion to store seed kept by the husbandman; and there hence inferreth that the elect Jews shall by faith in Christ be freed from the tyranny of Satan and terror of hell. And this is here alleged for an allay to those foregoing dreadful declarations of bygone and direful menaces of future desolations; so loath is the Sun of righteousness to set in a cloud; surely in the midst of judgment he remembereth mercy—

“ Quamvis cecidere trecenti,

Non omnes Fabios abstulit una dies.’’—Ovid.

We should have been as Sodom.] Those five cities of the plain are thrown forth for an example. {#Jude 7} Lot was no sooner taken out of Sodom but Sodom was taken out of the world and turned into a sea of salt. {#De 29:23} So Meroz, {#Jud 5:23} some city likely near the place where that battle was fought, hath the very name and memorial of it utterly extinct.

Ver. 10. Hear the word of the Lord, ye princes of Sodom.] Having mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah, {#Isa 1:9} he maketh further use thereof, probrosa hac appellatione auditores suos conveniens; sharping up his hearers in this sort, whom he knew he should not wrong at all by so calling them. {see #Eze 16:46,48} Non tam ovum ovo simile; like they were, both princes and people, to those of Sodom and Gomorrah; (1.) In their ingratitude toward God; (2) In their cruelty toward men. Our prophet, therefore, is "very bold," as St Paul also testifieth of him, {#Ro 10:20} fearing no colours, although for his boldness he lost his life, if at least that be true which Jerome {a} out of the Rabbis telleth us—viz., that this prophet Isaiah was sawn asunder, first, Because he said he had seen the Lord; {#Isa 6:1} secondly, Because he called the great ones of Judah princes of Sodom, &c., giving them a title agreeable to their wicked practices. The like liberty of speech used Athanasius toward Constantius; Agapetus toward Justinian; Johannes Sarisburiensis toward the Pope, &c.

{a} Jerome in Isa. i.

Ver. 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices.] All which, without faith and devotion, are no better than mere hypocrisy and illusion. It is, saith Oecolampadius, as if one should present his prince with many carts laden with dirt, or as if good meat well cooked should be brought to table by a nasty sloven, who hath been tumbling in a jakes. They are your sacrifices and not mine, and though many and costly, yet I abhor such sacrificing Sodomites as you are, neither shall you be a button the better for your pompous hecatomb {a} and holocausts. {b} Your devotions are placed more in the massy materiality than inward purity, and therefore rejected. Go ye and learn what that is, "I will have mercy, -so faith, repentance, new obedience, -and not sacrifice." {#Mt 9:13} You stick in the bark, rest in the work done; your piety is potius in labris quam in fibris nata -a mere outside, shells, nut kernels, shows, and pageants, not heart workings, &c. Una Dei est, purum, gratissima victima, pectus.

Into full of the burnt offerings.] I am even cloyed and loathed with the sight of them.

And of the fat of fed beasts.] Though ye bring the very best of the best, yet you do worse than lose your labour, cast away your cost, for therein ye commit sin. {#Pr 15:8} Displeasing service is double dishonour, Deus homines istis, ut vocant, meritis praefidentes aversatur.

I delight not in the blood of bullocks, &c.] He "that killeth an ox," unless withal he kill his corruptions, "is as if he slew a man. He that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck," &c. {#Isa 66:3} Those miscreants in Micah who offered largely for a licence to live as they list, are rejected with scorn. {#Mic 6:7}

{a} A great public sacrifice (properly of a hundred oxen) among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and hence extended to the religious sacrifices of other nations; a large number of animals offered or set apart for a sacrifice.

{b} A sacrifice wholly consumed by fire; a whole burnt offering.

Ver. 12. When ye come to appear before me.] Heb., To be seen; else all had been lost. Hypocrisy is very ostentous, it would be noted and noticed; whereas true devotion desireth not to be seen of any save him who seeth in secret.

Who hath required this at your hand?] This is God’s voice to all superstitious will-worshippers and carnal gospellers. "Friend, how camest thou in hither?" Who sent for thee to my service? Who hath forewarned this generation of vipers to flee from the wrath to come? What hast thou to do to take up my name? &c., {#Ps 50:16} to tread my courts, to pollute my presence? "This is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous" only "should enter." {#Ps 118:20} "The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination; how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind." {#Pr 21:27}

To tread my courts.] Or, Trample on; {as #Isa 63:3} to foul it, and wear it out with their feet, {a} as in some places marble crosses graven in pavements of Popish churches, with indulgences annexed for every time they are kissed, are even worn by the kisses of the devouter sex especially. {b} Diodate noteth here that a phrase is picked out on purpose to show that these false appearances were rather acts of profane contempt than of right religion. The Greeks gave such honour to their temples that they durst not tread on the threshold thereof, but leap over it. The priests at their solemn services cried aloud εκας εκας οστις αλιτρος, Gressus removete prophani. The Jews at this day, before they come to the synagogue, wash themselves, and scrape their shoes with an iron fastened in a wall at the entrance. The Habassines, a mongrel kind of Christians in Africa, do neither walk, nor talk, nor sit, nor spit, nor laugh in the church, nor admit dogs into the churchyards. Sed quorsum haec omnia? to what end is all this, without an honest care to lift up pure hands and holy hearts in God’s presence? See #Jer 7:3,4,9-11.

{a} Calcatis atria et teritis pavimentum. -A Lap.

{b} Sandys’s Relat, of West. Relig., sec. 8.

Ver. 13. Bring no more vain oblations.] Vain, because unacceptable, ineffectual, unsubstantial. Epitheton argumentosum, saith Piscator. Lip labour is lost labour, for God is not mocked with shadows of service; his sharp nose easily discerneth and is offended with the stinking breath of the hypocrite’s rotten lungs, though his words be never so scented and perfumed with shows of holiness. Hence it is added,

Incense is an abomination unto me, ] sc., Because it stinketh of the hand that offereth it. Incense of itself was a sweet and precious perfume, compounded of the best odours and spices. In the incense of faithful prayer also, how many sweet spices are burnt together by the fire of faith, as humility, hope, love, &c., all which come up for a memorial before God, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ. {#Heb 9:24} But it is otherwise with the wicked, whose carnal heart is like some fen or bog, and every prayer thence proceeding is as an evil vapour reeking and rising from that dunghill. Never did those five cities of the plain send up such poisonous smells to heaven, which God, being not able to abide, sent down upon them a counter poison of fire and brimstone.

I cannot away with.] Heb., "I cannot," by an angry aposiopesis; " I cannot"—that is, I cannot behold, bear with, or forbear to punish, as Oecolampadius maketh the supply to be.

It is iniquity.] Or, An affliction, a grievance. {as #Joh 5:6} Yea, it is a "vexation," as some render the next word—viz., "your solemn meeting."

Ver. 14. Your new moons.] These were commanded to be kept, to mind them of God’s governing of all things, as from whom come all alterations and changes, and so to teach them to rely on his providence at all times and turns. This they thought not on, and are therefore turned off with contempt.

Your appointed feasts.] Or rather your set meetings, whether for feasts or fasts.

My soul hateth.] Not all his senses only were offended, but his very soul also, which is an emphatic speech, and an argument of his hearty detestation. Hypocrisy is hateful to men, much more to the holy God. When Bernardine Ochin offered the Cardinal of Lorrain his service in writing against the Protestants, he slighted him with greatest scorn, because he knew he had dissembled and played the hypocrite. The other Papists should have dealt in like sort with Bolsecus, that twice banished and thrice apostate friar and physician, whom they basely hired to write the lives of Calvin and Beza, alleging him in all their writings as canonical.

They are a trouble unto me.] Or, A burden, a cumbrance, God, though he be not weary of bearing up the whole world, yet under this burden he buckles as it were, and elsewhere complains that he is pressed under it as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. {#Am 2:13}

Ver. 15. And when ye spread forth your hands.] This was the ancient guise and garb in extraordinary and most earnest prayer, especially to spread forth the arms, and lay open the hands as it were, to receive a blessing from the Almighty. {#Ex 9:23 Ps 44:20 143:6 1Ki 8:22,38}

I will hide mine eyes from you.] Tanquam a teterrimo cadavere, quod oculos et nasum ut occludatis faciat. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, {#Ps 34:15,16} his pure eyes cannot behold them with patience. {#Hab 1:13}

Yea, when ye make many prayers.] As hoping to be heard for your much babbling. The Turks pray constantly five times a day. The Jews pronounce daily a hundred benedictions. The Papists pray more by tale than by weight of zeal. The wild Irish pray for a blessing on their theft also.

I will not hear.] Your prayers are as jarring in mine ears, as if divers distracted musicians should play upon divers bad instruments so many several tunes at one time, or as if so many dogs should set up a howl together. {#Ho 7:14; see the note there} Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs (those black sanctus), for I will not hear "the melody of thy viols." {#Am 5:23} The Jews at this day conclude their Sabbath with singing, or caterwauling rather, which they continue as long as they can, for the ease of souls departed; and with it they pray many times over and over that Elijah would hasten his coming, even the next Sabbath, if he please, to give them notice of the Messiah’s coming. All this is lost labour.

Your hands are full of blood.] Ac proinde horrorem mihi incutiunt; Hands imbrued in blood are horrible to behold. Should he who hath assassined the king’s son, come to him with a petition presently upon it? and should not pure hands be everywhere lifted up to God without wrath and without doubting? {#1Ti 2:8} By "blood" here may be meant not only injustice and oppression of the poor, but all other sins also allowed and wallowed in. When "blood toucheth blood," {#Ho 4:2} one foul sin is added to another.

Ver. 16. Wash ye, make ye clean.] "Wash your hearts from wickedness, that ye may be saved"; {#Jer 4:14} "yea, cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded." {#Jas 4:8} But how is that done? "Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep," &c. {#Jas 4:9} Ye cannot wash your bloody hands in innocence; wash them therefore in tears, which are a second baptism of the soul where it is rinsed anew. And surely, as the sins of the old world, so of this little world, need a deluge. Set to work, therefore, and God will soon set in with you. Wash yourselves with the tears of true repentance, and God will wash you with the blood of his Son; only be sure to do your work thoroughly—wash hard, rub, rinse; we have inveterate stains, which will hardly be got out till the cloth be almost rubbed to pieces; and as an error in the first concoction is not mended in the second, nor of the second in the third, so if a man’s humiliation hath not been sound, his reformation cannot be right. "Wash," therefore, and then

Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes.] Away with that abominable thing that is so grievous to all my five senses, yea, to my very soul, as is above said. Sin is in Scripture called pollution, leprosy, contagion, vomit of a dog, wallowing of a swine in the mire, &c., and must therefore be rid and removed out of the heart and life, or we cannot find favour.

Cease to do evil.] This is first to be done: depart from evil, and do good; break off your sins by repentance, and be abrupt in the work; sow not among the thorns, cast away all your transgressions, &c. The prophets, pressing moral duties in this sort, do it as explainers of the law: they did but unfold and draw out that arras which was folded together before.

Ver. 17. Learn to do well.] Turn over a new leaf, take out a new lesson. "Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest God’s soul depart from thee." {#Jer 6:8} Deliver thyself wholly up to his discipline; religion is the best learning— Philosophia sacra; to know Christ and him crucified is as much as St Paul cared for; Deum cognoscere et colere to know and honour God, is the whole duty of man; add this to the former. Negative goodness profiteth not.

Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, &c.] Look to the duties of the second table, those of your own particular places especially; exercise your general calling in your particular, and think not to set off with God by your sacrifices for your oppressions: "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." Primo praecepto reliquorum omnium observantia praecipitur, saith Luther. All God’s laws were in David’s sight, {#Ps 119:168} all his ways in God’s sight. What a good justicer and householder both he was, see #Ps 101

Relieve the oppressed.] Heb., Righten the soured or leavened.

Judge the fatherless; plead for the widow.] These are God’s own clients. {#Ex 22:22}

Ver. 18. Come now, let us reason together.] In the Greek Church, at the beginning of divine service, the deacon cried out, Sacra sacris, Holy souls to holy service. {a} God will not treat with this people till purified, till resolved upon better practices; as when he is content, by a wonderful condescension, to make them even as judges in their own cause. The Vulgate rendereth it, but not so well, Et venite et arguite me {see #Isa 5:3 Jer 2:9 Mic 6:1-3}

Though your sin be of scarlet.] Blood red, {as #Isa 1:15} and of a double dye; sins in grain, enormia et horrenda, such as ye may well think will never wash out. {b}

They shall be white as snow, ] i.e., You shall be fully freed of the guilt and filth of your most heinous offences by the blood of my Son: sc., Not your peccadilloes only shall be remitted, but your many and mighty sins, quae coccini, quae vermiculi instar sunt. But what meant that mad philosopher, Anaxagoras, to affirm that snow was black? {c} "Purge me with hyssop" (wash me by the blood of sprinkling from the sting and stink of sin), "and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." {#Ps 51:7} {d} Cleaner I shall be than the picked glass, whiter than the driven snow. The law, saith one, {e} is like a glass wherein we see our spots; but the gospel is like the laver {#Ex 38:8} which was made of the women’s looking glasses, whereby they might both see their faces and also wash out their spots; for it was both a glass to look in, and a laver to wash in, and this typified Christ. {see #1Jo 1:7 Re 1:1}

Though they be red like crimson.] Which is, say the Rabbis, of a deeper colour than the former.

They shall be as wool.] Which naturally is exceeding white in those countries. {#Ps 147:16} Scultetus noteth that God here promiseth not only pardoning, but purging grace also.

{a} Chrysos., Basil., Liturg.

{b} Alludit ad habitum meretricum. -A Lap.

{c} Cicer., lib. iv. Acad. Quest.

{d} Galen., lib. ii. De virt. simp. remediorum.

{e} Ainsw. in loc.

Ver. 19. If ye be willing and obedient.] If ye love God and keep his commandments; {#Ex 20:6} if ye love to be his servants; {#Isa 56:6} willing in all things to live honestly. {#Heb 13:18} Tantum velis et Deus tibi praecurret. {a} Say thou canst not open the door, yet be lifting at the latch; ever holding that of Augustine, Nolentem praevenit Deus ut velit, volentem subsequitur ne frustra velit. {b} It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. {#Php 2:13} Augustine, after Paul, stood so much for free grace, that the Papists say he yielded too little to freewill.

Ye shall eat the good things of the land.] Ye shall, and not strangers for you. {as #Isa 1:7} The Easterlings shall not eat thy fruit, nor drink thy milk. {as #Eze 25:4} Thine enemies shall not eat thy grain, nor the sons of the stranger drink thy wine; but they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord, and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. {#Isa 62:8,9} Godliness hath a cornucopia; religion is the right palladium {c} of a nation. The heathen poet could acknowledge that, as long as Rome stood religious, so long she continued victorious and prosperous; as, on the contrary,

“ Dii multa neglect; dederunt

Hesperiae mala luctuosae.’’—Horat.

Italy was undone by irreligion. The Greek empire had not fallen from the Paleologi to the Turks had the Christian verity stood firm in Constantinople. Cicero confesseth that the instruments by which the Romans subdued the world were not strength and policy, but religion and piety. {d} Wherefore also Maecenas in Dio Cassius adviseth Augustus παντη παντως, by all means and at all times, to advance the worship of God, to cause others to do the same, and not suffer innovations in religion.

{a} Basil., Conc. de Prodigo.

{b} Enchir., id., cap. 32.

{c} transf. and fig. Anything on which the safety of a nation, institution, privilege, etc. is believed to depend; a safeguard, protecting institution.

{d} Non caliditate et robore, sed pietate et religione omnes gentes superastis. -Orat de Art. Respons., lib. iii.

Ver. 20. But if ye refuse and rebel.] The Romans sent the Carthaginians caduceum et hastam, that they might take their choice of peace upon submission, or war upon refusal so to do. Similarily dealeth the Lord by this people here. {#De 30:19}

Ye shall be devoured with the sword.] War is threatened, which is, saith one, the slaughter house of mankind, and the hell of this present world; and that we may not think that these are but big words, brute thunderbolts, it is added for confirmation,

For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.] Now whatsoever he hath spoken with his mouth, he will surely make good with his hand, as Solomon phraseth it in his prayer. The original hath it, "For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken"—q.d., Let his Word stand for a law with you. Justinian telleth us in his Institutes, that it was a prerogative belonging to the Roman emperor, Quicquid principi placuerit, legis habet vigorem, Whatsoever he pleased be bid be done was a law. And the French kings’ edicts or proclamations always end with these binding words, Car bel est nostre plasir, For such is our pleasure, and we look to be obeyed. May not the King of kings say so much more?

Ver. 21. How is the faithful city.] Here beginneth, as some think, a new sermon; and it beginneth, as Jeremiah’s Lamentations do, with an Ecack, " How!" a particle of admiration mixed with grief {a} -q.d., Proh pudor! proh dolor! Oh shameful! oh doleful! What a strange business is this! and how unworthily is this matter carried! Here is a city so altered that ye can scarce know her to be the same. Ye may seek Jerusalem in Jerusalem and not find her; tota est iam Roma lupanar. {b} See #Eze 16:15,23 23:3-21.

Become an harlot?] In meretricem; not a privy harlot only, but a prostituted harlot, a very prostibulum meretrix meretricissima, utpote quae cubile dilatavit {#Isa 57:3} Tibias devaricavit {#Eze 16:28} Such a trite harlot is the great whore of Babylon at this day, whose faithfulness was once famous all the world over. {#Ro 1:8} But now, O quantum haec Niobe! One of her own sons once complained that of gold she was become silver, of silver brass, and that she was ready to degenerate into dirt, and worse. {c}

It was full of judgment.] Top full. Sad that it was so. Fuimus Troes. It is a misery to have been happy.

Righteousness lodged there.] Not in Melchizedek’s days only, who was king of righteousness, according to his name, and king also of Salem, afterwards called Jerusalem, but also in the reigns of David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, and other good princes. But now no such matter—nay, the contrary, like as the Prince of Orange his country is fertile of all fruits save oranges, whence the French proverb, En Orenge it n’y a point de oranges. {d}

But now murderers.] Hierapolis was become a very Poneropolis, the city of God a den of thieves, or, as the Papists maliciously say of Geneva, a professed sanctuary of roguery. By murderers here may be meant persecutors of the pious, and oppressors of the poor man, whose livelihood is his life. {#Mr 12:40 Lu 8:43} A poor man in his house is like a snail in his shell; crush that, and you kill him.

{a} Nota et admirantis, et deplorantis.

{b} Mantuan.

{c} Ex aurea factam argenteam, ex argentea ferream, ex ferrea terream, superesse ut in stercus abiret. -Theod.

{d} Urias Augustinianus, circa A.D. 1414.

Ver. 22. Thy silver is become dross.] Heb., Drosses, a proverbial kind of speech, deciphering apostasy. It is as if the prophet had said, There is nothing pure in thee, nothing sincere or simple: sed omnia fallacia, omnia fucata, omnia inquinata; but all things are deceitful, degenerate, and corrupt. Dross looketh like silver, and is nothing less. Wine mixed, or marred, with water hath the name of wine, when it is nil nisi vappa. Hypocrites are mere seemers, {#Jas 1:26} jugglers, {#Job 13:16} having a form of knowledge, {#Ro 2:20} a form of godliness. {#2Ti 3:5} Fair professors they are, and foul sinners. But be not deceived; God is not mocked; he is a faithful metallary, saith a Father, and will easily find out men’s mixtures. It is to be feared that be hath yet a further controversy with this nation for our hateful hypocrisy and apostasy, for where now, alas! is our ancient fervour and forwardness—our heating and whetting one another. Oh, how dull and diluted are we! &c.

Ver. 23. Thy princes are rebellious.] Or, Revolters, apostates. There is an elegance in the original, such as this prophet is full of: Ac si dicas primi sunt pravi vel perversi. So saith Calvin here: Episcopi may be called Aposcopi, Cardinales Carnales vel Carpinales, carpet men; Canonici Cenonici, Praepositi praeposteri, &c. This note A Lapide is very angry at— et lapides loquitur.

And companions of thieves.] While they not only suffered such to go unpunished, but also shared with them. {as #Ps 50:18} Cato complained that in his time some thieves stood at the bar in cold irons, when others, and worse, sat on the bench with gold chains about their necks. The bold pirate told Alexander to his teeth that he was the arch-pirate of the world. And what shall we think of Pope Alexander, who, in 1505 AD, sent a bull of pardons for many, dispensing thereby with such as kept away, or by any fraud had gotten the goods of other men, which they should now retain still, without scruple of conscience, so as they paid a rateable portion thereof to his Holiness’s receivers? {a} And at this day Popish priests will absolve a thief of his wickedness, if they may have half with him of the stolen goods. {b}

Every one loveth gifts.] Not only taketh; although in taking also the Greek proverb saith, ουτε παντα, ουτε παντη, ουτε παρα παντων, great care and caution should be used. Olim didici quid sint munera, said a grave man. See #De 16:19.

And followeth after rewards.] As a hunter his game, or a merchant his gain, or a martialist his enemy. Sectantur retributiones -i.e., Collidunt inter se indices, saith the Chaldee paraphrast: The judges conspire, saying one to another, Help thou me in judging against the poor, and I will do as much for thee another time.

They judge not the fatherless.] Because friendless, penniless. Sed pupillos laedere, est pupillam oculi Dei contingere.

Neither doth the cause of the widow come before them.] The widow cannot speak for herself (in the original she hath her name from dumbness), and hath no money to make room for her. Hence her cause is slighted.

{a} Speed, 992.

{b} Scultet. in loc.

Ver. 24. Therefore thus saith the Lord.] Dominator, Δεσποτης, Δυναστης, the great housekeeper of the world. {a}

The Lord of hosts.] Heb., Jehovah of armies.

The mighty One of Israel.] Able enough to deal with them, and to punish their facinus maioris abollae.

Ah.] Some {b} render it Heu, alas, to show that God punisheth nolens et doleus -unwillingly and with grief. {as #La 3:33} Others make it to be an expression of joy, {c} to show what content he will take in punishing the obstinate; and so it followeth.

I will ease me; I will avenge me.] As it is an ease to a full stomach to disgorge, and as to a vindictive person revenge is very sweet.

“ Est vindicta bonum vita iucundius ipsa.”

So—but in a way of justice—God delighteth {d} in the destruction of his stubborn enemies. {#De 28:63 Eze 5:13 Pr 1:26}

Mine adversaries.] Such as, by a specialty, are corrupt judges, as Calvin here noteth.

{a} זוראה.

{b} Heu dolentis. -Luther.

{c} Ah exultantis. Oecolamp.

{d} Animumque explesse iuvabit.

Ver. 25. And I will turn my hand upon thee.] So #Zec 13:7, I will turn my hand upon the little ones; so soon doth it repent the Lord concerning his servants. Here he mitigateth the former fearful menace, and promiseth a reformation.

And purely purge away thy dross.] Et expurgabo, ut purificativum, scorias tuas. The wicked are the dross of the state, {#Ps 119:119} and wickedness is the dross and dregs of the soul. {#Pr 17:3 27:21} God promiseth her to purge out both, to separate the precious from the vile, to reform and refine all—a metaphor from metallaries.

And I will take away all thy tin.] Thine hypocrisy: for tin hath a show of silver, but it is not so—nay, it is a deadly enemy to gold and silver, saith one, {a} making them hard and brittle. It is also a tyrant over them, and will hardly be separated from them. Hereby are figured your most noted, rooted, and inveterate sins.

{a} Diod.

Ver. 26. And I will restore.] By new minting the commonwealth, Velut adulterinum nummum {as #Jer 9:7 Mal 3:3} This I will do for thee after thy captivity, but especially after the coming of Christ in the flesh.

Thou shalt be called.] Thou shalt have the name and the note, the comfort and the credit of such a one.

The city of righteousness.] Wherein dwelleth righteousness; or the city of the righteous—of Jesus Christ, the righteous One {#1Jo 2:2} and of his people, which shall be all righteous. {#Isa 60:21} Thou shalt be a very Jehovahshammah. {#Eze 48:35}

The faithful city.] As once thou wast. {#Isa 1:21}

Ver. 27. Zion shall be redeemed in judgment.] Or, By judgment executed on her enemies, who are also God’s enemies. {#Isa 1:24}

And her converts.] Such as were Manasseh, made of a lion a lamb; Matthew, of a publican an evangelist; Paul, of a Pharisee an apostle; Justin, of a philosopher a martyr; Cyprian, of a rhetorician, and, as some think, a magician, a most famous bishop; Augustine, of a Manichee a champion of the Church; Petrus Paulus Vergerius, of the Pope’s Nuncio a zealous preacher at Zurich. That I speak not of Peter Martyr’s converts in Italy, Earl Martinens, Marquess Caracciolus, Lacisius, Tremellius, Zanchius, and other great divines. Bucer was first wrought upon by Luther’s sermon, preached before the emperor at Worms, and so from a Dominican became a famous Protestant. Bilney was converted by reading Erasmus’ translation of the New Testament, for the eloquence of it, and particularly by that sweet sentence, #1Ti 1:15. Latimer was converted by blessed Bilney, as he calleth him, from a stiff Papist to a stout professor of the truth; Julius Palmer the martyr by reading Calvin’s Institutions; Dr Sibbes by a sermon preached by Mr Paul Bains; Mr Whately by Mr Dod. {a}

In righteousness.] Or, By God’s faithfulness in fulfilling his promises, whereby they are made partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. {#2Pe 1:4}

{a} Hist. of Modern Divines, by Lupton.

Ver. 28. And the destruction.] Heb., The shivering or shattering. Tremellius rendereth it, the fragments or scraps—sc., of the dross above mentioned; these shall be broken and burnt together.

Shall be together.] As well the sinners in Zion, or hypocrites, as the transgressors or notorious offenders, shall be destroyed without distinction. Such as "turn aside unto their crooked ways"—stealing their passage to hell, as it were—the Lord shall "lead them forth with the workers of iniquity," with openly profane persons. {#Ps 125:5} The angels also shall bundle them up together to be burnt. {#Mt 13:30}

Ver. 29. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks.] Pudefient et Peribunt; they shall be ashamed of their false ways of worship, but not with a godly shame, such as was Ephraim’s, {#Jer 31:19} that made him say, "What have I to do any more with idols." {#Ho 14:8 Eze 16:61 36:31 Da 9:5 2Th 3:14} Of this holy shame Chrysostom saith that it is the beginning of salvation, {a} as that which drives a man into himself makes him fall low in his own eyes, shame and shent himself in the presence of God, seek for covering by Christ, that the shame of his nakedness may not appear. {#Re 3:18,19} But the shame here mentioned is of another nature, unseasonable, unprofitable, not conducing at all to true repentance, such as was that of Cain, and of those Jews in #Jer 2:26, and of reprobates at the resurrection. {#Da 12:2}

Which ye have desired.] Or, Have delighted in, as adulterers do sin their sweet sin, as they call it.

And the gardens.] Where you have wickedly worshipped Priapus or Baalpeor. {b}

That ye have chosen.] Where ye have had your sacra electitia, which now, you see, cannot help you.

{a} τουτο αρχη της σωτηπιας, το ολως αισχυνεθαι.

{b} Alludit verecunde ad scortationem, quae est in idolorum cultu. -Oeclamp.

Ver. 30. For ye shall be as an oak.] Peccato poenam accommodat; By oaks they sinned, and by a withering {a} oak is their punishment set forth: as also by a garden that wanteth water, wherein everything fadeth and hangeth the head, as suffering a marasm. Well might God say, #Ho 12:10, "I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets," such as are very natural, plain, and proper.

{a} Infelicissime marcescetis et exarescetis. -Jun.

Ver. 31. And the strong shall be as tow.] The idol is here called the strong one, either by an irony, sicut siquis scelestum bonum virum dicat, as if one should say to a knave, You are a right honest man: or else according to the idolater’s false opinion of it, and vain expectation of it: like as in #2Ch 28:23, the gods of Damascus are said to have "smitten" or "plagued" Ahaz: not that they did so indeed (for an idol is "nothing in the world," and this strong in the text is weak as water, #Jer 10:5 2Co 8:4), but he thought they did so like as the silly Papists also think of their male saints and female saints, whereof they have not a few, but are shamefully foiled and frustrated; besides that they are here and elsewhere threatened with unquenchable fire. Jerome, following Symmachus, for "tow," hath the "refuse of tow," which is quickly kindled.

And the maker of it.] Or, And his work—that is, all your pains taken to no purpose in worshipping your idols, and bringing your memories, as they are called, and presents to them.

And they shall both burn together.] As one saith of Aretine’s obscene book, that it is opus dignum quod cremetur cum authore, { a} fit for nothing but to make a bonfire to burn the author of it in. The beast and his complices shall be cast alive into the burning lake. {#Re 19:20}

And none shall quench them.] Hell fire is unquenchable. {#Isa 30:33 Mt 3:12} This Origen denied, and is therefore justly condemned by all sound divines.

{a} Boissard. Biblioth.

Chapter 2

Ver. 1. The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.] An august title or inscription, such as is not to be found in the whole book again, unless it be in the former chapter. There, alas! he had laboured in vain, and spent his strength for nought, and in vain. {as #Isa 49:4} Howbeit, he will try again, as considering that he had lost many a worse labour; and although his report were not believed, {#Isa 53:1} yet he would bestow one more sermon upon them, the short notes and general heads whereof we have in this and the two following chapters: I say, the general heads, for Calvin in his preface to this book telleth us, that it was the manner of the holy prophets to gather a compendious sum of what they had preached to the people, and the same to affix to the gates of the temple, that the prophecy might be the better viewed and learned of all, after which it was taken down by the priest, and put into the treasury of the temple, for the benefit of after ages.

Ver. 2. And it shall come to pass, &c.] {See Trapp on "Mic 4:1"} where we shall find that that prophet hath the same words with this αυτολεξει. So hath Obadiah the same with Jeremiah, St Mark with St Matthew, St Jude with St Peter, the blessed Virgin in her Magnificat with holy Hannah in her Canticle, &c.

Ver. 3. And many people shall go and say, &c.] {See Trapp on "Mic 4:2"} where we shall find that that prophet hath the same words with this αυτολεξει. So hath Obadiah the same with Jeremiah, St Mark with St Matthew, St Jude with St Peter, the blessed Virgin in her Magnificat with holy Hannah in her Canticle, &c.

Ver. 4. And he shall judge among the nations, &c.] {See Trapp on "Mic 4:3"} where we shall find that that prophet hath the same words with this αυτολεξει. So hath Obadiah the same with Jeremiah, St Mark with St Matthew, St Jude with St Peter, the blessed Virgin in her Magnificat with holy Hannah in her Canticle, &c.

Ver. 5. O house of Jacob.] So #Mic 2:7, "O thou that art called the house of Jacob, and the house of Israel." {#Isa 5:7} Thou that art "called a Jew, and makest thy boast of God." {#Ro 2:17} This Rupertus maketh to be the voice and advice of the converted and Christian Gentiles to the Jews; others, of our prophet to his perverse countrymen to join with the Gentiles, or rather to go before them as worthy guides in heavenly ways, and not to lie behind those whom they have so much slighted. {a}

Let us walk in the light of the Lord.] That is, in the law of the Lord (for Lex est Lux, Law is light, #Pr 6:23) and not by the sparks of our own tinder boxes, {#Isa 50:11} not by the rush candle of philosophical prescriptions. Let us "walk in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost." {as #Ac 9:31}

{a} Per semulationem provocat. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 6. Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people.] Or, But thou hast, &c. By a sad apostrophe {a} to God, he sets forth the Jews’ dereliction and destruction irrecoverable, together with the causes of it, their impiety, cruelty, &c., but especially their contempt of Christ and his kingdom. Let us beware and be warned by their example. {#Ro 11:7-10} To be forsaken of God is the greatest mischief. Lay hold upon him, therefore, with Mary Magdalene, and say, Nobiscum, Christe, maneto: Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam.

Because they be replenished from the East.] Or, They are fuller than the East—-that is, more superstitious than the Syrians and Mesopotamians, Balaam’s countrymen. Ethnicismum illis improperat. Josephus {b} tells us, that a little before Christ came in the flesh, Herod had brought into Judea many superstitions of the Gentiles; and it appeareth by the first of Maccabees, that the Greeks had their schools at Jerusalem; and by the gospel, that the Pharisees held Pythagoras’s transanimation, and many other pagan traditions.

And are soothsayers like the Philistines.] These were west of Judea. {#Isa 9:12} The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind. These were great soothsayers and sorcerers, and the Jews were tainted with that contagion, as sin is more catching than the plague. The vanity of this practice Cicero saw when he said, potest augur augurem {c} videre et non ridere?

And they please themselves {d} in the children of strangers.] They applaud and approve of their customs and commerces. Some think they are there taxed of paederasty, or sodomy, and that they boasted of it, as that odious Johannes a Casa did in print.

{a} Δεινωσις est in apostrophe.

{b} Antiq., lib. xvi. cap. 10.

{c} Augurium, quasi avigerium.

{d} Adhaeserunt. -Vulg. In usu habent. -Chald.

Ver. 7. Their land also is full of silver.] They had forsaken the fountain of living waters, and now they hew them out broken cisterns; they have made their gold their god, which is a more subtle kind of idolatry, {#Col 3:5} dum sibi ipsis numen quoddam larariura constant. But though their houses were full of silver and gold, their hearts were not; for they were vexed with the curse of dissatisfaction. {#Ec 5:10}

“ Auri nempe fames parto fit maior ab auro.’’—Prudentius.

Neither is there any end of their treasures.] Josephus saith that there was a world of money found at Jerusalem when taken by the Romans; so there was at Constantinople when taken by the Turks; and therefore taken, because the inhabitants could not find in their hearts to part with it, though for their own defence.

Their land also is full of horses.] And their hearts of creature confidence, -trust in the arm of flesh; as Josephus testifieth that the Jews were this way very faulty about the time of the last devastation.

Ver. 8. Their land also is full of idols.] As Babylon, "a land of idols"; {#Jer 50:38} as Athens, "wholly given to idolatry"; {#Ac 17:16} as China is said to have in it at this day a hundred thousand gods. And what shall we think of Popish idols? The word here rendered idols signifieth nihilitates, nothingness; for an idol is nothing in the world. {#1Co 8:4}

They worship the work of their own hands.] Scelestum el immane facinus, dirum scelus et execrandum; effraenata et praeceps amentia. See #Isa 44:15,18.

Ver. 9. And the mean man boweth down.] There is a general conspiracy, and they are altogether become abominable. Lords and lowlies, kings and captives, all sorts were idolaters. Some render it, "Shall be brought down, and shall be humbled." God loveth to retaliate, to abate and abase man’s pride, by pulling down whatsoever height or strength they confide in.

Therefore forgive them not.] A pious prayer doubtless, proceeding from true zeal, which is an extreme heat of all the affections for God’s glory. Ut pius sit in Deum, durus sit in proximum, saith Oecolampadius. Like another Elias he maketh intercession to God against Israel, {#Ro 11:2} whom he saw to be incorrigible, and their sin to be irremissible, their judgment unavoidable.

Ver. 10. Enter into the rock, and hide thee, ] q.d., Do if thou canst; go where thou thinkest thou mayest be most secret and secure; but God’s hand will surely find thee and ferret thee out, as it did the five kings of Canaan, hid in the cave of Makkedah, {#Jos 10:16,17} and as it did the wretched Jews, who were by the Romans pulled out of their privies and other lurking holes to the slaughter, at the last destruction of Jerusalem. Hoc autem perpetuo invenies apud peccatores, saith Oecolampadius here. This is ever usual with sinful persons, to desire to flee from God, but he meeteth them at every turn, as he did Adam, Cain, Jonah, &c. The safest way is to flee from God’s anger to God’s grace. Bloodletting is a cure of bleeding, and a burn a cure against a burn; and running to God is the way to escape him, as to close and get in with him that would strike you, doth avoid the blow. {a}

For fear of the Lord, and for the glory.] Heb., From before the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty; so the Chaldean and Roman for cesare {b} called. See #2Th 1:10, which seemeth to be taken from this text.

{a} Dr Rain.

{b} A mnemonic term for the first mood of the second figure of syllogisms, in which the major premiss and the conclusion are universal negatives, and the minor a universal affirmative.

Ver. 11. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled.] Ipsi antea tumidi et cervicosi Deum ultorem agnoscent. God shall bring down the haughty from their lofty tops where they have perched themselves, and shall take them a link lower, as they say; pride must have a fall, and no wonder; for whereas other sins flee from God, pride lets fly at him, and hence it is he is so utter an enemy to it.

And the Lord alone shall be exalted.] This the heathens also understood; and therefore the Romans would never receive the God of Israel, saith Augustine, {a} because they understood that he would be worshipped alone. Let the gods of the heathens be good fellows; the true God is a jealous God, and will not share his glory with another.

In that day.] Nempe statis quasi comitiis {#Isa 2:17} at the set time. It implieth also, saith one, that God will keep his time to a day. We have a like saying ourselves, A day breaks no square; but it is not so with God. {#Ex 12:40,41} The firstborn were slain at midnight, because just then the four hundred or four hundred and thirty years of their sojourning in Egypt were expired. "In that night was Belshazzar slain," {#Da 5:30} because then exactly the seventy years of their captivity were ended.

{a} De Consen. Evang., lib. i. cap. 18.

Ver. 12. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud.] These he "knoweth afar off"; {#Ps 138:6} these he "resisteth" as it were in battle array; {#Jas 4:6} these he "casteth down to the ground." {#Ps 147:6} One of the seven wise men of Greece said that God made it his business to humble the proud, and to lift up the lowly.

Ver. 13. And upon all the cedars of Lebanon.] Which was to the north. Ab Aquilone nihil boni.

That are high and lifted up.] No man’s might or height, whether of state or of stature, can secure him in the day of God’s displeasure.

And upon all the oaks of Bashan.] Which was to the east, by which way the Chaldees were to come upon them.

Ver. 14. And upon all the high mountains.] Optimates et dynastas designat. Hereby he meaneth the grandees and magnificoes, and all that are puffed up with an opinion of their own power or policy.

Ver. 15. And upon every high tower.] In these the Jews trusted, as sure help in time of distress, but all in vain.

Ver. 16. And upon all the ships of Tarshish.] Or, Of the Mediterranean Sea, the ships whereof were of great bulk and burden, and perhaps were garnished and inlaid with curious pictures, called here pictures of desire:

“ Pictasque innare carinas.’’—Virg.

Ver. 17. And the loftiness of man shall be.] This is oft inculcated, and all little enough to abate and abase the pride of people, and to "bring down every high thought that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and the obedience of Jesus Christ." {#2Co 10:5} This holy fisherman, that he might catch souls, spreads his net, dilates his discourse, telling the proud person over and over what to trust to.

Ver. 18. And the idols he shall utterly abolish.] Their names shall be cut off out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered, {#Zec 13:2} unless it be with shame and detestation. {#Eze 16:61 Ps 16:4 Ho 14:8 Isa 30:22}

Ver. 19. And they shall go into the holes.] See #Isa 2:10.

Ver. 20. In that day a man shall cast his idols.] Though never so much worth either for weight or workmanship, for value or elegance; he shall pollute what before he had perfumed. {#Isa 30:22}

To the moles and to the bats.] Caeci caeca caecis, having their eyes opened in that extreme danger; as the mole hath, they say, when the pangs of death are upon her. These, ashamed of their vain confidences, and hasting to hide themselves, shall cast their idols into bycorners, saying, {#Isa 30:22} "Get you hence." Moles do all their mischief by working underground, so saith Epiphanius do heretics; but if once they be above ground, they are weak and contemptible creatures. Bats have wings as a bird, and teeth as a beast, being both and yet neither. Such are our vespertilian {bat-like} professors, time serving gospellers, who should do well to cast away either their wings or their teeth; and loathing this bat-like nature, be what they are, either birds or beasts.

Ver. 21. To go into the clefts of the rocks.] See #Isa 2:10. Only here the double repetition of this dreadful judgment is very emphatic, and may serve to teach preachers to inculcate upon their hearers God’s severity against sinners, and to remind them much of those last things, death, judgment, hell. Utinam ubique de his dissereretur, saith Chrysostom, that excellent preacher. Oh that these things might resound from all pulpits!

Ver. 22. Cease ye from man.] Man or means, human helps and creature comforts; think not that these can secure you from an angry God, or moat you up against his fire. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his dust, in that very day his golden thoughts perish. {#Ps 146:3,4} {See Trapp on "Ps 146:3"} {See Trapp on "Ps 146:4"}

Whose breath is in his nostrils.] Every moment ready to puff out, as the Emperor Jovinian’s did; a good emperor, but he reigned only seven months, being stifled, as it is thought, with the smell of his bedchamber newly white-limed, wherein he had commanded a great fire to be made on a cold night. {a} Hence Jerome; -Jovinian, who succeeded Julian the apostate in the empire, whenas yet he had scarce tasted of the goodness of it, faetore prunarum suffocatus interiit, { b} died suffocated with the stench of hot burning coals, declaring to all men what a poor thing man is in his greatest power. The Cardinal of Lorrain was lighted to his lodging and to his long home both at once by a poisoned torch; Pope Adrian IV was choked by a fly getting into his windpipe, A.D. 1159. {c}

For wherein is he to be esteemed?] All his power without God is but weakness, all his wisdom folly, all his plenty poverty. What is man, saith a father, but soul and soil? {d} Breath and body; a puff of wind the one, a pile of dust the other—no solidity in either. Abstinete ergo vos ab ipso homine—nam quanti est? What reckoning is to be made of him?

{a} Eutrop. Oros.

{b} In Epitap. Nepotian.

{c} Bevius, De Vit. Pen.

{d} Νους και χους.—Greg. Naz.

Chapter 3

Ver. 1. For, behold.] This is also part of the former sermon, though made the beginning of another chapter; for of our prophet that is some way true which Petrarch saith of Livy, viz., that he wrote many books, Quos in decades non ipse sed fastidiosa legentium scidit imperitia, which not himself, but others without any great skill divided into decades—sc., chapters.

The Lord—doth take away.] Heb., Is taking away—i.e., He will surely and suddenly do it, and thereby pave a way to the utter ruin of all. For as it was a sign Samson meant to pull down the house when he pulled away the pillars, so that God is about to ruin a state when he plucketh away those that are the shores and props of it.

The stay and the staff.] Validum et validam, { a} so some render it, the Miriams as well as the Moseses. {#Mic 6:4} Others, {b} baculum et bacillum, the staff and the little staff: all the supports and stays of the State, both great and small, one with another; cease ye therefore from man. {as #Isa 2:22}

The whole stay of bread.] Sustenance as well as supporters, Quicquid alimento aut munimento esse poterat.

{a} Septuagint.

{b} Piscator.

Ver. 2. The mighty man, and the man of war.] Such as were David’s mighties; Hannibal; Fabius Maximus, of whom the poet, Hic patria est, murique urbis stant pectore in uno; Scipio Africanus, of whose death when Metellus heard, he ran out into the public forum and cried out, Concurrite cives, urbis vestrae moenia corruerunt; Come forth and consult what is to be done, for your city is undone.

The judge and the prophet.] When God gathereth such by clusters as it were, some evil is at hand; as when men pull up their hedges and fences, it is open tide.

And the prudent.] Heb., The diviner: such as have their eyes in their head, {#Ec 2:14} their hearts at their right hands, {#Ec 10:2} that judiciously pondering things past, can prudently order things present, and providently foresee to prevent dangers likely to ensue.

And the ancient.] With whom is wisdom and counsel. {#Job 32:4,6,7}

Ver. 3. The captain of fifty.] One of the least and lowest commanders in war; such also shall fail, and therefore all must needs fall to wreck and ruin. This Epaminondas when he was dying foresaw at Thebes, and therefore counselled his countrymen to make peace upon any terms. {a}

And the honourable.] Heb., The man eminent in countenance; Sept., Θαυμαστον, a man of respect and authority. In the eyes of Augustus Caesar sat such a rare majesty, as a man could hardly endure to behold them without closing of his own.

And the cunning artificer.] Such as was Hiram, whom for honour’s sake Solomon called father; Archimedes, and such others who are of great use to a State, for making of engines and instruments.

And the eloquent orator.] Heb., Skilled in charms. Quintilian describes an orator thus: Vir bonus dicendi peritus, A good man well spoken. Ille regit dictis animos et pectora mulcet, He carrieth the people which way he pleaseth. The Athenians called such δημαγωγους, and set a high price upon them, as they did on Pericles, Demosthenes, Phocion, &c. {b}

{a} Plutarch.

{b} Intelligentem, meditatam et gravem orationem. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 4. And I will give children to be their princes.] Si non annis, at animis; If not with years but with life, such as were Ahaz, Manasseh, the four last kings of Judah, the calamity of that kingdom. {a} Princes that are witless, wilful, weak, or wicked, are the people’s woe; {#Ec 10:16} this childhood of theirs is the maturity of their subjects’ misery. {#Job 34:30}

And babes shall rule over them.] Sept., Mockers; some render it foxes, others effeminate persons, but babes is best. Such a one was Rehoboam, and Honorius the Emperor, who when he heard that his city of Rome was taken by Alarichus, grieved most of all for the loss of a certain bird which was there kept for him, and by him called "Rome." Indignum sane, Regem aves praeferre urbibus, saith the historian.

{a} Dii avertant principes pueros. -Vopis.

Ver. 5. And the people shall be oppressed, one by another.] The greater devouring the lesser, as fishes do. How should it be otherwise, when there is either no government, or not that which is good; but all things turned, as here, topsy turvy, without any respect to age, order, or dignity, and

“ Scinditur ineertum studia in contraria vulgus.’’—Virg.

This dissension is the mother of dissolution, saith Nazianzen. This dissipation and perversion of order and manners is the forerunner of utter desolation and subversion.

Ver. 6. When a man shall take hold of his brother.] This is a further mischief that government shall go a-begging, and scarce one be found that shall hold it worth having. The Venetians have magistrates called Proegadi, because at first men were prayed to take the office, and not many would accept of it; this was the case here. Men are naturally ambitious of ruledom—the bramble thinks it a goodly thing to reign over the trees—but they may soon have enough of it, and be forced to cry out, as he once did of his diadem, O rills pannus! O base rag, not worth taking up at a man’s feet!

Thou hast clothing.] Fit for a prince; some badge of honour, and such apparel as may procure thee respect; for

“ Hunc homines decorant, quem vestimenta decorant.”

Let this ruin be under thy hand.] That is, by a hypallage, {a} let thy hand be under this ruin, that is, under this desolate and ruined State, to raise it up and repair it.

{a} A figure of speech in which there is an interchange of two elements of a proposition, the natural relations of these being reversed.

Ver. 7. In that day shall he swear, saying.] It is come to pass in some places at this day, Ut ambigant prudentiores, otium, an officium aliquod Reip. sint persecuturi, that wise men doubt whether they had best bear office or not; but true goodness is public spirited, though to private disadvantage.

I will not be an healer, ] i.e., A ruler. I will not be a binder up, {a} or a surgeon, for this State is no better than a great spittle; the whole head is sick and the whole heart heavy, &c. I dare not therefore meddle with it, since it is incurable, incorrigible. The Septuagint render it, I will not be thy prince. A king hath his name in Greek from healing, {b} as Plutarch observeth, because he is to be the physician or surgeon of the commonwealth.

In mine house is neither bread nor clothing.] I have not for mine own, much less for you. A prince had need to be well underlaid, that he may not need to pill and poll his subjects, or in judging to gape after gain.

{a} In caducum parietem non inclinabo.

{b} ‘Αναξ from ακος medela cure.

Ver. 8. For Jerusalem is fallen.] Therefore I will not meddle, since it is a very sad thing to be physician to a dying State, quando conclamatum est, when men are forsaken of their hopes.

Because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord] They set their mouths against heaven, and like so many wolves they howl upwards; they lay the reins on the neck, and let their unruly tongues run riot. And as they talk so they act, doing "wickedly with both hands earnestly," against the author of their being and well being.

To provoke the eyes of his glory.] His eyes run to and fro through the earth; and all the wickedness in the world is committed before his face This they know, and yet go on in sin, as if they did it on purpose to provoke him, and to see what he can do. Oecolampadius noteth, that God’s eyes are here mentioned, because men are easily provoked to anger by a hurt in the eye. And Junius here observeth that God’s eyes are called the eyes of his glory, because as he is glorious in himself, so he is either to be glorified by us, or else he will surely glorify himself upon us, such especially as are obstinate and impudent, as here.

Ver. 9. The show of their countenance doth witness against them, ] q.d., You may see by their very looks what lewd lowlies they are. Their cruelty, pride, envy, hypocrisy, mulieorsity sitteth and showeth itself apparently in their faces and foreheads. Wisdom maketh the face to shine, saith Solomon; et ipse aspectus viri boni delectat. Good men look lovely, saith Seneca, as did that angel of God, John Bradford, quoth Dr Taylor, martyr; not so Cain, when discontented at God, and displeased at his brother; {#Ge 4:6} he scowled and looked like a dog under a door, as we say. The thoughts are oft known by the countenance; and the heart is printed upon the face. Damascen calleth the eyes the exact images of the imaginations? {a} And the Italians have a proverb, that a man with his words close and his countenance loose, may travel undiscovered what he is, or goes about, all the world over. The word here used for "show" or "trial," doth in Hithpael signify to make a man’s self unknown.

And they declare their sin, as Sodom.] They tell it out. {as #Jud 14:16} And as the shameless Sodomites said to Lot, Bring them out to us that we may know them. {#Ge 19:5} See the like impudence in Lamech; {#Ge 4:23,24} in Lot’s two daughters. {#Ge 19:36,37} This impudent naming of their incestuous brats, as begotten by their own father, showeth that they declared their sin, as Sodom, where they had lived and learned it.

They hide it not.] So #Eze 24:7. Her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock, as it were a-sunning; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust. See #Jer 2:25.

Woe to their soul.] To their very soul. All wickedness hath a woe hanging at the heels of it, but especially that which is grown impudent, a noon day devil. The Septuagint here have it thus: Woe to their soul, for that they have taken evil counsel; saying, Let us bind the just One, for that he is not for our purpose or profit. Wherein they do insinuate the mystery of Christ’s passion, saith Oecolampadius, and do manifestly tax their own nation. Epiphanius {b} testifieth of the Jews at Tiberias, after the last destruction of Jerusalem, that it was usual with them, when any of their dear friends or kindred were at the point of death, to whisper these words secretly into their ears, Crede in Iesum Nazarenum crucifixum, Believe in Jesus of Nazareth, whom our chieftains crucified, for he it is who shall come to judge thee at the last day. Now if this be true, how great is the obstinace and impudence of that perverse people, who still sin against such strong convictions!

{a} Τον υποδρα ιδων.—Hom. αγαλματα της ψυχης ακριβη.

{b} Epiphan. apud Lonicer. in Theat. Histor. p. 96.

Ver. 10. Say ye to the righteous.] Tell them so from me, saith God, for their comfort and encouragement. Zuinglius when he had preached terror to the wicked was wont to add, Probe vir, hoc nihil ad te. All this concerneth not thee, O thou godly man. When the dogs in a house are beaten, the children will be apt to fright and cry; so when the wicked are threatened, good men are apt to be troubled. Say therefore to such, and let them know assuredly,

That it shall be well with him.] Heb., That good sc., shall betide him, whatever befalleth others God shall be with the good; {#2Ch 19:11} "Yet God is good to Israel, to the pure in heart." {#Ps 73:1 Ec 8:12}

For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.] They shall "reap in due time if they faint not"; they shall eat of the fat, and drink of the sweet. {#Isa 25:6} See #Isa 65:13 Pr 14:14, {See Trapp on "Isa 65:13"} {See Trapp on "Pr 14:14"}

Ver. 11. Woe to the wicked.] This sentence should ever sound in the wicked man’s ears for a powerful retentive from wickedness, considering the evil consequence thereof, that doleful ουαι ουαι; woe and alas for evermore! And when thou art making, saith one, a covenant with sin, say to thy soul, as Boaz said to his kinsman, "At what time thou buyest it, thou must have Ruth with it." {#Ru 4:4} If thou wilt have the pleasure of sin, the ways of wickedness, thou must also have the vengeance and wrath of God with it, and let thy soul answer as he here doth: No, I may not do it; I shall mar and spoil a better inheritance; I shall inherit a curse, &c. Look, saith Mr Bradford, {a} martyr, to the tag tied to God’s law, the malediction, which is such as cannot but make us to cast our currish tails between our legs, if we believe it.

It shall go ill with him.] Utcunque sibi de rebus praesentibus gratuletur. {b} Though he stroke himself on the head, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imaginations of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. {#De 29:19} Tell him from me, saith God, Evil, sc., shall betide him; yea, "an evil, an only evil," awaiteth him, {#Eze 7:5} let him look for it.

The reward of his hands shall be given him.] He shall reap as he sowed, drink as he brewed. {#Ga 6:7,8}

“ Mox ant poena manet miseros, ant palma beatos;

Quisque sum vitae semina iacta metet.”

{a} Serm. of Repentance, pp. 57, 58.

{b} Jun.

Ver. 12. As for my people.] Now the "people of my wrath, and of my curse"; Loammi, discovenanted, discarded.

Children are their oppressors.] Rulers he calleth them not, as being too good a name for them, but "oppressors"; and these were boys and women—i.e., such as were no wiser than children, nor had any more command of their passions than weak women, and were therefore unfit for government. Brunhild, the wife of Sigebert, king of Metz, Fridegund, the wife of Chilperic, and Katherine Medicis, wife of Henry II, are said to be the furies of France. {a} What work they made in that kingdom in their generations, by abusing their husbands’ love and authority, histories are full. The like did Jezebel in Israel, Athalia in Judah, and Dame Alice Pierce here in England in King Edward III’s days. This woman being the king’s concubine, and presuming on his favour, whom in his old age she had subdued, grew so insolent, that she imprisoned Sir Peter la Mare, Speaker for the Parliament; intermeddled with courts of justice, and other offices, where she herself would sit to effect her desire, {b} which, though in all who are so exalted, are ever excessive, yet in a woman most immoderate, as having less of discretion, and more of greediness. Heliogabalus in a merriment set up a senate of women; but then their ordinances were correspondent, as what attire each woman should use, how they should take place, when salute, &c. But these in the text, working upon their husbands’ impotencies, who were children, in the sense that Shechem, the son of Humor, is so called {#Ge 34:19} — neque distulit puer, a lad or a boy, because swayed not by right reason—but by blind affection, exacted of the poor people unreasonable tributes and pensions for the maintenance of their pride and luxury. Est haec ingens plaga, saith one; this is a great mischief to a State, such as Greece and Rome sometimes groaned under. Diophantus, the son of Themistocles, once boasted that he ruled all Greece, because he ruled his mother, she ruled his father, and he ruled Greece. Cato also complained, Mulieres regunt nos, nos Senatum, Senatus Romam, Roma orbem; our women, said he, rule us, we rule the senate, the senate the city, and the city the whole world.

O my people, they which lead thee.] {c} Or, Those that bless thee and pronounce thee happy, saying as do thy false prophets, those flatterers, because thou hast with thee the oracles and ordinances of God, the ceremonies and sacrifices, praising thee therefore, and promising thee all happiness, soothing thee up in thy sins, &c. Qui ducunt te, seducunt; who lead and seduce you, false guides they are, and

Destroy the way of thy paths.] Heb., They swallow up—that is, they hide from thee thy duty, and so harden thee in thy sin.

{a} Heyl. Cosmography.

{b} Dan. Hist., p. 257.

{c} Qui beatificant te. , who blesses you.

Ver. 13. The Lord standeth up to plead.] Or, To debate, {#Job 9:3 Pr 25:8,9} to argue the case, and to hear pleas. He is content, for the clearing of his justice and conviction of sinners, to submit his courses unto scanning. See #Isa 5:3. Iudicate quaeso, Judge, I pray you. {so #Jer 2:9} Wherefore I will yet plead with you, and with your children’s children will I plead. But when that is done,

He standeth to judge the people.] And the Lord will enter into judgment. {#Isa 3:14} Three various words are here made use of for judgment, to show, saith Oecolampadius, that God hath been, is, and shall be Judge, and that in his judgment, nihil relinquetar inexpensum, nothing shall be left unconsidered.

Ver. 14. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients.] With the princes and rulers, each of which shall have cause to cry out,

“ Iudex ante fui, nunc iudicis ante tribunal Sistor.”

For ye have eaten up the vineyard.] Vos, non caret emphasi, "Ye," even "ye" that should have preserved it, and wrought in it, have depastured and destroyed my vineyard, that is, my Church, {as #Isa 5:17} or poor men’s possessions, through your extortions and oppressions.

And the spoil of the poor is in your houses.] You are taken επ αυτοφωρω, {a} in the very act of your theft, as Cacus was, and Verres, &c.

{a} Deprehensi estis in furto. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 15. What mean you, that you beat my people to pieces?] Heb., What to you? all in a word, short and sharp—-q.d., What reason had you, what authority to do thus? That was a witty answer that was given once here to the Pope’s exactor, who pleaded that all churches were his, and therefore he might call for what sums he pleased; a nimble disputant replied that all churches were the Pope’s in a sense, viz., Tuitione sed non fruitione; defensione, non dissipatione -i.e., to defend them, but not to destroy them. If God give any man power, it is for "edification, and not for destruction." {#2Co 13:10}

And grind the faces.] Holding their noses to the grindstone, as we say—by hard usage. See on #Mic 3:3.

Saith the Lord God.] Dixit Dominator Dominus; he who is higher than the highest, and being Lord of hosts, hath those at hand that are higher than they. {#Ec 5:8}

Ver. 16. Moreover the Lord saith.] He hath this other saying to the other sex, for the maintaining of whose pride and luxury their husbands and paramours exercised such cruelty, as before, in the reign of Henry II, King of France, A.D. 1554. Many were burned there for religion, as they said, but indeed to satiate the covetousness, and support the pomp of Diana Valentina, the king’s mistress, to whom he had given all the confiscation of goods made in the kingdom for cause of heresy. {a}

Because the daughters of Zion.] The court ladies.

Are haughty.] Elatae, h. e., superbia inflatae, puffed up with pride, first in heart, and then in habit; for pride will bud. {#Eze 7:10}

And walk.] Women should keep the house, saith Paul. {#Tit 2:5} Sarah was in the tent, {#Ge 17:9} and these professed to be her daughters, but were nothing like her, Modestia enim a superbia triumphata est.

With stretched forth necks.] Like cranes or swans, that they might show their fair foreheads, whereas nature hath given the submiss and modest visages.

And wanton eyes.] Heb., Lying or deceiving, viz., by their lewd, lascivious looks, twinkling and making signs. Some render it facie cerussata, with their painted faces, and counterfeit visages, whereby, to the reproach of their Maker, they would seem fairer than they are.

Walking and mincing as they go.] Or, Tripping or tabering, with an affected gait, after the manner of dancers. Or ruffling in their silks and taffetas, with which last word the original seems to have affinity. Others derive it from taph, a little child, and render it instar parvulorum ambulant, they take short steps, as little ones do, so nice they are in their gait and garb; elaborata quadam concinnitate gressum modulantes. {b}

Making a tinkling with their feet.] Going as if they were shackled, or as young colts that are to be broken and brought to a pace. Some think they wore bells about their legs, or spangles on their pantofles. Pope Sixtus Quartus was wont to give his harlot, Tyresia, pantofles covered with pearls.

{a} Hist. of Council of Trent, p. 387.

{b} Minutim et numerose passus conserunt. -Jac. Revius.

{c} A slipper; formerly applied very variously, app., at one time or another, to every sort of indoor slippers or loose shoes; esp. to the high-heeled cork-soled chopins; also to outdoor overshoes or goloshes; and to all manner of Oriental and non-European slippers, sandals, and the like.

Ver. 17. Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head.] He will not only pull off their rich pantofles off their feet, but also their lovely locks from off their heads, with scabs and scales, perhaps caused by some foul disease, as the lues venerea or plica polonica. {a}

And will discover their secret parts.] Not having a rag left to cover them with, while stripped of all by the enemy; they are driven away as those Egyptians were, {#Isa 20:4} naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt; or as the Albigenses in France at Carcassona had quarter for their lives given them by the Popish bishops and other cruciates {b} that persecuted them, but on this condition, that both men and wmnen should depart the town stark naked in the view of the whole army. {c}

{a} Turpe pecus mutilum, turpis sine gramine campus: Et sine fronde frutex, et sine crine caput. -Ovid.

{b} Formed like a cross, cross shaped; arranged in the form of a cross.

{c Rivet. Jesuit. Vapul.

Ver. 18. The Lord will take away the bravery.] All the following bravery; for the prophet as punctually and particularly threateneth all down, as if he had lately seen the ladies’ wardrobes in Jerusalem. And if this vanity of gallantry be so blameworthy in a woman, who is naturally ζωον φιλοκοσμον, addicted to fine attire, how much more in a man, who shall turn lands into laces, and embroider his cloak with woods and parks and lordships, lining it, haply, with obligations and bonds and statutes?

Of their tinkling ornaments, &c.] Here and in the following verses we have an inventory of the ladies’ gallantry, such as made the mighty men fall in the war. {#Isa 3:25,26} This was the fruit of their twinkling eyes and tinkling ornaments. Vatablus saith that the Spanish women did wear bells about their heels when they danced.

And the round tires like the moon.] Lunata monilia crescent shaped collars—Statius.

Ver. 19. And the chains and the bracelets, &c.] The particulars of all their bravery we can say little unto upon certainty, since we are at this day ignorant of what ornaments and habiliments were then in use; and besides, the names here given unto them are such as the Jews themselves can hardly tell what to make of. It is a sad thing that the gauds and gaities of this age and country are such and so many, as that not six or seven verses, but so many whole chapters might be easily taken up in inventorying them. Lysander, a heathen, will rise up in judgment against many among us; for he would not allow his daughters to wear gorgeous attire, saying it would not make them so comely as common. That is very remarkable that is reported {a} of Mr Foxe the martyrologue, that when a son of his, returning from his travels into foreign parts, came to him in Oxford, attired in a loose, outlandish fashion, Who are you? said his old father, not knowing him. He replied, I am your son. Oh, what enemy of thine, said he, hath taught thee so much vanity? The Hebrew word, beghed, for a garment, comes from baghad, which signifies to deal perfidiously or treacherously, { #Isa 21:3} perhaps because it is tegumentum et testimonium, not more a covering of man’s shame than a testimony of his first sin in falling from God. So that a man or woman hath no more cause to brag about his fine clothes, or to be proud of them, than a thief of a silk rope, or than one hath of a plaster laid to his filthy Sore.

{a} Hist. of Mod. Div., by Lupton.

Ver. 20. {See Trapp on "Isa 3:19"}

Ver. 21. {See Trapp on "Isa 3:19"}

Ver. 22. {See Trapp on "Isa 3:19"}

Ver. 23. {See Trapp on "Isa 3:19"}

Ver. 24. And there shall be instead of sweet smell, stink.] Ex illuvie et sordibus captivitatis et carceris. Martial and Marcellinus tell us of a natural stench the Jews have, such as made the Emperor Aurelius, coming among some of them, and annoyed with their ill savour, to cry out, O Marcomanni, O Quadi, O Sarmatae, &c., O Marcomans, Quades, and Sarmatians, at length I have met with those that are more nasty and loathsome than you are. {a} These dainty dames are threatened with dirty doings in captivity and prison, such as should render them odious.

And instead of a girdle, a rent.] Or, Rags; or, a beating. The Vulgate rendereth it a cord.

And instead of well set hair.] Heb., Work of even or smooth setting, or trimming, Τριχολασται, or hair trimmers, were anciently noted for effeminate. Pompey is taxed in history for that he did unico digitulo caput scalpere, scratch his well set hair with his little finger only.

Baldness.] Pro crispanti crine calvitium, et pro fascia pectorali cilicium. Pride is so hateful to God that such as are guilty of it seldom escape his visible vengeance.

And burning instead of beauty.] Burning; that is, sun burning.

{a} Ammian. lib. ii.

Ver. 25. Thy men shall fall by the sword.] For suffering and favouring the women’s excesses, such as are today naked breasts and shoulders Abhorred filth! Our King Henry VI at such a sight cried, Fie, fie, ladies, in sooth you are to blame, &c.

Ver. 26. And her gates shall lament.] Because unfrequented. {#La 1:4}

And the king desolate.] Swept and wiped of all; not, as once, with her turrified head {a} and stretched forth neck.

Sitteth upon the ground.] As a sad mourner. Money was coined by Vespasian with a woman sitting at the root of a palm tree, and this inscription, Iudaea capta. The Jews captured.

{a} πυργουν κεφαλην.—Nazian.

Chapter 4

Ver. 1. And in that day, ] sc., That day of desolation. {#Isa 3:26}

Seven women, ] i.e., Many women. See the like #Zec 8:23. The women had been grievously threatened, {#Isa 3:16-24} the men also for their sakes, {#Isa 3:25,26} and yet the prophet hath not done with them. So heinous is sin in either sex.

Shall take hold of one man.] Who themselves were wont to be sued unto by many men; and perhaps were not content with their own husbands when they had them alive, but were sick of a pleurisy.

We will eat our own bread, &c.] Whereas the husband giveth to his wife food, raiment, and due benevolence: these would crave the last only, which yet they could not do neither in this sort but by laying aside woman-like modesty.

Only let us be called by thy name.] As wives used to be by their husbands’ names, both among the Jews and other nations, as Mary Cleophas, Mary Zebedee, &c. Solomon’s wife was after his name called Shulamite; {#So 6:13} and the Roman ladies were wont to say to their husbands, Ubi tu Caius, ibi ego Caia. Where you are Gaius there I am Gaia.

To take away our reproach.] Of want of husbands and children. See #Ps 78:63 Jud 11:36,37 Jer 30:17.

Ver. 2. In that day the branch of the Lord.] Here the prophet draweth to a close of this excellent sermon, and he concludeth it as he began, with a gracious promise of the coming and kingdom of Christ, and of the felicity of his subjects, which consisteth, first, In their sanctity; {#Isa 4:3,4} secondly, In their security. {#Isa 4:5,6} This is more amply set forth in #Isa 11:1-16

The branch of the Lord.] The Lord Christ, the consolation and expectation of Israel, called elsewhere the bud or "branch." {#Isa 11:1 Zec 3:8 6:12} {See Trapp on "Isa 11:1"} {See Trapp on "Zec 3:8"} {See Trapp on "Zec 6:12"} "The dayspring from on high," {#Lu 1:78} is by Beza rendered the branch from on high, and the branch of righteousness. {#Jer 23:5 33:15} The Jewish doctors also understand it of the Messiah; Istud germen quod de virga Iesse virore virgineo pullulavit, saith Bernard. The branch of the Lord he is called, saith Oecolampadius, because, being true God, he hath God to his Father in heaven; and the "fruit of the earth," because, being also true man, he had the Virgin to his mother on earth. Ecce habet incarnationis mysterium. Lo, here we have, saith he, the great mystery of "God manifested in the flesh." Others by the "fruit of the earth" here do understand the body of the Church, which is as the plant that groweth out of that branch.

Shall be beautiful and glorious, excellent and comely.] Heb., "Beauty and glory," "excellence and comeliness," or gayness and goodliness, all in the abstract, and yet all too little. All this Christ is and more to his elect, who are here set forth by many titles, as "the escaped of Israel," {a} the "residue in Zion," the "remnant in Jerusalem," the "written among the living there," &c. Saepe autem ad paupertatem aut paucitatem redigitur ecclesia. Howbeit known to the Lord are all his, as well as if he had their names set down in a book.

{a} Evasores Israelis.

Ver. 3. He that is left in Zion.] See #Isa 4:2.

Shall be called holy.] Heb., Holy shall be said to him or of him: he shall have the name and note of a saint, the comfort and the credit of it. Christ’s holiness shall be both imputed and imparted unto them: he shall both expiate their sins and heal their natures, pay their debts, and give them a stock of grace and holiness, so that men shall call them a "holy people." {#Isa 62:12}

Even every one that is written among the living.] Written in God’s book of life, which is matter of greater joy than to have the devils subdued unto us; {#Lu 10:17} for a man may cast out devils, and yet be himself cast to the devil; {#Mt 7:22,23} but in God’s book of life there are no blots, no crossings out, but "as many as are ordained to eternal life believe," and the same are "kept as in a garrison by the power of God through faith unto salvation." {#1Pe 1:4} The prophet seemeth here to allude to that custom in Jerusalem of enrolling the names of all the citizens. {#Ps 87:6} Christ Jesus is the Master of the Rolls in heaven, {#Re 13:8} wherein none are recorded but such as are designed "to glory and virtue." {#1Pe 1:2 2Th 2:13} All others are said to be "dead in trespasses and sins," {#Eph 2:1} and to be "written in the earth." {#Jer 17:13} Those priests that could not produce their genealogy were cashiered by the Tirshatha: {#Ezr 2:63} so shall those one day be by Christ whose names are not found written among the living in Jerusalem.

Ver. 4. When the Lord shall have washed away the filth.] The ordure or excrement: {a} sin is the excrement of the soul, the superfluity or garbage of naughtiness, the devil’s vomit. From this abominable filth Christ hath "loved and washed his with his own blood, that he may make them kings and priests unto God and his Father." {#Re 1:5} He not only washeth his people from their sins, but taketh away their swinish natures, whereby they would else return to their former wallowing in the mire as so many Borboritae.

Of the daughters of Zion.] Whose pride in apparel, wantonness, luxury, &c., those peccadilloes, as they are commonly counted, are here rightly called filth and blood by these penitentiaries, whose property is to aggravate and lay load upon their former evil practices, which now swell like toads in their eyes; neither can they find words bad enough to call them by.

By the spirit of judgment.] By pouring upon them the clean water of the Holy Spirit, whereby also they are enabled to make a right judgment of things that are excellent or that differ, and to judge themselves worthy to be destroyed for their many and mighty sins.

And by the spirit of burning.] So called because it burneth up our corruptions, carnis vitia et carcinomata; and, secondly, Because it inflameth our hearts with a zeal for God’s glory, making us all on a light fire, as Chrysostom saith that Peter was like a man made all of fire walking among stubble. And of one that desired to know what kind of man Basil was, it is said there was presented in a dream a pillar of fire with this motto, Talis est Basilius, Such a one is Basil.

{a} Sordes quae exeunt et excernuntur e corpore hominis per varios meatus.

Ver. 5. And the Lord will create.] For the safeguard and security of his peculiar people thus purified unto himself, {#Tit 2:14} and that they may serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all and every day of their lives. {#Lu 1:74,75} God, rather than fail, will "create," as he did of old in Egypt and the wilderness, "a cloud by day, a flaming fire by night"; against heat, a "tabernacle"; against storm and rain, a "covert"; anything, everything that heart can wish or need require: dux erit et defensor, lux erit et consolator. He will be to all his "a sun and a shield; he will give grace and glory," &c. {#Ps 84:11 So 2:3}

Upon every dwelling place.] Upon every private house, and place of his people’s abode: their walls are continually before him. {#Isa 49:16} He loveth to look upon their habitations, and will hedge them about. {#Job 1:10}

And upon her assemblies.] Or, Meeting places for God’s services. Howbeit this is to be taken cum exceptione crucis: with the exception of the cross, the poor Protestants in France have not only been disturbed, but destroyed, at their church assemblies, by the Duke of Guise and other Popish persecutors. But the godly in such a case "glorify God in the very fire," and bear fruit in such a tempest by God’s defence and benediction.

A cloud and smoke.] Or, A smokey cloud, alluding to that cloudy pillar {#Ex 13:21 14:19} which was a cloud by day and a fire by night to Israel: so is Christ a cooling refreshment to his own in the scorching day of temptation or trouble, and a comfortable lamp of light to direct and protect them through the wilderness of this world. The cloud was spread over them for a covering, {#Ps 105:39} and sometimes came between them and their enemies behind them; {#Ex 14:19} and this was done in Egypt, where was no rain: how then was there a cloud? God "created it."

For upon all the glory.] Israel is called "God’s glory"; {#Isa 46:13} the "house of his glory"; {#Isa 60:7} "a crown of glory"; {#Isa 62:3} a "throne of glory"; {#Jer 14:21} God’s ornament; the beauty of his ornament, and that set in majesty; {#Eze 7:20} his royal "diadem"; {#Isa 62:3} his "jewels," {#Mal 3:17} which he wears, as great men do their jewels, to make him glorious in the eyes of men; they are the signet on his right hand. {#Isa 49:5}

Shall be a covering] As the cloud covered the tabernacle, and as the rams’ skins covered the ark from the violence of wind and weather; so will Christ the Church.

Ver. 6. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow.] Or, He shall be. Christ is a shelter and a shadow to his, whenas all worldly comforts are but as so many burning glasses, to scorch the soul more.

Chapter 5

Ver. 1. Now will I sing.] Now, or, Now I pray, as stirring up his hearers to attention; for here beginneth his third sermon. He had endeavoured, but with little good effect, to convince them of their detestable unthankfulness, apostasy, and other enormities, in prose. Now he resolves to try another course, and to be unto them as a poet rather than a prophet, if haply they might be taken by the sweetness of his verse, and loveliness of his voice. {#Eze 33:32}

“ Metra parant animos, comprendunt plurima paucis:

Aures delectant, pristina commemorant.”

True it is that poets, for the most part, are dulcissime vani, most sweetly vain, as Augustine said of Homer. And some have noted well concerning St Paul, that citing his countryman, Aratus (for he was a Cilician), he nameth him not, but only saith, "Certain of your own poets," {#Ac 17:28} notwithstanding the piety of his beginning, ‘Εκ Διος αρχωμεθα, or the divineness of his subject, the heavens—more sublime and pure matter than useth to be in the wanton pages of other poets. But our divine poet is of another alloy, and his holy song is of the same strain with that of Moses, of Deborah and Barak, of Hannah, of David, — qui noster Orpheus est, saith Euthymius, the "sweet singer of Israel," {#2Sa 23:1} -of Solomon with his Song of Songs; saving that this is lugubre carmen, saith Oecolampadius, et tragediae quam comediae similius, a lamentable ditty, and more like a tragedy than a comedy; for, though the prophet beginneth merrily, yet he endeth heavily; it is of "mercy and judgment" that he singeth.

To my well beloved, ] i.e., To Christ, the Church’s bridegroom, cuius amicus et administer sum, whose paranymph {advocate} I am and well wisher; {#Joh 3:29 2Co 11:2,3} some render it for my beloved, or in his defence.

A song.] Or, Poem, whereto this first verse is the proem or preface. A spiritual song it is, most artificially composed, and set out with the most exquisite skill that might be.

Of my beloved.] Of him whom my soul loveth; {as #So 1:7} Jonathan loved David (1.) With a love of union; {#1Sa 18:1} (2.) With a love of complacence; {#Isa 5:19} (3.) With a love of benevolence. {#Isa 20:4} So doth a gracious heart love Jesus Christ. My Love was crucified, said Ignatius, {a} whose heart was even a lump of love.

Touching his vineyard.] That degenerate plant of a strange vine unto him, {#Jer 2:21} the plantation and supplantation whereof is here, first, Parabolically propounded; secondly, More plainly expounded. Some read it, "to his vineyard"; others, "for his vineyard." See #Mt 21:33,34 Mr 12:1,2 Lu 20:9,16.

My beloved.] See how oft he harps upon this sweet string, and cannot come off. What a man loveth he will be talking of, as the huntsman of his hounds, the drunkard of his cups, the worldling of his wealth, &c. Ten times in eight verses together doth St Paul mention the name of Jesus, {#1Co 1:1-4 7-10} showing thereby that it was to him mel in ore, melos in aure, iubilum in corde, the sweetest music.

Hath a vineyard.] So the Church is here {#Isa 5:7} and elsewhere frequently and fitly styled: Confert autem vineae, saith Oecolampadius. To a vineyard is the Church compared for sundry reasons; as the great care men take about it, {b} the great delight they take in it, the sweet fruits they expect from it, the great worth of its fruit, the little worth of its stem {#Eze 15:3} if it prove fruitless, the lowly and feeble condition thereof, the continual need it hath to be dressed, supported, sheltered, pruned. αιρει, καθαιρει, {#Joh 15:2} amputat, putat.

In a very fruitful hill.] Heb., In a horn the son of oil, that is, a horny hill, bowing like a halfmoon, and so exposed to the sunbeams all the day long. {c} Some say that Judea lieth in the form of a horn, like as the low countries do in the form of a lion, unde Leo Belgicus. The "son of oil," or "fatness," that is, exceeding fat; Judea is called Sumen totius orbis, the friutful mother of all the earth, a land "flowing with milk and honey," {#Eze 20:6} a very cornucopia of all comforts. Basil telleth us that it was a tradition of great antiquity, that Adam, when he was thrust out of paradise, ut dolorem leniret, for a mitigation of his grief, chose Judea, that most fruitful country, for a place to dwell in; whence it is that Sodom and her sisters, which were a part of that country, are said to be "pleasant as the garden of God." {#Ge 13:10}

{a} Rom. xii.

{b} Nulla possessio maiorem operam requirit. -Cato. Itali dicunt, Vinea est tinea.

{c} Soli antemeridiano, meridiano atque postmeridiano expositus. -Pisc.

Ver. 2. And he fenced {a} it.] Maceria munivit; he hedged it in, or walled it about, protecting his people from the rage of enemies wherewith that country was begirt. God was "a wall of fire to them," {#Zec 2:5} and a wall of water to them, {as #Ex 14:22} whence their land, though part of the continent, is called "an island," {#Isa 26:6} not only because separated from other countries, but because secured and made media insuperabilis unda.

And gathered out the stones thereof.] He not only cast out the Canaanites, but flatly forbade idolatry, and all other wickednesses, παντα τα σκανδαλα, every scandal or rock of offence that might hinder their growth, or turn them out of the way. {#Heb 12:13}

And planted it with the choicest vine.] Heb., Sorek; the vines of which place {#Jud 16:4} may seem to be the best and choicest, like as now in Germany are the vines of Herbipolis. See #Jer 2:21. The saints of God are noble plants, and of choice spirits; they are the chiefest personages, and of highest account in heaven.

And built a tower in the midst of it.] For both beauty, defence, and convenience. This may be meant of Jerusalem, or the temple therein, that "tower of the flock," and the "stronghold of the daughter of God’s people." {#Mic 4:8} Religion set up in the power and purity of it, is the beauty and bulwark of any place.

And also made a winepress therein.] For the pressing of the grapes, and saving of the vine; but, alas! that labour might have been saved for any grapes he got, or wine he made.

“ Fallitur augurio spes bona saepe suo.”

Little good is done many times by the most pressing and piercing exhortations and argumeuts used by God’s faithful prophets.

And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, ] i.e., Good grapes, as little thinking ut opera perdatur et spes eludatur, to have lost all his care and cost, as he did. For who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock? {#1Co 9:7}

And it brought forth wild grapes.] Stinking stuff, as the word signifieth, that which was naught and noisome: grapes of Sodom and clusters of Gomorrah. {#De 32:32,33} He looked for the "fruit of the Spirit"; but behold the "works of the flesh" {#Ga 5:19} No whit answerable to his continual care, culture, and custody, they made him, as one saith, a contumacious and contumelious retribution. Thus the wicked answer Heaven’s kindness with an ungrateful wickedness.

{a} Pro Sepivit alii vertunt Fodit, pastinavit, plantavit.

Ver. 3. And now, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem.] Here we have God’s plea before his sentence, and therein his appeal to them, and his indictment against them. First he appealeth to the Jews themselves, and maketh them judges in their own cause. So Nathan dealt by David, and Jesus by the wicked Jews of his time. {#Mt 21:40} Iudicate, quaeso, only "judge a righteous judgment," {#Joh 7:24} and then I dare report me to the conscience of any one among you, and will therehence fetch witness.

Between me and my vineyard.] With which I am now at variance. Sin is that hell-hag, {a diabolical or vile woman} makebait, {breeder of strive} trouble town, that sets odds between God and his greatest favourites.

Ver. 4. What could have been done to my vineyard?] See the like angry expostulations, #Jer 2:5 Mic 6:3; when God hath done all that can be done to do wretched men good, they oft do their utmost to defeat him, and undo themselves. Quid debui facere Domino meo quod fecerim? said Augustine of himself, by way of penitent confession: quis ego, qualis ego? quid non mali ego? The cypress tree, the more it is watered, the less fruitful; so it is with many people. But God can no way be charged with their barrenness.

“ At Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus,

Cogo posse negat.’’—Horat.

Ver. 5. And now go to, I will tell you, &c.] God loveth to foresignify, to warn ere he woundeth, and to foretell a judgment ere he inflicteth it. This he doth that he may be prevented. {#Am 4:12} Prolata est sententia ut non fiat. Well might the Lord say, "Fury is not in me." {#Isa 27:3}

I will take away the hedge thereof.] Hedge and wall shall be taken away at once from an ungrateful people, and all laid open to the wrath of God and rage of enemies; it shall be next indeed. {#Ps 80:12,13} And what may be reasonably pleaded against God at such a time, when he may say to men, as Reuben did to his brethren, "Did not I warn you, saying, Sin not?"

It shall be eaten up, it shall be trodden down.] All shall run to ruin, as it did at Jerusalem by the Babylonians, but especially by the Romans; and as it did in Christendom about six hundred years after Christ’s incarnation, when religion was become a matter of form, yea, of scorn; then the Saracens in the east, and the barbarous nations in the west, broke in and bore down all before them.

Ver. 6. And I will lay it waste.] Heb., Wasteness; I will utterly root it up and ruin it. Lege et lute; by law and dirt, wrath is come upon Jewry to the utmost. Lukewarm Laodicea was swallowed up by an earthquake, as Eutropius testifieth. The rest of these seven famous churches are overrun by the Turk. And our utter ruin, unless we repent, may be as plainly foreseen as if letters had been sent us from heaven to such a purpose.

It shall not be pruned nor digged, ] sc., By such painful vinedressers as were wont both to dig and beg for it, as he in #Lu 13:8. Such labour shall now be no longer lost, such cost cast away no more. Cutting shall be used where there is no longer hope of curing.

But there shall come up briers and thorns.] Being bereft of the means of grace, they shall run into foul and flagitious practices, which shall ripen them for ruin. See #Heb 6:8.

I will also command the clouds.] The prophets and ministers.

That they rain no rain upon it.] No, not a small shower or mist. Non pluma dignabitur nedum imbre, saith Oecolampadius.

Ver. 7. For the vineyard, &c.] Exponit breviter mentem huius cantici. Here we have the parable expounded and applied: the Scripture is its own best interpreter; sometimes, as here and #Joh 7:39, the sense is annexed. The Rabbis have a saying, Nulla est obiectio in lege quae non habet solutionem in latere. Nothing is exposed in law which does not have a solution in parts.

His pleasant plant.] Delectabilis in patriarchis, infructifera in palmitibus. Heb., "His plant of delights," but now turned into the degenerate plant of a "strange vine" unto him. {#Jer 2:21} Good progenitors may have a bad offspring: the reason whereof is given by Augustine, {a} Homo liberos gignit ex carne vetusta et peccatrice, non ex spivitu, &c. Man begetteth children of the old and sinful flesh, and not of the Spirit.

And he looked for judgment, but behold oppression.] Or, Conspiracy; or, as some render it, a scab, a cleaving scab, such as a man cannot easily be rid or recovered from. And here in the original is excellent rhetoric past interpretation. It is as if we should say, a preacher, a prevaricator rather; a dispensation, a dissipation: the sound is almost the same the sense much different. There is a lawful use of rhetoric in divine discourses. Augustine confesseth that while he heard Ambrose for his eloquence only, together with his words which he loved, the matter which he at first cared not for, came into his mind: and while, saith he, I opened my heart to listen how trimly he spoke, I came to consider also how truly he spoke; gradatim quidem, even by decrees.

For righteousness, but behold a cry.] The clamour of the oppressed entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth, who heareth their groans, and beholdeth their grievances. {#Job 34:28 Ps 12:5 Jas 5:4}

“ Clamitat in coelum vex sanguinis et Sodomorum,

Vex oppressorum, mercesque retenta laborum.”

The twofold Ecce, " Behold oppression," "Behold a cry," showeth it to be an evil action with an accent, a wickedness with a witness. Aliam Hebroeorum labrusiam notat.

{a} Con. Pelag., lib. ii. cap. 9.

Ver. 8. Woe unto them that join house to house.] The prophet goeth on in the exposition of his parable, showing us some more of those wild or stinking grapes, with the sad effects thereof, to the end of the chapter. He beginneth with covetousness—that "root of all evil," as Paul calleth it, {#1Ti 6:10} that metropolis of all wickedness, as Bion—and throweth a woe at it, as do also sundry other prophets. Covetous persons are of the dragon’s temper, who, they say, is so thirsty, that no water can quench his thirst. Covetousness is a dry drunkenness, saith one, an insatiable dropsy, and like hell itself, {#Isa 5:14} insatiabiliter cava guttura pandit; its never enough will be once alive with fire enough in the bottom of hell. Here they are brought in "joining house to house," as Shallum did at Jerusalem, {#Jer 22:13,14} as Nero did at Rome for the enlarging of his palace to a vast extent: whence that of the poet—

“ Roma domus fiet, Veios migrate Quirites,

Si non et Veios oecupet ista domus.’’—Martial.

That lay field to field.] Encroaching upon others, and engrossing all to yourselves; as William the Conqueror did at New Forest, wherein forty-six parish churches were demolished, with the removing of all the inhabitants, to make room for beasts or dog’s-game. But in true account—

“ Parva seges satis est: laudato ingentia rura,

Exiguum colito.”

The holy patriarchs were content to dwell in tents. Abraham’s only purchase was a burying place. David in that Litany of his, as one calleth it, blesseth himself from those "men of God’s hand who have their portion here." {#Ps 17:14} Christ biddeth us lay up treasures, and build tabernacles for ourselves in heaven; and having food and raiment, saith the apostle, let us therewith be content. {#1Ti 6:8}

“ Discite quam parvo liceat producere vitam:

Et quantum natura petat.”

- Lucan. Phar., lib. iv.

If a man will study rather to satisfy his hunger than his humour, a little will serve. But it is as easy to quench the fire of Etna as the thoughts set on fire by covetousness. Unus Pelaeo iuveni non sufficit orbis. {a}

Till there be no place, ] sc., Left unseized upon by you: Usque ad desitionem loci, no place or room for any other.

That they may be placed alone.] Man is a sociable creature, and not born for himself. Aristotle calleth him nature’s good fellow; but the covetous wretch hath put off all humanity, and would have all to himself, be placed alone; and herein, as Ambrose rightly observeth, he is worse than the unreasonable creatures. Avis avibus se associat, saith he, pecus pecori adiungitur, piscis piscibus, Birds, beasts, and fishes sort and shoal together, and account it no loss, but a comfort, to be in company of their own kind. Solus tu homo, consortem excludis, includis feras: struis habitacula bestiarum, destruis hominum ;{ b} Only thou, O sorry man, shuttest out men like thyself, enclosest for cattle, pullest down houses, settest up folds and sheep cotes, &c. And yet thou canst not live without poor labourers; only thou hatest to have them live by thee.

{a} Juvenal.

{b} Lib. de Naboth et Ahab., cap. 3.

Ver. 9. In mine ears, said the Lord of hosts.] Or, In the ears of the Lord of hosts—q.d., God well heareth and knoweth all your cunning contrivances, your coloured and cloaked covetousness, as it is called {#1Th 2:5 2Pe 1:3} The cries also of those poor whom you have by fraud or force unroosted and undone, is come into God’s ears, {#De 15:9 24:15} and he will reckon with you, though by your greatness you can bear out your wrong dealing, because it is facinus maioris abollae. Yet God will arraign you one day for an Abaddon; and in the meanwhile,

Of a truth many houses shall be desolate.] You shall be driven out of your great and fair houses, aut a milite, aut a morte, either by the enemy or by death, who shall come upon you with a firmae eiectione, forceful ejection and then the place of your habitation shall know you no more; a poor fool God will make of you. {#Jer 17:11 Lu 12:20} If many houses be not desolate, never trust him more—if they be not left for caddows and jackdaws {a} to dwell in.

{a} The common name of the daw (Corvus monedula), one of the smallest of the crow family, which frequents old buildings, church towers, etc.; it is easily tamed and taught to imitate the sound of words, and is noted for its loquacity and thievish propensities.

Ver. 10. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, ] viz., Of wine; a poor proportion—not a gallon of wine for an acre of ground planted with vines.

And the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.] And no more. The earth shall yield but the tenth part of what was sown; so little joy shall you have either of your enlarged houses, or fields laid to fields by evil arts. Et signanter decem ponit iugera, saith Oecolampadius here; neither is it for nothing that the prophet saith ten acres of vineyard, &c., and that they shall have but the tithe of their seed again, to teach them how angry God is with such as through covetousness refuse to pay their tithes duly and truly, &c.

Ver. 11. Woe unto them that rise up early.] Heb., The early risers, but for an ill purpose. O intolerandum flagitium, saith one, {a} homines inertiae, somnique plenissimos, &c.; O intolerable wickedness, that men so lazy, and more sleepy than dormice, should be up and at it so very early—they rise early to corrupt their actions, saith another prophet {#Zep 3:7} -and should have their brains crowing before day. Neither are they so soon up alone, but they call up others (as the Hebrew word here signifieth) to serve them, and sit with them on their ale bench; for they are good fellows, they say, and must have company.

That they may follow strong drink.] {b} Pursue it eagerly, as the worldling doth his gain, the hunter his game. Their motto is, Take away our liquor, ye take away our life. By strong drink, here understand any inebriating liquor, whereof, besides wine, the Italians have twenty distinct kinds, to please the gusto. Pliny {c} cries out, Hei mira vitiorum solertia inventum est quemadmodum aqua quoque inebriaret! Portentosum sane potionis genus, &c.

That continue unto night.] All the life long days these ale stakes stick to it, quaffing and carousing. Diem noctemque continuare potando nulli probrum, saith Tacitus of the old Germans. To drink whole days together is among them no disgrace, neither is it among many of their posterity to this day. About the midst of Queen Elizabeth’s reign that cursed sin was first brought over into England, say some, out of the Low Countries; before which time there was neither general practice nor legal punishment of that vice in this kingdom. {d}

Till wine inflame them.] By which expression, Omnem ebriorum insanium intelligit, saith Oecolampadius, he meaneth all the drunkard’s mad pranks, when heated with wine, and yet more with lusts and passions; see #Pr 23:29-34. Tyrone the rebel, 1567, was such a drunkard, that to cool his body when it was immoderately inflamed with wine and whisky, he would many times be buried in the earth up to the chin. {e}

{a} Osor. in loc.

{b} Studium ebrietatis illis obiecit,

{c} Lib. xiv. cap. ult.

{d} Fuller’s Church History, p. 61.

{e} Camden’s Elisabeth, p. 89.

Ver. 12. And the harp and the viol.] To make themselves the more mad upon pleasure, they had their music of all sorts, that thereby they might banish all seriousness, and be lulled faster asleep in carnal security. Fescenninis cantibus omnia personabant, a practice still in use among drunkards, to drown the noise of their consciences; like as the old Italians, to drown the noise of the heavens when it thundered, were wont to ring their greatest bells, beat up their drums and tabors, &c; so #Am 6:4,6.

Are in their feasts.] Or, Are their feasts or drinkings.

But they regard not the work of the Lord.] That is, the first making, whether of themselves, to glorify God in some honest employment, and not to make drunkenness their occupation; or of other creatures, wherein they might find much of God, {a} as Pliny did in the music of the gnat, and the curious paint of the butterfly; as Galen did in the double motion of the lungs, called systole and diastole; but especially as David did in the contemplation of the universe, {#Ps 8:3} and as Mr John Dod did in the flower he had in his hand at Holdenby, where, being invited by an honourable person to see that stately house, he answered, In this flower I can see more of God than in all the beautiful buildings in the world. See #Ps 111:2 92:4 37:4. Thus if these drunkards had done, they would not have so abused God’s good creatures. But "whoredom and wine, and new wine had taken away their hearts." {#Ho 4:11} Neither regarded they anything but the sparkling of the wine in the cup, {#Pr 23:31} and the beauty of the strange woman, {#Pr 23:33} in the flagrancy of their beastly lust.

Neither consider the operation of his hands.] The present disposing of his creatures, either by way of mercy or judgment. They pass by his providences unobserved, his late judgments upon the ten tribes, {#Am 6:6} his heavy plagues hanging over their own heads, called his "work, and the counsel of the Holy One of Israel." {#Isa 5:19} Nihil omnino sapiunt nisi luxum suum, They mind nothing but their luxury and looseness.

{a} Saeculum est speculum reram invisibilium. -Trismeg.

Ver. 13. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, ] i.e, They are sure to go. {so #Am 6:7}

Because they have no knowledge.] Heb., Propter non-scientiam; i.e., ut ita dicam, non-curantiam, For their brutish oscitancy and lack of consideration, as having buried their wits in their guts, and being miserably besotted by their daily sensualities. "Surely they are poor, they are foolish; for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God." {#Jer 5:4}

And their honourable men are famished.] Heb., Are men of hunger or famine; Congrua huic malo lues. They had abused their food and drink to surfeiting and drunkenness; now they shall know the worth of those good creatures by the want of them.

And their multitude dried up with thirst.] The common sort also shall taste of the common calamity; as they did very deeply, when besieged by Vespasian, for five months. {a} Ox dung was then a precious dish unto them, and the shreddings of pot herbs, cast out and trodden under foot and withered, were taken up again for nourishment; yea some, to prolong their lives, would not stick to eat up that which others had vomited and cast up; see #Isa 9:19,20.

{a} Joseph.; Egesip.

Ver. 14. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, &c.] To swallow up those insatiable helluones and lurcones, drunkards and epicures; these swill howls and sensualists, Cerberi instar, triaguttura pandebant. Diotimus of Athens was surnamed Tunbowl, and young Cicero, Tricongius, because he could take off three bottles of wine at a draught. Therefore death and hell

Have opened their mouth without measure.] Hiante rictu amplissimo helluones istos absorbere, To devour such pests and botches of mankind. Oh that the carousers were persuaded, as Mohammed told his followers, that in every grape there dwelt a devil! And oh that they would foresee and prevent a worse punishment in hell than befell that poor Turk who, being found drunk, had a ladleful of boiling lead poured down his throat by the command of a certain pasha!

And their glory.] Their great ones, those men of honour. {#Isa 5:13}

And their multitude.] The meaner sort. Nos numeri sumus.

And their pomp.] Or, Their noise or tumult: their revel rout, as they call it, when they have drunk all the outs, and are now singing and hallooing.

Ver. 15. And the mean man shall be brought down, &c.] Here the prophet, before he comes to the third denunciation (for this part of the chapter, like Ezekiel’s roll, is full of lamentation, and mourning, and woe, #Eze 2:10), inserteth three good effects of the fore-threatened punishments: {a} -1. That the wicked shall be thereby tamed (in this verse); 2. That God’s glory shall be asserted; {#Isa 5:16} and 3. That God’s poor people shall be graciously provided for; {#Isa 5:17} see for this verse, #Isa 2:9.

And the eyes of the haughty.] See on #Isa 2:11.

{a} Piscat.

Ver. 16. But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted.] See #Isa 2:11.

And God, that is holy, shall be sanctified.] He shall be religiously acknowledged, approved of, and worshipped as an enemy to sin, and an upright judge, because of his most righteous judgments. {a} It shall be said, "Certainly there is a God that ruleth in the earth." {#Ps 58:11}

{a} Diod.

Ver. 17. Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, ] i.e., Freely and quietly. By lambs here understand the godly poor—those lambs with golden fleeces—who shall be graciously provided for.

And the waste places of the fat ones.] Medullatorum, of those fat bulls of Bashan, who had oppressed the poor, and laid waste their dwellings, but are now served in like sort by the enemy.

Shall the strangers eat.] Such as had been strangers at home, because held captive in a far country, but are now returned, and repossessed of all.

Ver. 18. Woe unto them that draw iniquity.] That draw sin to them, as a beast draweth a cart after it. Here the prophet reproveth and threateneth such, saith an interpreter, {a} as sin without any strong temptation or occasion drawing them thereunto; yea, they draw sin to themselves as with ropes, et quodammodo velut invitum et repugnans cogunt, not remembering that sin haleth hell at the heels of it. Let such get from under sin’s cart as soon as they can, otherwise they shall be "holden with the cords (punishments) of their iniquity; they shall die without instruction," &c. {#Pr 5:22} The devils, as they sinned without a tempter, so they perish without a Saviour. Cavete. Beware!

{a} Nihil agitantes nisi malum omni studio suo. -Jun. Qui data opera peccant. -Scultet,

Ver. 19. That say, Let him make speed.] That jeer when they should fear, jest at God’s judgments, and mock at his menaces, as if they were only bugbear terms, devised on purpose to frighten silly people, but that themselves had more wit than to regard them. This also was the guise of those atheists in later ages. {#Jer 17:15 Eze 12:23 Am 5:18 2Pe 3:3} Εμπαικται, they made children’s play of God’s direful threats, as the Greek word signifieth. And that they may not plead ignorance, the apostle addeth, {#Isa 5:5} that they were "willingly ignorant"; they choked their natural light, and contradicted the testimony of their own consciences. Magna eorum hodieque seges est; such dust heaps are found in every corner.

And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel.] Verba ludificantium Deum et prophetas, { a} These scoffers are here brought in deriding the very name whereby the holy prophets for more reverence sake commonly called the Lord, viz., "the Holy One of Israel." Or thus, God is the Holy One of Israel, which Israel we are; and thinkest thou that he will do us hurt? {b} Hereupon the prophet addeth,

{a} Μιμησις.

{b} Oecolamp.

Ver. 20. Woe unto them that call evil good, &c.] That can make candida de nigris, et de candentibus atra, and go about to invert the nature of things, and to change the very names of them; while they call—not out of ignorance or infirmity, but out of base calumny or gross flattery—evil good, and good evil; calling drunkenness good fellowship, covetousness good husbandry, prodigality liberality, swearing with a grace a gentleman-like quality, fornication a trick of youth, adultery an enjoyment of the fellow creature, as Ranters call it, &c. Thus the Athenians flattered their own vices, calling πορνας εταιρας, φιρους συνταξεις, φυλακας φρουρας των πολεων, &c. Cicero {a} said it was an ill omen of the overthrow of the commonwealth, that the true names of things were lost; and in divinity it is a rule, Qui fingit nova verba, nova gignit dogmata, He that affecteth new terms would bring in new opinions. That saying of Luther was oft in Pareus’s mouth, Theologus gloriae dicit malum bonum, et bonum malum. Theologus crucis dicit id quod res est. The theology of vain glory says good is bad and bad is good. The theology of popery says this because it is the problem. {b} Not long before our late unhappy troubles the martyrs of the Protestant religion were disgraced, the conspirators in the gunpowder treason excused in a sermon at St Mary’s, Cambridge, by one Kemp of Queen’s College. {c} The schools, press, and pulpit began to speak Italian apace, and to persuade to a moderation, to a reconciliation with Rome, which now was said to be a true Church, the Pope not Antichrist, &c. The great elixir called state policy hath, with some at least, so transmutive a faculty, as to make copper seem gold, right wrong, and wrong right. But let us pray, with good David in #Ps 119:66, "Teach me good judgment and knowledge"; give me senses habitually "exercised to discern between good and evil." {#Heb 5:14} And then take heed that we neither make censure’s whip nor charity’s cloak too long; we may offend in both.

{a} In Catil.

{b} David. Par. Vita.

{c} Myst. of Iniquity, p. 15.

Ver. 21. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes.] Wiser than David—as the proud prince of Tyre thought himself {#Eze 28:3} -or than any prophet of them all. This self-conceitedness is πασης της προκοπης εγκοπη, said that heathen, the hindrance of all true proficiency, and a mischievous marrer of good; here is a woe hung at the heels of it. And lest any should hold that to be a small matter, let them consider what befell Meroz after that bitter curse pronounced against it {#Jud 5:23} -the very name and memorial of it is utterly extinct and blotted out; as also what befell the barren fig tree when once cursed by Christ—it withered away suddenly, {#Mt 21:19,20} both root and branch, though naturally the fig tree is the most juiceful of any tree, and beareth the brunt of winter blasts.

Ver. 22. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine.] Iterate taxat hoc vitium, eo quod invaluerat. The prophet inveigheth against this vice a second time, because it was grown so common. Drunkards also are a sottish kind of creatures, and had therefore more than need to be double dealt with; like as physicians use to give double quantities to such as have palsies or epilepsies, so to awaken their dull, drowsy senses. Many of these sots take it for a great glory that they are mighty to drink wine; as did Darius King of Persia, who caused it to be written upon his tomb, I was a great hunter; I could also drink much wine, and bear it bravely. {a} This was, as one well saith, to glory in his shame; it being rather the commendation of a tun {b} than of a man, for a beast will scarce abide it, to be able to take in and contain much liquor. When Bonosus the drunken Roman had hanged himself, it went for a by-word Amphoram pendere non hominem, { c} that a tun or tankard hung there, and not a man. And when one was commended to King Alphonsus for a great drinker, and able to bear it, he answered that that was a good praise in a sponge, but not in a prince. {d} This, if Alexander the Great and Tiberius the Emperor—those great drinkers and encouragers of others to that vice—had well remembered, they would not have been so infamous as they are and will be to all posterity.

And men of strength.] Or, Valour. But to do what? Πινειν και βινειν μονον, {e} as the comedian hath it: To drink and do worse only. A goodly prize surely, a fair commendation. {e} Fortes esse et strenuos non contra hostes, sed ad exhauriendos calices; gigantes esse non ad bellandum, sed ad potandum. To be carpet knights, not of Mars, but of Bacchus, and fitter for a canopy than a camp.

To mingle.] Or, To pour in. Whether into their own wide gullets, or into the cup to make others drunk; for preventing whereof Minos, King of Crete, made a law that men should not drink one to another, εις μεθην, to drunkenness. So did Lycurgus at Lacedemon. And our King Edgar made an ordinance for putting pins in cups that none should quaff whole ones, or cause others to do so.

{a} Κυνηγειν εκρατουν, οινον πολυν πινειν εδυναμην και τουτον φερειν καλως.—Athen.

{b} A large cask or barrel, usually for liquids, esp. wine, ale, or beer, or for various provisions. Now less common than cask.

{c} Vopsic. in Bonoso.

{d} Gentiles ipsi risere tales athletas.

{e} Arist, in Ranis.

{f} Civilis est irrisio non carens sale. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 23. Which justify the wicked for reward, ] q.d., Woe to such also, for even they both are abomination to the Lord {#Pr 17:15 Isa 1:23} {See Trapp on "Pr 17:15"}

Ver. 24. Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble.] For all the crimes aforementioned, and for that, to all the former they add this, that they have cast away the law of the Lord, and despised his Word.

As the fire.] Heb., The tongue of fire; that is, the top of the flame, which resembleth a tongue, that is also thin, broad, long, and of a fiery colour: "Setting on fire the course of nature, and is itself set on fire of hell." {#Jas 3:6}

Devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff.] Sin doth as naturally draw and suck judgments to it as the lodestone doth iron, as dry stubble and light chaff doth fire; suddenly and with no ado shall sinners be consumed, when God once taketh them to do; exorientur et exurentur.

So their root shall be rottenness.] In allusion to the vine {#Isa 5:1} which brought forth rotten grapes. {#Isa 5:4}

And their blossom shall go up as dust.] Shall vanish and come to nothing, as it needs must where the root is putrified. Of wild vines Pliny {a} saith, Ostentant fructum potius quam porrigunt, they rather make a show of fruit than yield any. And there are some vines, saith Varro, {b} whose fruit ever rotteth before it hath time to ripen. He meaneth they shall vanish in their greatest flourish of seeming felicity.

{a} Lib. xvi. cap. 27.

{b} Var. ap. Cas. Dion.

Ver. 25. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled.] For contempt of the law, but especially of the gospel, "wrath came upon" that wretched people of the Jews "to the utmost," {#1Th 2:16} or until the end, as some read it. They are to this day a people of God’s wrath and curse, and become a woeful example of that rule, Atrocia delicta puniuntur atrocibus poenis, Heinous sins bring heavy punishments. This desolation of theirs (as Daniel prophesieth, #Da 9:27) shall continue to the end.

And he hath stretched forth his hand against them.] His mighty hand, as St James hath it, wherewith he oft leaveth bloody wales on the backs of the best when they provoke, but crusheth the wicked in pieces, and crumbleth them to shreds.

And hath smitten them.] Revenge is the next effect of anger.

And the hills did tremble, ]{ a} i.e., The highest among them; or, literally, the senseless hills seemed sensible of so great displeasure.

And their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets.] What havoc there was made of men at the last destruction of Jerusalem, Josephus, Egesippus, Orosius, and Eusebius fully tell us. What with the extremity of famine, what with the fury of the sword, and what with sickness during the siege, there perished about 600,000 able men; or, as others say, 1,100,000, besides 97,000 carried captive. Titus, the Roman general, seeing the infinite number of carcases of the Jews cast out unburied without the walls of the city was much grieved, and took God to witness that he was not the author of that calamity, but that the fault was altogether in those stubborn Jews, that held out the city against him. {b}

For all this his anger is not turned away.] With those "froward ones God will show himself froward," {#Ps 18:26} and not give place to their pertinacity, till they have enough of it. It must be a humble submission that pacifieth God’s wrath.

{a} Hyperbole.

{b} Josephus.

Ver. 26. And he will lift up an ensign.] That is, by his secret providence he shall bring on the enemy’s army. The Roman forces are called God’s armies, {#Mt 22:7} and Titus confessed that he only lent God his hand to execute his wrath on that rebellious people the Jews.

And will hiss unto them.] Bring them together with little ado, as pilots hiss for their ship boys, or shepherds whistle for their sheep to come about them.

From the end of the earth.] Rome was far remote from Jerusalem, and in the Roman army were likely many French, Spaniards, Italians, and perhaps Britons.

And behold they shall come with speed.] Sooner than those mockers imagined who said, "Let him make speed." {#Isa 5:19} Hence the enemy is compared to a swift eagle. {#De 28:49}

Ver. 27. None shall be weary nor stumble.] Though they come speedily, yet they shall none of them tire or turn out of the way, but come on with expedition, robusti, alacres, felices, probe armati, saevi {#Isa 5:27,28,29} being lively, lusty, happy, well appointed, fierce.

None shall slumber or sleep.] More than the necessity of nature requireth; they shall be no less vigilant than diligent.

Neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed.] They may put up their swords sometimes, but not put them off at all, as it is said of Julius Caesar.

Nor the latchet, ] i.e., So as to hinder their march.

Ver. 28. Whose arrows are sharp.] Or, Sharpened, sc., to wound the deeper.

Their horses’ hoofs.] Judea was a stony country; but hard to hard will not easily break.

Ver. 29. Their roaring shall be like a lion.] At whose terrible roar the beasts of the field are said to stand as amazed.

They shall lay hold on the prey.] Not of wealth only, but of persons, and shall hold their own when they have gotten them.

Ver. 30. Like the roaring of the sea.] The noise whereof is so hideous, that the shrieking of the devil is set forth by it. {#Jas 2:19} {See Trapp on "Jas 2:19"}

And if one look into the land.] Or, To the earth below, behold darkness, &c., as if to the heavens, the light also there is darkened. Man cannot help them; God will not. To such straits of "an evil, an only evil," are such oft brought, as think themselves out of the reach of God’s rod. Vae victis. Alas, having been conquered.

Chapter 6

Ver. 1. In the year that Uzziah died.] This was 1590 years from Noah’s flood, say chronologers, where one {a} well observeth how divers things were done in this year within the Church, and without. The Gentiles in Greece, at the town of Eleum, behold their Olympic games; the prophet Isaiah in Judea beholdeth the glory of God, and heareth the trisagion of the blessed angels. So in the year of grace 1617 the Pope proclaimed a jubilee for the peace of Italy and Austria, &c. The Reformed Churches in Germany kept a jubilee likewise at the same time, in way of thankfulness to God for the gospel restored just a hundred years before by Luther, Zuinglius, and other reformers. {b}

I saw also, ] sc., In spiritu et in ecstasi, In spirit and in a rapture. Some compare it with that vision which Ezekiel saw afterwards. {#Eze 1:4-28} This whole book is called ‘the vision of Isaiah’; {#Isa 1:1} and why? {See Trapp on "Isa 1:1"} Est autem celeberrima haec prophetia, but this is a most famous prophecy of the utter excaecation and excision of the Jews; and is alleged against them by all the four evangelists, and by St Paul. {#Ro 11:8}

The Lord.] The Three in One, and One in Three: #Isa 6:8, "Who shall go for us?" Compare #Ge 1:26 3:22. See #Joh 12:41, where it is applied to God the Son; and #Ac 5:3,4, where to God the Holy Ghost. This Lord of all was seen by the prophet, not in his essence, or in the infinite excellence of his majesty, {#Ex 33:20 1Ti 6:16} but in some visible model of his glory; like as we cannot see the sun in rota, but in radiis, in the body of it, but in the beams only.

Sitting upon a throne.] Instar iudicis et vindicis, as a just judge and sharp revenger of this people’s rebellions; and this throne is in the temple too, the place wherein they most of all trusted, crying, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." {#Jer 7:4} Lo, here they were to be sentenced, because they had cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. {#Isa 5:24}

High and lifted up.] Stately for sight, and lofty for site, as was Solomon’s. {#1Ki 10:18,20}

And his train filled the temple.] His train, or his skirts {c} -viz., of his robes. The Sept. and Chaldee have it, "The house was full of his glory." The sense is, saith Oecolampadius, that the least part of the divine majesty is greater than the greatest glory of men. {as #1Co 1:25} "He hath upon his vesture and on his thigh this name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." {#Re 19:16} Here we can see but his back parts, his train and line. We need see no more that we may live. Zeuxis, the famous painter, drew in a table a fair temple with the doors open, and Venus going in, so as the beholders could behold but her back and her train, as not able to depaint her fair face and fore parts.

{a} Ussher

{b} Jac. Rev. Hist. Pontif. Rom., p. 306.

{c} Sirmata.

Ver. 2. Above it stood the seraphims.] Those heavenly salamanders that are all on a light fire with love to God and zeal of his glory. {#Nu 21:6 Isa 30:6} Fiery serpents, full of deadly poison, are also called seraphims, πρηστηρας the Greeks call them. That old serpent the devil can transform himself into an angel of light, At bonum erat tibi si ignifer magis esses quam lucifer, saith Bernard, in his third sermon upon this vision of Isaiah.

Each one had six wings.] So had those four beasts or living wights; {#Re 4:8} {See Trapp on "Re 4:8"} and observe that in the Revelation the Holy Ghost borroweth most of the elegancies and flowers found in the Old Testament to set out the story of the New in succeeding ages.

With twain he covered his face.] As with a double scarf, before God’s surpassing brightness, that would put out their eyes else. When the lightning flasheth in men’s eyes they clap their hands on their faces, so here do the angels. The moon never casteth less light than when she is nearest the sun. Sol reliqua sidera occultat, quibus et lumen suum faenerat; { a} sic et Deus gloriae {#Ac 7:2} Neither are any so humble as they who are nearest to God. Angels make their addresses with greatest self-abasements; what then should vile men do? worms and not men!

And with twain he covered his feet.] As conscious to themselves of a kind of comparative impurity, {#Job 4:18 15:15} and unworthiness so to stand before God—i.e., to minister unto him.

And with twain he did fly.] That is, he was ready to fly; velabant, et volabant; as Gabriel came to Daniel with weariness of flight {#Da 9:21} -that is, with incredible swiftness. Their six wings, say some, {b} might set forth a six fold motion, upward, downward, forward, backward, to the right hand or to the left—any way were they ready to fly where God would, ita ut celeritate superent ventos, falmina, solem, coelosque omnes, swifter than the wind, thunderbolt, sun, or any of the celestial orbs.

{a} Plin., lib. ii. cap. 6.

{b} A Lapide.—Perer.

Ver. 3. And one cried to another.] Hymnum cantant τρισαγιον, and that, as it may seem, by way of antiphony, as those did. {#Ex 15:1,21}

And said, Holy, holy, holy.] Hereby showing their earnestness and insatiability in praising God. {as #Jer 22:20 Mt 23:39} The ingemination importeth strong affection. Infinitis vicibus iterant, saith Procopius; the holy angels "have no rest," and yet they have no unrest either, "day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty which was, and is, and is to come." {#Re 4:8} The ancient Rabbis, as R, Simeon Ben Joai, proved the trinity of persons from this text, saith Galatin, {a} appointing their posterity to repeat these words twice a day at least—viz., at the rising and setting of the sun, which also they do to this day, and when they do it they leap three times.

The whole earth is full of his glory.] Not the land of Judea only, but the wide world, {as #Ps 97:6,8 Isa 40:5} shall be full of God’s glory, when the gospel shall be preached to all nations. This was for comfort to our prophet, that although his countrymen were cast off for their contumacy, yet he should not lose the fruit of his labours when once that "great mystery of godliness" was revealed; "God"—whom he had now seen upon the throne, and that purposely for his confirmation—"manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." {#1Ti 3:16}

{a} Lib. ii. cap. 1.

Ver. 4. And the posts of the door were moved.] Presently upon the angels’ hymn this occured, with such a force it was uttered, as it was at the time of our Saviour’s resurrection, when the angel rolled back the stone and sat upon it there was a great earthquake. {#Mt 28:2} By the moving of the "posts" or thresholds was signified the destruction of the temple, when the smoke with which the house was filled, when it was burned down by the Chaldees, as also the just excaecation of the Jews. Their temple, that had been filled with the train of glory, is now filled with smoke going out of God’s nostrils when he was angry. {#Ps 18:8 De 29:20}

Ver. 5. Then said I, Woe is me.] The ordinary fear of the faithful, when they had seen the Lord in his majesty. {#Ge 16:13 De 5:24 Heb 12:21 Jud 13:22} How shall the wicked then be able to stand before him at the last day?

For I am undone.] I am a dead man, since no man shall see God and live. {#Ex 33:20}

Because I am a man of unclean lips, ] i.e., Of a foul nature and sinful practice; his original uncleanness, that filthy fountain and well spring of wickedness, made him cry out in this manner, Pollutior sum quam ut laudem Deum. Angels praise God, as I have heard them; but I, wicked wretch, am altogether unfit for such an employment. Infinite is the distance and disproportion between the high and holy God and me, a loathsome leper, a sordid wretch, &c. The nearer a man draweth to God, the more doth rottenness enter into his bones. {#Hab 3:16} "Now mine eyes have seen thee," saith Job, therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. {#Job 42:6} "Depart from me, Lord," saith Peter, "for I am a sinful man," {#Lu 5:8} Gr., A man a sinner—that is, a compound or hodgepodge of dirt and sin. Quis tu, Domine? quis ego? said one; Tu abyssus essentiae, veritatis, et gloriae: ego abyssus nihili, vanitatis et miseriae, Who art Thou, Lord? and what am I? Thou art an abyss of essence, truth, and glory, and I an abyss of nothing, of sin, and of misery.

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.] Whose language I have learned, with whose sinful practices I have too much symbolised, and in whose punishments therefore I am like to be involved; for there is a double danger to a man by conversing with the ungodly; (1.) Infection of sin; (2.) Infliction of punishment. Lot was the world’s miracle, who kept himself fresh in Sodom’s salt water.

Ver. 6. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me.] Relinquit chorum illum sanctissimum ut serviat polluto; He leaveth that holy company that he may do service to a poor polluted creature! The brightest angel in heaven thinketh not himself too good to serve the saints. {#Heb 1:14} If there come to us at any time a messenger, one of a thousand, to declare unto us our righteousness, to be unto us a minister of reconciliation, we are to receive him as an angel of God.

Having a live coal in his hand.] A coal from the altar, shadowing the merit and Spirit of Christ purging his people from all sin. The tongs whereby this live coal of Christ’s righteousness is applied to the soul is the grace of faith. {#Ac 15:9}

Ver. 7. And he laid it upon my mouth.] Not to burn him, for all this was visional, but to expiate and purify his lips by the "spirit of judgment and of burning"; {#Isa 4:4} to fire him up to a holy contention in godliness, and to fit him yet further for his office, as the apostles were for theirs by cloven tongues of fire {#Ac 2:3,4}

And said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips.] To the sign words are used to make a perfect sacrament. And here the cautiousness of the angel is to be noted. He saith not, I have touched, but, lo, this coal hath touched thy lips. So Paul, "Yet not I, but the grace of God in me." {#1Co 15:10} So the good and faithful servant, Not I, but "Thy talent hath gained ten talents." {#Lu 19:16} The seraph was himself a burning creature, as his very name importeth; howbeit it was not the seraph but the retheph or burning coal that did the deed, that God might have all the glory.

Thine iniquity is taken away.] Sacraments take not away sin, but only testify that iniquity is purged by Christ alone, who hath merited justification and sanctification.

Ver. 8. Whom shall I send?] "Lay hands upon no man rashly," but with deliberation. The mystery of the Trinity is well observed by some in the following words, as by others this, that ministers serve not men, but the only true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. {#1Co 4:1 2Co 5:21}

Who shall go for us?] {a} God knew whom he would send, but he will have the prophet offer himself; for he loveth a cheerful server, and ministers must take the oversight of God’s flock, "not of constraint, but willingly." {#1Pe 5:2}

Here am I; send me.] This was right, and this was wrought in him, not by base fear of punishment, -as we read of one Balthus, a dumb man, that wandering in a desert, and met with a lion, he was struck with such exceeding fear and trepidation, that thereupon the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake ever after— sed igne Dei tactus et actus est. {b} The seraph had comforted him, and this was the effect of it. The prophet, after the touch of the live coal, felt his gifts increased, his zeal kindled, and hence his forwardness thus to offer God his service. So ought such to do as find themselves fitted for the work: If thou hast not manchet, {c} said Bucer to Bradford, give the people barley bread, such as thou canst, it will be accepted. It is no small commendation to a man to addict himself to the ministry of the saints, as the house of Stephanas did, {#1Co 16:15} and to be to every good work ready {#Tit 3:1} -that is, forward and forthputting, cheerful and vigorous.

{a} Nobis, id est tribus Elohim sive personis Sanct. Trin. -Piscat.

{b} Pausanias.

{c} The finest kind of wheaten bread

Ver. 9. And he said, Go and tell this people.] {a} Once my people, but now no more so, Loammi, but a people laden with iniquity, and so a people of my wrath and of my curse, no longer owned by me, but disavowed and abandoned, as their fathers once were. {#Ex 32:7}

Hear ye, indeed, but understand not.] This is that heavy and dreadful doom, whereunto for authority’s sake is premised that glorious vision of the Lord sitting on his throne and passing sentence, together with the renewed mission of this prophet on so pleasing an errand. "Hear" ye shall for a mischief to you, but "understand" no more than the seats you sit on, or the pillars you lean against, because stupified, delivered up to a reprobate sense.

And see indeed, ] sc., Both my words, {#Jer 2:31} and my works, when my hand is lifted up especially. {#Isa 26:11} See #Isa 42:18-20.

But perceive not, ] sc., That the cause of your calamity is your sin, the end repentance, the author God, with whom, therefore, it is a righteous thing to punish you with spiritual blindness and hardness of heart, that ye may proceed and perish. Now, then, "if any be ignorant, let him be ignorant" for me. {as #1Co 14:38} And, "let him that is filthy be filthy still," or let him be yet more filthy {#Re 22:11} Abeat in malam crucem, as a father saith to his incorrigible child. See the like angry expressions, #Eze 20:39 Isa 50:11 Ps 81:12,13 Mt 23:32,34.

{a} Verba indignantis. -Piscat.

Ver. 10. Make the heart of this people fat, ] sc., By preaching to them the Word of God, which, because they regard not, it shall become unto them a savour of death, as sweet ointments kill beetles, as a shrill voice hurteth weak ears, as lime is kindled by cold water cast upon it. Of such a fat heart beware. Fat things are less sensible, and fat hearted people are noted by Aristotle for dull and stupid. There is not a greater mischief can befall a man on this side hell than to be given up to a dead and dedolent disposition, such as was that of those {#Eph 4:18} of the Jews in Christ’s time, and ever since, and of many Papists, who continue blind in the midst of so much light, and will not renounce those errors whereof they are clearly convinced.

And make their ears heavy.] Preach them to hell. This is an accidental effect of the word preached, and proceedeth from men’s corruptions. {#Zec 7:11} But as a hard heart, so a heavy ear is a singular judgment. {#Ac 7:51} Antagoras, reciting his "Thebais," a book that he had made, among the Boeotians, and they little regarding him, he folded up his book, and said, Ye may well be called Boeotians, quia boum habetis aures, for ye have oxes’ ears—playing upon the notation of their name. {a}

Lest they should see with their eyes, &c.] Or, That they may not see with their eyes, or hear, &c., but be as so many sots and stocks or statues, that have eyes and see not, &c., to their utter ruin and destruction. Neither is there any the least injustice in such a proceeding. An apprentice hath given him by his master a candle to light him to bed, which he abuseth to light him to game or drink. Hereupon his master taketh it from him, bloweth it out, and sendeth him darkling to bed, in the way whereto he breaketh his arms or his face by some fall: will any man blame the master, since the candle was his, and allowed for use? I think not. Think the like here.

And convert.] Which at times they would not, now they shall not; but having made a match with mischief, they shall henceforth have enough of it; they "love to have it so"; {#Jer 5:31} they "forsake their own mercies"; {#Jon 2:8} they are miserable by their own election.

And be healed, ] i.e., Pardoned and purged. Atque hic pulchre exprimitur, saith one, ordo obtinendae salutis; and here is excellently set forth the order of obtaining salvation. For (1.) It is requisite that we have ears to hear, and eyes to see—not ears stopped, and eyes daubed up as these had; (2.) That what we hear and see, we understand with the heart—that is, that there be yielded thereunto both assent of the mind and consent of the will, this is faith; (3.) That we turn to the Lord by true repentance, and then we are sure of healing, which is by pardon of sin, and power against it.

{a} Erasm. Apophth.

Ver. 11. Then said I, Lord, how long?] sc., Shall this sad stroke upon the souls of this poor people last? Is there no hope of an end? Hast thou utterly cast off Israel? See here the good affection of godly ministers towards even obdurate and obstinate sinners; how deeply and dearly they oft pity them and pray for them, as did also Moses, Samuel, Paul.

Until the cities be wasted, &c.] Till these uncounselable and incorrigible refractories be utterly rooted out by the Babylonians first: and then by the Romans.

Ver. 12. And the Lord have removed men far away.] Judea lay utterly waste for seventy years, insomuch that after the slaughter of Gedaliah, when all—man, woman, and child—fled into Egypt, there was not a Jew left in the country. And in that last desolation by the Romans, such affliction befell them as never had been from the beginning, nor shall be to the world’s end. {#Mr 13:19} After Titus had slain a million of them, and carried away captive ninty-seven thousand more, Adrian the emperor, for their sedition under Barchochach, drove all the Jews utterly out of Jewry, set a sow of white marble over the chief gate of Jerusalem in reproach of their religion, and by proclamation forbade them so much as to look toward that land from any high tower or mountain. {a} Howbeit, they afterwards obtained leave to go in once a year and bewail the destruction of their temple, giving a piece of money to the soldiers; and at this day, when or wherever they build a house, they use to leave about a yard square of it unplastered, on which they write, Zecher lechorban, The memory of the desolation. {b}

{a} Josephus.

{b} Leo Modena.

Ver. 13. But yet in it shall be a tenth, ]{ a} i.e., Some elect left in the land for a reserve. And these are called a tenth—(1.) Because, as the tenths, they are consecrated to God; {#Le 27:30-32} (2.) Because but a few. So that God may say, as once of the cured lepers, "Where are the other nine?" Such were those that looked for the consolation of Israel when Christ came in the flesh, Zacharias, Simeon, Anna, the Marys, Joseph of Arimathea, the apostles, Peter’s converts, &c.

And it shall return and shall be eaten.] Or, It shall, after its return again, be burnt up or removed; so they were to some purpose by the Romans. See on #Isa 6:12.

As a teil tree, or as an oak.] Trees that are durae ac durabiles, hard and long lasting; and although they lose their fruit and leaves, or be cut down, yet

Their substance is in them.] The substance of the matter, the sap remaineth in the trunk and root. {b} Some think there is an allusion in this text to a bank or causeway that went from the king’s house to the temple, and was borne up with trees planted on either side of it; which trees, as they kept up the causeway, so do the godly the state. {#1Ch 26:16,18 1Ki 10:12 2Ch 9:11} Semen sanctum statumen terrae.

{a} It may be rendered God’s tenth. But what meant Lyra to argue from hence that tithes are due to the Church?

{b} In radice et caudice. -Junius, Piscator.

Chapter 7

Ver. 1. And it came to pass.] This is not a superfluous transition, as Augustine {a} maketh it, but importeth that the following discourse is no less to be regarded than the foregoing.

In the days of Ahaz.] That sturdy stigmatic, under whom Isaiah was as Elijah under Ahab; and for the comfort of the godly, prophesied them most sweetly concerning Christ and his kingdom.

The son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.] For whose sake, say the Rabbis, this wretch was thus relieved.

King of Judah.] Titularis, sed non tutelaris, titled but not titled, as it was once said of Culperic, King of France, utpote qui Reip. defuit, non praefuit.

That Rezin the King of Syria.] He is first named as being generalissimo; see of him #2Ki 15:37. He was King of Damascene and Coelesyria.

And Pekah King of Israel.] These two kings had each invaded Judah before with great success. {#2Ch 28:5,8} And heartened thereby, now they join their forces, thinking to make a full conquest, but were as much deceived and disappointed as were the Pope and Spaniard here in 1588; and more than once in Ireland, where Don Aquila with his Spaniards being beaten out, said in open treaty, that when the devil upon the mount showed Christ all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them, he did not doubt but he left out Ireland and kept it for himself.

Went up.] But not in God’s name, Non Dei missu et nutu ut ante, sed proprio motu et ambitione.

But could not prevail against it.] Heb., Could not war—sc., with any good success. They came into the country like thunder and lightning, as duo fulmina belli, two thunderbolts of war, but went out like a snuff.

{a} In Pentat.

Ver. 2. And it was told the house of David, ] i.e., the king and chief officers of the crown and court. Ill news flieth swift, and filleth all places.

Syria is confederate with Ephraim.] Though these two were oft at a deadly feud between themselves, yet they could combine for a mischief to God’s people. So could the Herodians and Pharisees, Herod and Pilate, &c. The devil, doubtless, had a design by these two champions of his to have utterly rooted out the house of David (as he sought also afterwards to do by Herod, Caligula, and others), and so to have prevented Christ’s being "made of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh"; {#Ro 1:3} but that could not be.

And his heart was moved.] Concussum est et conquassatum, Impiety triumpheth in prosperity, trembleth in adversity. Tullus Hostilius, that godless King of Rome, set up Pavor and Pallor for gods to himself. Saul and Ahithophel in distress despaired and despatched themselves; so did Demosthenes, Cato, and other heathen sages, who were without God in the world, and therefore without comfort. Sin maketh men timorous, {#Le 26:36} but righteousness bold. {#Pr 28:1 Ps 27:1} The Spirit of power and of a sound mind are fitly set together. {#2Ti 1:7}

Ver. 3. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah.] Wicked Ahaz shall have a prophet sent him with a promise, if it be but to leave him without excuse. There was also a godly party in the land, whose comfort was aimed at, and for whose sake Shearjashub was also taken along, as carrying comfort in this very name. Portendit enim omnes pios qui divini verbi satu generandi sunt salvos et incolumes fore, divinisque muneribus exornatos.

At the end of the conduit of the upper pool.] Where he is walking and talking about sending to Assyria for help. The place is pointed out for confirmation of the truth of the prophecy. So in the gospel the apostles are foretold where to fetch the ass, where to prepare the passover. This place was without the city, opposite the royal palace, the very same where afterwards Rabshakeh (the fugitive son of our prophet Isaiah, say the Rabbis, but without reason), railed upon the living God. This prophecy here and now delivered, might haply be some support to good Hezekiah under that trial. {#2Ki 18:13-37}

Of the fuller’s field.] Fullers must have store of water, and room enough for the dressing and drying of their clothes. Ministers are by an ancient called Fullones animarum, Fullers of men’s souls.

Ver. 4. Take heed, and be quiet.] Cave et quiesce; or as others render it, Vide ut sileas, see that thou say nothing; fret not, faint not, send no message to the Assyrian, rest by faith upon the Lord of hosts, get a blessed Sabbath of spirit, a well composed frame of soul, for in quietness and confidence consisteth thy safety, as #Isa 30:15.

Fear not, neither be fainthearted.] See on #Isa 7:2.

For the two tails of these smoking firebrands.] By a most elegant metaphor, he nameth not one of these two potentates as not worth naming, but calleth them in contempt a couple of firebrands, such as would do mischief but cannot, because but smoking and not burning, and but the tails of smoking firebrands neither, such as are smoking their last, and shall shortly be utterly extinct. In a word, they have more pride than power, being a mere flash.

Ver. 5. Because Syria, Ephraim, &c.] This was the fruit of their fury fuming out at their noses, {#Isa 7:4} and proving like smoke, which the higher it riseth, the sooner it vanisheth; or like the bubbles blown up into the air by children, into whose eyes they soon fall back again. There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord. {#Pr 21:30] {See Trapp on "Pr 21:30"}

Ver. 6. Let us go up against Judah and vex it.] So they had done separately, and so they think much more to do jointly. Sed aliter Deo visum est. There is a council in heaven that dasheth the mould of all contrary counsels upon earth. {as #Ps 2:4}

And let us make a breach therein for us.] Or, Let us divide it, and share it between us, or set a king over it that may be a vassal to us both. Thus the Pope gave away England primo occupaturo, to him that should first take it in Henry VIII’s days; but he reckoned without his host, as they say.

Even the son of Tabeal.] A Syrian, likely, as Tabrimmon; {#1Ki 15:18} a good Rimmonite; {#2Ki 5:18} so Tabeal a good god. Rimmon was the Syrian’s god. The Chaldee expoundeth it, good, or right for us.

Ver. 7. It shall not stand.] The counsel of the Lord, that shall stand {#Ps 33:11} when the world’s wizards shall be taken in their own craftiness. {#1Co 3:19}

It shall not be.] All their projects are dashed by a word. Video, rideo, saith he that sitteth in heaven, {#Ps 2:4} I look and laugh; and wherein they dealt proudly, I am above them. {#Ex 18:11}

Ver. 8. For the head of Syria is Damascus.] Not Jerusalem, as they haply had contrived it; looking upon Jerusalem as a city fatally founded to bear rule, as one saith of Constantinople.

And the head of Damascus is Rezin.] Let him set his heart at rest, and not reach after the dominion of Judah; lest, falling from his high hopes, he lose that he hath already, and cry out with that ambitionist, Sic mea fata sequor.

And within threescore and five years, ] sc., From the time that Amos foretold it, {#Am 5:27 7:8} that is, from the twenty-fourth year of Uzziah to the sixth of Hezekiah, whenas the ten tribes were carried away by Shalmaneser. {#2Ki 17:3-6} Thus Jerome out of Seder Olam. But I like better Piscator’s computation, which is thus within sixty-five years, that is, from the fourth year of Ahaz, now current, to the twenty-third of Manasseh, when Ephraim ceased indeed to be a people by the command of Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib; whereof see #Ezr 4:2.

Ver 9. And the head of Samariah, Remaliah’s son.] In contempt he hath neither his name nor title of a king given him, but is fairly warned to keep within his bounds; he is not like to hold long that he hath. It is dangerous meddling with Jerusalem. {#Zec 12:2,3,6}

If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.] Jehoshaphat said as much, {#2Ch 20:20} and our Saviour somewhat like. {#Joh 8:20} Isaiah saw the king and people still fluctuating and trembling, notwithstanding the divine promise, and telleth them what to trust to; unless they will trust in God, they will never he soundly settled. Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fear, and maketh a man walk about the world like a conquerer. There is an elegance here in the original that cannot be translated. {a}

{a} Valde brevis sententia est, sed gravis admodum. -Oecolampadius.

Ver. 10. Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz.] Wicked though he were, and under the power of unbelief, yet he shall see that be hath to do with a very gracious and longsuffering God, who, by a wonderful condescension, will needs give him a sign; Inauditum vero, dari signum incredulo. Christ would not so far gratify the unbelieving Pharisees, but calleth them an "evil and bastardly brood" for seeking a sign from heaven. {#Mt 12:39}

Ver. 11. Ask the sign of the Lord.] Not of any other God, to whom thou art addicted.

Thy God.] From whom thou hast deeply revolted; but of whom thou mightest upon thy return be graciously reaccepted.

Ask it either in the depth.] This was a fair offer to so foul a sinner; but all would not do—no, though he should have had a sight of heaven or of hell for a sign; and yet Bellarmine thinketh that one glimpse of hell were enough to work upon the most hard hearted sinner in the world, and to make him yield to anything.

Ver. 12. I will not ask.] All, lewd lowly! "I will not ask"; what a base answer was this of a bedlam Belialist! what a wretched entertainment of such an over bounding mercy! He doth upon the matter say, I will ask no asks; I will try no signs, I know a trick worth two off that; God shall for me keep his signs to himself; I crave no such courtesy at his hands; I can otherwise help myself, viz., by sending to the Assyrian. If the Lord could and would have helped, how happeth it that so lately no less than a hundred and twenty thousand of my subjects were cut off in one day by this Remaliah’s son, as you contemptuously call him?

Neither will I tempt the Lord.] Or, Neither will I make trial of the Lord, as in the former note. Ambrose was mistaken who thought that Ahaz refused to ask or try the Lord, out of modesty and humility; rather it was out of pervicacy, or, at best, hypocrisy. Hic descendamus in nostras conscientias, saith good Oecolampadius. Here let us each descend and dive into his own conscience, to see whether we also have not matched Ahaz in his madness, or at least wise coasted too near upon his unkind usage of the Lord, by rejecting his sweet offers of grace and motions of mercy, by slighting his holy sacraments, those signs and seals of the righteousness that is by faith. Adsit fides, et aberit periculum. Let faith be near then danger is absent.

Ver. 13. Hear ye now, O house of David.] But shamefully degenerate from your thrice worthy progenitors, and strangely forgetful of God’s promises for a perpetual succession; which if ye remembered and believed, ye would not be so causelessly terrified.

Is it a small thing for you.] How heartily angry is the prophet, how blessedly blown up in this case to so great dishonour done to God! We should be so too.

To weary men.] To vex and molest. The Septuagint have it, "to strive," or "wrestle {a} a fall with men." By men he meaneth himself and his fellow prophets, whom Ahaz and his courtiers slighted and misused. Let this comfort God’s faithful ministers under the world’s indignities and injuries. See #Mt 5:11,12.

But will ye weary, my God?] Whom I serve in my spirit, and now no more thy God {b} {as #Isa 7:11} since thou hast refused to be ruled by him; and that after manifest conviction and greatest importunity to bring thee to a better temper.

{a} Agonem redditis.

{b} Non autem tuum, O rex Ahase. -Piscat.

Ver. 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.] Give it you, ingratiis vestris, without your leave, of his own proffer. "If we believe not, yet God remaineth faithful." {#2Ti 2:13 Ro 3:3} The house of David was as it were great with child with Christ and with God’s promises in him; therefore, to be sure, it could not be rooted out, as these two kings designed, before Christ were come into the world. Hence his wonderful conception and birth is made here a sign of his people’s safety here and salvation hereafter. And had Ahaz and his people believed this latter, they would not have much doubted of the former, but rather argued with St Paul, "Having given us his Son, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" {#Ro 8:32}

A sign.] A singular sign—a sign both from above and from beneath; for he joined lumen suae aeternitatis limo tuae mortalitatis, { a} the light of his eternity to the mud of thy mortality, as a father hath it. {#Joh 1:14 Php 2:6,7}

Behold.] A note of attention and admiration. One compareth it to the sounding of a trumpet before some notable proclamation; another to a hand in the margin pointing to some remarkable matter. So doth this Ecce to Christ’s incarnation as a thing in God’s decree and to his people’s faith already present.

A virgin.] Hagnalmah, that famous virgin, {b} so long since spoken of; {#Ge 3:15} that female glory, the Virgin Mary, with whom the angel spake concerning man’s salvation, {#Mt 1:18,23 Lu 1:27,35} as the devil before had done with the first woman, concerning the means of his destruction. Of this virgin mother the sybils are said thus to have prophesied also:—

“ Virginis in corpus voluit dimittere caelo

Ipse Deus prolem, cure nuntiat Angelus almae

Matri, quae miseros contracta sorde levabit.”

See more in Virgil’s 4th Eclog., and Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. x. cap. 27. Some tell us that when this blessed virgin brought forth there was seen at Rome about the sun the likeness of a woman carrying a child in her arms, and a voice heard saying, Pan, the great God, is born into the world.

Shall conceive and bear a son.] Shiloh, the son of her secundine {#Ge 49:10} the true Melchizedek, as man without father, and as God without mother. {#Heb 7:3 Lu 1:35} But how blank were the Jews when they saw the issue of their late Jewish virgin turned to a daughter! and how silly is that saying of theirs in their Tulmud; {c} For our sins, which are many, the coming of the Messiah is deferred. Jachiades, upon those words in #Da 12:4, would have us believe that God sealed up the time of Christ’s coming, revealing it to Daniel only. But why take they not notice that the very time of Messiah the prince’s coming is set down by Daniel? {#Da 9:24-27} and since that time is long since past, let them either condemn the prophet of vanity, or else confess with us that Christ is come already.

And shall call.] Or, Thou (virgin) shalt call, as having the right of nomination.

His name Immanuel.] That is, God with us. {as #Mt 1:23} {See Trapp on "Mt 1:23"} Cuius nomen illius numen facile declarabit. Christ, indeed, was not called by this name Immanuel that we anywhere read of, as neither was Solomon by the name of Jedediah, {#2Sa 12:25,26} unless it be #Isa 8:8; but the import of this name is most truly affirmed and acknowledged to be fully made good in him.

{a} Bernard.

{b} Haec simul est genitrix, filia, sponsa Dei. Tot tibi sunt dotes Virgo, quot sidera caelo.

{c} Sanhed., cap. xi.

Ver. 15. Butter and honey shall he eat, ] i.e., He shall be fed with children’s meat, after the manner of other infants; for, as he shall take upon him our nature, so shall he also partake with us in our natural infirmities, feeding, as other children there did, on "butter and honey," {a} not able to discern good from evil, through want of judgment, till he came to be of discretion, {#Lu 2:52 De 1:39} that he might be in all things like unto us, and that we might once come "unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"; {#Eph 4:13} that we might become "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might"; able to "do all things through Christ, that strengtheneth us" {#Php 4:7} Stumble not at his weakness, but gather assurance of his love who so sweetly joined his majesty to our meanness—his might to our weakness, abasing himself to the shape and state of a feeble, weak, and helpless child.

{a} Noematica periphrasis.

Ver. 16. For before the child.] Hannagnar, this child Shear-jashub here present, {#Isa 7:3} the proper sign of this present deliverance {as #Isa 8:4-7} made so by occasion of the mention of Immanuel, that was to be born, many years after, of a virgin.

The land that thou abhorrest.] Or, By which thou art vexed. {as #Isa 7:6} Confer #Ex 1:12 Nu 22:3. So the Danes were abhorred by the English, the French by the Sicilians, as appeared by those bloody vespers.

Shall be left of both her kings.] Who shall be cut off by a seasonable vengeance. See this fulfilled {#2Ki 15:30 16:9} within a year or two of this prophecy.

Ver. 17. The Lord shall bring upon thee, &c., ] sc., In case thou believe not. Thou and thine shall perish, notwithstanding this present deliverance. The Lord will "destroy thee after that he hath done thee good." {as #Jos 24:20} Et cuius verbis credere noluisti, eius verberibus fidem habebis. Thou shalt soon have enough of the Assyrian, in whom thou wilt needs trust, and not in me. Him thou shalt call in for help against others; but he, having taken a taste of so fertile a soil and wealthy a state, shall at length overrun all, like as afterwards also the old Gauls did Italy, and the Saracens the Greek empire.

Ver. 18. The Lord will hiss for the fly, &c.] Out of Egypt and the confines. The people of which parts are fitly called flies, say expositors, for their numerosity, swiftness, stench, impudence, harsh language, ob vocis absonae stridorem. The country being hot, and lying low, aboundeth with flies aad gnats, such as proud Pharaoh was vexed with.

And for the bee that is in Assyria.] That country is full of woods, and so of bees, to which also the Assyrians are fitly compared, as for their numerousness, their military skill and comely marshalling of their forces; their golden armour, their industry and constance in battle; so for their force and fury especially. Virgil, speaking of bees, saith—

“ Illis ira modum superat, laesaeque venenum

Inspirant stimulis, et vitam in vulnere linquunt.”

See the Babylonical fierceness and cruelty graphically described. {#Jer 51:34} It was so much the greater, because sent for and set on they were by God’s hiss or whistle.

Ver. 19. And they shall come, and shall rest all of them.] As flies do upon flesh, and as bees upon trees. They shall seize all.

In the desolate valleys, &c.] Hereby is set forth, saith Calvin, that in no lurking place any of the Jews should be secreted or secured from their enemies, but that they shall range about and rage everywhere throughout the whole land. And, because all this is done at a "hiss," the backwardness of Christians is condemned, saith Musculus, who cannot by most earnest preaching of long continuance be brought to do as God requireth them.

Ver. 20. In the same day shall the Lord shave.] Not shear, but shave, with a razor, to set forth the calamity of war, which wasteth and taketh away all, and maketh clean work, as we use to say: Nihil in toto regno intactum reliquit, sed omnia a summo ad imum expilavit Assyrius. The Assyrian is here called God’s razor, because his instrument, to shave as he pleaseth, though haply by exceeding his commission {as #Zec 1:15} he might prove a "deceitful razor," {as #Ps 52:2} that, instead of shaving the hair, lanceth the flesh.

That is hired.] Whether by Ahaz himself, but for a better purpose, {#2Ki 16:7,8} not to harm, but to help, though it happened otherwise; or by God, who paid the Assyrian for his hire the lands of Israel and of Syria. See the like #Eze 29:18,19. Barbers use not their razors but for reward.

Beyond the river.] Euphrates, that ran between Syria and Assyria, but could not keep off the Assyrian destroyer.

The head, and the hair of the feet.] Elsewhere called "head and tail"; that is, high and low, prince and peasant.

And it shall also consume the beard.] (1.) The priests, {#Ps 133:2} as some sense it; or (2.) As others, all the comeliness and virility of the Jewish nation.

Ver. 21. A man shall nourish two sheep.] He that was wont to say, Mille meae Siculis errant in montibus agnae, { a} shall now be reduced to so great penury as to be glad of two sheep, and have scarce a young heifer left for his necessary subsistence, who was wont to have many ploughs going. They shall not now, as heretofore, "join house to house, and land to land"; they shall not keep race horses, or hunting dogs, &c.

{a} Virg. Eclog.

Ver. 22. For the abundance of milk.] Yielded him by his two cows, through the paucity of people, and plenty of grass.

He shall eat butter.] Eat his fill, since there are none to buy it from him; none to pull it out of his mouth.

For butter and honey shall every one eat.] Not delicacies and dainties, {as #Isa 5:12} but mean fare, such as he can get; as wild honey, such as the Baptist fed on.

Ver. 23. Where there were a thousand vines.] Which once were to the sensual Jews an occasion of drunkenness and forgetfulness of God. {#Isa 5:11,12} A Lapide on #Isa 5:2, telleth us that at Herbipolis in Germany there are abundance of vineyards, so that they have more wine there than water; and such huge wine vessels, that the vintners have doors in the sides of them whereby they enter, as Diogenes did into his tub, to make them clean and fit for their use.

Shall be briers and thorns.] Agri quondam vitibus consiti, erunt obsiti vepribus, et dumetis densissimis hirsuti.

Ver. 24. With arrows and with bows shall they come.] For their necessary defence against the wild beasts that haunt those desert places, propter densa ferarum lustra hominibus infesta. This was threatened. {#Le 26:22}

Ver. 24. And on all the hills that shall be digged, &c.] A good translation of a text is instead of a good commentary. Some very learned {a} render the words thus: And on the hills that had wont to be digged with mattock or spade, that no fear of brier or thorn might come thither, shall a place also be for sending in of oxen and the treading of lesser cattle; which shall range and graze freely, say they by way of gloss, after their wonted manner in those places, from whence they and their owners had formerly been ejected and excluded by the violent oppressions and undue enclosures of the richer and greater sort. {#Isa 5:17}

{a} Assemb. Annot.

Chapter 8

Ver. 1. Take thee a great roll.] Or, Volume; so called either because it was rolled up together like the web upon the pin; or, as others, because it revealeth that unto us which otherwise we knew not. Blasphemous was that jeer of the Jews who called the evangel or gospel Aven gillaion, a volume of vanity. And no better was that of Bishop Bonner’s chaplain, who called the Bible, that blessed book, in scorn, his "little pretty God’s book." This one small piece of it is here styled grande volumen, a great roll, for the fulness of the matter in fewness of words.

And write in it with a man’s pen.] That is, plainly and clearly, {a} that when it shall be fastened to the gate of the temple, or some way else be exposed to public view, "he that runneth may read it," {#Hab 2:2} and he that readeth may understand it. And not be so written as that was, {#Da 5:5,7} which none could read and unriddle but the prophet himself. Nor be, as Aristotle’s Acroamatics, published and yet unpublished. {b}

Concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz.] Make speed to the spoil, hasten the prey; words whereby God calleth the King of Assyria out of his country to take the spoil speedily of Syria and Samaria; both which groaned for his coming, and hanged for his mowing. This was afterwards given for a name to Isaiah’s newly born babe, viz., at his circumcision; and that before two sufficient witnesses, who might attest both the child’s name and the reason of it, which the prophet likely told them. Such another compound name was Shear-jashub, {#Isa 7:3} Zorobabel, Hagio-Christophorites, &c, and among us Keep-Sabbath, Hope-still, &c.

{a} Chald. vertit Scripturam claram {see #Isa 30:8}

{b} Εκδεδομενος και ουκ εκδεδομενος

Ver. 2. And I took unto me faithful witnesses.] So they might be, and yet not godly men; as Galba and our Richard III were said to be bad men, but yet good princes. Some think that this Uriah was the same with him that brought in the altar of Damascus. He had been better perhaps, but at last revolted; as did Demas, of whom Dorotheus saith that he became a priest in an idol temple at Thessalonica; and Damascen, who turned Mohammedan, as some write. Zechariah, the other witness, was a man of great eminence, as being grandfather, by the mother’s side, to good Hezekiah.

Ver. 3. And I went unto the prophetess.] Prophets’ wives were anciently called prophetesses; like as bishops’ wives, saith A Lapide the Jesuit, were also called bishopesses, presbyters’ wives, presbyteresses, deacons’ wives, deaconesses. Jesuits have still their Jesuitesses, as majors their majoresses, &c.

Maher-shalal-hash-baz, ] q.d., Make haste, come away to so rich a booty, to the rifling and ruinating of these two potent and opulent kingdoms. God hereby seemeth to speak of the Assyrian, as Cicero once did his friend, Si dormis, expergiscere: si stas, ingredere: si ingrederis, curre: si curtis, advola, &c. and at the calling of this child by his name, the prediction was remembered, and the thing ascertained.

Ver. 4. For before the child, &c.] That is, within a year or two; for it was an extraordinary thing that is reported of Maximilian the Emperor, that he was eight years old at least ere he spake anything, but afterwards he became a fluent and elegant speaker.

The riches of Damascus.] Riches do many times change their masters, and kingdoms are oft turned upside down, when they fall to persecuting the people of God especially, as did these Syrians and Israelites.

Before the king of Assyria.] Spoils taken from the enemy were and are usually carried in triumph before the conqueror.

Ver. 5. The Lord spake also unto me again, saying.] Heb., And the Lord further added to speak unto me. Here the Israelites, apart from the Syrians, are specially threatened with destruction, because they abandoned their brethren, the two other tribes, and trusted to confederacies and aids of foreign princes.

Ver. 6. Forasmuch as this people.] The ten revolted tribes, not worth the naming. {see #Isa 7:6}

Refuse the waters of Shiloah.] Slight and contemn the small means and strength of the Church: Humilem et obscurum stature regni Zionis.

That run softly] At the foot of Mount Zion, creeping and crooking, slowly and slyly; called therefore, as some think, the dragon’s well. {#Ne 2:13} Caesar {a} saith the like of the river Araris, probably Sone; and the poet Claudian of the Nile,

“ Lene fluit Nilus, sed cunctis amnibus extat

Utilior, nullas coafessus murmure vires.”

And rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son.] "Rejoice in a thing of nought," as Amos’s expression is in #Am 6:13. The Hebrew here hath it thus: And joy is to Rezin, &c.; that is, the Syrians and Israelites both are much cheered up to see that Judah is at so great an under, and so easy to be overcome, as they think.

{a} De Bell. Gall., lib. i.

Ver. 7. Wow therefore behold the Lord bringeth.] They that slighted still running Shiloah, shall have the waters of Euphrates, strong and many, to overwhelm and swallow them up. God loveth to retaliate.

Even the king of Assyria and all his glory, ] i.e., His armies and forces, wherein he glorieth. See #Isa 10:8 36:9.

And he shall.] Or, It shall, viz., the river Euphrates, whose exundation is here graphically described, and thereby depainted to the life; {a} the practice of tyrants in overrunning whole countries as by a deluge, as did the Assyrian of old, and as doth the great Turk at this day.

{a} Καθ υποτυπωσιν.

Ver. 8. And he shall pass through Judah.] After Israel subdued; but yet with a difference, {as #Isa 27:7,8} for the Israelites and Syrians were utterly drowned with this proud flood, but the Jews were only drenched. It "reached but to the neck," their head was ever above water; and that because Immanuel, better than any Christopher, bore them up.

And the stretching out of his wings.] That is, of his immense forces; the Assyrian, by another allegory, being here compared to an eagle, which covereth her whole prey with her wings.

Shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.] Shall surely, unless thou, O Lord Christ (who art king of this country by a specialty), shalt please to prevent it. Learn we likewise in all our straits or ailments to run to our Immanuel, and implore his help, remembering that he is God with us, he is a man amidst us, cum Patre dator, inter nos petitor, as Augustine hath it; he gives with the Father, he prays with the suitor; he will deliver and defend his subjects and suppliants.

Ver. 9. Associate yourselves, O ye people.] In confidence of her king Immanuel’s succour (help) and support, the Church thus holily insulteth over her most active enemies, foretelling their utter subversion. "The virgin daughter of Zion" doth the like, {#Isa 37:22} as binding upon her invincible champion Immanuel, {#Isa 8:2,3} whose very name here putteth spirits into her, and maketh her take ‘heart of grace,’ as they say. Basil biddeth the Christians in time of persecution boldly bespeak their adversaries in these words, though somewhat otherwise rendered by the Septuagint, by mistake of a letter. If again ye prevail, ye shall yet again be vanquished. And truly of the Church it may be foretold better than of Troy—

“ Victa tamen vinces, eversaque Troia resurges:

Obruet hostiles illa ruina domes.”

- Ovid, Fast.

Gird yourselves and ye shall be broken in pieces.] "Ye shall," "ye shall," without fail, though ye little believe it. It shall be done (as is therefore here so often threatened), as sure as the coat is on your back, or the heart in your belly.

Ver. 10. Take counsel together.] Do so if you will; but when all is done, the counsel of the Lord shall stand, and you shall consult nothing better than shame to yourselves.

Speak a word.] All these expressions serve to set forth the bitter hatred borne by these wicked ones against God’s poor people, whom they sought by all means to mischieve, but could not.

For God is with us.] Heb., Immanuel. That sweet name was to the godly party mel in ore, melos in aure, iubilum in corde, honey in the mouth, song in the ear, a joyful shout in the heart, and hence so oft recited; these heavenly birds, having got such a note, record it over and over.

Ver. 11. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand.] That is, with his Spirit accompanying his word, and setting it home to my heart, that so I might speak from the heart to the heart. Some render it, taking me by the hand, {a} fidelis paedagogi instar, like a loving and faithful schoolmaster, and thereby pulling me back that I should not walk in the common road.

That I should not walk in the way of this people.] Not howl with those wolves, not tune my fiddle to the bass of the times, not follow a multitude to do evil, but rather to keep a constant countermotion to the many, and rather to go right alone than not at all. Cassianus {b} gives very good counsel, Vive ut pauci, ut cum paucis inveniri merearis in regno Dei, Live thou as but few else do, that with those few thou mayest be found in God’s kingdom. Now, none can do thus but only they to whom the Lord both speaketh, and layeth hold also upon their hand that they be not "led away with the error of the wicked." {#2Pe 3:17}

{a} Sicut apprehensione manus.

{b} In Epist.

Ver. 12. Say ye not a confederacy.] A confederacy, a confederacy—scil., between Syria and Samaria—is made against us; this was vox populi, voice of the people, all the talk in those days, and everybody’s mouth was full of it, and heart afraid of it. But say ye not so, comply not, consent not; chime not in with the spirits and speeches of other men. Away with all such despairing language. For help against which,

Ver. 13. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself.] Even your sweetest Immanuel; non sanctificatur autem nisi in eam credatar; sanctify him, I say, by believing in your hearts and confessing with your mouths, {#Ro 10:9} and walking "as becometh the gospel, … in nothing terrified by your adversaries." {#Php 1:27,28}

And let him be your fear.] That is, the object of your fear, {as #Ge 31:53 Ps 76:11} where God is called "Fear" by an appellative proper. So the Chaldee paraphrase frequently calleth God Dechilah. The Greeks call him Θεος, of Δεος, fear. Bernard saith well, God is to be feared as a Lord, honoured as a Father, loved as a spouse. This fear of God is a sovereign remedy against the fear of the creature, and is therefore here and elsewhere opposed to it. Surely, as one fire driveth out another, and as Moses’ serpent swallowed up the sorcerers’ serpents, so here.

Ver. 14. And he shall be for a sanctuary.] In quo serventur, et in lapidem, in quo firmiter stent pit: impii vero impingant, ruant et conterantur, a sanctuary of safety, a stone of stability, though to the wicked he prove otherwise—even a stone of offence to stumble them, and a snare to take them in for their hurt. Christ, as he is Piorum rupes, a rock of refuge to the godly; so he is reorum scopulas, a rock of revenge to dash in pieces the impenitent, as Valerius Maximus once said the tribunal of Lucius Cassius was. This was chiefly fulfilled in the time of the gospel. See #Ro 9:23 1Pe 2:6 Mt 21:42 Ac 4:11.

But for a stone of stumbling.] Petra perditionis, to all that refuse to be ruled by him and to rely upon him; with these froward ones he will show himself froward. {#Ps 18:26}

Ver. 15. And many among them shall stumble and fall.] So may God’s elect, but not so as to be broken, because they cannot fall below a supporting hand of God. {#Ps 37:24} Utter prolapsion cannot possibly befall them.

And be broken, and snared, and taken.] The Septuagint here add of their own, And men shall be taken that are in a supposed safety, living as if they were out of the reach of God’s rod.

Ver. 16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law, &c.] Et lateat, et lucent. let it both be hidden and be conspicuous. Let thy doctrine, saith God here to the prophet, contained in that great roll, {#Isa 8:1} or otherwise published (concerning Immanuel especially), be concealed from these profane scoffers, but imparted to my disciples that "sit down at my feet to receive my word." {#De 33:3} Those Jews in Christ’s time had the testimony, that is, the gospel preached to them; but they were woefully blinded; so that when the Messiah, to whom all their odd signs so well agreed, was among them, they could by no means own him and receive him. {#Mt 2:5 Joh 1:11} That Italian translation of the New Testament which the Jews lately had, is, for their abuse of it, called in and taken from them. Pope Gregory IX caused their Talmud, wherein Christian religion is so much blasted, to be burned; and the like did Julius III about the year 1553.

Seal the law among my disciples.] Such as have been θεοδιδακτοι, "taught of God," taught "as the truth is in Jesus." {#Eph 4:20,21} Seal the law, that "perfect law of liberty," the gospel, for such, for their behoof and support in these calamitous times.

Ver. 17. And I will wait upon the Lord.] I will patiently and peaceably submit to his holy will in the exercise of mine office, hoping that I shall be acknowledged and approved of him, though men reject me, and are for their obstinace deservedly rejected of God.

And I will look for him.] As it were with outstretched neck. Difficile opus et arduum! Difficult and arduous work! Good men find it more easy to bear evil than to wait till the promised good be enjoyed. {#Heb 10:36}

Ver. 18. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord.] That is, my disciples and converts, who have the same conflict with me. {#Php 1:30}

Are for signs and for wonders.] Hissed and hooted at as so many monsters by the mad world, even beside itself in point of salvation; and accounting the saints, as the Spaniards were wont to say of the Portuguese, Pocos et focos, few and foolish; and as the Turks count all fools to be saints, so the most count all saints to be fools. These shall one day cry, Nos insensati. We are fools.

Ver. 19. And when they shall say unto you.] The prophet’s wholesome advice to his disciples. God had hid his face and withdrawn his favour from this people; therefore they would help themselves as they could, by doing as Saul did when forsaken of God, by running to witches and wizards, resolving with her in the poet—

“ Flectere si nequo superos, Acheronta movebo.”

That peep and that mutter.] Utter their predictions in broken and low language, grunting or grumbling them out in dark and doubtful expressions, as distrusting their own art.

Should not a people seek unto their God?] See #Jer 2:11 Mic 4:5. Our God is a rewarder of all that diligently seek him, or that "seek him out" {#Heb 11:6} -viz., when he hath withdrawn himself and hid his face. {as #Isa 8:17}

For the living to the dead, ] q.d., Is that handsome? is it agreeable to right reason? O stultam commutationem! vocat nos Deus vivus, et nos recurrimus ad mortuos. {a}

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 20. To the law and to the testimonies.] Lo, this is the way, walk in it, for the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. {#Pr 6:23} They have Moses and the prophets; {#Lu 16:29} these must be the men of our counsel, {#Ps 119:24} even these lively and life giving oracles, {#Ac 7:38} not dead idols or damned necromancers.

There is no light in them.] Either of truth or of comfort. Good expressions such kind of creatures may use, it may be; but si magicae, Deus non vult tales; si piae non per tales: their false lights serve but to light them into utter darkness. Happy was Oecolampadius, an excellent commentator upon this prophet, who made good the splendour of his own name, when (beside the light he lent to "the law and testimonies") he could lay his hand on his breast when he lay dying of the plague, and say, Here’s plenty of light got from the Scripture.

Ver. 21. And they shall pass through it.] To and again, as uncertain of their way, and even at their wit’s end.

When they shall be hungry.] Cum esurierit et efferbuerit, as a pot boiling casteth up scum.

And curse their king.] Ahaz, say some; Zedekiah, say others.

And their God.] As those Antichristians. {#Re 16:9} The Chinese whip their gods when they please them not.

And look upward.] As the hunger bitten wolf howls against heaven.

Ver. 22. Trouble and darkness, &c.] A huge heap of words all to one sense; to set forth their deepest distress without all hope of help.

Chapter 9

Ver. 1. Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such.] Dimness of anguish had been forethreatened. {#Isa 8:22} Now this is added for an allay, as being a promise of a mitigation of their misery, and yet further of Christ’s incarnation, which is the sum of all the good news in the world. Evangelistam hic agit Isaias, non prophetam, saith one, {a} i.e., Isaiah here acteth the part of an evangelist rather than of a prophet. He foretelleth, saith another interpreter, {b} that as the Assyrians preyed upon Samaria and Galilee, so shall the Lord Christ also prey upon them spiritually, and for their greatest good. {#Isa 9:2} And as Tiglathpileser first carried away a few out of Galilee, lightly afflicting the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, and then Shalmaneser, more grievously afflicting her, carried captive those and all the rest of the ten tribes; similarily Christ, first preaching in Galilee, converted and called from there various of his disciples, and afterwards, when he was lifted up from the earth, he drew all men unto him. {#Joh 12:32} He rode upon his white horse, the apostles, conquering the world, and to conquer. {#Re 6:2} And hence that sincere joy in the hearts of his servants, far exceeding that of harvest, which is not without great toil, or that of soldiers dividing the spoil, which is not achieved without confused noise and garments rolled in blood. {#Isa 9:2,3,5} {c}

By the way of the sea.] The sea of Tiberias, {#Joh 21:1} or lake of Genesareth. {#Lu 5:1}

Beyond Jordan.] Or, Beside Jordan.

In Galilee of the Gentiles.] {See Trapp on "Mt 4:15"}

{a} Scult.

{b} A Lap.

{c} Oecolamp.

Ver. 2. The people that walked in darkness.] Liberationis lucem promittit. {See Trapp on "Mt 4:16"}

Ver. 3. Thou hast multiplied the nation.] Or, "Never since thou multipliedst this people, didst thou give them such joy"—i.e., such matter of joy as now thou intendest to do. Or thus, "Thou wilt multiply this nation, thou wilt increase their joy"; especially by sending thy Son, who is called "the gift," {#Joh 4:10} "the benefit," {#1Ti 6:2} such as wherein all discontents are soon swallowed up. Everlasting joy shall be upon the heads of the Lord’s ransomed ones, they "shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." {#Isa 35:10}

They joy before thee.] Pleasure there must be in the ways of God, because therein men let out their souls into God, the fountain of all good. Christ’s chariot is paved with love. {#So 3:9,10}

According to the joy in harvest.] And a great deal more. {#Ps 4:7} They do "over abound exceedingly with joy." {#2Co 7:4} Joys they have "unspeakable, and full of glory." {#1Pe 1:8}

And as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.] Wherein the pleasure is usually more than the profit, {#Ps 119:162} and yet the profit oft very great too, {as #2Ch 20:25} and as at the sack of Constantinople, at the wealth whereof the Turks themselves wondered, and derided their folly that possessing so much they would bestow so little in the defence of themselves and their country. {a}

{a} Turkish History, fol. 345.

Ver. 4. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, ] i.e., Thou hast disenthralled and delivered thy people from the burdenous yokes of their enemies, both corporal and spiritual; that taking thine easy yoke, thy light burden upon them, they might "serve thee without fear in holiness and righteousness before thee all the days of their lives." {#Lu 1:74} The Jewish doctors expound all this of Sennacherib’s tyranny, and their deliverance therefrom. But the prophet intendeth a further matter {#Isa 9:6,7}

And the staff of his shoulder.] Wherewith he was beaten and bastinadoed. {thrashed} See #Isa 14:5.

The rod of his oppressor.] Metaphora ab agasonibus, a metaphor from horse drivers, who lay on without mercy. Whipping among the Turks hath been usually inflicted even upon the greatest bashaws of the court upon the least displeasure of the tyrant, especially if they be not natural Turks born. {a} The poor captives met with hard measure this way at Babylon; but Satan’s slaves with much harder. Christ fitly noteth here that the rod wherewith the devil whippeth sinners is their own lusts and passions; yea, herewith they punish themselves, by his instigation, as the lion beateth himself with his own tail.

As in the day of Midian.] Beaten by Gideon. {#Jud 7:21} So "the day of Gibeah." {#Ho 9:9} "The day of Jerusalem." {#Ps 137:7} The battle of Agincourt, the Sicilian vespers, &c. Gideon, by the sound of trumpet and shining of lamps out of earthen broken vessels, overcame those Midianites; so by the trumpet of his Word and light of the gospel, carried through the world by weak instruments, hath Christ confounded his adversaries, {#1Jo 2:14} as one fitly maketh the comparison. See it largely prosecuted in sixteen particulars in Cornelius A Lapide upon the text.

{a} Turkish History, 361.

Ver. 5. For every battle of the warrior, &c.] Great is the woe of war; when death hews its way through a wood of men, in a minute of time, from the mouth of a murdering piece, when fire and sword waste at pleasure. The birth of Christ comforteth against all the miseries of war; whereunto therefore it is opposed both here, and #Mic 5:1,2; {See Trapp on "Mic 5:1"} {See Trapp on "Mic 5:2"} Now, then, as the Israelites frighted and flighted the Midianites with saying, Hic Gideon, Here’s Gideon; so may we our spiritual enemies by crying Hic Iesus; Hoc in signo vincemus. This is Jesus, lets us conquer under his standard. Here’s Jesus; we are "more than conquerors through him that loved us."

But this shall be with burning, ] i.e., With the fire of the Holy Ghost, saith Oecolampadius, burning up our corruptions, {as #Isa 4:4} and moulding us into a new man. Diodate senseth it thus: The world shall be filled with blood and wars, and at last shall be consumed with fire at the day of judgment.

Ver. 6. For unto us a child is born.] That child foretold of. {#Isa 7:14} Christ shall be born in the fulness of time, as sure as if he were born already. This was "good tidings of great joy to all people." {#Lu 2:10} The Hebrew besher, for good tidings, cometh of bashar, for flesh; because, say some critics, there should be a taking of flesh, God manifested in the flesh, which should be the best tidings. Angels first brought it, and were glad of such an errand. Still they pry into this mystery, Trono capite et propenso collo {#1Pe 1:12} and can never sufficiently wonder to see that μεγας Θεος should be μικρον Βρεφος, the "great God, a little child"; regens sidera, sugens ubera; that he who ruleth the stars should be sucking at the breast; that the eternal Word should not be able to speak a word; that he that should come in the clouds should appear in clouts {a} {#Lu 2:12} in vilibus et veteribus indumentis, saith Ludolphus, in old tattered rags, in such clouts as we cover wounds and beggars’ sores withal, say others. Well might Synesius call Christ viscerum ingentium partum, the birth of huge bowels. For the time of his birth, Christ living just thirty-six years and a half, saith one, and dying at Easter, it must needs follow that he was born about the middle of the month Tisri, which answereth to part of our September, at the Feast of Tabernacles, &c., to which feast the word εσκηνωσεν, in #Joh 1:14 probably alludeth.

Unto us a Son is given.] That "only begotten Son of God." {#Joh 3:16} begotten of the substance of his Father before all beginnings, after an unspeakable manner. The Scripture speaketh of it usually by way of circumlocution, {#Col 1:15 Re 19:12} or giveth us only some glimpse by way of similitude. {as #Heb 1:3} This eternal Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, assumed our nature. {#Heb 2:17} He "overtook" it, as the Greek word signifieth, as the shepherd doth his sheep that has run astray. A shepherd with a sheep upon his shoulder engraved upon the communion cup in the primitive times of the gospel, imported the same notion.

And the government shall be upon his shoulders.] The power and majesty of the kingdom is committed to him by his Father, {#Isa 22:22 Mt 28:18} and he hath strength enough to manage it. Princeps est baiulus Reip. The Hebrews call a prince Nassi, because, Atlas-like, he is to bear up the commonwealth, and not to overload his subjects. Christ, both as prince of his Church, and as high priest also, beareth up and beareth out his people, "helping their infirmities." {#Ro 8:26} {See Trapp on "Ro 8:26"}

And his name shall be called.] Heb., He shall call his name; (1.) God his Father shall; or, (2.) Every true believer shall call him and count him all this. And sure it is, had we but skill to spell all the letters in this name of Christ, it would be "a strong tower" {#Pr 18:10} unto us, better than that of David builded for an armoury, and completely furnished. {#So 4:4} Compare this text with #1Co 1:30, and see all our doubts answered. Are we perplexed? He is our "Wonderful, Counsellor," and "made unto us of God wisdom." Are we in depths of distress? He is "the mighty God," our "redemption." Want we grace and his image? He is the "everlasting Father," our "sanctification." Doth the guilt of sin sting us? He is the "Prince of peace," our "righteousness."

Wonderful.] Heb., A miracle or wonder, {b} viz., in all his counsels and courses, especially for his; glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. {#Ex 15:11}

Counsellor.] The Septuagint here calleth him "the Angel of the great Council." He is set forth as clothed with a "garment down to the foot," {#Re 1:13} which is the dress of counsellors at law, who are therehence called gentlemen of the long robe. {#Re 3:17 Pr 8:14 Jer 32:19} But because counsellors are but subjects, it is added in Christ’s style,

The mighty God.] Able to effect his own counsels for the behoof of his subjects. St Paul calleth him "the great God," {#Tit 2:13} and "God above all to be blessed for ever." {#Ro 9:5} God the potentate, so the Septuagint renders this text: God the giant, so Oecolampadius.

The everlasting Father.] The Father of eternity; "the King eternal, immortal." {#1Ti 1:17} Ferdinand the emperor, on his deathbed, would not acknowledge the title Invictissimus, most unconqerable, but commanded his counsellor to call him Ferdinand without more addition. Christ is also the Author of eternity to all his people whom he hath begotten again to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them. {#1Pe 1:3,4}

The Prince of peace.] Pacis omnimodae, of all kinds of peace, outward, inward, or of country and of conscience, temporal and eternal. Of all these he is the Prince, as having full power to bestow them; for he is Son to the "God of peace"; {#Ro 16:20} he was brought from heaven with that song of peace; {#Lu 2:14} he himself purged our sins, and made our peace; {#Heb 1:3 Eph 2:14} returned up to heaven with that farewell of peace; {#Joh 14:27} left to the world the gospel of peace; {#Eph 2:17} whose ministers are messengers of peace; {#Ro 10:15} whose followers are the children of peace. {#Lu 10:6-9} Wherefore Christ doth far better deserve than our Henry VII did, to be styled the "Prince of peace." Especially since,

{a} "Swaddling bands," εσπαργανωμενον. Induit sordes nostras, He condescended to our rags.

{b} παραδοξασμος.—Symmach. Ipsa admirabilitas. -A Lap.

Ver. 7. Of the increase of his government there shall be no end.] Here the mere final in the middle of the word Lemarbeh hath occasioned some to give many guesses at the reason of it; yea, to conceit many mysteries, where wiser men can find no such matter. It is a good note which one giveth here, viz., that the more Christ’s government increaseth in the soul, the more peace there is. See #Isa 32:17 Ps 119:136.

To establish it.] Or, Support it, uphold it. Βασιλευς as if Βασις του λαου. A king hath his name in Greek from being the foundation of the people. This King of kings is only worthy of that name; he is not maintained and supported by us and our subsidies, but we by him, and by the supplies of his Spirit. {#Php 1:19} All our springs are in him. {#Ps 87:7}

The zeal of the Lord of hosts, ] i.e., The philanthropy {#Tit 3:4} and free grace of God. {a} Dilexisti me, Domine, magis quam te, You love me, oh God, more than yourself, saith a father. Let us reciprocate, by being zealous of good works, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. And when Satan telleth us of our no merits, tell we him that the "zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do it" notwithstanding.

{a} Non amat qui non zelat. He does not love him who is not zealous.

Ver. 8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob.] He sent it as a shaft out of a bow, that will be sure to hit. God loves to forewarn; but woe be to those that will not be warned. The Septuagint render it, The Lord sent a plague, or death, into Jacob; and indeed after the white horse followeth the red and the black. {#Re 6:2,4,5} Like as Tamerlane, that warlike Scythian, displayed first a white flag in token of mercy; and then a red, menacing and threatening blood; and then, lastly, a black flag, the messenger and ensign of death, was hung abroad.

And it hath lighted upon Israel.] (1.) They were not ignorant of such a word; {#Isa 9:9} (2.) They could neither avert nor avoid his wrath.

Ver. 9. And all the people shall know.] Know it they do already; but they shall know it by woeful experience. He that trembleth not in hearing, shall be crushed to pieces in feeling, said Mr Bradford, martyr.

That say in pride and stoutness of heart.] The poet could say of his Ajax—αγηνορια δι μιν εκτα—His pride undid him. So doth it many a man; especially when come to that height that it fighteth against God, as here. When earthen pots will needs be dashing against the "rock of ages," and doing this or that al despito di Dio, as that profane Pope once said, whether God will or no; divine vengeance dogs at heels such desperadoes.

Ver. 10. The bricks are fallen down.] Not thrown down by Providence, but fallen down by fate or blind fortune. God is not so far honoured as once to be owned by these atheists, who think they can make their party good against him, and mend what he had marred, whether he would or not. Thus this giant-like generation; and the like impiety is in the corrupt nature of us all. For "as in water face answereth to face, so doth the heart of a man to a man," saith Solomon. {#Pr 27:19}

The sycamores are cut down, &e.] Another proverbial speech to the same purpose. Sycamores were then very common in that country, and little set by. {#1Ki 10:27} Now they are not to be found there, saith Jerome, as neither are cedars in Lebanon.

Ver. 11. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin.] In whom ye trust. He shall shortly be destroyed by the Assyrian, {#2Ki 16:9} and then your hopes shall hop headless, and make you ashamed.

And join his enemies together.] Heb., Mingle them—viz., in confederacy and agreement against him, though otherwise at odds among themselves.

Ver. 12. The Syrians before.] Under the conduct of the Assyrian, who hath slain their King Rezin, and made them his vassals.

And the Philistines behind.] Or from the west—westward.

And they shall devour Israel with open mouth.] The enemies of God’s people are more savage and ravenous than wild beasts. Hence they are called in Scripture boars, bears, lions, leopards, unicorns, tigers, wolves, &c. Let us therefore bless us out of their bloody jaws, which having escaped, let us sing, "Blessed be God, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth." {#Ps 124:6} The poor Indians cried out that it had been better their country had been given to the devils of hell than to those cruel Spaniards.

For all this his wrath is not turned away.] He still frowneth, and hath his hand up to smite, as angry people use to do.

Ver. 13. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them.] This were the only way to escape God, viz., to run in to him. There is no standing before a lion, no bearing up sail in a storm, no stouting it out with God Almighty. {#Am 4:6-11} {See Trapp on "Am 4:6"} {See Trapp on "Am 4:7"} {See Trapp on "Am 4:8"} {See Trapp on "Am 4:9"} {See Trapp on "Am 4:10"} {See Trapp on "Am 4:11"}

Ver. 14. Head and tail, ] i.e., High and low {a} {as #Isa 9:15} Here he compareth Israel, non sine morsu, to a beast with a long tail, for the perverseness of their practices. Or else to the serpent amphisbaena, which stingeth both with head and tail.

Branch and rush.] Strong and feeble. A "branch," or bough, hath some tack in it; a "rush" is a spongy, unsubstantial substance.

{a} Μεγαν και μικρον.—Sept. Parvi properemus et ampli.

Ver. 15. The ancient and honourable is the head.] Thus the Scripture frequently expoundeth itself. In a general calamity all fare alike, lords and losels.

And the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.] Such, like dogs, do cauda adblandiri, soothe and smooth men up in their sins, and are the vilest of men. Quid enim contemptius et abiectius animo fingi potest quam assentari divitibus, linguamque venalim habere? Such also, as serpents, glide smoothly over the body, but sting with their tails.

Ver. 16. For the leaders of this people cause them to err.] By their ill counsel and example. Exempla enim non ibi consistunt, ubi cceperunt. The ancients placed the statues of their princes and patriots near the fountains, to show that they were the spring heads of good or evil to the public. Some read the words thus: Those that bless this people, viz., the false prophets, have been misleaders: ductoresfuerunt seductores. Pope Plus II hath this memorable saying, Nihil excellenter malum in Ecclesia, Catholica patratur cuius prima origo a sacerdotibus non dependeat, in forte occulto quodam Dei concilio fiat. {a} Nothing exceedingly bad is done in the Catholic Church, unless it is first started by the priests, it becomes hidden in the plan of God.

And they that are led of them.] Or, Blessed by them.

Are destroyed.] Or, Swallowed up; or, Blindfolded. {b}

{a} In Hist. Auster.

{b} Objecti.—Tremel.

Ver. 17. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men.] Nay, he shall laugh at their destruction. {#Pr 1:26}

Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows.] They are deceived therefore that, being unregenerate, hope to find favour with God merely for their adversity; and because they have their hell, as they call it, here, think to have heaven hereafter.

Because every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer.] That facies hypocritica of our nation is facies hippocratica, saith one; a mortal complexion, a sad prognostic.

And every mouth speaketh folly.] Or, Villany. Sapless, worthless, rotten, and stinking stuff. {#Eph 4:29}

Ver. 18. For wickedness burneth as a fire.] God will burn up these wicked Israelites, as once he did those sinful Sodomites; for unregenerate Israel is to him as Ethiopia, {#Am 9:7} when once scelera abierunt in mores, and there is a general defection of all sorts and states, God will make an utter riddance of them; he will fire the whole forest.

Ver. 19. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, ] viz., By that pride of smoke, or vast pillar of smoke, mentioned #Isa 9:18. Tristem et miseram rerum faciem designat.

No man shall spare his brother.] Wickedness is cruel, and a man had as good deal with a cannibal as with a truly covetous wretch.

Ver. 20. And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry.] Inexplebilem illorum avaritiam et rapacitatem notat. They shall rape and scrape by right or wrong, and yet as sick of a bulimy, or under the curse of dissatisfaction, they shall never have enough. {#Ec 5:10} {See Trapp on "Ec 5:10"}

They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm.] That is, They shall make a prey {a} of their nearest allies. Some understand the text of civil wars, which indeed are most unnatural; and concerning which one saith well, Dissidia nostra sunt amicorum dispendia, hostium compendia, et publica irae divinae incendia.

{a} Imbelles damae quid nisi praeda sumus?

Ver. 21. Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh.] Snarling at and intertearing one another, as dogs, about the kingly dignity, or some other reasonless reason. Thus the prophet exemplifieth what he had spoken.

And they together shall be against Judah.] So Herod and Pilate could unite against Christ, {#Lu 23:7-9} and those that were at greatest enmity among themselves against the Church. {#Ps 83:5,8} So in Julian the apostate’s time Jews and Gentiles combined against Christians; and in our days Papists and Lutherans against Calvinists. {a} How unworthily and impotently do the Lutherans of Suevia rail upon that holy man Oecolampadius, whose note it is upon this text, that these last dangerous times were foretold by St Paul. {#2Ti 3:1,2} Annon eosdem describunt Paulus et Iesaias? saith he: Do not Paul and Isaiah describe the same men? Bullinger observeth concerning the Anabaptists of Germany, that as they are at great odds among themselves, so they all agree against goldly ministers of the truth, to despise and disparage them to the utmost.

{a} In Syngram.

Chapter 10

Ver. 1. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees.] Having denounced woe to wicked of all sorts, the prophet here threateneth wicked princes in particular, as the chief causes of God’s judgments by their misgovernment. Periculosissimum prophetae factum, et cui seditionis dica scribi poterat! {a} This was boldly done of the prophet, and there wanted not those doubtless that would say it was sedition. Luther, for like cause, was called the trumpet of rebellion; sc., for declaring against the Pope’s decrees and decretals, though never so unrighteous and vexatious; not much short of that made by Nero, Whosoever confesseth himself a Christian—so a Protestant—let him, without further defence of himself, be put to death as a convicted enemy of mankind!

And that write grievousness.] Or, And to the writers that write grievous things—viz., the public notaries, registrars, and other under officers; such as were those Persian scribes and posts, {#Es 3:12,13} who should, in such a case, have obeyed God rather than men.

{a} Scultet.

Ver. 2. To turn away the needy from judgment.] To put them beside their right, because indigent, and overweighed by the wealthy ones: Quorum aureae literae apud tales iudices possunt omnia.

And to take away the right.] Heb., To tear it away by force.

And that they may rob the fatherless.] Rob the spittle, as we used to say. Unrighteous ruledom is but robbery with authority. {a}

{a} Iudex iniustus latro cum privilegio est. -Columel., lib. i.

Ver. 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation.] That is, of vastation by the Assyrians.

To whom will ye flee for help.] Who have denied help to the poor that fled unto you; but sped no better than the sheep that flee to the bush for defence in weather, where he is sure to lose part of his fleece.

And where will ye leave your glory?] Where will ye betrust or bestow your wealth, power, and worldly pomp, purchased by you at too dear a rate? who paid your honesty to get it— O magno emptas, et parum proficuas divitias! -and must now lose not it only, but your liberties and lives also, in the next verse.

Ver. 4. Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, ] i.e., Without any fault of mine. {#Ho 13:9} Or, as some render it, Ne corruat inter vinctos, et inter occisos cadant; that it, your glory, should not bow down under the prisoners, and they fall under the slain; i.e., that ye be not some of you captivated, and others slain by the enemy. And yet behold a worse matter.

For all this his anger is not turned away.] Endless torments will follow, unless ye prevent them by repentance, and all your present sufferings are nothing else but a typical hell. {a} Ecce quot mala a contemptu Dei proveniunt.

{a} Hac oratione vir sanctus impios crueatat, et vulaerat. -Osor.

Ver. 5. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger.] Or, Woe to the Assyrian; or, Heu Assur, Alas, the Assyrian! q.d., Alas, that I am forced by this sharp and iron rod to correct my people, whom I have bred so choicely! Dolentis vocem assumit Deus, saith Oecolampadius.

The rod of mine anger.] Or, My rod of anger. A rod of anger to beat the little ones, and a staff of indignation to bastinado the bigger and more stubborn. So Nebuchadnezzar is called the "hammer of the whole earth." {#Jer 50:23} Tamerlane called himself, The wrath of God, and the desolation of the world, {a} Attilas styled himself, King of Huns, Medes, Goths, Dacians; "The terror of the world, and God’s scourge." The wicked are God’s rod, said that martyr, whom, when he hath worn to the stump, he will cast into the fire. {b}

{a} Ira Dei ego sum, et orbis vastitas.

{b} Acts and Mon., fol. 1544.

Ver. 6. I will send him…I will give him a charge.] Non patefacta quidem voluntate, sed arcana providentia, I will stir him up by a secret providence, which, being nothing else but the carrying on of the divine decree, is that helm that turneth about the whole ship of the universe.

Against an hypocritical nation.] Pretenders only to religion, {see #Isa 9:17} qui toti ex hypocrisi sunt conflati, such as are wholly made up of hypocrisy: God was near in their mouth, and far from their reins. {#Jer 12:2} Nemo tam prope proculque Deo. {#Mt 15:8} Hot meteors they are. saith one, shooting, yet showing like stars; shaming goodness by seeming good; Virtutis stragulam pudefaciunt, as Diogenes said to Antipater, who, being vicious, wore a white cloak, the ensign of innocence. These are little better than devils wrapped up in Samuel’s mantle; odious therefore to God, whom they would cozen of heaven, if they could tell how.

And against the people of my wrath.] Who are therefore the worse, and shall fare the worse, because they ought to have been better. Indignation and wrath shall he upon the Jew first, because of his privileges, and then upon the Gentile. {#Ro 2:9}

To take the spoil, and to take the prey.] As had been foretold in Maher-shalal-hash-baz’s name. {#Isa 8:1}

And to tread them down like mire in the streets.] To make mortar of them, as we use to say: Gens simulatrix tota terrena, Is trodden under foot as unsavoury salt, which is not good enough for the dunghill.

Ver. 7. Howbeit he meaneth not so.] He is otherwise minded and affected than I am, and doeth my will merely beside and against his own will. As in applying of leeches the physician seeketh the health of his patient, the leech only the filling of his gorge, so is it when God turneth loose a bloody enemy upon his people; he hath excellent ends, which they think not on.

But it is in his heart to destroy and cut off.] This was to exceed his commission, which was only to "take the spoil, and to take the prey," {#Isa 10:6} not to cut off nations, and to make havoc of all. How much better our King Edward the Confessor, who, when his captains promised for his sake they would not leave one Dane alive, thought it better to lead a private and unbloody life than to be a king by such bloody butcheries. {a} Of Charles V, emperor, we read, that when Antonius Leva, and other of his chief commanders, commended Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar for their great exploits in overrunning and destroying nations not a few, to their great renown; and, on the other side, complained that Charles made not the like use of his power and victories as he might and ought to do for such a purpose, he gravely replied, that Alexander and Julius had, in waging wars, nothing else to aim at besides honour and glory, but that Christian princes were in all their enterprises to mind the glory of God and the salvation of their own souls. {b}

{a} Camd. Rem., p. 214.

{b} Parei Hist. Prof. Med., p. 895.

Ver. 8. For he saith.] Sennacherib saith. See #Isa 36:9,15,18,20 37:10,13,24,25. A great part of this whole book of Isaiah concerneth Sennacherib.

Are not my princes altogether kings?] Behold a right Pyrgopolynices, { a} whenas he was set to work by God, exalting himself both against God and man. And saith not the Pope the same when he claims to be Dominus feudi? lord paramount in spirituals and temporals; and when, in creating his cardinals, he useth these words, Estote confratres nostri, et principes mundi, Be ye fellow brethren to us and princes of the world? The Assyrian styled himself king of kings, and accounted his commanders equals to Hezekiah. {#Isa 36:9} So Cardinal Bellarmine held himself King James’s mate.

{a} Perhaps he had made some of his chief commanders kings. Our Henry VI crowned Henry Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, King of the Isle of Wight.

Ver. 9. Is not Calno as Carchemish?] Here in a vaunt he reckoneth up six royal cities vanquished by himself and his ancestors; and boasteth how with a wet finger, as we say, he had taken in all the country between Nineveh and Jerusalem. Of the destruction of Calno and Hamath, see #Am 6:2.

Is not Hamath.] Afterwards called Antiochia.

As Arpad?] Hear how this proud braggard:

“ Proiecit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba!”

Is not Samaria as Damascus?] Have not I subdued them both pari fortitudine et felicitate?

Ver. 10. As my hand hath found.] Nota fastum tyranni, Note the arrogance of this tyrant, saith A. Lapide. It was his hand did all, and not God’s—like as afterwards Timotheus, the victorious Athenian, into whose toils cities were said to fall even as he was sleeping, telling his countrymen of his great successes, inserted ever and anon these words, Herein fortune did nothing—and then, his hand only found those kingdoms, as an obvious prey, which he did no more but meet, and it was taken.

“ Dextra mihi Deus, et telum quod missile libro.’’—Virg.

The kingdoms of the idols.] In despite of their tutelary deities, which indeed were but deunculi, petty gods, as the word here used (Elil) signifieth.

And whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem.] Os ferreum! vah scelus! Prodigious blasphemy! This absurd collation and prelation of climb and dunghill idols before the true and living God is omnium mortalium execratione dignissima.

Ver. 11. Shall I not as I have done.] God is not in all this man’s thoughts; himself doeth all that is done.

So do to Jerusalem.] Why, no; for "their rock is not as our rock," might God’s people have replied., "our enemies themselves being judges." Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum, said a certain pagan truly. The God of the Christians is a great God above all gods. But the devil doeth all he can to drive us to despair.

Ver. 12. Wherefore.] Heb., And. A close connection: where pride is in the saddle, there destruction is on the crupper; {a} when the scum is at highest, it falls in the fire.

When the Lord hath performed.] When he hath sufficiently chastised his children by this rod of his wrath, he will cast it into the fire; {so #Jer 25} when other nations have drunk deep of the cup of the divine displeasure, Babylon shall suck up the dregs. What became of the primitive persecutors, and of such as were most active here in those dogdays of Queen Mary? See the Acts and Monuments of the Church.

Upon Mount Zion.] For there he usually beginneth; {#Jer 25:18 1Pe 4:17} his own he least of all spareth. {#Am 3:2}

I will punish the fruit of the stout heart.] His arrogant words and lofty looks, proceeding from the pride of his heart. But let himself tell what those fruits are.

{a} A leathern strap buckled to the back of the saddle and passing under the horse’s tail, to prevent the saddle from slipping forwards.

Ver. 13. For he saith, By the strength of my hand, &c.] Viva haec est istius Veiovis Latialis, hoc est Pontificis pictura, saith Scultetus—i.e., Here we have a lively picture of Antichrist, who speaketh great things and blasphemies, {#Re 13:5} arrogates to himself all power and wisdom, disposeth of kingdoms at his pleasure robbeth their treasures, &c.

Ver. 14. And my hand had found.] See #Isa 10:10.

As a nest.] Or, As in a nest, where a man need but only put in his hand and take out the birds or eggs, and hath none to withstand him. Thrasonica Allegoria.

The riches of the people.] Whereon they sat abrood, as it were, but I have unnested and despoiled them. They meanwhile, as silly doves, saved themselves by flight, not fight; or else, sitting in their dove cots, saw their nests destroyed, young ones taken away and killed before their eyes, never offering to rescue or revenge.

Ver. 15. Shall the axe boast itself.] Is not God the architect and chief agent—the Assyrian only the instrument in his hand? What a madness, then, is it for him thus to vaunt and vapour? is the man in his right mind, think ye? How much better that victorious emperor, Charles V, who, instead of Caesar’s Veni, vidi, vici, I came, i saw, I conquered, wrote Veni, vidi, sed Christus vicit! I came, I saw, but Christ conquers, Christ is the only conqueror.

As if the staff should lift up itself.] Or, When the rod is lift up, is it not wood, lignum inanime, sorry wood?

Ver. 16. Therefore shall the Lord…send among his fat ones, ] i.e., Pingues, torosos et validos milites, his lusty and mastive soldiers, in whom he confided.

Leanness, ] i.e., Luem, a plague to tame them, and take them down. See this fulfilled, #Isa 37:36.

And under his glory, ] i.e., His huge army wherein he glorieth. What need we to fear the Turks, said Sigismund, the young king of Hungary, who need not at all to fear the falling of the heavens? which, if they should fall, yet were we able with our spears and halberds to hold them up from falling upon us. {a}

He will kindle a burning.] A plague parching up their vitals. The Hebrews say that the bodies of Sennacherib’s soldiers were, by the stroke of an angel, so consumed and burnt up, as that their garments and weapons were not burnt at all.

{a} Turkish History, fol. 206.

Ver. 17. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire.] To Israel he shall be a comfortable light—to their enemies a consuming fire, as #Ex 14:24. Ecce idem iustis et fidelibus suavis, impiis autem gravis.

His thorns and his briers.] His army, which is so troublesome and vexatious to Israel. God will "go through them, he will burn them {a} together." {#Isa 27:4}

In one day, ] i.e., In one night, being part of the natural day. So the Spanish Armada was quickly dispersed, which had been so many years in rigging and setting forward.

{a} Assyrios, quibus ut sentibus vepribusque cohorrebat terra. -Jun.

Ver. 18. And he shall consume the glory of his forest, ] i.e., Of his army, cutting his way through a wood of men, and felling the very glory of his glory, even his best soldiers. All this God shall do to his stout warriors and stately princes.

Both soul and body, ] i.e., Full and whole, both here and in hell. {a}

And they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.] Heb., Melteth—i.e., through fear casting away his colours: soon after which the whole regiment is routed, and cannot be rallied.

{a} Ecce hic habes animam ardere. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 19. And the rest of the trees…shall be few.] Heb., A number; methe mispar, a poor few, and inconsiderable company, that may soon be told.

That a child may write them.] The Hebrews say that Sennacherib escaped home with ten only in his company.

Ver. 20. And it shall come to pass in that day.] Meras consolationes hic loquitur Deus, { a} saith Scultetus. Here God begins to speak pure comforts to his poor people. Here he setteth forth how he will be a lively light to Israel, like as he had been a devouring fire to the Assyrians.

Shall no more again stay upon him that smote them.] Piscator; ictus sapiet; they had paid for their learning, smarted for their creature confidence, and now they would be better advised, viz., under Hezekiah, than they had been under Ahaz. {#2Ki 16:10 Ho 14:3}

{a} Scultet.

Ver. 21. A remnant shall return, ] scil., To the Lord by true repentance, from whom they had deeply revolted. But of these there is but as a "remnant"—a poor few—in comparison of the whole piece of cloth.

Ver. 22. Yet a remnant of them shall return, ] i.e., Shall be saved from Sennacherib, but especially from Satan, that old man slayer. {#Ro 9:27,29 11:5} The greater part of the Jews were then cut off by the Assyrians; and so they are spiritually still by the evil spirits which hold them in their hardness of heart, and hinder them from embracing the Christian faith. But this befalleth them by God’s holy decree {#Ro 9:27,28} and just judgment.

The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness, ] i.e., The utter destruction of this perverse people, both temporal and spiritual, {#Ro 9:27} for the generality of them, is not to be accounted cruelty, but overflowing righteousness. For God could not in justice but thus rigorously deal with them; and then for his promise sake to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, reserving a "remnant," show favour to them again.

Ver. 23. For the Lord God of hosts shall make, &c.] Here the same thing is repeated, by way of asseveration, because not easily believed or digested, but would lie heavy as hard meat. "Behold the severity of God," {#Ro 11:22} and stoop to it.

Ver. 24. O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid.] Quam paterne omnia. As a father bespeaketh his little son passing with him through a dark entry, &c.

He shall smite thee with a rod.] Chasten thee, but not slay thee. {a} Sinite virgam corripientem, ne sentiatis malleum conterentem.

And shall lift up his staff against thee.] Or, But he shall lift up his staff for thee, so some render it—i.e., God shall, and that "after the manner of Egypt," as of old he did for the fathers against Pharaoh.

{a} Non occidet te, quamvis vapulet. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 25. For yet a very little while.] Heb., A little little, or a little of a little. Yet a little modicum, and wrath shall be at an end. Oecolampadius rendereth it, Adhuc paululum, minus quam paululum. Hold out therefore faith and patience.

Ver. 26. And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him.] Far worse than that rod. {#Isa 10:24} This scourge was that angel that slew so many Assyrians in a night, according to that "slaughter of Midian." {#Jud 7:22 Ps 83:9,11}

At the rock of Oreb.] Where Oreb was slain, like as was Sennacherib after this, in his temple at Nineveh.

And as his rod was upon the sea.] As Moses by his rod or staff held over the Red Sea made way for Israel, but brought destruction on the Egyptians. {#Ex 14:26}

Ver. 27. And the yoke shall be destroyed, because of the anointing.] That is, because or for the sake of Messiah the Prince, {#Da 9:25} the Lord Christ, our Σωτηρ and Sospitator, the foundation of all the Church’s deliverances. The whole chapter following is a comment on this sweet promise.

Ver. 28. He is come to Aiath.] Elegans hypotyposis, a dainty description of Sennacherib’s invasion into the land, and progress with his army toward Jerusalem, through the tribe of Benjamin.

He is passed to Migron.] Fourteen cities are here set down in order, as distressed by this Poliorceres, of whom it might be truly said, as it is now of the Grand Signor, that no grass groweth on that ground where he hath set his foot once,

At Michmash he hath laid up his carriages, ] i.e., He shall; but the prophet speaketh of it as if presently done, or as if himself had been marching along with them.

Ver. 29. They are gone over the passages, ] i.e., The straits, between two rocks. {#1Sa 13:22}

Ver. 30. Lift up thy voice.] Heb., Hinni, i.e., claram vocem ede, eamque lugubrem, make a grievous outcry, eiula, quiritare; nam certa tibi imminet vastitas, for thou art undone.

O poor Anathoth.] Jeremiah’s country; "poor," because plundered.

Ver. 31. Madmena is removed, ] i.e., Fled for fear, as Gibeah. {#Isa 10:29}

Ver. 32. He shall shake his hand, ] viz., At Jerusalem, as threatening her destruction; but she shall shake her head at him in contempt {#Isa 37:21} God oft lets his enemies go to the utmost of their tether, and then pulls them back to their tasks with shame enough, as he did Pharaoh.

Ver. 33. Behold, the Lord shall lop the bough, ] i.e., Those of greatest state and stature in the Assyrian army.

And the haughty shall be humbled.] See #Isa 2:11,17.

Ver. 34. By a mighty one.] {a} That is, by an angel. {#Isa 37:36 Ps 78:25 89:5,6}

{a} Per magnificum.

Chapter 11

Ver. 1. And there shall come forth a rod, ] i.e., Christ shall be born; whom our prophet having called "the anointing" or Messiah, {#Isa 10:27} maketh him and his kingdom henceforward the chief matter of his discourse, to the end of his book. Here he beginneth with his nativity, calling him a rod or twig, springing, not out of the stock of David, but out of the stump of Jesse, a mean man, and that then, when the royal family was sunk so low as from David the king to Joseph the carpenter. Well might Chrysostom say that the foundation of our philosophy was humility. And another, {a} that at Bethlehem brake forth that well of salvation which, in the type, once David so thirsted after. {#2Sa 23:15}

And a Branch.] Or, The Nazarene born at Nazareth, saith Junius, which signifieth "a branch"; for so it was generally deemed; and our Saviour styleth himself Jesus of Nazareth; {#Ac 22:8} and on his cross they wrote Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, wherein that prodigy, saith A. Lapide, seemeth to have fallen out concerning which the poet inquireth—

“ Dic quibus in terris inscripti nomine Regis

Nascantur flores.”

Tell who is noted in the earth by the name of a King, Let him in flowers. For Nazareth he interpreteth a flower, or something flowery; and for shall grow, others render shall bud, or bear fruit.

{a} Scultet.

Ver. 2. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.] After such a description of Christ’s person, {as #Isa 11:1} follows here a declaration of his kingdom, which is set forth to be—first, Spiritual; {#Isa 11:2} secondly, Just; {#Isa 11:3-5} thirdly, Peaceable; {#Isa 11:6-9} fourthly, Ample, as made up of Gentiles and Jews. {#Isa 11:11, &c.}

Shall rest upon him.] His humanity shall be filled topfull with the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, to be as it were an everlasting treasure and cistern full of them for the use of the Church. {#Joh 1:16 3:34 Ac 2:33} And this was typified by the Holy Ghost descending in the likeness of a dove, at the time of his baptism, and resting upon him. {#Mt 3:16 Joh 1:32,33} {a}

The spirit of wisdom and understanding.] These six princely virtues (for the schoolmen, misled by the Vulgate translation, falsely found their septiformem gratiam Spiritus Sancti) were eminently and transcendently in Christ; they should be also found in some measure in all rulers. {#De 1:16 Ex 18:25 1Ki 3:12 Le 19:35-37}

{a} Diodat. Annot.

Ver. 3. And shall make him of quick understanding.] Heb., It shall make him scent or smell—sc., by a singular sagacity and sharpness of judgment in smelling out a hypocrite, as Simon Peter did Simon Magus, who had deceived Philip, even unto baptism; but Peter soon found him out: how much more will Christ? His sharp nose easily discerneth and is offended with the stinking breath of the hypocrite’s rotten lungs, though his words be never so scented and perfumed with shows of holiness. So for the innocence of the godly, when "being defamed they pray" as Paul, apologise and cannot be heard, as the primitive Christians; Christ will "bring forth their righteousness as the light, and their judgment as the noonday." {#Ps 37:6}

And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes.] He cannot be deceived, as knowing all hearts, and as having all things naked and dissected before his eyes. {#Heb 4:13 Mt 9:12 Joh 2:24} Others judge by relation of others, and secundum allegata et probata -not so Jesus Christ; but he shall always proceed upon his own knowledge, and so pass a most righteous sentence. Oecolampadius thinks the prophet here alludeth to Solomon’s sentence passed on the two harlots. {#1Ki 3:16-28}

Ver. 4. But with righteousness judge the poor, ] i.e., The poor in spirit, those meek ones of the earth. So the Anabaptists of Germany called themselves, and said that now the promise must be fulfilled, "The meek shall inherit the earth"; whenas they by blood, rapine, cruel wars, seized on the possessions of others. And have we not now {a} among us many loaves of the same leaven, brats of the same breed, bloody in their positions and dispositions—the fifth monarchy men they call themselves. Christ Jesus (as he hath lately to his great praise, so still) preserve and bless us out of their bloody fingers, and from their prodigious principles and practices. He hath promised it here, and much more: thou shalt "give thy judgment to the king" (Christ), "and he shall deliver the poor" {#Ps 72:2} -viz., from all foes and persecutors.

And he shall smite the earth, ] i.e., Earthly minded men, who are "of the earth, speak of the earth, and the earth heareth them." {#Joh 3:31} As the earth is cold and dry, so are they. As the earth is heavy, and beareth downward, so do they. As the earth keepeth down hot exhalations that naturally would ascend, so is it with such. And lastly, as the earth standeth still in the midst of heaven, and taketh no notice of the whole circumference that is carried around it, so are earthly men stupid and insensible, &c. Howbeit "by the rod of his mouth," that is, by the preaching of the gospel, Christ doth again secretly "smite the earth," that is, the consciences of carnal people, glued to the earth, making them sound heavily as a shawm. {b}

And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.] The devil and his deputies, Antichrist especially, {#2Th 2:8} and that with little ado, even with a blast of his lips only; as with his bare word he laid on their backs those soldiers that came to apprehend him.

{a} This was written May 1, 1657.

{b} A mediaeval musical instrument of the oboe class, having a double reed enclosed in a globular mouthpiece.

Ver. 5. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins.] Symbolum Regis hoc est, saith Scultetus. Kings and princes have their scita in scutis, their mottoes on their shields; so hath our king here, viz., "Righteousness and faithfulness"; and this is so manifest as if written on his girdle, {a} or belt, see #Re 19:16; where, for like cause, Christ’s high titles are written "on his vesture, and on his thigh." Others by this expression understand Christ’s alacrity and promptitude to vindicate his elect, and to punish the wicked, according to his promise, Vaticinatur de Christi solertia in obeundis regni Dei negotiis, ac tribuit illi cincturam, seu industriam spiritualem pro qualilate obeundae dispensationis. {b} Let us also, Christ-like, "gird up the loins of our minds; be sober, and hope perfectly." {#1Pe 1:13} Gird ourselves, and serve him, {#Lu 17:8} readily, nimbly, handsomely, and hardily. A loose, discinct, and diffluent (fluid) mind is unfit for God’s service.

{a} The belt is put for a kingly ensign. Calvin. {#Job 12:18}

{b} Zeged.

Ver. 6. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb.] Not worrying as he was wont, but made tame and tractable. Lo, such a blessed change is wrought in all true converts, as is to be seen in Paul, that wolf of the tribe of Benjamin, prophesied of by Jacob, {#Ge 49:27} as some hold. And the like may be said of Petrus Paulus Vergerius, once the Pope’s nuncio, but afterwards a great preacher of the gospel. Hugh Latimer, once as obstinate a Papist as any was in England—they are his own words—but converted by blessed Bilney, as he called him usually, he became a zealous promoter of the truth according to godliness, confessor general to all Protestants troubled in mind, and the treasury into which restored ill-gotten goods were cast, to be bestowed on the poor according to his discretion, {a}

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid.] As they did at the creation, and afterward in Noah’s ark; all bloodiness and rapine laid aside. Those that love not one another out of a pure heart fervently, but are filled with envy, malice, debate, deceit, malignity, are none of Christ’s subjects, nor fellow-citizens with the saints.

And a little child shall lead them.] That is, the child Jesus, say some interpreters, by the conduct of his Holy Spirit; or the apostles and other godly ministers, who were counted but as little children to the Pharisees and philosophers, called the grandees and "princes of this world." {#1Co 2:8} But they do best that understand it of such a tractableness and teachableness in Christians, that they can be content to learn of any one, though never so mean, that can better inform them. {b} See this in Apollos. {#Ac 18:26} Augustine, as himself witnesseth thus in one of his epistles, En adsum senex a iuvene coepiscopo, episcopus tot annorum a collega nondum anniculo paratus sum discere, I am here an old man, ready to learn from a young man, my coadjutor in the ministry; and so old a bishop, from one who hath scarce been a year in the service. Hippocrates adviseth men not to slack or disdain to learn even of those who are counted idiots. {c}

{a} Sleidan, lib. xxi., p. 650. Bucholc., A.D. 1548. Act, and Mon., 919; Fuller’s Church History, fol. 405.

{b} Ut vel ex puero, i.e., ex inopi et simplici quovis. -Scultet.

{c} Μη οκνεειν και παρα ιδιωτεον ιστορεειν.

Ver. 7. And the cow and the bear shall feed.] An allegorical description of greatest confidence and innocence, saith Junius. Bears are angry and vindictive creatures; so are the best by nature, {#Tit 3:3} till tamed and domesticated by God’s distinguishing grace. As for those semiperfectae vertutis homines, as an ancient calls them, temporaries and hypocrites, who do only the outward works of duty, without the inward principle, it may be said of them, as the civil law doth of those mixed beasts, elephants, camels, &c., Operam praestant, natura fera est, they do the work of tame beasts, yet have the nature of wild ones.

Their young ones shall lie down together.] Heb., Their children, i.e., say some, {a} children after parents shall do thus, and their children after them from age to age; not revolting any more to barbarism.

And the lion shall eat straw.] Not men and other sensitive creatures, as now. {b} This, say the Chiliasts after some Rabbis, shall be literally fulfilled in that golden age of Christ’s personal reign upon earth; a mere fancy, first vented by Papias, a man of some holiness, but ingenii pertenuis, of very little judgment, saith Eusebius.

{a} Arcularius.

{b} Conversi non vivent ex rapto: sed legitime partis reculis contenti erunt. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History l. 3. c. 39. 1:295,297.

Ver. 8. And the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the asp, &c.] There shall be no danger from calumniators and cruel crafties, asps and basilisks, {a} quorum in labris venenum sessitat {#Ps 140:4} These homines damnosissimi most damnable men shall have a new nature transfused into them; their malignities and mischievous qualities shall cease when once truly converted.

{a} A fabulous reptile, also called a cockatrice, alleged to be hatched by a serpent from a cock’s egg; ancient authors stated that its hissing drove away all other serpents, and that its breath, and even its look, was fatal.

Ver. 9. None shall hurt.] Here the foregoing allegory is fully explained. In God’s Holy Mountain-that is, in the Church—there shall be a holy, harmless, and a sweet harmony of hearts. The word among them shall be this, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." {#1Jo 4:11} Some differences and jars there may occur among the best, as did between Paul and Barnabas, Jerome and Augustine, Luther and Zuinglius; but these last not long—at utmost but till they come to heaven; and the ground of such a distemper is, that we know but in part, and therefore love but in part. {#1Co 13:9} Oh pray for that blessed sight, {#Eph 1:17,18} and for a fuller comprehension of those several dimensions, {#Eph 3:18} that the "earth may be full of the knowledge of the Lord."

As the waters cover the sea, ] i.e., The bosom and bottom of it, that God’s word may dwell richly in us in all wisdom, and that the knowledge we have of it may be a transforming knowledge. {#2Co 3:18} Two or three words of God’s mouth hid in the heart, and there mingled with faith, work such an evident and entire change in a man, saith Lactantius, {a} that you can hardly know him to be the same. Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus, maledicus, effraenatus, paucissimis Dei verbis tam placidum quam ovem reddam. Da cupidum, avarum, tenacem, &c. Give me a man that is angry., ill-spoken, unruly; with a few words of Almighty God, I will make him as meek as a lamb. Give me one that is covetous, an oppressive hold fast, a very Nabal, I will make him a Nadib; of a covetous churl a liberal person, of a viper a child, of a lecher a chaste man, &c. Lo, this is the fruit of the sound and saving knowledge of God and of his word, of ourselves and of our duties.

{a} Lactant. Instit., lib. iii. cap. 86.

Ver. 10. And in that day.] "In the day of Christ’s power, or kingdom, the people shall be willing." {#Ps 110:3} "The isles shall wait for God’s law." {#Isa 42:8} Multitudes of nations shall come crowding in to his greatest glory, {#Pr 14:2} and for the fulfilling of old Jacob’s prophecy. {#Ge 49:10}

There shall be a root of Jesse.] See on #Isa 11:1.

Which shall stand for an ensign.] Or, Standard, whereto all the elect must assemble; and hereby is meant the preaching of the gospel.

Shall the Gentiles seek.] Ferventi studio, magno desiderio, non coacti; they shall fly thereto as the clouds, and as doves scour to their windows. {#Isa 60:8}

And his rest.] That is, his Church, with whom he resteth and resideth. {#Ps 132:8} He "resteth also in his love to his people, and rejoiceth over them with singing." {#Zep 3:17; {See Trapp on "Zep 3:17"}

Shall be glorious.] Heb., Glory; sc., per sanctitatem {#Isa 4:5}

Ver. 11. The Lord shall set his hand again the second time.] Not to bring them back to the promised land, to Palestina, as once he did out of Egypt; that is but a rabbinical dream, not unlike that other—viz., that all Jews, in what country soever they are buried, do travel through certain underground passages till they come to their own country of Jewry. But with an outstretched hand he shall recover the remnant of his people that shall he left; so the poet,

“ Reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achillei.”

He shall recover.] Or, Get, buy, purchase that poor dissected nation, out of all places of their dispersion, uniting their minds and subduing their enemies.

Ver. 12. And he shall set up an ensign.] {a} See on #Isa 11:10.

The dispersed of Judah.] {b} See #Joh 7:35 Jas 1:1. The word dispersed in the Hebrew is feminine, to show that no sort or sex shall be excluded. {#Col 3:11}

{a} Elevatio signi est praedicatio crucifixi. -Oecolamp.

{b} Dispersas oves Iudae. -Piscat.

Ver. 13. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart.] The fierce wrath or deadly feud that was between the ten revolted tribes of Judah, the like whereunto was between England and Scotland, and in England between the houses of York and Lancaster; in which last mentioned dissension were slain eighty princes of royal blood, and twice as many natives of England as were lost in the two conquests of France. {a} This emulation and hatred of Ephraim against Judah was to be abolished by Christ. {b} {#Eze 37:17} The disciples, being of various tribes, were all of one heart and of one soul. {#Ac 4:32} Neither was there any controversy at all among them, as one ancient Greek copy addeth to that forecited text. {c}

{a} Dan. Hist., 249.

{b} Discimus sub Christo finem sore simultatum et odiorum. -Oecol.

{c} Beza ex Beda.

Ver. 14. But they shall flee upon the shoulders.] A metaphor from conquerors who pursue their enemies, and fall upon the bones of them, as we say. The meaning is, the Gentiles shall be converted to the Christian faith by the Jews—viz., by the apostles and other preachers of the gospel. See #Ge 49:8. Thus Philip was found at Azotus, or Ashdod; {#Ac 8:40} Peter at Joppa {#Ac 10:5} At Gaza and Askelon were many flourishing churches in the times of Athanasius and Chrysostom, saith Adrichomius. Brittannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo patuerunt. {a} Inaccessible places of the Britains to the Romans were made open by Christ.

{a} Tertullian.

Ver. 15. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea.] That is, by drying up, or driving away the waters, he shall open a way through the Red Sea, which representeth the form and fashion of a tongue. He alludeth to #Ex 14:22; for Christ being our Conduct, we do enter by baptism, as by the Red Sea, into the Church, and after this life present into the kingdom of heaven.

He shall shake his hand over the river.] The river Nile. The sense is, he shall remove all obstacles and impediments. This was fulfilled. {#Ac 2:41}

With his mighty wind.] The Chaldee paraphraseth in eloquio prophetarum suorum, by the word of his prophets; quod apostolis non parum congruit, saith Oecolampadius, which very well agreeth to the apostles converting the elect, whom neither height nor depth could keep from "the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." {#Ro 8:39} The Jews expect, but in vain, that all these things should be fulfilled unto them in the letter by their Messiah, as once they were by Moses at the Red Sea.

And make men go over dryshod.] Without boat or boot.

Ver. 16. And there shall be an highway.] Agger, via strata, a causeway. {#Isa 7:3}

In the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.] This signal deliverance was a clear type of our redemption by Christ. And this prophecy was fulfilled when thousands of the Egyptians were converted by Mark the evangelist and other preachers, as also when other nations forsook spiritual Egypt {#Re 11:8} and embraced the truth.

Chapter 12

Ver. 1. And in that day, ] sc., When there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. {as #Isa 11:1} Blessed be God for a Christ. {#Ps 96:1-13 Re 6:11}

Thou shalt say.] It is not a dumb kind of thank fulness that is required of the Lord’s redeemed, but such as from a heart full of spiritual joy breaketh forth into fit words, such as are here set down in this ditty or directory.

I will praise thee.] The whole life of a true Christian is a holy desire, saith an ancient. It is, or should be surely, continua laetitia, et laus Dei, a continual hallelujah. Deo gratias was ever in Augustine’s mouth. Laudetur Deus, laudetur Deus, in another’s—i.e., Praised be God, praised be God. The saints here "with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." {#Ro 15:6} The saints and angels do so in heaven incessantly, {#Re 4:10,11} hoc est iuge eorum negotiosum otium et otiosum negotium.

Thine anger is turned away.] My sins are forgiven me, and hence I am of so good cheer, though otherwise distressed. Feri, Domine, feri; a peccatis absolutus sum, said Luther; Strike while thou wilt, Lord, so long as my sins are pardoned. See #Ps 103:1-3.

And thou comfortedst me, ] viz., With gospel comforts, which are strong and satisfying. I do "overabound exceedingly with joy in all our tribulation," saith Paul. {#2Co 7:4}

Ver. 2. Behold, God is my salvation.] Let such take notice of it as said when time was, there is no help for him in God; salvation itself cannot save him. "Behold," and "My": there is much matter in this adverb and that pronoun, saith an interpreter. {a} Behold, God is my Jesus; so Jerome readeth it. According to that of old Simeon "Mine eyes have seen thy salvation." And in this and the next verse salvation is thrice mentioned, so sweet it was to those that thus sang of it. {See Trapp on "1Co 1:8"}

I will trust, and not be afraid.] There is an elegance in the Hebrew that cannot be translated. This spiritual security floweth from faith; experience should both breed and feed it. See #Ps 46:3 2Co 1:10.

For the Lord is my strength.] Salvation properly denoteth the privative part of man’s happiness, viz., freedom from evil; but it includeth also position in a good estate, and preservation therein while "we are kept by the power (or strength) of God through faith unto salvation." {#1Pe 1:5}

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water.] Joy is the just man’s portion, and Christ is the never failing fountain whence by a lively faith he may infallibly fetch it. {#Joh 4:10,14 7:37} Christ was much delighted with this metaphor; see #Joh 1:16. Out of this fountain only may men quench their spiritual thirst after righteousness. Haec sola est aqua quae animas arentes, marentes et squalidas reficit, et recreat. {a} These wells of salvation are those "words of eternal life," {#Joh 6:68} the rich and "precious promises," {#2Pe 1:4} "whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature," and of the Holy Spirit, which is frequently and fitly compared to water in regard of (1.) Ablution; {#Eze 36:25} (2.) of Fructification; {#Job 8:11 Isa 35:6,7 44:3,4} and (3.) of Refrigeration. {#Ps 42:1 Ro 5:5} Some think the prophet here alludeth to those softly running waters of Shiloah, {#Isa 8:6} or to the rock water that followed them in the wilderness, or to that famous fountain, {#Nu 21:16-18} whence they drew waters with so much mirth and melody.

{a} Sanchez.

Ver. 4. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, ] viz., With us and for us. Every true Confitebor tibi hath its confitemini Domino annexed unto it. The saints are unsatiable in praising God for the great work of their redemption, and do therefore call in help, all that may be.

Call upon his name.] Which is a special way of praising him, while we make him the object of our prayers, professing our distance from him, our whole dependence upon him, &c. See #1Ch 16:8 Ps 105:1.

Declare his doings.] Sept., His glorious things; those many miracles of mercy wrought in our redemption, which is a work much more excellent than that of making all things at first of nothing, keeping heaven still upon its hinges, and upholding the whole universe without a foundation. Magna sunt opera Dei creatoris, recreatoris autem longe maxima, saith Gregory.

Make mention that his name is exalted.] Or, Celebrate his name, which is high, far above all praise.

Ver. 5. Sing unto the Lord.] Or, Sing of the Lord. Sing a concise and short song, amputatis omnibus supervacaneis.

He hath done excellent things.] Heb., Excellence or majesty. All other spiritual blessings meet in our redemption by Christ, as the lines do in the centre, streams in the fountain.

This is known in all the earth.] Or, Let this be known; let all the world ring of it. As when the Argives were delivered by the Romans from the tyranny of the Macedonians and Spartans, the air was so dissipated with their acclamations and outcries, that the birds that flew over the place fell down amazed to the ground. {a}

{a} Plutarch.

Ver. 6. Cry out.] Heb., Hinni, neigh as horses do that are full fed, or fitted for fight. Iubila quantum potes, valide et totis viribus clama, claram et laectam vocem ede.

For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.] Or, For the Holy One of Israel, who is great, is in the midst of thee. How shouldst thou then do otherwise than well?

Chapter 13

Ver. 1. The burden.] That is, the burdenous prophecy. It should not have seemed a burden, {#Jer 23:36} but it is a grievous burden to graceless persons to be told of their sins, and foretold of their punishments. {See Trapp on "Na 1:1"} {See Trapp on "Mal 1:1"}

Of Babylon.] Not that Babylon in Egypt (of which #1Pe 5:13, as some hold), now called Grand Cairo, the sultan’s seat royal, but the metropolis of Chaldea, built by Semiramis about a hundred years after the flood, whither the Jews were to be carried captive, and concerning which calamity they are here aforehand comforted. See #Mic 7:8,16.

Ver. 2. Lift up a banner.] Deus hic quasi classicum canit; God, as chief general, gives forth his orders to the Medes and Persians. He is a "man of war," {#Ex 15:3} yea, the Lord victor of war, as the Chaldee there paraphraseth. See the like #Jer 50:2.

Upon the high mountain.] Where it may best be seen. Media is a mountainous country. Or, contra montem caliglnosum, against the dark mountain—i.e., Babylon, which, though situated in a plain, yet was tumoured up with her wealth and power, and seemed unmoveable. Famous this city was for a hortus pensilis, an artificial garden (made by Nebuchadnezzar for the pleasure of his wife Nicotris), which, hanging over the city, darkeneth it, {a} like as that continual cloud doth the island of St Thomas, on the back side of Africa.

Exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand.] Propinquos voce, longinquos significatione ad arma convocate; { b} give the alarm to those that are near hand and further off.

That they may go into the gates of the nobles.] Or, Of the munificent or bounteous lords; for such all nobles are, or ought to be. Our English word lord, contracted of the Saxon word laford, cometh of luef, to sustain or succour others.

{a} Strabo, lib. xvi.; Curtius, lib. v.; Josephus, lib. x.

{b} Junius.

Ver. 3. I have commanded my sanctified ones, ] i.e., I have by my secret instinct stirred up and set on my Medes and Persians, {#Isa 13:17} whom in my decree I have set apart for this holy work of executing vengeance on the Babylonians.

I have also called my mighties.] My heroes, armed with my might.

Even them that rejoice in my highness.] Heb., Exultantes superbiae meos; my brave soldiers, whom I render victorious and triumphant.

Ver. 4. The noise of the multitude.] The Medes that come against Babylon are both numerous and streperous, as is here graphically described by an elegant hypotyposis. {a}

The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.] No marvel, then, that the forces are so many and mighty, for if he but stamp with his foot, all creatures are up in arms immediately.

{a} Vivid description of a scene, event, or situation, bringing it, as it were, before the eyes of the hearer or reader.

Ver. 5. They come from a far country.] Heb., From a land of longinquity.

Even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation.] ´ Οπολομαχους, "Vessels of wrath," the Septuagint render them; but in another sense, then, the apostle useth that expression concerning reprobates designed to destruction.

To destroy the whole land.] Or, The whole world, for so the Chaldees, in the pride of their empire, styled it. The Romans did the like. {#Lu 2:1} The Turks do the same at this day, such is their ambition.

Ver. 6. Howl ye.] "For the evils that are coming upon you" (as in #Jas 5:1). We may well say the same to mystical Babylon.

For the day of the Lord is at hand.] And yet it came not till over two hundred years after. Think the same of the day of judgment, and reckon that a thousand years with God is but as one day.

It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.] Heb., Cleshod Mishaddai, an elegance that cannot be translated. Shaddai (God’s name) signifieth a conqueror, say some; a destroyer, say others, which a conqueror must needs be, — Eundem victorem et vastatorem esse oportet. Here is threatened a devastation from the devastator.

Ver. 7. Therefore shall all hands be faint.] Base fear, that cowardly passion, shall betray them to the enemy, by expectorating their courage, and causing their hearts to fall into their heels, as we say. But this also cometh from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working, for he ordereth the armour, {#Jer 50:25} and he strengtheneth or weakeneth the armies of either party. {#Eze 30:24} Whencesoever the sword cometh it is "bathed in heaven." {#Isa 34:5}

And every heart shall melt.] How much more shall wicked men’s hearts do so at the day of judgment, when the powers of heaven shall be shaken. {#Lu 21:26} Alegoriae; haec veriora erunt in die iudicii cuius hic est typus.

Ver. 8. And they shall be afraid.]

“ Conturbabuntur—

Innumerabilibus sollicitudinibus.”

They shall be amazed one at another.] Amused, amazed, amated, as being at their wits’ ends.

Their faces shall be as flames.] So #Jer 30:5,6, a voice of fear and trembling, every man with his hands on his loins, the posture of a travailling woman, and all faces turned into paleness. The prophet here alludeth, saith Musculus, to the face of a smith at dark night, when he standeth blowing his fire, for his face appears as if it had no blood in it, most wan and pale. Or, as others think, to a man frightened, who first looketh pale, the blood running to the heart to relieve it, afterwards, upon the return of the blood to the outward parts, he looketh red, and of a flame colour.

Ver. 9. Behold the day of the Lord cometh cruel.] So it shall seem to the enemies, because "an evil, an only evil, behold, is come," {#Eze 7:5} without mixture of mercy.

Ver. 10. For the stars of heaven shall not give their light.] {a} They shall have punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without help, mischief without measure, crying without comfort, &c., and all this shall be but a typical hell to them, a foretaste of eternal torments.

The constellations thereof.] Which yet some interpreters take for some single and signal star, magnam lucem magnae sequuntur tenebrae.

The sun shall be darkened.] They shall neither have good day nor good night.

{a} Est hyperbole et hypollage.

Ver. 11. And I will punish the world.] That is, the Chaldean state; for they reckoned themselves κοσμοκρατορας, or lords of the world. See on #Isa 13:5. Or to show that, if the whole world should conspire against the Lord, he can as easily punish them as he did that rabble of rebels the old world. See #Da 4:17.

And lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.] Or, Of the roysters or tyrants.

Ver. 12. I will make a man more precious.] Quod rarum, carum. Men shall be reduced to a small number, not nobles only, sed triobolares homunciones, but peasants; nor shall any money be taken in exchange for lives.

Ver. 13. Therefore I will shake the heavens, ] i.e., For the pride, arrogance, cruelty, and other impieties of these Babylonians, I will bring upon them tragic calamities and horrid confusions, so that they shall think that heaven and earth are blended together, and each be ready to say,

“ In me omnis terraeque, polique, marisque, ruiua est.”

Ver. 14. And it shall be as the chased roe.] Or, "She," that is, Babylon, "shall be," when drunk with security, that usher of destruction, she shall be suddenly surprised. So strong were her walls and bulwarks, that she feared no irruption of the enemy; and so bold she bore herself upon her twenty years’ provision laid in beforehand that she feared no famine by the straitness of a long siege. Herodotus telleth us that when Babylon was taken by Cyrus, some part of the city knew not of their condition till the third day after: the suddenness of their surprise must needs be very dreadful. {a}

They shall every man, ] i.e., All her confederates and presidiaries.

{a} Herod., lib. i.; Arist. Polit., lib. ill.

Ver. 15. Every one that is found shall be thrust through.] This maketh them flee for it. Quis enim vult mori? prorsus nemo. Life is sweet, and men will rather flee than die.

Every one that is joined unto them.] Or, That is decrepid, worn out with old age. See #2Ch 36:17.

Ver. 16. Their children shall be dashed in pieces, &c.] As had been prayed and prophesied long before {#Ps 137:9} and this was but lex talionis. See #2Ch 36:17 La 5:11.

Their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.] As those three commandments, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, are ranked together in the law, so they are commonly violated together in the lawless violence of war.

Ver. 17. Behold I will stir up the Medes.] Together with the Persians under the conduct of Darius and Cyrus.

Which shall not regard silver, ] sc., For a ransom, but shall kill all they meet, though never so rich, and able to redeem their lives. {#Pr 13:8 Jer 41:8}

Ver. 18. Their bows also shall dash the young men.] They shall double destroy them. O barbaram crudelitatem! O cruel barbarian. {a}

And they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb.] Quamvis adhuc teneri essent et fructus novelli, ripping up their mothers; {as #Am 1:13} or at the Sicilian Vespers; and as in the late Parisian and Irish massacres, which were the most prodigious horrid villanies that ever the sun saw.

Their eye shall not spare children.] In the massacre of Paris, a bloody Papist having snatched up a little child from one of the Protestants in his arms, the poor babe began to play with his beard, and to smile upon him. But he, more merciless than a tiger, stabbed it with a dagger, and so cast it all gory and bloody into the river. {b}

{a} Incredibilis sanguinis aviditas in milite bacchabitur.

{b} Acts. and Mon.

Ver. 19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms.] Those four great monarchies of the world had their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin. The Roman empire can scarce stand on its feet of clay; and by the death of the recent emperor, no King of Romans being nominated, is like to suffer great concussions.

Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom.] The destruction whereof was the greatest and most stupendous that ever we read of.

Ver. 20. Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there.] The Scenites, {a} or vagrant shepherds of the Arabian Desert, that oft flitted for better pasture, shall shun Babylon as haunted with wild beasts, or rather with dragons and devils in the Revelation; all this is applied to, and shall be verified of, Rome. {#Isa 18}

{a} Hi Babyloniae contermini.

Ver. 21. But wild beasts of the desert.] Heb., Ijim, Ochim, &c. These are names of wild creatures unknown to us in these parts.

And satyrs.] Or, Devils in borrowed shapes and hideous apparitions.

Ver. 22. And the wild beasts of the islands.] Heb., Ijim—i.e., desolate places and far remote.

And her time is near to come.] Though two hundred years hence and more ere it commence. So "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" {#Re 19:2} that is, certo, cito, penitus -surely, shortly, utterly.

“ O mora! Christe veni.”

“O delay, Christ, be come.”

Chapter 14

Ver. 1. For the Lord will have mercy upon Jacob.] And therefore destroy Babylon. {as #Isa 13} Such is his love to his Church that for her sake, and in revenge of her wrongs, he will fall foul upon her enemies. Si in Hierosolymis fiat scrutinium, quanto magis in Babylon. {a}

And the strangers shall be joined with them.] Proselyted, especially when made partakers of the grace of the gospel.

{a} Bernard.

Ver. 2. For servants and for handmaids.] Their converts shall be willing to lay their hands under their feet, as we say, and glad to do them any service, like as Cyprian was for Caecilius, whom he called novae vitae parentem, parent of new life, and Latimer for Bilney, whom he called Blessed Bilney. See #Isa 49:23.

Ver. 3. That the Lord shall give thee rest, &c.] The Church hath her halcyons here; neither is she "smitten as those are that smote her, but in measure, in the branches," &c. God "stayeth his rough wind" {#Isa 27:8} that is, such afflictions as would shake his plants too much, or quite blow them down. Yea, whether south or north wind bloweth, all shall blow good to them {#So 4:16} Blow off their unkindly blossoms, and refresh them both under and after all their sorrow, fear, and hardship.

Ver. 4. That thou shalt take up this proverb.] Or, Taunting speech; {a} this exultatory and insultatory song, which upon the fall of Babylon shall be in every man’s mouth.

How hath the oppressor ceased!] q.d., This is wonderful and beyond all expectation.

The golden city.] Or, Gold thirsty city. {b}

{a} Carmen, ελεγκτικον και ονειδιστικον.

{b} Aurata vel auri avida.

Ver. 5. The Lord hath broken the staff.] Wherewith these exactors cudgelled men, as so many beasts, into subjection and obedience.

And the sceptre.] Or Rod of the rulers who ruled with rigour.

Ver. 6. He that smote the people in wrath, &c.] This is the tyrant’s epitaph; there is at their death a general joy, as was the time when the world was well rid of Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Heliogabalus, &c. When Domitian died, the senate decreed that his name should be erased, that all his acts should be rescinded, and his memorial abolished quite for ever. When Caligula was cut off, his monies were all melted by the decree of the senate; {a} like as King Richard III’s cognisance, the white boar, was torn from every sign, that his memory might perish. {b}

{a} Aurel. Victor.

{b} Speed.

Ver. 7. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet.] Quievit, conticuit. {a} All is hushed that was used to be set in an uproar by these restless ambitionists.

They break forth into singing.] By a wide opening of the lips and lungs, as the word signifieth.

{a} ανεπαυσατο πεποιθως.—Sept.

Ver. 8. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee.] A notable metaphor, whereby sense and speech is attributed to senseless creatures; the trees once afraid to be felled are now freed from that fear. This tyrant was the terror of things on earth, and things under earth. Hence men and trees are said to rejoice, hell to be in a hurry, &c.

No feller is come up against us.] As was wont to do, for thy shipping, buildings, warlike engines, &c.

Ver. 9. Hell from beneath is moved for thee.] Infernus ab inferendo; shaal, from its unsatiableness, and continual craving. Here is an ironic and poetic representation of the King of Babylon’s coming into hell, and his entertainment there; the dead kings rising from their places for reverence to receive him.

Even all the chief ones of the earth.] Heb., The he-goats, such as lead and go before the flock; such rhetoric as this we meet with in Lucian’s Dialogues. Of Laurentius Valla, that great critic, who found fault with almost all Latin authors, one made this tetrastich;

“ Nunc postquam manes defunctus Valla petivit,

Non audet Pluto verba Latina loqui.

Iupiter hunc caeli dignatus honore fuisset,

Censarem linguae sed timer ipse sum.”

- Trithem.

From their thrones, ] i.e., From their "sepulchres," saith Piscator.

Ver. 10. Art thou also become weak as we?] Interrogatio sarcastica et insultabunda. Hast thou also a Hic situs est, here he lies, or Mortuus est, here he died, set upon thy tombstone? This if thou hadst forethought, thou wouldst have better behaved thyself while alive: the meditation of death would have been a death to thy passions, and an allay to thine insolencies. Virgil saith, if swarms of bees meet in the air, they will sometimes fight as it were in a set battle with great violence; but if you cast but a little dust upon them, they will be all presently quiet.

“ Hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta,

Pulveris exigui iactu compressa quieseunt.”

- Georg., lib. iv.

Had Nebuchadnezzar or his successors bethought themselves of their mortality and of death’s impartiality, they would have been more moderate.

Ver. 11. Thy pomp is brought down to the grave.] Ipsaque iusta sepulta iacent, funeral rites, those dues of the dead, are wanting to thee. This was fulfilled in Belshazzar, slain at his impious feast, while he profaned the vessels of God’s house to quaff in to the honour of Shac, his drunken god, and had no doubt variety of music. {a} See #Jer 51:39,41,47 Da 5:1,30.

The worm is spread under thee, and worms cover thee.] Pro linteamine tinea sternitur: pro lodice vermes superimponuntur. For sheets thou hast maggots, and for a coverlet, worms; and this the rather because, whereas the Assyrian kings, as Strabo {b} testifieth, and the Babylonian kings, as Herodotus, {c} were wont to be embalmed after their death, that they might keep sweet, Belshazzar was not so {#Isa 14:19,20}

{a} These feast days were called σακεαι ημηραι, like the Roman saturnalia.

{b} Lib. xv.

{c} Lib. i.

Ver. 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer!] That is, not O Belzeebub, as some ancients, but, O Belshazzar rather, called Lucifer here, or the morning star, for his beauty and brightness; and as much wonder it was to see the Chaldean monarch at such an under, as to have seen Lucifer, the sun’s constant companion, fallen from heaven. He was the terror of the world, and, as he thought, superior to fortune; yet a sudden and dismal change befell him. In the chariot of the Roman triumpher, there hung up a little bell and a whip, to put him in mind he might one day be whipped as a slave, or as an offender lose his head. Nemo confidat mimium secundis. Let no one rely on the least favours.

Ver. 13. For thou hast said in thine heart.] The natural heart is a palace of satanical pride; it is like unto the table of Adonibezek, at which he sat in a chair of state, and made others, even kings, to eat meat like dogs under his feet, with their thumbs cut off.

I will ascend into heaven.] Vide quomodo non satientur honore superbi. {a} Ambition, as the crocodile, grows as long as it lives, and is never satisfied.

Above the stars of God, ] i.e., Above all the kings of the earth, or above the saints, {#Re 12:1} those earthly angels.

I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation.] I will sit upon the skirts of God’s Church; yea, I will set my throne upon God’s throne, and take up his room. See the like madness in Pharaoh; {#Eze 29:3} that proud prince of Tyre; {#Eze 28:2} Antiochus, surnamed Θεος; Herod; {#Ac 12:21-23} Caligula, Chosroes, Diocletian, Antichrist, of whom and his practices one cries out, O Lucifer out-deviled, &c. {#2Th 2:4} One of the Pope’s parasites, Valladerius, saith of Paul V, that he was a god, lived familiarly with the Godhead, heard predestination itself whispering to him, had a place to sit in council with the most blessed Trinity, &c.

In the sides of the north.] In Mount Moriah, where the temple stood.

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 14. I will ascend above the height of the clouds.] Ut verbo dicam, ero summa et sacra maiestas.

“ Attingit solium Iovis, et coelestia tentat.”

- Hor., lib. i. Ode 3.

Ver. 15. Yet thou shalt be brought down be hell.] To the counterpoint of thy haughtiest conceits, ad infimam erebi sedem. So a merry fellow said that Xerxes, that great warrior who took upon him to control the sea, was now mending old shoes under a shop board in hell.

To the sides of the pit, ] i.e., Of the infernal lake: A tartesso in tartarum detrusus; { a} from the sides of the north, {#Isa 14:13} whither thou hadst pierced thyself, ad latera luci, to the sides of the pit, and to an odd corner of the burying place. This was a foul fall, and worse than that of Hermannus Ferrariensis, who, having been canonised for a saint, was thirty years after unburied, and burnt for a heretic by Pope Boniface VIII, {b} or that of Thomas a Becket, of whom, forty-eight years after he had been sainted, it was disputed among the doctors of Paris whether he were damned or saved? {c}

{a} Adagium Homericum.

{b} Jac. Rev. Hist. Pontif., 195.

{c} Daniel’s History, fol. 99.

Ver. 16. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee.] Shall look wishingly upon thee, as scarce believing their own eyes, for the strangeness of the thing.

Is this the man that made the earth to tremble?] The earth to quake, and men’s hearts to ache? yea, sure, this is very he. At one end of the library at Dublin was a globe, at the other a skeleton, to show, saith mine author, that though a man be lord of all the world, yet he must die, nullusque fiet, qui omnia esse affectabat.

Ver. 17. That made the world as a wilderness.] Nero the tyrant came into the world an Agrippa, or born with his feet forward, and turned the world upside down ere he went out of it; so that the senate at last proclaimed him a public enemy to mankind, and condemned him to be drawn through the city, and whipped to death.

That opened not the house of his prisoners.] Or, That did not loose his prisoners homewards, but kept them in durance with prisoners’ pittance. {#La 3:34}

Ver. 18. All the kings of the nations, ] i.e., Very many of them have their stately pyramids, tombs, mausolean monuments erected, as among us at Westminster Henry VII’s chapel is a curious and costly piece.

Ver. 19. But thou art cast out of thy grave, ] i.e., Cast out and kept from thy grave. {a} This befell Belshazzar upon the surprisal of the city. {#Da 5:30} And the like also befell Alexander the Great dying at the same city; and our William the Conqueror, who having utterly sacked the city of Mants in France, and in the destruction thereof got his own, died shortly after at Rouen, where his corpse lay three days unburied—his interment being hindered by one that claimed the ground to be his. {b}

Like an abominable branch.] The matter is here set forth by three notable similitudes, such as this prophet is full of.

{a} Insepulta sepultura turpissime abiectus es. -Scult.

{b} Daniel’s History, 42, 50.

Ver. 20. Thou shalt not be joined to them in burial, ] i.e., To your equals, your fellow kings, in funeral state and pomp. Christians have an honest care, περι συνταφων, with whom they be buried, and where they are laid when dead, that as they lived together and loved together, so in their death they may not be divided. {#2Sa 1:23}

Because thou hast destroyed thy {a} land.] Tyrannised over thine own subjects also. So did Saul, Manasseh, Herod—who butchered about Bethlehem fourteen thousand infants, as some affirm, and his own son among the rest—Tiberius, that tiger, Nero, that lion, Commodus, who was, saith Oresius, cunctis incommodus, Charles IX of France, &c.

The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.] The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish: {#Pr 14:11} {See Trapp on "Pr 14:11"} Et notanto hoc parentes, et a sceleribus se abstinento: ni sibi velint parcere, ut posteritat; parcant.

{a} The Septuagint read it, my land, and my people.

Ver. 21. Prepare another slaughter for his children.] For Belshazzar’s posterity. This is God’s charge to the Medes and Persians. See on #Isa 14:20.

Ver. 22. For I will rise up against him.] And therefore it is to no purpose for them to rise up to possess the land, and to fill the face of the world with cities, as #Isa 14:21. "I will overturn, overturn, overturn," &c., {#Eze 21:27} and who shall gainstand it?

Ver. 23. I will also make it a possession for the bittern.] Which is a kind of water fowl that maketh a hideous noise.

And I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.] Scopa vastatrice verram eam, Vatab. I will not brush them for ornament, but sweep them, or rather scrub them to their ruin by my Persian Praedones, whom I will set upon them. And here the Jewish Rabbis acknowledge that they came to understand this text by hearing an Arabian woman mention a broom or a besom in her language, to her maid. {a} Apollos, a learned teacher, may yet learn of a tent maker.

{a} Scopis non purgatoriis sed perditoriis. -R. David in Radic. אשׁ אשׁ.—Mercer. in Pagnin. Thesaur.

Ver. 24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn.] If he had but said it only it had been sure enough, for he cannot lie, he cannot deny himself; but when he sweareth anything we may build upon it, especially since he is Lord of hosts. He can do more than he will, but whatsoever he willeth shall undoubtedly be done; for what should hinder? Iuravit Iehovah, is the best assurance.

Ver. 25. That I will break the Assyrian in my Land.] Or, As in breaking the Assyrian in my land; for here, saith Junius, the overthrow of the Assyrian monarchy, which should shortly be, is given for a sign of the overthrow of the Babylonian.

Ver. 26. This is the purpose that is purposed.] Heb., The council that is consulted. Now there are many devices in the heart of man, but, when all is done, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. {#Pr 19:21}

Ver. 27. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?] Emphasin habet interrogatio. An excellent and unanswerable way of arguing from the irresistible will and almighty power of God; the like whereof is used by a certain Persian in Herodotus, in most elegant expressions, as Junius here noteth. {a}

{a} In Calliope.

Ver. 28. In the year that King Ahaz died.] A very good world’s riddance. When Tiberius the tyrant died, some of the people offered sacrifice for joy; others in detestation of him cried out, Tiberium in Tiberim, Let Tiberius be thrown into Tiber. Think the like of Ahaz, that stigmatical Belialist. Howbeit, as bad as he was, the Philistines hearing of his death, hoped to find some advantage thereby against the Jews, who are therefore here encouraged.

Ver. 29. Rejoice not thou, whole Palestine.] That is, the Philistines, quos Iudaei animis armisque sibi infestissimos habuere. These were as bad neighbours to the Jews as the Dunkirkers now are to us. Uzziah had subdued them, {#2Ch 26:6} but Ahaz had been much damnified and despoiled by them, {#2Ch 28:18} and in the beginning of Hezekiah’s reign they thought to have overrun all the country. Here therefore God’s decree concerning them is published, for the comfort of his poor people, and it is this: Philistaeis non iabilandum sed eiulandum. Philistines must not be overjoyed, but rather "weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon them."

Because the rod of him that smote thee is broken.] Because Uzziah is dead, and Ahaz hath had ill success against you through his own sinfulness and sluggishness; do not you thereupon take boldness to set up your crest, and think all is your own.

For out of the serpent’s root.] Out of Uzziah’s issue,

Shall come forth a cockatrice.] Or, Basilisk, which is said to kill with his looks only; and hereby is meant Hezekiah, as also by the "fiery flying serpent," for thus he is called both for his fierceness and for his swiftness, two very commendable properties of a commander. Julius Caesar was in omnia praeceps, in all head first, very fierce, and with it notably nimble, witness his Veni, vidi, vici, I no sooner came, but overcame. The Hebrews from this text have a proverb, "Out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice," {a} i.e., one woe is passed, but behold a worse at hand.

{a} De radice colubri egredietur regulus, i.e., Afflictissimi, inter pauperes praecipui ac primi, atque adeo tolerandis calamitatibus nati.

Ver. 30. And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, ] i.e., God’s poor people shall; who though never so poor—as they were at a very low ebb under Ahaz—were God’s "firstborn," and, in that respect, "higher than the kings of the earth." {#Ps 89:27}

And I will kill thy root.] See #Zep 2:4. {See Trapp on "Zep 2:4"}

Ver. 31. Howl, O gate.] Philistines are elsewhere taxed for flashy and foolish mirth {#Jud 16:23-30 2Sa 1:20,21} Here they are told they have more cause to fear than flear, to sigh than sing, to howl than hollo.

“ Quis globus, O cives, caligiue, volvitur atra?

Hostis adest.’’—Virg.

From the north a smoke, ] i.e., Hezekiah’s army raising a dust, and setting all in a combustion.

Ver. 32. That the Lord hath founded Zion.] Not Hezekiah, but Jehovah hath done it.

Chapter 15

Ver. 1. The burden of Moab.] A "burden," saith Jerome, ever betokeneth sad things to follow. A "vision" doth joyful, at last howsoever. The Chaldee paraphraseth thus: The burden of a cup of cursing for Moab to drink off. Moab was the brat of an incestuous birth, as his name also, De Patre, declareth. There is now no such nation; their very name is rooted out, ever since they were destroyed, first by Shalmaneser, as is here forethreatened, and then by Nebuchadnezzar {as #Jer 48} -where we meet with many like passages as here—so that they live but by fame only, as they are mentioned in Holy Scripture, but never for any good. Their destruction is foretold for a comfort to the poor afflicted Jews, to whom they were near allied, but very ill-affected.

Because in the night.] Nocte intempesta, { a} the night is dark and dreadful; or in the night, i.e., subito, derepente, praeter opinionem, suddenly, unexpectedly. These Moabites dwelt in a fruitful country, near to those five cities of the plain, and giving themselves up to loose and luxurious living, saith Jerome, they worshipped Chemosh or Bacchus; {b} as they had been incestuously begotten by Lot in his drink, so they proved accordingly. Ebrius te Pater genuit, said one to a desperate drunkard. Some think they are threatened with wasting in the night, in allusion to that dismal night work, and that deed of darkness, the begetting of their father and founder Moab. {#Ge 19:36,37} Whence other nations were wont to reproach the Moabites as children of the night, saith Jerome.

{a} Piscat.

{b} Plutarch.

Ver. 2. He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon.] Two chief places of their idolatrous service, whereunto they ran in their distress; but all in vain. The like at this day do the Papists to their Ladies of Loretto, Sichem, &c., and the Turks to their Mohammed at Mecca (situated in the same country as once Moab, and perhaps in the same place with one of these idol temples) by troops and caravans; but they do worse than lose their devotion.

To weep.] And to pray too, {#Isa 16:12} but to no good purpose, for want of a right object, principle, motive, end. So afterwards the Romans, in a like exigent, cum coniugibus ac liberis iussi sunt a senatu supplicatum ire, pacemque exposcere Deum, omnia delubra implent, { a} &c.; they were by the senate commanded to go with their wives and children into the temples of their gods, and there to pray, make their peace, and to seek for aid.

Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba.] Cities surprised and sacked by the enemy. But this chapter is so much the more obscure to us, because the cities here mentioned are long since destroyed, and the Scripture setteth not forth the manner of their location or downfall.

On all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.] This was commonly done in those eastern parts, in times and in token of lamentation. {#Job 1:20 Ezr 9:3 Eze 7:18} Alexander, mourning for the death of his friend Hephaestion, not only tore off his own hair, but clipped his horses’ and mules’ hair; yea, he plucked down also the battlements of the walls of the city, as Plutarch {b} writeth. Pudeat nos lachrymis delicta non abstergere, et spiritualia damna non deplorare, saith Oecolampadius. What a shame is it then for us Christians not to weep over our sins, and to bewail our spiritual wounds and wants!

{a} Liv., lib. iii.

{b} In Vita Pelopidae.

Ver. 3. In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth.] Saccum et silicium non curat Deus. God careth not for these externals where there is not a heart sprinkled with the blood of his Son. "The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination; how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?" {#Pr 21:27}

On the tops of their houses.] Thence, as it were, to require help from heaven.

Weeping abundantly.] Heb., Descending with weeping, like as with weeping they ascended; {a} they get nothing of their gods, though they cried to them. But he that goeth to the true God with an honest heart and lawful petitions is sure to speed. See #Isa 45:19.

{a} Miseros ergo Papicolas, qui et ipsi cum fietu ad divos divasque suas ascendunt, cum ululatu descendunt. -Scultet.

Ver. 4. And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh.] See on #Isa 15:2.

The armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out.] As being faint hearted and unwilling to fight, because to no purpose.

His life shall be grievous to him.] Heb., His soul shall be ill-affected to him, or, for himself; that is, say some, all his care shall be for himself; let others shift as they can.

Ver. 5. My heart shall cry out for Moab.] Let others do as they will, saith the prophet here, I can do no less than bewail the woeful condition of Moab, bad though they be. {a}

“ Tu quibus ista legis incertum est, Lector, ocellls:

Ipse quidem siccis scribere non potui”

His fugitives shall flee unto Zoar.] Whither once their father Lot fled for refuge; but it was too hot to hold him. Or, His fugitives shall cry to Zoar.

An heifer of three years old.] Which, being in her prime, loweth aloud, coelum mugitibus implens; so shall these fugitives set up their note, clamore fragoso boantes; as they pass through the countries they shall even break or rend themselves with crying.

{a} Heu quam doleo corde toto. -Oecol.

Ver. 6. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate.] What these waters of Nimrim were it doth not appear. Jerome saith that Nimrim is a town near the Dead Sea, where the waters are salt, and the country about it barren; so should the land of Moab now be forlorn and fruitless.

Ver. 7. Therefore the abundance they have gotten.] Here the prophet seemeth to tax the covetousness of the Moabites, qui coacervandis thesauris operam dederint, who made it their work to hoard and heap up riches.

And that which they have laid up.] Heb., Their visitation; that is, their treasures, which they often looked upon.

Shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.] The Moabites shall cast it into the water, as hoping there to find it again when the enemy was gone. Or, Shall they (the Assyrians) carry away to the valley of the Arabians, who were their confederates, and for such good offices spared (as Herodotus saith, lib. iii.), that they might keep and convey home for them the spoils they had taken from other nations. {a}

{a} Piscat.

Ver. 8. For the cry is gone round about, &c.] When the prophet thus describeth the mourning of the Moabites as excessive, and as a fruit of their unbelief, we must learn to moderate our mourning for outward losses and crosses, and that out of hope of God’s mercy promised to his penitent suppliants.

The howling thereof unto Eglaim.] See on #Isa 15:2.

Ver. 9. For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood.] Non tingentur solum, sed etiam inundabunt and the bloody enemy shall haply be heard to cry out, as once Hannibal did when he saw a pit full of man’s blood, O formosum spectaculum! O brave sight! The very name Dimon signifieth bloody, so called, as some think, on this occasion instead of Dibon, the old name. {#Isa 15:2}

I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab.] Heb., I will put additions upon Dimon, {a} i.e., additions of evils, viz., lions, and other like fierce and cruel creatures, which shall prey upon the Moabites there. {#Isa 35:9 2Ki 17:25} Some say by lion is here meant Nebuchadnezzar, {#Jer 4:7} fitly compared to a lion for his strength and swiftness. Certain it is that God hath in store plenty of plagues for evildoers; and if they escape one mischief, they shall fall into another; their preservation is but a reservation, except they repent.

{a} Additamenta plagarum. -Haymo.

Chapter 16

Ver. 1. Send ye the lamb.] For prevention of those lions, {#Isa 15:9} submit to Hezekiah, your right liege lord, a lamb, i.e., your appointed number of tribute lambs, in token of homage. {#2Sa 8:2 2Ki 3:4} But especially make your peace with God, the Ruler of the whole world, {#1Ch 29:12} by paying him homage and fealty, that there may be a lengthening of your tranquillity.

From Selo in the wilderness.] Otherwise called Petra (because beset with rocks), whence the country it stood in was called Arabia Petraea. {a} Some make it the head city of Moab, others of Edom, a place, it seemeth, that was full of cattle, and by king Amaziah, who took it, called Jokteel. {#2Ki 14:7}

{a} Strabo, lib. xvi.

Ver. 2. For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird, &c.] Or, Otherwise it shall be that as, {a} &c., i.e., except ye do as I have advised you, {#Isa 16:1} a double mischief shall befall you. (1.) Dissipation, as a wandering bird, &c.; (2.) Deportation, at the fords of Arnon, where ye shall be carried captive.

As a wandering bird.] See #Pr 27:8. {See Trapp on "Pr 27:8"}

{a} Alioqui fiet. -Jun.

Ver. 3. Take counsel, execute judgment.] Or, Make a decree, or deal equally and uprightly; shoew the like kindness to Abraham’s posterity as he once did to your progenitor Lot, whom he rescued; or as Lot did to the angels whom, as strangers, he entertained, fac, inquam, quod suggero, dum subdo.

Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of noonday, ] i.e., Shelter and shade my persecuted people, este illis securum perfugium, et iucundum refrigerium, protect them, refresh them, do all kind offices for them, which your fathers did not, but the contrary. {#De 23:3,4}

Ver. 4. Let mine outcasts.] Who are dear to me, {#Jer 30:17} though I may seem to have cast off the care of them. Outcasts they may be, but not castaways. See #Isa 52:5,6; "Persecuted, but not forsaken." {#2Co 4:9} "Bowels of mercy" must be "put on" towards godly exiles especially, who are Dei φυγαδες, and should therefore be dear to us.

For the extortioner is at an end.] Heb., Emunctor, the milker, or squeezer, or wringer out, {#Pr 30:33} so the Assyrian tyrant is called; as also Vastator et proculcator, the spoiler or plunderer; and conculcator, the oppressor or treader down, is consumed out of the land; and it shall not be long ere I fetch home my banished; be content therefore to harbour them awhile; herein thou shalt do thyself no disservice at all.

Ver. 5. For in mercy (or piety) shall the throne be established.] Hezekiah’s throne shall, but especially Christ’s, from whom ye may once have occasion to borrow that mercy which now you are called upon to lend to those outcasts of Israel.

And he shall set upon it, ] i.e., He shall make it his business to relieve and right his people.

And seeking judgment.] Making inquisition after wrongs of such as dare not complain. The Grand Signor, they say, shows himself on purpose weekly abroad, for the receiving the poor’s petitions and punishing the grandees of his court, by whom they are oppressed; whence also he styleth himself Awlem Penawh—i.e., the world’s refuge.

And hastening justice.] Despatching and dispeeding causes.

Ver. 6. We have heard of the pride of Moab.] His harsh and haughty carriage toward God’s poor people, though he were advised the contrary. {#Isa 16:1,3,4} Good counsel is but cast away upon a proud person. Now the Moabites were as much noted then for their pride as now the Spaniards are; and their pride appeared by their brags and threats. But

His lies shall not be so.] Or, His indignation is more than his strength, as Jerome rendereth it. His boastings and blusters shall come to nothing; his pride shall be his bane and break his neck.

Ver. 7. Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab.] One Moabite to another, or each within himself, ut solent desperantes.

For the foundations of Kirhareseth.] Which shall be utterly razed and harassed. Kirhareseth is interpreted the "city of brick walls," as was Babylon, or rather the "city of the sun," as Bethshemesh and Heliopolis, because there the sun was in a special manner worshipped.

Shall ye mourn.] Or, Roar, or mutter, or muse.

Ver. 8. For the fields of Heshbon languish.] As being decayed and destroyed; hence so great mourning in Moab. Their father and founder was begotten in wine, and themselves were likely great wine bibbers. Historians say that some of their cities were built by Bacchus. Fitly therefore are these drunken Moabites bereft of their vines, as those gluttonous Sodomites were of their victuals. {#Ge 14:11} The drunkard’s motto is, Take away my liquor, and take away my life.

The lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof.] The great Turk causeth all the vines to be cut down wherever he cometh, because he read in the Koran that in every grape there dwelleth a devil.

Ver. 9. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping.] Defleo fletum (Paronomasia), that is, the misery of Jazer; or, I will with weeping bewail Jazer, and the vine of Sibmah.

For the shouting for thy summer fruits, ] i.e., Thy joy and jollity over thy summer fruits, and over thine harvest, expressed by songs and shouts, do now fail and cease.

Ver. 10. And gladness is taken away.] Laetitia -i.e., quicquid laetificum erat, All matter of mirth is removed. Heb., Gathered up, or gathered in, as your harvest also is to your hand by the enemy.

Ver. 11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound {a} like an harp for Moab.] The "elect of God, holy and beloved, have bowels of mercy, tenderness, and kindness" toward their very enemies also, {#Col 3:12} whom they do oft pity more than they pity themselves, as Habakkuk did the Chaldeans’ calamity, {#Isa 3:16} and as Daniel did Nebuchadnezzar’s downfall. {#Da 4:19} Sicut cithara plectro tacta dat sonitum in funere funereum, As they have mournful music at funerals; {#Jer 9:17,20 Mt 9:23} or as the strings of a shawm sound heavily, so do my heart strings for miserable Moab. In a harp, if one string be touched, all the rest sound; so it should be with us in regard of fellow feeling. We should feel others’ hard cords through our soft beds.

{a} Ego ex intimis visceribus meis conturbatus. -Jun.

Ver. 12. That Moab is weary on the high place.] Tired out in his superstitious services, by all which he is not a button the better, but a great deal the worse.

But he shall not prevail.] This is every wicked man’s case and curse; for "we know that God heareth not sinners." {#Joh 9:31} He will never accept of a good motion from a bad mouth. {#Isa 1} The very heathen could say,

“Ος κε Θεοις επιπειθηται, μαλα τ’ εκλυον αυτου.”

Ver. 13. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken.] And is therefore sure and certain; for the word of the Lord "cannot be broken" {#Joh 10:35}

Since that time, ] i.e., Since Balaam, hired by Balak (say the Hebrews), cursed not the Israelites as he would have done, but the Moabites, as he was made to do. Ex tunc.

Ver. 14. Within three years.] In which time the sins of the Moabites shall be full, and themselves ripe and ready for vengeance. Three years hence, therefore, sc., in the fourth year of King Hezekiah; for then came up Shalmaneser against Samaria, and it is probable that in his march thither he invaded and subdued these Moabites, that he might leave all safe behind him. A hundred years after which, or more, Nebuchadnezzar utterly ruined them, according to #Jer 48

As the years of an hireling, ] i.e., Praecise, nec citius nec tardius, Three years precisely. This time Moab had to make his peace in; but he minded nothing less, and therefore deservedly perished. So, alas! shall all such infallibly as repent not within their three years’ space! which perhaps may not be three months, or three days, saith Oecolampadius; I may add, three minutes; and yet, Ex hoc momento pendet ceternitas, Upon this short inch of time dependeth eternity. Up, therefore, and be doing. Stat sua cuique dies, &c.

Chapter 17

Ver. 1. The burden of Damascus.] See #Isa 13:1.

Of Damascus.] That is, of the kingdom of Syria, the head city whereof was Damascus; and it was destroyed by Shalmaneser five or six years after this burdenous prophecy; the like whereunto, see #Isa 49:23 Am 1:2 Zec 9:1. It had been taken before by Tiglathpileser, {#2Ki 15:29} and hath been rebuilded since, {#Ac 9:2 2Co 11:32} being at this day a noble city of the East— civitas laetitiae et laudabilis, as Jeremiah calleth it. {#Jer 49:24,25}

And it shall be a ruinous heap.] It was so till re-edified, and inhabited by a new people.

Ver. 2. The cities of Aroer are forsaken, ] i.e., The country beyond Jordan {#De 2:36} is desolated and depopulated—the Gadites and the Reubenites being also, together with the Syrians, carried captive by Tiglathpileser. {#1Ch 5:26}

Ver. 3. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim.] Heb., Shall sabbatise, or rest. Ephraim, or the ten tribes, had joined with Syria in a confederacy against Judah; they justly therefore partake with them in their punishment.

Shall be as the glory of the children of Israel.] Poor glory now; but so their low condition is called ironically and by way of contempt, saith Oecolamp.

Ver. 4. The glory of Jacob shall be made thin.] Their multitudes wherein they gloried shall be greatly impaired.

And the fatness.] He shall be cast into a deadly consumption, know the consumption of a kingdom is poverty, and the death of it is loss of authority, saith Scultetus, wickedness being the root of its wretchedness, like as the causes of diseases are in the body itself.

Ver. 5. And it shall be as when the harvest man.] Their utter captivity is set forth by three lively similitudes, for better assurance, a very small remnant only left in the land. This by some ancients is alleged to show how few shall be saved—surely not one of ten thousand, said Simeon. And before him Chrysostom, {a} How many, think you, shall be saved in this city of Antioch? Though there be so many thousands of you, yet there cannot be found a hundred that shall enter into God’s kingdom, and I doubt much of those too, &c.

In the valley of Rephaim.] Which was nigh to Jerusalem. {#Jos 15:8} Nam similitudine populari propheta utitur. {b}

{a} Hom. iv. Ad Pop. Antioch.

{b} Jun.

Ver. 6. Yet gleaning grapes, &c.] See on #Isa 17:5.

Ver. 7. At that day shall a man look to his Maker.] The elect among the Israelites shall do so, having been whipped home as before. There is an elegance in the original, as there are many in this prophet, that cannot be translated. Here also, and in the next verse, we have a description of true repentance, the right fruit of affliction sanctified. Penitence and punishment are words of one derivation.

Ver. 8. And he shall not look to the altars.] As, having looked before to his Maker with a single eye, with an eye of adamant, that will turn only to one point. See on #Ho 14:8.

Ver. 9. Which they left for the children of Israel.] Which the enemy left, by a sweet providence of God; the like whereto see on #Zec 7:14.

Ver. 10. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation.] Thou hast disloyally departed from him, as a wife doth from her husband, though he were both able and ready to have saved thee.

Therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants.] But all to no purpose. Hoc patres familias pro regula habeant aeconomica. There is a curse upon the wicked, though never so industrious. All will not do. God cannot abide to be forgotten.

And shall set it with strange slips, ]{ a} i.e., Rare and excellent ones, but for the enemies’ use. {as #Isa 17:11 De 28:29}

{a} Exotica fere non nisi preciosa afferuntur. -Jun.

Ver. 11. In the day thou shalt make thy plant to grow.] So #Pr 22:8, he that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity; and the more serious and sedulous he is at it, the worse shall it be with him. {#Ga 6:8}

But thy harvest shall be an heap.] This is a proverb among the Jews, to signify labour in vain.

In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.] Heb., Aegrae, sc., plagae; for grapes ye shall gather thorns, for figs, thistles.

Ver. 12. Woe to the multitude of many people.] Met to make up Sennacherib’s army. Or, Oh the multitude, &c. The prophet wondereth, {a} as it were, at the huge multitude of the enemies, and their horrible noise.

Like the rushing of many waters.] Ob impetum et fremitum.

{a} Mihi hoc loco admirantis videtur. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 13. The nations shall rush.] Or, Rustle. The Assyrians did so when they brake in. {#Isa 36:1-20}

But God shall rebuke them, ] i.e., Chide them, smite them, and so set it on, as none shall be able to take it off.

And they shall flee far off.] Heb., He shall flee, viz., Sennacherib, who, was frightened with the slaughter of his soldiers by the angel, shall flee his utmost.

Ver. 14. And behold at eventide trouble.] Or, Terror—sc., within Jerusalem, besieged by Sennacherib’s forces. But this mourning lasted but till morning. The time of affliction is ordinarily short; a day, or night; a piece of a night, as here; a "moment"; {#Isa 54:8} "a small moment." {#Isa 54:7} Or if longer, yet (1.) There are some breathing time between; (2.) There is much good got by it; (3.) It is nothing to eternity.

Before morning he is not.] He and his forces are all gone. The wicked, saith Oecolampadius here, at the eventide of their death have a hard tug of it; and in the morning of the resurrection they are not, or could wish they were not.

This is the portion of them that spoil us.] Epiphonema ad populum Dei. He closeth up his discourse with a word of comfort to all God’s people; for whose sake also it is that all this is said against Assyria, Syria, and other foreign states, enemies to the Church.

Chapter 18

Ver. 1. Woe to the land.] To Ethiopia, described here, (1.) By the shady mountains wherewith it is surrounded; (2.) By the rivers wherewith it is watered. {a}

Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.] Or, Which is along by the rivers, even Ethiopia, which also may be said to be "beyond the rivers," i.e., beyond the seven streams of Nile in respect of Jerusalem.

{a} Strabo.

Ver. 2. That sendeth ambassadors by the sea.] Heralds to defy the Assyrian, and to bid him battle, to their own ruin.

Even in the vessels of bulrushes.] Or, In paper barques well pitched. {a} These were much in use among the Ethiopians and Egyptians, both for expedition and also for safety against rocks, shallows, and falls of rivers.

Go, ye swift messengers.] Tirhaka’s words to his heralds. See #2Ki 19:9.

To a nation scattered and peeled, ] i.e., To the Assyrians, whose great forces are at this time scattered up and down in several countries, and therefore with more ease and safety to be set upon. Thus the Ethiopian pleaseth himself in the conceit of an easy conquest, but was quickly confuted; the Jews who trusted unto him were disappointed, and Sennacherib more enraged against Jerusalem.

To a people terrible.] The mauls {hammers} of mankind; but I shall chastise them. Thus he triumpheth before the victory, having already devoured Assyria in his hopes.

A nation meted out and trodden down.] Or rather meeting out and treading down. Or shortly to be meted out to conculcation or destruction.

Whose land the rivers have spoiled.] Or, The floods—inundations of enemies—shall spoil; or, Whose land the rivers—the Ethiopians who live by the rivers {#Isa 18:1} -do despise. For this chapter is not more short than dark, and diversely rendered and sensed.

{a} Iunceae fiscellae picatae. -Vide Plin., lib. vi. cap. 22.

Ver. 3. All the inhabitants of the world, see ye.] Or, Ye shall see when he lifteth up a banner on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, ye shall hear—i.e., ye shall shortly see the Assyrians returning from the conquest of the Ethiopian with glory and great joy; but what will the Lord do the while?

Ver. 4. I will take my rest, I will consider.] He will sit and bethink himself, as it were, how he may best bestow his poor people. The Assyrian shall go on with his great design for a while, and none shall interrupt him; but the Church meanwhile shall not be unprovided for.

Like a clear heat upon herbs.] Or, After rain which makes herbs and plants suddenly to sprout and shoot up amain. God will not only look upon his people, but refresh them in troubles.

Ver. 5. For afore the harvest.] Or, Vintage.

When the bud is perfect, &c.] When the Assyrian, fleshed with his former victory, maketh full account that all is his own, God shall make his hopes to hop headless. He shall slaughter his forces, {as #Isa 18:6} branches and sprigs, great and small.

Ver. 6. They shall be left together.] They, that is, the Assyrians slain by the angel. {as #Ps 79:2 Isa 37:36}

The fowls shall summer upon them.] Both birds and beasts of prey shall have enough to feed upon the whole year about.

Ver. 7. In that time.] When the Assyrians are thus slain.

Shall the present be brought, ] sc., By the Jews, who shall consecrate a considerable part of the spoils of the Assyrians, according to #Nu 31:28,47,50,54. Thankfulness for public deliverances is still due to the Most High: "Bring presents unto him that ought to be feared." {#Ps 76:11}

Chapter 19

Ver. 1. The burden of Egypt.] See #Isa 13:1.

Behold the Lord rideth.] Heb., Riding—sc., as a judge, or general of an army.

Upon a swift cloud, ] i.e., Speedily, suddenly, and irresistibly. Clouds are rarely seen in Egypt, where it raineth not; but in #Eze 30:18 we read of a cloud that should cover Egypt. By "swift cloud" here some understand the Virgin Mary; others our Saviour’s body, or human nature. And they further tell us, that as soon as the child Jesus was brought into Egypt, down fell all the idols there, as Dagon did before the ark. {a} This they ground upon the following words:—

And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence.] Whereby I conceive is only meant that their gods should not be able to help them, and should therefore lose their authority, be discredited and decried.

And the heart of Egypt shall melt.] As it did, first when Sennacherib, and then when Nebuchadnezzar came against it.

{a} Hist. Scholast.

Ver. 2. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians.] Commiscebo Egyptios inter se, I will embroil them in a civil war. This happened, saith Junius, under King Psammeticus, after the death of Sethon, about the end of Hezekiah’s reign, or the beginning of Manasseh’s, while Isaiah was yet alive. {a}

And kingdom against kingdom.] Or, Rectory against rectory; for as here in the heptarchy, so there the land was divided into many provinces or jurisdictions, even sixty-six, saith Ortelius.

{a} Herod., lib. ii. Diod. Sic., lib. i.

Ver. 3. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail.] Fail and falter; their wits shall not serve them, but be drained and emptied, as the Hebrew word here signifieth. By spirit, here understand their wisdom, learning, and sharpness, for the which they were famous among, and frequented by other nations. Moses was skilled in their learning. {#Ac 7:23} Pythagoras, Plato, Solon, Anaxagoras, and other philosophers got much by them. Mercurius Trismegist saith of Egypt, that it was the image of heaven, and the temple of the whole world. By spirit here, some understand their familiar spirits. {a} See #Le 19:31.

And they shall seek to the idols.] Whereof they had great store (so that they were derided by other idolaters), but their chief deity was Latona, saith Herodotus.

And to the charmers.] Who have their name in Hebrew from their low or slow speaking.

{a} Aug. De Civit. Dei, lib. viii. cap. 14.

Ver. 4. And the Egyptians will I give over.] Heb., Shut up—sc., as fishes in a pond.

Into the hand of a cruel lord.] Heb., Lords—viz., those twelve tyrants that reigned after Sethon, and were put down by Psammeticus, one of their own number, who afterwards reigned alone and with rigour. {a}

And a fierce king, ] viz., Psammeticus, the father of that Pharaohnecho who slew Josiah. {#2Ki 23:29} This fierce king reigned fifty-four years, and by his harshness caused 200,000 of his men of war to leave him, and to go into Ethiopia.

{a} Herodot.

Ver. 5. And the waters shall fail from the sea, ] i.e., Their sea traffic shall be taken from them, to their very great loss. Historians testify, that by frequent navigation out of the Bay of Arabia into India and Trogloditiae, the revenue of Egypt was so increased, that Auletes, the father of Cleopatra, received thence yearly twelve thousand and five hundred talents.

And the river shall be wasted and dried up, ] i.e., The river Nile, which watereth Egypt and maketh it fruitful. See #De 11:9,10 Eze 29:3,9.

“ Creditur Aegyptus caruisse iuvantibus arva

Imbribus, atque annis sicca fuisse novem.”

- Ovid. Art., lib. i.

Ver. 6. And they shall turn the rivers far away.] The Assyrians shall, or some of their own fond and vainglorious princes shall drain the river Nile at several passages and in several places, to the impairing of the river and the impeaching of the state. {a}

The reeds and flags shall wither.] These were of great use there; for of flags they made their barks and boats, mats also, wheels, baskets, &c.; of reeds they made their sails, ropes, paper, and a kind of juice serving them for food, {b} &c. As therefore the palm tree is to the Indians a cornucopia, yielding many commodities, so are reeds and flags to the Egyptians.

{a} Herodot., lib. ii.

{b} Plin., lib. xiii. cap. 11.

Ver. 7. The paper reeds by the brooks, ] i.e., By the streams of Nile; for where this river arriveth not, is nothing but a whitish sand, bearing no grass but two little weeds called suhit and gazul, which, burnt to ashes, maketh the finest crystal glasses.

And everything sown by the brooks.] As far as Nile overflows is a black mould, so fruitful as they do but throw in the seed and have four rich harvests in less than four months.

Ver. 8. The fishers also shall mourn.] Because their trade decayeth, or they take pains to no purpose. {#Isa 19:10}

Ver. 9. They that work in fine flax shall be confounded, ] sc., For want of materials, such as were wont to be sown by the brooks {#Isa 19:7 1Ki 10:28 Pr 7:16 Eze 27:7} (Plin., lib. ix. cap. 1).

They that weave networks.] Or rather whiteworks {a} -that is, white garments made of the fine flax of Egypt. These were much worn by nobles. {#Pr 7:16 Da 7:9} Whence also in Hebrew they have their name. {#1Ki 21:8 Ne 2:16 Ec 10:17, &c.}

{a} םידות, Albi seu candidati.

Ver. 10. And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof.] Heb., In the foundations, as #Ps 11:3. Purposes are the foundation of practices, but are oft disappointed.

And ponds for fish.] Heb., Ponds of fowl, stagna voluptaria (Tremellius), standing pools of desire. In Hebrew, the word used elsewhere for a pond or fish pool signifieth a blessing also. {a}

{a} Berecha.

Ver. 11. Surely the princes of Zoan are fools.] Otherwise they would never have so ill-advised their king so to drain the river, for his pleasure, to the public detriment. Zoan was an ancient city in Egypt. {#Nu 13:22} The Septuagint and Vulgate versions call it Tunis. Here it was that Moses did all his wonders. {#Ps 78:12 Ex 7:8,9} Here Pharaoh’s princes "took counsel, but not of God; and covered with a covering, but not of his Spirit, that they might add sin to sin." {#Isa 30:1}

The counsel of the wise counsellors is become brutish.] Such as was that of Machiavel, {a} the Florentine secretary, who proposeth Caesar Borgia, notwithstanding all his villanies, as the only example for a prince to imitate.

How say ye unto Pharaoh?] How can ye for shame say so of yourselves? Or quomodo dictatis Pharaoni? How can ye dictate or put such words as these into your king’s mouth? What gross flattery is this?

I am the son of the wise.] Or, A son of "wise ones; as if wisdom were proper to you, and hereditary. The Egyptians cracked much of their wisdom, yet more of their antiquity, as if they were long before other people, yea, before the moon—as the Arcadians also boasted—and that their philosophy was very ancient. {b}

{a} De Principe, p. 185.

{b} Herod. lib. ii.—προσεληναοι, Lucian.—-Plato in Timaeo.

Ver. 12. Where are they? where are thy wise men?] q.d., Vile latens virtus: if they have that wisdom they pretend to, let them predict thy calamities and help to prevent them. Mihi hominun prudentia similis videtur talparum labori non sine dexteritate sub terra fodientium, sed ad lumen solis caecutientium, { a} The world’s wizards are like children, always standing on their heads and shaking their heels against heaven.

{a} Gasp. Ens.

Ver. 13. The princes of Zoan are become fools.] Wilful fools; this they are told twice over, because hardly persuaded to it. See #Isa 19:11.

The princes of Noph.] Called also Moph, {#Ho 9:6} and therehence Memphis, now Grand Cairo, famous once for the pyramids and monuments of the Egyptian kings.

Even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.] Heb., The corners {a} of the tribes or rectories—that is, either the king and chieftains, as some sense it; or, as others, all the inhabitants of the country, from one corner thereof unto another. How these wise men of Egypt deceived others is not expressed; but probably they did it by approving and cherishing the superstition, impiety, and carnal security of the princes and people.

{a} The free states of Switzerland are called cantons—i.e., corners.

Ver. 14. The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit.] Or, Given them to drink a spirit of giddiness. Heb., A spirit of extreme perversities; he hath stupified, and as it were intoxicated them with the "efficacy of error."

And they have caused Egypt to err in every work.] Psammeticus their king was twenty-eight years in besieging Azotus ere he could take it; and other things went on with them accordingly. {a}

{a} Herod., Euterp.

Ver. 15. Neither shall there be any work.] See on #Isa 19:14.

Ver. 16. In that day shall Egypt be like unto women.] Feeble and faint-hearted, nihil mascule aut fortiter facturi, sed mulieribus meticulosiores. See #Pr 28:1. {See Trapp on "Pr 28:1"}

Because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord.] When as yet he threateneth only; how much more when he striketh in good earnest? See #Isa 30:32.

Ver. 17. And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt.] For how should Egypt hope to speed better than Judea had done? How Sethon, King of Egypt, was put to his trumps, as we say, when Sennacherib invaded Egypt, imploring the aid of his god Vulcan, whose priest he was, see Herodotus, lib. ii.

Ver. 18. In that day.] When the gospel shall be there preached, whether by Mark the evangelist or others, as Clement, Origen, Didymus.

Five cities.] A considerable number of Egyptians.

Speak the language of Canaan.] Called the Jews’ language, {#Isa 36:11,13} the Hebrew tongue, wherein were written the lively oracles of God. This language, therefore, the elect Egyptians shall learn, and labour for that "pure lip," {#Zep 3:9} to "speak as the oracles of God"; {#1Pe 4:11} "wholesome words"; {#2Ti 1:13} "right words"; {#Job 6:25} "words of wisdom"; {#Pr 1:6} "of truth and soberness"; {#Ac 26:25} to be examples to others, not only in faith and conversation, but also "in words and communication." {#1Ti 4:12}

And swear to the Lord of hosts.] Devote themselves to his fear and service, taking a corporal oath for that purpose as in baptism, {a} and other holy covenants, whereupon haply they might be enabled to speak with tongues, the holy tongue especially, as most necessary for Christians. Here then we have a description of a true Christian, not such as the Jesuits in their catechism give us, viz., A Christian is he who believeth whatsoever the church of Rome commandeth to be believed, swearing fealty to her.

One shall be called the city of destruction, ] i.e., Nevertheless there shall be a few cities that shall despise Christian religion; and shall therefore be destroyed for neglecting so great salvation. It shall be easier for Sodom one day than for such. Others render the text Heliopolis, or the city of the sun, shall be accounted one, sc., of those five converted cities, and become consecrated to the Sun of righteousness. {b}

{a} Nempe susceptione baptismi. -Piscat.

{b} Joseph. Ant., lib. xiii. cap. 6.

Ver. 19. In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord.] A spiritual altar for spiritual sacrifices. {as #Isa 19:20 Heb 13:10} Onias, the Jewish priest, who hereupon went and built an altar at Heliopolis in Egypt, and sacrificed to God there, was as much mistaken as the Anabaptists of Germany were in their Munster, which they termed New Jerusalem, and acted accordingly, sending forth apostles, casting out orthodox ministers, &c.

And a pillar in the border thereof.] That is, saith one, the gospels and writings of the apostles, that pillar and ground of truth, or a public confession of the Christian, faith. {#Ro 10:9} An allusion to #Jos 22:10,25. See #Zec 14:9,20,21.

Ver. 20. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness.] The doctrine of Christ’s death is a clear testimony of God’s great love and kindness to mankind. {#Ro 5:8}

For they shall cry unto the Lord for their oppressors.] As the Israelites sometimes had done under the Egyptian servitude. {#Ex 3:9}

And he shall send them a Saviour.] Not Moses but Messias, that great Saviour; {a} for God had laid his people’s "help on one that is mighty." {#Ps 89:19} See #Tit 2:13.

{a} Servatorem et magnatem, vel magistrum.

Ver. 21. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt.] They shall both know the Lord Christ, and be known of him. {as #Ga 4:9} See #Ro 10:20.

And shall do sacrifce and oblation.] Perform "reasonable service," {#Ro 12:1} such as whereof they can render a reason. Not a Samaritan service, {#Joh 4:22} or Athenian {#Ac 17:23} -"Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship," &c. God will have no such blind sacrifices. {#Mal 1:8}

Yea, they shall vow a vow, &c.] That in baptism especially.

Ver. 22. And the Lord shall smite Egypt.] That he may bring it into the bond of the covenant. {#Eze 20:37 Heb 12:9 Ho 6:1}

He shall smite and heal it.] Heb., Smiting and healing. Una eademque manus, &c. Una gerit bellum monstrat manus altera pacem; as it was said of Charles V. Facit opus alienum ut faciat proprium {#Isa 28:20}

And shall heal them.] Pardon their sins, heal their natures, and make up all breaches in their outward estates.

Ver. 23. In that day there shall be an highway, &c.] All hostility shall cease, and a blessed unanimity be settled among Christ’s subjects of several nations; hereunto way was made by the Roman empire, reducing both these great countries into provinces.

And the Egyptians shall serve.] Serve the Lord "with one shoulder." {as #Zep 3:9}

Ver. 24. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt.] The posterity of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, shall concur in the communion of saints; the pale and partition wall being taken away.

Even a blessiing in the midst of the earth.] The saints are so. Absque stationibus non staret mundus. If it were not for them, the world would soon shatter and fall in pieces.

Ver. 25. Whom the Lord af hosts shall bless.] Or, For the Lord of hosts shall bless, and then he shall be blessed, {a} as Isaac said of Jacob. {#Ge 27:33}

Blessed be Egypt, my people.] A new title to Egypt, and no less honourable. Vide quantum profecerit Egyptus flagellis, saith Oecolampadius, here, i.e., see how Egypt hath got by her sufferings. See #Isa 19:22. She who was not a people, but a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven, is now owned and taken into covenant.

And Assyria, the work of my hands.] "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works." {#Eph 2:10}

And Israel mine inheritance.] This is, upon the matter, one and the same with the former; every regenerate person, whether Jew or Gentile, is all these three in conjunction. Oh the μυρωμακαριοτης, the heaped up happiness of all such! "Let Israel rejoice in him that made him; let the children of Zion be joyful in their king." {#Ps 149:2} "For the Lord her God in the midst of her is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over her with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over her with singing." {#Zep 3:17}

{a} Jun.

Chapter 20

Ver. 1. In the year that Tartan.] A certain commander under Sennacherib, {#2Ki 18:17} who came against Ashdod, among other cities of Judah, about the twelfth year of king Hezekiah.

Came to Ashdod.] Called also Azotus, {#Ac 8:40} and much praised by Herodotus in Euterpe.

When Sargon.] That is, Sennacherib most likely, who had seven names, saith Jerome, eight, say some Rabbis. Commodus, the Roman emperor, took unto himself as many names as there are months in the year, which also he changed ever and anon, but constantly-kept that of Exuperans, because he would have been thought to excel all men. {a} The like might be true of Sargon.

And fought against Ashdod, and took it.] Psammeticus, king of Egypt, had before taken it after a very long siege; now it is taken again from the Egyptian by the Assyrian, to teach them and others not to trust to forts and fenced cities. {b}

{a} Dion.

{b} Herod., lib. ii.

Ver. 2. At the same time spake the Lord.] Against Egypt and Ethiopia, whom he had comforted, #Isa 19:18,19, and yet now again threateneth; showing by an ocular demonstration {a} what miseries should befall them. This was done in Jewry; but the report thereof might easily come to these confederate countries, and the Jews, howsoever, were given hereby to see how vain a thing it was to trust to such confederates.

By Isaiah the son of Amoz.] Heb., By the hand of Isaiah, whom God used as a dispenser of this precious treasure.

Go, loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, ] i.e., Thy thick rough garment, {b} such as prophets usually wore. {#2Ki 1:8 Zec 13:4 Mt 3:4} Or else thy sackcloth put on as a mourning weed, either for ten tribes lately carried captive, or else for the miseries ready to fall shortly upon thine own people.

And put off thy shoe from thy foot.] The Nudipedales in Moravia might as well avouch Isaiah for their founder as the Carmelites do Elias.

And he did so.] God is to be obeyed without hesitation: his commands, how unreasonable soever they may seem, are not to be disputed, but despatched.

Walking naked.] Not stark naked, but stripped as a prisoner, his mantle or upper garment cast off. See #1Sa 19:24 Ac 19:16 Mic 1:8.

{a} οφθαλμοειδως, i.e., Per Isaiam tanquam organum et dispensatorem suorum myster. -Oecolamp.

{b} Vestimentum vilosum.

Ver. 3. Like as my servant Isaiah.] Servants are either menial or magisterial. Prophets and preachers are of this latter sort.

Hath walked naked and barefoot three years, ] i.e., Three days; a day for a year {as #Eze 4:4,5,6} Tremellius rendereth the text thus: Hath walked naked and barefoot for a sign and wonder of the third year against the Egyptians, and against the Ethiopians—that is, for a sign that the third year after this prophecy the forces of the Egyptians and Ethiopians under the conduct of Tirhaka shall be worsted, slaughtered, and carried captive by the Assyrian monarch. And this was preached not more to their ears than to their eyes, ad fidem faciendam, for more assurance.

Ver. 4. So shall the king of Assyria lead away.] As men used to lead or drive cattle, for so the Hebrew word Nahag denotes: so are poor captives led; and so shall the Lord also one day "lead forth with" or in company of "the workers of iniquity" (notorious offenders) all such as "turn aside unto their crooked ways," hypocrites and dissemblers; whenas "peace shall be upon Israel, upon the pure in heart." {#Ps 125:5}

Young and old.] Young men are for action, old men for counsel. {a} Εργα νεων, βουλαι δε τεροντων. {b} They were all carried away together in a sad and sorry condition, little better, and sometimes more bitter, than death itself.

Even with their buttocks uncovered.] Vel ad ludibrium, vel ad libidinem hostium, for the enemies either to scorn at, or to feed their filthy eyes upon. Thus and for such a purpose dealt the mitred fathers with the poor Albigenses, those ancient Protestants in France, when they had forced them to take quarter for their lives, voluerunt episcopi viros et mulieres nudos egredi, &c. The bishops wished the men and women to be led forth nude. And so Tilly dealt with the miserable citizens at the sack of Magdeburg; and much worse than so dealeth the devil with all his wretched captives, whom he driveth away hellward, naked and barefoot with their buttocks uncovered, the shame of their nakedness exposed to public view for want of the white raiment of Christ’s righteousness that they might be clothed. {#Re 3:18}

{a} Consilia senum, hastae iuvenum sunt.

{b} Pindar.

Ver. 5. And they shall be afraid and ashamed.] They—that is, as many as confided in them—seeing themselves thus confuted, shall be abashed and terrified ( perterrefient) at the fall of their confederates, and their own approaching calamity.

Ver. 6. And the inhabitant of this isle shall say, &c.] Judea, though part of the continent, is here called an isle or island, whereas it was indeed an inland; (1.) Because it was bounded on the west with the Midland Sea, and on the east with the lake of Gennesaret; (2.) Because it was beset with many enemies, and beaten upon by the waves of wars from all parts, but especially from Egypt and Babylon, which is called a sea; {#Isa 21:1 8:8} (3.) Because begirt with God’s favour, power, and protection, which was greater security to it than the sea is to Venice {a} (which yet is media insuperabilis unda), or than wooden walls can be to any island.

Behold, such is our expectation, &c.] Here is their shame, and well it might be, for if Hezekiah relied not upon the Egyptian for help against the Assyrian, yet the people did, as Rabshakeh also could tell. {#2Ki 18:24}

And how shall we escape?] Here is their fear. {#Isa 20:5} How much more shall wicked men say thus at the last day?

{a} Venice is environed with her embracing Neptune, to whom she marrieth herself with yearly nuptials, casting a ring into the sea.

Chapter 21

Ver. 1. The burden of the desert of the sea, ] i.e., Of Babylon, {#Isa 21:9} which is here called a sea, because situated by many waters, {#Jer 51:13,36} and the desert or plain of the sea, because it stood in a plain, {#Ge 11:2} or was to be turned into a desert. See #Isa 13:1-14:32 Jer 51. It is so often prophesied against; (1.) For the comfort of God’s people, who were to suffer hard and heavy things from this city; (2.) For a caution to them not to trust in such a tottering state. A Lapide saith, that about the time of this prophecy, Hezekiah was making a league and amity with Merodach, king of Babylon, to whose ambassadors he had showed all his treasures, and was well shent for it. {#2Ki 20:12} To take him off which design, the ruin of Babylon is here before prophesied.

As whirlwinds in the south {a} pass through.] Patentibus campis, ac locis arenosis, vehementissimo impetu cuncta prosternentes, without stop or stay, bearing down all before them, covering whole armies with sand sometimes, and destroying theirs.

So it cometh.] Or, So he cometh, that is, Cyrus with his armies; Vastator Babyloniae, he cometh fiercely and furiously.

From the wilderness.] From Persia, which is desert in many places, especially toward Babylon.

From a terrible land.] From Media, the people whereof were barbarous and brutish, skilful to destroy. Nitocris, queen of Babylon, feared a hostile irruption from this land, did her utmost to prevent it, but that would not be. {b}

{a} Pliny saith the greatest tempests at sea come from the South.

{b} Herodot.

Ver. 2. A grievous vision.] Heb., Hard, harsh, tyrannorum speculum: here is hard for hard; God loveth to retaliate. Babylon had been the "maul of the earth"; {#Jer 51:20} now a hard messenger is sent, a harsh vision is declared against her. They who do what they should not, shall hear what they would not; a burdenous prophecy, a grievous vision. This "treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and this spoiler spoileth," for so some read the next words.

The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously.] Or, O thou treacherous dealer and notable spoiler: thou Elam, I mean; go up, thou Media, besiege. God oft maketh use of one tyrant to punish another; as here he stirreth up the Persians to plunder and waste the Babylonians. So the Persians were afterwards in like sort punished by the Macedonians, the Macedonians by the Romans, those Romans by the Huns, Vandals, Lombards, Saracens, Turks; all whom Christ shall destroy at his last coming.

Go up, O Elam, ] i.e., Thou Persian. Elymais is properly that part of Persia that lieth towards Media. Here they are appointed their work 170 years before it was done; and Cyrus afterwards named as the chief doer.

All the sighing thereof have I made to cease.] Thereof, or of her, that is, of Babylon, not of Judea, which the prophet ever had in his heart, as some sense it; the sighing, quo ipsa, sua tyrannide et oppressione, cogebat alios flere et gemere, { a} that she forced from others, specially from God’s oppressed people. Or, they shall not have long to sigh, for I will soon put an end to their lives.

{a} Vatab.

Ver. 3. Therefore are my loins filled with pains.] I, Babylon, or I, Belshazzar, am in a woe case. This is here set forth by a notable hypotyposis, ac si res ipsa iam tum gereretur, persona regis in se per mimesin assumpta, { a} acting Belshazzar’s part. (as #Da 5:5,6, where we may read this prophecy punctually fulfilled)

I was bowed down at the hearing of it.] Belshazzar’s senses were sorely afflicted: how much more shall it be so in hell? The prophet here elegantly imitateth his groans and outcries, O dolorem lumborum! O torsiones! O cordis amissionem! O tremorem et terrorem! {b} Oh the doleful woe and "alas" of the damned spirits!

{a} Zeged.

{b} Oecolamp.

Ver. 4. My heart panted.] Or, Fluttereth to and fro, as not able to keep in its place. Viro impio calamitatibus presso nihil desperatius est. Nothing is more hopeless and crest fallen than a wicked man in distress: for what reason? his life and hopes end together.

The night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear.] That dreadful and dismal night, {#Da 5} intended for a revelling night, and dedicated to the honour of Shac: but the handwriting on the wall and the irruption of the Persians marred the mirth.

Ver. 5. Prepare the table.] Insultat regi Balthasari, ac irridendo voces illius memorat. {a} Prepare the table, said Belshazzar. But more need he had to have said, Prepare the battle; set the army in array, &c. But this secure sot thought of no such matter. His destruction, though at hand, was hid from his eyes by the Lord, who

“ Auferre mentem talibus primum solet,

Caliginemque, affundit, ut ruant suas

Furenter in clades, sibi quas noxii

Accersierunt ultro, consiliis malis.”

Watch in the watchtower.] That we may revel the more securely.

Eat, drink.] Etiamsi Hannibal sit ad portas; Even if Hannabal is by the gates. Feed without fear, notwithstanding the siege.

Arise, ye princes, anoint the shield, ] q.d., It would better become you, O Babylonian princes, so to do—viz., to stand to your arms—to furbish your shields, for your better defence against the Medes and Persians. {b} Some make these words to be the watchman’s warning, given upon the Persians entering the city.

{a} Zeged.

{b} Non convivandi sed pugnandi tempus est. -A Lapide.

Ver. 6. For thus hath the Lord said unto me.] Confirming, by a prophetic vision, what I had foretold concerning the calamity of the Chaldees.

Ver. 7. And he saw, ] scil., In a vision.

A chariot with a couple of horsemen.] Darius and Cyrus.

A chariot of asses and a chariot of camels.] Beasts of both sorts—both for burden and service—great store of them.

And he hearkened diligently, with much heed.] Attendit attente, attentissime, the watchman did who was set to watch in the vision.

Ver. 8. And he cried, A lion, ] i.e., A stout and cruel enemy is upon us. Or, He cried as a lion, so some render it—that is, the watchman cried aloud, professing his utmost vigilance in performance of his duty.

Ver. 9. And, behold, here cometh a chariot o men.] Or, Behold, even now are gone in—that is Cyrus and Darius {as #Isa 21:7} have broken into the town, and surprised it.

And he answered and said.] He—that is, the watchman— numinis quodam afflatu commotus, by a divine instinct. or rather God himself.

Babylon is fallen, is fallen.] That is, Shall fall, certo, cito, penitus, certainly, speedily, utterly— ruit alto a culmine Troia. So shall shortly mystical Babylon, {#Re 18:8-19} as the Jesuits themselves, Ribera and A Lapide, confess; only they say this shall be toward the end of the world, when Rome shall become idolatrous, as though it were not so now. But what said Petrarch long since? There yet standeth near at hand a second Babylon, cito itidem casura, si vos essetis viri, which would soon be down, would you but stand up as men.

Ver. 10. O my threshing, and the corn of my floor.] That is, O my church and people, whom by so many tribulations I have hitherto been threshing, that I might sunder thee from the chaff, and make thee the "corn of the floor," or, as the Hebrew here hath it, "my son of the floor," and may lay thee up as pure grain in my garner. {a} See #Isa 28:27.

That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, ] viz., That you, my poor countrymen, shall be threshed for a while, and winnowed by Babylon. See #Isa 25:10 41:15 Jer 51:33 Mic 4:13. Ut cum triturando e gluma, et follibus suis utriculisque, triticum educitur, and that you shall at length be delivered from this grievous affliction; all this you may write upon as certain and infallible. I have herein told you not the dreams of mine own heart, but the very undoubted words of God himself.

{a} Non ut perdam, sed ut probem et purgem. Frumentum Dei sum, &c. -Ignat.

Ver. 11. The burden of Dumah, ] i.e., Of Idumea, {a} or of the Edomites. For burden, see on #Isa 13:1. This prophecy is the shorter the harder. The Jews apply this prophecy to Rome. They read for Dumah, Roma. The Romans they call the new Idumeans, and the Pope’s kingdom the wicked kingdom of Edom. Some of them say that Julius Caesar was an Idumean; others that Aeneas came out of Idumea into Egypt; from thence into Lybia; thence to Carthage; thence to Italy, and that there he built Alba, out of which sprang Rome. The rise of this fiction seemeth to have been the destruction of the Jewish state by Titus and his Romans, who were thereupon for their cruelty by those Jews called Edomites.

He calleth to me out of Seir.] Or, One is calling to me out of Seir, which was a mountain possessed by the Edomites.

Watchman, what of the night?] {b} Interrogatio ironica est argue sarcastica -a scoffing question whereby the prophet is derided and upbraided with false foretelling a night of misery to the Edomites, whenas they felt no change, but enjoyed rather a lightsome morning; a fine time, as we say, of liberty and prosperity.

{a} Onus Idumeae. -Sept.

{b} Custos, quid de nocte?

Ver. 12. The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night.] This is a short and sharp answer—q.d., say it be yet morning with you and clear day; yet, as sure as the night followeth the day, a change will come such as whereof you shall have small comfort. {a}

If ye will inquire, ] sc., Of the Lord by me, whom you call watchman, in disdain; but I profess myself to be so—that is, to be a prophet, and do take it for an honour.

Inquire ye.] Do it seriously, and not sarcastically. "Be not ye mockers, lest your bonds be increased." {#Isa 28:22}

Return.] To God by true repentance.

Come.] Come over to us who are his people. And all this is delivered by an elegant Asyndeton {b} in short and quick terms, importing that haste must be made if the aforementioned danger shall be prevented. Habent aulae suum cito, cito; they must be nimble that shall find favour in the court of heaven. It is an unsafe thing always to begin to live. How many are taken away in their offers and essays before they have prepared their hearts to cleave to God! Castigemus ergo mores et moras. Up, therefore, and be doing, that the Lord may be with you.

{a} Non omnium dierum sol occidit. Nescis quid serus vesper vebat.

b} A rhetorical figure which omits the conjunction.

Ver. 13. The burden upon Arabia.] As a burden upon a beast. These Arabians or Hagarens had assisted, likely, Tihakah the Ethiopian against Sennacherib, and are therefore set upon by him. Sure it is they were enemies to the Church. {#Ps 83:2-12}

In the forest shall ye lodge.] In the wide and wild woods, glad to lurk anywhere for safety—glad to quit your huts.

O ye travelling companies.] Ye troops of travellers.

Ver. 14. Brought water to the thirsty.] Or, Bring forth water wherewith to meet the thirsty; with your bread prevent those that flee; be speedy and spontaneous in your beneficence. "Blessed is the man that considereth the poor and needy"; {#Ps 41:1} qui praeoccupat vocem petitari -which preventeth the request of the poor beggar; so Augustine rendereth it.

Ver. 15. For they fled from the swords, &c.] Swords, bows, battle to all the rest. Crosses seldom come single. See on #Jas 1:2.

Ver. 16. Within a year, after the years of an hireling.] See on #Isa 16:14; before the year be come about.

All the glory of Kedar.] Whose tents {#Ps 120:5} were rude, but rich. {#So 1:5} {See Trapp on "So 1:5"}

Ver. 17. And the residue of the number of archers.] Heb., Of the bow, whereby these Kedarens lived much, as had also their ancestor Ishmael. {#Ge 21:20}

For the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it.] Who will surely see it done, and yet he loveth mercifulness, but can, less than Mithridates could, endure those who hate virtue forsaken of fortune, as they call it.

Chapter 22

Ver. 1. The burden.] See #Isa 13:1.

Of the valley of vision, ] i.e., Of Zion or Jerusalem, as the Septuagint express it, which is called first a valley, though set upon a knoll—first, Because environed with mountains; {#Ps 125:2} secondly, Because shortly to be laid low and levelled with the ground— ita ut vallis aut vorago dici posset.

Of vision.] So Jerusalem is called—first, Because there was God’s visible or aspectable presence; secondly, Because it was a seminary of seers, as Jerome elegantly termeth it, not without some allusion, as it is thought, to Mount Moriah, whereon stood the temple, which signifieth vision; q.d., O Zion, thou wast Moriah, but now thou art Marah; thou wast the mountain of vision, but now thou art a valley of tears and of darkness; thou wast the temple of God, but now thou art a den of thieves.

What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the house tops?] Luctus et salutis causa, saith Scultetus; there to lament thy distress, or else for safeguard in this distraction. Shouldst thou not rather go out to fight, than go up thus wholly and fully to the tops of thy terraces?

Ver. 2. Thou that art full of stirs.] Clamoribus fragosis, { a} How soon hast thou changed thy cheer and thy note? thy joyful acclamations into doleful exclamations?

Thy slain men are not slain with the sword.] Sed mortui ex anxietate; but are foreslain with fear, or, as others, by the visible vengeance of God, as Titus acknowledged at the last sack of that city, {b} and as the poet sang of Troy—

“ Non tibi Tindaridis facies invisa Lacaenae,

Culpatusve Paris; verum inclcmcntia divum

Has evertit opes.’’—Virgil.

{a} Strepera ?Strepitus.

{b} Joseph., lib. vii. cap. 16.

Ver. 3. All thy rulers are fled together.] Vagantur, As not knowing what to do, or whither to turn themselves.

All that are found in thee are bound together.] Either in fetters, {#Jer 52:11} or with fear. {#Ps 76:5}

Which have fled from far.] Or, They fly far away, even as fast and as far as they can out of danger.

Ver. 4. Therefore said I, Look away from me.] Ut luctui et lamentis me totum dedam; that unseen I may soak myself in the salt tears of sorrow for Zion.

Ver. 5. For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down.] Great is the woe of war; no words how wide soever can set forth to the full the distress and destruction thereof.

And of perplexity.] Mebusah samebucah, so the original elegantly, as in the last words of the verse, rythmically.

Breaking down the walls.] {a} According to #Isa 5:5.

{a} Dominus exparietavit. -Vatab.

Ver. 6. And Elam, ] i.e., The Persians (great archers, as Corabo testifieth, lib. xvi.), as Kir standeth here for the Medians, {#2Ki 16:9} good at sword and buckler; called also Syromedians.

Uncovered the shield.] Kept covered till then for fear of rusting. These were desperate fellows, bloodily bent, skilful to destroy.

Ver. 7. Thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots.] Iron chariots armed with scythes. These were, saith Vegetius, first a terror, and then a scorn.

In array at the gate, ] sc., To force entrance into the city. {as #Jud 9:44,52}

Ver. 8. And he discovered the covering of Judah.] That is, he that is the enemy took the city; Hoc enim significat nudari operimentum -i.e., Protectionem Iudae; or, as others sense it, {a} God took away his protection, the rampart and defence of their country; {see #Ex 32:25 Nu 14:9 Mic 1:11} or the enemy destroyed the temple, wherein the Jews so foolishly confided. {#Jer 7:4}

To the armour of the house.] To anything but whom they should have looked unto. Our hearts are topped full of harlotry, ready to shift and shark in every by corner for comfort; to hang their hopes on every hedge, rather than to roll themselves upon God, "the hope of Israel."

{a} Zeged., Diodat., Oecolamp.

Ver. 9. Ye have seen also…and ye gathered together, &c.] This they did when in distress, to prevent the enemy and provide for their own safety; and this they might well have done, had not God been neglected; this of all things he can least endure. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God" (#Ps 9:17; see #Isa 30:1).

Ver. 10. And ye have numbered.] This they did not till now, that they might make the city more defensible, and the better keep out the enemy. General Vere told the King of Denmark, that kings cared not for soldiers and warlike preparations until such times as their crowns hang on the one side of their head.

Ver. 11. Ye made a ditch also.] A new ditch, lest the old one should not suffice, to hold water for the besieged. All this was well and wisely done, had not the main matter been left undone. See #2Ch 32:3,5 2Ki 18:14,16. The community of the Jews were carnal, and trusted in the arm of flesh. Hezekiah also himself faltered, &c.

But ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, ] i.e., To the author of that trouble, treading down, and perplexity {a} {#Isa 22:5} or, to the founder of Jerusalem, which, say the Rabbis, was one of those seven things which God had in his thoughts before he made the world.

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 12. And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping.] Ponit arma quibus civitates ab hostibus defenduntur, nempe arma poenitentiae. These are the best defensive weapons, which therefore God of his goodness calleth people to, or ere he punisheth them. He calleth them, I say, by his word and by his works, both ordinary and extraordinary, that his justice may be magnified, and every foul mouth stopped.

To weeping and mourning.] The walls of Zion cannot but stand firm if well tempered with the tears of true penitents.

And to baldness.] Forbidden in other cases, {#Le 19:27,28 21:5 De 14:1 Mic 1:16} called for in the practice of holy repentance, which hath nothing to do with despair. See #Ezr 9:3.

Ver. 13. And behold joy and gladness.] Or, But behold, see the madness of these cross grained creatures, who, to thwart the Almighty, in laetitiam et luxum prosiliunt, take a clean contrary course to what he had prescribed, as if they had done it on purpose. {a}

Eating and drinking.] This was all they minded, or were good for, as we say. Gulonum non alia est cura quam cibum ingerere, digerere, egerere, saith Bernard. The belly god is set all on his paunch, as the ass fish hath his heart in his belly; as the spider is little else but belly; as the gulon (a beast so called) eateth that which he preyeth upon—if it be a horse, till all be devoured—ever filling his belly, and then emptying it, and then falling to it again till all be consumed; such a delight hath he in his appetite.

For to morrow we shall die.] So the prophets tell us, but we are wiser than to believe them; so the enemy threateneth us, but we are too well fortified to fear him; so it may happen, for we are all mortal; let us therefore make much of ourselves while we may.

“ Indulge genio, carpamus dulcia: nostrum est

Quod vivis: cinis et manes et fabula fies.”

- Pers., Sat. v.

St Paul saith that the epicures of his time used the like atheistic expressions. {#1Co 15:32, see there} It is the guise of graceless wretches to jest out God’s judgments, and to jeer when they should fear.

{a} Per omne ασωτιας genus grassabantur. -Scult.

Ver. 14. And it was revealed in mine ears.] It was told me for certain. God is absolute in threatening, because resolute in punishing; such is his hatred against scuffing epicures.

Surely this iniquity shall not be purged.] Heb., If it be ever purged, let me be never trusted again.

Till ye die.] That is, never; for "ye shall die in your sin," die eternally. Oh fearful! Pavete, cavete.

Ver. 15. Go, get thee unto this treasurer.] This is Actio Iesaiae in Shebnam, sicut Ciceronis in verrem. Shebna was a great courtier and an ill member, advanced likely by King Ahaz, and tolerated for a time by good Hezekiah, as Joab was by David, because he could neither will nor choose; or as Stephanus the Persian was by Justinian, the second emperor of Constantinople; who, being praefectus aulae likewise, set over the house, grew so insolent that he spared not the emperor’s mother, though she were Augusta, but whipped her as if she had been his bond slave. {a} This Shebna is thought to have been an Egyptian, a Sochite, and of mean parentage.

“ Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum.”

Shebna likely was one of those jeering epicures above taxed, and now particularly threatened. Some for treasurer render fautor, adiutor, a favourer and helper, sc., of those profane scoffers, {#Isa 22:13} or of the enemies, with whom he underhand dealt and packed; he is therefore threatened to be ex-officed and sent packing into a strange country.

{a} Funccius.

Ver. 16. What hast thou here?] What inheritance, possession?

And whom hast thou here?] sc., Of thy stock and kindred? {a} Art not thou a foreigner, a new man, an upstart mushroom? Why, then, dost thou cut thee out such a costly and stately sepulchre in Jerusalem, as if you were of the royal family, or as if you were sure to die here in thy nest? Will it not prove a true κενοταφιον, as the Greeks call it? Some conceive that for the safeguard of his tomb, and other trinkets, Shebna was one of those princes {#2Ki 19:2} that gave the king counsel to fortify so strongly. The Hebrews say that he likewise secretly kept correspondence with the enemy, that he might have a stake in store which way soever the dice chanced to turn; yea, that he treacherously agreed with the enemy to deliver the city into his hands; and therefore it was but time to take him a link lower, as Hezekiah did upon this prophecy of Isaiah. Some add, that for betraying the city he hoped to be made king there till his death, and therefore hewed him out a mausoleum or royal sepulchre there, and that among those of the house of David, say the Rabbis.

{a} Terrae filius. Son of the earth.

Ver. 17. Behold, the Lord will carry thee away, &c.] Or, Is casting thee out with casting, O thou mighty man. Not, God will carry thee away as a cock is carried, so the Vulgate translator hath it; which caused a learned interpreter to say he wondered whence this cock flew into the text.

And will surely cover thee.] As they used to do to condemned persons unworthy any longer to see the light, they covered their faces, {as #Job 9:24 Es 7:8} {See Trapp on "Job 9:24"} {See Trapp on "Es 7:8"}

Ver. 18. He will surely turn and toss thee.] Turn thee like a bowl, and toss thee like a ball. How and when this was fulfilled the Scripture relateth not. But the Talmudists tell us that Shebna, revolting to Sennacherib, was by him—after the execution done by God’s angel upon his forces—carried to Nineveh, there tied to a horse tail, and drawn through briers and brambles till he died.

There shalt thou die.] Ingloria vita recedet. Spotswood, Archbishop of St Andrews, who had discouraged, and by degrees extirpated, many faithful ministers of Scotland, thought it seasonable, A.D. 1639, to repair into England, where he died; and so was fulfilled upon him the prediction of Mr Walsh, a famous Scottish minister, who, in a letter to the bishop, written long before, told him he should die an outcast. {a}

And there the chariots of thy glory.] Thy stately chariots, wherein thou delightest to be hurried up and down, these shall also die or cease; O domus regiae dedecus! O optimi regis opprobrium! -for so some read the words by an apostrophe to Shebna—O thou that art such a blur to thy good master, and such a disgrace to his house. {b} Shebna affected to bear as great a deportment almost as the king himself did, sed passus est manes suos, but he came to an ill end. So did the Duke of Guise in France; and so did here Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Thomas Moore, Sir Francis Bacon, &c.

{a} Myst. of Iniq., p. 15.

{b} O dedecus domus domini!

Ver. 19. And I must drive thee from thy station.] This was done in part when, as of a great master of the court, chancellor, lord marshal, or lord high treasurer—for so many ways the word Sochem {#Isa 22:15} is rendered—he was made scribe or secretary, {#Isa 36:3} which was a far inferior place, but much more when all that befell him that is threatened, {#Isa 22:17,18} as it did, no doubt.

Ver. 20. I will call my servant Eliakim.] Such as honour God shall surely be honoured. He will call them to it, who else would choose to live and die in their self-contented secrecy, like as the sweet violet grows low to the ground, hangs the bead downward, and besides, hides itself with its own leaves.

Ver. 21. And I will clothe him with thy robe, ] i.e., Vest him in thine honours and offices, thyself being laid by, and looked upon as an officiperda.

And he shall be a father.] A fit title for a ruler, as this text is a fit looking glass for a good counsellor.

Ver. 22. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder.] Rulers have their back burdens.

“ Fructus honos oneris: fructus honoris onus.”

The meaning is, he shall have chief authority under the king, together with dexterity and discretion to manage it aright. And herein Eliakim was a type of Christ. {#Re 3:7} Let us pray for such Eliakims as a common blessing.

Ver. 23. And I will fasten him as a nail.] Paxilli simile et concinnum et amabile est. {a} On a nail are hung utensils of the house—any such thing as cannot stand by its own strength. Eliakim was to be a common support to the people, but especially to his father’s house.

And he shall be for a glorious throne.] He shall ennoble his whole stock and kindred.

{a} Sit princeps miscris paxillum, cui appendeant urceolos suos. -Scalt.

Ver. 24. And they shall hang upon him.] As upon a nail.

The offspring and the issue.] All his allies, both great and small, shall be the better for him. He shall employ and prefer them. And this Shebna is told, the more to spite him.

Ver. 25. Shall the nail that is fastened.] So Shebna once seemed to be, but now it shall appear to be otherwise; for he shall fall, and with him all his dependants shall be ruined.

Chapter 23

Ver. 1. The burden of Tyre.] Heb., Tsor, whence came Tyre. It was the chief city of Phoenicia, the chief market of the East, a very microcosm or epitome of the whole world, for its wealth and wickedness. It was not far from Judea—our Saviour {#Mt 15:21} went from Galilee into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon—in whose misery she made herself merry, {#Eze 26:2} and is therefore here threatened with utter destruction.

Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, ] i.e., Of Tartessus, in Spain, or of Tarsus, in Cilicia, St Paul’s country, or of the main ocean.

For it is laid waste, ] viz., By Nebuchadnezzar, and afterwards by Alexander the Great, who of an island made it part of the continent, and then razed it to the ground. {a}

So that there is no house.] Or thus: So that there is no house, nor coming in for those from Chittim, is made known to them.

{a} Plin., lib. v. cap. 19.

Ver. 2. Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle.] A nundinatorio strepitu quiescite, et plorate, Be quiet, and mourn.

Ver. 3. And by great waters the seed of Sihor, ] i.e., Of Nile, by the overflowing whereof Egypt is made exceeding fertile, being styled the "granary of the world." Tyre was much enriched by its store thereto transported through the midland sea, called here great waters.

Ver. 4. Be ashamed, O Zidon, ] sc., Of Tyre, thy daughter and confederate.

For the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea.] Or, The seaport. By the sea and seaport we are to understand Tyre, who sat in the sea, as now Venice doth, and sovereigned it.

I travail not, nor bring forth children.] I send forth no colonies, as sometimes I have done. Pliny saith of Tyre, Olim partu clara urbibus genitis, Lepti, Utica, Carthagine, etiam Gadibus extra orbem conditis. {a} But now it was past that time of day with her.

{a} Plin., lib. v. cap. 19.

Ver. 5. As at the report concerning Egypt, ] i.e, Concerning their overthrow once at the Red Sea. {#Ex 15:14} They are also shortly to be overrun by Nebuchadnezzar, to whom God hath promised Egypt, as his pay for his pains taken in taking Tyre.

Ver. 6. Pass ye over to Tarshish.] Tyrii migrate coloni, be packing any whither, and make any shift to save your lives, Ultra Sauromatas fugite hinc, &c. To Carthage many of them went, say some; and the Septuagint; for ships of Tarshish {#Isa 23:1} have ships of Carthage.

Ver. 7. Is this your joyous city?] q.d., So ye were wont to hold her, and to boast of her; but now it is somewhat otherwise. Cities die as well as men, {a} saith one. They also have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin. Hic immoremur parum et pedem figamus oportet. Let this be duly considered, and an "abiding city" sought. {#Heb 12:14} The wicked may revel in this world, the godly only rejoice.

Whose antiquity is of ancient days.] Palaetyre, or the old town especially: and this was a piece of her silly glory;

“ Urbs fur ills Tyros priscis quae condita saeclis,

Innumerosque suo repetens ab Agenore soles,

Aeternos demens spe praesumebat honores.”

{a} ’ Λποθνησκουσι και αι πολεις ωσπες οι ανθρωποι.

Ver. 8. The crowning city.] Heb., The crowning or crowned: a city of kings, {a} as Cyneas once said of Rome, This is a style better befitting heaven and the crowned saints there.

Whose merchants are princes.] Little kings, as we say. So they are at Venice; so the Hogens Moghens of the Netherlands.

{a} Vidi civitatem regum. See the state of kings.

Ver. 9. The Lord of hosts hath purposed it.] Here the prophet sets forth both who had decreed the downfall of this famous and flourishing city; and why? See #Eze 27:5-7.

To stain the pride of all glory.] Ut faedet fastum omnis gloriae; to bring down the height of all haughtiness. This hath God Almighty decreed, and it shall stand. "Let us, therefore, have grace, whereby we may serve him with reverence and godly fear." {#Heb 12:28}

Ver. 10. Pass through the land as a river, ] i.e., Hastily: {a} Abi praeceps, pack up and begone with all speed, be there never so many of you here at Tyre.

There is no more strength.] Heb., Girdle—that is, soldiery, or shipping, or sea to encompass it. Oecolampadius sets this sense upon the words, Non est ei cingulum reliquum, There is not so much as a girdle or such like lowly commodity left in Tyre, she had been so plundered.

{a} Indefinenter et cito. -Jun.

Ver. 11. He stretched out his hand.] That "mighty hand" of his, {#1Pe 5:6} wherewith he spanneth the heavens, {#Isa 48:13} brought the Red Sea upon the Egyptians, {#Ex 14:26} and still shaketh the wicked out of the earth, as by a canvas. {#Job 38:13}

He shook the kingdoms.] Shook and shattered them—viz., by Nebuchadnezzar; the kingdom of Tyre especially, to the terror of others. {#Eze 26:15}

The Lord.] "That man of war." {#Ex 15:3} "Mighty in battle." {#Ps 24:8}

Hath given a commandment.] Bidding his forces fall on.

Against the merchant city.] Heb., Against, or concerning, Canaan; so he calleth Tyre the posterity of the old Canaanites, and a place of great merchandise. See #Ho 12:7.

Ver. 12. Thou shalt no more rejoice.] Heb., Exult, revel.

O thou oppressed.] Or, Ravished damsel, daughter of Zidon, hactenus intacta vi hostili, never till now subdued.

Arise, pass.] Asyndeton, q.d., Haste, haste.

Over to Chittim.] To Cyprus, Greece, Italy.

There also shalt thou have no rest.] Safety or shelter. Cain’s curse was upon them; the visible vengeance of God followed them close at heels. See #De 28:65,66.

Ver. 13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, ] q.d., The Chaldees were once no such considerable people, but lay hid under the grandeur of the Assyrian monarchy, which did set them up. Howbeit in time the Assyrians at length were devoured by the Chaldees, Nineveh by Babylon; Filia devoravit matrem, as the proverb is. And why may not the like be done to Tyre? Others make this to be the prophet’s speech to the Chaldees, Behold, O land of the Chaldees! This people, of Tyre, was not, however they boast of their antiquity, till the Assyrians, those monarchs of the world, founded it, Ut esset statio carinis, to be a fit place for shipping, or for barbarians. See #2Ki 17:24. Down with it, therefore; bring it to vastity. {a}

{a} Calvin.

Ver. 14. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish.] He concludeth this prophecy of Tyre’s downfall as he began. {#Isa 23:1} The inhabitants of Tarshish, or Tarsus in Cilicia, were great ship masters; they sent a navy of a hundred ships to Xerxes when he went against Greece.

Ver. 15. Tyre shall be forgotten, ] i.e., Laid aside by God, as if not at all minded in her misery: slighted also and unfrequented by men, as a withered harlot.

Seventy years.] So long as the Jews, whom they jeered, were held captives in Babylon.

According to the days of one king, ] i.e., The duration of the Babylonish monarchy, under Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his son’s son. {#Jer 27:7}

Shall Tyre sing as an harlot.] Ut meretrix, i.e., Mercatrix. Harlots fallen into some foul disease are abandoned; but recovering thereof, they seek, by singing and other allurements, to regain their paramours; so should Tyre deal by her old customers, being, as was once said of Helena after her return from Troy, ηη παλαι γυνη, no changeling, but as good as ever.

Ver. 16. Take an harp.] In bidding her do so, he foretelleth that she shall do so—sc., ad ingenium suum redire, fall to her former practices.

Make sweet melody, &c.] The Tyrians were much addicted to music. {#Eze 26:13 28:13}

Ver. 17. The Lord will visit Tyre.] Bad though she be, he will graciously visit her, both by suffering her to grow rich again, as here, and by converting some of them to the faith of Christ. {#Isa 23:18} See it fulfilled, #Ac 21:3-5. Eusebius also telleth of many made martyrs there.

Ver. 18. It shall not be treasured.] Being once converted, they shall leave heaping and hoarding wealth, and find other use for it—viz., to feed and clothe God’s ministers and poor people freely and largely.

And for durable clothing.] The Vulgate hath it Vestientur ad vetustatem.

Chapter 24

Ver. 1. Behold the Lord emptieth.] It must needs be a matter of some rare and marvellous consequence, that "Behold"—the "oh yes!" of the Holy Ghost—is thus set before.

The Lord emptieth, ] i.e., Will empty; an idiom proper to God’s prophets, who saw in the Spirit things to come as if they were even then done.

The earth.] Or, The land, sc., Of Jewry, by a woeful desolation, Lege et luge, by law and lament. Some hold it to be a metaphor from ships overloaded, which therefore must be disburdened; so was the land to be eased of her inhabitants, which she could hardly stand under.

And waste.] Making havoc of persons and things of worth.

Turneth it upside down.] Ferens, agens sursum deorsum omnia, turning all things topsy turvy, as they say.

Ver. 2. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest.] Or, Prince. Dignity and wealth hindereth him not; doth he esteem nobility or riches, or anything that fortifieth strength? Poverty or meanness findeth no favour with him. In a common calamity, all commonly share and fare alike.

Ver. 3. The land shall be utterly emptied.] See on #Isa 24:1.

For the Lord hath spoken this word.] And his words are not in vain. Doth he say, and shall he not do it? {#Nu 23:23}

Ver. 4. The earth mourneth and fadeth away.] Luxit et diffiuxit, waileth and faileth; gallant rhetoric in the original, as this is a stately chapter all along: all the rollings of Demosthenes are but dull stuff compared to it.

The world languisheth.] As a sick man, so enfeebled that he cannot stand high alone.

Ver. 5. The earth also is defiled, ]{ a} viz., With sin, and therefore so decayed; yea, the very visible heavens are defiled with man’s sin, and shall therefore be purged by the fire of the last day; like as the vessels that held the sin-offering was to pass the fire.

Because they have transgressed the laws.] Natural and moral; those bounds and banks set to keep men within the compass of obedience: "but the unjust knoweth no shame," {#Zep 3:5} is lawless, aweless, yokeless, untameable, untractable as the wild ass colt, as the horse and mule, &c.

Changed the ordinances.] Or, Passed by the ordinances—sc., by sins of omission, as before by commission; so in #Heb 2:2, "every transgression and disobedience," i.e., every commission and omission.

Broken the everlasting covenant.] Disannulled, vacated the covenant founded in Christ, when coming unto his own, his own received him not; when the Pharisees and others, by slighting holy offers and ordinances of grace, "rejected the counsel of God against themselves." {#Lu 7:30} This last especially brought the curse. {#Isa 24:6} Some by laws here understand the judicial laws, by ordinances the ceremonial, and by everlasting covenant the Decalogue. Others by laws, the municipal laws of the commonwealth, by ordinances the laws of nations, as not to violate an ambassador, &c., by everlasting covenant the law of nature, which is that "light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world." {#Joh 1:9}

{a} Nempe contactu sceleratorum hominum. -Pisc.

Ver. 6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth.] The Chaldee and Vatablus render it the perjury—viz., in transgressing the laws, &c., which they had covenanted and sworn to observe; see #Ps 119:106. That dreadful curse of the Jews {#Mt 27:25} is come upon them to the utmost, devouring their land and desolating the inhabitants thereof. Though the curse causeless come not, yet God sometimes saith Amen to other men’s curses, as he did to Jotham’s upon the Shechemites. {#Jud 9:57} How much more to men’s cursing themselves?

Ver. 7. The new wine mourneth.] As being spilled and spoiled by the enemy.

All the merry hearted do sigh.] Who were wont to sing away care, and to call for their cups.

Ver. 8. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth.] Quicquid laetitiarum fuit, in luctum vertitur.

Ver. 9. They shall not drink wine with a song.] Revel it as they had wont to do: non convivabuntur pergraecando. We use to call such merry griggs—that is, Greeks.

Ver. 10. The city of confusion.] Urbs desolanda, destined to desolation: whether it be Babylon, Tyre, Jerusalem, or any other. Mundum intellige in quo nihil nisi vanum, saith Oecolampadius: that is, by this city of vanity—so the Vulgate translateth it—understand the world; according to that of the preacher, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Augustine, in the beginning of that excellent work of his, De Civitate Dei, maketh two opposite cities—the one the city of God, the other the city of the devil; the one a city of verity, the other a city of vanity.

Ver. 11. There is a crying for wine.] The drunkards weep, the ale stakes yell, because the new wine is cut off from their mouths. {#Joe 1:5}

All joy is darkened.] Heb., It is eventide with joy. As the air in the evening waxeth dark, so shall their mirth be turned into heaviness.

The mirth of the land is gone.] Together with their liquor. Wine is by Simonides called the expeller of sadness—Αμυντωρ δυσφροσυναων..

Ver. 12. In the city is left desolation.] There is nothing of any worth left, but havoc made of all; it is plundered to the life, as now we phrase it. Since the Swedish wars custom is the sole mint master of current words.

Ver. 13. When thus it shall be in the midst of the land.] Or, For so it shall be in the land among the people, as in the beating of an olive tree, &c. En misericordiae specimen, still there is a remnant reserved for royal use; quando omnia passim pessum eunt. God never so punisheth but he leaveth some matter for his mercy to work upon. A church on earth he will ever have.

Ver. 14. They shall lift up their voice, &c.] Laudabunt Deum et laetabuntur: this elect remnant in all countries shall be filled with spiritual joy and peace through the belief of the truth, which shall vent itself by singing praises to God. And here we have the very mark of the true Church, which is to celebrate and profess the great and glorious name of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the majesty of the Lord.] Or, For the magnificence; that great work of his especially of divulging his gospel all the world over, and thereby gathering his Church out of all nations.

They shall cry aloud from the sea, ] i.e., From the islands and transmarine parts, as we do now from Great Britain—"thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift"—calling to our neighbour nations, and saying,

Ver. 15. Glorify ye God in the fires.] In ipsis ignibus, in the hottest fires of afflictions, "rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation"; praise God for crosses also: this is Christianorum propria virtus, saith Jerome.

In the isles of the sea.] Quicunqui quocunque loco, et inter quoseunque sitis. {a}

{a} Jun.

Ver. 16. From the uttermost part of the land have we heard songs.] Or, Psalms, aliquid Davidicam. The martyrs sang in the fire. Luther in deep distress called for the 46th Psalm to be sung in contemptum diaboli, in despite of the devil.

Even glory to the righteous.] To Jesus the Just One. {#1Jo 2:2}

But I said, My leanness, my leanness.] The prophet’s flesh was wasted and consumed with care and grief {a} for his graceless countrymen. See the like in David {#Ps 119:158} and Paul. {#Ro 9:1,2}

Woe unto me.] Or, Alas for me.

The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously.] They have crucified the Lord of glory upon a desperate and deep malice, out of most notorious contumacy and ingratitude. This was with most treacherous treachery to deal treacherously; this was to "do evil as they could."

{a} Merore ac macie conficior.

Ver. 17. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee.] Metaphora a venatoribus, a metaphor from hunters, elegantly expressed in the original by words of a like sound. God hath variety of plagues at command; his quiver is full of shafts, neither can he possibly want a weapon to beat his rebels with. If the Amorites escape the sword, yet they are brained with hailstones {#Jos 10:11} If the Syrians get into a walled town, yet they are baned by the fall of a wall upon them. {#1Ki 20:30}

Ver. 18. He who fleeth from the noise of the fear.] See #Am 5:19. {See Trapp on "Am 5:19"} And learn to fear God, the stroke of whose arm none may think to escape.

For the windows from on high are opened.] The cataract or sluices of the clouds, as once in the general deluge.

The foundations of the earth do shake.] Heaven and earth shall fight against them, and conspire to mischieve them.

Ver. 19. The earth is utterly broken down.] This he had said before. Oil, if not well rubbed in, pierceth not the skin. Menaces must be inculcated, or else they will be but little regarded. Let preachers press matters to the utmost, drive the nail home to the head; not forbearing through faint-heartedness, nor languishing through lukewarmness.

Ver. 20. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard.] As the inhabitants thereof had drunk in iniquity like water; {#Job 15:16} so they should now drink and be drunk with the cup of God’s wrath.

And shall be removed like a cottage.] Or, Lodge, hut, or tent; so shall they be tossed and tumbled from one place to another.

And the transgression, ] i.e., The punishment of your transgression. Observe here the wages and the weight of sin.

Ver. 21. The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high.] Altitudinis in excelso. Hereby he may mean the Jews, God’s "firstborn, and therefore higher than the kings of the earth," {#Ps 89:27} though now for most part degenerated, and therefore in the next words also heavily threatened, for versum vicesimum primum secundus explicat, saith Scultetus.

Ver. 22. And they shall be gathered together, &c.] Id quod de poenis Iudaeorum intelligimus, saith an interpreter—that is, This we understand to be the punishment of the obstinate Jews, whose bodies after death were clapped up close prisoners in the grave, their souls held fast in hell till the last day; when after many days they shall be visited, i.e., in the whole man punished with eternal torments. Caveamus, si sapimus, a destinata peccandi malitia. Origen was certainly out when he argued from his text, that the damned in hell should after a time be visited, that is, delivered. There are that begin the promise at these words,

And after many days shall they be visited, ] i.e., In mercy and favour {as #Isa 23:17} through Christ. This gracious visitation began in Israel, {#Lu 1:68} and then came abroad to the Gentiles also. {#Ac 15:14-17}

Ver. 23. Then the moon shall be confounded.] The glory of Christ’s kingdom shall be so great, that in comparison to it the sun and moon shall cast no light. See #Isa 24:23 60:19.

When the Lord of hosts.] The Lord Christ, summus caelitum Imperator.

And before his ancients.] The whole Church and especially her officers, which are the glory of Christ. {#2Co 8:23}

Chapter 25

Ver. 1. O Lord, thou art my God.] Sunt verba fidelium in regno Christi, saith Piscator. These are the words of the subjects of Christ’s kingdom, who in the end of the former chapter are called his ancients or elders. See #Re 4:4. But that of Oecolampadius I like better: More suo in iubilum et hymnum erumpit propheta. The prophet, as his manner is, breaketh forth into a joyful jubilation; and being ravished, and as it were rapt beyond himself with the consideration of such marvellous things, he first maketh a stop or breathing, and then sweetly celebrateth God’s power, truth, justice, and mercy; the naked heart of it were seen, as it were in an anatomy, in the sending of his Son, and the benefits thereby; concerning which the apostles afterwards discoursing more plainly and plentifully, do yet make use of some passages in this chapter, as is to be seen. {#1Co 15:51-57 Re 7:10-17 21:24-27}

Thou art my God.] So to say ex animo is the very pith of true faith; the property whereof is to individuate God, and appropriate him to itself.

I will exalt thee.] This we do when we bless and praise him for his blessings. But what a mercy is it of so great a Majesty that he should count himself thus exalted and magnified by such worthless worms as we are! And how should this excite and edge us to so holy a service!

For thou least done wonderful things.] In the world’s creation, but especially in the Church’s preservation.

Thy counsels of old.] Thy promises and threatenings are all fulfilled and verified; they are faithful and firm.

Ver. 2. For thou hast made of a city an heap.] Babylonem intelligit, say some. Narratur eversio urbis Romae, say others; the ruin of Rome is here foretold; which is therefore also, say they, called a palace of strangers; {a} because Antichrist with his adherents reigneth there. Jerome saith the Jews understand it to be Rome, which shall be in the end destroyed, and then their poor nation shall be relieved. {as #Isa 25:4} It may be so.

{a} Ασεβων πολις.—Sept.

Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee.] Will they nill they, they shall confess, as Julian did, that thou art too hard for them, and that thy Church is invincible. Thus God wringeth out of the mouth of the wicked a confession of his praises, and a counterfeit subjection. {#Isa 60:14}

Ver. 4. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, ]& c. That is, thou hast protected thy poor people from the persecution of the Antichristian rout, saith Piscator. Great is God’s mercy in succouring his oppressed ones. This is here set forth by a double comparison: first,

A refuge from the storm, a shadow {a} from the heat, &c.] Where the Church’s enemies are compared to raging waters, that bear down all before them; God to a place of refuge to fly unto. Secondly,

{a} Christ is a shadow, &c., whereas all worldly comforts are but as so many burning glasses to scorch the soul more.

Ver. 5. As the heat in a dry place.] Where the insolonce of these strangers from the life of God, the Antichristian rabble, the stir and ado they make, is resembled to a heat and drought that doth parch and scorch the godly; God’s protection of his to a thick shadow.

The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.] Some read the text thus: As the heat is abated with a thick shadow, so the song or chanting of the terrible ones was abased. Others the whole verse thus: As the heat in a drought, thou hast brought down the stir of the strangers; heat, I say, with the shadow of a cloud; which (heat) did answer (a life) to the branches of the terrible ones. That is, say they, served well their turn, and was most commodious for the wicked, who think their branches spread and flourish when the godly are scorched with calamities.

Ver. 6. And in this mountain, ] i.e., In the Church, {#Isa 2:2} God’s court, {#Isa 24:23} as the table stood in the sanctuary.

Shall the Lord of hosts make.] Instead of that tree of life in paradise. See #Re 2:7.

Unto all people, ] i.e., To the elect among all people, for reprobates are not worthy. {#Mt 22:8 Re 3:4}

A feast {a} of fat things.] The very best of the best. "Fat things, and marrow of fatness; wines," and the most refined; so that "the meek shall eat and be satisfied"; {#Ps 22:16} "Their soul shall delight itself in fatness." {#Isa 55:2} In the life to come, especially where there shall be solidum huius convivii complementum ac plena perfruitio. Meanwhile the saints have here, at the Lord’s table especially, their dainties and junketting dishes, their celestial viands and most precious provisions: "fat things marrowed," as the Hebrew word is; not only full of marrow, but picked, as it were, and culled out of the heart of marrow. Wine, {b} first, in "the lees," that keepeth the smell, taste, and vigour, vinum cos, as they call it; {as #Jer 48:11} next, of "the finest and the best," such as at Lovain they call vinum theologicum, because the divines there, as also the Sorbonists at Paris, drink much of it. Jesus Christ, in his ordinances and graces, is all this, and much more. {#Pr 9:2 Mt 22:2} And yet men had rather, as swine, feed on swill and husks, {c} than on these incomparable delicacies.

{a} Convivium opimum, et munificentissimum, convivium medullatorum.

{b} Vina probantur odore, colore, sapore, nitore.

{c} Convivium faecium -Heb., "Shemarim"— faeces, enim vina ipsa conservant.

Ver. 7. And he will destroy in this mountain, &c.] Absorbebit velum faciei, id est, faciem veli. Christ came "a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on him should not abide in darkness." {#Joh 12:46} Faith freeth from blindness; we no sooner taste of the bread of life by faith, but the veil of ignorance, which naturally covereth all flesh, is torn; and men are suddenly brought "out of darkness into a marvellous light." {#1Pe 2:9} This is the first eulogy and noble commendation of the doctrine of the gospel, light. There follow two more, viz., life and joy spiritual, {#Isa 35:6} which is the life of that life. {#Isa 25:8}

Ver. 8. He will swallow up death in victory.] As the fire swalloweth the fuel, or as Moses’ serpent swallowed up the sorcerers’ serpents. The kisses of Christ’s mouth have sucked out the sting of death from a justified believer; so that his heart doth live for ever, {as #Ps 22:6} and if so, then in death itself; which made Cyprian receive the sentence of death with a Deo gratias; as did also Bradford, and many more martyrs; accounting the days of their death their birthdays, and welcoming them accordingly. Jerome insults over death as disarmed and devoured: Illius morte tu mortua es: devorasti, et devorata es, &c. Ever since death ran through the veins of Jesus Christ, who is life essential, it is destroyed or swallowed up; like as the bee dieth when she hath left her sting in the wound. {a} Hence St Paul doth so crow over death, and, as it were, called it craven. {#1Co 15:55-57}

And the Lord God will wipe away.] A metaphor from a mother.

And the rebuke of his people.] Or, The reproach, their afflictions and persecutions, for which the world reproacheth them.

{a} Animasque in valnere ponunt. -Virg.

Ver. 9. Lo, this is our God, ] sc., Jesus Christ, our sole Saviour, who is God blessed for ever, and our God by a specialty. Wait for him, for he waiteth to be gracious. {#Isa 30:18}

Ver. 10. For in this mountain.] In the Church. {as #Isa 25:6,7}

Shall the hand of the Lord rest, ] i.e., Settle for their safeguard.

And Moab shall be trodden down, ] i.e., Contumax quisque et perversus hostis Dei et Ecclesiae. {a} Piscator thinketh Papists are here meant by these Moabites, who were nearly allied to God’s Israel, but ardeliones, bitter and brutish enemies, skilful only to destroy. {as #Eze 21:31}

As straw for the dunghill.] Or, As straw in Madmenah. {#Jer 48:2} God will make a hand of all his people’s adversaries, as is here and in the following verses set forth by three several metaphors.

{a} Junius.

Ver. 11. And he shall spread forth his hands, &c., ] i.e., He shall destroy them with greatest facility. The motion in swimming is easy, not strong; for strong strokes in the water would rather sink than support. Vatablus refers this to Christ stretching out his hands upon the cross, whereby he overcame Satan and his imps.

Together with the spoils.] Or, Wiles of his hands, i.e., his wealth gotten by wrench and wile, as we say.

Ver. 12. Shall he bring down, &c.] To show that there is no strength against the Lord, the true πτολιπορθος.

Chapter 26

Ver. 1. In that day.] Before the morrow, and while the mercy was yet fresh. We are not to take day for return of thanks, but to do it forthwith.

In that same day shall this song be sung.] As an evidence and effect of their spiritual joy and security, mentioned #Isa 25:9. "Is any man merry? let him sing psalms," {#Jas 5:13} and so set an edge upon his praises and thanksgivings. Thus Israel sang, {#Ex 15:1 Nu 21:7} "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it." Thus, in the apostles’ times, {#Ro 15:9} and afterwards Justin, Tertullian, Athanasius, others, voce praeiverunt, they go before with voices, gave the note. Constantine and Theodosius ever sang psalms with their soldiers before they gave battle. They knew that it is a good thing to sing praises to our God; it is pleasant, and praise is comely. {#Ps 147:1} {a}

We have a strong city.] The Church is invincible; hell gates cannot demolish it, whatever become of Moab’s munitions. {#Isa 25:12}

Salvation will God appoint.] All manner of health, help, and safety. Satan cannot have so many means to foil and spoil the saints as Jesus—to whose sweet name our prophet here and elsewhere oft alludeth, as much delighted therewith—hath means to keep and hold them up.

For walls and bulwarks.] Pro muris et antemurali, for walls and rampart, or counterscarp. So Scipio was said to be fossa et vallum, the wall and trench to the Romans against Hannibal. If salvation itself cannot save Jerusalem, let her enemies triumph and take all. If her name be Jehovahshammah, as #Eze 48:35, "The Lord is there," let her enemies do their worst.

{a} Socrates, lib. vii. cap. 22.

Ver. 2. Open ye the gates.] Room for the righteous, for such only are freemen of this city; {#Re 22:14} such only are written among the living in Jerusalem. {#Isa 4:3,4 Ps 118:19} And this seemeth spoken to those doorkeepers, the ministers, to whom God hath committed the keys of his kingdom, setting them as upon a watch tower to keep out enemies, and to let in the true citizens.

That the righteous nation which keepeth the truth.] Heb., The truths, or faiths, as Peter hath "godliness," {#2Pe 3:11} that both observeth Christ’s law and preserveth it; "striving together for the faith of the gospel," {#Php 1:27} and accounting every particle of truth precious. {#Jude 3} And here we have a true definition of a right Church member. Civil righteousness is but a beautiful abomination. If men lay not faith for a foundation to their virtue, {#2Pe 1:5} it is no better than a glistering sin.

Ver. 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace.] Heb., Peace, peace—that is, a multiplied peace with God, with himself, and with others; or a renewed, continued peace, or a perfect, sheer, pure peace, as one senseth it. What the old translator here meaneth by his Vetus error abiit, is hard to say. An excellent description of true saving faith may be taken from this text; and Mr Bolton maketh mention of a poor distressed soul relieved by fastening steadfastly in his last sickness on these sweet words, saying that God had graciously made them fully good to him.

Because he trusteth in thee.] So far as a soul can stay on and trust in God, so far it enjoyeth a sweet peace and calm of spirit; perfect trust is blessed with perfect peace. We have a famous instance for this in our blessed Saviour. {#Joh 12:27,28} Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind; be sober, and hope perfectly for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. {#1Pe 1:13}

Ver. 4. Trust in the Lord for ever.] To trust in God is to be unbottomed of thyself and of every creature, and so to lean upon God, that if he fail thee thou sinkest.

For in the Lord Jehovah.] Heb., For in Jah Jehovah; in him who is the all-powerful Essentialor and faithful promise keeper, &c. Here, then, look not downward, saith one, upon the rushing and roaring streams of miseries and troubles which run so swiftly under us, for then we shall be taken with a giddiness, &c., but steadfastly fasten on the power and promise of Jah Jehovah and ye shall be established.

Is everlasting strength.] Heb., The rock of ages, or, The old rock, so called of old, {#De 32:4,18,31} and so found to be from the beginning. Et quia in aeternum non mutat aut nutat ergapios, lieet montes et colles nutent {#Isa 54:10} The name of the Lord is a strong tower; {#Pr 18:10} a munition of rocks; {#Isa 33:16} rocks so deep no pioneer can undermine them; so thick, no cannon can pierce them; so high, no ladder can scale them.

Ver. 5. For he bringeth down those that dwell on high.] Even all adverse power, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. {#2Co 10:5}

The lofty city he layeth it low.] This Museulus understands of Babylon, that towering city; as also of Rome, that spiritual Babylon, to which it was long since said—

“ Versa eris in cineres quasi nunquam Roma fuisses.”

Ver. 6. The foot shall tread it down.] He saith not the hand shall beat it down, but the foot shall spurn down this lofty city, even the feet of the poor and abject ones, as once Samson dealt by the Philistines, {#Jud 15:8} and as men use to spurn base and peasantly fellows that stand in their way. God can, and sometimes doth, to show his power and wisdom, make desolation itself to scale a fort. {#Am 5:10} Men thrust through, to rise up and set whole cities afire, {#Jer 37:10} bring to pass mighty things by base and abject means.

Ver. 7. The way of the just is uprightness.] Heb., Uprightnesses—that is, just and straight courses. They turn not aside to crooked and wry ways, as do the workers of iniquity, {#Ps 125:5} but hold on in an even way, without windings or writhings; {#Pr 4:26,27} the king’s highway to heaven is their road, and this leadeth them to that city of God. {#Isa 26:1,2}

Thou most upright dost weigh the path of the just.] Or, Thou dost by levelling make the just man’s path even. By thy preventing grace thou makest him just and upright, and by thy subsequent grace thou strengthenest and directest him, that he may run and not be weary, walk and not faint. {#Isa 40:31}

Ver. 8. Yea, in the way of thy judgments.] Rough though it be and rugged; even when thou hast wrought against us in the rigour of thy punishments, as one paraphraseth it; in the discipline of thy chastisements, as another. There are those who by this phrase understand the doctrine of the gospel, which teacheth another way of judging of a righteous man than the law doth, and such as the Church trusteth to alone, and to none other, scil., justification by faith in Christ Jesus.

And to the remembrance of thee, ] i.e., to all the signs, gauges, and tesitimonials which thou hast given us of thy grace by thy word, sacraments, and work. {a}

{a} Diod.

Ver. 9. With my soul, &c., with my spirit.] Spirit, soul, and body must all be for God {a} {#1Th 5:23} all that is within us especially; {#Ps 103:1} the fat and inwards were consecrated to him; the heart is his bride chamber, his bed of spices. {#So 6:2} In the lives of the Fathers mention is made of a certain monk to whom, boasting of perfection, it was answered from heaven, Ills est perfectio, quae lunam, solem et canis iram Deo tribult, id est COR; that is, perfection consisteth in giving the whole heart to God.

For when thy judgments are in the earth, &c.] God’s judgments are the best schoolmasters. Queen Elizabeth learned much from Mr Ascham, but more from her affliction. Our Saviour himself learned something by the things which he suffered, εξ ων επαθεν εμαθεν. {#Heb 5:8} So do all his members; {#Eze 20:37} the worst are forced to say with Phlegyas—

“ Discite iustitiam moniti, et non temnere numen.”

- Virg. Aeneid., lib. vi.

It was a true saying, in the general, of the proconsul to Cyprian at his martyrdom, though ill applied to him in particular, In sanguine tuo caeteri discent disciplinam, By thy punishment others shall learn wisdom. As when one scholar is whipped, the rest are warned. And as a thunderbolt falleth with the danger of few, but with the fear of all, so is it here.

{a} The wicked with all their soul rejoice to do evil. See #Eze 25:6. Attende quam non sit otiosa fides. -Oecol.

Ver. 10. Let favour be shewed to the wicked, &c.] No fair means will work upon him, whatever foul may do. But as an evil stomach turneth good meat into bad humours, so here all is lost that is laid out upon them.

“ Ungentem pungit, pungentem rusticus ungit.”

In the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly.] In the Church, where righteousness reigneth. Or, In a land of evenness he will wry and stray. Ye all know, saith holy Bradford in a certain letter of his, there was never more knowledge of God (viz, in good King Edward VI’s days), and less godly living and true serving of God. It was counted a folly to serve God sincerely; and earnest prayer was not passed upon. Preaching was but pastime: communion was counted too common, &c. {a}

And will not behold the majesty of the Lord.] Or, And he shall not see the majesty of the Lord—sc., in his heavenly kingdom. {#Heb 12:14}

{a} Acts and Mon.

Ver. 11. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, thou will not see, ] i.e., Observe, consider, and take warning: let God’s hand be never so high and glorious, so lifted up and exalted, yet these buzzards will not behold his majesty, {as #Isa 26:10} as being more blind than moles, more deaf than sea monsters they refuse to regard aught.

But they shall see and be confounded.] But yet, maugre their head, as one well paraphraseth the words, they shall be driven both to see and to acknowledge to their shame the great and mighty hand of God, his zeal for his people, and the fire of his wrath to consume his foes. See #Zec 1:15,19. Experientur suo magno malo; they shall to their cost feel the weight of God’s hand, which, the higher it is lifted, the heavier it will light at length. Mrs. Hutchinson, that Jezebel of New England, as she had vented about thirty misshapen opinions there, so she brought forth about thirty deformed monsters. She and her family were after this—because they would not be reclaimed, but turned off admonition, saying, This is for you, ye legalists, that your eyes might be further blinded by God’s hand upon us in your legal ways, &c.—slain, some say burnt, by the Indians, who never used to exercise such an outrage upon any. {a}

{a} Story of Sect. in New England, by Mr Weld, p. 44.

Ver. 12. Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us.] Or, Lord, dispose peace for us.

For thou also hast wrought all our works in us.] Or, For us. Certum est nos facere quod facimus, sed Deus facit ut faciamus: without Christ we can do nothing. {#Joh 15:5} In him alone is our fruit found. {#Ho 14:8} It is well observed by a grave interpreter, that the Church in the Canticles is nowhere described by the beauty of her hands or fingers, because God alone worketh all her works for her, and had rather that she should abound in good works in silence than to boast of them at all.

Ver. 13. O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us.] Or, Have mastered us. Oh that men were so sensible of their spiritual servitude as thus to complain thereof to Jesus Christ! But, alas! they do nothing less for the most part, delighting on the devil’s drudgery, which they count the only liberty, and dancing, as it were, to hell in their bolts.

Will we make mention of thy name.] For which end we would not be "the servants of men," much less the slaves of Satan, that basest of slaves, but the "freemen of Christ." {#1Co 7:22} "Where the spirit is, there is liberty"; {#2Co 3:17} and "if the Son set us free, we shall be free indeed." {#Joh 8:36}

Ver. 14. They are dead.] Those "other lords" of ours are. {#Isa 26:13} But seldom lieth the devil dead in a dike, saith our proverb: yet he and his agents have their deadly wound, and shall be trodden under our feet shortly. {#Ro 16:20} Oh groan in spirit after that sweet day of full redemption, &c.

Therefore thou hast visited.] Or, Because thou hast visited. Woe be to a person or people when God taketh them to do.

Ver. 15. Thou hast increased the nation, .] That righteous nation which keepeth the truth. {#Isa 26:2} Some render and sense the words thus: "Thou hast indeed increased the nation," sc., of the Jews; thou hadst done it (oh sweet mercy, I am the better to speak of it, and therefore I speak it twice), but thou wast "heavy laden," sc., with their sins: therefore thou hast removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. Who knoweth not what a dispersed and despised people the Jews are in all places, banished as it were out of the world by a common consent of nations. "Be not therefore high minded, but fear." {#Ro 11:20}

Ver. 16. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee.] Pulcherrimus afflictationum fructus, precandi ardor et assiduitas. Affliction exciteth devotion, as blowing doth the fire. Christ in his agony prayed most earnestly. {#Lu 22:44} Martha and Mary, when their brother Lazarus was sick, sent messengers to Jesus; {#Joh 11:3} Quos putas nisi suspiria continuata, nisi preces irremissas, saith Scultetus—i.e., what were those messengers but their continued groans and earnest prayers? See #Ho 5:15. {See Trapp on "Ho 5:15"} Prayer is the daughter of affliction, and the mother of comfort.

They poured out.] Freely and largely, and well watered. {as #1Sa 1:10 7:6,9,10} Not dropped, but poured; not prayers, but a prayer; one continual act: and as in the speaking of three or four words there is much efficacy in a charm, so their prayers were very prevalent.

A prayer.] Heb., A charm, a mussitation, a submiss and lowly speech. Spells and enchantments were conceived to be full of efficacy, containing much in few: think the same of prayer. But how much was he mistaken in this kind of charm or spell who would haunt the taverns, play houses, and whore houses at London all day: but he dared not go forth without private prayer in the morning, and then would say at his departure, Now, devil, do thy worst.

Ver. 17. So have we been in thy sight.] Heb, From thy face—i.e., by reason of thy wrath. So #2Th 1:9, "Who shall be punished from the presence of God," that is, of God himself present to their terror.

Ver. 18. We have been with child.] With various devices and hopes, which yet have miscarried and run aslope. See #Job 15:35. {See Trapp on "Job 15:35"}

We have as it were brought forth wind.] As did Queen Mary, to her own great grief and the disappointment of her expectauts, -Dale, the promoter, for instance. Well, quoth he, at the apprehending of Julian living, you hope and hope, but your hope shall be aslope; for although the queen’s conceptions should still fail, as they did, yet she that you hope for shall never come at it: for there is my lord cardinal’s grace and many more between her and it. {a} But my lord cardinal’s grace departed the very next day after Queen Mary, having taken, as it is thought, some Italian medicine, and Queen Elizabeth succeeded in the throne, to the great joy of all good men. {b}

{a} Acts and Mon, fol. 1871.

{b} Ibid., 1905.

Ver. 19. Thy dead men shall rise.] So shall not thine enemies. {#Isa 26:14} This may seem to be Christ’s gracious answer to his poor desponding people; and it is, say some, argumentum a beata resurrectione sumptum, an argument taken from the happy resurrection of the righteous; the wicked also shall be raised at the last day, but not by the like means, nor for the like blessed purpose. {#Da 12:2} Some read the words thus: "Thy dead, my dead body shall live"; for the faithful, say they, are Christ’s body; {#Eph 4:12} and therefore, to shew this, "my dead body" is here added by apposition, to show how the faithful, being dead and buried, are to be accounted of, even Christ’s dead body, &c., and shall be raised at the last day by virtue of that mystical ration which still they hold with Christ. Hence they are said to "sleep in Jesus," to be "dead in Christ," who shall "change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." {#Php 3:21} The Hebrews call a dead corpse Nephesh, i.e., a soul, {#Num 5:2 9:10 19:11 Hag 2:14} to note that it shall live again, and that the soul shall return to it. At this day also they call the churchyard Bethcaiim, the "house of the living"; and as they return from the burial place, every one plucks off grass from off the ground twice or thrice, and casts it over his head, saying, florebunt de civitate tanquam faenum terrae, &c. {#Ps 92:12,13} so to set forth their hopes of a resurrection, {a} Neither need it seem "incredible" with any "that God should raise the dead" {#Ac 26:8} considering what followeth: (1.) "Together with my dead body shall they arise," i.e., with Christ’s body raised as the "first fruits of them that sleep." {#1Co 15:20} One of the Rabbis readeth it, As my dead body, they shall arise. (2.) The force of Christ’s all-powerful voice, saying, "Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust": arise and come away, lift up your heads, for your redemption is at hand. The resurrection is in the Syriac called the "consolation." {#Joh 11:24} (3.) "Thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead," i.e., Qua facilitate herbulas reficit Deus, eadem mortuos animare potest. God can as easily raise the dead as refresh the herbs of the earth with a reviving dew, when they were even scorched to death with the heat of the sun. See we not a yearly resurrection of grass, grain, flowers, fruits, every spring tide. And surely if nature can produce out of a small seed a great tree, or a butterfly out of a worm, or the beautiful feathered peacock out of a misshapen egg, cannot the Almighty raise our bodies out of dust, who first out of dust made them? Or can the condition of any people or person be so desperate that he is not able to help them out. The assurance of God’s power, which shall show itself in the raising of the dead, is a most excellent argument to confirm us in the certainty of God’s promises, seem they never so incredible to flesh and blood. Atque haec de Cantico.

{a} Leo Modena, Hist. of Rites of the Jews, p. 238.

Ver. 20. Come, my people.] Thus God lovingly bespeaketh his, as leading them by the hand to a hiding place of his providing. So he shut up Noah in the ark, secured Lot in Zoar, hid Jeremiah and Baruch when sought for to the slaughter, bade Daniel to go away and rest before those great troubles foretold. {#Da 12:13} Augustine and Paraeus died a little before Hippo and Heidelberg were taken, so did Luther before the bloody wars of Germany. For Mr Brightman a pursuivant was sent a day or two after he was buried. {a} The burying place is not unfitly called κοιμητηριον, a resting room to the saints; the grave a "bed"; {#Isa 57:2} the bier that carrieth men to it, Matteh, i.e., a pallet. {#2Sa 3:31} Lyra and others by "chambers" here understand the graves, {compare #Re 6:11 Joh 16:33} those chambers of rest, and beds of down, to the bodies of the saints until the last day. There are those who by "chambers" will have meant the closets of God’s providence and protection, such as Pella was to the primitive Christians. Hitherto the saints are exhorted to retire till the storm be over, the enemy gone, the destroying angel passed over, {as #Ex 12:12} possessing their souls in patience.

As it were for a little moment.] Heb., A little of a moment. Nubecula est, cito transibit, as Athanasius said when persecuted by Julian, This storm will soon blow over, this indignation doth not transire, but pertransire, pass, but pass apace. {b}

{a} Life of King James, by Wilson.

{b} Sozom., lib. xv. cap. 5.

Ver. 21. For, behold.] This is as a crier to prepare attention.

The Lord cometh out of his place.] Here God compareth himself to a prince upon his throne, who goeth from his place of state into countries to quiet mutinies and rebellions among his people.

The earth also shall disclose her blood.] Murder shall out; oppression, whether by force or fraud, shall be certainly and severely punished. See #Job 16:8. See an instance hereof in leviathan, #Isa 27:1. Whether you understand it of the devil, that old man slayer, as many ancients do, or else the kings of the nations, and especially of the Turks, as some Rabbis.

Chapter 27

Ver. 1. In that day.] The day of God’s great assize, and of execution to be done on the enemy and the avenger. {#Isa 26:21} Now we know how well people are pleased when princes do justice upon great offenders.

The Lord with his sore, and great, and strong sword.] Heb., With his sword, that hard or heavy one, and that great one, and that strong one, that is, with his Word, saith Oecolampadius, who by leviathan here understandeth the devil, who is elsewhere also called the "serpent and the great dragon." {#Re 12:9 20:2} But they do better, in my judgment, who by leviathan here understand some great tyrant, acted by the devil against the Church, such as was Pharaoh; {#Eze 29:3} Sennacherib; {#Isa 8:7} or Nebuchadnezzar; {#Jer 51:13} and at this day the Grand Signor, who hath swallowed up countries, as the leviathan or the whale doth fishes; for in the greatness of his empire is swallowed up both the name and empire of the Saracens, the most glorious empire of the Greeks, the empire of Trapezonum, the renowned kingdoms of Macedonia, Peloponnesus, Epirus, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, Armenia, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, Judea, Tunis, Algiers, Medea, Mesopotamia, with a great part of Hungary, as also of the Persian kingdom. His territories do somewhat resemble a long and winding serpent, as some learned men have observed; and for the slights and might which he useth against Christians still, who knows them not out of the Turkish story? God therefore will shortly take him to do, sharpening haply the swords of men, as he hath lately and marvellously done of the Venetians, as instrumental to ruin this vast empire, which laboureth with nothing more than the weightiness of itself.

And he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.] i.e., In fluctuante huius saeculi aesluario. {a} Of the strange length of dragons, see Aelian., lib. ii. cap. 21, and Plin., lib. viii. cap. 14. In the last year of the reign of Theodosius, senior, there was a dragon seen in Epirus, of that vast size that when he was dead eight yokes of oxen could hardly draw him. By dragon, some understand the same with leviathan, viz., the whale or whirlpool. The dragon is never satisfied with blood, though never so full gorged; no more are persecutors.

{a} Jun.

Ver. 2. In that day sing ye to her.] Or, Of her, a new song for a new deliverance. Haply this shall be done by the Christian Churches upon the conversion of the Jews, after the Turks’ downfall; like as at the building of the second temple, the people sang and shouted, "Grace, grace unto it." {#Zec 4:7}

A vineyard of red wine, ] i.e., Of rich and generous wine, Vini meri, non labruscarum, ut pure wine not wild, #Isa 5:12 Pr 23:31 Ge 49:22. By this red wine Oecolampadius understandeth Christ’s blood, wherewith the Church is purged and beautified. Sanguis Christi venustavit genas meas, the blood of Christ made my eyes attractive, said a certain good woman, a martyr.

Ver. 3. I the Lord do keep it.] And then it cannot but be well kept. The matter is well amended with God’s vineyard since {#Isa 5:5} the Lord is with you while ye are with him. {#2Ch 16:7} "The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him." {#Ezr 8:12} Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, &c. As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, &c. {#Ps 125:4,5}

I will water it every moment.] God will be to his vineyard both a wall and a well, a sun and a shield, {#Ps 84:11} all that heart can wish, or need require. Of all possessions, saith Cato, none requireth more care and pains than that of vineyards. Grain comes up and grows alone, {#Mr 4:28} but vines must be daily dressed, fenced, supported, watered. Plantas tenellas frequentius adaquare proderit, saith Primasius. {a} Young vines must be often watered; God’s vines shall not want for watering, though once he forbade the clouds to rain upon them. {#Isa 5:6} He hath not been wanting to England either for watching or for watering it. We may now much better say of it, than once Polydor Virgil did, Regnum Angliae Regnum Dei; the kingdom of England is the kingdom of God, he meant because none seemed to take care of England but God. He grant we may at length walk worthy of such a mercy! Amen. The Vulgate here rendereth it, but not so well, Repente propinabo ei, I will shortly drink to her.

Lest any hurt it.] Heb., Lest he visit on it, lest any profane person should rudely and unmannerly rush upon it, he guardeth it constantly.

{a} In Philip.

Ver. 4. Fury is not in me.] Whatever you may think of me, because of my many dreadful menaces, and your heavy calamities, Non est in me sed in vobis culpa istarum calamitatum, the fault is not in me but in yourselves; do you but mend, and all shall be soon well between us. It is but displeased love that maketh me chide or strike my dear children, lop my vines, Ut bonus vinitor vires luxuriantes falce Tatar et purgat; αιρει, καθαιρει; {#Joh 15:2} leaves and luxuriances must be taken off, or it will be worse. Better the vine should bleed than die; better be preserved in brine, than perish in honey. But assure yourselves, I am not implacable; as your sins have put thunderbolts into my hands, so by sound repentance you may soon disarm me.

Who would set the briers and thorns.] God’s vineyard is not without briers and thorns, his field without tares, his Church without hypocrites, which prick God and his people, galling them to the heart. These he will make a hand of, take an order with, by treading them down and burning them up, especially if once they shall be so mad and mankind, as they say, as to bid him battle. See #Job 9:4. {See Trapp on "Job 9:4"}

I would burn them together.] Or, I will burn them out of it. See #2Sa 23:7. {See Trapp on "2Sa 23:7"}

Ver. 5. Or let him take hold of my strength, ] i.e., Of mine arm, wherewith I am about to smite him, or to throw the fire of my wrath at him; let him by true repentance appease me, as submitting Abigail once did angry David; let him but meet me with entreaties of peace, and he shall have peace, yea, he shall be sure of it. See #Job 22:21. {See Trapp on "Job 22:21"} To run into God is the way to escape sin, as to close and get in with him that would strike you doth avoid the blow.

Ver. 6. He shall cause them that come to Jacob, ] i.e., His proselytes; or, that come from Jacob, i.e., his posterity. Vitium haec conditio est, The condition of vines is such as that they must undergo cold blasts and hard winters; howbeit, at the return of the spring they recover their verdure, and flourish again. So shall the seed of Jacob: their dead shall live, {#Isa 26:19} and the mountain of the Lord shall be exalted above all mountains. {#Isa 2:2}

Ver. 7. Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him?] No; for the one he smote to correction, the other to destruction—the one with the palm, of his hand, as a man smiteth his son, the other with his clutched fist, as one smiteth his slaver whom he careth not where he hits or how he hurts. Temporal evils are in the nature sometimes of a curse, sometimes of a cure. Hinc distinctio illa poenae in conferentem et nocentem, sive in suffocantem et promoventem; item in poenam vindictae, et poenam cautelae, sive in condemnantem et corregentem.

Ver. 8. In measure.] Heb., Modio i.e., exigua mensura, in a small measure (by peck peck), and as his people are able to bear; {#1Co 10:13} ad emendationem, non ad internecionem.

When it shooteth forth.] Or, In the branches; not at the root, as God smiteth at a wicked man, resolving to have him down. See here his different dealing with his own and others. Upon his children he doth but sprinkle a parcel of his wrath, some few sparks of his displeasure, but the wicked he utterly consumeth and burneth up with the fire of his indignation. {#Isa 42:25 66:15}

Thou wilt debate with it.] Deiudicabis, will give final judgment, thou wilt put a difference, or "discern between the righteous and the wicked." {#Mal 3:18}

He stayeth his rough wind, &c., ] i.e., Such afflictions as would shake his plants too much, or quite blow them down. But he letteth out of his treasury, even he who "holdeth the winds in his fist," such a wind as shall make them fruitful, and blow away their unkindly blossoms and leaves. {a}

In the day of the east wind.] That boisterous and blasting and blustering wind, this Euroclydon. {#Ac 27:14}

{a} Dr Godwyn. Flagella tantum quaedam decutiuntur. -Scultet.

Ver. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged.] Hac re -i.e., deportations in Babyloniam, saith Piscator: "by this," that is, by their being carried captive into Babylon, as it was made a means to bring the elect to repentance. As one poison is antidotary to another, so is affliction to sin. Crosses are leeches to suck out the noxious blood, flails to thresh off our husks, files to brighten our graces, &c. Sanctified afflictions, said Mr Dod, are good promotions. "Corrections of instructions are the way of life," {#Pr 16:23} For though "not joyous but grievous at present, yet afterwards they yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are thereby exercised." {#Heb 12:11} It fareth with God’s afflicted as it did once with those that had the sweating sickness in this land—if they slept, they died. To keep them waking, therefore, they were smitten with rosemary branches, whereat though they cried out, You kill me! you kill me! yet it proved a happy means to keep them alive. It was good for David that he was afflicted, {#Ps 119:71} it rid him of those two evil humours, high mindedness and earthly mindedness. {#Ps 131:1}

And this is all the fruit.] God’s rod, like Aaron’s, blossometh; and, like that of Jonathan, it hath honey at the end of it. A good use and a good issue of afflictions is ever to be prayed for. I read of a gracious man who, lying under great torments of the stone, would often cry out, The use, Lord, the use! And Mr Perkins, in like case, desired his friends to pray to God, not so much for ease of his pain, as for increase of his faith and patience. Perdidisti fructum afflictionum, said Augustine to some in his time, and it was a great loss doubtless.

To take away his sin.] The sin, not the man. See #Ps 99:8. A leprous or ulcerous member a man loves as it is his own flesh, {#Eph 5:29} though he loatheth the corruption and putrefaction that is in it; therefore he cuts it not off, but plastereth it; whereas a wart or wen {lump} he cutteth off as not his flesh: so here. {a}

When he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalk stones.] When he, that is, Jacob, in token of his true repentance, abandoneth all his mawmets (images) and monuments of idolatry, and them abolisheth and demolisheth so as never to be re-edified. The Jews, after the captivity, were so far from idolatry, that they would not admit a painter or carver into their city. And how zealous they were to keep their temple from such defilement, both in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and of the Romans, histories show us.

{a} Dr Godwyn.

Ver. 10. Yet, the defensed city shall be desolate.] Or, But, or therefore, shall they suffer, ut ad saniorem mentem et ad frugem calamitosi redeant, that they may be thereby bettered. See on #Isa 27:9.

Ver. 11. For it is a people of no understanding.] Heb., Not a people of understandings—i.e., non sapiunt nisi plagis emendentur, they will not be wise without whipping; I must therefore handle them the more sharply and severely. Castigat Deus quem amat, etiamsi non amat castigare.

Therefore he that made them.] Deus factor eius et fictor. A fearful sentence! such as should frighten those, many Ignaros that say, God that made us will surely save us.

Ver. 12. In that day, ] sc., When God shall have purged his people by his Word and by his rod.

The Lord shall beat off.] Or, Shall thresh. The ministry of the Word is God’s flail to sever the chaff from grain—to single his out of the midst of wicked and profane worldlings. See the like of afflictions sanctified, #Isa 27:9.

And ye shall be gathered.] As ears of grain are for threshing.

One by one.] There is no thresher in the world, saith one here, that thresheth half so clean, for he loseth not one grain, See #Joh 17:12 10:3. Christ hath a care of every one particularly, and by the poll; some gather from hence that the calling of the Jews shall be general and universal.

Ver. 13. The great trumpet shall be blown.] Or, A blast shall be blown with a great trumpet. Tuba haec magna apostolica praedicatio est, saith Oecolampadius. This great trumpet is the gospel, the preaching whereof is of power to save those that perish, to put life into the dead. {#Joh 5:25}

Chapter 28

Ver. 1. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim.] Drunkenness is a sin, at the heel whereof hangeth many a woe. Some think it is a dry drunkenness that is here threatened—that there is a dry drunkenness as well as a wet; see #Isa 51:21 2Ti 2:26, ινα ανανηψωσι, that they may awake out of their drunken sleep—a drunkenness with prosperity, which made them proud and dissolute, even the king of Israel and his counsellors also, not considering that in maxima libertate minima est licentia; " it is not for kings to drink wine." {#Pr 31:4}

Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower.] Or, And to the fading flower of his goodly gallantry. Some conceive that the prophet here alludeth to the etymology of the word Ephraim, whereof see #Ge 41:42, but Ephraim was now declining and decaying.

That are overcome with wine.] Heb., Smitten, beaten, overmastered, as Sisera was by Jael’s hammer, which hath its name from the word here used. {#Jud 4:22} Tremellius rendereth it, obtusis vino, to those that are blunted with wine, or beaten about the ears with it. {a}

{a} Κραιπαλη, Crapula, παρα το παλλειν το καρα.

Ver. 2. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and a strong one, ] viz., Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. For whereas Ephraim might say, Who is there that can or dare pull off the flower of our goodly gallantry? God answereth that he hath at hand one that can do it, and do it with a turn of a hand, with little ado.

Ver. 3. The crown {a} of pride…shall be trodden under foot.] This noteth utmost ignominy. Finge ideam animo, saith one here; imagine you saw Shalmaneser pulling the crown from the king of Israel’s head, throwing it to the ground, and then trampling on it. What brave rhetoric is here!

{a} The Romans pictured pride with a triple crown. On the first crown was written Transcendo; I excel, on the next, Non obedio; I do not submit, on the third, Perturbo I throw into confusion.

Ver. 4. As the hasty fruit.] Quasi primae et praematurae ficus, early maturing fruits much coveted and caught at.

Ver. 5. For a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty.] So he was to Judah—called here the "residue of his people"—during Hezekiah’s days; a crown unfading, or a garland made of amaranth, {as #1Pe 1:4} which is, saith Clement, a certain flower that being hung up in the house, yet is still fresh and green. And as God is thus to his people, so, interchangeably, are they to him "a crown of glory," {#Isa 62:3} and "a royal diadem," (ib.); his "throne of glory"; {#Jer 4:21} "The beauty of his ornament." {#Eze 7:20}

Ver. 6. And for a spirit of judgment.] A sagacity more than ordinary, in regard whereof Solomon calleth the king’s doom a divination, {#Pr 16:10} as is well observed.

And for strength to them, &c.] In this verse we have the description of a happy state, governed justly at home, and able abroad to resist any endeavour of the enemy. {a}

{a} Diod.

Ver. 7. But they also have erred through wine.] Judah had caught this disease of Ephraim, as the English are said to have done of the drunken Dutchmen. Sin is more contagious and catching than the plague. The Hebrew word importeth an alienation of mind. {#Pr 20:1 Ho 11:2,3,12 Jer 23:9} Vino sapientia obscuratur, Wisdom is voided by wine, said Alphonsus, King of Arragon.

They are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink.] Errarunt propter Shecar: they are bucked in beer; they are drowned in drink, like as George, Duke of Clarence, was drowned in a butt of malmsey {a} by his own election. Nam sicut athletico potore dignum erat, ut potando moreretur, elegit, saith mine author; for, being condemned to die by his brother King Edward IV, he chose that kind of death, as becoming to a stout drunkard.

They err in vision.] The prophets do.

They stumble in judgment.] The priests do, for they were to interpret the law, and to decide differences. Drunkenness in rulers is a capital sin, and maketh the land reel.

{a} A strong sweet wine, originally the product of the neighbourhood of Monemvasia (Napoli di Malvasia) in the Morea; but now obtained from Spain, the Azores, and the islands of Madeira and the Canaries, as well as from Greece.

Ver. 8. For all places are full of vomit and filthiness.] Vah, vah, vah: cum tu Narbone mensas hospitam convomeres, saith Cicero to Antony, who was not ashamed likewise to write, or rather to spew out a book concerning his own great strength to bear strong drink, and to lay up others who strove with him for the mastery. Cicero taxeth Julius Caesar for this foul custom; so doth Philo Caligula, and Suetonius Vitellius. {a}

{a} Veniunt ut edant, edunt ut vomant. They came to drink, the drink to vomit.—Senec.

Ver. 9. Whom shall he teach knowledge?] Quem docebit scientiam? Doceo governeth two accusative cases. Ministers must have (1.) Quem, Whom to teach; and (2.) Quid, What to teach—sc., knowledge. Isaiah had no want of knowledge, as being apt and able to teach; but he wanted a fit audience, as having to do with a sort of drunken sots that were unteachable, incapable. So, #Eze 47:11, when the waters of the sanctuary flowed, the miry places could not be healed. Think the same also of those that are drunk with pride {as #Isa 28:1} and self-conceitedness; who make divinity only a matter of discourse, or that come to sit as judges or critics on their ministers’ gifts, &c. It will be long enough ere such will be taught anything. One may as good undertake to teach a young weanling void of understanding, and in some respects better, for these to their natural corruption and impotence have added habitual hardness and obstinace, to their sinews of iron, brows of brass, {#Isa 48:4} and what hope can there be of working upon such?

Ver. 10. For precept must be upon precept.] Children are of weak understanding and of short memories, and, Hebraei dicunt hisce verbis infantilitatem signifieari, they must also have short words and sentences prescribed unto them (such as are kau and flau) and inculcated upon them, that something at least may stick. So must most of our hearers, or little good will be done. {#De 6:7} Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. Heb., ‘Thou shalt whet, or repeat them by often going over the same thing,’ as the knife goeth over the whetstone till it be sharp. But very many of our common hearers are not only unteachable, but untameable, deriding sound doctrine, and making a mocking stock of their godliest ministers. And so some very good expositors— haec ειρωνικως et μιμητικως a propheta dici tradunt -make these words here recited to be the scoffs and taunts of those profane mockers, {#Isa 28:14,22} which they put upon the prophet; q.d., We have nothing but rule upon rule, precept upon precept, &c. Zau lazau, kau lakau; the very sound of the words carrieth a jeer, like as scornful people by the tone of their voice and rhyming words scorn at such as they despise. Thus this good prophet became the drunkard’s song. Any man may be witty in a biting way, and those that have the dullest brains have commonly the sharpest teeth to that purpose. Rightly said the comedian:

“ Homine imperito nunquam quicquam iniustius;

Qui, nisi quod ipse fecit, nihil rectum putat.”

- Terent.

Ver. 11. For with stammering lips, &c.] With a lisping lip. Heb., With scoffs of lip, or with language of mocks. Surely God scorneth the scorners, {#Pr 3:34} for he loveth to retaliate, and proportion choice to choice, {#Isa 66:3,4} device to device, {#Mic 2:1,3} frowardness to frowardness, {#Ps 18:26} scoffing to scoffing. {#Pr 1:25,26}

And with another tongue.] Lingua exotica, such as they shall be no whit the better for. See #1Co 14:21. We read of John Elmar, Bishop of London in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, that on a time when he saw his audience grow dull in their attention to his sermon, he presently read unto them many verses of the Hebrew text, whereat they all started, admiring what use he meant to make thereof; then showed he them their folly, that whereas they neglected English, whereby they might be edified, they listened to Hebrew, whereof they understood not a word; and how justly God might bring in Popery again, -with Latin service, blind obedience, and dumb offices, -for their contempt of the gospel.

Ver. 12. To whom he said, This is the rest, ] i.e., The ready way to "find rest to your souls" {as #Mt 11:28,29} -sc., by obeying my precepts, and embracing my promises.

Wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, ] i.e., Me, who am pressed by your sins, {#Am 2:13} and wearied out with your iniquities, {#Isa 43:24} or your poor brethren, tired with miseries, or your own souls, laden with sin guiltiness.

Ver. 13. But the word of God was unto them precept upon precept, &c., ] i.e., A derision, {as #Isa 28:10} therefore henceforth; hearing they shall hear and not understand: Sic Sanniones Deus punit.

That they may go, and fall backward.] Ut vadant et cadant retrorsum, tanquam turpiter ab hoste superati et resuperati, laid flat on their backs, brought to remediless ruin. This came of their obstinace; though not intentionally, yet eventually.

Ver. 14. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord.] Stand forth and hear your doom, ye that jeer when you should fear, as if you were out of the reach of God’s rod.

Ye scornful men.] Heb., Ye men of mockage, ye who mock at the word of God by your words, deeds, and gestures; quales sycophantas quotidie videmus, of which sort we find not a few today. Such dust heaps as these we have in every corner—men that have turned religion not only into a form, but also into a scorn, accounting the wisdom of God foolishness. These St Peter calleth scoffers—εμπαικται, -or such as make sport with the word. {#2Pe 3:3} And the prophet here— uno verbo multa peccata exprimit, dum illusores nominat -in calling them mockers, calleth them all that naught is.

That rule the people.] Such as Shebnah now was, and afterwards Tobiah, {#Ne 2:19} Herod, Domitian, Julian, Sir Thomas Moore, &c.

Ver. 15. Because ye have said, ] i.e., Ye have thought and reckoned so, but without your host, as they say; {#Jer 6:19} Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts.

We have made a covenant with death.] Nos ab omni male sumus secttrissimi: Thrasonicae hyperbolae -we are shot free, and shall escape scot free. Becket’s friends advised him, for his security, to have a mass in honour of St Stephen, to keep him from the hands of his enemies. He had so, but it saved him not, as not to have been dipped in Lethe Lake could save the son of Thetis from death, &c. {a}

And with hell are we at agreement.] Heb., We have made provision, or taken order, egimus cantum. The prophets tell us a tale of death and hell, but we shall yet dance upon their graves; and for hell, we fear it not. The lion is not so fierce as he is painted, nor the devil so black as he is represented. Diabolo optime convenit cum lurconibus. Good fellows shall have good quarter with the devil, say our modern atheists. But what a mad fellow was that advocate in the court of Rome, mentioned by Bellarmine, who, lying at his last gasp almost, and being called upon to repent and cry to God for mercy, prayed thus: O Lord, I have much desired to speak one word unto thee before I die, not for myself, but for my wife and children, ego enim propero ad inferos, neque est ut aliquid pro me agas, for I am hasting to hell; neither is there anything to be done by thee for me. And this he spoke, saith Bellarmine, {b} who was by and heard it, with as much confidence as if he were but travelling to the next town.

When the overflowing scourge shall pass through.] To sweep away such as are drowned in drunkenness, and dread no danger.

It shall not come to us.] Whatever the prophets prate; let them say as they please, we will believe as we list.

For we have made lies our refuge.] A poor refuge; for, tenue mendaciam pellucet, lies are so thin, they may be seen through; but it may be that they called their false refuges lies, not because they held them so, but because the prophets called them so, whereas to themselves they seemed prudent counsels.

{a} Spencer.

{b} De Arte Mor., lib. ii. cap. 10.

Ver. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God.] This is purposely prefaced for the support of the faithful, when they should hear the ensuing dreadful denunciations, and see them executed. We cannot beat the dogs, but the children will be ready to cry.

For a foundation a stone.] Firm and fast, opposed here to the fickle stays and vain fastnesses of wicked worldlings. This foundation stone is Christ, {#Ro 9:33 10:13} not Hezekiah, as the Jews would have it; or Peter, as the Papists. See Peter to the contrary, {#1Pe 2:6} and Paul. {#1Co 3:11}

He that believeth shall not make haste, ] viz., To help himself as he can, since God defers his help; as did faithless Saul, Ahaz, these Jews, {#Isa 28:15} those Bethulians, that set him a time, and sent for him by a post as it were. David stayed God’s leisure for the kingdom; those in Esther for deliverance; and those other in the Hebrews for the accomplishment of the promises. {#Heb 10:35} Hold out faith and patience. We know not what we lose by making haste, and not holding up our hand, as Moses did to the going down of the sun.

Ver. 17. Judgment also will I lay to the line.] Or, I will set out judgment by line, and justice by plummet; that is, I will proportion your punishments to your offences, as it were by line and by level, that the wicked may have their due, and the godly sustain no damage. See #2Ki 21:12,13 Am 7:8. Calvin saith that by this expression, borrowed from builders, the Lord here showeth that when the corner stone before spoken of shall be laid, the Church of the faithful built thereupon shall rise up to a fair and uniform built temple in the Lord, according to #Eph 2:20.

And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.] Or, Shovel away, or, quasi furcillis extrudet, shall fork away, or burn up your vain confidences, as he destroyed the Egyptians by hail mingled with fire.

And the waters.] See #Isa 28:15 Mt 7:27.

Ver. 18. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled.] See #Isa 28:15. God shall shoot at such with an arrow suddenly; {#Ps 64:7} and when they shall say, Peace and safety, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. {#1Th 5:3} They made a covenant with death and hell, but death and hell make no covenant with them. Thus it befell the rich fool; {#Lu 12:20} Alexander the Great, whom his parasites flattered into a fond conceit of an immortality; and Pope Sylvester the second, who dealt with the devil for the popedom, and was persuaded by him that he should never die till he sang mass in Jerusalem; but when he saw how he was cheated, and that he must die, he cried out,

“ Ah miser! aeternos vado damnatus ad ignes.”

Ver. 19. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you.] This was opposed to their fond conceit of impunity, or at least immunity, for a long season; {#Isa 28:15} the most secure are soonest surprised.

And it shall be a vexation, &c.] Vexatio dabit intellectum, Luther, after the Vulgate, rendereth it, sententiam prophetae non male exprimens. See #Isa 26:9. The cross is the best tutor.

Ver. 20. For the bed is short.] Here the prophet seemeth to some to threaten them for their lectulorum luxus {#Am 6:4} their beds of ivory, whereon, when well whittled, they once stretched themselves at full length, and slept out their drunkenness; but when brought to Babylon, the case should be otherwise with them. Diodate saith that these are figurative and proverbial terms, importing that all means and devices they can use will no way defend them. God’s wrath is such as none can avert or avoid.

Ver. 21. As in Mount Perazim.] See #2Sa 5:20. God usually sitteth amidst his people in his mercy seat, or throne of grace; neither ariseth he to punish them till much provoked, and then he may possibly deal as severely with them as he did with the Philistines at Mount Perazim, or with the Amorites in the valley of Gibeon. {#Jos 10:10} But then he doth "his work, his strange work, and brings to pass his act, his strange act"—i.e., That which is neither his wont nor his delight. {#La 3:33 Mic 7:18 Eze 33:11} To fall foul upon his people by his plagues and judgments, goeth as much against the heart with him as against the hair with them. And besides, by doing this his "strange work," he maketh way for the doing of his own proper work. {#1Co 11:32}

Ver. 22. Now therefore be ye not mockers.] For those are the worst of men; {#Isa 28:14} pests, the Septuagint commonly render them; abjects and castaways David calleth them, and yet they proudly disdain others, and far their betters, as thimbles full of dust, and the goodly braveries of their scorn. But shall they escape by this iniquity?—shall they carry it away so? In no wise. For

Their bands shall be made strong.] {a} "Their sorrows shall he multiplied," and they shall have more load of miseries and mischiefs laid upon them, though now they mock at God’s menaces as uttered in terrorem, only for fray-bugs, {b} and at his ministers as false prophets. Among many other memorable examples of God’s judgments upon such out of God’s blessed book, the Acts and Monuments of the Church, and other histories, Nicholas Hemingius relateth a story of a lewd fellow in Denmark, A.D. 1550, which usually made a mock at religion and the professors of it. And on a time coming into a church where a godly minister was preaching, by his countenance and gestures showed a great contempt against the Word; but as he passed out of the church, a tile fell upon his head and slew him in the place. How much more mercifully dealt almighty God with that miller in Leicestershire, who, sitting in an alehouse on a Sabbath day with one of his companions, said to him, I hear that bawling Hooker is come to town, let us go and hear him, we shall have excellent sport; and accordingly they went on purpose to jeer him. But it pleased God the sermon so wrought upon him, that, being pricked at the heart, he went to Mr Hooker, entreating him to tell him what he might do to be saved, and afterwards went with him to New England. {c} By sins men’s bands are made strong, as by repentance they are loosened. Videte ergo ut resipiscatis mature. {d}

{a} Ne vincula vestra invalescant.

{b} An object of fear; a bogy, spectre

{c} Mr Clark from Mr White.

{d} Jun.

Ver. 23. Give ear, and hear my voice; hearken, &c.] Being to assure the faithful of God’s fatherly care of their safety and indemnity amidst all those distractions and disturbances of the times; he calleth for their utmost attention, as knowing how slow of heart and dull of hearing the best are; how backward to believe, {#Lu 24:25} and apt to "forget the consolation," παρακλησις. {#Heb 12:5} {See Trapp on "Mt 13:3"}

Ver. 24. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?] {a} Or, Every day. Doth he not find him somewhat else to do besides? Sua sunt rebus omnibus agendis tempora, novandi, arandi, occandi, aequandi, serendi, metendi, colligandi et excernendi grani, et suae rationes singulis. And shall not the only wise God afflict his people with moderation and discretion? Yea, verily; for he is "a God of judgment, and waiteth to be gracious." {#Isa 30:18} We are no longer ploughed than needs; and whereas we may think our hearts soft enough, it may be so for some grace; but God hath seeds of all sorts to cast in, the wheat and the rye, &c., and that ground which is soft enough for one, is not for another. God, saith Chrysostom doth like a lutanist, who will not let the strings be too slack, lest they mar the music; nor suffer them to be too hard stretched or screwed up, lest they break.

{a} Preponit parabolam rusticam, sed magna sapientia refertam.

Ver. 25. When he hath made plain.] Laid it level and equal.

Doth he not cast in the fitches?] See on #Isa 28:24.

The appointed barley.] Hordeum signatum. Whatsoever is sealed with a seal is excellent in its own kind; so are all God’s sealed ones. {#Eph 4:30}

Ver. 26. For his God doth instruct him to discretion.] Being a better tutor to him than any Varro de agricultura, Cato de re rustica, Hesiod, in his Works and Days; Virgil’s Georgics; or, Geonomica Constantino inscripta. Some read the verse thus: "And he beateth it out according to that course that his God teacheth him"; that is, according to the judgment of right reason. God is to be praised for the art of agriculture. How thankful were the poor heathens to their Saturn, Triptolemus, Ceres, &c.

Ver. 27. For the fitches are not threshed out, &c.] So are God’s visitations diversely dispensed. He proportioneth the burden to the back, and the stroke to the strength of him that beareth it, sparing his afflicted as a man spareth his son that serveth him. Thus "Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death," but not unto death; and why? See #Php 2:27. Some of the sweet smelling Smyrnians were in prison "ten days," and no more. {#Re 2:10}

Ver. 28. Bread corn is bruised.] Yet not mauled or marred. That of Ignatius is well known, Commolor dentibus ferarum ut purius Domino panis fiam.

Because he will not ever be threshing it.] As he is not ever sowing mercies, so he will not always be inflicting miseries.

Nor bruise it with his horsemen.] Or, With his horses’ hoofs.

Ver. 29. This also cometh forth from the Lord.] As doth likewise πανα δοσις αγαθη, και παν δωρημα τελειον. {#Jas 1:17}

Which is wonderful.] Qui mirificuts est consilio, et magnificus opere.

Chapter 29

Ver. 1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, ] i.e., To the brazen altar, {#Eze 43:15,16} called here Ariel, or God’s lion, because it seemed as a lion to devour the sacrifices daily burnt upon it. Here it is put for the whole temple, {a} which, together with the city wherein it stood, is threatened with destruction.

The city where David dwelt.] Both Mount Moriah, whereon stood the temple, and Mount Zion, whereon stood the palace. Both Church and State are menaced with judgments, temporal in the eight first verses, and spiritual in the eight next. The rest of the chapter is no less consolatory than this is comminatory.

Add ye year to year, ] i.e., Feed yourselves on with these vain hopes, that years shall run on always in the same manner. See #2Pe 2:4 Eze 12:22.

Let them kill sacrifices.] And thereby think, but falsely and foolishly, to demerit God to themselves, as that emperor did, who, marching against his enemy, sacrificed, and then said, Non sic Deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret, { b} We have not so served God that he should serve us no better than to give our enemies the better of us. See #Isa 58:3 Jer 7:21 Ho 9:1.

{a} Metonymiae adiuncta synecdochica.

{b} Antonin., Philosop.

Ver. 2. Yet I will distress Ariel.] Though a sacred place. Profligate professors are the worse for their privileges. The Jew first. {#Ro 2:9}

And it shall be unto me as Ariel, ] i.e., It shall be full of slain bodies, as the altar is usually full of slaughtered beasts, and swimmeth, as it were, in blood. So #Jer 12:3 Isa 34:6. Arias Montanus giveth this sense: ‘Jerusalem, which once was Ariel, that is, a strong lion, shall now be Ariel, that is, a strong curse, or a rain of malediction.’

Ver. 3. And I will camp against thee round about.] I will bring the woe of war upon thee—a woe that no words, how wide soever, can possibly express. See this accomplished. {#2Ki 25:4}

And will lay siege.] As the captain general of the Chaldees.

Ver. 4. And thou, shalt be brought down.] From those lofty pinnacles of self-exaltation whereunto thy pride hath perched thee.

And speak out of the ground.] Humillime et submissime, thou shalt speak supplication, with a low voice (as broken men), who wast wont to face the heavens, and speak in spite of God and men, speak big words, bubbles of words. See #Jer 46:22.

And thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit.] Cuius vox est gracilis, flebilis, hiulca, confusa, gemebunda.

Out of the ground.] As the devil at Delphi did.

Ver. 5. Moreover, the multitude of thy strangers.] Thy foreign auxiliaries; these shall do thee no good, but be blown away as with a whirlwind.

It shall be at an instant, suddenly.] The last siege and sack of Jerusalem was so by a specialty, as is to be read in Josephus. And some interpreters understand this whole chapter of the times of the New Testament, because our Saviour and St Paul do cite some places herehence, and apply the same to those their times, not by way of accommodation only, but as the proper and true sense of the text. {as #Mt 15:8,9 Ro 11:8 1Co 1:19}

Ver. 6. Thou shalt be visited with thunder and earthquake, ] i.e., Fragosis, repentinis, vehementibus, et immedicabilibus plagis, with rattling, sudden, violent, and unmedicinable miseries and mischiefs, as if heaven and earth had conspired thine utter undoing. Some apply this to the prodigies that went before the last devastation of Jerusalem whereof see Joseph., lib. vii. cap. 12.

Ver. 7. Shall be as the dream of a night vision.] Both in regard of thee to whom this siege and ruin shall happen beyond all thought, judgment, and expectation, as also in respect of the Chaldees themselves, who will never be satisfied with tormenting thee, {as #Isa 29:8} and yet shall fail of what they hope for too. {a} Spes mortalium sunt somnia vigilantium, saith Plato.

{a} Diod.

Ver. 8. It shall be as when.] See on #Isa 29:7.

Ver. 9. Stay yourselves, and wonder.] Sistite gradum, stand still, and stand amazed at this people’s stupendous stupidity and desperate security. Piscator rendereth the text thus: Cunctantur, itaque admiramini; deliciantur, itaque vociferamini. They delay (to return), therefore wonder ye at it; they sport at it, but cry ye out, as lamenting their folly. {#Eze 9:4, where the original is very elegant} Some translate the words thus: Obstupefacite vos ipsi, et sitis stupidi, et excaecate vos ipsi et sitis caeci, stupify yourselves and be stupid; blind yourselves and be blind; do so, I say, for you will do so undoubtedly. And here begin their spiritual miseries. See #Isa 29:1 6:9,10.

They are drunk, but not with wine.] But yet with that which is much worse, viz., with a spirit of stupidity; {#Isa 29:10} they are not only drunk with a dry drunkenness, but deadly sick of a lethargy, being dulled in their understandings, lulled asleep in their sinful practices, ready to fly in the face of one that shall offer to awake them. Other drunkenness a man may sleep out, sleep himself sober, as Noah did; not so here, as Nazianzen {a} well observeth upon this text.

{a} Homil. de plaga grandinis.

Ver. 10. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep.] By a judiciary hardness he hath rolled a stone upon your hearts, and given you up to a reprobate sense. He hath cast you into a dead lethargy, a dedolent disposition; so that "because of the blindness of their hearts," this people are "past feeling," {#Eph 4:18,19} and because they have wilfully winked, he hath even dashed out their eyes, bereaving them of the light against which they rebelled, {#Job 24:13} so that they have neither sight nor light, lemosorum instar oculos mentis concretos habent; they are miserably benighted.

The prophets, &c.] A blind seer is a monster. How could these, thus blindly led, avoid the ditch of destruction?

Ver. 11. And the vision of all is become unto you, &c.] The Scriptures were so to the scribes and elders of the people, who although, when Herod asked them of the Messiah, they could give such descriptions of him as agreed to none but the babe of Bethlehem, {#Mt 2:5,6} yet would they by no means be drawn to believe in his name. And the like woeful obstinace is found in the Rabbis and other Jews to this day. The like spiritual judgment hath befallen the Papists also, both the learned and unlearned; and yet one of them sticks not to tell us to our heads, that our damnation is so plainly and plentifully set down in our own English Bibles, that no man needeth to doubt of it who hath but a book, and can read English. Thus, who so bold as blind Bayard? who so blind as those that will not see?

Ver. 12. And the book is delivered to one that is not learned.] Heb., Knoweth not to read. By the learned is meant, say some, the rulers in Church and State; by the unlearned, the common people: all were in a pickle. Nicodemus had oft read in this our prophet, in Ezekiel and elsewhere, of regeneration, though not under that term; but how little he understood it, see #Joh 3:4,9 And what a buzzard is Bellarmine himself in some such fundamentals as whereof it is a shame for a very child to be ignorant! I must needs confess, said a learned Papist to the Bishop of Cavaillon, that I have often been at the schools of Sorbonne in Paris, where I have heard the disputations of the divines, but yet I never learned so much as I have done by hearing these young children at Merindol posing one another before the bishop about points of religion. The poor men of Lyons in France were enlightened when the great doctors were blinded and besotted in their superstitious tenets and practices. {a}

{a} Acts and Mon, 865.

Ver. 13. Because this people draweth near to me, &c.] For their putid hypocrisy and outsidedness in God’s service, they were given up by him to be further hardened by the devil, and to have their necks possessed by an iron sinew, Hypocritis nihil stupidius. {See Trapp on "Mt 15:8"}

Their fear towards me.] See on #Mt 15:9.

Ver. 14. Therefore, behold, I do a marvellous work, ] scil., By infatuating these masters in Israel, and bereaving their wise men of their wisdom. This was a greater marvel than to take sight from the eye, whiteness from the swan, sweetness from sugar, &c.

For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish.] And worthily, since they either hid their candle under a bushel, or else their learning hung in their light, while it better served them to devise a thousand shifts to elude the truth, than their pride would suffer them once to yield and acknowledge it. This the prophet speaketh of the Pharisaical and rabbinical wisdom; and the apostle fitly extendeth it to the wisdom of the Gentiles, {#1Co 1:19} calling both the Pharisees and philosophers "Princes of this world" for their learning, but yet denying that they knew anything to any purpose at all. {#1Co 2:8}

“ Si Christum nescis, nihil est si cratera noscis.”

Ver. 15. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide.] That carry two faces under a hood, as all formalists and double-minded persons do, desirous to deceive the world, and, if it were possible, God himself also, with their pretences and professions, and to cozen him of heaven.

To hide their counsel.] Their cunning contrivances, ut ita libere in omnes veneres et scelera ruant.

From the Lord.] Which cannot be, because he is all eye, and the searcher of hearts; he is intimo nostro intimior nobis, and will bring to light the hidden things of darkness. {#1Co 4:5}

Their works are in the dark.] Out of sight, but not out of the light of his countenance. {#Ps 90:8} Deo obscura liquent, muta respondent, silentium confitetur. "All things are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do." {#Heb 4:13} Sin not therefore in hope of secrecy; Si non caste tamen caute, will prove too short a covering.

And say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?] God doth, to be sure, whoever doth not; hold this fast against that natural atheism which is in us all. See #Eze 9:9 Ro 3:18. {See Trapp on "Ro 3:18"}

Ver. 16. Surely your turning of things upside down.] Heb., Invertere vestrum. Your denying the divine providence and omniscience, whereby ye go about to pervert the whole course of nature, and to put all into a confusion.

Shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay.] Shall be confuted by a very familiar comparison. Calvin readeth it thus: "Shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay," i.e., is as easily effected as he maketh a vessel at his pleasure.

For shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not?] It should say so upon the matter, by denying his knowledge of it. The watchmaker knoweth every pin and wheel in it; so the heartmaker knoweth every turning and winding in it, were they more than they are.

Ver. 17. Is it yet not a very little while?] Nonne adhuc paululum paululum; or, A hundred years hence the Gentiles shall be called by the preaching of the apostles (for here beginneth the consolatory part of this chapter; see on #Isa 29:1); and that is but a very small time with God. He speeds away the generation, that he may finish the calling of his elect, and so put an end to all.

And Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field.] Heb., Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel, the wide world; the wide waste of the Gentiles, {confer #Isa 42:15} the elect among them shall be made God’s husbandry or vineyard, {#Eph 2:12 Ro 11:17} et e contra, Carmelus fiet Libanus. {a}

The fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest.] The obstinate Jews, with their seeming fruitfulness, shall be rejected. Lo, here is a turning of things upside down that you dream not of; this is that marvellous work, #Isa 29:14.

{a} Sylvestria corda electorum inter gentes. -Piscator

Ver. 18. In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, ] i.e., The deaf and blind Gentiles being by the preaching of the gospel drawn out of darkness into God’s marvellous light, shall see and hear that which eye never saw nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of any natural man to conceive. {#1Co 2:9} They shall first be enlightened; secondly, to be cheered. {#Isa 29:19 Ac 13:48 Ro 14:17}

The words of the book.] The Holy Scriptures, that book which the proud would not read, the ignorant could not. {#Isa 29:11,12}

Shall see out of obscurity.] See the Saviour, as Simeon; see that blissful vision. {#Eph 1:18,19} See #Job 9:3-9.

Ver. 19. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord.] All sincere converts, such especially as have mastered and mortified their unruly passions and are cured of the fret, these shall add joy; these shall have joy upon joy, they shall "overabound exceedingly with joy." {#2Co 7:4}

The poor among men.] The poor in spirit. These shall greatly rejoice, both for the mercy of God to themselves, and for the justice of God exercised upon others. {#Isa 29:20,21}

Ver. 20. For the terrible one is brought to nought.] This is part matter of the just man’s joy; where observe the contrary characters given to the godly and the wicked; those are said to be lowly, meek, poor in spirit; these to be tyrants, scorners, sedulous in sin, publicans, incorrigible, such as turn aside the just, &c. {#Isa 29:20}

And all that watch for iniquity.] Surgunt de nocte latrones; they also break their sleep to devise mischief; {#Ps 36:4 Mic 2:1} but they should watch for a better purpose, {#Mr 13:37} as Seneca also could say, and Pliny, Qui vitam mortalium vigelium esse pronunciat; { a} who calleth man’s life a watch.

{a} Proaem. Nat. Hist.

Ver. 21. That make a man an offender for a word.] When he meant no hurt, or by perverting and misconstruing his speeches. Thus they sought to trap Christ in his speeches; and thus they dealt by many of the martyrs and confessors. To say, the Lord, and not our Lord, is called by Stephen Gardner symbolum haereticorum, a note of a heretic. {a} Dr Storie’s rule to know a heretic was, they will say, the Lord, and we praise God, and, the living God. {b} Robert Cook was abjured for saying that the blessing with a shoe sole was as good as the bishop’s blessing. {c} Another for saying that alms should not be given until it did sweat in a man’s hand. {d} Mrs Catismore for saying that when men go to offer to images, they did it to show their new gear; and that images were but carpenters’ chips; and that folks go on pilgrimage more for the green way than for devotion. {e} Philip Brasier for saying that when any miracle is done, the priests anoint the images, and make men believe these images sweat in labouring for them, &c. {f} "Every day they wrest my words," saith David of his enemies. {#Ps 56:5} As the spleen is subservient to the liver, to take from it only the most putrid and feculent blood; so do detractors pick out the worst of everything, to lay it in a man’s dish, or allege it against him.

And lay a snare for him that reproveth.] {See Trapp on "Am 5:10"} Freedom of speech used by the Waldenses in blaming and reproving the vices and errors of great ones, effecit ut plures nefariae affingerentur eis opiniones, a quibus ornnino fuerant alieni, made them hardly thought and spoken of. {g}

{a} Acts and Mon, . fol. 1116.

{b} Ibid., 1803.

{c} Ibid., 952.

{d} Ibid., 765.

{e} Ibid., 763.

{f} Ibid., 952.

{g} Girard.

Ver. 22. Who redeemed Abraham., ] sc., Out of his idolatry, that pulled him as a brand out of Ur of the Chaldees. {#Jos 24:2,3} The Rabbis say that his father Terah was a maker and seller of images.

Concerning the house of Jacob, ] i.e., The calling of the Jews. Compare #Ro 11:2-5.

Ver. 23. The work of mine hands.] "Created in Christ Jesus unto good works"; {#Eph 2:10} and now sanctifying God’s name in their hearts and lives, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost. Thus, as it were, ex professo, doth the prophet Isaiah here handle the doctrine of regeneration, which, and other like places, while Nicodemus had not noted, he was worthily reproved. {#Joh 3:9,10}

Ver. 24. They also that erred in spirit.] Erroneous opinions, and muttering against ministers, are here instanced as two special obstacles to effectual conversion. Those that relinquish not these two evils are far enough from God’s kingdom, and yet today nothing is more ordinary; hence so few converts, so many apostates.

Chapter 30

Ver. 1. Woe to the rebellious children.] Vae filiis desertoribus, vel apostatis, so he boldly calleth the politicians of his time, the counsellors of state, Shebna and others, who gave good Hezekiah ill counsel to send to Egypt for help {a} when Sennacherib invaded him. Well might St Paul say, "Esaias is very bold." {#Ro 10:20} Consurgens enim, proceres inquit, quid hoc rei est quod occeptatis? male omnina factum! vae vobls, vae reipublicae toti! Such another bold court preacher was Elias, Amos, John Baptist, Chrysostom, Latimer, Dearing, &c. See Latimer’s letter to King Henry VIII after the proclamation for abolishing English books, Acts and Mon., fol. 1591, where we may see and marvel at his great boldness and stoutness, saith Mr Foxe, who, as yet being no bishop, so freely and plainly, without all fear of death, adventuring his own life to discharge his conscience so boldly, to so mighty a prince, in such a dangerous case, against the king’s law and proclamation, set out in such a terrible time, dared take upon him to write and to admonish that which no counsellor dared once speak unto him in defenee of Christ’s gospel, &c.

That take council, but not of me.] Though I am "the wonderful Counsellor," {#Isa 9:6} and though they profess to be my children, but unruly, rebellious ones. I must needs say, they are such as, like petty gods within themselves, run on of their own heads, and "lean to their own understanding," {#Pr 3:5} as if I were nothing to them, or as if Consilii satis est in me mihi were their motto. See the like folly, #Jos 9:14.

That cover with a covering.] {b} But it will not reach. {#Isa 28:20} God will make the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack, and the fairest blossoms of human policies to wither.

That they may add sin to sin, ] i.e., Thereby adding sin to sin. {#De 29:19 Job 34:37} {See Trapp on "De 29:19"} {See Trapp on "Job 34:37"}

{a} Est species quaedam αποστασιας aliunde quam a Deo auxilium petere.

{b} Et ordiremini telam.

Ver. 2. That walk to go down into Egypt.] This they were flatly forbidden to do. But state policy doth sometimes carry it against express Scripture, to the formalising and enervating of the power of truth, till at length they have left us a heartless and sapless religion, as one well observeth. This is no thriving course certainly; here we have a dreadful woe hanged at the heels of it. The Grecian Churches first called in the Turks to their help, who distressed them, and then, through fear of the Turks, A.D. 1438, sent and subjected themselves to the Bishop of Rome, that they might have the help of the Latin Churches; but shortly after they were destroyed, their empire subdued, &c., teaching all others by their example not to trust to carnal combinations, not to seek the association of others in a sinful way.

Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame.] They that consult not with God "consult shame to their own houses"; {#Heb 2:10} and because they despise him, they shall be lightly esteemed. {#1Sa 2:30} When any came to Bacon and Burleigh, Queen Elizabeth’s gravest counsellors, with a project or design of raising her revenue, or promoting her interest, they would ask him how much reputation would redound unto her by it. Moses, who was faithful in all God’s house, had the like care of God’s glory, {#Ex 32:10,12} and is therefore renowned to all posterity. But these apostates in the text, for carnal policy and contempt of God, are justly branded and threatened with disgrace and disappointment.

Ver. 4. For his princes were at Zoan.] Where Pharaoh kept his court, and Moses had done his miracles.

And his ambassadors came to Hanes.] This was, saith Jerome, a famous city in the utmost part of Egypt, toward Ethiopia. Oecolampadius saith it lay beyond Egypt. So far did these men travel and trouble themselves in seeking foreign help, when they might have stayed at home to better purpose.

Ver. 5. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them.] Either could not or would not, for fear of provoking the Assyrian, so potent and formidable a prince. When Queen Elizabeth undertook to protect the Netherlanders against the Spaniard, the King of Sweden, hearing of it, said, that she had taken the crown off her own head and set it on the head of Fortune.

Ver. 6. The burden, ] i.e., The gifts and presents wherewith the Hebrews’ beasts were laden to carry southward, to hire help from Egypt. A man’s gift maketh room for him. {#Pr 18:11} Philip was wont to say, that he doubted not of taking any town or tower, if he could but thrust into it an ass laden with gold. But these Jewish ambassadors lost both their labour and their treasures, carried upon the shoulders of many young asses, and upon the bunches of camels, to a very great quantity. See what a present was sent to a poor prophet, even of every good thing of Damascus forty camels’ burden, {#2Ki 8:9} and guess by that what a deal of wealth went now to Egypt to procure help.

Into the land of trouble and anguish.] That great and terrible wilderness of Arabia, wherein were "fiery serpents and scorpions," {#De 8:15} and other fell creatures not a few. Through that "waste howling desert" {#De 32:10} that lay between Judea and Egypt, travelled these beasts with their burdens; but all was labour in vain, and cost cast away, because God was not of the counsel.

Ver. 7. For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose.] Heb., In vanity and inanity. Such are creature comforts if relied on, a very magnum nihil.

Therefore have I cried.] But could not get audience.

Their strength is to sit still.] To bide at home, and "behold the salvation of the Lord"; for the prophet here seemeth to relate to that in #Ex 14:14. "Contented godliness is great gain," saith the apostle, {#1Ti 6:6} and quiet godliness is great strength, saith the prophet here. "Their strength is to sit still." As good sit still, saith our English proverb, as rise and fall. The word here rendered strength is rahab, which signifieth pride and power, and is sometimes put for Egypt herself. {#Ps 87:4} Hence the Vulgate translation here is, superbia tantum est, quiesce. Egypt is but a flask or a piece of proud flesh; she is all in ostentation, but will not answer thine expectation; therefore keep home and be quiet. Others, rendering the text as we do, set this sense upon it, Your Rahab, or Egypt, is to sit still, and to hold your content; by so doing you shall have an Egypt. Whatever help you may think to have that way, you shall have it, and better, this way, si tranquillo et sedato sitis animo, if you can compose yourselves and get a sabbath of spirit.

Ver. 8. Now go, write before them in a table, and note it in a book.] He had proclaimed it before, {#Isa 30:7} but with ill success. Now he is commanded to commit it to writing, for a testimony against them to all posterity, viz., that they had been told in two words what were their best course to take for their own security and safeguard; but they thought it better to trot to Egypt than to trust in God. Now, therefore, if they suffer and smart, as they must, for their contempt and contumacy, the blame must be laid upon themselves alone. Who else can be faulted, whenas they were so fairly forewarned?

Ver. 9. That this is a rebellious people.] Isaiae concepta verba praeit Deus; God dictateth to the prophet Isaiah what very words he shall set down. So he did to Moses, to Jeremiah, {#Jer 36:4} to Habakkuk, {#Hab 2:2} to John the divine. {#Re 14:13} The whole Scripture was inspired by God; not for matter only, but for words also; {#2Ti 3:16} and is therefore more than a bare commonitory or warning, as Bellarmine calls it, a kind of storehouse for advice in matters of religion. We account them the surest rule of life, {a} the divine beam, and most exact balance. {b} But the Papists see well enough that while the authority of the Scriptures standeth, the traditions of their Popes cannot be established, which they account the touchstone of doctrine and foundation of faith. And in favour of their unwritten verities, as they call them, they tell us, but falsely, that Christ commanded his apostles to preach, but not to write.

Lying children.] And therefore not God’s children. {#Isa 63:8}

{a} Divina statera. -Aug.

{b} Exactissima trutina -Chrysost.

Ver. 10. Which say to the seers, See not, &c.] Strange impudence! but in thus reciting their words, the prophet rather expresseth their spirit than their speeches. And yet it may be that the politicians of those times blamed the prophets, Isaiah and the rest, as pragmatic, for interposing and meddling in state matters, and pressing the law so strictly, since in cases of necessity, as now it was, they must make bold to borrow a little law of the Holy One of Israel.

Speak unto us smooth things.] Heb., Smoothnesses, toothless truths, and such as may speak you no meddlers.

Ver. 11. Get ye out of the way.] If that be the way which you so much insist upon, warp a little, remit of your rigour. Religiosum opertet esse, sed non religentem. Let a religious man work but not to be bound.

Cause the Holy One of Israel to depart from us.] Desinat ille nos per prophetas obtundere; let us hear no more of him: molest us not with so many messages from him. See #Mic 2:6.

Ver. 12. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel.] The prophet doth on purpose repeat this title, so much disrelished by them, to cross them. Ministers must not be men pleasers.

Ver. 13. Therefore this iniquity shall be unto you, ] q.d., Your commonwealth is tumbling down apace, and ye are hastening the utter ruin of it, as if ye were ambitious of your own destruction, which will be, as sudden, so total. {#Isa 30:14}

Ver. 14. And he shall break it as the breaking of a potter’s vessel.] Collige ex hoc loco, saith Oecolampadius, gather we may from this text that remediless ruin will befall such as resist the Holy Ghost, and sin against light.

Ver. 15. The Holy One of Israel.] A style much in the mouths of God’s prophets in those times. But what great arrogance is it in the Pope to take unto him the title of his Holiness!

In returning and rest shall ye be saved.] This is the same in effect with that before. {#Isa 30:7} Preachers must be instant, stand to their work, and not be baffled out of their unpleasing messages. The Septuagint here have it, Si conversus ingemueris, tunc salvaberis.

Ver. 16. But ye said, No.] We will not return or rest. This is a golden rule of life, In silentio et spe fortitudo vestra; but these refractories would have none of it, they knew a better way to work than all that came to. Politicians are like tumblers, that have their heads on the earth and their heels against heaven. Cross-grained they are for the most part to all good.

For we will flee upon horses.] Whereof Egypt was full, and for which it was famous of old, and so is yet, for the Mamelukes’ horses especially.

Therefore shall ye flee.] But in another sense, sc., fusi fugatique ab hoste, with the enemy at your heels.

Ver. 17. One thousand shall flee.] See #De 32:30, with the note.

Until ye be left as a beacon.] Heb., A mast—i.e., a very poor few, or all alone, shred of all you had. This was fulfilled when Sennacherib wasted the country, even to the very walls of Jerusalem. Paucitatem salvandorum nobis insinuat, saith Oecolampadius.

Ver. 18. And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you.] This is a wonderful condescension—i.e., God tarrieth looking for thee to show thee mercy, as Mr Bradford {a} rendereth it; if thou wert ripe, he is ready. But never think that he will lay cordials upon full and foul stomachs, saith another grave divine; {b} that he will scarf thy bones before they be set, and lap up thy sores before they be searched. God chooseth the fittest times to hear and help his suppliants, {#Isa 49:8 Ps 69:13} opportunitatem opitulandi expectat. Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. {#Jas 5:7} Let your equanimity, your longanimity, {patience} be known to all men; the Lord is at hand. {#Php 4:5}

And therefore will he be exalted.] He will get up to his tribunal or throne of grace, that if ye repent ye may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. {#Heb 4:16}

For the Lord is a God of judgment, ] i.e., He is a wise God, that knoweth best when to deal forth his favours, and where to place his benefits.

Blessed are all they that wait for him.] Wait his leisure, et non cerebri sui sectantur consilia, and seek not to get off by indirect courses. Those, though they should die in a waiting condition, yet cannot but be happy, because God hath said here, "Blessed are all they that wait for him."

{a} Serm. of Repent.

{b} Dr Harris.

Ver. 19. For the people shall dwell in Zion, &c.] Or, For thou, the people of Zion that dwell in Jerusalem, shalt weep no more;

“ Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur.”

At the voice of thg cry.] Thou shalt pray; thou shalt also hear the Word of God, {#Isa 30:20,21} and reform thy life; {#Isa 30:22} so shall good be done unto thee.

When he shall hear it, he will answer thee.] Yea, before, {#Isa 65:24} before thy prayer can get from thy heart to thy mouth, it is got as high as heaven.

Ver. 20. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity.] Though he hold you to hard meat, and give you but prisoner’s pittance, so much as will keep you alive only, and that you eat your meat with the peril of your lives; Emendicato pane hic vivamus, saith Luther; in our Father’s house is bread, God’s plenty.

Yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner.] Non alis se induent, they shall not take wing and fly from thee. The ministry is a sweet mercy, under what misery soever men do otherwise groan and labour. Corporeal wants are not much to be passed on, so the spiritual food be not wanting: a famine of the word is the greatest judgment. {#Am 8:11} When the gospel was first preached there was great scarcity of bodily food, {#Re 6:6 Ac 11:28} but that was scarce felt by those holy souls who did eat their meat, such as it was, with gladness and singleness of heart, accounting that bread and cheese with the gospel was good cheer. {a}

Thine eyes shall see thy teachers.] A description of holy hearers; their eyes are intent on the preacher’s, their ears erect, their whole course conformed to the rule, quando lapsus tam in proclivi est {b} {#Isa 30:21} their dearest sins abandoned. {#Isa 30:22} Oh, for such hearers in these days!

“ Apparent rarl nantes in gurgite vasto.”

{a} Greenham.

{b} Scultet.

Ver. 21. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee.] Quum a tergo tuo dicent, when they shall say behind thee—viz., thy teachers: a metaphor, say some, from shepherds driving their sheep, and whistling them in when ready to stray. {a}

When ye turn to the right hand, or to the left.] Heb., When ye right hand it, and when ye left hand it. It is hard to hold the king’s highway chalked out in the word, without swerving—to walk accurately, and as it were in a frame; yet this must be done, and all exorbitancies carefully shunned. Hereunto the word preached is a singular help: God by his Spirit also sends for us in our strayings, and sets us right again. There will be upon any miscarriage, singultus cordis, sobbing of heart, an upbraiding or rising of heart, as it is termed by Abigail; {#1Sa 25:31} the Spirit will come in with his secret and sweet voice, both correcting and directing pro re nata for unfolding affairs.

{a} Subest comparatio a pastore sumpta, qui oves sequitur, et aberrantes in viam revocat.

Ver. 22. Thou shalt defile also the covering.] Thou shalt pollute the idols which thou hadst perfumed. Such a change is wrought in people by the Word preached, as is to be seen in all the reformed churches; cavete ab idolis, beware of idols.

Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth.] Ut mulierem laborantem ex mensibus, as a labouring woman from her period. {a}

Thou shalt say unto them, Get thee hence.] Apage, Abi in malam crucem. Men should heartily hate sin by them committed: dealing by it as Amnon did by Tamar; and as heartily desiring to forego it, as to have it forgiven; to part with it, as to have it pardoned. See #Ho 14:8. {See Trapp on "Ho 14:8"}

{a} Piscat. Comparat idola scorto perpetuo monstro abominabili. -Zeged.

Ver. 23. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed.] Or, For thy seed, or to thy seed. A figurative description of God’s superabundant blessings, viz., the spiritual blessing, saith Diodate. This was fulfilled in the letter, under Hezekiah and Ezra: in the figure, under Christ.

In that day shall thy cattle feed.] This branch properly belongeth to the next verse. The Bible was not distinguished into verses till of late years; and it is not done very skilfully in some places, as this for one. Versuum in Scripturis sectiones pio quidem, at tumultuario Roberti Stephani studio excogitatae, imperitissime plerunque, texture dissecant. {a}

{a} Scultet.

Ver. 24. Shall eat clean provender.] Such plenty there shall be of corn that the cattle shall have of the best threshed out and winnowed. The Vulgate hath it, commistum migma, whereby is understood diversity of grains mingled together, as in horse bread.

Ver. 25. Rivers and streams of waters.] To moisten them and make them fertile.

When the towers fall] i.e., Sennacherib’s great princes, who were as towers and bulwarks.

Ver. 26. Moreover, the light of the moon, &c.] i.e., Very great shall be your joy upon that slaughter of Sennacherib’s army: the sun and moon also seeming to rejoice with you by their extraordinary outshinings.

In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach.] Sunt allegoriae sive similitudes quae instituto mire conveniunt. {a}

{a} Hyperius.

Ver. 27. Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far.] That is, an angel cometh from heaven to destroy the Assyrians: or, The name of the Lord, that is, Maiestas Dei nominatissimi, the glorious and renowned God himself.

Burning with anger.] Or, At the nose, which burneth with a grievous flame.

His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue, &c.] Est pulchra hypotyposis irae Dei, a gallant description of God’s anger, which yet is nothing else but his most just will to punish sin. These things and the like are spoken concerning God ανθρωποπαθως, and must be understood Θεοπρεπως. Rash anger, as it dispossesseth a man of his soul, wit, and reason, so it disfigureth his body with firiness of the eyes, inflammation of the face, stammering of the tongue, gnashing of the teeth, a very harsh and hateful intension of the voice, &c. Hence angry men were counselled, in the heat of their fit, to look themselves in a glass, &c. God is here brought in as thus angry, more humano. Let us take heed how we provoke him to wrath:

“Σχετλιε, τιπτ εθελεις ερεθιζεμεν αγριον ανδρα.”

Ver. 28. And his breath as an overflowing stream.] God can blow men to destruction, {#Job 4:9} for they are but dust heaps; yea, his breath, as an irresistible torrent, beareth all before it. The prophet had compared God’s fierce wrath to a raging fire; now he further compareth it here, 1. To a flood; 2. To a fan; 3. To a bridle.

To sift the nations with a sieve of vanity, ] i.e., Ad perdendas gentes in nihilum, as the Vulgate here hath it, To destroy the nations, and to bring them to nothing.

Ver. 29. He shall have a song.] As, after the passover eaten, they sang a hynm; so, after the Assyrian destroyed, there shall be a different sound heard in their several camps. Apud utrosque audietur sonus, et strepitus, sed diversa admodum ratione: so was fulfilled that of our prophet. {#Isa 65:13,14}

As in the night when a holy solemnity is kept.] Pintus saith, that the night before some solemn sacrifice, the Jews usually spent in jollity and singing. They still conclude their Sabbath with singing, or caterwauling {a} rather, which they continue as long as they can, for ease of the defunct souls.

{a} Any hideous, discordant howling noise.

Ver. 30. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice.] Hence some gather that Sennacherib’s soldiers were destroyed by the angel, not without a mighty storm and tempest, accompanied with dreadful thunder and lightning. See the like threatened to all wicked ones, #Job 27:20-22.

Ver. 31. Which smote with a rod.] #Isa 10:5. Now he is broken in pieces with God’s iron rod, {#Ps 2:9} Iustissimae talionis exemplum.

Ver. 32. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass.] Virga fundata, seu inflxa; God’s rod or staff, wherewith he beateth the Assyrians, shall pierce their flesh, and stick in it, make deep welts, yea, stick in their very bowels, as Ehud’s dagger did in Eglon’s guts. And this shall be done with little ado too.

It shall be with tabrets and harps.] Quasi per ludum, non tormentis bellicis.

And in battles of shaking will he fight with it.] Levi quadam velitatione bellica, by skirmishings only.

Ver. 33. For Tophet is ordained.] Heb., Tophteh which some derive of Pathah, to entice or seduce, because hell draweth customers; and is called also infernus ab inferendo, from the great resort that is to it. But others fetch the name from toph, a drum, because those idolaters who sacrificed their children to Moloch or Saturn, in the valley of Hinnom, struck up drums to drown the cries of those poor tortured children. Hence it is here used for hell, together with that eternity of extremity which the damned there endure; and this the Assyrians are here threatened with, yea, their very king, whose preservation from the stroke of the angel was but a reservation to a worse mischief here and hereafter. For patentes potenter torquebunter, great men, if not good, shall be greatly tormented; and the more they have of the fat of the earth, the more they are sure to fry in hell. Such, therefore, had need to add true grace to their high places, else they shall prove but as a high gibbet to bring them to more disgrace in this world, and torment in the next.

Of old.] Heb., From yesterday. Hence some infer that hell torments are always fresh and new, as if they had begun but yesterday; and "every sacrifice there is salted with fire," {#Mr 9:49} that is, it burneth, but consumeth not; fire being of a burning, but salt of a preserving nature.

He hath made it deep and large.] Capacious enough to receive a world full of wicked ones. {#Ps 9:17}

The pile thereof is fire and much wood.] Hell fire is no metaphorical thing, but a material, true, proper, real, and corporeal fire. {#Mt 18:9 25:41 Lu 16:23} For vehemency of heat, saith Augustine, it exceedeth ours as far as our fire doth exceed fire painted on the wall. That friar said too little of it who said that one might feel it burn seven miles off. Etna, Vesuvius, Pietra Mala (which is a mountain in the highest part of the Apennines that perpetually burns), come not near it. Some gross Papists have imagined Etna to be the place of purgatory. Odilo, abbot of Cluniscum, persuaded Pope John XIX that he had there seen the tormented souls wailing: whereupon that pope appointed the feast of All-souls.

The breath of the Lord, as a stream of brimstone.] This formidable fire, then, is fed with most tormenting temper, rivers of brimstone, and kindled with the breath of the Almighty throughout all eternity. Simile quiddam videmus in thermis, ubi sulphureae scaturigines magno fremitu effervescunt. Some resemblance hereof we have in the hot baths, &c.

Chapter 31

Ver. 1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help.] The prophet saw them set upon it to send down to Egypt; he therefore addeth another woe to such refractories, and layeth before them more reasons to dissuade them from doing so: a good precedent for preachers. Oecolampadius rendereth it, O descendentes, O ye that go down to Egypt, &c. Oh ye are a wise company of you, and full well ye have done it!

But they look not to the Holy One of Israel.] They trust not God at all, that not alone. He that stands with one foot on a rock, and another foot upon a quicksand, will sink and perish as certainly as he that stands with both feet on a quicksand. See #Ps 62:5,6.

Ver. 2. Yet he also is wise.] Yea, he is "the only wise God," whatever the world’s wizards think of him or of themselves. They counted the voyage down to Egypt the wisest way; {a} and to rest altogether upon God, to be altogether impolitic as the case now stood. Egypt also, they knew, was famous for wisdom, {#Isa 19:11,12} but considered not how God had fooled them, {#Ex 1:10,12} and taken those foxes in their own craft. {#1Co 3:19}

And will bring evil.] To those evil counsellors especially,

“Ηδε κακη βουλη τω βουλευσαντι κακιστη”

{a} Tacita antithesis in qua latet Antanaclasis.

Ver. 3. Now the Egyptains are men, and not God.] Poets fain that in the Trojan war one god fought against another.

“ Mulciber in Troiam, pro Troia stabat Apollo.”

But the Jews could not imagine that these Egyptians, in whom they confided, were fit matches for God, and able to deal with him. "Who would set those briers and thorns against me in battle I would go through them, I would burn them together." {#Isa 27:4}

And their horses flesh, and not spirit.] God is Lord of hosts; and as the Rabbis well observe, he hath his cavalry and his infantry, or his horse and his foot; his upper forces and his lower, ready pressed. "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels," {#Ps 68:17} and what can the Egyptian horse do against such worthy warriors?

Ver. 4. Like as the lion and the young lion.] That they may trust in God, and not in the arm of flesh, the prophet setteth before them under two fit similitudes, the power of God, {#Isa 31:4} and the mercy of God. {#Isa 31:5} These are the Jakin and the Boaz, the two main pillars and supports of trust in God. Procopius here noteth that the lion, when he preyeth, first roareth so terribly, that he thereby amazeth both the cattle and their keepers, and then he falleth upon them and teareth them in pieces; so doth God first roar, that is, threaten by his prophets, and then he destroyeth such as obstinate themselves in a sinful course.

Ver. 5. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts.] This is the second similitude; the eagle, when she flieth highest of all from the nest, and seemeth to set herself among the clouds, still keeps her eye on her nest, so that if any come near her young ones to offend them, she makes all possible speed for their defence. Such an eagle is Almighty God, {#De 22:11} such a hen is Jesus Christ. {#Mt 23:37 Ps 91:1,2} The Church is God’s nest; who dare meddle with it? Sennacherib had threatened to destroy nest and young ones together, because he had done so elsewhere, and none dared wag the wing at him, {#Isa 10:14} but he found it otherwise here. {#Isa 37:33}

Ver. 6. Turn ye unto him.] Vos apostatae Iudaei. You apostate Jews. He runs far that never turneth again, we say; ye have revolted and run away from God with all your hearts, doing evil as ye could. Oh turn again to him, ex profundo imoque corde ad illum redite, let there be a proportion between your sin and your repentance. Turn ye unto me, usque ad me, all out as far as to me, give not the half turn only; with all your heart. {#Joe 2:12} "Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." {#Heb 3:12} ‘Απιστια parit αποστοισαν

Ver. 7. For in that day, ] scil., Of your effectual conversion; {#Isa 30:22} or, when the Assyrian shall assault you, then you shall see the vanity of your idols, and of all human helps. {#Isa 2:20,22}

Ver. 8. Then shall the Assyrian fall.] Fall in his forces, flee in his person; but evil shall hunt that violent man to destroy him. {#Ps 140:11}

Not of a mighty man.] Or, Of a mean man, but of an angel.

And his young men shall be discomfited.] Heb., Shall be unto melting; they shall melt away. {#1Sa 14:16} Vide hic, saith A Lapide; see here how this world is nothing else but a perpetual ruin of all kinds and conditions of men.

Ver. 9. And he shall pass over to his stronghold.] To Nineveh, never thinking himself safe till he come thither.

And his princes shall be afraid of the ensign.] Lifted up by God’s angels in the slaughter of their fellows.

Whose fire is in Zion.] Who keeps house there, sumpta metaphora a re oeconomica. An exact metaphore from domestic affairs. There he had his fire and his chimney, sc., in the temple, from whence also came this destruction to the enemy. {#Ps 76:2,3} {See Trapp on "Ps 76:2"} {See Trapp on "Ps 76:3"}

Chapter 32

Ver. 1. Behold a king.] Hezekiah in the type, Christ in the antitype.

Shall reign in righteousness.] Regiment without righteousness, is but robbery with authority.

“Εν δε δικαιοσυνη συλληβοην πας αρετ εστι.”

And princes shall rule in judgment.] Not as Shebna, and those others placed in by wicked Ahaz, do now, while the king is young, and not so well able to weed them out. Evil junior rulers are a great mischief to a state. Nerva was a good emperor, and so was Aurelian; but so bought and sold by bad counsellors and inferior magistrates, that the people were in a worse case than when they were under Nero. Hezekiah would see to his princes that they were right; Christ hath none about him but such; "All his people are righteous," {#Isa 60:21} his "ministers" and "officers" especially. These are "princes in all lands," {#Ps 45:16} yea, they are "kings," because "righteous ones"; {#Mt 13:17 Lu 10:24} ministers especially are plenipotentiaries under Christ. {#Mt 18:18,19 Joh 20:23}

Ver. 2. And a man shall be, ] i.e., Each man of those forementioned princes, or, That man, viz., Hezekiah. How much more "the man Christ Jesus" shall be a comfort to distressed consciences, an absolute and all-sufficient Saviour! such as his people may trust unto for safety here, and salvation hereafter.

Ver. 3. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim.] Or, Shall not be closed; they shall not wink or be wilfully ignorant, shutting the windows lest the light should come in, or seeking straws to put out their eyes with, as Bernard expresseth it, Festucam quaerunt unde oculos sibi eruant.

And the ears of them that hear shall hearken.] They shall listen to Christ’s word as for life; they shall draw up the ears of their souls to the ears of their bodies, that one sound may pierce both; they shall hear what the Spirit speaketh to the churches.

Ver. 4. The heart also of the rash.] Heb., Of the hasty ones, such as are headlong and inconsiderate, that weigh not things, that say not, What shall we do in the end thereof?

And the tongue of the stammerers.] That once did but bungle at holy discourse, pronouncing as it were Sibboleth for Shibboleth, and marring a good tale in the telling; as not understanding either what they say, or whereof they affirm. {#1Ti 1:7}

Shall be ready to speak plainly.] Shall be forward to speak fruitfully, having a holy dexterity therein. The Corinthians are commended for their utterance; {#1Co 1:5} they could express themselves fitly, and they would do it freely.

To speak plainly.] Heb., Neat or clear words; limpida, nitida; a metaphor from clear or fair weather.

Ver. 5. The vile person shall be no more called liberal.] Benefici et magnifici domini. That sapless fellow Nabal shall no more be called Nadib, that is, bountiful benefactor, or gracious lord. Of Archbishop Bancroft was made this couplet:

“Here lies his Grace in cold clay clad,

Who died for want of what he had.”

In Ahaz’s time the worst of men got honours and offices. Hezekiah would look to that. Dignity shall henceforth wait upon desert, and flattery shall be utterly out of fashion and request at court. Our old English Bibles have it thus: A niggard shall not be called a gentle or gentleman.

Nor the churl said to be bountiful.] The holdfast, whose logic is all little enough to conclude for himself, shall not be called a Magnifico. The Vulgate Latin hath it, Neque fraudulentus appellabitur maior.

Ver. 6. For the vile person will speak villany.] Why then should he be advanced to great places why should he be smoothed and soothed up with high titles? "The adversary and the enemy is this wicked Haman," said Esther. {#Isa 7:6} Before, some had styled him noble, others great, and some perhaps virtuous; only Esther giveth him his own— Pessimus iste, " That most wicked Haman"; so, "Go, tell that fox," saith our Saviour; and God shall smite thee, "thou whited wall," saith St Paul to Ananias, &c. Nomina rebus consentanea imponentur. A spade shall be called a spade, a fool a fool; there shall not be nomen inane, crimen immane, sedes prima et vita ima, ingens authoritas et nutans stabilitas, &c. {a}

And his heart will work iniquity.] Exegesis flagitiosi, the true portraiture of an evil magistrate, Iudex locusta civitatis est malus. An evil judge is the locust of the state.

{a} Bernard.

Ver. 7. The instruments also of the churl are evil.] There is an elegance in the original, Cuius lepos in vertendo perit. {a} By his instruments or vessels are meant, say some, his evil arts and deceits of all sorts; or, as others hold, his subordinate officers and teasers.

Even when the needy speaketh right.] Right or wrong, he is sure to be undone; the doing of anything or of nothing he findeth alike dangerous.

{a} Scalig.

Ver. 8. But the liberal deviseth liberal things.] Beneficus beneficia cogitat: munificentius consultat, et consulit, in opposition to the churl, {#Isa 32:7} He is of a public spirit, and studieth how and where to do most good. Augustus Caesar was for this called Pater patriae; Father of fathers, Charles the Great, Pater orbis; Father of the world, Claudian thus bespake Honorius—

“ Tu civem patremque geras, tu consule cunctis,

Non tibi; nec tua te moveant, sed publica damna.”

“You manage the state and your household, you advise everyone,

But not yourself; neither stir yourself, but damage the public state.”

And by liberal things shall he stand, ] One would think he should fall rather; but he knows what he does, and that not getting but giving, not hoarding but distributing, is the way to thrive.

Ver. 9. Rise up, ye women that are at ease.] Secure sedentes, ye court ladies, whose pride hath brought on the wars; {#Isa 3:25} or, ye hen hearted Jews, Αχηιδες ουκ ετ Αχαιοι; or, ye lesser cities and villages of Judah, rise up, and rouse up yourselves, ad exhibendum honorem verbo Dei, In honour of God’s holy Word. {#Jud 3:20}

Ver. 10. Many days and years shall ye be troubled.] A just punishment of your former security, which usually ushereth in destruction. Days above a year your calamity shall last, by the invasion of the Assyrians, but not two full years; take that for your comfort.

For the vintage shall fail.] War makes woeful work and waste.

Ver. 11. Tremble, ye women.] Adhortatio ad poenitentiam, saith Hyperius; an exhortation to repentance, {a} not unlike that of St James, {#Jas 4:9,10} "Afflict yourselves, and weep and mourn; let your laughter be turned into mourning, your joy into heaviness."

{a} Trepidate, O tranquillae. -Tremel.

Ver. 12. They shall mourn for the teats.] That is, for their grain and wine. The heathens called Ceres their goddess of plenty, πολυμασθον, Mammosam, full teated. Some sense it thus, Let them (infants) mourn for the teats denied them in this day of humiliation, {#Jon 3:5,6} or so dried up that there is no milk for them. Others render it, Beating upon their breasts, Plangentes pectora palmis.

Ver. 13. Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns.] Here the prophet proceedeth to denounce the destruction of the land that should one day come by the Babylonians; and yet he foretelleth that afterwards God shall receive them into favour, and restore unto them such a kingdom as wherein righteousness and peace shall meet and mutually salute.

In the joyous city.] Or, Revelling city. See #Isa 22:2,13 Zep 2:15.

Ver. 14. The multitude of the city shall be left.] For the city shall be left of its multitude.

The forts and towers.] Heb, Ophel and Bachan. The Hebrews tell us that these were two high towers in Jerusalem; now they were to be dismantled and lie waste.

Ver. 15. Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high.] Donec Dominus dignabitar suum favorem et gratiam denuo nobis impertiri, Till God shall please once more to impart unto us his grace and favour. So he sets them no certain time of restoration; as desirous thereby to stir them up to pray continually, and to bring forth fruits worthy amendment of life. This effusion of "the Spirit upon all flesh" {#Joe 2:28} -that is, of the best thing upon the basest—is a very great mercy.

And the wilderness be a fruitful field.] Heb., A Carmel. Such a change worketh the Spirit of grace—it maketh barren hearts fruitful, and manifesteth hypocrites, whatever they seem, to be no better than wild trees that bear no good fruit.

Ver. 16. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness.] In this and the next verse, he setteth forth the sweet effects of God’s Spirit in the saints, in hypocrites also, when once they come to be converted; these are "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." {as #Ro 14:17} By "righteousness" and "judgment" there is to be understood the righteousness of faith, together with all those good works, the fruits thereof—obedience, I mean, which Luther was wont to call fidem incarnatam Faith incarnate.

Ver. 17. And the work of righteousness shall be peace.] Peace both of country and of conscience; none other but this last can last for ever.

Quietness and assurance for ever.] Such as the world giveth not, such as the wicked meddleth not with. The cock on the dunghill knoweth not the worth of this jewel; it is the new name that none knoweth but he who hath it. Oh this blessed "quietness and assurance for ever," this "boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him," {#Eph 3:12} having a full certainty, {#Lu 1:4} yea, a confident glorying and boasting, {#Ro 5:3} so as to stand upon interrogatories, {#1Pe 3:21} such as are those, {#Ro 8:35-37} and to have God to make answer. {as #Isa 43:25}

Ver. 18. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation.] Great peace have all those that love God’s law, and nothing shall offend them. {#Ps 119:165} Peace shall be within their walls, and prosperity within their palaces. From this and the next verse one well gathereth that, when the heart lieth lowest, it lieth quietest; in loco humili humills erit civitas, sc., Dei.

Ver. 19. When it shall hail, coming down on the forest.] When reprobates—here compared to a forest or tall wood—shall be hail beaten, that is, grievously plagued, as those Egyptians once were, {#Ex 9:22,26} it shall be hale, or well, with the elect. The Church, as a city that standeth in a low bottom, is secure and safe, her afflictions also working together for her good. In humbling her, God remembereth her, for his mercy endureth for ever. {#Ps 136:23}

Ver. 20. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.] Conclusionem texit ipse propheta. The prophet concludeth with an exclamation, as admiring the happiness of such as should live till the commonwealth should be thus restored; but especially when Christ should come in the power and purity of his ordinances, filling his people with the fruits of righteousness, and fattening them for the purpose with those waters of the sanctuary, as Nile doth the land of Egypt, &c. Oh, the heaped up happiness of such! O terque quaterque beati! Say, "They sow in tears, yet they shall reap in joy"; {#Ps 126:5} say, They "send thither the feet of the ox and the ass," those laborious and useful creatures, to ear the ground, and fit it for receipt of seed; {#Ps 144:14} they "shall surely eat the fruit of their labours"; {#Ps 128:2} they "shall reap in due time if they faint not." {#Ga 6:9} His faecunda sine dubio messis indulgentiae orietur, saith Arnobius; their "labour cannot be in vain in the Lord." {#1Co 15:58}

Chapter 33

Ver. 1. Woe to thee that spoilest.] Minatur vastationem vastatori Sennacherib, vel Antichristo, quem praesignat. {a} Sennacherib and Antichrist are here threatened.

And thou wast not spoiled.] Thou abusest thy present peace, and the riches of God’s goodness and patience toward thee, to fall foul upon others unprovoked.

And dealest treacherously.] This some {b} understand of Sennacherib. See #2Ki 18:14,17. Others of Shebna and other traitors in Jerusalem, who dealt underhandedly with the enemy against Hezekiah, and might haply meet with the like meed as he did who betrayed the Rhodes to the Turks, who flayed him and salted him. Or at least as Charles IV’s agents did from Philip, Duke of Austria, who paid them the sum he promised them, but in counterfeit money, saying that false coin is good enough for such false knaves as they had showed themselves to be.

Thou shalt be spoiled.] Of kingdom, and life, and all, by thy treacherous sons. {#Isa 37:38}

“ Siquis quod fecit patitur, iustissima lex est.”

See #Jud 7:11. {See Trapp on "Jud 7:11"} And fear thou God, who loveth to retaliate, to pay wicked men home in their own coin, to fill them with their own ways, to overshoot them in their own bow, &c. Vae ergo vastatoribus: one time or other God will be even with such.

{a} Oecolam.

{b} Ibid.

Ver. 2. O Lord, be gracious unto us.] Brevicula sed pulchra precatio, a short but sweet prayer of the prophet, teaching thereby the people to put the promise in suit, and to do it effectually, using a thong of strong arguments, as here is much in few.

Be thou their arm.] Here the Church seemeth to pray for her children, as they before had prayed for her. Plena eat affectibus haec precatio.

Every morning.] Heb., In the mornings—that is, speedily, seasonably, continually, and for Christ’s sake, Voce enim "matutinis" allusum adiuge sacrificium {a} {#Ex 29:39-41}

{a} Scultet., Piscat.

Ver. 3. At the noise of the tumult the people fled, ] i.e., The Assyrian soldiers shall flee at the coming of the angel, with a hurry noise in the air for greater terror; {a} but he shall give them their passport. This their confidence was the fruit of prayer.

At the lifting up of thyself.] If God do but "arise" only, "his enemies shall be scattered; and all that hate him shall flee before him." {#Ps 68:1} {See Trapp on "Ps 68:1"}

{a} A voce angeli. -Vulg.

Ver. 4. And your spoils shall be gathered.] The spoil of the Assyrian’s camp now become yours. {as #1Sa 30:20}

Like the gathering of caterpillars.] Quae ad hominum concursum omnes repente disperguntur, which are soon rid, when men set themselves to destroy them.

Ver. 5. The Lord is exalted.] He hath made him a name, gained abundance of honour.

For he dwelleth on high.] Whence he can pour down plagues at his pleasure on his proud enemies, and fill Zion with judgment and righteousness.

Ver. 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times.] Thy times, O Hezekiah; but especially, O Christ. Or, the stability of thy times and strong safeguard shall thy wisdom and knowledge be. "By his knowledge"—that is, by faith in him—"shall my righteous servant" (Jesus Christ) "justify many"; {#Isa 53:11} but these are also sanctified by him. The fear of the Lord is their treasure; they "hold faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away, concerning faith, have made shipwreck." {#1Ti 1:19} {See Trapp on "1Ti 1:19"}

The fear of the Lord is his treasure.] The spirit of this holy fear rested upon Christ, {#Isa 11:2} and good Hezekiah was eminent for it, not for civil prudence only. This was flos regis, the fairest flower in all his garland; this is solidissima regiae politiae basis, as one {a} saith, the best policy, and the way to wealth.

{a} Paradin. in Symbol.

Ver. 7. Behold their valiant ones.] Or, Their heralds, messengers. Heb., Hen Erelam, behold their Erel, or their Ariel {#Isa 29:1,2} -that is, their altar, shall they (i.e., the Assyrians) cry without, sc., in mockery, twitting the Jews with their sacrifices as no way profitable to them. So the profane Papists, when they murdered the poor Protestants at Orleans, sang in scorn, Judge and revenge my cause, O Lord. Others, Have mercy on us, Lord. And when in the late persecution in Bohemia various godly nobles and citizens were carried to prison in Prague, the Papists insultingly cried after them, Why do ye not now sing, "The Lord reigneth?" {a}

The ambassadors of peace.] That went for peace, having for their symbol Pacem te poscimus omnes, We all demand peace from you, but could not effect it.

Weep bitterly.] So that they might be heard before they entered the city. Vide quam vivide, See here how lively things are set forth, and what a lamentable report these ambassadors make of the state of the country, and the present danger of losing all.

{a} Mr Clarke’s Eng. Martyrol.

Ver. 8. The highways lie waste.] And byways are more frequented, through fear of the enemy.

He hath broken the covenant.] Irritum factum est pactum. He took the money sent him, but comes on nevertheless, though he had sworn the contrary. {#2Ki 18:14,17} It is said of the Turks at this day, that they keep their leagues—which serve, indeed, but as snares to entangle other princes in—no longer than standeth with their own profit. {a} Their maxim is, There is no faith to be kept with dogs, whereby they mean Christians, as the Papists also say, There is no faith to be kept with heretics, whereby they mean Protestants. But why kept not Uladislaus, King of Hungary, his faith better with Amurath, the great Turk? or our Henry III with his barons, by Papal dispensation? Vah scelus! vae periuris.

He hath despised the cities.] And will not take them for his subjects. He scorneth the motion.

He regardeth no man.] He vilipends and slights all jewels generally.

{a} Turkish History, 755.

Ver. 9. The earth mourneth and languisheth.] {a} Or the land luget et languet. Thus they go on in their doleful relation: Miserrima sunt omnia, atque miseranda. What sad work hath Antichrist made of late years in the Christian world? what desolations in all parts?

Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down, Sharon is like a wilderness.] East, west, north, and south of the land are laid waste by the enemy and the avenger, that "boar out of the wood," that "bear out of the forest." {#Ps 80:13}

{a} Metaphora Prosopopoetica.

Ver. 10. Now will I rise, saith the Lord, now.] Now, now, now. Emphasin habet ingeminatio vocis "nunc." This "now," thrice repeated, importeth both the opportunity of time and God’s readiness to relieve. Cum duplicantur lateres, venit Moses, When things are at worst, they will mend, we say.

Now will I lift up myself.] Who have hitherto been held an underling, and inferior to the enemy.

Ver. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble.] Gravidi estis stramiue, parietis stipulum. So did Pharaoh, Antiochus, Julian, &c. So doth Antichrist and his champions, notwithstanding his bloody alarms to them, such as was that sounded out in the year 1582.

“ Utere iure tao, Caesar, sectamque Lutheri

Ease, rota, ponto, funibus, igne neca.”

And that other of the King of France not many years since, exhorting him to kill up all the Protestants per Galliam stabulantes, the very words of the Pope’s bull, that had any stable room in France.

Your breath as fire shall devour you.] Shall blow up the fire that shall consume your chaff and stubble. Your iniquity shall be your ruin. {#Eze 18:3-9} Turdus sibi malum cacat. Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti: This is a sword of thine own making, said the soldier to Marius, when he ran him through with it.

Ver. 12. And the people shall be as the burning of lime.] As hard chalk stones, which, when burnt to make lime crumble to crattle.

As thorns cut up.] Sear thorns, that crackle under a pot, and are soon extinct. The Hebrews tell us that the Assyrian soldiers were burned by the angel with a secret fire—that is, with the pestilence, as Berosus, cited by Josephus, {a} witnesseth; and our prophet hinteth as much in many passages.

{a} Lib. x. cap. 2.

Ver. 13. Hear, ye that are afar off.] Longinqui, propinqui. God’s great works are to be noted and noticed by all. The Egyptians heard of what God had done to the Assyrian army, and memorised it by a monument, as Herodotus {a} relateth.

{a} Herod., lib. ii.; Justin.

Ver. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid.] At the invasion of the Assyrian. Those that formerly fleared and jeered God’s prophets and their menaces, now fear and are crest fallen, ready to run into an auger hole, as we say. It is as natural for guilt to breed fear and disquiet, as for putrid matter to breed vermin. Sinners, especially those in Zion, where they might be better, and are therefore the worse a great deal, have galled consciences, and want faith to fortify their hearts against the fear of death or danger; and hence those pitiful perplexities and convulsions of soul in the evil day. What wonder if, when they see all on fire, they ring their bells backwards? If, instead of mourning for their sins and making peace with God, as they ought to do, they mutter and growl against him, as these hypocrites do, for his too great severity?

Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.] The Jews were a hypocritical nation. {#Isa 9:17} Epiphanius, when he left Constantinople, said that he left three great things behind him, viz., a great city, a great palace, et ingentem hypocrisin, and a great deal of hypocrisy. That facies hypocritica hypocritical faces of our nation is that facies hippocratica which physicians speak of, of a spent dying man, that looks ghastly. It is a mortal complexion, a sad prognostic. Oh that these frozen hearts of ours, since they must have a thaw or it will be worse, might melt here, and be unsoldered from hypocrisy, that we might be saved, though so as by fire, rather than to be reserved to be thawed with everlasting burnings, the portion of hypocrites. {#Mt 24:51} So might we "dwell with everlasting burnings," that is, with the knowledge of God’s terrible presence and sight of his great judgments, whereof the hypocrites of the world are afraid, because this fire melteth off their paint, and threateneth to wash off their varnish with rivers of brimstone.

Who among us shall dwell?] Or, Who of us can but fear a devouring fire?

Ver. 15. He that walketh righteously, ] q.d., Though you cannot, yet there are those that can, viz., "those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Surely to such there is "no one condemnation." {#Ro 8:1} Christ standeth as a screen between the wrath of God and his elect, for whose sake also this paschal lamb was once for all roasted in the fire of his Father’s indignation, whereby they are not only "delivered from the wrath to come," {#1Th 1:10} but also have "boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." {#Eph 3:12 2:18}

He that walketh righteously.] Through whose whole life righteousness runneth as the woof doth through the web, as the blood doth through the veins, &c.

And speaketh uprightly.] Heb., Evennesses. Non blasphema, impudica, fescennina; not the language of hell, but of Canaan. See #Jas 3:2.

That despiseth the gain of oppressions.] The Mammon of iniquity; wealth gotten by force or fraud. A public person especially, as he should have nothing to lose, so he should have nothing to get; he should be above all price or sale. Nec prece nec precio, Neither by prayer nor request, should be his motto.

That shaketh his hands from holding of bribes.] He doth not only not do wrong, but not receive a gift, whereby he may be engaged or inclined to do it.

That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood.] He not only does not shed it, but refuseth to hear any communing about such a business.

That shutteth his eyes from seeing of evil.] Lest his heart should thereby be betrayed, for vitiis nobis in animum per oculos est via, could a heathen {a} say. By the eyes evil getteth into the heart; by looking cometh lusting; and millions die of the wound in the eye.

{a} Quintil., Declam.

Ver. 16. He shall dwell on high.] Extra iactum, out of the gunshot, the reach of evils and enemies. Or in heaven shall he dwell with God in safety who is to the wicked a consuming fire. {#Isa 33:14}

His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks.] Rocks within rocks; rocks beneath, above rocks; rocks so deep no pioneer can undermine them, so thick no cannon can pierce them, so high no ladder can scale them, &c.

Bread shall be given him; his waters shall not fail.] He shall have all that his heart can wish, or need require.

Ver. 17. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty.] Hezekiah in his pristine state and lustre; yea, more glorious and renowned than ever before. Jerome understandeth it of Christ reigning gloriously in heaven, and the saints looking from thence should see the earth afar off as little and contemptible, and say,

“ O quam angusti sunt mortalium termini!

O quam angusti sunt mortalium animi!”

Augustine wished that he might have seen these three things, Romam in flore, Paulum in ore, Christum in corpore, Rome in the flourish, Paul in the pulpit, Christ in the body of flesh. Venerable Bede came after him, and wished rather that he might see his King, Christ, in his beauty, as he is now at the right hand of his Father, far outshining the brightest cherub in heaven.

Ver. 18. Thine heart shall meditate terror.] But thou shalt now think of it as "waters that are past," calling to mind what speeches among those late distractions had fallen from thee. {a}

Where is the scribe?] Or, The muster master of the Assyrian army? Verba sunt insultantium et exultantium, saith Piscator; they are the words of God’s people insulting over the enemy, now overthrown and dispersed. See the like done by the apostle. {#1Co 1:10}

{a} Olim haec meminisse iuvabit.

Ver. 19. Thou shalt not see a fierce people.] Or, Look not upon a fierce people; or, as some render it, a barbarous people, of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand. Such as are most of the schoolmen. Seven years, said one, are but sufficient to understand the barbarisms of Scotus upon Lombard. But rather look upon Zion.

Ver. 20. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities.] Where God is daily and duly served, and is therefore her shield and exceeding great reward. {#Ge 17:1} If that heathen king, hearing of his enemies’ approach while he was sacrificing, could answer, Εγω δε θυω, I am serving my gods, and therefore fear not their force, how much more cause had Zion to be confident, and to sing. {as #Ps 46:1-7} See #Ps 48:12,13.

Ver. 21. But there the glorious Lord will be.] The Church must needs be invincible, because the glorious Lord is her champion, or "will do gallantly for us," as the words may be rendered. Her name is Jehovahshammah. {#Eze 48:35} The Lord is there, and how many reckon we him at? He alone is a potent army. {#Isa 52:12}

A place of broad rivers and streams.] Such as Mesopotamia was, or the garden of God. Or, He shall be instead of broad rivers, &c., even a river that shall not be drawn dry or sucked out, as Euphrates was by Cyrus when he took Babylon; a river that shall not fail the dwellers by, as Nile once at least did Egypt, for nine years together—

“ Creditur Aegyptus caruisse iuvantibus arva

Imbribus; atque annis sicca fuisse novem.”

- Ovid, Art., lib. i.

but shall fill its banks and shores perpetually, and keep a full stock of streams and waters.

Wherein shall go no galley, nor gallant ship, ] i.e., None of the enemy’s navies shall annoy it. England had the experience of this in that famous 1588, when the seas were turreted with such a navy of ships, as her swelling waves could hardly be seen; and the flags, streamers, and ensigns so spread in the wind, that they seemed to darken even the sun; but the glorious God defeated them.

Ver. 22. For the Lord is our judge.] Ours in all relations, therefore we shall not die or do amiss. See #Hab 1:12, with the note. Our Judge will do us right; our Lawgiver will give us the best direction. See #Ne 9:13, with the note. Our King will see to our safety: "Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King." {#Ps 149:2}

Ver. 23. Thy tacklings are loosed.] Thy shipping, O Assyrian, is wrecked and dissipated. Ubi per furies tentoria; per vela, vexilla intelliguntur. The prophet elegantly expresseth the matter in seamen’s terms.

Ver. 24. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.] sc., By reason of the long and strait siege. None shall be so lame, {#Isa 33:23} or sick and in pain (as here), but that he shall be in case to pursue and prey upon the enemies.

The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.] Jehovah Rophe, or the physician, shall heal them on both sides, make them whole every whit. This is a most sweet promise, and highly to be prized by all that are heirs of the promises.

“ Optandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.”

Chapter 34

Ver. 1. Come near, ye nations.] In this chapter and the next, the prophet, for the terror of the wicked, and comfort of the godly, summeth up what he had said before concerning the destruction of the enemies and the restoration of the Church. Eusebius, {a} with many other ancients, will have this chapter to be understood to be the end of the world and the last judgment; and further saith that Plato hath taken this place of the prophet Isaiah into his writings, and made it his own. Litera vero huius vaticinii de extremo iudicio non loguitur; but this cannot be the literal sense of the text, saith Scultetus. The Jewish doctors will needs understand these two chapters as a prophecy of their return into the Holy Land, when once Idumea shall be destroyed; and for this they allege #La 4:22, which yet proveth it not.

{a} De Praep. Evang., lib. xi.

Ver. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations.] Is, or shall be, upon all the Church’s enemies, whether of former or latter time; even his "boiling wrath," as the Word signifieth.

He hath utterly destroyed them.] Or, He will make an anathema of them, as #Isa 34:5, the "people of my curse," devoted to destruction.

Ver. 3. Their slain also shall be cast out.] Buried with the burial of an ass, {#Jer 22:19} which Cicero somewhere calleth sepulturam insepultam and unburied grave. This may also befall such as for God’s sake are slain all the day long; but to them it is no such judgment: Coelo tegitur qui caret urna.

And their stink shall come up out of their carcases.] They stink alive as goats, as whited tombs, as walking dunghills; and now their dead carcases also shall stink above ground.

And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.] Iuste omnino, because they moistened the earth with the blood of God’s people, and dunged the land with their dead carcases.

Ver. 4. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved.] Inusitati supplicii atrocitas sic designatur. So great shall be the slaughter of the nations, that the heavenly bodies shall seem to be sensible of it, and amazed at it, and the whole heaven to be rolled together as a scroll, lest it should be forced to behold it. In a bloody fight between Amurath III, King of Turks, and Lazarus, Despot of Servia, many thousands fell on both sides; the Turkish histories, to express the terror of the day, vainly say that the angels in heaven, amazed with that hideous noise, for that time forgot the heavenly hymns wherewith they always glorify God.

Ver. 5. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven.] Heb., Drunk, or drenched—i.e., In coelo decretum est ut inebrietur; whencesoever the sword comes, it is bathed in heaven, hath its commission from God (#Jer 47:6,7; see #Jer 46:9), and as a drunken man reeleth to and fro, so the sword, when once in commission, roveth up and down, and rideth circuit usually. {#Eze 14:17}

Behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, ] i.e., Upon the Edomites, who were assidui et acerrimi hostes Iudaeorum, bitter enemies to the Jews, though both nations came from Isaac, both were circumcised; so are now the Romish Edomites to the Churches of Christ, with whose blood they are red all over. {#Re 17:6} The Hebrews understand here by Idumea, Rome.

Ver. 6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, &c.] That is, It maketh clean work, as the blood and fat were in sacrifices consumed, {#Le 1:16,17} and this execution was no less pleasing to God than some solemn sacrifice.

For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah.] The metropolis of Idumea; Ptolemy calleth it Botsra. And it prefigured Rome, saith Piscator, the chief city and seat of Antichrist’s kingdom.

Ver. 7. And the unicorns shall come down.] Monocerotes, qui interimi possunt, capi non possunt, creatures of untameahle fierceness; or rhinoceros, as the margin hath it—he meaneth the great ones.

Ver. 8. For the controversy of Zion, ] i.e., Of the Church, both Jewish and Christian, saith Piscator. {compare #Re 18:2}

Ver. 9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch.] Like the lake of Sodom, which is near to Idumea, and whereof Josephus {a} writes, that an ox, having all his legs bound, will not sink into it, the water is so thick and pitchy. Strabo, though a stranger to this prophecy, attesteth the accomplishment of it. Lyra saith that in some part of Idumea there is still ascending a smoke of fire and brimstone, as out of Mount Etna in Sicily. {b} And Hyperius thinketh that the Edomites are here further threatened with hell torments. It should seem so by the next words.

{a} Alludit ad vicinam et situ et scelare et clade Sodomam -Lib. v. De Bell. Jud.

{b} Geog., lib. xvi.

Ver. 10. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke of it shall go up for ever.] See #Re 14:11,18:18 19:3. And observe how John the divine picks out the choicest passages of the Old Testament, and polishes therewith his Revelation.

None shall pass through it for ever, ] i.e., Incolendi animo, to dwell there; passengers did pass through it, and wondered at God’s dreadful judgments thereon. {#Jer 49:17}

Ver. 11. The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it.] God cannot satisfy himself in saying what he will do to the Edomites, because they had dealt by revenge, and had taken vengeance with a despiteful heart to destroy the Church, for the old satanical hatred. {as #Eze 25:15} He will turn in those animalis faeda, fera et terribilia, to dwell in their land; whereby is noted extreme devastation, which is here in many exquisite words (more propemodum poetico) described.

And he shall stretch out upon it.] So that men shall in vain think of rebuilding and repeopling it.

Ver. 12. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom.] The Venetians have magistrates called pregadi; because at first men were prayed to take the office, and to help to govern the State: but here were none left for such a purpose.

Ver. 13, A court for owls.] Or, Ostriches. See on #Isa 34:11.

Ver. 14. The wild beasts of the desert.] Heb., Ziim et jiim. See #Isa 13:21,22, where these monstrous creatures are said to dance: whence Basil noteth, that men learned of devils to dance, and another {a} saith that a dance is a circle, the centre whereof is the devil, the circumference all his angels.

And the satyr shall cry to his fellow.] Heb., The rough or hairy one. Chald., Daemones inter se colludent, the devils shall play among themselves; Satan is a rough harsh spirit; so are his. See #Le 17:7.

{a} Conr. Clingius.

Ver. 15. There shall the great owl make her nest.] Heb., Kippoz. The Hebrews themselves agree not what creatures these are here mentioned, so far are they fallen from the knowledge of the Scripture. Their tale about Lilits, once Adam’s first wife, but now a screech owl or an evil spirit, is not worthy the mentioning.

Ver. 16. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord.] Sciscitamini ex libro Domini, the Holy Bible, which Bishop Bonner’s chaplain called, in scorn of the martyrs, Your little pretty God’s book. Another Bohemian blasphemer for Biblia called it Vitlia, which in the Bohemian language signifieth vomit. But let us search the Scriptures—and particularly this prophecy commanded to be written in a book {#Isa 30:8} -and compare the truth of these predictions with the events.

None shall want her mate.] Some write of the asp, he never wandereth alone without his companion; and none of these birds of desolation want their mate; so craft and cruelty do ever go together in the Church’s enemies.

Ver. 17. And he hath cast the lot for them, ] i.e., For those creatures of prey aforementioned.

From generation, ] i.e., For many generations.

Chapter 35

Ver. 1. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them.] The Edomites, and other enemies, have had their part. It hath been sufficiently said, "Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him." And now the prophet is bidden to say to the righteous, to tell him so from the Lord, that it "shall be well with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him." {#Isa 3:10,11} The "wilderness" and the "desert," that is, the poor people of God that have been oppressed and slighted in this world, shall be restored into a happy and flourishing estate. The Church shall have her halcyon days under Hezekiah, but especially under Christ, she shall have it both in temporals and spirituals. {#Isa 35:2}

Ver. 2. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel, &c.] Outward blessings shall be heaped upon God’s people; even all that heart can wish, or need require.

They shall see the glory of the Lord.] Spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus shall be conferred upon them also, even every good gift and perfect giving from the Father of lights,

“ Qui icturatos intexit floribus hortos,

Quique iubet rutilis albescere lilia campis.”

Ver. 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands, ] q.d., Cheer up, my hearts; be of good courage, and God shall strengthen your hearts, all ye that hope in the Lord. Comfort ye also one another with these words, and build up each other in your most holy faith; and I will show you how, and in what terms, you shall do it.

Ver. 4. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, ] Inconsideratis; to them that consider not the promises, but "forget the consolations," {παρακλησις, #Heb 12:5} so poring upon their sins, that they see not their Saviour.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance.] He will tread Satan under your feet shortly. {#Ro 16:20}

Even your God with a recompense.] Diabolo par pari retribuet Christus, saith Jerome: Christ will be even with the devil. He had got one of Christ’s disciples—Judas; and, to cry quittance, Christ got one of his—Paul. Cyprian was wont thus to comfort his hearers, Veniet Antichristus, sed superveniet Christus, Antichrist will come, but Christ will not be long behind him.

Ver. 5. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened.] This was fulfilled corporally in cures wrought by Christ, {#Mt 9:27 11:5} and spiritually in the preaching of the gospel by the efficacy of his Spirit. {#Ac 26:18 16:14} Apollonius Tyanaeus could never do such miracles, nor any other. This showeth that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah.

Ver. 6. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart.] As that impotent man did, {#Ac 3:8} and those Loripedes {#Heb 12:13}

And the tongue of the dumb sing.] As good old Zacharias did, {#Lu 1:64} not so much for his speech restored, or his son received, as for his Saviour now at hand; and as did those that sang, "He hath done all things well; he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak," {#Mr 7:37} yea, to utter the great things of God, and to speak good of his name. Lo here, saith Luther, miracles to confirm the gospel to be of God, against those that deride his ministers, saying, They cannot make so much as a lame horse sound: for all they in whose hearts it taketh effect, of blind are made to see, of deaf to hear, of lame to go, and of dumb to speak.

For in the wilderness shall waters break out.] This, and that which followeth in the next verse, Junius maketh to be the matter of their song—viz., the grace of God abundantly communicated to his Church. See #Joh 7:38,39. The Jews dream that when their Messiah cometh, the Red Sea shall again be divided and the rock cloven, much water gushing out, &c. Thus they work themselves into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage, by misunderstanding this text.

Ver. 7. And the parched ground, &c.] See on #Isa 35:6.

Ver. 8. And an highway shall be there, ] i.e., In the Church of Christ.

And a way.] εν δια δυοιν, The king’s highway to heaven, arcta et ampla; latet et lucet.

The way of holiness.] Or, The way of the sanctuary.

But it shall be for those.] Those beneficiaries of Christ mentioned in #Isa 35:5,6; the ransomed of the Lord. {#Isa 35:10}

The wayfaring men, though fools.] Simple Christians.

Shall not err.] Miss their way, or miscarry in it.

Ver. 9. No lion shall be there.] The devil, that roaring lion, nor his actuaries, tyrants and heretics, shall haunt these holy highways. God will preserve his people from all devoratory evils, as Tertullian calleth them, {#2Th 3:3} "that wicked one, the devil, shall not once touch them," {#1Jo 5:18} so as to thrust his deadly sting into them.

Ver. 10. And the ransomed of the Lord.] Those happy ones. {#De 33:29}

Shall return.] To the Lord, from whom they had deeply revolted.

With songs.] As they were wont to do in their sacred solemnities.

And everlasting joy upon their heads.] As an unfadeable crown; {#1Pe 1:5 5:4} they shall pass from the jaws of death to the joys of heaven. {a}

Joy and gladness, ] i.e., Outward and inward, say some.

And sorrow and sighing.] Their joys shall be sincere and constant.

{a} Tantum gaudebimus quantum amabimus. Tantum amabimus quantum cognoscemus. -Aug.

Chapter 36

Ver. 1. See #2Ki 18 2Ki 19 with the notes; See also #2Ch 32.

Chapter 37

Ver. 1. See #2Ki 18 2Ki 19 with the notes; See also #2Ch 32.

Chapter 38

Ver. 1. In those days was Hezekiah sick.] See #2Ki 20:1,2 2Ch 32:24 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:1"} {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:2"} {See Trapp on "2Ch 32:24"}

Ver. 2. See #2Ki 20:2 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:2"}

Ver. 3. See #2Ki 20:3 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:3"}

Ver. 4. See #2Ki 20:4 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:4"}

Ver. 5. See #2Ki 20:5 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:5"}

Ver. 6. See #2Ki 20:6,7 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:6"} {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:7"}

Ver. 7. See #2Ki 20:8 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:8"}

Ver. 8. See #2Ki 20:9-12 {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:9"} {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:10"} {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:11"} {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:12"}

Ver. 9. The writing of Hezekiah.] Scriptum confessionis, a song of thanksgiving set forth by Hezekiah, and here inserted by the prophet Isaiah, as a public instrument and lasting monument of God’s great goodness to him in his late recovery; such a thankful man is worth his weight in the gold of Ophir. Heathens in such a case were wont to hang up tables in the temples of their gods. Papists build chapels, erect altars, hang up memories, as they call them, and vow presents to their he saints and she saints. But among us, alas! it is according to the Italian proverb, {a} When the disease is once removed, God is utterly defrauded:

“ Aegrotus surgit, sed pia vota iacent.”

We may he wondered at, not without cause, as the Emperor Constantine marvelled at his people that were newly become Christians: I marvel, said he, how it comes to pass that many of my people are worse now than before they were Christians.

{a} Sciapato il morbo, fraudato il sancto.

Ver. 10. I said in the cutting off of my days.] When I looked upon myself as a dead man. Here he telleth us what passed between God and him while he lay desperately sick. The utmost of a danger escaped is to be recognised and recorded. This will both instruct the judgment, enlarge the heart, and open the mouth.

I shall go to the gates of the grave.] He maketh the grave to have gates, either by a poetic fiction, or else by a proverbial expression. So "the gates of death." {#Ps 9:13 107:18 1Sa 2:6}

I am deprived of the residue of my years, ] sc., That I might have lived in a natural course. Vox haec queritantis quidem est: Quis enim vult mori? prorsus nemo. Nature shunneth death as its slaughter man.

Ver. 11. I said, I shall not see the Lord.] In the glass of his ordinances, his love whereunto made Hezekiah so loath to depart; as also his delight in the communion of saints, and his desire to do more good among them on all occasions. This made good Paul "in a strait" also. {#Php 1:23,24} I loved the man, said Theodosius concerning Ambrose, for that when he died he was more solicitous of the Church’s welfare than of his own.

Even the Lord.] Non videbo Iah Iah. I shall not see the Lord of the Lord, Deum Dei, vel Deum de Deo, { a} -that is, Christ in the flesh, as I had well hoped to have done: so some sense it. Others say he redoubleth the word "Jah" to express his ardent affection to God’s service, and to intimate his desire of life to that purpose. {#Isa 38:22}

{a} Leo Castrius.

Ver. 12. Mine age is departed.] Or, My generation, or my habitation: here I have no settled abode, no continuing city, but am flitting, as a shepherd’s shed.

I have cut off like a weaver my life.] By my sins I have shortened my days. {as #Ge 38:7,10} Or rather, God as a weaver that hath finished his web, cutteth me out of the loom of life. We know what the poets fain of the fates,

“ Clotho colum baiulat, Lachesis trahit, Atropos occat.”

He will cut me off with pining sickness.] Or, From the thrum, for the same Hebrew word signifieth both, because of the thinness and weakness of it.

From day even to night.] So that by night I shall be dead, as they story of the Ephemerobii and as Aristotle writes that the river Hypanis in Thracia every day bringeth forth little bladders out of which come certain flies, which are thus bred in the morning, fledged at noon, and dead at night.

Ver. 13. I reckoned until morning.] And then, at utmost, I thought there would be an end of my life and pain together; for what through troubles without and terrors within, he was in a woe case, even as if a lion had broke all his bones. Hoc sentinnt qui magnis febribus aestuant, saith an interpreter. Now, whereas some say all die of a fever, let us take care we die not of a cold shaking fit of fear.

Ver. 14. Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter.] Ita pipiebam; peraptae sunt similitudines. Broken petitions coming from a broken heart are of singular avail with God. {#Ps 51:17} Ah Pater brevissima quidem vex est, sed omnia complectitur, saith Luther—i.e., Ah, Father, is a short prayer, but very complexive and effectual. So is the prayer here recorded.

O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.] {a} Miserere mihi misero. Hezekiah, though a most holy man, begged pardon at his death, and flees to Christ, his surety. So did Augustine (he prayed over the seven penitential psalms) and Fulgentius, and Archbishop Ussher. Some render it Pertexe me, weave me out, lengthen my life to its due period.

{a} Tu tuam fldem interpone.

Ver. 15. What shall I say?] This he seemeth to speak in a way of wondering at God’s goodness in delivering him from so great a death. The like doth the apostle in #Ro 8:31, "What shall we then say to these things?"

He hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it.] He no sooner bade me be well, but he made me so. {a} Thus he attributeth his recovery to the most faithful promise of God, and not to the lump of figs, &c.

I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.] Or, I shall go quietly and cheerfully all my years after my soul’s bitternsss—sc., When it is past and gone. {b}

{a} Dixit et fecit.

{b} Scultet.

Ver. 16. O Lord, by these things men live.] By thy promises so performed "the just do live by faith," and live long in a little while; for life consisteth in action, and some live more in a day than others do in a year. An elephant liveth two hundred years, saith Aristotle; three hundred and fifty, saith Philostratus; and yet man, though of much shorter a continuance, is not inferior to an elephant. For this is not the best thing in nature, saith Scaliger, to live longest, but to live to best purpose. Now, man’s life is a way to life eternal. Other creatures have what they live for: not so man, while here.

And in all these things is the life of my spirit.] The godly esteem of life by that stirring they find in their souls; else they lament as over a dead soul.

So wilt thou recover me.] Or, Hast thou recovered me?

Ver. 17. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness.] Mar Mar; the approach of death was to this good man bitter bitterness, and yet Christ had taken away from him the sting or gall of death, so that he might better say than Agag did, "Surely the bitterness of death is past," or than Lucan doth of the Gauls and Britons.

—“ Animmque capaces

Mortis.”

“Life and spaceous corpse.”

But thou hast in love to my soul.] Or, Thou hast embraced my soul out of the corrupting pit. Complectendi verbum, affectum plane paternum, et stadium iuvandi singulare exprimit.

For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.] As an old overworn evidence, that is out of date, and of no use. Here it is well noted that we must set our sins before our face, if we would have God to cast them behind his back. {#Ps 50:21 51:3}

Ver. 18. For the grave cannot praise thee, ] i.e., Palam et cum aliis, openly and exemplarily. See #Ps 6:5. {See Trapp on "Ps 6:5"} David desires to live for no other end, and so Hezekiah, than to be glorifying of God.

They that go down into the pit.] Of the grave; so of despair. It is a sin for any man to say, I am a reprobate, for it keeps him in sin, and cuts the sinews of endeavour.

Ver. 19. The living, the living, he shall praise thee.] Those that live the life of nature, if withal they live the life of grace, and so are living living, and not "dead while they live": for the wicked cannot praise God; they can say God a thank, and that is all. But as it is with the hand dial—the finger of the dial standeth at twelve, when the dial hath not moved one minute; so though their tongues are forward in praises, yet their hearts stand still. What they do this way is but "dead work."

The father to the son shall make known.] And for this end parents may desire to live longer. Hezekiah did his part, no doubt, by wicked Manasseh, who also at length repented and was saved.

Ver. 20. The Lord was ready to save.] Heb., The Lord to save. Servati sumus ut serviamus. Hezekiah was the better for his sickness: God had brought health out of it, as he doth out of all his, by bringing the body of death into a consumption.

Therefore we will sing my songs.] Quales quaeso illi? saith Scultetus; what kind of songs would he sing in the house of the Lord and in the hearing of all the people, as long as he had a day to live? Surely this here recorded among and above the rest, though it set forth his queritations and infirmities: Deprimunt se sancti ut Deus exaltetur. The saints gladly abase themselves, if thereby God may be exalted.

Ver. 21. Let them take a lump of figs.] Commenciatur hic usus medicinae. The patient must pray, but withal make use of means; trust God, but not tempt him. {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:7"}

Ver. 22. {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:8"}

Chapter 39

Ver. 1. See #2Ki 20:12 &c. {See Trapp on "2Ki 20:12"} &c.

Chapter 40

Ver. 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.] Hitherto hath been the comminatory part of this prophecy: followeth now the consolatory. Here beginneth the gospel of the prophet Isaiah, and holds on to the end of the book. The good people of his time had been forewarned by the foregoing chapter of the Babylonian captivity, Those in later times, not only during the captivity, but under Antiochus and other tyrants, were ready to think themselves utterly cast off, because heavily afflicted. See #Isa 40:27 of this chapter, with #La 5:22. Here, therefore, command is given for their comfort, and that gospel be preached to the penitent; the word here used signifieth, first to repent, then to comfort. {#1Sa 15:35 1Sa 12:24} This our prophet had been a Boanerges, a thundering preacher, all the fore part of his life. See one instance for all, {#Isa 24} where, Pericles-like, fulgurat, intonat, totam terram permiscet, &c. Now toward his latter end, and when he had one foot in the grave, the other in heaven, he grew more mellow and melleous, as did likewise Mr Lever, Mr Perkins, Mr Whately, and some other eminent and earnest preachers that might be named, setting himself wholly in a manner to comfort the abject and feeble minded; which also he doth with singular dexterity and efficacy. This redoubled "Comfort ye," is not without its emphasis; but that which followeth {#Isa 40:2} is a very hive of heavenly honey. {a}

{a} Sunt autem omnia plena magnis adfectibus. -Hyp.

Ver. 2. Speak ye comfortably.] Speak to the heart, as #Ge 34:3 Ho 2:14. Cheer her up, speak to her with utmost earnestness, that your words may work upon her and stick-by her; do it solidly, not frigidly.

That her warfare is accomplished.] Militiam, not malitiam, as the Vulgate hath it; the word signifieth also a set term of time. See #Da 9:2 Ga 4:4. God hath limited the saints’ sufferings. {#Re 2:10} Some by warfare here understand that hard and troublesome pedagogy of Moses’ law, that yoke importable, {#Ac 15:10} taken away by Christ.

That her iniquity is pardoned.] Heb., Her iniquity is accepted: perfectam esse poenam eius, so Piscator rendereth it. She might be under God’s hand, though her sins were pardoned. The palsyman heard, "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee," some while before he heard, "Take up thy bed and walk."

That she hath received of the Lord’s hand double, ] i.e., Abundantly and in a large measure, satis superque, so much as to her merciful Father seemeth over and above, more than enough. "She hath received double for all her sins": and yet death is the just hire of the least sin. {#Ro 6:23} But this is the language of God’s compassions rolled together and kindled into repentings; Jerusalem herself was of another judgment. {#Ezr 9:13} "Our God hath punished us less than our sins," and yet he reckoneth that we "fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ." {#Col 1:24}

Ver. 3. The voice of him that crieth.] See #Mt 3:3 Joh 1:25, {See Trapp on "Mt 3:3"} {See Trapp on "Joh 1:25"} but Luke citeth this text more fully than the other evangelists, applying it to the Baptist crying in the wilderness—sc., of Judea, where he first preached, or, as some sense it, in the ears of a waste and wild people. Hereby is meant the world, saith one, {a} void of God’s grace, barren in all virtue, having no pleasing abode, nor sure direction of any good way in it, being full of horror and accursed.

{a} Diod.

Ver. 4. Every valley shall be exalted.] Terms taken from the custom of princes coming into a place—viz., to have their way cleared, and passages facilitated. See on #Mt 3:3.

Ver. 5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, ] i.e., Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, {#Jas 2:1} shall appear in the flesh. Some interpreters understand this whole sermon, ad literam, concerning Christ and redemption wrought by him, yet with an allusion to the Jews’ deliverance out of Babylon; for this was a type of that, like as Cyrus also was of Christ.

Ver. 6. The voice.] Or, A voice—sc., in vision.

What shall I cry? All flesh is grass.] This is taught by every philosopher, saith Sasbout: but never is it taught effectually till cried to the heart by God’s Word and Spirit, for which reason also it is not uttered here without a preparative, by way of dialogue, to stir up to attention.

All flesh is grass.] Not only as grass, but is grass: we are all but dying men; death hath already taken hold of us, and doth every day feed upon us insensibly. To live is but to lie dying. The Jews at this day, when they return from burying a corpse, cast grass over their heads; either to signify that all flesh is grass, or else their hope of a resurrection.

And all the goodliness thereof.] Anything eximious or excellent in man must needs vanish, when the glory of the Lord is revealed. {#Isa 40:5} The sight of God makes all else little.

As the flower of the field.] Which is more apt to be blasted, cropped, or trodden down, than the flower of the garden.

“ Esse, fuisse, fore, tria florida sunt sine flore:

Nam simul omne perit, quod fuit, est, et erit.”

Ver. 7. Because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.] Or, when the breath of the Lord bloweth upon it. God can easily blow men to destruction, dissipate them as so many vile dust heaps. {#Job 4:9 34:14,15 Ps 104:29 Da 2:34,35 Zec 4:6}

Surely the people is grass.] Have we not heard; have we not seen from the beginning; doth not every day’s experience seal to it, that all flesh is grass? yea, hath not God oft heard our attestations? We shake our heads, we confess it is true, &c., and yet we lay it not rightly to heart, though so deeply assevered and assured us.

Ver. 8. But the word of our God shall stand for ever, ] q.d., Though the elect also as well as others are grass, frail and fading creatures, yet the grace of God wrought in their hearts by the gospel is stable and lasting. See #1Pe 1:23. {See Trapp on "1Pe 1:23"} And so necessary is this whole doctrine here delivered, that the ministers of the gospel are commanded here not to write it only, but to speak it: nor that only, but to cry it also with all possible affection and power of enforcement.

Ver. 9. Oh Zion, that bringest good tidings.] That evangelist. The gospel is the sum of all the good news in the world. Christ’s incarnation (bisher, the word here used, cometh of bashar, which signifieth flesh), was "glad tidings of great joy to all people." {#Lu 2:10}

Get thee up into the high mountain.] Zion was itself a high mountain, yet is bidden to ascend into a higher, for the better promulgation of the gospel.

Lift it up, be not afraid, ] viz., For persecution, which is evangelii genius, the evil angel that doggeth the gospel at the heels, as Calvin wrote to the French king.

Behold your God.] Behold the Messiah, who hath been so long expected, is now exhibited.

Ver. 10. Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand.] Or, The Lord God will come against the mighty {a} -i.e., Christ against the devil and his agents, whom he shall vanquish, and give them their due. See #1Jo 3:6 Mt 12:29 Joh 12:31 Col 2:15 Heb 2:14).

And his arm shall rule for him.] Or, His arm shall rule over him—i.e., over Satan.

{a} Piscat., Diod.

Ver. 11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.] That good Shepherd shall, the Lord Jesus. {#Joh 10:11} See #Ps 23:1, {See Trapp on "Ps 23:1"}

He shall gather the lambs with his arm.] The Lord hath a great care of his little ones, like as he had of the weaker tribes. In their march through the wilderness, in their several companies or brigades, he put a strong tribe to two weak tribes; as Judah to Issachar and Zebulon, lest they should faint or fail.

Ver. 12. Who hath measured the waters.] Who but God alone. Totus est in hoc libro, ut confirmet nos in fide. God made heaven, earth, and sea, in number, weight, and measure, as an architect; therefore he wanteth neither power nor wisdom to work in and for his people.

And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure.] In a tierce, or in "three fingers"; for he spoke before of the "hollow" and "span of God’s hand."

Ver. 13. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord?] Who was then of his council when he made the universe? None but his own essential wisdom. {#Pr 8:30} See #Ro 11:34,35. {See Trapp on "Ro 11:34"} {See Trapp on "Ro 11:34"}

Ver. 14. With whom took he counsel?] See #Isa 40:13.

Ver. 15. Behold, the nations are as the drop of a bucket.] Quota igitur es tu istius guttae particula? What a small parcel art thou then of that small drop? saith an ancient.

As the small dust of the balance.] That weigheth nothing; yea, all men together laid in the balance with vanity itself will ascend or tilt up. {a} {#Ps 62:9}

He taketh up the isles as a very little thing.] Or, He taketh up and throweth away the isles as powder.

{a} Mira igitur superbiae nostrae stultitia. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 16. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn.] So infinitely great is God; so absolutely insufficient is man to give God satisfaction. Let those think on this who talk of setting off with God, and of making amends, by their good deeds, for their bad.

Ver. 17. All nations before him are as nothing.] Agnosce ergo virium tuarum ουδενειαν. See therefore thine own nothingness, and learn to vilify, yea, to nullify thyself before God, as Agur, {#Pr 30:2} and as David, who was a worm and no man {#Ps 22:6} Reiectamentum hominis et nullificamen populi, { a}

{a} Tertul.

Ver. 18. To whom then will ye liken God?] A sin which the Jews were exceeding prone unto, and would be tempted to, when in captivity at Babylon; here therefore they have an antidote provided beforehand. The voice of the gospel is, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." {#1Jo 5:21} {See Trapp on "1Jo 5:21"}

Ver. 19. The workman melteth a graven image.] That may be afterward graved and gilded over.

And casteth silver chains.] To fasten it to the place; or, he raileth it in. Et nisi homini Deus placuerit, Deus non erit, saith Tertullian. Numa, second king of Romans, saw this great vanity, and therefore forbade images of the gods in temples. {a} So do the Turks at this day to the shame of Papists’ idolomania.

{a} Plutarch. de Isid. et Osir.

Ver. 20. He that is so impoverished—chooseth a tree.] Which therehence may well say, —

“ Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum,

Cum faber incertus scamnum, faceretne Priapum,

Maluit esse Deum; Deus inde ego:”——

He chooseth a tree that will not rot.] Which yet is hard to do; the cypress tree is most likely. But what goodly gods were those that could not keep themselves from rotting.

A cunning workman.] Somewhat better than he who made the ugly rood of Cockram, whereof when they complained to the Mayor of Doncaster, he advised them to clap a pair of horns on the head of it, and then instead of a god, it would make an excellent devil.

Ver. 21. Have ye not known? have ye not heard?] Both Jews and Gentiles went against the light; the former of the word, the latter of their own consciences, in thus "changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible creature." {#Ro 1:23} Their ignorance was wilful and affected; some render this text, "Will ye not know? will ye not hear?" Idolaters are brutish and blockish; they that make them are like unto them.

Ver. 22. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth.] As sovereign, and is he fit to be portrayed? In Thebes, a town of Egypt, they painted God in the likeness of a man blowing an egg out of his mouth, to signify that he made the round world by his word. {a} Others set him forth as an emperor with a globe in one hand, and a light bolt in the other. Peucer and others tell us, that if there were a path made round the circle of the earth, an able footman might easily go it in nine hundred days.

{a} Plut. in Numa.

Ver. 23. That bringeth princes to nothing.] After their part acted here a while, they go off the stage of life, and are seen no more. Augustus Caesar said, that his life was nothing else but a kind of a comedy; and that he had acted his part, as became him, and therefore, at his death, he called for a Plaudite. applause.

Ver. 24. Yea, they shall not be planted.] They are like grass, that is neither planted nor well rooted; but as weeds that grow on the top of the water, vel tanquam podii folium, quod mane candidum, meridie purpureum, vespere caeruleum aspicitur. {a}

And he shall blow upon them.] Two fits of an ague shook to death great Tamerlane, in the midst of his preparations for the conquest of Turkey.

{a} Jerome.

Ver. 25. To whom then will ye liken me?] See #Isa 40:18,19.

Ver. 26. Lift up your eyes on high.] Who is there, saith a heathen, {a} that looketh up toward heaven, and presently perceiveth not that there is a God? we may well add, and an Almighty God? Why then should the vanities of the heathen come in competition with him? or why should Jacob say, "My way is hid from the Lord," &c., {as #Isa 40:27} as if God neglected them, or were weary of helping them. {#Isa 40:28}

And behold who hath created these things.] Without tool or toil. {#Isa 40:28} And shall the creature be worshipped rather than the Creator, "God blessed for ever."

That bringeth out their host by number.] As if he had them set down in his muster rolls. Astronomers take upon them to number and name the chiefest of the stars; reliquas nomenclationi Dei permittere coguntur. Abraham could not number them, {#Ge 15:5} and yet Aratus and Eudoxus vainly vaunted that they had done it.

{a} Cicero.

Ver. 27. How sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, &c., ] q.d., Fie for shame, what unbecoming language is this for such! Doth God know and order the stars, and hath he cast away the care of his people Never think it; let it be enough, and too much, for a heathen to say, —

“ Saepe mihi dubiam traxit sententia mentem,

Curarent super; terras, an nullus inesset

Rector, et incerto fluerent mortalia casu.”

- Claudian.

And my judgment is passed over, ] q.d., I thought I should have had a day of hearing ere this; sed comperendinor.

Ver. 28. He fainteth not, nor is weary.] Or, He is neither tired nor toiled, viz., as earthly judges may be. And his own people, for thinking otherwise of him, are here taken up as tartly as those idolaters before, {#Isa 40:21} with, "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard?"

There is no searching of his understanding.] Submit to him therefore as to the only wise God. This the very heathens taught men to do, as Plutarch. {a}

{a} De sera Num. Vindic.

Ver. 29. He giveth power to the faint.] How then should he himself faint? or why should any good man’s heart fail him? The Jews among their benedictions (whereof they are bound to say a hundred every day), have this for one, Blessed be God who giveth power to the faint.

Ver. 30. Even the youths shall faint.] All that trust to their own strength shall tire out. Like as the hare, that trusteth to the swiftness of her legs, is at length overtaken and torn in pieces; when the coney, that flieth to the holes in the rocks, doth easily avoid the dogs that pursue her.

Ver. 31. Shall renew their strength.] Heb., Shall change, quotidie seipsis fortiores prodeuntes. By the new "supplies of the Spirit," {#Php 1:19} they shall pass from strength to strength. {#Ps 84:7} "They shall mount as eagles." {see #Ps 103:5} R. Saadias saith, that every tenth year the eagle mounteth up to the orb of the sun, singeth her wings there, and so reneweth her age, till she be a hundred.

Chapter 41

Ver. 1. Keep silence before me, O islands, ] i.e., O islanders (so the Hebrews called all that were beyond sea to them), with whom God, being about to contest, calleth for silence that he may be heard. The people of Rome could hardly digest a Σιωπησατε, or keep silence from their emperor Adrian, as too severe; {a} but when God thundereth it, men wriggle into their holes as so many worms.

And let the people renew their strength.] Come as strong as they can into the court, with their best advocates and arguments, since they are to debate the cause concerning their religion.

Let them come near together in judgment.] This is a wonderful condescension. En in quantum se demittat Deus!

{a} Dio in Adrian.

Ver. 2. Who raised up the righteous man from the east?] Who but myself? Which of your idols can boast of such a man as Abraham was, like as I can?

Called him to his foot.] Making him follow his call with a blind obedience, for he winked and put himself into God’s holy hand, to be led at his pleasure. He "knew not whither he went," {#Heb 11:8} nor much cared, so long as he had God by the hand, or might follow him as a guide, step after step.

He gave the nations before him.] #Ge 14:14. His posterity also prevailed exceedingly. And thus God stoppeth the mouths of those idolaters who insulted over the Israelites, because afflicted and subdued by other nations, as Cicero doth in his oration for Quintus Flaccus, extolling therefore their idols above the true God.

Ver. 3. He pursued them, and passed in safety.] He got an unbloody victory over the four kings, not losing a man of all those unexpert soldiers. This was a great mercy, if not a miracle. War is usually utrique triste; no matter who wins a sorrow, victory is oft like a golden fishhook, which, lost or broken, cannot be paid for with that it taketh.

Ver. 4. Who hath wrought and done it?] Here the Gentiles should have answered for God, which because they did not, but were senselessly silent, therefore he answereth by a description of himself.

Calling the generations from the beginning.] Giving them their being, and having them at a beck.

I the Lord, the first, and with the last.] πρωτος τε και υστατος, εν τε μεσοι σιν. This was anciently believed concerning God, as Plato {a} testifieth. A te principium tibi desinet. {b}

{a} De Leg., lib. iv.

{b} Virgil.

Ver. 5. The isles saw it.] The heathens were convinced by the former arguments, yet not converted; they were afraid, and yet they came together to confirm themselves mutually in their abominable idolatries.

Yea, they drew near.] As it were, to justify their idolatries before the Lord. Such is the desperate obstinace of obdurate sinners. Pharaoh menaced Moses, even during that palpable darkness. The Philistines were afraid when they saw the ark of the covenant brought into the field, and yet they encourage one another to fight against Israel. {#1Sa 4:8,9} The thief on the cross was under the arrest of death, and yet railed. Felix trembled, and yet expected a bribe from St Paul. There is a cold sweat sitteth on all the limbs of Antichrist at this day, and yet they repent not of their idolatries, nor murders, nor sorceries, nor fornication, nor thefts, {#Re 9:20,21} but defend them all they can.

Ver. 6. They helped every one his neighbour.] Thus those desperate idolaters did from the first. Eusebius {a} telleth us, that in the seventh year of Abraham, Ninus, the founder of Nineveh, set up an image of his father Belus, which was worshipped after his death. So did other princes, by his example, not moved with God’s mercies showed to Abraham, who worshipped the true God alone, setting up altars to him wherever he came.

{a} In Chron.

Ver. 7. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith.] Because no small gain was brought hereby unto these craftsmen. {#Ac 19:24,25} The Jewish doctors tell us that Terah, the father of Abraham, was an image maker at Ur of the Chaldees, till God called him thence. Hyperius saith, that all these words are to be taken as pronounced with derision and contempt, that so the vanity of idols may the more plainly be perceived, since they have no more worth than is given them by their worshippers.

Ver. 8. But thou, Israel, art my servant.] And it was for thy sake, and for thy settlement, that I have dealt so long with those odious idolaters, whom else I would not once look toward nor commune with, as he said, #2Ki 3:14.

The seed of Abraham, my friend.] This style was a higher honour to Abraham than if God had engraven his name in the orbs of heaven. {See Trapp on "Jas 2:23"} Hushai was David’s "friend," and Augustus vouchsafed to give Virgil the name of "Amicus." This was a special favour, but not like that in the text.

Ver. 9. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, ] sc., In the loins of Abraham thy progenitor.

And called thee from the chief men thereof.] Called thee and culled thee out of the grandees of the Chaldees, the rich, the potent, and the honourable, separate from the common sort, setting thee above the kings of the earth. {#Ps 89:27}

Ver. 10. Fear thou not, for I am with thee.] Cordialibus, ut ita dicam, verbls, Deus hoc eloquitur, - As long as a child hath his father by the hand, he feareth none. Quid timet hominem homo in sinu Dei positus? -What should he who lieth in God’s own bosom fear any man alive? Is not God’s presence security sufficient?

I will strengthen thee; I will help thee, &c.] I will, I will, I will. Oh the rhetoric of God! Oh the certainty of the promises!

With the right hand of my righteousness, ] i.e., My righteous right hand, that shall right all thy wrongs.

Ver. 11. Behold, all that were incensed against thee.] These and the following precious promises the Jews misapply to the coming and kingdom of their Messiah, the Papists to their hierarchy. Let every true servant of God take them home as spoken to himself; every promise droppeth myrrh and mercy.

Ver. 12. Even them that contended with thee.] Heb., The men of thy contention—thy contendents, such as this eristical age hath more than a good many. By the Quakers’ wild fancies and rude practices we may see how cross-grained these people are in contradicting everything. Many men’s spirits, saith one, today lie like that haven in #Ac 27:12, toward the south-west and north-west, two opposite points.

Ver. 13. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand.] As a tender father taketh his dear child by the hand, in dirty or dangerous ways especially, lifting him over; so the saints are said to sit down at God’s feet, {#De 33:3} or to stand between his legs, as little ones do.

Ver. 14. Fear not.] This is oft inculcated, for better confirmation and comfort. Our Saviour may seem to have hence his "Fear not little flock." It is no easy matter to cheer up afflicted consciences. Luther saith it is as hard a matter as to raise the dead. Hence this frequent "Fear not."

Ver. 15. I will make thee a new sharp thrashing instrument having teeth.] Traham, aut tribulam in omnem partem probe dentatam. Such as those eastern countries did use, to mash in pieces their rougher and harder fodder for their cattle, or rather to thresh out their harder grain with, {#Isa 28:25,28} or to torture men with. {#2Sa 12:31}

Thou shalt thresh the mountains.] Thy lofty and mighty enemies. This was fulfilled in the Maccabees, but especially in the apostles, subduing the nations to the obedience of the faith. See #2Co 10:4.

Ver. 16. Thou shalt fan them.] But find nothing in them of any solidity. The heart of the wicked is little worth.

And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord.] As the sole doer of all; for it is he that subdueth the people under us, and doeth all our works for us. {#Isa 26:12}

Ver. 17. When the poor.] When such as are "poor in spirit," sensible of their utter indigence, shall blessedly hunger and thirst after righteousness, showing themselves restless and insatiated without it.

And there is none.] None to be found in the doctrine of the Pharisees, philosophers, or friars.

Ver. 18. I will open rivers in high places.] Rather work miracles, as once in the wilderness, {#Ex 17:6,7} than my poor people shall want necessary support and succour (help).

Ver. 19. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, &c.] That is, saith Lyra, I will give variety of graces to my people.

And the box tree.] {a} That groweth of itself in wild places, saith Diodate, to signify that the Church will always have worldly wild plants mixed and growing in it. Box is always green indeed, and full of leaves, but it is of an ill smell, et semen habet omnibus invisum animantibus, { b} and of a worse seed.

{a} Per varia ligna varietatem gratiarum insinuat. — Oecol.

{b} Sphinx, Philos.

Ver. 20. That they may see, and know, and consider.] Heb., Lay. Lay it upon their heart, which natural men are very hardly drawn to do. The best are so backward, that an Ezekiel may hear, "Son of man, behold with thine eye, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee," &c., {#Eze 40:4} and Haggai calleth upon the good people of his time to "consider" and better "consider." {#Hag 1:5,7}

Ver. 21. Produce your cause, saith the Lord.] He had dealt with the heathens, and convinced them; now have at their gods: and their best proofs are called for.

Bring forth your strong reasons.] Heb., Your bony arguments, argumenta trabalia; but, alas! they had none such.

Saith the king of Jacob.] Not the God of Jacob; for that was now the matter in question, whether he were God, or the heathen deities. And because they were silent, and to seek {a} of such arguments, he helpeth them to a couple.

{a} το ζητουμενον.

Ver. 22. Let them bring forth, and show what shall happen.] By such arguments as these, Cleanthes in Cicero {a} testifieth, though himself were a heathen, that the deity might he known. And whereas it may he objected that the Delphic devil had foretold things to come, it is answered, that the devil cannot foretell all future things, nor anything infallibly, and of himself; but either as it is revealed unto him by God, as was Ahab’s fall at Ramoth Gilead; or as he foreseeth it in the causes, signs, or prophecies of Holy Scripture, wherein he is not a little skilled.

{a} Lib. ii. De Nat. Deorum.

Ver. 23. Show the things that are to come.] This first argument is much insisted on. God alone can properly predict; and Testimonium divinitatis est veritas divinationis. {a} Cato Major was wont to say, that he wondered how one diviner could look upon another and not laugh, as knowing themselves to be no better than deceivers of the people.

Yea, do good or evil.] Good to your friends, evil to your foes. This is the second argument, and it is unanswerable. If it be objected, that this the devil can do, and hath done, the answer is; (1.) that idols can do neither good nor evil, (2.) no, nor yet devils; but the good they do their clients is a mere juggle, and the evil they do to any is by divine permission. See Cyprian’s Fourth Treatise, De Vanitate Idolorum. {b}

{a} Tertul. Apol., cap. 20.

{b} Vide etiam, Aug. De Civlt. Dei, lib. ii. cap. 22, 25, &c.

Ver. 24. Behold, ye are of nothing.] Hence Paul took that assertion of his; {#1Co 8:4} "we know that an idol is nothing in the world." For the matter of it, it is true, wood is wood, and stone is stone; but the relation and signification which is fastened thereunto, is nothing at all: all the being of an idol is nothing but the idolater’s imagination.

And your work of nought.] Or, Of the basilisk or viper; it will do you to death.

An abomination is he that curseth you.] Papists, therefore, must needs be abominable idolaters. Dr Rainolds’s work, De Idololatria Romana, is yet unanswered. Weston writes that his head ached in reading it.

Ver. 25. I have raised up one from the north.] Here God beginneth to prove that he can do both those things, whereof the heathen vanities could do neither. This one in the text is Cyrus, say some; Christ, say others, by whom God here foretelleth that he will punish his enemies, but do good to his Church and chosen.

He shall call upon my name.] Or, Proclaim my name.

Ver. 26. Who hath declared?] Who, besides myself, ever did or could predict such a thing? If any other hath done it, we will do him right, called him a god.

Ver. 27. The first shall say to Zion.] Or, I first said to Zion. I first brought her that good tidings by my prophets.

Ver. 28. For I beheld, and there was no man.] None to say anything for these dumb idols, why I should not pass a definitive sentence against them. It is, therefore, this—

Ver. 29. Behold they are all vanity.] #Jer 10:3,15.

Their works are nothing.] See #Isa 41:24.

Are wind and confusion.] Or, Emptiness; Heb., Tohu. Nothing in themselves, and yet of sufficient efficacy to inflict vengeance on their worshippers.

Chapter 42

Ver. 1. Behold my servant.] Cyrus partly, but Christ principally {#Mt 12:18} {See Trapp on "Mt 12:18"} {#Php 2:7} A servant he was, yet not menial, but magisterial; that he was one or other is admirable, and well deserveth an Ecce Behold.

Whom I uphold.] That he faint not under the weight of his Mediatorship, and the importable burden of my wrath, which he must suffer for a season. Some render it "whom I lean upon." See #2Ki 5:18 7:2,13.

Mine elect, or choice one.] Cyrus was so. {#Isa 43:10 Joh 6:27,29 10:36} See the notes on #Mt 12:18. Cyrus was so singular a man, saith Herodotus, {a} that no Persian ever held himself worthy to be compared unto him. And of his court Xenophon {b} hath this memorable saying, that though a man should seek or choose blindfold, he could not miss of a good man. How much more truly may this be spoken of the Lord Christ and his people?

In whom my soul delighteth.] ευδοκησε. God affected Cyrus, {#Isa 45:3,4 44:28} but nothing so well as Christ. {#Mt 3:17 17:5} Once God repented him that he had made man; but now it is otherwise.

He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.] Who shall all cry, "Grace, grace unto it," to see mercy rejoicing against judgment. See on #Mt 12:18.

{a} Herod., lib. iii.

{b} Xenoph. Cyrop., lib. viii.

Ver. 2. He shall not cry, nor lift up.] See on #Mt 12:19. Cyrus was a very mild and gentle prince, so that his Persians called him their father, but his son, Cambyses, their lord, as Herodotus {a} recordeth. Christ’s government {b} is much more gentle; he will not by a loud and terrible voice frighten broken spirits, or rule them with rigour, &c. Christians must likewise put away all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour. And "be ye kind one to another, tender hearted." {#Eph 4:31,32} This is to be like unto Christ—all whose actions, whether moral or mediatory, were either for our imitation or instruction.

{a} Lib. iii.

{b} Cyrus umbra, Christus Sol ipse.

Ver. 3. A bruised reed shall he not break, ] i.e., A contrite heart, {#Ps 51:17} in whom there shall appear to be anything of Christ, though never so little: that are faithful in weakness, though but weak in faith, as he was who cried out, Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief; {#Mr 9:24} and another, Invoco te fide quamvis languida, fide tamen. {a} See on #Mt 12:20.

He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.] Unto victory, saith the evangelist, after the Septuagint. Truth will prevail, sincerity proceed to perfection. "The righteous also shall hold on his way: and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." {#Job 17:9} Where there is truth of grace, there will be victory. Bernard never went from God without God. And holy Bradford would never give over any good duty till he found something coming in—as in confession, till his heart melted; in begging pardon, till it was quieted; in seeking grace, till it was quickened, &c.

{a} Cruciger.

Ver. 4. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged.] Non erit tristis nec turbulentus; so the Vulgate hath it. He shall be master of his passions, and keep an even state of his looks and motions, whatever befall, as they report of Socrates. He shall not knit his brows, or chide—which was Eli’s fault, {#1Sa 3:13} but is Christ’s commendation—so Lud. de Dieu rendereth it. He shall not make to smoke (so Junius from #Isa 42:3), nor shall he bruise any one.

Until he have set judgment.] See on #Isa 42:3.

And the isles shall wait for his law.] Heb., Shall with desire expect his doctrine.

Ver. 5. Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out.] Heb., And they that stretched them out; noting the Trinity in unity. {as #De 6:4} Some pagans concluded the world must needs have had a beginning, otherwise we could not know whether the egg or the bird, the seed or the plant, the day or the night, the light or the darkness, were first.

Ver. 6. I the Lord have called thee.] To the Mediatorship.

And will hold thine hand.] Working wonders by thee, and with thee.

And will keep thee.] That thou be not crucified till thine hour be come, and that thou despair not when thou sufferest.

And give thee for a covenant of the people, ] i.e., For that "angel of the covenant," {#Mal 3:1} and that thou mayest reconcile all the elect in one body to me by thy cross, &c. {#Eph 2:16}

For a light to the Gentiles.] See #Isa 9:2.

Ver. 7. To open the blind eyes.] By the preaching of the gospel. {#Ac 26:18 2Co 4:4-6 Re 3:18}

To bring out the prisoners from the prison.] To free poor souls from the tyranny of sin and terror of hell. This should make us say to Christ, as one did once to Augustus for a deliverance nothing so great, Effecisti, Ceesar, ut viverem et morerer ingratus, Let me do mine utmost, I must live and die in thy debt.

Ver. 8. I am the Lord.] I, and no heathen petty god, as I have plainly and plentifully proved, nemine contradicente.

That is my name.] God, though he be above all name (when Manoah inquired after his name, the answer was, It is wonderful—i.e., far above thy conception), yet here we have his proper name, Jehovah, which is also called his glory, because incommunicable to any creature.

And my glory will I not give to another.] To his Son Christ he hath given it, {#Joh 17:2} who, although he is Alius, another yet he is not Aliud different from the Father, but of the same nature and essence. God hath given being to all things, life to many, sense to others, reason to men and angels, his glory he will not give to any. Excellently hereupon Bernard, {a} My glory I will not, &c.; what then wilt thou give us, Lord? what wilt thou give us? My peace, saith he, I give you; my peace I leave unto you. It is enough for me, Lord; I thankfully take what thou leavest, and leave what thou keepest to thyself, &c.

{a} Serm. xiii. in Cant.

Ver. 9. Behold, the former things are come to pass.] The prophecies are fulfilled.

Before they spring forth, I tell you of them.] Therefore I am the true God undoubtedly, and the doctrine of my prophets is true assuredly, veriora quam quae ex tripode. Siquidem Satan etsi semel videatur verax, millies est mendax, et semper fallax.

Ver. 10. Sing unto the Lord a new song.] The disputation being ended, and God having clearly got the better, the prophet singeth this gratulatory song, and calleth upon others to bear a part with him therein, and especially for Christ and his benefits before mentioned.

Ye that go down to the sea, ] i.e., That dwell toward the west of Judea.

Ver. 11. Let the wilderness.] Ye that dwell eastward. It was called the wilderness, because but thinly inhabited.

The villages that Kedar doth inhabit.] The most fierce and savage people, cicurated and civilised by the gospel preached among them, as it is with us at this day, whose ancestors were most barbarous and brutish, as Cicero {a} testifieth.

Let the inhabitants of the rock.] Or, Of Petra, the chief city of Arabia Petraea.

{a} De Nat. Deor.

Ver. 12. Let them give glory.] See #Isa 42:10.

Ver. 13. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man.] Or, As a giant. And here, by an elegant hypotyposis, {a} the fierce wrath of God against his foes is set forth to the life, and appointed also to be sung for a second part of the ditty—viz., Christ’s conquest over sin, death, and hell, whereby we are made "more than conquerors."

He shall cry, yea, roar.] Iubilabit atque etiam barriet; he shall make a hideous and horrible noise, such as the Roman soldiers did of old when they began the battle, and as the Turks do at this day on purpose to frighten their enemies. {b}

{a} Vivid description of a scene, event, or situation, bringing it, as it were, before the eyes of the hearer or reader.

{b} Vegetius.

Ver. 14. I have long time holden my peace.] As a travailing woman biteth in her pain as long as she is able. So had God, for causes best known to himself, forborne a long while to appear for his people and to avenge them of their enemies. But now Patientia laesa fit furor: Deique patientia quo diuturnior, est minacior. Now down goeth Dagon and the devil’s whole kingdom before this jealous giant.

Now will I cry like a travailing woman.] Which when she can bear no longer, sets up her note, and is heard all the house over. This is very comfortable. God is pained, as it were, for his people—in all their afflictions he is afflicted; he longs for their deliverance, which therefore shall not be long ere it come.

Ver. 15. I will make waste mountains and hills.] I will rather invert the order of nature, and mingle heaven and earth together, than my Church shall want seasonable help. I will also remove all obstacles by sending fire upon the earth, {#Lu 12:49} and bring every high thought into a holy obedience. {#2Co 10:5}

Ver. 16. And I will bring the blind by a way.] This was fulfilled, in the letter, to the Jews brought back from Babylon, where they had been close prisoners, and, in the mystery, to all Christ’s converts—more especially to that blind boy presented to Bishop Hooper, martyr, the day before his death, at Gloucester, where the boy had not long before suffered imprisonment for confessing the truth. {a}

I will make darkness light before.] By bringing them out of darkness into my marvellous light. {#1Pe 2:9}

{a} Acts and Mon.

Ver. 17. They shall be greatly ashamed.] Heb., Be ashamed with shame; because disappointed and defeated, as the Papists oft have been when they have fought against Protestants, in that Bellum Hussiticum in Germany especially; and yet Bellarmine hath the face to say that the Catholics were never yet worsted by the heretics, as they call us, in a set battle.

Ver. 18. Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind.] Ye who, as so many sea monsters or deaf adders, will not hear, and as so many blind moles will not see, by a petulant blindness, and of obstinate malice; such were the scribes and Pharisees, who winked hard with their eyes, and wilfully shut the windows, lest the light should come in unto them. See more of this in the notes on #Isa 6 Isa 29.

That ye may see.] In nature, Caecorum mens occulatissima est. We read of Didymus Alexandrinus, that though blind, yet he wrote commentaries; and of two of Archbishop Ussher’s aunts, that being blind from their cradles, they taught him first to read, such was their readiness in the Scriptures. But this was rare; and in spirituals it is otherwise, till God enlighten both organ and object.

Ver. 19. Who is blind, but my servant?] Who so blind as he that will not see? Israel was God’s peculiar, and had the light of his law, yet were blind as beetles.

Or deaf, as my messenger?] The priests and Levites. {#Mal 2:7} Such were the Papist dolts till awakened by the Reformation.

Who is blind as he that is perfect?] The elders of the people, who arrogated to themselves perfection {a} {#Isa 65:5 Ro 2:17-20} as likewise the Popish perfectists, the Jewish doctors with their pretended Mashlamnuthas, and the Turkish Mussulmans—i.e., perfectionaries.

{a} Buxtorf. Tiber. p. 5.

Ver. 20. But observest not, ] viz., For holy practice.

But he heareth not.] viz., For any good purpose, he heareth not "what the Spirit saith to the churches."

Ver. 21. The Lord is well pleased; he will magnify his law, &c.] Or, To magnify his law and make it honourable—sc., by recompensing so highly those that observed it; this he did for his "righteousness’ sake"—i.e., of his free grace and fidelity; but these are none such, they are practical Antinomians, and to me to the diametrically opposite.

Ver. 22. But this is a people robbed and spoiled.] And all too little, unless they were better. Jerome expoundeth this of the destruction of the Jews by the Romans, after their voluntary blindness and malice showed against Christ, at what time they were pulled out of holes and privies, spoiled, slaved, sold thirty a penny.

Ver. 23. Who among you will give ear to this?] Magna nimirum haec sunt, sed paucis persuasa. We shall have much ado to make you believe these things, though your liberties, lives, and souls lie upon it.

Ver. 24. Who gave Jacob for a spoil?] Omnia magno adfectu sunt pronuncianda, debentque singula membra huius orationis expendi. This is a very remarkable passage. Let us cry out, "Oh the severity!" and beware. Cavebimus autem si pavebimus. Moreover, we will beware if we are terrified.

Ver. 25. And it hath set him on fire.] When the country was wasted, the city and temple burnt and ruined. Read Josephus, Lege, inquam, et luge. I say read and weep.

And he laid it not to heart.] This was worse than all the rest. Like a sleepy man (fire burning in his bed straw) he crieth not out, when others haply lament his case, that see afar off, but cannot help him.

Chapter 43

Ver. 1. But now, thus saith the Lord.] Here the prophet comforteth those with the gospel whom he had frighted with the law, saith Oecolampadius.

That created thee, O Jacob.] By a new creation, especially. {#Isa 29:23 Eph 2:10 2Co 5:17} Magna sunt opera Dei creatoris, Dei recreatoris longe maxima. {a} The work of redemption is far beyond that of creation.

And he that formed thee, O Israel.] As the potter formeth to himself a vessel of honour, and distinguisheth it from other vile and sordid vessels; so have I dealt by thee.

I have redeemed thee.] A mercy much celebrated in this book, and for very great reason.

I have called thee by thy name.] Which was no small favour. See #Ex 33:17 Ps 147:4. Some think he alludeth to his giving Jacob the name of Israel, when he had wrestled with God and prevailed.

Thou art mine.] I have adopted thee, which is no small honour. {#1Jo 3:1} Meus es tu, you are mine, may very well be the new name spoken of, {#Re 2:17 Ho 2:23} better than that of sons and of daughters, {#Isa 56:5} See it displayed #1Pe 2:9.

{a} Augustine.

Ver. 2. When thou passest through the waters.] Fire and water, we say, have no mercy when once they get above us; extreme calamities are hereby denoted. {#Ps 66:12} But God’s gracious presence kept the bush from burning—burn it did, but was not consumed, through "the good will of him that dwelt in it" saith Moses {#De 33:16} -the Israelites in the Red Sea from drowning. {#Ex 14:28,29} His presence made the fiery furnace a gallery of pleasure; the lion’s den a house of defence; the Leonine prison a delectable orchard, as that Italian martyr phrased it; the fiery trial a bed of roses, as another, Tua praesentia, Domine, Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem feeit. Jerome of Prague and other martyrs sang in the very flames. Blessed Bilney, being condemned to be burned for the testimony of Jesus, when he was comforted by some against the extremity of the fire, put his hand toward the flame of the candle burning before them, and feeling the heat thereof, Oh, said he, I feel by experience, and have learned by philosophy, that fire by God’s ordinance is naturally hot. But yet I am persuaded by God’s Holy Word, and by the experience of some spoken of in the same, that in the flame they felt no heat, and in the fire no consumption. I constantly believe, that howsoever the stubble of this my body shall be wasted by it, yet my soul and spirit shall be purged thereby; a pain for the time, wherein notwithstanding followeth joy unspeakable; and here he much treated on this text, "Fear not, when thou passest through the waters," &c. So that some of his friends there present took such sweet benefit therein that they caused the whole said sentence to be fair written in tables, and some in their books, the comfort whereof in varions of them was never taken from them to their dying day. {a}

{a} Acts and Mon., fol. 923.

Ver. 3. I gave Egypt for thy ransom.] Quasi victimam piacularem a Sennacheribo mactandam loco Iudcea, in exchange for thee; so the Septuagint render it. This was done when Tirhakah, king of Egypt and Ethiopia, was beaten by Sennacherib, who was then making towards Jerusalem, which he had already devoured in his hopes. {#Isa 37:9} Thus, "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead." {#Pr 11:8} Saul and his people were afflicted by the Philistines, that David might escape. {#1Sa 23:27,28} The Canaanites were rooted out, to make room for the Israelites. Charles V, and Francis, the French king, after a mutual agreement to root out Lutheranism, fall together by the ears, and the Church all the while hath her halcyons. So the Turks and Persians are at deadly feud, to the great safeguard of Christendom; and the Popish party are as a bulwark between those Mohammedans and the Protestants.

Ver. 5. I will bring thy seed from the east.] From all coasts and quarters. This was a type of the Church in the New Testament; see #Mt 8:11 Joh 11:52 Joh 10:16 Ga 3:28; this was also a type of the last resurrection. See #Re 20:13.

Ver. 6. I will say to the north, Give up.] I will do it with a word of my mouth, Ipse dixit, et facta sunt. He himself said and is was done. {a}

Bring my sons from far, and my daughters.] That is, say some, my stronger and also weaker children, of what size or sex soever. Souls have no sexes.

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 7. Even every one that is called by my name, ] i.e., My sons and my daughters, {#Isa 43:6 2Co 6:18} such as have Christian for their name, and Catholic for their surname.

I have created him for my glory.] See on #Isa 43:1.

Yea, I have made him, ] i.e., Advanced him, {a} as #1Sa 12:6.

{a} Feci, i.e., magnum effeci. -Pisc.

Ver. 8. Bring forth the blind people.] Such as were blind and ignorant, but now are enlightened.

And the deaf.] Such as were cross and rebellious, but now are tractable and obsequious. {#Isa 42:7,16}

Ver. 9. Let all the nations.] See #Isa 41:1.

And shew us former things.] Much less can they show us things future. Varro calleth all the time before the flood αδηλον, obscure, because the heathens had no certain relation of anything then done. And Diod. Siculus acknowledgeth that all that was written among them before the Theban and Trojan wars was little better than fabulous. The gods of the Gentiles had not so much as any solid knowledge of things past, neither could they orderly and perfectly set them forth by their secretaries.

It is truth, ] scil., That there is but one true God. Phocylides did say so, εις μονος εστι Θεος, & c. Socrates suffered for holding this truth at Athens. Plato held the same, but dared not speak out. These are his words: It is neither easy to find out the maker of all things, nor safe to communicate to the common people what we have found out of him. Here, for fear of the people, he detained the truth in unrighteousness. And the like did Seneca, whom Augustine accuseth, quod colebat quod reprehendebat; agebat quod arguebat; quod culpabat, adorabat {a} that he worshipped those gods whom he disliked and decried.

{a} De Civit. Dei, lib. vi. cap. 10.

Ver. 10. Ye are my witnesses.] He taketh to witness of this great truth in question, not heaven, earth, sea, &c., but his people, among whom he had given in all ages so many clear arguments and experiments of his divinity, his oracles and miracles for instance.

And my servant whom I have chosen, ] i.e., Christ, saith the Chaldee paraphrast; the prophet Isaiah, say others; or, which is more likely, Cyrus, who is called God’s elect servant, {#Isa 42:1} and his testimony concerning God is to be read in #Ezr 1:3, "The Lord God of Israel he is God." Every true believer doth as much, if not more; for "He that believeth hath set to his seal that God is true," {#Joh 3:33} hath given him a testimonial, such as is that in #De 32:4, "A God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he." Such a sealer was Abraham, {#Ro 4:20} and "such honour have all his saints."

That ye may know and believe and understand.] That ye may have a "full assurance of knowledge," {as #Lu 1:4} and a "full assurance of faith." {#Heb 10:22}

Ver. 11. I, even I, am the Lord.] This redoubled I is emphatic and exclusive.

And beside me there is no Saviour.] They are gross idolaters, therefore, that set up for saviours the saints departed.

Ver. 12. I have showed, when there was no strange God among you.] See #De 32:12. {See Trapp on "Ex 34:14"}

Therefore ye are my witnesses.] See on #Isa 43:10.

Ver. 13. Yea, before the day was I am he.] The "Ancient of days," yea, the eternal The God of Israel was long before Israel was in being.

And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.] So Nebuchadnezzar vainly vaunted, but was soon confuted. {#Da 3:15,17,29}

I will work, and who shall let it?] Angels may be hindered. God can come between their essence and their executive power, and so keep them from doing what they would. In fire there is the substance and the quality of heat; between these God can separate, as he did in the Babylonish fire. {#Da 3:22-25} But who shall hinder the Most High?

Ver. 14. Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer.] For their greater comfort and confirmation, the prophet purposely premiseth to the promise of deliverance from Babylon these sweet attributes of God, each of them dropping myrrh and mercy.

For your sakes I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down.] Or, I will send, and I will bring down.

All their nobles.] Heb., Bars. {#Ps 147:13} Bars noblemen should be, to keep out evils, and to secure saints; but these were crossbars, &c.

Whose cry is in the ships.] Or, Whose outcry is to the ships, whereby they thought to save themselves, but could not, because Cyrus had drained and dried up their river Euphrates. Tremellius rendereth it, The Chaldees with their most famous ships.

Ver. 15. I am their Lord.] More of God’s holy attributes are here heaped up for like reason, as in #Isa 43:14.

Ver. 16. Which maketh a way in the sea.] Or, That made a way in the sea, &c.—-sc., When your fathers came out of Egypt. Why, then, should you doubt about deliverance?

Ver. 17. Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse.] Or, Who brought forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power, viz, Pharaoh’s forces. {#Ex 14:4,9,23}

They are quenched as tow.] {a} Heb., As a candlewick make of flax quickly quenched with water poured on it. See how easily God can confound his foes.

{a} Ut ellychnium extinguentur.

Ver. 18. Remember ye not the former things, ] sc., In comparison of those things I shall now do for you by Cyrus, but especially by Christ, who is that way in the wilderness, and that running rock. {#1Co 10:4 Isa 43:14}

Ver. 19. Shall ye not know it?] Or, Do ye not perceive it? He speaketh of it as present and under view.

And rivers in a desert.] As once when I set the flint abroach. {#Ex 17:6 Nu 20:8,11 Ps 105:41} By this way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, understand the doctrine of the gospel, and the comforts of the Spirit. {#Joh 7:38,39}

Ver. 20. The beasts of the field shall honour me, ] i.e., In their kind they shall. So shall brutish and savage persons when tamed and turned by the word of God’s grace. The malignities of all creatures are in man; as Plato {a} also observed, In doloso enim est vulpes, in crudeli leo, in libidinoso amica lute sus, &c. Gregory, {b} by dragons, here understands profane and carnal people; by owls or ostriches, hypocrites. These being converted shall sing hallelujahs to God; but let them take heed that they turn not, with the dog, to their own vomit again, &c. {#2Pe 2:22} For,

{a} De Rep., lib. iii.

{b} Mor., lib. xxxi. cap. 5.

Ver. 21. This people have I formed for myself.] Even the Gentiles now as well as the Jews.

They shall show forth my praise.] They shall "preach forth (εξαγγειλητε) the virtues, or praises, of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light." {#1Pe 2:9}

Ver. 22. But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob.] During the captivity they prayed not to any purpose, as Daniel also acknowledgeth: {#Isa 9:13} "All this evil is come upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth." Nevertheless, of his free grace, God brought them back again.

But thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.] Accounting my service a burden, and not a benefit. See on #Mal 1:13.

Ver. 23. Thou hast not brought me, &c.] Not me, but a god of thine own framing, {a} Such a one as would take up with external heartless services, formal courtings and compliments.

{a} Non Mihi sed deo fictitio.

Ver. 24. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane.] Or, Calamus, whereof see Plin., lib. xii. cap. 22.

Neither hast thou filled me with the fat.] The heathens had a gross conceit that their gods fed on the steam that ascended from their fat sacrifices; and some Jews might haply hold the same thing. See #De 32:38 Ps 50:13.

But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins.] With thine hypocrisy and oppressions especially. {#Isa 1:11-15} The Seventy render it, "Thou hast stood before me in thy sins," as outbraving me. Thou hast tried my long patience, in seeing and suffering thy sins, to my great annoyance. So Diodate paraphraseth.

And hast wearied me.] Exprimit rei indignitatem cum iniquitate coniunctam. God had not wearied them, but they had wearied him sufficiently. Some make these to be the words of Christ to his ungrateful countrymen,

Ver. 25. I, even I, am he.] Gratuitam misericordiam diligentissime exprimit. God diligently setteth forth his own free grace, and greatly glorieth in it, showing how it is that he freeth himself from trouble and them from destruction, viz., for his own sake alone.

That blotteth out thy transgressions.] Heb., Am blotting out, constantly and continually I am doing it. As thou multipliest sins, so do I "multiply pardons." {#Isa 55:7} So #Joh 1:29, "He taketh away the sins of the world"; it is a perpetual act, like as the sun shineth, the spring runneth. {#Zec 13:1} Men gladly blot out that which they cannot look upon without grief. Malum enim semel delere quam perpetuo dolere, so here we are run deep in God’s debt book; but his discharge is free and full. {a}

For mine own sake.] Gratis et propter me. Let us thankfully reciprocate, and say, as he once did, Propter te, Domine, propter te, For thy sake, Lord, do I all.

And will not remember thy sins.] Discharges in justification are not repealed or called in again. {b} Pardon proceedeth from special love and mercy, which alter not their consigned acts.

{a} Dulcis Metaph. One may with a pen cross a great sum as well as a little.

{b} Peccata non redeunt.

Ver. 26. Put me in remembrance, ] sc., Of thy merits, if thou hast any to plead. Justiciaries are here called into judgment, because they slighted the throne of grace.

Ver. 27. Thy first father.] Adam, or Abraham, say some.

And thy teachers.] Heb., Thine interpreters, orators, ambassadors—that is, thy priests and prophets.

Ver. 28. Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary.] Or, Of holiness; that is, those that under a pretence of religion affected a kind of hierarchy, as did the scribes and Pharisees, who, with the whole Jewish state, were taken away by the Romans, both their place and their nation, as they had feared. {#Joh 11:48}

Chapter 44

Ver. 1. Yet now hear.] Hear a word of comfort after so terrible a thunder crack. {#Isa 43:28} But there it is bare "Jacob" and "Israel" who are threatened; here it is "Jacob my servant," and "Israel whom I have chosen"; it is "Jeshurun," or the "righteous nation," who are comforted. And because we forget nothing so soon as the consolations of God, as is to be seen in Christ’s disciples, and those believing Hebrews; {#Isa 12:5} therefore doth the prophet so oft repeat and inculcate them, like as men use to rub and chafe in ointments into the flesh, that they may enter and give ease.

Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord that made thee.] See on #Isa 43:1,7,21, and observe how this chapter runneth parallel with the former; yea, how the prophet, from Isa 40 to Isa 66, doth one and the same thing almost, labouring to comfort his people against the Babylonian captivity, and to arm them against the sin of idolatry, whereunto, as of themselves they were overly prone, so they should be sure to be strongly tempted among those idolaters.

And thou, Jeshurun.] Thou who art upright or righteous, with a twofold righteousness, viz., imputed and imparted. The Septuagint renders it Dilecte or Dilectule, my dearly beloved.

Ver. 3. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.] Or, Upon the thirsty place; hearts that hunger and thirst after righteousness. {#Mt 5:6} {See Trapp on "Mt 5:6"}

I will pour my spirit and my blessing.] When God giveth a man his Holy Spirit, he giveth him blessing in abundance; even all good things at once, as appeareth by #Mt 7:11 Lu 11:13. Here are three special operations of the Spirit instanced: 1. Comfort; 2. Fruitfulness; 3. Courage for Christ. {#Isa 44:5}

Ver. 4. As willows by the water courses.] Not only as the grass, but by a further growth, as the willows, which are often looped, sed ab ipso vulnere vires sumunt, but soon thrust forth new branches; and though cut down to the bottom, yet will grow up again; {a} so will the Church and her children.

{a} Uberius resurgunt, altiusque excrescunt.

Ver. 5. One shall say, I am the Lord’s.] When God seemeth to cry out, Who is on my side? who? then the true Christian, by a bold and wise profession of the truth, answereth as here. After the way that they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, said that great apostle. We are Christians, said those primitive professors; and some of them wrote apologies for their religion to the persecuting emperors, as did Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Arnobius, Tertullian, Minutius Felix, and others. The recent famous reformers Zuinglius, Luther, Musculus, &c., had been Franciscans, Augustinians, Dominicans; but relinquished those superstitious titles and gave up their names to Christ and his truth. I knew a nobleman, saith Mr Burroughs, {a} who, when he came into jeering company of great ones, would begin and own himself one of those they call Puritans—a nickname then put upon the godly party, and so odious to the profaner sort, that the same author elsewhere telleth us of a scholar in Queen’s College, who professed he had rather suffer the torments of hell, than endure the contempt and scorn of the Puritans.

Subscribe with his hand.] Or, Write on his hand, I am the Lord’s.

And surname himself.] So Christian is my name, said an ancient, and Catholic my surname.

{a} On Hosea.

Ver. 6. Thus saith the Lord.] Here and in the subsequent verses we have an evident and excellent testimony of the unity of the true God, and vanity of idols.

Ver. 7. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it?] These are alleged by God as arguments or demonstrations of his deity, praedicare, et indicare et ordinare, to call his elect (styled here his ancient people, populum aeternum) to foretell them things to come, and to order all occurrences for their eternal good.

Ver. 8. Have I not told thee from that time?] Ever since I made thee mine ancient people, well affected to old truths, and distasting novel opinions.

Is there a God besides me?] Vehementi spiritu hoc quaerit, et gravitate magna respondet, There is no God, no other God: I know not any. This was spoken by the prophet, say some, in the days of Ahaz, that notorious idolater.

Ver. 9. And their delectable things.] Their idols and puppets, which they so dearly affect and take so great delight in. He speaketh thus, saith Diodate, because that idolatry is a kind of spiritual concupiscence, and unchaste or disordered love, like as fornication or adultery.

And they are their own witnesses, &c.] Or, Even themselves are their own witnesses to their shame, that they neither see nor know aught.

Ver. 10. Who hath formed a god that is profitable for nothing?] q.d, Who but a madman? ειδωλομανης, such as was Julian the apostate, called therefore Idolian by some.

“ Quis furor est, quae tanta animas dementia ludit?”

- Sedullus.

What can be more ridiculous, {a} saith Basil, than for man to go about to make God? And yet Popish priests take upon them so to do: which made Averroes abhor Christianity, and wish that his soul might rather be among the philosophers.

{a} Quis haec ludibria non derideat? -Lact.

Ver. 11. Behold all his fellows.] His fellow fools.

Shall be ashamed.] They may be, well enough, of their madness: they shall be, sure enough, of their disappointments.

And the workmen, they are of men.] Not of angels or the heavenly virtues, saith Oecolampadius, but vile varlets.

Let them all be gathered together.] As were, at Ephesus, Demetrius and his associates. {#Ac 19:24,25}

Yet they shall fear.] As Tullus Hostilius did with his new gods Pavor and Pallor: as Papists do with their Valentine, Antony, Sebastian, &c., whom they worship as the senders of such and such diseases.

Ver. 12. The smith with the tongs, &c.] He lively setteth forth the weakness of the workmen, that thereby may be understood the weakness of the idols, since they cannot help in the least those that take such pains about them. All these things must be taken as spoken with utmost scorn and stomach.

And fashioneth it with hammers.] He knocks and works his idol in manner as he doth his coulter or ploughshare.

With the strength of his arms.] Tanto conatu tantas nugas agit, cum sit calidus in re frigida: he much troubleth himself about such trifles. Hoc agunt ut nihil agant.

Ver. 13. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule.] As did the carpenter of Cockram, who yet made but an ill-shaped rood, and was forced to sue for his money. {a} Mrs Catismore suffered in King Henry VIII’s days for saying that images were but carpenters’ chips; and yet they are no better. That is a remarkable saying of Seneca, Ridiculum est genu posito, &c. It is a ridiculous thing to worship images, and yet to slight the man that made them.

And maketh it after the figure of a man.] God made man after his own image; and man, to be even with God, will needs make him after his image. {b}

{a} Acts and Mon., fol. 1340.

{b} Quasi ad hostimentum.

Ver. 14. He heweth him down cedars.] Choice wood, yet but wood. Qualis igitur inde Deus consurgat?

And the rain doth nourish it.] Not the idol; for it can do nothing toward the production of that matter whereof it is made. Some have observed that the four sorts of trees here mentioned are all of them fruitless, and growing in woods.

Ver. 15. Then shall it be for a man to burn.] The chips at least shall, and the offal.

Yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it.] Quod Dei est, trunco tribuit.

Ver. 16. He burneth part thereof in the fire.] Which is to far better purpose than the other part made into an idol.

I have seen the fire, ] i.e., I have felt it. One sense puts forth another.

Ver. 17. He falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it.] Do not Papists even the same, whatever they pretend in defence of their idolatry? See #Re 9:20. {See Trapp on "Re 9:20"} So loath they are to have their asses’ ears to be seen.

Ver. 18. They have not known nor understood.] How should they, say, when infatuated and given up to an injudicious mind, or reprobate sense, as those? {#Ro 1:28}

For he hath shut their eyes.] Heb., Daubed up their eyes from seeing, their hearts from understanding.

“ Mons oblita Dei, vitiorumque oblita caeno.”

Ver. 19. Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?] This the besotted Papists do to this day, by the command of the Council of Trent. But before that Council so decreed it, Ludovicus Vives, a learned Papist, confessed that there could no other difference be found of paganish and Popish worship before images, but only this, that names and titles were altered—viz., we cry Jehovah, and they Jupiter; we, Mary, they Diana; they, Minerva, we Katharine, &c. And here I bethink me of what Luther, on the ninth commandment, writeth of a base and beastly woman: Quae ut falleret eiusmodi superstitionis quendam fatuum cultorem, pubem suam totondit, et illi porrexit, suadens quod essent capilli S. Catharinae trans mare advecti. Credidit ille cuculus, et pro reliquiis osculandos praebuit et venerandos: et ecce quid fit? coepit etiam miracula operari pubes illa turpitudinis.

Ver. 20. He feedeth on ashes, ] i.e, He seeketh comfort of his idol, but findeth as little as he doth nourishment who feedeth upon ashes.

A seduced heart hath turned him aside.] And hence it is that he is brought to deify a thing so contemptible. From this expression, note that man is the cause of evil to himself, and is so blinded by his own default that he cannot so much as once think seriously of his soul’s health. His deluded heart, that hath so oft deceived him, may well say to him, as the heart of Apollodorus the tyrant seemed to say to him, who dreamed one night that he was flayed by the Scythians and boiled in a caldron, and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle, ‘Εγω σοι τουτων αιτια, It is I that have drawn thee to all this.

Is there not a lie in my right hand?] i.e., " An idol that is nothing in the world," and nothing it can do for me. How then are images fit to be laymen’s books, being unprofitable, lies, and teachers of lies? {#Jer 10:8 16:19 Hab 2:18}

Ver. 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, ] i.e., Remember these abominable idolaters, and enjoy their madness: learn wisdom by their folly.

Thou shalt not be forgotten of me.] Or, Forget me not, as some render it. Scultetus addeth that whereas many sacred sentences are written upon our walls, this ought to be written upon our hearts; O Israel, forget me not.

Ver. 22. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.] God blotteth out, or wipeth away, the thick cloud as well as the cloud, enormities as infirmities: like as the sun dispelleth fogs and mists with his bright beams. Think of this sweet similitude, together with that other in #Mic 7:19, "Thou wilt cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea," and then despair if thou canst. The sea by its vastness can drown mountains as well as mole hills; and the sun by his force can scatter the greatest mist, as well as the least vapour. So here.

Ver. 23. Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it.] It is usual both with the prophets and the apostles, when they mention the great work of man’s redemption, typified by that famous deliverance from Babylon, to break forth into praise and thanksgiving to God, the sole author thereof. See #Ps 68:1 89:1 93:1 95:1 96:1 97:1 98:1 99:1 100:1 Isa 12:5,6 Ro 7:24,25 1Co 15:56,57 1Ti 1:17 Re 5:11,12 Here is hinted, that so very great is the benefit of our redemption, that it might well affect heaven and earth, and all things high and low.

Ver. 24. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer.] All this God had said oft before, see #Isa 42:5; but, for the further confirmation of some who were unsettled by the contrary predictions of some vain diviners and wizards, he saith it over again.

Ver. 25. That frustrateth the tokens of the liars.] Their false prognostics of the long lastingness of the Babylonian empire, and therefore no likelihood of the Jews’ enlargement.

And maketh diviners mad.] Diviners, the Latins call soothsayers and such fellows, by a term that is altogether too good for them. Quum sint potius diabolici, saith Piscator, since they are rather devils incarnate than divines. By a like form of speech Alsted {a} said of his Germans, that if the Sabbath day should be named according to their observing of it, Daemoniacus potius quam Dominicus diceretur.

That turneth wise men backward.] The world’s wizards, who approved of that which the diviners affirmed, judging according to outward appearance, &c.

{a} In Encyclop.

Ver. 26. That confirmeth the word of his servant, ] i.e., Of myself and other prophets, saying the same with me.

That saith to Jerusalem.] Who then shall gainsay it? Is not God’s word his will, and his will his work?

Ver. 27. That saith to the deep, Be dry, ] i.e., That will put it into the heart of Cyrus to dry up Euphrates, and so to take Babylon; which, according to some, is here called the deep or abyss, because situated in a plain well watered with various rivers, had wealth at will, and many princes who ran into her, as rivers do into the sea.

And I will dry up thy rivers.] This Basil {a} expounds of the end of the world.

{a} Hex., lib. ii.

Ver. 28. That saith of Cyrus.] One hundred and seventy years, at least, before he was born.

Thou art my shepherd, ] i.e., Princeps meus beneficus. Coresh, in the Persian tongue, signifieth food, saith Scaliger; and then there might be some allusion here to his name in calling him a "shepherd," or feeder.

Chapter 45

Ver. 1. To his anointed, ] i.e., To his appointed and enabled one, to subdue many nations. Xenophon, in his first book De Cyropaed., gives us a list of them. Cyrus subdued, saith he, the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, Phrygians, the Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, the Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, Sacians, Paphlagonians, Maryandines, and many other nations. He also had dominion over the Asiatics, Greeks, Cyprians, Egyptians, &c. He vanquished, saith Herodotus, {a} what country soever he invaded. And what wonder, when God himself, as here, "held," or "strengthened his right hand," and "loosed the loins of kings" that were his adversaries—that is, disarmed and disabled them; for it is he alone who strengtheneth and weakeneth the arm of either party. {#Eze 30:24} Et nemo vir magnus sine afflatu divine unquam fuit, saith Cicero. {b} God transferreth kingdoms, and setteth up kings. {#Da 2:21}

To open unto him the two leaved gates.] Or, Doors. Whether doors of houses or gates of cities, all shall fly open before him. {as #Ac 12:10}

{a} Lib. i.

{b} De Nat. Deor., lib. ii.

Ver. 2. And make the crooked places even.] Or, The hilly places level.

I will break in pieces the gates of brass.] This God would do, that his temple might be built; {compare #Isa 44:28} but in the New Testament, Christ throweth the gates of hell off their hinges, like another Samson, that he may build his Church. {#Mt 16:18} And it is this Aedificabo Ecclesiam meam I will build my church, that hath made all the stir in the world.

Ver. 3. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness.] All that Croesus, that rich king, had amassed, and other princes, but especially Babylon (#Jer 50:37 51:13. See Strabo, lib. xv.; Plin. xxxiii. cap. 3. #Da 5:3). Pliny saith that Cyrus brought out of Asia, which he had subdued, as much treasure as amounteth in our money to three hundred millions. And yet this same Cyrus was within few years after made as poor as Irus; for being in Scythia, and there making show of his great riches at a feast, he was on the sudden slain, and spoiled of all by Tomyris, queen of that country. {a}

{a} Justin., lib. i.

Ver. 4. For Jacob my servant’s sake.] That the enemies of my people being subdued, they may have some breathing while, and liberty to live quietly in their own country. For which purpose also, it was the will of God that this prophecy of Isaiah should be made known to Cyrus, for the good of the Jews, that he might favour them; and so it was, as appeareth by #Ezr 1:2, and by Josephus, Antiq., lib. xi. cap. 1.

I have even called thee by thy name.] Thy name of honour; {a} for Cyrus signifieth the "sun," saith Plutarch; "Lord," say others, in the Persian; as in Hebrew it seemeth to signify an heir, or possessor. Some derive our word sir from it. Cyrus was at first called Achzadat and Spaco, being the son of Cambyses, a noble Persian, and Mandane, the daughter of Astyages, king of Medes. The name of Cyrus he took when he entered upon the kingdom; and that from Cyrus, a river of Persia, as some hold. {b}

I have surnamed thee.] Or, I have entitled thee, scil., My shepherd, mine anointed, &c.

Though thou hast not known me, ] scil., Savingly. For albeit he knew the true God in part, and acknowledged him to be great above other gods; yet he forsook not his idols, saith Jerome, and therefore perished miserably by the hands of the Scythians. Nevertheless, others {c} are of the opinion, that he was instructed by Daniel, and brought to a true belief, as was also Darius.

{a} H. Stephan.

{b} De Cyro fluvio scribit Strabo, lib. xv.

{c} Scultet.

Ver. 5. I am the Lord, and none else.] None of thy Persian gods, to whom thou didst offer solemn sacrifice, both at the beginning of thy reign, and. likewise at thy death, if Zenophon {a} may be believed, saying, Iupiter patriae et Sol, &c., magnas ago vobis gratias, quod vestram de me curam intellexi, &c.

Though thou hast not known me.] Or, When as yet thou wast altogether ignorant of me. That he afterwards believed the immortality of the soul, Cicero testifieth in his Cato Major; and that he believed in Christ for the salvation of his soul, Scultetus thinketh, because he was a type of Christ; as was also Solomon, saith he; which to me is one good argument that he was saved.

{a} Xenoph., Cyr. lib. i. and viii.

Ver. 6. That they may know from the rising of the sun, ] i.e., All the world over, by thy proclamation. {#Ezr 1:1,2}

That there is none besides me.] Quia nihilum praeter me: ego Dominus et nihil ultra, so Oecolampadius rendereth it, and saith further that it is oppido profanda sententia, a very profound sentence, teaching us that where God is not, there is nothing; for in him we are, move and live, and it is he who worketh all in all things.

Ver. 7. I form the light, and create darkness, ] sc., By withdrawing the light whence darkness succeedeth; so doth misery when God withholdeth mercy. But what an odd, or rather mad conceit was that of the Manichees, that there were two beginnings of things—a good one, and an evil! that the latter was the God of the Old Testament, and the former of the New! that the God of the Old Testament did good by accident and occasionally, but created evil of himself, even evil of sin! for so they mistook this text, which is to be understood as evil of punishment only, {see #Am 3:6 La 3:38} which he inflicteth on evildoers for the manifestation of his justice and power, ac propterea recte, et non male eo pacto quo per nos mala male flunt. {a}

I make peace, and create evil.] Evil, that is, war, by a specialty, and κατ αντονομασιαν, Omega nostrorum Mors est, Mars Alpha malorum. Sin, Satan, and war have all one name; evil is the best of them. The best of sin is deformity, of Satan enmity, of war misery.

{a} Vide Aug. contra Julian., lib. iii. cap. 8.

Ver. 8. Drop down, ye heavens, from above.] A prayer of the poor captives in Babylon, say some, for a speedy performance of their promised deliverance; and this the rather because else Christ could not come of them, teach in their country, work miracles, and fulfil the office of a mediator, as the prophets had foretold. Whereunto God immediately answereth: I, the Lord, have created him, or will create him, that is, send him in due time, doubt ye not. Others make it a description of Cyrus’s just and happy reign; see the like of Solomon. {#Ps 72:6,7} And indeed Cyrus is famous in heathen histories for his wisdom, justice, temperance, magnanimity, and liberality. It is not the custom of Cyrus to hoard up money, saith Xenophon, {a} for he taketh more delight in giving than in getting or possessing. But it seemeth rather to be a command from God of plenty and prosperity, opposite to that countermand. {#Isa 5:6} The Papists apply it to Christ and his mother, and hence their roaring out of Rorate in their solemn service, a month before the feast of the nativity, and then they call for their carousing cups.

{a} Cyropaed., lib. viii.

Ver. 9. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker.] That contends with him, {#Ro 9:20} or presumes to prescribe to him, as some impatient spirits among the captives may seem to have done. We may not measure God’s dealings by our models, nor murmur against his counsels; since his holy will is the most perfect rule of right.

Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.] And not dash against the rock of ages; let him meddle with his match, and not "contend with a mightier than he," {#Ec 6:10} What though God create him darkness and evil, {as #Isa 45:7} let him wait upon God for better times, and not think to mend himself by murmuring against his Maker as too severe.

Shall the clay say, &c., ] q.d., This were an intolerable petulance.

Or thy work, it hath no hands?] Or, He hath no hands, sc., to fashion me aright. Thus the work seemeth to make answer to the clay; for as the clay said to the potter, Quid fecisti, What hast thou made? so the work saith, by way of jeer, he hath no hands, sc., to make me as he should have done.

Ver. 10. Woe unto him that saith to his father.] Are these fit words to a father? Is it not an impious morosity to talk unto him in this sort, Why hast thou begotten me at all? or if at all, why not rich, fair, wise? &c.

And to the woman, ] i.e., To his mother, {as #Isa 49:15} but such as he can hardly find in his heart to call mother.

Ver. 11. Thus saith the Lord, &c., ] q.d., Leave off such insolent and unbecoming language, and learn of me about what ye should rather busy yourselves.

Ask me of things to come.] Me, and not your wizards. Have recourse to "my prophets; believe them, and ye shall prosper." Let your patient mind be known to all men; the Lord is at hand for your deliverance.

Command ye me.] This is a wonderful expression, and doth notably set forth the power of prayer. Luther, it seemeth, well understood the latitude of this royal charter, saith one, {a} when praying for the recovery of a godly useful preacher who was far gone in a consumption, among other passages he let fall this transcendent rapture of a daring faith, "Let my will be done," but then he falls off sweetly, "My will, Lord, because thy will."

{a} Mr Burr.

Ver. 12. I have made the earth, ] q.d., I am the mighty maker and monarch of the world; therefore pray on, and patiently wait for a gracious answer, "he that believeth maketh not haste."

Ver. 13. I have raised him up, ] i.e., Cyrus. {#Ezr 1:1}

And I will direct all his ways, ] sc., When he cometh against the Babylonians, Lydians, &c., on mine errand. But when moved by his ambition, he invaded Scythia, and cruelly wasted the country, God took no further charge of him; as I may say, He that is out of God’s precincts, is out of his protection.

Ver. 14. Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt.] Here he turneth his speech to Cyrus, promising him that he should be no loser by his generous carriage toward the poor people of God, his captives, whom he freely dismissed without ransom. {#Isa 45:13} God’s retributions are more than bountiful.

Men of stature.] {a} The Arabians are reported to have been goodly personable men by Agatharchides, {b} an ancient writer, from whom Plutarch and Pliny borrowed much.

They shall come over unto thee.] Commodissime dicemus promissionem hanc referendum ad tempus revelati Evangelii. This was fulfilled chiefly when the gospel was preached, and nations thereby converted. {c} See #Ps 45:8 149:6-8. The bonds of the Holy Spirit are stronger than adamant, salth Ambrose.

Surely God is in thee.] Or, With thee; and hence thou, O Cyrus, so prevailest and prosperest. Thus these conquered kings shall supplicate and say to Cyrus.

And there is none else, there is no God.] Hence Mohammedans seem to have taken that which, out of their Alchoran, they daily proclaim in their mosques or meeting houses, "There is no god but God, and Mohammed his counsellor." Thus those kings; but what saith the prophet?

{a} Vel proceri, i.e., potentissimi agro.

{b} Agatharch., lib. v. cap. 20.

{c} Trem. in Ps l., xxxvii.

Ver. 15. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself.] {a} As thou art invisible, and dwellest in light inaccessible; so in thy dispensations thou goest a way by thyself, and thy judgments are unsearchable. "Thou hidest thyself," and standest off a while sometimes from the help of thy poor people, but wilt appear to them and for them in due time. The Septuagint here translate Tu es Deus et nesciebamus, Thou art God, and we knew thee not. And this the fathers interpret concerning Christ; and hence the Jews seem to have drawn that speech of theirs, "Christ when he cometh, no man knoweth whence he is."

{a} Haec approbatio est Prophetae. -Scultet.

Ver. 16. That are makers of idols.] The word rendered idols, signifieth properly Tormina, cruciatus, pains, and throes, and straits. Idolaters heap up sorrows to themselves, and terrors of conscience. See #Ps 16:4. {See Trapp on "Ps 16:4"}

Ver. 17. But Israel…with an everlasting salvation.] By Cyrus they were not so, for not long after, Antiochus afflicted them, Herod got the sceptre from them, the Romans came and took away both them and their nation; but the Israel of God were, and are still, saved by Jesus, with an everlasting salvation.

Ver. 18. He created it not in vain.] Therefore never think that he will forsake it, or not take care of his Church therein, for whose sake he made it at first, and still upholdeth it "by the word of his power." {#Heb 1:3} Now, if God created not the earth in vain, much less the heavens—wherein he hath showed his greater skill {#Heb 11:10} {See Trapp on "Heb 11:10"} -but that his people might there inhabit for ever. And here it is that they shall be "saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation"; yea, they "shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end." {#Isa 45:17}

Ver. 19. I have not spoken in secret.] As the sibyls did out of their dens; as the idol priests did out of their holes and underground vaults; as heretics and seducers, who creep into corners and there vend their false wares, as Vincentins Lirinensis long since observed. (Epiphanius fitly compareth them to moles, who do all their mischief by working underground.) But God, as he delivered his law openly on Mount Sinai, so his gospel he commanded to be preached "on the house top," and in Mount Zion. Christ "spoke openly" to the world. {#Joh 18:20} Truth seeketh no corners: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." {#Ro 1:16} But what was this word that was delivered so plainly and perspicuously?

Seek ye me.] And for your encouragement ye shall not do it "in vain"; for I am "a rewarder of all those that diligently seek me." {#Heb 11:6} Let heathen deities disappoint and delude those that seek to them; Jacob’s God scorneth the motion. He is better to his people than their prayers, better than their hopes; and when, with Gehazi, they ask but one talent, he, like Naaman, forceth them to take two.

I the Lord speak righteousness; I declare the things that are right.] Or, Even. So doth not the devil, but things sinful and obscene; as human sacrifices, promiscuous uncleannesses, ut in nefariis Priapi et Veneris sacris. Contrariwise, "all the words of God’s mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them." {#Pr 8:8}

Ver. 20. Ye that are escaped of the nations.] That have escaped the sword of Cyrus, and well proved how little your gods can do for you.

That set up the wood of their graven image.] Qui levant lignum, carrying them in pomp and procession upon their shoulders, as Papists now do their pictures, their breaden god especially, and crying to it, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth!"

Ver. 21. Who hath declared this?] sc., That the people of God should be set at liberty by Cyrus.

Ver. 22. Look unto me, and be ye saved.] While the moon looketh directly upon the sun, she is bright and beautiful; but if she once turn aside and be left to herself, she loseth all her glory, and enjoys but only a shadow of light, which is her own; so while men look to Christ, the "Sun of righteousness," and toward the "stars in his right hand."

For I am God, and none else.] This Judas Maccabeus acknowledged in his ensign, wherein this motto was written, Mi Camoca Belohim Iehovah, i.e., " Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Lord?" from the capital letters of which motto he took his name Maccabi. {a}

{a} Godw., Heb. Antiqu.

Ver. 23. That unto me every knee.] I will be known and obeyed all the world over, sc., by Christians. Of the Jews Jerome noteth, quod mentis superbiam demonstrantes genu non flectunt, that they bow not the knee in God’s service, but only stand up at times.

Ver. 24. Surely shall one say.] This shall be the Christian confession, "In the Lord have I righteousness," &c.—"Righteousness," i.e., mercy to those that come over to him, and strength to enable them to come, as the sea sendeth out waters to fetch us to it.

Ver. 25. Shall be justified.] By faith in Christ. {#Ro 5:1}

And shall glory.] Having peace of conscience they shall "glory in tribulation." {#Ro 5:1,3} Note this against merit mongers.

Chapter 46

Ver. 1. Bel is bowed down.] Jupiter Belus (as Pliny {a} calleth him), Babel’s chief God, is now become a prey to the Persians, and might be to them of as great worth as was Nebuchadnezzar’s solid gold image dedicated in Dura. {#Da 3:1,2} This great golden image some think to be the same that is here called Nebo or Nebuchadnezzar. Others think it to be Apollo Deus vaticinus. Tremellius rendereth it, the prophesying or oracular God. Jeremiah seemeth to call him Merodach. {#Jer 51:2} Dagon the Septuagint render him, but not well.

Your carriages were heavy laden.] Tam estis dii graves.

{a} Lib. vi. cap. 26.

Ver. 2. They stoop.] The Babylonians, together with their idols; ridiculous gods, that could be thus plundered, carried captives, borne on the backs of asses.

But themselves are gone into captivity.] Heb., And their soul went into captivity; that is, their idols, that were dear unto them as their very souls.

Ver. 3. Which are borne by me from the belly.] You do not bear me, as they do their idols in procession and otherwise; but I bear you, and so have done from the first, and shall do the last; like as the tender mother doth her beloved babe, or as the eagle doth her young upon her wings. {#Ex 19:4 De 32:11}

Ver. 4. And even to your old age I am he.] The mother beateth not her child in her bosom, when grown to some size. The eagle beateth her young out of the nest when able to prey upon their own wing; {a} but God dealeth better a great deal with his, whom he never casteth off; as neither doth he his labouring and languishing Church, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry.] God himself will do it; "I" is emphatic and exclusive.

“ Et si gratissima semper

Munera sint author quae preciosa facit.”

How sweet should this precious promise be unto us, and how sovereign against the fear of want in old age! Plutarch giveth this for a reason why old men are so covetous, viz., because they fear they shall not have τους θρεψοντας και τους θαψοντας, such as will keep them while they live, and such as will bury them decently when dead. The Lord here assureth all his that he will see to their support and sustentation as long as life lasteth, yea, for spirituals as well as temporals. This was no small comfort to old David, {#Ps 71:18} to Dr Rivet and others; and well it might. See #Ps 48:14. {See Trapp on "Ps 48:14"}

{a} Idem faciunt equi calcibus et canes morsu.

Ver. 5. To whom, {a} then, will ye liken me? {b} &c., ] q.d., To which of your paramours? for here the Lord returneth to his discourse against idolaters and their idols, earumque inanitatem et inopiam demonstrat, inveighing against them with no less stomach and indignation than a jealous husband against his adulteress’s gallants. Let every godless person, who idoliseth his lusts, think he heareth God thus bespeaking him, as in this text.

{a} Pathos habent verba me et cui. -A Lapide.

{b} Ibid.

Ver. 6. They lavish gold out of the bag.] They spare for no cost. Nebuchadnezzar did not in that vast Colossus. {#Da 3:1} Canutus bestowed upon a cross his whole annual entrado, or revenue. He also gave a hundred talents of silver and one of gold for St Augustine’s arm, which he bestowed on Coventry as a memorial of his blind zeal. The Lady of Loretto hath her churches so stuffed with vowed presents and memorials, as they are forced to hang their cloisters and churchyards with them. {a}

{a} Sandys’s Relation.

Ver. 7. They bear him upon their shoulders.] As the Papists’ breaden god, furfuraceum illud numen, is, at this day, borne about to be adored; whereas the true God "beareth up all things by the word of his power." {#Heb 1:3}

Yea, one shall cry unto him.] As they did to Baal in Elijah’s days; and the Cretans to their Jupiter, whom they therefore pictured without ears.

Ver. 8. Remember this.] Suffer me not to press these things so oft upon you to no purpose.

And show yourselves men.] Roboramini, Fortify your hearts by the word of God and true reason, renewing your good resolutions oft against this senseless sin of idolatry.

Bring it again to mind.] Heb., Bring back to heart, turn short again upon yourselves, recognise your iniquities, and be humbled.

Ver. 9. Remember the former things of old.] Again he calleth upon them to remember who had so foully forgot themselves in the days of Ahaz and Manasseh, and would do so again in Babylon, where they kept not themselves from idols. Papists unman themselves, or otherwise they could not be such gross idolaters.

Ver. 10. Declaring the end from the beginning.] This foretelling of things future is a precellency in God above idols that he much standeth upon.

I will do all my pleasure.] What God pleaseth to do, there is no question but he is able to do. But they are out who argue from God’s power to his will.

Ver. 11. Calling a ravenous bird, ] i.e., Cyrus, who was ‘hawk-nosed,’ and came swiftly to seize upon Babylon like a falcon, or some such ravenous bird. So Nebuchadnezzar is called an "eagle"; {#Jer 48:40} Xenophone testifieth that Cyrus had in his standard a golden spread eagle, as had after him the Persian kings, and likewise the Romans. See #Mt 24:28. {See Trapp on "Mt 24:28"}

{a} Cyropaed., lib. vii.

Ver. 12. Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted.] Ye cruel Chaldeans; and here some begin the next chapter.

That are far from righteousness.] And therefore not far from ruin. {#Ps 119:155}

Ver. 13. I will bring near my righteousness.] I will suddenly right my wronged people, by Cyrus my servant, but especially by Christ my Son. Therefore it followeth,

I will place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory.] Or, In Israel, my magnificence—i.e., Now which of your idols can do thus for their worshippers?

Chapter 47

Ver. 1. Come down.] From thy lofty top and towering state, as the head city of the world. {a}

Sit in the dust.] {b} As a mourner. {#Job 2:8 42:6} So Judea, being subdued by Vespasian, was pictured upon money coined by him as a handmaid sitting on the ground. Sic ruet alto a culmine Roma!

O virgin daughter of Babylon.] Thou that hast never yet been subdued. So Venice hath for her motto, ‘Intacta maneo’; so Cologne-upon-Rhine is called ‘the virgin city.’

Thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.] So as queens use to be—-Cleopatra, for instance.

{a} Sic transit gloria mundi. , So fleeting is the glory of the world.

{b} Cyrillus wrote εν τω οκοτει.

Ver. 2. Take the millstone.] As the most abject slaves used to do, qui in pistrinum trudebantur. Neither is this an end of thy sorrows; for out of the mill house thou must be carried captive into a far country, and therefore, in order thereunto,

Uncover thy locks.] Cast away thy diadem.

Make bare thy leg.] Denuda turpitudinem, the Vulgate rendereth it; that thou mayest pass through the waters naked and squalid into captivity.

Ver. 3. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered.] Thou shalt be stripped, and worse dealt with—the ordinary lot of women prisoners. At the sack of Magdeburg by Monsieur Tilly, ladies, gentlewomen, and others, like beasts and dogs, being naked and coupled together, were led into the woods, and there ravished. Such as resisted, the soldiers stripped naked, whipped them, cropped their ears, and so sent them home again.

I will not meet thee as a man.] But as a lion rather; thou shalt have vengeance without mixture of mercy. See #2Sa 7:24 Isa 13:6 27:7,8 Ho 5:14. Men use sometimes to deal favourably with women, but they shall not do so with thee. {a}

{a} Absque omni humanitatis contemperatione. -Scult. Tractabo te pro divina potentia mea. -Piscat.

Ver. 4. As for our Redeemer, &c.] This comes in by way of parenthesis, for the comfort of God’s poor people.

Ver. 5. Sit thou silent.] Here he threateneth Babylon with loss of her former fame; she shall be buried in obscurity and oblivion, as out of sight and out of mind, no longer called the ‘lady of kingdoms,’ but a wretched drudge, ut de Hecuba tradunt tragici.

For thou shalt no more be called.] Heb., Thou shalt not add to be called. Oecolampadius senseth it thus, Thou wast wont to be called the lady of kingdoms, now they shall call thee, Non adiecies, as desperate and irrecoverable. And why?

Ver. 6. I was wroth.] See on #Zec 1:15.

I have polluted mine inheritance.] God is his people’s inheritance, and they are his; but now, for their sins, he had dealt with them as with a profane and unclean thing.

Thou didst show them no mercy.] Heb., Thou didst set them no bowels. Cruelty cries for vengeance. See #Jer 50:17 51:24.

Upon the ancient.] Who should have been borne with for their age and weakness.

Ver. 7. I shall be a lady for ever.] Presumption precedeth destruction. {#Ps 10:6 Re 18:7}

So that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart.] The daughter of pride is security, and pleasure is her niece. {#Isa 47:8}

Nor didst remember the latter end of it.] Heb., Her latter end. Memorare novissima tua, et in aeternum non peccabis. See #La 1:4.

Ver. 8. Thou that art given to pleasure.] Delisatula; It is not good to take pleasure in pleasure; no, not to go as far here as we may. Verecunda sunt omnia initia peecati, Sin seemeth modest at first, &c.

Thou sayest in thine heart, I am, ] sc., The lady of the world. Heathen Rome was called by the heathens, Terrarum dea gentiumque. Rome Papal saith as much. {#Re 17:4}

And none else besides me, ] i.e., None worth speaking of. The Jesuits brag in like sort of their transcendent learning, and profess skill beyond the periphery of possible knowledge.

I shall not sit as a widow, ] i.e., Be bereft of my monarchy, which is, as it were, my husband.

Neither shall I know the loss of children.] I shall not cease to subdue countries and kingdoms, which are added unto me as so many children.

Ver. 9. But these two things shall come upon thee in a moment.] Accidit in puncto, &c. Babylon was suddenly taken in one night, as the prophet had foretold, {#Isa 21:9} and as the history testifieth {#Da 5:30} Periit inter pocula.

For the multitude of thy sorceries.] Thy taking upon thee to divine of each man’s life and fortune by the stars and horoscope, for which profession the Chaldeans were famous. But what a madness was it in Cardanus, who by the like skill went about to demonstrate that it was fatal to our Saviour Christ to die the death of the cross. {a}

{a} Alsted. Encycl., lib. xxx. cap. 10.

Ver. 10. Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness.] God calleth that "wickedness" which they counted wisdom.

None seeth me.] Ne Deus quidem novit rationes mess. Graceless men, having hid God from themselves, think also to hide themselves from God.

Thy wisdom and thy knowledge.] Thy magical arts and practices. Quantus artifex pereo? quadrabit in te peritum et periturum.

Ver. 11. Therefore shall evil come upon thee.] An evil, "an only evil," {as #Eze 7:5} both unexpected and inexpiable; such as thou canst neither avoid nor abide.

Ver. 12. Stand now with thine enchantments.] {a} Try thine utmost skill, and let us see what thou canst do for thyself. This is spoken in way of derision.

Wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth.] But found them to be no better than toilsome toys, quae nec ignoranti nocent, nec scientem iuvant, Against judiciary astrology, see Aug. De Civ. Dei, lib. v. cap. 1-5.

{a} Hinc divinatores per antonomasiam Chaldaei appellati.

Ver. 13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels.] As all such are sure to be, with a woe to boot, as "take counsel, but not of God; and that cover with a covering, but not by his Spirit, that they may add sin to sin" {#Isa 30:1} Thus do those vain astrologers, that pretend to read men’s fates and fortunes in the heavens, velut in Minervae peplo, and thence to foretell good and evil. But experience frequently confuteth them, as it did Abraham the Jew, who foretold by the stars the coming of their Messiah, A.D. 1464; and Albumazar, a Mohammedan wizard, who predicted an end of the Christian religion, A.D. 1460 at utmost. A great flood was foretold by these diviners to occur in the year 1524, cum planetae comitia in piscibus celebrarent. This caused the prior of St Bartholomew’s, in London, wise manlike, to go and build him a house at Harrow-on-the-hill, for his better security. {a}

Stand up, and save thee.] Save thee if they can: but Belshazzar found they could not, though he called for them all, {#Da 5:7,8} and they likely had promised him an everlasting monarchy—as some did the Romans imperium sine fine, but falsely; for now the Roman empire is at a very low ebb, and who shall be emperor is much questioned. {b}

{a} Hollinsh. in 1524.

{b} This was written, Sept. 19, 1637.

Ver. 14. Behold, they shall be as stubble.] As dried stubble. {#Na 1:10} {See Trapp on "Na 1:10"}

They shall not deliver themselves.] Much less others.

There shall not be a coal to warm at.] Like a fire of flax, which is soon extinct, and leaves no embers or cinders behind it. In a spiritual sense, it may be said of most of our hearts and houses as here, There is not a coal to warm at. Deest ignis, as Father Latimer was wont to say; the fire of zeal is wanting, that flame of God. {#So 8:6}

Ver. 15. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured.] But all in vain; viz., with thy wizards and diviners, those deceivers of the people, concerning whom Cato once said, Potest Augur Augurem videre et non ridere? {a} Can those fellows look one on another and not laugh, when they consider how they deceive people, and cheat them of their moneys? Hence they are called merchants also in the next words, as some think, qui non tam coeli rationem quam coelati argenti ducunt. {b} Such money merchants hath mystical Babylon also not a few. {#Re 18:11} Non desunt Antichristo sui Augures et malifici, saith Oecolampadius; Antichrist hath those abroad that trade with him and for him; these shall be "cast alive with him into the burning lake," {#Re 19:20} and though they wander, yet not so wide as to miss hell.

{a} Cic. De Divinat., lib. ii.

{b} Cic. orat. iv. in Ver.

Chapter 48

Ver. 1. Hear ye this, O house of Jacob.] Ye stiffnecked of Israel, and "uncircumcised in heart and ears, who do always resist the Holy Ghost," {#Ac 7:51} to you be it spoken; for to the "Israelites indeed" enough hath been said of this subject already.

Which are called by the name of Israel] {a} Sed nomen inane crimen immane. Ye are "called Jews, and make your boast of God," {#Ro 2:17} having a form of knowledge, {#Ro 2:20} and of godliness, {#2Ti 3:5} and that is all; the voice of Jacob, but the hands of Esau. Let such fear Jacob’s fear, "My father perhaps will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing." {#Ge 27:12} It is sure enough.

And are come forth out of the waters {b} of Judah, ] i.e., Out of the bowels, {as #Ge 15:4} as waters out of a spring. {#De 33:28 Ps 68:26} Judah was the tribe royal: hence they so gloried, and remained "ruling with God, and faithful with the saints," when other tribes revolted.

Which swear by the name of the Lord.] And not of Baal.

And make mention of the God of Israel.] Who was near in their mouths, but far from their reins. {#Jer 12:2 Ps 50:16} Religionem simulabant, cum in cute essent nequissimi. Arrant hypocrites.

But not in truth, nor in righteousness, ] i.e., Without faith and sound conversion.

{a} Picti estis Israelitae, estis hypocritae.

{b} Pro יממ videtur hic legendum יעממ

Ver. 2. For they call themselves of the holy city.] Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah; yea, they swore by their city and temple, as appeareth in the gospel, and cried out, ad ravim usque, " The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord," {#Jer 7:4} like as the Romists now do, The Church, the Church, glorying in the false and empty title of Roman Catholics. Sed grande est Christianum esse, non dici, saith Jerome; and it is a great vanity, saith the poet,

“ Respicere ad fumos et nomina vana Catonum.”

And stay themselves.] As far as a few good words will go. See on #Mic 3:11.

The Lord of hosts is his name.] So said these hypocrites, bearing themselves bold upon so great a God, who had all creatures at his command.

Ver. 3. I have declared the former things.] This God had said oft before; but being now to conclude this comfortable sermon, he repeats here the heads of what had been spoken in the seven foregoing chapters.

Ver. 4. Because I knew that thou art obstinate.] Heb., Hard, obdurate; therefore do I so inculcate these things, if by any means I may mollify thee. Hypocrites are harder to be wrought upon than other sinners.

And thy neck is an iron sinew.] Thou art utterly averse from, yea, adverse to any good; no more bended thereunto than if the body had for every sinew a plate of iron.

And thy brow brass.] Sinews of iron argue a natural impotence, and somewhat more; but brows of brass impudence in evil; quando pudet non esse impudentes, when men are shameless in sin, setting it "upon the cliff of the rock," {#Eze 24:7} and "declaring it as Sodom." {#Isa 3:9}

Ver. 5. I have even from the beginning, &c.] See #Isa 48:3. It is probable that there were many among the Jews who, when they saw themselves to be so punished, and the heathen prospered, would be ready to think that the God of Israel either could not or would not do for his people, as those devil gods did for theirs. For their help, therefore, under such a temptation, God was pleased to foretell his people what good or evil should betide them, and accordingly to accomplish it.

Ver. 6. Thou hast heard, see all this.] Here God extorteth from them a confession of the aforesaid truth, and urgeth them to attest and publish it.

Ver. 7. They are created now, ] i.e., They are now brought to light by my revelations and predictions.

Behold, I knew them.] By my gods or diviners, or by my natural sagacity.

Ver. 8. Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not.] "Yea," so oft used here, is very emphatic, and showeth how hardly sinners are borne down, and made to believe plain truths where they are prepossessed with conceits to the contrary.

And wast called a transgressor from the womb.] Ever since thou madest and worshippedst a golden calf in the wilderness, {See Trapp on "Ps 58:3"} and art still as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as ever thy fathers were. {#Ac 7:51}

Ver. 9. For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger.] Heb., Prolong it. Here he setteth forth the cause of his patience toward so perverse a people, viz., the sole respect to his own glory, whereof he is so tender, and so loath to be a loser in. Propter me faciam.

And for my praise.] The praise of my might and mercy.

That I cut thee not off.] Which I would do, "were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest thine adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this." {#De 32:27}

Ver. 10. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver.] Much less as gold, which is wont to be fined most exactly, and to the uttermost, because these precious metals will not perish by fire. But thou hast more dross in thee than good ore; therefore I have refined thee with favour, {#Ps 118:18} Ne totus disperires, lest I should undo thee; for if thy punishment should be commensurate to thine offence thou must needsly perish. {a}

I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction, ] i.e., In affliction, which is as a furnace or crucible. See #Eze 20:37.

{a} Non agam summo iure tecum. -Jun.

Ver. 11. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake.] This is oft repeated, that it may once be well observed. Bene cavet Spiritus Sanctus ubique in Scripturis ne nostris operibus salutem tribuamus; it is Oecolampadius’s note upon the first verse of this chapter, i.e., the Holy Ghost doth everywhere in Scripture take course that we ascribe not our safety to our own works. See on #Isa 43:13.

For how should my name be polluted?] As it will be by the blasphemous heathens, who else will say that their gods are fortiores et faventiores, more powerful and more merciful than the God of the Hebrews. Thus the Turks at this day, when they have beaten the Christians, cry up their Mohammed as mightier than Christ.

And I will not give my glory to another.] Press this in prayer: it is an excellent argument. {#Ex 32:12 Jos 7:9 Ps 79:9,10 115:1,2} The saints, after all other arguments used, hunc quasi arietem admovent, mind God of his glory engaged, and then doubt not to prevail with him.

Ver. 12. I am he.] Heb., Hu; this the Rabbis make to be one of the names of God. Sanchez here observeth, that by this threefold "I" is meant the holy Trinity: the deity of Jesus Christ is rightly proved from this text, compared with #Re 1:11 22:13.

Ver. 13. My hand hath also laid the foundation of the earth.] My left hand, say the Rabbis, as "my right hand spanned the heavens"; that is, meted them out as a workman doth his work. {a} God did but "call unto them" both, "and they stood up together." Vain therefore and needless was the disputation of the Samerites and the Hillelites among the Jews, whether was first created the heaven or the earth?

{a} Oecolamp., in loc.

Ver. 14. The Lord hath loved him, ] i.e., Cyrus. He so loveth his people that for their sakes he loveth all their benefactors and well wishers. See #Ge 12:3.

He will do his pleasure.] See #Isa 43:14.

Ver. 15. I have brought him.] Heb., Made him to go, or caused him to come, who of himself had no such mind to come on such a design. Herodotus telleth us that Cyrus had once resolved to abandon the siege of Babylon as unfeasible: but God altered his mind, as we here read, and prospered his work.

Ver. 16. Come ye near unto me and hear this.] God calleth often for audience, as knowing our dulness and crossness, our oscitance and inadvertence: a good mirror for ministers.

I have not spoken in secret.] See #Isa 41:26.

From the time that it was, there am I, ] viz., At the creation. {as #Pr 8:22,23} Or, I have from everlasting been the author of that counsel by which all these things have had, as it were, their first beginning; and afterwards, in their appointed time, I have brought them forth by my power. {a}

And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me, ] i.e., Me, Isaiah the prophet, whose writings should therefore be prized and believed by us as most authentic and authoritative, because he was commissioned by the blessed Trinity.

{a} Diod.

Ver. 17. I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit.] And do therefore so oft call upon thee to hear me, not for any benefit to myself, but to thee alone. And the truth is, in all the commandments of God, if they were open to us, if we did see the ground of them, we should see there were so much reason for them, and so much good to be got by them, that if God did not command them, yet it would be best for us to practise them.

Which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.] Heb., Making thee to tread in the way thou shalt walk, carefully choosing thy steps for thee, and setting thy foot right: thus "he led Joseph like a sheep," {#Ps 80:1} and "Israel through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble." {#Isa 63:13} Thrice happy are the saints in such a guide. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way." {#Ps 37:23}

Ver. 18. Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments.] See the like wishes, #De 32:29 5:29 Ps 81:13, implying that so they might have redeemed many sorrows, escaped many miseries.

Then had thy peace been as a river] "Great peace have all they that love God’s law, and nothing shall offend them," {#Ps 119:165} they shall have a confluence of all comforts and contentments: yet ever with an exception of the cross, as need requireth.

And thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.] Which are perpetual, fluctus fluctum trudit.

Ver. 19. Thy seed also had been as the sand.] As was promised to Abraham, and performed to his posterity; such a μυριομακαριοτης there is in godliness, and in doing of God’s commandments so great reward.

His name should not have been cut off.] As it was of old among the heathens (see Horace, Juvenal, Martial, &c.), and is at this day among the Turks, who usually swear, Iudaeus sim si fallam, &c. See #Zec 8:13. {See Trapp on "Zec 8:13"}

Ver. 20. Go ye forth of Babylon.] The word among the Jews that despaired of ever returning from Babylon: but the prophet, by an unexpected alarm, commandeth them to return, showing how and why they should do so, and carrieth himself no otherwise than as if he had been a captain in the midst of those captives, &c.

Ver. 21. And they thirsted not when he led, &c.] Your fathers did not of old: nor shall you now in your return homeward. The Jews tell us of many miracles then wrought also, but we read of no such matter in Ezra; and we know that God’s pilgrims shall want no necessary accommodation: that he will be sure to see to.

Ver. 22. There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.] Babylon’s best days are past: therefore go ye forth of her. {#Isa 48:20} The wicked of what nation soever that hearken not to God’s commandments, {as #Isa 48:18} well they may have a truce, but no true peace certainly. That which they have is pax infida, pax incerta {a} (as that of the Romans with the Samnites), a peace no peace; and how can it be better so long as their wickednesses and witchcrafts are so many? {#2Ki 9:22} Tranquillitas illa tempestas erit; as after a south wind arose Euroclydon, {#Ac 27:13,14} so, after a false peace, storm and tempest everlasting: this shall be the portion of their cup {#Ps 11:6} See #Isa 57:20,21.

{a} Liv. Hist., lib. ix.

Chapter 49

Ver. 1. Listen, O isles, unto me, ] i.e., Ye foreigners; for wicked Israel will not, and therefore have no true peace. {#Isa 48:22 Ps 119:165}

Unto me.] Understand it of Isaiah, but especially of Christ: for from hence to the end of this book, as the Jewish doctors also acknowledge, are visions and sermons set down concerning Christ’s twofold kingdom, viz., of patience and of power. See #Ac 13:47 2Co 6:2 Re 7:10.

The Lord hath called me from the womb.] Called me and qualified me, appointed and anointed me to the office of a mediator. Thus those that attend not, though never so remote, are deeply guilty before God. {#De 18:18,19 Ac 3:22,23}

Ver. 2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword.] He hath added efficacy to my doctrine, and will protect my person till I have finished the work that he gave me to do.

And made me a polished shaft.] That, being well pointed, will pierce at a distance, and either prick converts at the heart, {as #Ac 2:37} or cut refractories to the heart. {as #Ac 7:54} Christ will pursue his enemies both with the terrors of his words, his mouth being "made like a sharp sword," and with the plagues of his hands, being made like a polished shaft.

Ver. 3. Thou art my servant, O Israel, ] i.e., O Christ, who best deservest to be called by that name, who art also the head of the elect, that Israel of God. {#Ga 6:16}

Ver. 4. Then said I: I have laboured in vain.] I have done little more than preached my hearers to hell. The Pharisees and the lawyers "rejected the counsel of God against themselves"; {#Lu 7:30} they would not be forewarned to "flee from the wrath to come"; {#Mt 3:7} to "escape the damnation of hell." {#Mt 23:33} Our Saviour lost his sweet words upon them: so did the prophet Isaiah upon his untoward countrymen, who refused to be reformed, hated to be healed. Nothing was unconquerable to his pains, who had, as one saith of Jul. Scaliger, ‘a golden wit in an iron body’; but this matter was not malleable: hence he spake to them to as little purpose as Bede did when he preached to a heap of stones. Hence his complaint: {#Isa 53:1} "Who hath believed our report?" He might haply hope at first, as holy Melanchthon did, that it was impossible for his hearers to withstand the evidence of the gospel: but after he had been a preacher a while, it is said he complained that ‘old Adam was too hard for young Melanchthon.’ Rev. Mr Greenham, besides his public pains in season and out of season, was wont to walk out into the fields, and to confer with his neighbours as they were at plough. But Dry Drayton, the place where he was minister many years, though so often watered with his tears, prayers, and pains, was little the better for all: the generality of his parish remained ignorant and obstinate, to their pastor’s great grief, and their own greater damage and disgrace. {a} Hence the verses,

“Greenham had pastures green,

But sheep full lean, &c.”

He might well cry out, as many also do at this day, Eheu, quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in arvo! Our people, alas! are like Laban’s lambs or Pharaoh’s kine; they are even ministrorum opprobria. But if ministers toil all night and take nothing, it is to be feared, saith one well, that Satan caught the fish ere they came at their net.

Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord.] He will do me right, and reward me howsoever. The physician hath his praise and pay, though his patient dies; the lawyer hath his fee, though his client’s cause miscarry. Curare exigeris, non curationem, saith Bernard to a friend of his, It is the care, not the cure of your charge that is charged upon you. Jeremiah was impatient, and would preach no more; {#Jer 20:9} but that might not be. Mr Greenham left Dry Drayton, upon friends’ importunity, and moved to London, but he afterwards repented it. Latimer, speaking of a certain minister who gave this answer why he left off preaching, Because he saw he did no good, ‘This,’ saith Latimer, ‘is a naughty, a very naughty answer.’

{a} Mr Fuller’s Church Hist.

Ver. 5. To bring Jacob again to him.] To convert and reduce him to the fold: this is the proper work of the arch-shepherd. {#1Pe 2:25 3:18 5:4} Men may speak persuasively, but Christ alone can persuade the heart. Meum est docere, saith Cyril, rostrum auseultare, Dei vero perficere.

Though Israel be not gathered, ] viz., By God’s Word, which is his "arm"; {#Isa 53:1} or, will not be gathered. {as #Mt 23:37}

Yet I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord.] Who will reward me κατα τον κοπον και ου κατα τον καρπον, according to my pains, and not according to my success; {a} yea, it is more than probable that such as patiently persist in the work of the ministry, though few or none be converted thereby, shall have a greater measure of glory than those that see much fruit of their labours, and so have their honeycomb here to feed on.

{a} Secundum laborem, non secundum proventum. -Bern.

Ver. 6. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles.] De vocatione gentium illustre testimonium; and to this purpose it is cited by Paul and Barnabas. {#Ac 13:47 Joh 12:46 Lu 1:78,79}

That thou mayest be my salvation.] Vide quam Deo cordi et curae sit salus nostra, cum eam vocat suam. {a} See how God mindeth and fancieth our salvation, when he calleth it here "his salvation."

{a} A Lapide.

Ver. 7. To him whom man despiseth.] Christ was extremely despised in the state of his humiliation; {#Isa 53:2,3} his soul was filled with scorn and contempt; {as #Ps 123:3,4} he was heartily hated.

To him whom the nation abhorreth.] Jerome saith that, to this day, that execrable nation curseth Christ three times a day in their synagogues, and professeth that if their Messiah should come, rather than the Gentries should share with them in his benefits, they would crucify him over and over.

To a servant of rulers.] Christ was basely used by the rulers of the Jews, who never left till they had nailed him to the tree, which was a slave’s death among the Romans.

Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship.] As did Constantine, Theodosius, Valentinian, Charles the Great, &c., who called themselves vasallos Christi, the vassals of Christ.

And he shall choose thee, ] i.e., He shall declare that he hath chosen thee to be the Saviour of his people.

Ver. 8. In an acceptable time.] Heb., In a time of my good pleasure, or good will—i.e., when of free grace I am pleased to send thee into the world, and to cause the gospel to be preached all abroad, thereby declaring myself fully appeased with the "men of my good will," as the elect are called. {#Lu 2:14 2Co 6:2}

Have I heard thee?] Or, Will I hear thee—sc., interceding; and will I help thee—sc., conflicting.

And give thee for a covenant, ] i.e., For a mediator of the new covenant, which is ratified by thy blood: as was signified by the book sprinkled with the blood of the slain sacrifice.

To establish the earth.] Had not Christ undertook the shattered condition of the world to uphold it, it had fallen about Adam’s ears.

To cause to inherit the desolate heritages, ] i.e., Heaven, forfeited by us in our first parents; or, as others, the countries of the nations now converted.

Ver. 9. That thou mayest say to the prisoners, ] i.e., To such as lie hampered and enthralled in the invisible chains of the kingdom of darkness. To these Christ saith, Be refreshed with the light of saving knowledge, and with the liberty of the sons of God.

They shall feed in the ways.] As cattle do, that are removed from place to place; they shall have a subsistence till they get home to their Father’s house, where is "bread enough."

Ver. 10. They shall not hunger nor thirst.] A sufficiency the saints have, even of outward comforts, if not a superfluity; and for inward, sunt nobis pascua, pocula, et panis coelestis, they "shall not want"; {#Ps 23:1} yea, they shall "over exceedingly abound." {#2Co 7:4} So little cause is there for the Jew to jeer us as poor and forlorn; spiritual alimony we are sure of, and bread and water with the gospel are good cheer. See #Re 7:16.

Neither shall the heat nor sun smite them.] As #Ps 121:6. {See Trapp on "Ps 121:6"}

For he that hath mercy on them.] He saith not, Pastor, but Miserator, a sweeter title.

Even by the springs.] See #Ps 23:3. {See Trapp on "Ps 23:3"}

Ver. 11. And I will make all my mountains.] I will remove all rubs, and lay all level: pacifica erunt omnia, faecunda et suavia; who would not then take up Christ’s so easy a yoke? &c.

Ver. 12. Behold, these shall come from far.] The Jews from all parts, whither they have been dispersed, the elect from all quarters of the earth. {#Mt 8:11} {See Trapp on "Mt 8:11"}

And these from the land of Sinim.] Or, Of the Sinites—that is, of the Chinese, saith Junius and others, whom the Greek geographers call Sinois, a very populous nation. Botterus saith that there are reckoned seventy millions of men, which are more than are to be found in all Europe; and who knows but many of those of the ten tribes of Israel are there? {a}

{a} Arias Mont., Osorius, A Lapide, Mr Cotton.

Ver. 13. Sing, O heavens.] {a} The prophet having thus foretold the saints’ happiness in and by Christ, cannot hold, but breaketh forth into God’s praises, calling into concert all creatures which since the fall have lain bedridden, as it were, looking with outstretched neck for their full deliverance. {#Ro 8:23}

For the Lord hath comforted his people.] This is just matter of general joy.

{a} Enthusiastico iubilo, &c. -Oecolamp.

Ver. 14. But Zion said.] The Church hath her vicissitudes of joy and sorrow; mercies and crosses are interwoven; God checkereth his providences white and black; he speckleth his work. {as #Zec 1:8}

The Lord hath forsaken me.] No, never: Non deserit Deus, etiamsi deserere videatur; non deserit etiamsi deserat, { a} God may withdraw, but not utterly desert his; he may change his dispensation, not his disposition toward them.

My Lord hath forgotten me.] My Lord still, though little enjoyed at present. So #Ps 22:1. Plato could say that a man might believe, and yet not believe. "I believe," saith he in the gospel, "help mine unbelief"—that is, my weak and wavering faith.

{a} Augustine.

Ver. 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child?] It were a wonder she should grow out of kind as to be so unkind. The mother fasteth that her child may eat, waketh that he may sleep, is poor to make him rich, slighted to make him glorious. Occidar mode imperet, said she in story. God’s love to his is more than maternal. All the mercies of all the mothers in the world being put together would not make the tithe of his mercy. David saith much, {#Ps 103:13} "as a father pitieth his children," &c. Great was Jacob’s love to Benjamin, David’s to Absalom, so that Joab upbraideth him with it. {#2Sa 19:6} But God here saith more, "Can a woman forget," &c. The harlot could not yield to have her child divided. Arsinoe interposed her own body between the sword of the murderer and her dear children. Melanchthon telleth of a countess of Thuringia, who being compelled by her husband’s cruelty to go into banishment from her children, when she took leave of her eldest son she bit a piece of his cheek out, amoris notam cruento morsu imprimens, and so marked him for her own. {a} This is somewhat; but what is all this to the infinite? Was there ever love like God’s love in sending his Son to die for sinners? Christ himself wondereth at it; {#Joh 3:16} this was a sic so, without a sicut, just as, there being nothing in nature wherewith to parallel it. See #Ro 8:32.

Yea, they may forget.] They may put off natural affection, as some did in times of Popish persecution; Julius Palmer’s mother for instance. King Edward the martyr was basely murdered by his own mother. Egelred succeeded him, and much mourned for his brother, being but ten years old, which so enraged his mother, that taking wax candles, which were readiest at hand, she therewith scourged him so sore, that he could never after endure wax candles to be burnt before him.

{a} Chronic., lib. v.

Ver. 16. Behold, I have graven thee.] {a} So that as oft as I look upon mine own hands I cannot but think on thee. We read of one who had written the whole history of Christ’s Passion upon the nails of his hands in small letters. The "signet on his finger" a man cannot lightly look beside. See #So 8:6 Jer 22:24. Some think here is alluded to that precept given by God, of binding the Commandments to their right hand. {#De 6:8}

Thy walls are continually before me.] The Lord doth so delight in his servants, that their "walls are ever in his sight," and he loveth to look upon the houses where they dwell. See on #Ps 87:6.

{a} Non descripsit sed "sculpsit," et quidem "in manibus," utraque scilicet. -Scultet.

Ver. 17. Thy children shall make haste.] People shall come in amain to the Church. Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia. God can make a nation to conceive and bring forth in a day. {#Isa 66:8} How quickly was the gospel divulged and darted all the world over, as the beams of the sun! so in the late blessed Reformation begun by Luther.

And they that made thee waste.] Tyrants and heretics shall be cashiered. {as #Zec 13:2} Fiat, fiat. Let it happen, let it happen.

Ver. 18. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold.] As those use to do which look upon ought with wonder and delight.

Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them, as with an ornament.] The good sons of Zion are a great honour to their mother, as the two Scipios were to Cornelia; and as that elect lady’s children were to her. {#2Jo 2} A godly man is a gallant man, but the wicked are botches and blots to a Church.

Ver. 19. For thy waste and thy desolate places.] Heb., Thy wastenesses and thy desolations. The true Church then may lie waste and desolate and not be so gloriously visible, as the Papists falsely say it always is.

Shall even now be too narrow.] A metaphor from cities that being overcrowded send out colonies into other countries.

And they that swallowed thee up.] See #Isa 49:17.

Ver. 20. The children.] Heb., The children of thine orbity; such as are not yet received into the Church.

Give place to me that I may.] People shall offer violence to heaven, and the "violent shall take it by force": valde avide et quasi ambitiose accessuri sunt. Ezekiel describeth the Church of the New Testament to be very large and spacious, and yet she shall be so crowded as is a bee hive, out of the mouth whereof the bees oft hang in heaps for want of room within.

Ver. 21. Then shalt thou say in thine heart.] Est artificiosa fictio, et color rhetoricus.

A captive, and removing to and fro.] The condition of God’s Church on earth—to be afflicted and tossed from post to pillar, having no settled abode; as neither had the ark, but was transportative, till settled at length in Solomon’s temple.

Ver. 22. Behold, I will lift up my hand, &c., ] i.e., I will call them by the gospel, which is the power of God to salvation to all believers. {#Ro 1:16}

And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, ] sc., When they bring them to be baptized. Respicit ad puerilem conditionem: yet some expound it metaphorically, as #De 32:10 Ho 11:3.

Ver. 23. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers.] Such were David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, Constantine, Theodosius, Placilla, Queen Elizabeth, &c.

They shall bow down to thee.] They shall give thee civil worship, and low obeisance, and that for Christ’s sake, who is thine head and husband, and dwelleth in thee.

They shall bow down to thee, &c.] Such honour hath every saint through Christ. The Pope’s parasites would hence ground his holding out his feet to be kissed; yea, his treading upon kings and emperors. But Peter would none of this; {#Ac 10:25,26} so little cause had that Pope to cry out, Et mihi et Petro. Interpreters do rightly note that in these and the like texts, the prophet alludes to the manner of the Persians, among whom those that would speak unto the king, did first kiss the pavement that the king had trodden upon. {a} Hence Martial,

“ Pietorum sola basiare regum.”

The ancient Christians also, to honour and hearten their confessors, and such as suffered imprisonment for the truth’s sake, did use to kiss their hands, yea, to cast themselves down at their feet. Tertullian, writing to some of the martyrs, saith, Non tantus sum ut vos alloquar, I am not good enough to speak unto you. He telleth also of some in his time, that they did reptare ad vincula martyrum, creep to the bands of the martyrs in way of honour to them.

{a} Xenophon, lib. viii. Plutarch., in Alcib.

Ver. 24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?] Not unless he be out matched and over mastered. The heathens were wont to ask, Who can wring a club out of Hercules’s hand, or a lightening bolt out of Jove’s? The captive Jews here seem to ask, Who can deliver us from the Babylonians, who have both might and right for them? for we are their lawful captives, and we see not how we can be set at liberty. Thus they thought at least, if they spoke not as much, not looking at all to the power and faithfulness of God, sed ad praesentium rerum spectra, ac hostium potentiam. Those that look downward on the rushing and roaring streams of miseries and troubles which run so swiftly under them, shall be sure to be taken with a giddiness, &c., but such as steadfastly fasten on the power and promise of God all-sufficient, shall be established.

Ver. 25. But thus saith the Lord.] Here is a full answer to the former objection, as God doth usually in the Scripture frame answers to men’s thoughts; the law is spiritual and heart reaching.

And I will contend with him that contendeth with thee.] I will overpower the devil and thy most headstrong lusts, bringing thee out of his slavery, so that thou shalt be able to do all things through Christ who strengtheneth thee. {#Php 4:13} Thy temporal enemies also, thy persecutors, shall feel my power, as did Pharaoh, Nero, Diocletian, Julian, &c. See on #Ge 12:2.

Ver. 26. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh.] Which yet "no man ever hated, but nourisheth and cherisheth it." {#Eph 5:29} But Zion’s enemies should one destroy another, and be put to such straits as the Jews were in the siege of their city by Titus, that they fed upon their own flesh, and the flesh of their children. {a} So hard a thing it is "to kick against the pricks"; quae in coelum expuunt, in faciem ipsorum recidunt.

And they shall be drunk with their own blood.] Yea, drowned in it, as was Attila king of Huns, {b} Felix, Count of Wartenburg, a great warrior and bloody persecutor of the Lutherans, who was choked in his own blood, and Charles IX of France, to whom a certain poet thus rightly speaketh,

“ Naribus, ore, oculis, atque auribus undique, et ano,

Et pene, erumpit qui tibi, Carle, cruor,

Non tuus iste cruor, sanctorum at caede cruorem

Quem ferns hausisti, concoquere haud poteras.”

{a} Alterum ut alterius mactatum sanguine cernas.

{b} Flac. Illyr.

Chapter 50

Ver. 1. Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement.] Heb., Abscission. This bill was called by the Greeks ‘Αποστασιον: but none such could here be produced or proven as given by God to the Jewish state; but that the disloyalty was theirs, and their dereliction on their part. God had neither rejected them though innocent, (as some husbands did their wives out of a peevish and selfish humour), nor sold them though obedient, as some fathers did their children, for payment of their debts; for he is neither debtor to any nor non-solvent. {#Ro 11:35,36}

Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves.] O duram servitutem! O miseram necessitatem! "You have sold yourselves," as Ahab did, to work wickedness, {#1Ki 21:20} and therefore I have justly sold and abandoned you into the hands of your enemies. {#Jud 2:13,14 3:7,8 Ps 44:11,12}

Is your mother, ] i.e., The synagogue, whereunto the Jews do yet still adhere as to their mother; and the Lord did then acknowledge himself to be her husband, but now he hath worthily cast her off.

Ver. 2. Wherefore, when I came, was there no man?] Christ "came unto his own, but his own received him not." {#Joh 1:11} This was condemnation, {#Joh 3:19} their rebelling against the light of the gospel; this was the great offence, the damning sin, the very cause of their utter rejection.

Is my hand shortened at all?] Or rather, Have not you, by your obstinace and incredulity, transfused, as it were, a dead palsy into the hand of Omnipotence? "He could do there no mighty work because of their unbelief": {#Mr 6:5} of so venomous a nature is that cursed sin.

Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea.] I have done it, you know, {#Ps 106:9} and can do it again. Be not therefore "faithless, but believing." {#Joh 20:27}

Ver. 3. I clothe the heavens with blackness.] I did so in that three days’ darkness in Egypt, {#Ex 10:21,22} and shall do so again at the time of my passion. I can therefore, doubtless, deliver you, not only from Babylon, but from sin, death, and hell, by giving you an entrance into heaven by the waters of baptism, and by bringing you out of darkness into my marvellous light. {#1Pe 2:9}

And make sackcloth their covering.] Ita ut coelum pullata veste obtensum fuisse dixeris. So #Re 6:12.

Ver. 4. The Lord God.] Heb., The sovereign self-being.

Hath given me.] Me, Isaiah; but much more Jesus Christ, the arch-prophet of his Church, who "spake as never man spoke." {#Joh 7:46} See #Mt 7:28,29 Lu 4:22. "Grace was poured into his lips," {#Ps 45:2} and it was no less poured out of his lips, while together with his words there went forth a power, and he could persuade as he pleased; for what reason? "God had blessed him" (ib.).

The tongue of the learned.] A learned and elaborate speech it had need to be that shall affect the heart. {#Mt 13:52} Not every dolt can do it; but he who is "an interpreter, one among a thousand" {#Job 33:23} who can speak as the oracles of God, {#1Pe 4:11} sell oil to the wiser virgins, {#Mt 25:9} "comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient or forbearant toward all men." {#1Th 5:14} O quam hoc non est omnium! Such a choice man, thus taught of God, is worth his weight in gold. Such a one was Luther, such was Latimer (who was confessorgeneral to all Protestants troubled in mind), Bradford, Greenham, Dod, Sibbes, &c.

That I might know how to speak a word in season.] Tempestivare, to time or season a word, to set it "on the wheels," as Solomon phraseth it, {#Pr 25:11} that it may be "as apples of gold in pictures of silver," not only precious for matter, but delectable for order. {#Ec 12:10} Surely such a speaker "hath joy by the answer of his mouth; and a word spoken in his season how good is it!" {#Pr 15:23} This is the right medicine for the soul (as heathens also hammered at), far beyond all philosophical discourses, or any other consolatiunculae creaturulae, as Luther fitly expresseth it.

He awakeneth morning by morning.] {a} He constantly calleth me up betime, as a master doth his scholar to his book and business, for the which the morn is fittest. Christ’s indefatigable assiduity in teaching his perverse countrymen, left them without all excuse. {#Joh 15:22}

To hear as the learned, ] i.e., Attentively, as those that would be learned, and are therefore φνληκοοι, desirous to hear. Aristotle calleth hearing ‘the learned sense.’

{a} Indesinenter me informat Spiritu, non autem per momenta, ut omnes prophetas alios. -Jun.

Ver. 5. The Lord God hath opened mine ear.] Removing all lets, and making the bore bigger, as it were, thereby speaking home to my heart, and making me morigerous and obedient, against all affronts and misusages. For here our Saviour setteth forth his active obedience, as in the next verse his passive.

Ver. 6. I gave my back to the smiters.] Ecce pro impio pietas flagellatur, &c., saith Ambrose. {a} "Behold the man" (as Pilate once said), "the just" man scourged "for the unjust," {#1Pe 3:18} wisdom derided for the fool’s sake, truth denied for the liar’s sake, mercy afflicted for the cruel man’s sake, life dying for the dead man’s sake. What are all our sufferings to his? how oft have we been whipped, depiled, despitefully spat upon, &c., for his sake? Oh that I might have the maidenhead of that kind of suffering! said one of the martyrs in the Marian times; for I have not heard that you have yet whipped any. Bishop Bonner afterwards, with his own hands, whipped some, and pulled a great part of their beards off.

I hid not my face from shame and spitting.] That is, from shameful spitting. See #Mt 26:48 27:30. {See Trapp on "Mt 26:48"} {See Trapp on "Mt 27:30"} Discamus etiam hoc loco, saith Oecolampadius; Learn here also what is the character of a true Christian minister, namely, to express Christ to the world as much as may be, viz., by apt utterance, seasonable comforts, divine learning, ready obedience, constant patience, exemplary innocence, discreet zeal, &c.

{a} De Temp. Ser., 114.

Ver. 7. For the Lord God will help me.] And again, #Isa 50:9, "Behold, the Lord God will help me." This lively hope held head above water "Hope" we also "perfectly—or, to the end—for the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ." {#1Pe 1:13}

Therefore shall I not be confounded.] Heb., Ashamed, notwithstanding the shame they seek to cast upon me. {#Isa 50:6} I am as marble, to which no dirt will stick.

Therefore I have set my face as a flint.] Or, As steel (which is medulla slve nucleus ferri, saith Pliny). I have steeled my countenance. {as #Lu 9:51} See #Eze 3:8,9. So did Luther when he resolved to appear at Worms before the emperor, though he were sure to encounter as many devils there as were tiles upon the houses. {a} See #Ac 21:13.

{a} Acts and Mon., 776.

Ver. 8. He is near that justifieth me, ] i.e., God the Father will shortly clear up mine innocence, and declare me to be the son of God (my only crime now), "with power by the resurrection from the dead." {#Ro 1:4}

Who will contend with me?] So #Joh 8:46 Ro 8:33,34, where the apostle Paul, as a stout soldier and imitator of Christ, the "Captain of his salvation," useth the same argument, and teacheth us to do likewise.

Ver. 9. Behold, the Lord God will help me.] See #Isa 50:7.

Who is he that shall condemn me.] {a} If Libanius could say of his friend Basil (though of a different religion), Let but him praise me, and I care not who dispraiseth me; how much better might Christ, and may every good Christian say the same of God!

Lo, they shall all wax old as a garment.] The scribes and Pharisees (those old cankered carles) shall; for of them Jerome, Cyril, and others understand it. The Romans—according as they feared, and therefore crucified Christ {#Joh 11:48} -came upon them, and took away both them and their nation.

The moth shall eat them up, ] i.e., They shall be irrecoverably ruined, being once laid aside by God as an old wornout garment, which is made thereby food for moths. Thus it befell Pilate (saith Lyra here), banished by Tiberius; and thus it befell the priests, who were burned by Titus in the temple; who also added that it was fit that those which served in the temple should perish together with it.

{a} Κατα παντας εχω τα νικητηρια.

Ver. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord?] This question implieth that there were not many such among them. See the like, #Ho 14:9.

That obeyeth.] The fear of God frameth the heart to the obedience of faith. {#Ec 12:13}

That walketh in darkness, and hath no light.] That, being for the time deserted, are in a mist; so as that ye cannot read your own graces, see your own comforts, but walk in darkness though children of light, and are in such a state as Paul and his company was, {#Ac 27:20} when they saw neither sun nor stars for many days together, but were almost past hope.

Let him trust in the name of the Lord.] Let him do as those above mentioned did, cast anchor, even in the darkest night of temptation, and pray still for day, and it will dawn at length. Before daybreak the darkness is greatest; so is it oft in this case. Here then, as a child in the dark clasps about his father, so let the poor deserted soul about God. Distrust is worse than distress; and although the liquor of faith is never pure in these vessels of clay, without the lees of distrust; yet true faith will trust in God where it cannot trace him, and by an assurance of adherence, at least, get to heaven through mourning. As Christ was taken up in a cloud, or as the kine that carried the ark went right, but they lowed as they went.

And stay upon his God.] As the vine doth upon some support. Faith hath a catching quality at whatsoever is near to lay hold on; like the branches of the vine, it windeth about that which is next, and stays itself upon it, spreading further and further still. Fides est quae te pullastrum, Christum gallinam facit, saith Luther.

Ver. 11. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire.] That instead of relying upon God, would relieve yourselves by carnal shifts and fetches, a fire of your own kindling, or rather sparks of your own tinderboxes, strange fire, and not that of God’s sanctuary. Or say they be your own good works you trust to. Like as the phoenix gathereth sweet odoriferous sticks in Arabia together, aud then blows them with her wings, and burns herself with them.

That compass yourselves about with sparks.] Away with those tinder boxes of yours. What are your sparkles but such as are smitten out of a flint, which (1.) Yields no warmth or good light; (2). Are soon extinct; (3.) Nevertheless, you are sure to "lie down in sorrow," to be "cast into utter darkness," where you shall never see the light again till you see the whole world all on a light fire at the last day.

Walk in the light of your fire.] Do so if ye think it good; but your light shall be put out into darkness and worse; like as lightning is followed by rending and roaring thunder.

This shall ye have of my hand.] This I will assure of; and having spoken it with my mouth, I will fulfil it with my hand.

Ye shall lie down in sorrow.] As sick folk, who being in grievous pain, would fain die, but cannot. Cubatum ibitis, ad ignes, ad dolores et cruciatus. You shall make your beds in the bottom of hell, as it is said of the king of Babylon, {#Isa 14:11} and as of Pope Clement V it was reported, that upon the death of a nephew of his, whom he had sensually abused, he sent to a certain magician to know how it went with his soul in the other world? {a} The magician showed him to the messenger as lying in hell in a bed of fire. Whereupon the Pope was so struck with horror, that he never held up his head more, but soon after died also.

{a} Jacob. Revius, Hist. Pontif., p. 199.

Chapter 51

Ver. 1. Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness.] Heb., Ye that pursue or follow hard after it, as Paul did. {#Php 3:13,14} The speech is directed to those Jews that embraced the gospel; persuading them to persist in the faith, "in nothing terrified by their adversaries," since Almighty God would keep and help them, as he had done faithful Abraham and Sarah, their ancestors; to whom also he would of stones raise up sons {a} in the conversion of the Gentiles, and could do it as easily as he had hewed the Hebrews, that great nation, out of aged Abraham, and superannuated Sarah; who are here compared to a dry rock, and a deep pit.

And to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged.] Est honesta periphrasis actus coniugalis. The word here used is of the same root with Nekebah, the female kind of all creatures.

{a} Banim Meabanim.

Ver. 2. Look unto Abraham your father.] "Look" and again "look." "Hearken" and again "hearken." These poor Jews, before the coming of Christ in the flesh, were vino somnoque sepulti, drunk with the cup of God’s fury, {#Isa 51:17} and so fast asleep, that they needed to be thus roused and raised up to the hope of better times, which now were at hand.

And unto Sarah that bare you.] By the force of her faith also, {#Heb 11:11} her son Isaac was emeritae fidel filius. Now these domestic examples are alleged to assure them that God could do the like again in respect of spiritual children, Abraham’s right seed. {#Ga 4:22-31}

For I called him alone.] Be not ye therefore troubled at your aloneness.

And blessed him, and increased him.] God’s benediction is his benefaction; the Pope’s is not so; fumos vendit, fumo pereat.

Ver. 3. For the Lord shall comfort Zion.] (As once he did Abraham) by multiplying her children, giving her good store of converts. These were the apostles and the primitive Christians, those earthly angels, who made the world, which before was as a waste wilderness, to become a most pleasant and plentiful paradise. Chrysostom somewhere calleth them angels, and saith that they were puriores coelo afflictione facti, more clear than the azured sky.

Joy and gladness shall be found in them.] See #Isa 35:10.

Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.] Paul as the precentor sweetly sings and gives the note to us all, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us," &c. {#Eph 1:3-7}

Ver. 4. Hearken unto me.] See on #Isa 51:2.

For a law shall proceed from me, ] i.e., The gospel of grace, that "perfect law of liberty," "the law of the spirit of life." {#Ro 8:2}

And I will make my judgment to rest.] I will firmly and irrevocably establish the government of my word and Spirit in the Church for a secure guide to bring it to eternal life. Some {a} render it thus, "My judgment," i.e., my gospel, shall be for a light of the people, whereby I will give rest. So that here is a double effect of the gospel, viz., saving light, and peace of conscience.

{a} Diod.

Ver. 5. My righteousness, ] i.e., My faithfulness, or my Son, that Sun of righteousness, is already on the way, {a} and will be with you forthwith.

And mine arm shall judge the people, ] i.e., All that set themselves against the Lord and against his Christ, {#Ps 2:2} these shall feel his power to their perdition, even the force of both his arms.

The isles shall wait upon me.] They shall stretch out their souls as a line (so the word importeth), and direct them toward Christ.

And on mine arm shall they trust, ] i.e., On my power, or on my gospel promises.

{a} Iam amodo iter ingressa est. -Hyper.

Ver. 6. Lift up your eyes to the heavens.] Man hath a muscle more than ordinary to draw up his eyes heavenward.

And look upon the earth beneath.] How fast and firm it standeth. {#Ec 1:4} Yet the whole engine shall be changed. {#2Pe 3:10}

Shall die in like manner.] Or, Like a louse, as some render it.

But my salvation shall be for ever.] The gospel, together with the spiritual benefits thereby, shall outlast heaven and earth.

Ver. 7. Hearken unto me.] See on #Isa 51:2.

Ye that know righteousness.] With a knowledge apprehensive, and affective also.

The people in whose heart is my law.] And not in your heads only.

Fear ye not the reproach of men.] Tertullian thinketh that our Saviour alludeth to this of Isaiah in #Lu 6:22. We should not be scoffed out of our religion, but patiently suffer "cruel mockings."

Ver. 8. For the moth shall eat them up.] They shall be crushed before the moth, {#Job 4:19} that is, easily be destroyed, and their own consciences shall grub upon them too throughout all eternity.

But my righteousness shall be for ever.] Bear therefore bravely all contumelies and contempts of men.

Ver. 9. Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord.] God had promised what his holy arm should do for his people, {#Isa 51:5} now they beg of him to use it, and bestir himself for their relief and rescue; and this they do magno affectu atque animi impetu, heartily wishing the coming of Christ and the declaration of the gospel to their salvation.

Awake, as in the ancient days.] God seemeth sometimes to be asleep, and we must wake him; to delay, and we must quicken him; to have lost his compassions, which yet never fail, and we must find them for him.

Art not thou it that hath cut Rahab?] Or, Hewed Egypt with thy ten plagues successively, though she were a proud and potent state.

And wounded the dragon.] Or, Crocodile; that is, Pharaoh, {#Ps 74:14} whom thou didst put to pain, even the "pains of a travailing woman" (as the word signifieth), when he sank "as a millstone in the mighty waters."

Ver. 10. Art not thou it which hath dried the sea?] And canst not thou do as much again for thy poor people? This is an excellent way of arguing with God in prayer—viz., from his ancient acts.

Ver. 11. Therefore the redeemed of the Lord, &c.] This is God’s answer, as some; or the good people’s confidence, as others, that God would deliver them now, as he had done their forefathers from Pharaoh.

And everlasting joy.] As a fair and precious crown. {#2Ti 4:8} Some make it a metaphor from those that carry heavy burdens on their heads; St Paul calleth it a "weight of glory."

They shall obtain joy.] See #Isa 35:10.

Ver. 12. I, even I, am he that comforteth you.] This is certainly an answer to that supplication, {#Isa 51:10} and it comprehendeth a reprehension and an expostulation about their pusillanimity, which was more than womanly. Therefore it followeth,

Who art thou?] {a} Heb., Thou woman, thou hen hearted creature.

That thou shouldest be afraid of a man?] Heb., Sorry man, ab homine misero, aerumnoso, damnato ad mortem, ab hoste faeneo, An enemy of clouts, as we say. We trouble ourselves oft through ignorance; in the dark everything scares us.

{a} At, not Atta.

Ver. 13. And forgettest the Lord thy maker.] Thou considerest not wisely (1.) How fearfully and wonderfully thou art made; (2.) What a mighty power God put forth in the creation of the whole world; all which he will rather unmake again than thou shalt want seasonable help.

And hast feared continually every day.] Peior est morte timor ipse mortis.

And where is the fury of the oppressor?] q.d., It is but fury, and not power, and that not illimited neither; for "in the thing wherein they deal proudly, I am above them." {#Ex 18:11}

Ver. 14. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, ] i.e., Deliverance is even at the next door by; or, it is a description, saith Diodate, of the believers’ readiness in answering with the motion of their hearts to God’s calling and deliverance.

Ver. 15. For I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea.] Or, I the Lord thy God am he that stilleth the sea when the waves of it roar; how much more then can I curb and control the rage of man! "Surely," saith David, "the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain"; where the Septuagint have it, It shall keep holiday to thee, εωρταζει σοι.

Ver. 16. And I have put my words in thy mouth.] O Isaiah, my servant; but especially, O Christ, my Son.

That I may plant the heavens, &c.] God doth as great a wonder, in saying to Zion, "Thou art my people," in the work of renovation, as if he had made a new world. "Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature," or a new creation. {#2Co 5:17} Christ is called, "The beginning of the creation of God." {#Re 3:14} Some, by "planting the heavens and laying the foundation of the earth" here, understand the state of the gospel, called by St Peter a "new heaven and a new earth"; and the same, they say, is called by our Saviour "regeneration" in #Mt 19:28, "Ye which have followed me in the regeneration," &c.; and by the author to the Hebrews, "The world to come." {#Heb 2:5}

Ver. 17. Awake, awake.] Suscita te, suscita te. As the Church had stirred up the arm of the Lord to awake, {#Isa 51:9} so here he doth the Church, cheering her up, and, as it were, drinking to her in a cup of nepenthe, after her bitter cup of gall and aloes, which she had drunk to drunkenness, and had none to guide her, {#Isa 51:18} as a drunken man had need to have.

That hast drunk at the hand of the Lord.] Herein happy yet, that God had a hand in the mingling of thy cup; who, being a wise and gracious physician and father, would be sure not to overdo; for "he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust." {#Ps 103:14}

The cup of his fury.] Or, His cup of poison; {#De 32:24,33} so thou mistakest it, and therefore sputterest as if poisoned indeed. {#La 3:19}

Thou hast drunk the dregs.] Crassamentum, that thick stuff that settleth in the bottom, and usually is reserved for the worst of wicked ones, {#Ps 75:8} while the saints sip only of the top of the cup. {a} See #Eze 23,34.

Of the cup of trembling.] Poeuhtm horrifieentissimum bibisti, exsuxisti, The cup of concussion or horror, as a just punishment of thy cup of slumbering and security, wherein thou hadst before caroused. {#Isa 29:9,10}

{a} Illud tantrum bibunt quod est suavius et limpidius; est propemodum proverbialis locutio "bibere calicem," pro eo quod est perferre adversa. -Hyper.

Ver. 18. There is none to guide her.] This was a point next the worst, as we say. She was without prudent and pious magistrates and ministers, or other friends to advise her; and so she was δισκακοδαιμων—twice miserable. Christ hath promised all his, "I will not leave you destitute," or orphans.

Among all her sons.] Who should see to their aged parents and sublevate them, as pious Aeneas did, and as Scipio, who therehence had his name; but Zion’s sons were themselves in a dreadful plight, {#Isa 51:20} and in an ill case to relieve their mother.

Ver. 19. These two things are come unto thee.] As they seldom are separated; as some write of the asp, that he never wanders alone without his companion.

Who shall be sorry for thee?] Condole and comfort thee.

Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword, ] i.e., Desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword; or, as some will have it, desolation by famine and sword, and want of consolation. {as #Isa 51:18}

By whom shall I comfort thee?] By whom but by myself, when thou art at thy greatest under, and even forsaken of thy hopes. See #Isa 51:12.

Ver. 20. Thy sons have fainted.] Fame, macie, tabe, vulnere, utterly disabled to relieve thee. {#Isa 51:18}

As a wild bull in a net.] Taken in a toil, where he struggles and strives, foams and fumes, but cannot get out.

Ver. 21. Thou afflicted and drunken.] With a dry drunkenness, which thou canst not so easily sleep out. {#Isa 51:17}

Ver. 22. Behold I have taken.] Though man could not. Where human help faileth, divine help beginneth.

Thou shalt no more drink it.] i.e., Not of a long time, till thy last devastation by the Romans.

Ver. 23. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee.] Who shall drink it not to drunkenness only, as thou hast done, but unto madness. {#Jer 25:10} Belshazzar and his Babylonians did so; the revenging hand of God was afterwards upon Antiochus, Vespasian, and his children; Antichristians drink of the wine of God’s wrath. {#Re 14:10}

Bow down.] This passage setteth forth their extreme cruelty and thrasonical insolence. But the case shall be altered. {#Re 3:9}

Chapter 52

Ver. 1. Awake, awake.] Pluck up thy best heart, as we say, and rouse up thyself to receive the sweet promises; for as man’s laws, so God’s promises favour not them that are asleep, but awake and watchful.

O Jerusalem, the holy city.] Thou that hast been brought through the fire; being refined as silver is refined, and tried as gold is tried. {#Zec 13:9}

There shall no more come into thee.] Or, Against thee, i.e., I will not suffer tyrants to vex thee, or profane ones to harbour with thee. See #Isa 35:8.

Ver. 2. Shake thyself from the dust.] Wherein thou layest along when trampled on. {#Isa 51:23}

Arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem.] Rather, Arise, sit up, O Jerusalem. It hath been noted before, that when Vespasian had subdued Judea, money was stamped with a woman sitting in the dust, with this inscription, Iudaea subacta.

Loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck.] From thy spiritual servitude especially. {as #Lu 1:74 Ro 6:19} Shake the devil’s yoke from off thy neck, gestague monilia sponsae et libertatis, and get on the spouse’s ornaments.

Ver. 3. For thus saith the Lord.] Thus he pleadeth the cause of his people. {#Isa 51:22}

Ye have sold yourselves for nought.] Heb., Ye were sold for nought. I had not so much as thanks for you from the enemy; {a} no more hath he from the devil: and yet a letter was framed in Hildebrand’s days as sent from the devil, wherein he kindly thanked the Popish clergy for the many souls they daily sent him to hell by their negligence and wickedness. {b}

And ye shall be redeemed without money.] Heb., Without silver. So were we. {#1Pe 1:18}

{a} Babylonii non egerunt mihi gratias. —- Piscat.

{b} Mat. Paris. Hist., A.D. 1072.

Ver. 4. And the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.] Nulla iniuria lacessitus. So did the primitive persecutors, the Christians of those times, though they were non aliunde noscibiles quam ex vitae integritate, saith Justin Martyr; eminent for their innocence, as Pliny also in his epistle to Trajan the emperor testifieth. What hurt had the Israelites ever done to malicious Moab that he was irked at them? {#Nu 22:3} or the Hebrews to the Assyrians, that they should oppress them?

Ver. 5. Now, therefore, what have I here?] Cui bono? To what purpose or profit? For what wealth or worth suffer I my poor people to lie captives here at Babylon? Or, as others {a} sense it, what make I here any longer at Jerusalem when my poor people are in durance at Babylon? Why hasten I not to help them out?

They that rule over them, make them to howl, ] i.e., The Chaldeans, and after them the Romans, and then the scribes and Pharisees, by "binding heavy burdens grievous to be borne, and laying them on men’s consciences." {#Mt 23:4}

And my name continually every day (or, all the day long) is blasphemed.] That is all I get by the bargain.

{a} Piscator.

Ver. 6. Therefore my people shall know my name, ] sc., That I am Jehovah; {as #Ex 6:3} the God of Amen, {#Isa 65:16} who "will not suffer my faithfulness to fail, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth." {#Ps 89:33,34} And it shall therefore be so because my name—that nomen maiestativum -hath been blasphemed and vilified. God’s people fare the better for their enemies’ insolencies.

That I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.] Or, That it is I that do speak, saying, Lo, here I am. This some understand to be the second person in the Trinity, the eternal Son of the eternal Father, called "the Word," {#Joh 1:1} and there are those who give us this rule—Where the Old Testament bringeth in God appearing and speaking, we are to understand it always to be the second person. See #Joh 12:37-42.

Ver. 7. How beautiful!] Quam amaeni, i.e., amabiles! How amiable or desirable. Interrogatio admirantis et exultantis.

Upon the mountains.] Whence they may best be heard, {as in #Jud 9:7} saying, as there, "Hearken unto me, that God may hearken unto you." Our Saviour, that arch-evangelist, who, as some, is here first and chiefly meant by Mebassher, him that bringeth good tidings, "seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain," {#Mt 5:1} which is said to be in the tribe of Naphtali, and called Christ’s Mount to this day. His apostles afterwards travelled and trudged on foot over hills and dales—what a compass fetched Paul! {#Ro 15:19} Intervallum illud est milliariorum Germanicorum, 350, so that he might better be called, than afterwards George Eagles the martyr was, Trudge-over-the-world—to preach the gospel and to plant churches, to whom their feet, though fouled and worn—how much more their faces?—were deemed delectable and debonnaire. {#Ga 4:14 Ac 10:21} The Pope, Peter’s pretended successor, holdeth forth his feet to be kissed, but preacheth not; or not peace, but war, which he stirreth up by his roaring bulls.

Of him that bringeth good tidings.] Whosoever he be that preacheth the gospel, that chief work of a minister. {#Ro 10:15} Of Mr John Dod it is written, and I know it to be true, that he was very evangelical, striving first to make men see their lost condition clearly—for, said he, sense of misery must go before sense of mercy—and then largely and excellently opening the promises, and the grace of God in Christ according to the gospel, looking at that as the most effectual preaching. Some, said he, labour still to keep men under terrors, loading them with threatenings, &c., lest they should not be humbled enough: but the gospel worketh true humiliation, not the law; it ariseth from sense of sin and misery joined with hope of mercy. The damned have terror and sense of misery enough, but that doth not humble them.

That publisheth peace.] The gospel is a doctrine of peace, {#Eph 2:17} whose author is the "God of peace," {#1Co 14:33} whose ministers are "messengers of peace," {#Ro 10:15} whose followers are the "children of peace." {#Lu 10:6-11} If any know not how they came by their peace, but are like the Israelitish women, quick of delivery, before ever the midwife (the minister) can come at them, they have cause to suspect their peace.

That bringeth good tidings.] As before, but never enough, mentioned and memorised. Some critics {a} tell us that the Hebrew word here used, signifying also flesh, showed that the incarnation or taking flesh should be generally good news to the whole world, even the best tidings. The old church had επαγγαλιαν, the "promise"; we have ευαγγελιαν, the "joyful tidings."

That publisheth salvation.] Publicantis Iesum, so some {b} have rendered it: the concrete for the abstract.

That saith to Zion, Thy God reigneth.] Maugre the malice of earth and of hell. This is the sum of all the good news in the world. It is happy that Christ liveth and reigneth, said a godly man, for else I had utterly despaired.

{a} Bishop Andrews.

{b} Leo Castrius ex Procop., et Euseb.

Ver. 8. Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice.] Heb., The voice of thy watchmen—sc., " Thy God reigneth"; or, as in the following verse, "Break forth into joy," &c.

They lift up the voice, they sing together.] As having "no greater joy than that their children walk in the truth," {#2Jo 4 1Th 3:8} and the contrary.

For they shall {a} see eye to eye.] And be able to say, as #1Jo 1:1, "That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon" (and what so sure as sight?) "declare we unto you."

{a} Id est cominus evidentisaime, ut #Nu 14:14.—Jun.

Ver. 9. Break forth into joy.] This is the subject matter of gospel ministers’ discourses: they shall call upon God’s people to rejoice, {#Isa 52:9,10} and to repent, {#Isa 52:11,12} and shall show them that it is as well a sin not to rejoice as not to repent.

Ver. 10. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm.] Nudavit, id est, exeruit, in answer to your prayer. {#Isa 51:9} God oft answereth his praying people ad cardinem desiderii, { a} as Augustine saith, letteth it be to them even as they will. Scanderbeg ever fought against the Turks with his arm bare, and that with such fierceness that the blood did oftentimes burst out of his lips. It is written that he, with that bare arm of his, slow three thousand Turks in the time of his wars against them. {b}

Shall see the salvation of the Lord.] Shall see it and sing of it. {#Isa 52:9}

{a} Confes., lib. v. cap. 8.

{b} Turk. Hist., fol. 287.

Ver. 11. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out, &c.] Here we have a double repetition redoubled, and all little enough to bring them out of Babylon (not half, as may be probably thought, returned, which was no small prejudice to those that did), and us out of this wicked world; whereunto we are so affixed and addicted that nothing can sunder us but an extraordinary touch from the hand of Heaven. "Save yourselves from this perverse generation." {#Ac 2:40} "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men: avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away." {#Pr 4:14,15, a parallel place}

Be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord.] Id est, qui gestatis arma, instrumenta, adeoque insignia Christi; all ye true believers who are made spiritual priests, {#Re 1:6} and especially all ye holy ministers who, as mystagogues, handle the law, {#Jer 2:8} and administer the sacraments, being yourselves choice vessels of honour to "bear Christ’s name unto his people." {#Ac 9:15} See #2Ti 2:21.

Ver. 12. For ye shall not go out with haste.] Neither with fright nor flight shall ye depart, as once ye did out of Egypt. And this spiritually denoteth the mature deliberation and calm mind with which believers do forsake the world to follow Christ. {a}

For the Lord will go before you.] He will be unto you both van and rear. The Lord is a man of war, {#Ex 15:3} yea, he alone is a whole army of men, as here.

{a} Diod.

Ver. 13. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently.] Or, Shall prosper. {#Isa 53:10} Here some, {a} and not unfitly, begin the next chapter, which hath Christ also for its subject, as the Chaldee paraphrast and some old Jewish doctors acknowledge. Johannes Isaac, a Jew, was converted by reading it. This I confess ingenuously, saith he, that that chapter brought me to the faith of Jesus Christ. And well it might; for, taken together with these three last verses, it is an entire prophecy, or rather a history of Christ’s person and acts, both in the state of his humiliation and exaltation.

He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.] This great advancement was the consequence of his great abasement. {#Php 2:6-11} His human nature, wherein he suffered so for our sakes, hath, by virtue of the union with the Deity, these high prerogatives: (1.) An exuberance and excess of glory. {#Eph 1:21} (2.) The grace of divine adoration together with the Deity. {#Heb 1:6 Php 2:9} (3.) Power over all things for his people’s use. {#Mt 28:18} (4.) Judiciary power, to be judge of all. {#Ac 17:31}

{a} Aug. De Civ. Dei, lib. xviii, cap. 29; Justin, contra Tryphon.; Orig., lib. i. contra Cels.

Ver. 14. As many were astonied at thee, ] viz., At thine abasement first, and then at thine advancement thereupon. All things in Christ are admirable; well, therefore, might he be called "Wonderful." {#Isa 9:6}

His visage was so marred more than any man.] Partly through the anguish of his mind at his Passion and on the cross, and partly also by the misusage of his body, while they made totum pro vulnero corpus, by their scourging, scratching, racking on the tree, piercing, buffeting, &c.

And his form more than the sons of men.] Plusquam filii Adae, more than those of the common sort; whereas naturally his body, being of the finest temperament, and no way diseased, could not but be very beautiful. See #Ps 45:2. {See Trapp on "Ps 45:2"}

Ver. 15. So shall he sprinkle many nations.] With his doctrine, {#Eze 20:46 Am 7:16} or with his blood, that blood of sprinkling. See #Heb 10:22. Or with water in baptism, wherein sprinkling is sufficient.

Kings shall shut their mouths at him.] As being astonished at his prudence and prosperity. {#Isa 52:13} They shall also silently and reverently submit to his sceptre, and to the laws of his kingdom, with all humble observance.

For that which had not been told them.] The mystery of the gospel so long time concealed. {#Ro 15:21 16:25}

Shall they see, ] viz., With the eyes of their faith, God enlightening both organ and object.

And that which they had not heard.] Gospel truths. See #1Co 2:9. {See Trapp on "1Co 2:9"}

Chapter 53

Ver. 1. Who hath believed our retort?] q.d., The Gentiles, some of them, even of their potentates, have believed our report concerning the Messiah: {#Isa 52:13-15} but, Lord, how few Jews will give credit to what we have said? Albeit this chapter may not unfitly be called "The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Isaiah"; {a} and things are here set down so plainly that Augustine thinks they need no exposition; yet those buzzards, the later Rabbis, cannot, or rather will not, see that the prophet speaketh here all along concerning Christ; but do strangely writhe, wring, and wrest his words to a wrong sense, applying them, some to Moses, some to Ezra, some to Joshua, the son of Josadak, &c. John Isaac, indeed, the Jew, confesseth of himself, as hath been said before, that by pondering upon this chapter he was converted to the Christian religion. The like we read of some few others in Andreas Bayna and Cornelius a Lapide. But the Jews themselves will tell you, falsely and maliciously, that such pretended proselytes are not of them, but poor Christians hired by us to impersonate their part. Such a thick veil is still before their eyes, such a hard hoof upon their hearts, till God pleases, by his own holy arm made bare, to remove it. "They could not"—that is, they would not—"believe." {#Joh 12:39} "They have not all"—nay, scarce any in comparison—"obeyed the gospel," {#Ro 10:16} but blasphemously call it Avengelaion, a volume of vanity, scorning to be saved by a crucified God, although by mighty miracles wrought among them he showed himself to be the Son of God, and an arm to save all who believe in his name. {#Joh 12:37}

And to whom is the arm of the Lord?] i.e., His gospel, which is his power to salvation, {#Ro 1:16} and is hid only to them that perish. {#2Co 4:3}

{a} Lib. i. De Consens. Evang., cap. 31.

Ver. 2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant.] His beginning shall be mean and despicable. See #Isa 11:1, with the notes. God hid his Son under the carpenter’s son; this the Jews much stumbled at, {#Mt 13:55,57 Lu 24:1 Joh 7:27,41,52 1Co 1:23} that Christ should come without sightly show or state. {a} But they should have known that his kingdom is not of this world. Some of their Rabbis can say, In regno Messiae nihil mundanum. In the reign of the Messiah, nothing is worldly.

He hath no form or comeliness.] How could he? say, when his fair face was covered, sanguine, sputo, spinis, lachrymis, with blood black and blue, swelths, spittle, tears, scratches, so that Pilate, wondering at it, said, "Behold the man," q.d., he is not dealt with as a man; but being in greatest misery, he deserveth to be pitied.

And when we shall see him.] Here the prophet taketh upon him the person of a carnal Jew, who judged of Christ according to his outward appearance. {#Joh 7:14} But what saith the Chaldee proverb? Ne spectes cantharum vel urceum, sed id quod in eo est. Look not on the pitcher, but on the liquor that is contained in it.

And when we shall see him there is no beauty.] Heb., And we shall see him, and no sight or sightliness.

That we should desire him.] And yet he was a man of desires, yea, the "desire of all nations," {#Hag 2:7} all over desirable: {#So 5:16} but so he is only to such as have their "senses exercised to discern good and evil." {#Heb 5:14}

{a} Humilis Christi prosapia notatur.

Ver. 3. He is despised and rejected of men.] Heb., Desitus virorum, one at whom the nature and name of man endeth; as we would say, the very lift and fag end of mankind, nullificamen hominis, { a} a worm and no man, not held so good as wicked Barabbas, but crucified between two thieves, as worse than either of them, and made nothing of. {#Mr 9:12} This is so plainly here set forth that some of the Jewish doctors, Aben Ezra for one, whenas they cannot rightly distinguish between the two comings of Christ, the one in humility and the other in glory, duos construunt Christos, they make us up two Christs, the one the son of Joseph, to whom agree those things which the Scriptures speak of concerning Christ’s meanness and sufferings; the other, the son of David, to whom they apply those things that are written concerning the glory, majesty, and triumphs of Christ. {b}

A man of sorrows, ] q.d., Made up of sorrows. {c} Atque hic mirus artifex est propheta; and here the prophet showeth singular skill in describing Christ’s state of humiliation through all the degrees of it. And faith is much happier in finding out his cross, blood, nails, tomb, and all, than ever Helen was, or any Popish relic monger, and in making use of them too, to better purpose than that Popish convent of friars do, who have hired those places of the Turk, built temples, altars, and silver floors in honour of the passion.

And acquainted with grief.] Heb., Knowing of infirmity, or inured to it. See #Heb 4:15. The Greek Litany hath, "By thine unknown sorrows and sufferings, good Lord, deliver us."

And we hid as it were our faces from him.] Or, And he hid as it were the face from us, viz., as one for his loathsomeness, his low condition, ashamed to be seen. The Jews, in the Talmud, {d} question, What is the name of Messiah? Some answer, Hhenara, leprous; and he sitteth among the poor in the gates of Rome, carrying their sicknesses.

He was despised.] Double despised; and for the unworthiness of the things, this is repeated.

And we esteemed him not, ] i.e., We contemned and derided him.

{a} Jun., Tertul.

{b} Genebrard.

{c} Ex doloribus conflatus , caused from his sorrows.

{d} Sanhedrin.

Ver. 4. Surely he hath borne our griefs.] He took our infirmities natural, though not sinful; or, He suffered for our offences. And his satis sufficient passion is our satisfaction, as Luther phraseth it. He suffered, saith Peter, "the just for the unjust." He "bore our sins in his own body on the tree." {#1Pe 2:24} He, the true scape goat, "taketh away the sins of the world," {#Joh 1:29} bearing them into the land of forgetfulness. This is his continual act, and this should be as a perpetual picture in our hearts. "Surely" he did all this for us; iuramentum est vere. This surely or truly is an oath, for better assurance and satisfaction to any doubting conscience. For which cause also the same thing is said over again, {#Isa 53:5} and herewith agreeth that of the apostle in #1Ti 1:15, "This is a sure saying, and worthy of all men to be received, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners."

Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, ] sc., For his own deserts, and not for ours. We looked upon him as a deceiver, a winebibber, a blasphemer, and one that wrought by Beelzebub, &c., and therefore we crucified him.

Smitten {a} of God.] Percussus Dei, saith the Syriac. The apostle saith, "God spared not his Son"; {#Ro 8:32} and because the creature could not strike a stroke hard enough, himself was "pleased to bruise him." But that this was done for his own proper sins, and in a way of vengeance, was a gross mistake.

And afflicted.] Or, Humbled. He was "stricken," "smitten," "afflicted." But then afterwards he was "exalted," "extolled," and "made very high." {#Isa 52:13} We also who "suffer with him shall be glorified together," and in a proportion. {#2Ti 2:12}

{a} Flagellatum a Deo, Whipped by God.—Theodotion.

Ver. 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions.] Not for his own; for he "knew no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth"; nevertheless he took upon him whatsoever was penal that belonged to sin, that we might go free. He was content to be in the winepress that we might be in the wine cellar.

He was bruised for our iniquities.] Εαυτον αφηκεν εις βελεμνον, as Anacreon did upon a worse occasion.

“ Cernis ut in toto corpore sculptus amor!”

O love, that love of his! as Bernard speaketh; let it bruise our hard hearts into pieces, grind them to powder, and make them fall asunder in our bosoms like drops of water. Let us propagate our thankfulness into our lives, meditating returns answerable in some proportion to our Saviour’s sufferings.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him.] They which offered burnt offerings of old were to lay their hand upon the head of the beast, thereby signifying the imputation of our sins unto Christ, and that we must lay hand on him by faith, if we look for any comfort by his death and passion. {a}

And with his stripes we are healed.] By the black and blue of his body after he was buffeted with dry blows; and by the bloody welts left on his back, after he had been scourged, which was a punishment fit for dogs and slaves. Nero they threatened to scourge to death, as judging him rather a beast than a man. But what had this innocent Lamb of God done? And why should the physician’s blood thus become the sick man’s salve? We can hardly believe the power of sword salve.

{a} Oh that as Christ was crucifixus, crucified, so he were cordifixus. held fast in the heart.

Ver. 6. All we, like sheep, have gone astray.] Gone of our own accords, as "longing to wander"; {#Jer 14:10} to wander as sheep, lost sheep, than the which no creature is more apt to stray, and less able to return. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib. "The very swine accustomed to the trough, if he go abroad, yet at night will find the way home again. Not so the silly sheep. "Lo, ye were all as sheep going astray," saith Peter, "but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." {#1Pe 2:25}

We have turned every one to his own way.] Quo variae errorum formae innuuntur, dum suas quisque opiniones sectatur. Each one, as he is out of God’s way, so hath his own by way of wickedness to wander in; wherein yet, without a Christ, he cannot wander so far as to miss hell.

And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all, ] i.e., Of all his elect. The iniquity of us all he hath made to meet on him, so the Hebrew hath it; or, To light on him, even the full weight of his wrath and dint of his displeasure, for our many and mighty sins imputed unto him. Let the Jew jeer at this and say, that every fox must pay his own skin to the flayer; let the Romanist reject imputed righteousness, calling it putative, by a scoff; there is not anything that more supporteth a sinking soul than this "righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." {#Php 3:9} This manus Christi, as nailed to the cross, is the only medicine for a sin sick soul, believe it.

Ver. 7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, ] Heb., It, the punishment of our sin, was exacted; and he, being our surety, was afflicted. Or, It was exacted, and he answered, i.e., satisfied.

Yet he opened not his mouth.] Though he "suffered, the just for the unjust," {#1Pe 3:18} with the unjust, upon unjust causes, under unjust judges, and by unjust punishments. Silence and sufferance was the language of this holy Lamb, "dumb before the shearer," insomuch as that Pilate wondered exceedingly. The eunuch also wondered when he read this text, #Ac 8:32, and was converted. And the like is related of a certain earl called Eleazar, {a} a choleric man, but much altered for the better by a study of Christ and of his patience. "I beseech you, by the meekness of Christ," saith Paul; and Peter, who was an eyewitness of his patience, propoundeth him for a worthy pattern. {#1Pe 2:23} Vide mihi languidum, exhaustum, cruentatum, trementum, et gementem Iesum tuum, et evanescet omnis impatientiae effectus. Christ upon the cross is as a doctor in his chair, where he readeth unto us all a lecture of patience.

He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.] Or, As a sheep that is led to the slaughter, which, when we see done, we should think of Christ, and see him as it were in an opera glass. The saints of old did so in their sacrifices; and this was that hidden wisdom David speaks of, #Ps 51:8; the ceremonial law was their gospel.

And as a sheep before her shearer is dumb.] The word Rachel signifieth an ewe. {#Ge 31:38 32:14} This ewe hath brought forth many lambs, such as was Lambert and the rest of the martyrs, who, to words of scorn and petulance, returned Isaac’s apology to his brother Ishmael, patience and silence; insomuch as that the persecutors said that they were possessed with a dumb devil. {b} This was a kind of blasphemy.

{a} In vita eius apud Surium.

{b} Acts and Mon., fol. 811.

Ver. 8. He was taken from prison and from judgment.] Absque dilatione et citra iudicium raptus est, sc., ad crucem, so Vatablus rendereth it. He was hurried away to the cross without delay, and against right or reason, {a} Or, as others, he was taken from distress and torment into glory when he had cried, Consummatum est, It is finished; and, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. The Seventy render it somewhat otherwise, as may be seen, #Ac 8:33. The apostle Peter explaineth it, #Ac 2:24.

And who shall declare his generation?] Or, Who can reckon his age or his race? Or, Who can utter or describe his generation? i.e., the wickedness of the men of those times he lived in. Or, the history of his life and death. Some understand it to be his eternal generation. {#Pr 8:24,25} Others of his incarnation, that great "mystery of godliness." Quantus enim Deus quantillus factus est homo! Others {b} of his holy seed, his cross being fruitful, and his death giving life to an innumerable generation. {#Re 7:9}

For he was cut off out of the land of the living.] Quasi arbor saevis icta bipennibus; as a tree that is hewn down. {#2Ki 6:4}

For the transgression of my people.] Our iniquities were the weapons, and ourselves the traitors, that put to death the Lord of life; Judas and the Jews were but our workmen. This should draw dreary tears from us. {#Zec 12:10}

{a} Inaudita causa for an unheard reason.

{b} Augustine.

Ver. 9. And he made his grave with the wicked, ] i.e., He should have been buried among malefactors had not rich Joseph begged his body. Or, His dead body was at the disposal of wicked ones, and of rich men or rulers, the Jews and Pilate, at his death.

And with the rich.] The same, say some, with wicked. And indeed Magna cognatio ut rei sic nominis, divitiis et vitiis. Rich men are put for wicked rich. {#Jas 5:1} And how hardly do rich men enter heaven! Hyperius thinks that the two thieves crucified together with Christ were rich men, put to death for sedition; and Christ was placed in the midst, as their chieftain; whence also that memorable title set over his head, "King of the Jews."

Because he had done no violence.] Or, Albeit he had done, &c., notwithstanding his innocence and integrity.

“ Nec te tun plurima Pentheu

Labentem texit pietas.”

Ver. 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.] Singula verba hie expendenda sunt cum emphasi, saith one. {a} Here every word hath its weight, and it is very sure that the apostles and evangelists, in describing the mysteries of our salvation, have great respect as to this whole chapter of Isaiah, so especially to these three last verses. And it must needs be that the prophet, when he wrote these things, was indued with a very great Spirit; because herein he so clearly setteth forth the Lord Christ in his twofold estate of humiliation and of exaltation, that whereas other oracles of the Old Testament borrow light from the New, this chapter lendeth light to the New in several places.

He hath put him to grief.] Or, He suffered him to be put to pain. See #Ac 2:23 4:28. God the Father had a main hand in his Son’s sufferings, and that out of his free mercy, {#Joh 3:16} for the good of many.

When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.] Compare #2Co 5:20, "He made him sin for us that knew no sin." Our sins were laid upon him, as the sins of him that sacrificed were laid upon the beast; which was thereby made the sinner, as it were, and the man righteous. Christ’s soul suffered also. {#Mt 26:38} It was undequaque tristis, surrounded with sorrows, and heavy as heart could hold. This sacrifice of his was truly expiatory and satisfactory. Compare #Heb 10:1,2.

He shall see his seed.] Bring many sons to God, {#Heb 2:10,13 Isa 53:8} a holy seed, the Church of the New Testament to the end of the world, {#Ps 72:17} filiabitur nomine eius. The name of Christ shall endure for ever; it shall be begotten as one generation is begotten of another. There shall be a succession of Christ’s name, till time shall be no more. {b}

And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.] He came to send fire on the earth, which while he lived upon earth was already kindled. {#Lu 12:49} This some interpret as the gospel, which how wonderfully it spread and prospered, the evangelical and ecclesiastical histories testify.

{a} Hyper.

{b} Parit dum perit, et perit dum parit. -Phaenicis aenigma.

Ver. 11. He shall see of the travail of his soul.] Or, Because his soul laboureth, he shall see (his seed), and be satisfied. A metaphor from a travailing woman. Compare #Ac 2:24 Joh 16:21.

And shall be satisfied.] {a} As a parent is in his dear children, or a rich man in the sight of his large farms and incomes. If therefore we would gratify and satisfy Christ, come by troops to the ordinances.

By his knowledge, ] i.e., By the lively light and impression of faith. {as #Joh 17:3 Ac 25:23 26:18 Joh 6:69} Faith comprehendeth in itself these three acts—knowledge in the understanding, assent of the will, and trust of the heart; so that justifying faith is nothing else but a fiducial assent, presupposing knowledge. The Popish doctors settle the seat of faith in the will, as in its adequate subject, that they meanwhile may do what they will with the heart, and with the understanding. To which purpose they exclude all knowledge; and as for confidence in the promises of Christ, they cry it down to the utmost, and everywhere expunge it by their Indices Expurgatorii; for a bare assent, though without wit or sense, is sufficient, say they; and Bellarmine defendeth it, that faith may better be defined by ignorance than by knowledge.

Shall my righteous servant.] Jesus Christ, "the just one." {#1Jo 2:2} "Jehovah our righteousness." {#Jer 23:6}

Justify many, ] i.e., Discharge them from the guilt of all iniquity by his righteousness imputed unto them. This maketh against justification by works. Cardinal Pighius was against it; so before him was Contarenus, another cardinal. And of Stephen Gardiner it is recorded, that he died a Protestant in the point of man’s justification by the free mercies of God and merits of Christ. {b}

For he shall bear their iniquities.] Baiulabit; that, by nailing them to his cross, he may expiate them.

{a} Saturabitur salute fidelium quam esurivit.

{b} Fuller’s Church Hist.

Ver. 12. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great.] Or, I will give many to him. {#Ps 2:8} Some sense it thus: I will give him to conquer, plunder, and spoil the evil spirits; {as #Col 2:15} and this he shall have for a reward of his ignominious death, and his intercession for some of his enemies, whom he conquered by a new and noble kind of victory, viz., by loving them and by praying for them.

And he was numbered with transgressors.] So he became a sinner, though sinless: 1. By imputation; 2. By reputation.

And he bare the sins of many.] Not of all, as A. Lapide here would have it, because all are many, &c.

And made intercession.] For those that with wicked hands crucified him; {#Lu 23:34 Ac 2:23} so for others still. {#Heb 7:25}

Chapter 54

Ver. 1. Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear.] O Church Christian, O Jerusalem that art above, the mother of us all, the purchase of Christ’s passion, {#Isa 53} to whom thou hast been a bloody spouse, {#Ac 20:28} an Aceldama or field of blood, {#1Pe 1:18,19} he hath paid dear for thy fruitfulness. As the blood of beasts applied to the roots of trees maketh them sprout and bear more fruit, so doth the blood of Christ, sprinkled on the roots of men’s hearts, make them more fruitful Christians, as it did the Gentiles whose hearts were purified by faith. {#Ac 15:9 Ga 4:27} The grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died there, abode not alone, but brought forth much fruit. {#Joh 12:24}

For more are the children of the desolate.] The Christian Church, made up of Jews and Gentiles, shall have a more numerous and glorious offspring than ever the synagogue had. Sarah shall have more issue than Hagar, Hannah than Peninnah.

Ver. 2. Enlarye the place of thy tent.] Thus he speaketh after the custom of those countries wherein was frequent use of tents; neither is it without a mystery, since we are all strangers in this world, neither have we here any continuing city. Justin Martyr saith {a} of the Christians of his time, that every strange land was to them a country, and every country a strange land. They looked upon themselves as citizens of the new Jerusalem.

{a} Epist. ad Diog.

Ver. 3. For thou shalt break forth, ] i.e., Bring forth abundantly, and beyond belief. Margaret Countess of Henneberg, brought forth at a birth in Holland three hundred and sixty-five children, one skull whereof I have seen, saith mine author, no bigger than a bead or bean. {a} The Church brought forth three thousand at one birth, {#Ac 2:41} and some whole nations at another. {#Isa 66:8 Ro 10:18}

And thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles.] Shall spiritually become lords of the world, peopling it with a new and holy generation of such as "seek God’s face, this is Jacob." {#Ps 24:6} This text the Jews and millenaries carnally construe.

{a} Fuller’s Hist. of Cambridge, p. 28.

Ver. 4. Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed.] As widows and barren women wont to be. Thou hast been "without God and without Christ in the world"; but henceforth thou shalt be "married to him who is raised from the dead, that thou mayest bring forth fruit unto God." {#Ro 7:4} Ipse enim quod vult iubet, et dat quod iubet. {a} When you would and should be certain and quiet in conscience, saith Mr Bradford, martyr, in a sweet letter of his to a woman troubled in mind, then should your faith burst through all things until it come to Christ crucified, and the eternal sweet mercies and goodness of God in Christ. Here, here is the bridal bed, here is your spouse’s resting place; creep into it, and in your arms of faith embrace him. Bewail your weakness, your unworthiness, your diffidence, &c., and you shall see he will turn to you. What said I, you shall see? Nay, I should have said, you shall feel he will turn to you. {b}

{a} Augustine.

{b} Acts and Mon., 1490.

Ver. 5. For thy Maker is thine husband.] {a} Heb., Thy Makers. {#Job 35:10} {See Trapp on "Job 35:10"} De sancta Trinitate dictum, saith Junius. Isaac hath the name of the most loving husband we read of in holy writ; but his love to Rebecca was not comparable to this of Christ to his Church, {#Eph 5:25,26} where I doubt not but the apostle Paul had respect to this passage in Isaiah.

The Lord of hosts is his name.] Therefore thou, his wife, art sure of protection and provision, of all things necessary "to life and godliness"; for he "hateth putting away," {#Mal 2:16} and will bear with more than any husband else would. {#Jer 3:1 Joh 13:1} Surely "as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him" {#Ps 103:11}

The God of the whole earth.] Of the Church universal.

{a} Mariti tui factores tui.

Ver. 6. For the Lord hath called thee.] Or, Recalled thee.

As a woman forsaken, grieved in spirit.] Because forsaken. This the Lord, out of his conjugal affection, cannot endure.

And a wife of youth.] Which can least of all bear such a rejection, as being in her prime, and likely to be a long time desolate and disconsolate. If the Church in this condition can but say, as that Duchess Dowager of Milan once did, Sola facta solum Deum sequor, he will say, as in #Jer 2:2, "I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals."

Ver. 7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee.] I have made thee believe so, at least, by suffering thee to "fall into manifold temptations," {#Jas 1:2} but for thy greatest good: {#Heb 12:11} as (1.) For probation; (2.) For prevention; (3.) For purgation; (4.) For preparation to mercy. And although it should last as long as life, yet that were but for a moment. For what is life but a spot of time between two eternities? And God therefore taketh liberty to do it, because he hath such an eternity of time to reveal his kindness in; time enough for kisses and embraces. But usually God taketh off the smarting plaster as soon as it hath eaten away the proud flesh.

But with great mercies.] Heb., With great tender mercies, such as the mother beareth towards the babe of her own body. {#1Ki 3:16} God’s mercies are more than maternal.

Will I gather thee.] Or, Take thee up. {#Ps 27:10} {See Trapp on "Ps 27:10"}

Ver. 8. In a little wrath.] God can let forth his wrath in minnums, in little bubbles, as the word here rendered "wrath" properly signifieth. This wrath to the saints is but love displeased, and soon pacified again.

I hid my face from thee.] God sometimes concealeth his love out of increasement of love; he departeth from us, but then turneth again and looketh through the chinkers, as that martyr phraseth it, to see how we take it. Fathers leave their children, saith one, the other side the stile, and help them over when they cry; they seem to leave them sometimes in a throng, and then reach them the hand again upon their complaint. So is it here. To say God hath cast me off because he hath hid his face, is a fallacy fetched out of the devil’s topics. When the sun is eclipsed, foolish people may think it will never recover light; but wise men know it will. As, during the eclipse, though the earth wanteth the light of the sun for a time, yet not the influence thereof; for the metals that are engendered in the heart of the earth are concocted by the sun at the same time; so doth God’s favour visit men’s hearts in the power, heat, and vigorous influence of his grace, when the light and comfort of it is intercluded. {a}

But with everlasting kindness.] See a like elegant antithesis, with a double hyperbole to boot in #2Co 4:17.

{a} Dr Goodwin.

Ver. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah.] #Ge 9:9,11.

For as I have sworn, ] i.e., I have said it. God’s word is as good as his oath. See the like, #Ex 32:13 Ge 12:7.

So have I sworn.] And given thee the sacraments for thy confirmation, like as I gave him the rainbow.

Ver. 10. For the mountains shall depart.] See #Mt 24:35 Ps 46:2. {See Trapp on "Mt 24:35"} {See Trapp on "Ps 46:2"}

But my kindness shall not depart from thee.] This sweet promise comforted Olevian at the point of death. Although sight, hearing, speech depart from me, said he, yet God’s lovingkindness shall never depart. This was somewhat like that of David in #Ps 73:26, "My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."

Neither shall the covenant of my peace.] God is in a league with his people, offensive and defensive, such as was that of Jehoshaphat with Ahab, and this covenant is a hive of heavenly honey.

Ver. 11. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted.] This is the Church’s style and state in this present life: Ecclesia est haeres crucis, The church’s cross clings, saith Luther. None out of hell have suffered more than saints.

Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours.] So that thou shalt be a city of pearl, having for thy foundation the Lord Christ, {#1Co 3:11} for thy windows, the holy prophets, apostles, and other faithful preachers, by whose ministry thou shalt receive the light of true knowledge, {#Da 12:3} and for thy walls and gates the divine protection. See #Re 21:11-21. All this is to be understood as the spiritual excellence of the Church, which is begun in this life, and to be perfected in the life to come.

And lay thy foundations with sapphires.] Compare #Ex 24:10, where Moses and the eiders are said to have "seen the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness." To show that God had now changed their condition, their bricks made in their bondage to sapphire, their lying and sooting among the pots into the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers of pure gold. {as #Ps 68:13}

Ver. 12. And I will make thy windows of agates.] Or, Of crystal, which is purus et durus.

And thy gates of carbuncles.] Which are of a flame colour.

And all thy borders.] That is, all thy bordering cities, say the Rabbis. As Plutarch saith of the neighbouring villages of Rome, in Numa’s time, that sucking in the air of that city they breathed righteousness, may be much better affirmed as the Church.

Ver. 13. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord.] Outwardly, by his word; inwardly, by his Spirit: and here he explaineth that which he had spoken before concerning gems and jewels. The glory of the Church consisteth not in outward splendour, but in inward virtues and gifts of the Holy Ghost, which are found only in God’s disciples.

Ver. 14. In righteousness shalt thou be established.] Righteousness is here opposed to oppression. Regiment without righteousness, is but robbery with authority.

For thou shalt not fear.] Or, That thou mayest not fear.

And from terror.] Tyranny is terrible.

For it shall not come near thee.] See #Ps 32:6. {See trapp on "Ps 32:6"}

Ver. 15. Behold, they shall surely (or sedulously) gather together, ]{ a} Heb., He shall, gathering, gather together, i.e., the enemies, as one man. Some understand it as heretics and hypocrites, who shall dwell together with the Church, so they render it; but shall be evil affected toward it, but to their own ruin,

Whosoever shall gather together against thee.] Qui accolit tecum contra te. Such are those renegade Jesuits that run over to the Lutherans, pretending to be converts, when it is only to keep up the bitter contention that is between them and us.

{a} Commorabuntur.

Ver. 16. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals, ] i.e., The devil, say some; rather his imps and instruments, those kindle coals and tools of his.

And I have created the waster to destroy.] Those brats of Abaddon. I have determined their evil doings, overruling the same, and directing them to a good end.

Ver. 17. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.] But shall be, as the poets feign of Ajax’s sword, which so long as he used against men, his enemies, served for help and defence; but after he began to abuse it to the harm of harmless beasts, it turned into his own bowels.

And every tongue thou shalt condemn.] As the eclipsed moon, by keeping her motion, wades out of the shadow, and recovers her splendour, so shalt thou when slandered. See #Ps 37:6. {See Trapp on "Ps 37:6"}

This is the heritage.] Given them freely, and for perpetuity.

And their righteousness.] The clearing up of their wronged innocence.

Chapter 55

Ver. 1. Ho, every one that thirsteth.] Sitit sitiri Dominus, saith Nazianzen, {a} the Lord even thirsteth to be thirsted after; he "seeketh such to worship him as will worship him in spirit and in truth." {#Joh 4:23} Hence this present proclamation, "Ho, every one," of what nation soever, that is duly affected with the preceding discourse of Christ’s all-sufficiency to save, {#Isa 53:11,12} and the church’s glory and safety. {#Isa 54:11-17}

That thirsteth.] That, being scorched and parched with the sense of sin and fear of wrath, brayeth and breatheth after true grace and sound comfort, as the hunted hind doth after the waterbrooks; {#Ps 42:1,2} {See Trapp on "Ps 42:1"} {See Trapp on "Ps 42:2"} as David did after the water of the well of Bethlehem; {#2Sa 23:15,16} as the Lamb of God did when roasted in the fire of his Father’s wrath, he cried aloud, Sitio, I thirst. {#Joh 19:28 Ps 22:11,16}

Come.] Non passibus sed affectibus itur ad Christum. Repent, and believe the gospel. {#Mr 1:15} Repentance is here set out by a word of activity. "Come, buy," &c. The frame of a true repenting heart is in an active coining posture, fitted for any service, when the wicked "pine away in their sin," {#Eze 33:10} and so perish eternally. {#Ps 9:17}

To the waters.] To Christ the fountain of living water, upon which you had turned your backs. {#Jer 2:13} Ortelius telleth us that in Ireland there is a certain fountain whose water killeth all those beasts that drink thereof, but harms not the people that usually drink it. Christ also is "set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel." {#Lu 2:34} His ordinances are a savour of life to some, and of death to others. {#2Co 3:16}

And he that hath no money.] Or, Money’s worth. Many would come to Christ, but they would come with their cost; wherefore they run up and down to borrow money from the creatures or from the ordinances, using the means as mediators, and sharking in every bycorner for comfort; but men may be starved before they buy, if they go this way to work; for these in themselves are broken cisterns, empty granaries, and

“ Herrea formicae tendunt ad inania nunquam.”

In the Lord Christ is all fulness, {#Joh 1:16} not of plenty only, but of bounty also. To this fountain, if we bring but our empty vessels well washed, {#Jer 4:14} we shall return well refreshed, and replenished with good things, when the proud self-justiciary shall be sent empty away, and shall not once taste of wisdom’s dainties {#Pr 9:2-5}

Buy.] Emite, i.e., comparate et comedite, get Christ "with all your gettings"; get him, whatever else you go without; part with all you have to compass this "pearl of price." {#Mt 13:44,46 16:24,25} This gold cannot be too dearly bought. {#Re 3:18} Heus saeculares, comparate vobis Biblia, animae pharmaca, saith Chrysostom by a like expression.

And eat.] That is, believe; hic enim edere, est credere, and this water, this wine, may be eaten also: nec enim rigat tantum sed et cibat. Christ is to his, water to cool them, wine to comfort them, milk to nourish them, bread to strengthen them; he is all that heart can wish or need require. They who have once "tasted how good the Lord is" cannot but thirst after him, and be unsatisfiable. Optima demonstratio est a sensibus. Eat therefore; it is a virtue here to be a holy glutton.

Yea, come.] Heb., And come; come and come; yea come, come, come; linger not, loiter not, frame not excuse, strain not courtesy, hang not off by a sinful bashfulness; it is good manners to fall to your meat.

Buy wine and milk.] Anything, everything that is good and comfortable, for Christ is all and in all. {b} As the worth and value of many pieces of silver is in one piece of gold, so all the petty excellencies scattered abroad in the creatures are united in Christ. Apollonius writeth, that in the court of Aeta, King of Colchis, were three fountains, which flowed, one with milk, another with wine, and a third with honey. {c} Christ is all this, and more, in one. And of believers it may better be said than Justin {d} doth of the Scythians, Lacte et melle vescuntur: nihil alienum concupiscunt, &c.; they feed upon milk and honey; they desire nothing more than what they have; vines they have none, but gods they have, as they use to glory. Nazianzen and Jerome tell us that anciently in some churches they used to give to those proselytes whom they baptized wine and milk, grounding upon this text by a mistake.

Without money and without price.] All things for nothing, gratis. This is doubled and trebled for the comfort of poor trembling consciences. Christ is "rich to all that call upon his name"; {#Ro 10:12} none giveth to him; {#Ro 11:35} but he to all his freely, {#Isa 43:25} for the praise of his glorious grace. {#Eph 1:6} It is his good pleasure to do so. {#Lu 12:32} And if so, what can man, devil, or any distrustful heart, say against it?

{a} Orat. 40 in S. Baptis.

{b} παντα εν πασιν. {#Col 3:11}

{c} Argonaut, lib. iii.

{d} Lib. ii.

Ver. 2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?] Heb., For not bread; for that which can no more feed you than those husks could the hungry prodigal. {#Lu 15:16}

“ Turpe est difficiles habere nugas:

Et stultus labor est ineptiarum.’’—Martial.

The saying of the Roman general to the soldier that kept the tents, when he should have been fighting in the field, Non amo nimium diligentes, I love not those that are too diligent, will be used of God, if, when he calleth us to the care of higher things, we busy ourselves only about matters of an inferior alloy. Surely, as Domitian the emperor spent his time in catching flies, and Artaxerxes in making hafts for knives, so do most men in trifles and lying vanities, neglecting the one thing necessary (with Martha), and preferring, as those Gergesites in the Gospel, haram domesticam arae Dominicae, a swine sty before a sanctuary. Between such and true believers there is as much difference as is between substantial merchants who deal in rich commodities, and those nugivenduli Agyrtae, who sell gaudes, rattles, and trangums; as is between spiders that catch flies, and eagles that hunt after hares and herons; as is between fowlers that follow after quails, and children that run after butterflies. Had men but tasted of God’s bread, they would never set such a price upon dove’s dung. Had they drunk of Christ’s wine, (which is beyond the best nectar or ambrosia), they would never thirst again after the world’s delights; {#Joh 4:14} which are such as whereof a man may break his neck before his fast. {#Ec 1:8}

“ Clitorio quicunque sitim de fonte levarit,

Vina fugit, gaudetque meris abstemius undis.”

- Ovid. Metam., lib. xv.

And your labour for that which satisfieth not.] The world is full of pomp and pleasure, {#1Jo 2:15} and yet it satisfieth not, because it is full of nothing but of emptiness; the creature is now, ever since the fall, as the husk without the grain, the shell without the kernel; yea, "the world passeth away and the lusts thereof," {#1Jo 2:17} for a man cannot make his heart long to delight in the same things, but ipsa etiam vota, post usum, fastidio sunt, we loathe after a while what we greatly lusted after, as Amnon did Tamar. Therefore "love not the world," {#1Jo 2:15} "labour not for the meat that perisheth," {#Joh 6:27} but hasten heavenward, saying, as that pilgrim did, who, travelling to Jerusalem, and by the way visiting many brave cities, with their rare monuments, and meeting with many friendly entertainments, would say eftsoons, I must not stay here, this is not Jerusalem.

Hearken diligently unto me.] Heb., Hearing, hear—i.e., Hear as for life, with utmost attention of body, intention of mind, and retention of memory.

And eat ye that which is good.] Not only hear the word of God, but eat it; turn it in succum et sanguinem, into juice and blood, digest it, incorporate it into your souls, {#Jas 1:21} for it is the heavenly manna that hath all manner of good tastes in it, and properties with it. {#2Ti 3:16}

And let your soul delight itself in fatness.] Talis est doctrina et gratis evangelica quae mentem saginat et impinguat, A good soul feedeth on the fat, and drinketh of the sweet, that is found in the precious promises. {#Ps 36:8 63:5}

Ver. 3. Incline your ear.] Hear with all your might. Alphonsus, King of Arragon, is renowned for his attentive hearing; so is our King Edward VI, who usually stood and took notes on all the sermon. Origen chideth his hearers for nothing so much as for their seldom coming to hear God’s Word, and for their careless and heedless hearing it when they did come; whence their slow growth in godliness.

Hear, and your souls shall live.] God hath ordained—as it were to cross the devil—that as death entered into the world through the ear, by our first parents listening to that old man-slayer, so should life enter into the soul by the same door, as it were. "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." {#Joh 5:25} The Romanists hold not hearing so absolutely needful—the mass only they make a work of duty, but the going to sermons but a matter of convenience, and such as is left free to men’s leisures and opportunities without imputation of sin. {a}

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you.] Heb., I will cut out unto them a covenant of perpetuity. A covenant is a cluster of promises solemnly made over.

Even the sure mercies of David.] Or, Firm, faithful. The Greek {#Ac 13:34} hath it, "The holy things," or the "venerable things of David," that is, of Christ, for the ratifying and assuring whereof it was necessary that Christ should rise from death and enter into glory; for which purpose Paul allegeth this text. See #Ac 13:34.

{a} Spec. Europ.

Ver. 4. Behold, I have given him, ] i.e., Christ, called David, {#Isa 55:3} because typed out by David, promised to him, and sprang of him.

For a witness.] To teach and testify his Father’s will and counsel, {a} at which, being his eternal wisdom, he had been present. See #Re 3:14.

A leader and commander to the people.] Of Christ’s priestly office had been spoken in #Isa 53:12, here of his prophetical and princely. These were frequently set forth even in the Old Testament; by the crown or golden plate on the high priest’s head was signified Christ’s kingly office; by the breastplate, his priestly; and by the bells, his prophetic.

{a} Ut de veritate hac et voluntate Patris testaretur.

Ver. 5. Behold, thou shalt call a nation.] Yea, all nations that yet dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, being utterly ignorant of God and his will, of themselves and their duties; but now, when they "shall know God, or rather be known of him," they shall run to Christ, yea, and "fly as a cloud," and flock into the church, as doves scour into their columbaries, rushing into the windows. {#Isa 60:8}

Because of the Lord thy God.] Through the mighty operation of his Spirit by the preaching of his Word. The philosophers, though never so able, could hardly persuade some few to embrace their tenets. Plato went thrice into Sicily to convert Dionysius, but could not do it; Socrates could not work upon Alcibiades, nor Cicero upon his own son, because God was not with them, nor was willing to glorify his Son Christ by them, as he did afterwards by his holy apostles.

Ver. 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.] Seek not his omnipresence—for that ye need not do, since he is not far from any one of us {#Ac 17:27} -but his gracious presence, his face and favour; seek to be in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost, in communion with him, and conformity unto him, and give not over till you find it. Seek him seriously, seek him seasonably. There is a time when men shall seek the Lord with their flocks and herds, and yet not find him, when once he hath withdrawn himself from them. {#Ho 5:6}

Call ye upon him while he is near.] In a time of acceptance, {#Ps 32:6} before he hath sworn that he will not be spoken with. {#Ps 95:11} God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace. {#Pr 1:24,28}

Ver. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way.] Or else never think of finding favour with God, or of calling upon him to any purpose. The leper’s lips should be covered according to the law: a good motion from an ill mouth will never take with God.

“ Pura Deus mens est, pura vult mente vocari:

Et puras iussit pondus habere preces.”

And the unrighteous man his thoughts.] See #Jas 4:8. {See Trapp on "Jas 4:8"} A Pilate may wash his hands, a Pharisee cleanse the outside of the platter. Castae manus sunt, sed mens habet piacula, said a heathen, who saw by the light of nature that clean hands and foul hearts did not suit well.

And let him return unto the Lord.] {See Trapp on "Zec 1:2"} {See Trapp on "Joe 2:12"} {See Trapp on "Joe 2:13"}

For he will abundantly pardon.] He will multiply to pardon: as we multiply sins, he will multiply pardons. God in Christ mollis est el misericors, not an "austere man," implacable, inexorable, but multis ad ignoscendum, as the Vulgate here rendereth it; and Fulgentius {a} thus descanteth upon it, In hoc multo nihil deest, in quo est omnipotens misericordia et omnipotentia miserecors, &c. In this much nothing is wanting—how can there? say—since there is in it omnipotent mercy and merciful omnipotence. A pardon, of course, he giveth us for involuntary and unavoidable infirmities; this we have included in that general pardon which we have upon our general repentance. And for other sins—be they blasphemies {#Mt 12:13} -God hath all plasters and pardons at hand, and ready made and sealed, for else we might die in our sins while the pardon is in providing. He hath also hanged out his tables, as I may say, in the holy Scriptures, showing what great sinners he hath pardoned, as Adam, that arch-rebel, Manasseh, who was all manner of naughts, David, Peter, Paul, Magdalene, &c. The Lord Hungerford of Hatesby was beheaded in Henry VIII’s time. The Lord Thomas Cromwell, a better man, but executed together with him, cheered him up and bade him be of good comfort; For, said he, if you repent, and be heartily sorry for that you have done, there is for you also mercy with the Lord, who, for Christ’s sake, will forgive you; therefore be not dismayed. {b} God seemeth to say to sinners, as once the French King Francis I did to one that begged pardon for some ill words spoken against his majesty, Do thou learn to speak little, so to sin no more, and I will not fail to pardon much; I can remit whatsoever you can commit, never doubt it.

{a} Epist. 7, Ad Venant.

{b} Acts and Mon., 109.

Ver. 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, ] q.d., You may think it impossible, likely, that such great and grievous sinners as you have been should ever be received to mercy. But what talk you of your thoughts? Mine are infinitely above them, neither may you measure my mercies by your own models. Bring broken and bleeding hearts to my mercy seat, and I shall soon think all the meritorious sufferings of my Son, all the promises in my book, all the comforts of my Spirit, all the pleasures of my kingdom, but enough for you.

Ver. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth.] And that is no small deal; see the note on #Ps 103:11,12. Lo, such is the proportion that my mercy beareth to your mercy, even the very best of you, that the heaven doth to the earth—i.e., that a most vast circumference doth to one little point or centre.

Ver. 10. For as the rain cometh down.] Simile omnium elegantissimum pariter et notissimum. Of the use and efficacy of fit similitudes: {See Trapp on "Ho 12:10"}

Ver. 11. So shall the word be that goeth out of my mouth.] The Word in general, but especially the word of promise, it shall surely give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, comforts of all sorts both for the present and for the future. Only we must see that we be good ground, and then pray "that the heaven may hear the earth." {as #Ho 2:21}

But it shall accomplish that which I please.] It shall produce the sweet fruits of righteousness. {#Ro 8:13,14} There is, saith a good author, a certain shell fish that lieth always open towards heaven, as it were looking upward and begging one fruitful drop of dew, which being fallen, it shutteth presently, and keepeth the door close against all outward things till it hath made a pearl of it. In reading or hearing the promises, if we open our shells, our souls, the heaven will drop the fruitful dew of grace to be employed worthily in making pearls of good works and solid virtues. "Who is she that cometh out of the wilderness to join herself to her well beloved?" {#So 6:9}

Ver. 12. For ye shall go out with joy, ] sc., Out of your spiritual bondage, worse than that of Babylon.

The mountains and the hills.] The mute and brute creatures, as they seem to groan together with the faithful, {#Ro 8:21,22} so here, by a prosopopeia, they are brought in as congratulating and applauding their deliverance.

Ver. 13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree.] There shall be a blessed change of men and of manners. Those who before were stark naught, or good for naught, yea, vexatious and mischievous, {a} shall become fruitful and beneficial. The fir tree is good for many uses; the myrtle brings berries of excellent taste, as Pliny tells us. The Chaldee thus paraphraseth here, Just men shall rise up instead of sinners, and such as fear the Lord in the room of the unrighteous. Sed cave ne hic somnies, saith Oecolampadius, but be warned you dream not, as some do, that in this world and before the day of judgment the wicked shall all be rooted out, for there will always be Cains to persecute Abels, &c.

And it shall be to the Lord for a name, ] i.e., For an honour: it shall be much for his glory, which is the end that he propoundeth to himself in all that he doeth. And well he may, since— (1.) He is not in danger of doing anything through vain glory; (2.) He hath none higher than himself to whom to have respect.

For an everlasting sign.] In monumentum non momentaneum; Heb., For a sign of perpetuity or eternity.

That shall not be cut off.] Or, That it, the Church, shall not be cut off.

{a} Spinis paliurus acutis. -Virg. Eclog.

Chapter 56

Ver. 1. Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice, ] i.e., Repent ye, as ye were exhorted, {#Isa 45:6,7} and "bring forth fruits meet for repentance," {#Mt 3:8} "for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." {#Mt 3:2 Tit 2:12} Christ came to "call sinners to repentance," {#Mr 2:17} and to good works of all sorts, which are here called judgment and justice, as he himself is here called not only God’s salvation, but his righteousness.

Ver. 2. Blessed is the man that doeth this.] And by it lays hold on that—i.e., that performeth the duties of both tables, of piety and of charity; that maketh conscience of keeping the Sabbath especially. The Fourth Commandment standeth fitly in the heart of the Decalogue, and between the two tables of the law, as having an influence into both.

From polluting it.] Either by corporal labour or spiritual idleness: spending the holy time holily.

And keepeth his hand from doing any evil.] That is, righteous as well as religious: not yielding his members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. {#Ro 6:13}

Ver. 3. Neither let the son of the stranger.] If a proselyte, let not him add extra words to the covenant of grace in Christ, and say, It belongeth not to me. Let not him turn the back of his hand to the promise, as if he were not concerned in it, because no Jew born; for now the wall of partition is by Christ to be broken down, and the rigour of that old prohibition taken away. {#Ac 10:34,35 Ga 3:28 Col 3:11 Eze 47:22}

Neither let the eunuch.] {See Trapp on "Mt 19:12"}

Ver. 4. For thus saith the Lord.] Who "comforteth those that are cast down," {#2Co 7:6} those that are forsaken of their hopes. {#Jer 30:17}

That keep my Sabbaths.] Which whoso do not are worthily deemed to have no true goodness in them at all.

And choose the things that please me.] Choose them upon mature deliberation and good advice; as Moses did; {#Heb 11:25} by a free election, {as #Ps 119:30} so showing themselves wise eunuchs, such as have their name παρα το ευ νουν εχειν, as Scaliger deriveth it—i.e., well-minded men, egregie cordati homines, { a}

And take hold of my covenant.] By a lively faith which is said to have two hands, one wherewith she layeth hold on Christ, and another whereby she giveth up herself unto him, and although the devil rap her on the fingers for so doing, yet she is resolute and holds her own.

{a} Ennius.

Ver. 5. Even unto them will I give in mine house.] In the Church of the New Testament. {#Eph 2:19-21}

A place.] Heb., A hand. A door keeper’s place in God’s house is worth having; {#Ps 84:10} this was that one thing that he so dearly begged. {#Ps 27:4}

And a name.] That new name, {#Re 2:17} that power or prerogative-royal—that heavenly honour, Nonnus there calleth it—viz., "to be the sons of God," {#Joh 1:12} and so to be "called," {#1Jo 3:1} to have both the comfort and the credit of it: this is nomen in mundo praestantissimum; none to this, {#2Co 6:18} for "if sons, then heirs." {#Ro 8:16,17}

Ver. 6. Also the sons of the stranger that joineth.] Relinquishing his heathenish superstition, and devoting himself to my fear. The Levites had their name from the word here used; and leviathan, whose scales and parts are so fast joined and jointed together.

To love the name of the Lord, to be his servants.] Plato could say, Parere legibus est Deo servire: et haec summa est libertas, To obey the laws, is to serve God; and this is the chiefest liberty, this is perfect freedom. But Plato never knew what it was to love to be God’s servant. Lex voluntarios quaerit, saith Ambrose. {a} All God’s soldiers are volunteers, all his people free hearted; {#Ps 110:3} they wait for his law. {#Isa 42:8 De 10:12}

Every one that keepeth the Sabbath.] See on #Isa 56:2.

{a} In Psalm i.

Ver. 7. Even them will I bring unto my holy mountain, ] i.e., Into my Church, and Church assemblies. Query, Whether eunuchs and strangers were made partakers of all holy services in the second temple, according to the letter? Sure we are that that holy eunuch, {#Ac 8:26-40} and the rest of the Gentiles, had and still have free admission under the gospel.

And will make them joyful in mine house of prayer.] By their free access unto me, and all good success in their suits. Pray "that your joy may be full." {#Joh 16:24} "Draw water with joy out of this well of salvation." {#Isa 12:3} "Rejoice evermore," and that you may so do, "pray without ceasing." {#1Th 5:16,17}

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar.] Their evangelical sacrifices of prayer, praise, alms, obedience, &c., shall be accepted through Christ, {#Heb 13:10,15} who is the true altar that sanctifieth all that is offered on it. {#Re 8:3,4}

For mine house shall be called, &c.] See on #Mt 21:13.

Ver. 8. Which gathereth the outcasts of Israel.] According to that ancient promise of his. {#De 30:4} None of his shall be lost for looking after; he will "fetch back his banished," as that witty woman said. {#2Sa 14:14}

Yet will I gather others to him.] Strangers, eunuchs, all mine "other sheep that are not yet of this fold," {#Joh 10:16} together with all my stragglers; those that are relapsed will I recover.

Ver. 9. All ye beasts of the field, come to devour.] Statim quasi vehementer ira accensus, &c. All upon the sudden, as one much enraged against the wicked priests especially, as greatest traitors to the state, the Lord thundereth and threateneth terribly. By the beasts here called for, we may understand the Babylonians, Grecians, Syrians, Egyptians, but especially the Romans, who made clean work of them, whenas they were grown extremely wicked, and even ripe for ruin, as Josephus witnesseth. See #Jer 50:17.

Ver. 10. His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant.] Invehit in Pseudepiscopos, such as were, and are still in part, the popish clergy; those of the ninth age especially, and not much better a little before Luther stickled: blind leaders of the blind, lamentably ignorant, as the Bishop of Dunkeld, in Scotland, for instance, who professed that he knew neither the New Testament nor the Old. So Bishop Albert, reading the Bible, and being asked by a nobleman what book it was he read; I know not, said he, what book it is, but all that I read in it is contrary to our religion. {a} As for the other ill qualities of the watchmen here inveighed against, Hugo the cardinal said, that the devil had two daughters, Covetousness and Luxury; the former he had heretofore married out to the Jews, the latter to the Gentiles; but now the monks and priests had gotten them both from their old husbands and taken them for their own use. The Hebrew critics have observed, that the word here rendered watchmen, hath a tzaddi larger than ordinary, to show what odious creatures such are as are here described. {Hebrew Text Note}

They are all dumb dogs that cannot bark, ] i.e., Will not deal plainly and faithfully with men’s souls; but either preach not at all, or placentia only, toothless truths. Pliny {b} tells of the dogs in Rome that were set to keep the capitol; because, when the Gauls scaled it, the dogs being fed too full, lay sleeping, and did not give warning, they not only hanged them up, but every year on that day of the year, hanged up certain dogs in the city for exemplary justice; yea, crucified them alive upon an older tree. Let dumb dogs and parasitical preachers, treacherous to men’s souls, take heed they be not one day hanged in hell.

Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.] Non dormiunt solum, sed dedita opera dormiunt; { c} so full they have farced themselves, and so deeply drunk they are, that they sleep soundly, though lions roar, and wolves worry the poor flock, and that many times far enough from the fold, wherein they show themselves to be worse than Ulysses’ swine herd, of whom Homer saith—

“ουδε συβωτη

‘Ηνοανεν αυτοθι κοιτος ιων απο κοιμηθηναι,”

That he would not be drawn to sleep from his swine sty.

{a} Acts and Mon.

{b} Lib xxix. cap. 4.

{c} Somnolentia pastorum luporum est gaudium.

Ver. 11. Yea, they are greedy dogs that can never have enough.] Heb., Strong of soul, or of appetite; they know not to be satisfied. Lac et luna, is that they look for; the "instruments of a foolish shepherd," forcipes et mulctra, the shears and milk pail are in their hand; {#Zec 11:15} they eat the fruit and drink the milk; {as #Eze 25:4} yea, they eat the fat, and tear the claws in pieces. {#Zec 11:16} Albertus Magnus complained heavily of the covetousness of pastors in his time. Temporalia colliguntper se, spiritualia seminant per alios saith he on #Mt 10:16; {a} they take little pains, but care not how much profit they make. He that made Fasciculus temporum, doth the like. Another modern writer fitly applieth that to them, which Oedipus in Sophocles saith of Tiresias the heathen prophet—

“οστις εν τοις κερδεσι

Μονον δεδορκε, την τεχνην δ εφυτυφλος,”

i.e., that he looked only to his gain, but was little seen in his profession. Such a one was Balaam; {#Jude 11} such were those false prophets; {#Eze 13:2,3} the covetous Pharisees; {#Lu 16:14} the false apostles, {#Ro 16:18} called dogs; {#Php 3:2} such as had a greedy worm under their tongues, and could never be satisfied.

And they are shepherds that cannot understand.] The dust of covetousness hath even put out their eyes. As it fared with the blind {a} and greedy Pharisees, Avidi a non videndo, the world is a pearl in their eyes; they cannot see God, nor skill of their office. Tremellius rendereth it nesciunt docere; they know not to teach, as being choked haply with a fat benefice—a common practice of the Pope.

They all look to their own way.] Mind their own commodity, whereby they are led up and down, as an ox may be all aground over by a bottle of hay.

{a} Midas secundum Etymologiam Graecam caecus est. Midas, according to Greek mythology, was blind.

Ver. 12. Come ye.] The wicked have their "come ye," as well as the godly. {#Isa 2:3} {See Trapp on "Isa 2:3"}

I will fetch wine.] A pastor should be no winebibber or ale-stake. {#1Ti 3:8} Ebrietas in se culpas complectitur omnes. Drunkenness is a soul fault in any man, saith Petrus Ravenas, but in a minister it is a sacrilege, especially if he draw on others to it, as here, and as the Popish priests do at Paris and Lovain, where the best wine is called vinum theologicum, the wine of theologians, and they used to lengthen out their drunken compotations.

And tomorrow shall be as this day.] Words of profane secureness and dissoluteness. See #Isa 22:13 Pr 23:35.

Chapter 57

Ver. 1. The righteous perisheth.] So the world deemeth, but not rightly, for "the righteous hath hope in his death," when "the wicked dying is driven away in his wickedness" {#Pr 14:32} -by "him that had the power of death, even the devil" {#Heb 2:14} -having been "through fear of death all their lifetime subject to bondage." The Lacedaemonians all the time of their life adored death. The righteous can defy death, with Paul, and sing, Death, where is thy sting? hell, where is thy victory? He is not "killed with death," as Jezebel’s children were; {#Re 2:23} but dieth in peace, though he die in battle, as Josiah did, of whom some interpret this text.

And no man layeth it to heart.] Heb., Upon his heart, that it may sink and soak into it, so as to be soundly sensible of God’s holy hand and end in such a providence. See #Isa 5:12. There is a woe to oscitancy and stupidity of this kind.

And merciful men.] Heb, Men of piety or pity, such as all righteous persons are. They have received mercy, and they can show it; {#Col 3:12} they have steeped their thoughts in the mercies of God, which have dyed theirs as the dye fat doth the cloth.

Are taken away.] Heb., Gathered, as grain is into the garner, or fruit into the storehouse; so they into Abraham’s bosom. As men gather flowers, and candy them, and preserve them by them, so doth God his pious ones.

No man considering.] None of those debauched ones {#Isa 56:12} to be sure of. These are glad to be rid of the righteous, as the Sodomites were of righteous Lot; as the heathen persecutors were of the martyrs, whom they counted καθαρματα, the "sweepings of the world, and the offscourings of all things." {#1Co 4:13}

That the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.] As was Methuselah a year before the flood; Jeroboam’s best son, before the downfall of his father’s family; {#1Ki 14:12,13} Josiah before the captivity and first destruction of Jerusalem; {#2Ki 22:20} James before the second; {#Ac 12:2} Augustine a little before the sack of his city Hippo, by the Vandals. Felix Nepotianus qui haec non vidit, saith Jerome. Stilico said, that when Ambrose was dead great changes would follow; and it happened accordingly. Luther was taken away in peace, {a} a little before the calamity of Germany, which he foretold, for contempt of the gospel. Pareus died a little before Heidelberg was taken, futuro malo substractus. Mr Brightman was buried a day or two before the pursuivant was sent for him. God had housed him, as he had Lot before the storm; hid him, as he had done Moses in the hole of the rock, till the tempest was blown over; dealt by him, as once by Daniel, {#Da 12:13} who was bid to go away and rest before those great clashings and confusions should come, which had been foreshown to him. Howbeit this is not generally so; for Jeremiah lived to see the first destruction of Jerusalem, John the Evangelist the last. Mr Dod and many other holy men outlived our recent unhappy wars, and deeply shared in them. But usually God taketh away his most eminent servants from the evil to come. As when there is a fire in a house or town men carry out their jewels; ωκυμοροι οι θεοφιλεις, saith an ancient, {b} the best die first commonly. The comfort is, that though as grapes they be gathered before they are ripe, and as lambs, slain before they be grown, yet this benefit they have, that they are freed from the violence of the winepress that others fall into, and they escape many storms that others live to taste of.

{a} Calvin, in hunc locum,

{b} Dion., Prus. Orat. 28.

Ver. 2. He shall enter into peace, ] i.e., Into heaven, where the righteous—however looked upon as lost {#Isa 57:1} -shall have "life and peace," {#Ro 8:6} joy and bliss, {#Mt 25:21,23} rest and peace, {#Re 14:13} and this απαρτι amodo, strait upon it so soon as ever they are dead; from henceforth forthwith their souls have happiness inconceivable. As for their bodies,

They shall rest in their beds.] So their graves are called, by an elegant metaphor, like as the bier that carrieth to it is called matteh, a couch, {#2Sa 3:31} the burying place, a dormitory, {a} or place to sleep in, and the resurrection an awakening. {#Ps 17:15} To this bed Moses went up when his Father bade. He died ad os Iehovae according to the word of God, {#De 34:5} which the Jewish doctors {b} expound as though God did take away his soul with a kiss, like as the loving mother kisseth the child, and then layeth it down to sleep. Rhodingus, a Dutch divine, when he perceived he should die, desired to be laid in another bed, which he called his bed of rest, and upon which he had long before written this verse— {c}

“ Ut somnus mortis, sic lectus imago sepulchri.”

In this short bed of the grave shall be laid up the infinite miseries of many years; the bodies of the saints shall, by rotting, be refined, their precious dust preserved, till at last it arise incorruptible. O dieculam illam!

Each one walking in his uprightness.] Or, Walking before him, or right over against him; that is, keeping equipage with him, as when one friend walketh with another.

{a} κοιμητηριον.

{b} Maimonid.

{c} Melch. Adam.

Ver. 3. But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress.] Here "Esaias is very bold," as the apostle saith of him in another case, {#Ro 10:20} and maketh it appear that he was none of those dumb dogs he had rated at in the former chapter. The Jews gloried much in their pedigree and descent from Abraham, and that they were "born of the free woman." He telleth them flat and plain that they were witches’ children, whores’ sons, a bastardly brood, {a} as our Saviour afterwards called them, a race of rebels, a seed of serpents, shamefully degenerate from their praiseworthy progenitors.

{a} γενεα μοιχαλις.

Ver. 4. Against whom do ye sport yourselves?] You that are the wits, the merry Greeks of the times, that, instead of "trembling at God’s word," and humbling before him, hold it a goodly thing to gibe and jeer at it, to mock and scoff at those that preach it. {#2Ch 36:16 Isa 5:18,19 22:13 28:14,22} These were their game stocks, and the matter of their mad mirth. Neither is it any otherwise to this day; for the world ever was, and will be still, beside itself in point of salvation. {a} Not the sinful Sodomites only, but Lot’s sons-in-law, who should have learned better, laughed him to scorn for his good counsel. {#Ge 19:14} Ridetur cum suo Iehova. Lot is counted but a lob, and bid to keep his breath to cool his broth. Erasmus is blamed for his dry scoffs at Capito and other reformers; but Parsons, the Jesuit, is able to put Rabshakeh, Thersites, and Lucian himself to school for railing, deriding, and scurrilous language.

Against whom make yea wide mouth, and draw out the tongue?] By such base gestures did they show their contempt of the prophets, as they thought; but indeed, and as it was construed, of God himself. See #Ex 16:8 Nu 16:11 Lu 10:16 1Th 4:8. Look how unskilful hunters, shooting at wild beasts, do sometimes kill a man; so profane persons, shooting at God’s ministers, hit him. If we be served in like sort as those of old were—if we be for "signs and for wonders in Israel," as Isaiah and his fellows were {#Isa 8:18} -if in mockage they imitate our language, as they did good Jeremiah’s, crying at him, "The burden of the Lord, the burden of the Lord" {#Jer 23:38} -if they blow their noses at us, as they did at our Saviour, {εμυκτηριζον, #Lu 16:14} taunt and reproach us, as they did Paul, {#Ac 17:32} set us upon a stage {b} to be laughed and hooted at, as they did those worthies of whom the world was not worthy {#Heb 10:33 1Co 4:9} -let us not strange or startle at the matter, as if some new thing had befallen us; but "rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for so persecuted they the prophets that were before us" {#Mt 5:12 1Pe 4:14} {See Trapp on "1Pe 4:14"}

{a} Mundus antiquum obtinet ridendo verbum Dei.

{b} Θεατριζομενοι, in theatrum producti pro spectaculo.

Ver. 5. Inflaming yourselves with idols.] That it might appear that there was good cause of so much sharpness, and that he did them no wrong. He painteth them out in their colours to the life: Incalescitis, id est, concumbitis; while ye commit folly and filthiness with your idols, ye are all "adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker; your baker sleepeth all the night, in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire." {#Ho 7:4,6} And as the love of harlots is oft hotter than that of husband and wife, so superstition many times outdoeth true religion.

Slaying the children.] A barbarous practice, taught them by that old man slayer. Careless parents do little less, whom, therefore, Bernard calleth peremptores potius quam parentes, rather parricides than parents.

Ver. 6. Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion.] Pars et sors tua. A poor portion it is, but such as thou art well apaid of, viz., thine altars and thine idol service, and settest up in my place. How exceeding devout in their way are some misled and muzzled Papists, those of the weaker sex especially, in the service of their god, Mauzzim, in the honour of their too admired relics, which they esteem no less than the people of the isle Ceylon, in the East Indies, did their consecrated ape’s tooth, which being got from them, they offered an incredible mass of treasure to recover it.

Should I receive comfort in these?] Or, Should I not ease myself of these? {as #Jer 5:9}

Ver. 7. Upon a lofty and high mountain.] In all places hast thou poured out thy whoredoms, setting thy sin "upon the cliff of the rock," as it were sunning, so shameless art thou grown.

Thy bed, ] i.e., Thy temples and altars; as likewise do the mass mongers to this day.

Ver. 8. Behind the doors also, and the posts.] Where my law should have been written. {#De 6:9 11:20}

Hast thou set up thy remembrance?] Thy idols and monuments of idolatry, such as Papists now call memories and laymen’s books.

Thou hast discovered thyself] Thy nakedness, like a meretrix meretricissima, divaricasti tibias {as #Eze 23:29} Omnibus modis te comparans ut impudentissimum scortum, prostituting thyself as a most impudent harlot, prodigiously lascivious.

Ver. 9. And thou wentest to the king.] The King of Assyria, who styled himself the Great King, to whom Ahaz both sent and went. {#2Ki 16:8,10}

With ointment.] Heb., With oil—that is, with balsam, such as Judea only afforded, and was therefore highly esteemed in other countries.

And didst debase thyself even unto hell.] By crouching and cringing to those foreign states in a most submissive and servile way, as Ahaz had done with his, "I am thy servant and thy son," {#2Ki 16:7} to the dishonour of God, and to the reproach of Israel, who was God’s "firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth." {#Ps 89:27}

Ver. 10. Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way.] Great pains thou hast taken to small purpose, and yet thou thinkest and hopest, but groundlessly, that

Thou hast found the life of thy hand.] A sure way of subsistence; thy desired help and safety.

Ver. 11. And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared?] q.d., Not me surely, as thou oughtst; but thy fellow creatures, whom thou shouldst have looked upon as so many mice.

That thou hast lied, ] i.e., So basely flattered the Assyrian.

Have I not held my peace?] i.e., Borne with thee, more than any else would ever have done? And yet my lenity is even worse than lost upon thee.

Ver. 12. I will declare thy righteousness, ] i.e., Thine unrighteousness, by an irony; {a} or, Thy righteousness secundum dici, non secundum esse, thine hypocrisy.

For they shall not profit thee.] Nay, they shall undo thee.

{a} Antiphrasis ironica.

Ver. 13. When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee.] "Thy companies"; Heb., Thy gathered ones, or troops. See #De 32:37,38 Jud 10:13,14. {See Trapp on "Jud 10:14"}

But the wind shall carry them all away.] The wind of God’s power shall scatter them, quisquiliarum in morem.

Ver. 14. And they shall say.] Or, And it shall be said. This is further added, for the comfort of those that trusted in God, that they shall have a smooth and clear passage home. This is literally meant of their return from Babylon; but mystically of the recollection of the Church out of the captivity of the devil and power of sin.

Ver. 15. For thus saith the high and lofty One.] Higher than the highest; so high, that he is said to "humble himself to behold things done in heaven"; {#Ps 113:6} to look out of himself upon the saints and angels there. He is a God, saith one, whose nature is majesty, whose place is immensity, whose time is eternity, whose life is sanctity, whose power is omnipotence, whose work is mercy, whose wrath is justice, whose throne is sublimity, whose seat is humility.

That inhabiteth eternity.] Gigas saeculorum, saith the Syriac. The apostle Paul hath a like stately description of almighty God, {#1Ti 6:16} who yet is above all name or notion, and must be thought of as one not to be thought of. Herein he is most unlike to men, who the higher they are, the less they look after the poor afflicted.

I dwell in the high and holy place.] In "the light which no man can approach unto." {#1Ti 6:16} In the holy place of the material temple, which was without windows, there burned lights perpetually, to represent the celestial lights; but in the most holy place there was no light at all, to show that all outward light is but darkness being compared with that light which God inhabiteth, and which is inaccessible.

With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.] In the lowest hearts he dwelleth, as well as in the highest heavens. A broken heart is God’s lesser heaven; here he dwelleth with delight. Not that the affliction of a man’s spirit is pleasing to God, but the separation of sin from the soul. When the solder that joineth a sinful action and the heart together is dissolved, this pleaseth the Lord.

To revive the spirit of the humble.] As this very text hath done many a one.

Ver. 16. For I will not contend for ever.] It soon repenteth the Lord concerning his servants. Et pro magno peccato parum supplicii satis est patti. {a} See #Ps 103:9.

For the spirit would fail before me.] Heb., Would be overcovered—sc., tenebris ac terroribus, it would even sink and faint away. When the child swoons in the whipping, God lets fall the rod, and falls akissing it, to fetch life into it again. {#Jer 31:20} As the rule in medicine is still to maintain nature, so doth he their spirits by cordials.

{a} Terent.

Ver. 17. For the iniquity of his covetousness.] Or, Of his concupiscence, the sin of his nature. But covetousness is a wickedness with a witness, the "root of all evil." {#1Ti 6:10} Timon could say that there were two sources of all sin, viz., απληστιαν και φιλοδοξιαν, covetousness and vainglory.

And he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart, ] i.e., Excaecotus sequitur animalem suum spiritum, he, blindling, blundered on, without fear or wit, cross grained and irreclaimable.

Ver. 18. I have seen his ways.] His ways of covetousness, crossness, &c. I could be as cross as he for the heart of him, {#Ps 18:26} but

I will heal him, ] q.d., I see these froward children will lay nothing to heart; frowns will not humble them, blows will not benefit them; if I do not save them till they seek me, they will never be saved. Therefore I will work for mine own name’s sake. See #Eze 20:8,14,22,44.

And restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners.] To those that mourn in secret for his sins and miseries; {#Eze 9:4 Mt 5:4} and to others for their sakes, ratione consortii.

Ver. 19. I create the fruit of the lips, ] i.e., I speak peace to my people by the mouths of my faithful ministers, applying and setting home the promises; and this I do most magnificently and mightily.

Peace, peace.] See on #Isa 26:3.

Ver. 20. But the wicked are like the troubled sea.] Whose surges are not more lofty than muddy. The sea is of itself unquiet and troublesome, much more when tossed with winds and tempests; so wicked men, when it is at best with them, are restless; but under terrors and temptations, they cast up the mire and dirt of desperation and blasphemy, as did Cain, Judas, Julian, Latomus, &c. God in afflictions marks men out; and then conscience will prey upon them, as Simeon and Levi did upon the Shechemites when sore. Then, {as #Pr 5:12} men shall cry out, "How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof!" Then, {as #Ge 42:21} afflictions are to the soul as storms are to the sea, or as earthquakes to the ground, which reveals a great deal of filth. Vatablus rendereth the text thus, Impii autem Euripi instar fremunt. Now Euripus ebbeth and floweth seven times a day, and must needs therefore be in continual motion and agitation. Mr Dod {a} was wont to compare wicked men to the waves of the sea: those which were of a great estate were great waves, said he; those that were of small estate were small waves; but all were restless as waves. {#Job 20:20}

{a} His Life in Mr Clark.

Ver. 21. There is no peace.] A truce there may be for a time, and a seeming peace; but it is pax infida, pax incerta, { a} peace, no peace. The sea may seem sometimes still, but it is never so; no more are the wicked. And this is twice here affirmed for more assurance; like as he had twice said, "I will heal them"; {#Isa 57:18,19} and as he had promised peace, peace to the mourners (ib.), who, having soaked themselves in godly sorrow, are washed from their wickedness by the blood of Jesus Christ; and being justified by faith, have peace with God. This is a peerless pearl, which no cock on the dunghill ever knew the worth of.

{a} Liv.

Chapter 58

Ver. 1. Cry aloud.] Heb., Cry with the throat, or, With full throat. {as #Jer 12:6} {a} Plenis faucibus, voce sonora, et quasi tubali: Set up thy note; not only say to the wicked, "It shall be ill with him," {#Isa 3:11} there is no peace to him, {#Isa 57:21} but cry it aloud.

Spare {b} not.] Singulae particulae habent emphasin; use utmost intention of spirit and contention of speech. Thou hast to do with a hypocritical nation, than which kind of people nothing is more stupid, more uncounsellable, or impenitent; for how should such repent as have converted conversion itself into a form, yea, into sin? Bestir thee therefore against these deaf sea monsters. Sic clames ut stentora vincere possis. If a man’s house be on fire, we must not speak softly, as loath to awaken him: Sir, your house is on fire.

Lift thy voice like a trumpet.] Non ut tibia, sed ut tuba; not as a pipe for delight, but as a trumpet alarm against sin and Satan. As all the country was filled with the sound of that trumpet at the giving of the law, {#Ex 19:16} and as all the world shall hear the sound of that trumpet of God {#1Th 4:16} when the law shall be required, so let the preacher’s voice be a summons to speedy repentance, or else to unavoidable judgment. There is one {c} that descanteth thus upon the words: Various things there are, saith he, that sound louder than a trumpet—the sea, the thunder, or such like—yet he saith not, lift up thy voice as the sea, or as the thunder, but as "a trumpet"; because a trumpeter, when he sounds his trumpet, he winds it with his mouth, and holds it with his hands; and so a preacher, which is a spiritual trumpeter, must not only, by preaching well, sound forth the word of truth with his mouth, but also, by doing well, he must support and hold it up with his hands, and then doth he "lift up his voice as a trumpet."

And show my people their transgressions.] Let God’s watchmen cast away the inverse trumpets of Furius Fulvius, which sounded a retreat when they should have sounded an alarm; but deal freely and faithfully with men’s souls, taking the same liberty to cry down sin that men take to commit sin.

{a} Ne frigide arguas, et in aenigmatibus ac obscure. -Oecol.

{b} Ne parcas guttari et voci, - A Lap.

{c} Dr Playfair on #Mt 5:19.

Ver. 2. Yet they seek me daily.] In pretence at least; and this, their dissembled sanctity, double iniquity, is one of those great transgressions of theirs, against which thou must declaim, yea, proclaim hell fire, in case they amend it not.

And delight to know my ways.] They seem to do so, by frequenting mine ordinances, and attending to my priests, whose lips preserve and present knowledge.

As a nation that did righteousness.] But it is but as a nation that did it; they had but a "form of knowledge," {#Ro 2:20} and a "form of godliness." {#2Ti 3:5} Eiusdem farinae nobiscum sunt religiosi quidam in speciem, saith Oecolampadius: the Church is still full of such hypocrites, that only act religion, play devotion, wherein they may outdo better men, for the external part of religion and pretence of zeal, as the Pharisees in the Gospel fasted more than the disciples, wansing their visages, and weakening their constitutions with much abstinence. The sorcerers of Egypt seemed to do as much as Moses; so do these as much or more than sound Christians. The apostles were as deceivers, and yet true, {#2Co 6:8} but these are as true, and yet deceivers.

They ask of me the ordinances of justice.] As not willing to deviate; but they are ever learning, yet never come to the knowledge of the truth.

And take delight in approaching to God.] Which yet no hypocrite can do from the heart; {#Job 27:10} for God is light and holiness, and therefore hated by the blind and foul hypocrite, {#Joh 3:20} all whose devotions are effects rather of art and parts than of the heart and grace; hence God abhorreth them, for he "desireth truth in the inward parts." {#Ps 51:6}

Ver. 3. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?] Here they begin to bluster, and their hypocrisy to blister out at their lips. {a} God, they held, was not a little beholden to them, and now also in arrears with them. For as that heathen emperor {b} said once of his gods, Non sic deos coluimus, ut iste nos vinceret, We have not served our gods, that they should serve us no better than to allow our enemies to get the better of us; so were these proud pretenders ready to say of God Almighty, We have better deserved than to be so served; rated by these prophets, and evil entreated by our enemies; beaten on both sides. A rich chapman, that hath had a good stock and trading, is loath to be a journeyman again; he will be trading, though it be but for pins; so we, bankrupt in Adam, yet will be doing, and think to be saved for a company of poor beggarly duties, dead prayers, formal fastings, &c., and to set off with God by our good deeds for our bad, as the Papists do, and not a few ignorants among us.

Behold, in the day of your fast.] Which is called a day of restraint, because therein you should amerce yourselves and abridge yourselves of all sorts of delights.

Ye find pleasure.] Ye find your own desire, pleasure, or will; {c} ye gratify your flesh, pursue your sinful lusts and purposes. Grande malum propria voluntas, saith Bernard, qua fit ut bona tua tibi bona non sint. A man’s own will or pleasure proves a great evil to him many times, making his good duties (fastings, prayers, and the like) no way good to him. In vain is the body macerated, if men’s lusts be not mortified.

And exact all your labours, ] i.e., Your debts and dues with rigour and extremity, not considering that utmost right is utmost wrong; and that, howsoever, you should take another time for such work. Feriis iurgia amovento, brawl not on a holiday, was one of the laws of the Twelve Tables in Rome.

{a} Ecce non diu occultant se hypocrisis et superbia. -Oecol.

{b} Antonin., Philos. Referente.

{c} Chephets significat id quod libet.

Ver. 4. Behold.] Take notice whence it is, that ye so miscarry in your services, and leave muttering against me.

Ye fast for strife and debate.] Or, Unto strife and debate—i.e., On your fast days ye contend and quarrel; being hungry, you are angry, as emptiness whetteth choler. Sed quid prodest pallor in ore, si sit livor in corde? to what purpose is a pale face and a spiteful spirit? and what is a humbling day without a humbled heart! not only an irreligious incongruity, but a high provocation; like Zimri’s act, when all the congregation were weeping before the door of the tabernacle. Get thee behind, saith Jehu to the messenger, "what hast thou to do with peace?" Confessions and prayers are our messengers; but if the heart be not broken, there is no peace to such wicked.

And to smite with the fist of wickedness, ] scil., Your servants or your debtors, as #Mt 18:28. They should have had, on such a day especially, Pacem cum hominibus, cum vitiis bellum (which was Otho II’s motto), Peace with men, and war with their wickednesses.

Ye shall not fast as ye do this day.] For ye fast not to God, {#Zec 7:5,11,12} but bear fruit to yourselves, like that "empty vine" Ephraim, {#Ho 10:1} and so are not a button the better for all you do; #Jer 14:12, "When they fast, I will not hear their cry."

To make your voices to be heard on high.] Out of ostentation of devotion; but secrecy here were a better argument of sincerity. Or, do you think to be heard on high, i.e., in heaven, for such outside services?

Ver. 5. Is it such a fast that I have chosen?] No; for God hates that mar-good formality; and displeasing service is double dishonour.

A day for a man to afflict his soul, ] i.e., His body a whole day at least, from evening till evening, {#Le 23:32} or from morning till evening. {#Jud 20:26 2Sa 3:35} Yet so as that nature be chastised, not disabled for service; and that we take not the more liberty afterwards to pamper the flesh which we have pined, as those dames of Athens did in their Thesmophoria, a feast of Ceres, to the which they prepared themselves with fasting; but after that took their liquor more freely than was fit {a} And as the Turks do at this day in their solemn fasts; they will not so much as taste a cup of water, or wash their mouths with water all the day long, before the stars appear in the sky; but then they lay the reins in the neck and run riot. {b}

Is it to bow down the head as a bulrush?] While the heart is unbowed, and stands bolt upright. Hypocrites, like bulrushes, hang down their heads for a day, while some storm of trouble is upon them; but when a fair sunshine day is come to dry it up again, they lift up their heads as before. Fitly, saith a grave divine, is formality compared to a bulrush; the colour is fresh, the skin smooth; he is very exact that can find a knot in a bulrush; but if you peel it, what is under but a kind of spungeous, unsubstantial substance, of no use in the world worth the speaking of. Such are hypocrites; a fair outside, specious pretences of piety, &c., all the rest not worth a rush. Pictures, saith another, are pretty things to look on, and that is all they are good for. Christ looked on, and loved the young Pharisee, &c.

And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?] The Jews did so usually in their solenm mournings. {#Es 4:3 Jer 6:26} The heathens also did the like. {#Jon 3:5 Mt 11:21}

Wilt thou call this a fast?] Is it not a mere mock fast, as was that of the Pharisees? and is that of the Papists, who pride themselves that day with opinion of merit, for their mere outward abstinence. Some Protestants also fast; but they had need to send, as God speaks, for mourning women, that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn, {#Jer 9:17} and for reformation (the main business of a fast) they mind it not.

And an acceptable day to the Lord.] Heb., A day of goodwill or well liking, therefore called elsewhere a day of atonement or expiation, and hath most excellent promises made to it. {#Joe 2:12,18} Only there must be withal a turning from wicked works; without which God seeth no work or worth in a fast, {#Joh 3:10} nor can it be an acceptable day to the Lord.

{a} Rous’s Archaeol. Attica.

{b} Turkish History, 777; Voyage into the Levant.

Ver. 6. Is not this the fast that I have chosen?] There is a threefold fast, from meat, mirth, sin; this last crowns both the former, and yet we say not (as the Papists falsely say we hold) that fasting is no more but a moral temperance, a fasting from sin, a matter of policy.

To loose the bands of wickedness, ] i.e., Iuramentum, literariam cautionem, vincula, carceres, servitutem; the unjust bonds and obligations of usurers and oppressors, whereby poor non-solvents were imprisoned or embondaged. These are also here further called "heavy burdens" and "yokes," as elsewhere "nets"; {#Ps 10:9} that is, saith Chrysostom, bonds, debts, mortgages.

And to let the oppressed go free.] Heb., The bruised or broken, scil., in their estates.

And that ye break every yoke.] Cancel every unjust writing, say the Septuagint. They took twelve in the hundred in Nehemiah’s time; this was a yoke intolerable. "I pray you let us leave off this usury," saith he. {#Isa 5:10} At this day the Jews are in all places permitted to strain up their usury to eighteen in the hundred upon the Christians; {a} but then they are used, as the friars, to suck from the meanest, and to be sucked by the greatest.

{a} Specul. Europ.

Ver. 7. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry?] Thine "own bread" it must be, and that especially whereof thou hast on the fast day abridged thyself; for what the rich spare on such a day the poor should spend. Hereby (1.) Men’s prayers shall speed the better; {#Ac 10:4} (2.) They shall make God their debtor; {#Pr 19:17} (3.) That is best and most pleasing alms to God that is given in Church assemblies; for (1.) It is an ordinance of God, and a Sabbath duty; {#1Co 16:1,2} (2.) Christ there sitteth, and seeth the gift and mind of every almsgiver, {#Lu 21:1,2} setting it down in his book of remembrance. {#Mal 3:16}

And that thou briny the poor that are cast out.] Scilicet tanquam rebelles, as those poor Albigenses were in France, and their posterity lately in Piedmont; the Protestant Lorainers, proscribed for religion by their duke, and entertained by the state of Strasburg, at the earnest suit of the ministers there, till they could be conveniently provided for elsewhere, there being some thousands of them, which, till then, were forced to feed upon hips, haws, leaves of trees, and grass of the field. {a}

That thou cover him.] Duties of the second table only are here enjoined, because they are excellent evidences of true piety and pure religion. {#Jas 1:27}

And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.] Thy poor brother, who is of the same nature with thee, and is as capable of grace and glory as thyself. Learn to see Christ in thy poor petitioner, and thou wilt the sooner yield. {#Mt 25:34-40} Consider also what is said of him that "shutteth up his bowels of compassion" from his necessitous brother. {#1Jo 3:17}

{a} Scultet. Annal.

Ver. 8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning.] He saith not "shall appear," but "shall break forth," ut velocitatem et copiam dantis exprimeret, saith Chrysostom, that he might express the swiftness and bountifulness of God the giver of it.

And thy health shall spring forth speedily.] "The Sun of righteousness shall arise unto thee with healing under his wings." {#Mal 4:2} {See Trapp on "Mal 4:2"}

And thy righteousness shall go before thee.] Thou shalt have the comfort and credit of thy bounty and charity, which is oft called "righteousness," as in #Ps 112:9 Da 4:24 Ac 10:35.

And the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward, ] i.e., The glorious Jehovah shall see to thy safety. See #Ps 27:10. {See Trapp on "Pr 27:10"} See also #Isa 52:12.

Ver. 9. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer.] Thou shalt have the royalty of his ear, easy access to, and all best success at, the throne of grace; no such cause to complain, as thou didst, {#Isa 58:3} that thy prayers were lost.

If thou take away from the midst of thee.] E meditullio tui, from thy very heart, by an inward reformation; si animo, opere, et sermone aversaberis inhumanitatem, { a} if thou heartily hate cruelty and act accordingly.

The yoke.] As #Isa 58:6.

The putting forth of the finger.] The finger of that wicked fist, {#Isa 58:4} or that finger wherewith thou threatenest thy servants, or pointest at others in scorn or disdain, as the proud Pharisee seemeth to have done at the poor publican, when he said, I am not as that fellow. {#Lu 18:11}

And speaking vanity.] Or, Violence, as the Chaldee here talk concerning the wringing and wronging of others. All this must be done, or else no hope that God will hear prayers; look to it. See #Ps 66:18. {See Trapp on "Ps 66:18"}

{a} Jun

Ver. 10. And if thou draw out thy soul {a} to the hungry.] Not thy sheaf only; relieving the necessitous out of deep commiseration, and couldst part with thy very life also for them, if duly called thereunto. Compassion excelleth alms and outward works of mercy; for when one giveth an alms, he giveth something without himself; but by compassion we relieve another by somewhat within and from ourselves.

And satisfy.] Not save him alive only by a scant allowance, -prisoners pittance.

Then shall thy light arise in obscurity.] Thou shalt abound with blessings of all sorts. See my Commonplace of Alms.

And thy darkness be as the noonday.] In agone et horrore morris erit tibi consolatio et spes salutis ac lucis. God will make thy bed in all thy sickness, and comfort thee at the hour of death.

{a} Ex animo, liberaliter, hilariterque

Ver. 11. And the Lord shall guide thee.] Or, Lead thee, as thou leadest the harbourless outcast into thine house. {#Isa 58:7}

And satisfy thy soul in drought.] As thou didst satisfy the poor hungry man’s soul. {#Isa 58:10} See #Ps 33:19 Pr 28:27. {See Trapp on "Ps 33:19"} {See Trapp on "Pr 28:27"}

And make fat thy bones, ] i.e., Cheer up thy heart, for a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones. {#Pr 17:22} The Vulgate translation hath it, He will deliver or set free thy bones, scil., from bands and fetters, as thou hadst loosed or set free thy poor brethren from their bands and yokes. {#Isa 58:6}

And thou shalt be like a watered garden.] "Filled with the fruits of righteousness," and with spiritual consolations, "unspeakable and glorious joys."

And like a spring of water, whose waters fall not.] Similitudines et allegoriae magnam habent gratiam. Who would not now turn spiritual purchaser?

Ver. 12. And they that shall be of thee.] Thy posterity, that have taken their being and beginning from thee.

Shall build the old waste places.] Heb., The wastes of antiquity, i.e., the ruinous places of Jerusalem. The apostles, also, as master builders, and others as builders together with them, have a happy hand in rearing the fair fabric of the new man, that "hidden man of the heart." See #Eph 2:20-22.

And thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach.] The father of thy country, the repairer of peace, the restorer of lost liberty, &c. Such honour had Nehemiah of old; Hunniades of late, who, having overthrown Mesites, the Turkish general, at his return into the camp a wonderful number of the poor captives came, and falling at his feet and kissing them, gave God thanks for their deliverance by him; some called him the father, some the defender of his country; the soldiers, their invincible general; the captives, their deliverer; the women, their protector; the young men and children, their most loving father. He again, with tears standing in his eyes, courteously embraced them, rejoicing at the public good; and himself giving most hearty thanks to God, commanded the like to be done in all the churches of that province, &c. {a} On the contrary, our Henry III, for his ill managing of matters, was called Regni dilapidator, destroyer of the kingdom; and Richard III, the calamity of his country.

{a} Turkish History, 269.

Ver. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.] If thou abstain from journeys and all secular businesses as much as may be. {#Eze 22:26} Otherwise God will sue thee upon an action of waste; and the superstitious Jew will rise up and condemn thee, who if in his journey he be overtaken by the Sabbath he must stay, though in the midst of a field or wood, though in danger of thieves, storms, or hunger, he may not budge.

From doing thy pleasure on mine holy day.] Plutarch thought Sabbath was from Sabbos a name of Bacchus, that signifieth to live jocundly and jovially. The Sabbath that many pleasure mongers keep may well have such a derivation, and their Dies dominicus the Lord’s day, be called Dies daemoniaeus; the Devil’s day, for they make it as Bacchus’ orgies rather than God’s holy solemnity, as doing thereon things no day lawful, but then most abominable.

And call the Sabbath a delight.] Counting it so, and making it so. The Jews call it Desiderium dierum, the desirable day. They meet it with these words, Veni sponsa mea, Come, my spouse. Of old, they blessed God for it, {#Ne 9:14} and gave the whole week the denomination from it; {#Lu 18:12} they strictly and spiritually kept it: but now they think the Sabbath is not sufficiently observed except they eat and drink largely, and give themselves to other sensual delights. {a} After dinner, the most of their discourse is about their usuary, and other worldly businesses, &c. They pray indeed, but it is that Elias would hasten his coming, even the next Sabbath if he please, that he might give them notice of the Messiah’s coming, &c. Let us take heed of being weary of the Sabbath, and wishing it over, as they did. {#Am 8:5 Mal 1:12,13} Walk into God’s garden, taste how good the Lord is in his ordinances, feel a continual increase of sweetness in the pleasure and dainties of holy duties, whereof we have such variety that we cannot easily be sated: so little need is there that we should, with the Rabbis, expound this delight in the text, of dainty and delightful meats to be eaten on this day.

The holy of the Lord, honourable.] And therefore "honourable" because "holy"; as it is said also of the "Lord of the Sabbath"—"Holy and reverend is his name." {#Ps 111:9} "A holy convocation" the Sabbath is called. {#Le 23:3} See #Le 19:30 26:2. Let us sanctify this holy rest, else it will degenerate into idleness, which is a sin any day (one of Sodom’s sins), but on the Lord’s day a double sin. Better not do our own work any day, than not God’s work on his day. Debet tutus dies festivus a Christiano expendi operibus sanctis, saith Rob. Grosthead, Bishop of Lincoln: {b} The whole Sabbath should be spent in holy duties. Debemus die Dominico solummodo spiritualibus gaudiis repleri; we should be in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and be filled with spiritual delights only, saith the Council of Paris, held A.D. 829. Christ hath for this purpose made us a "holy nation, and a kingdom of priests" {#Ex 19:6} -that is, holy and honourable; and God hath sanctified it for a day of blessing to those that sanctify it. {#Ex 20:11 Eze 20:12} He hath called it "an everlasting covenant" by way of eminence, {#Ex 31:16} as if nothing of God’s covenant were kept if this were not kept holy.

Not doing thine own ways.] Ea tantum facias quae ad animae salutem pertinent, saith Jerome, Those things only are then to be done that pertain to thy soul’s health—works of piety, of charity, and of necessity, none else. Tantum divinis cultibus serviamus, saith Augustine. What meant, then, that good King Edward VI—and where were those that should have better instructed him, Cranmer, Ridley, &c.—to deliver to his council these articles following:—That upon Sundays they intend public affairs of the realm, despatch answers to letters for good order of the state, and make full despatches of all things concluded in the week before; provided that they be present at common prayer, &c. {c}

Nor speaking thine own words.] These words of vanity or vexation, {#Isa 58:9} but words of wisdom and sobriety suitable to the holiness of the day.

{a} Buxt., Synog.

{b} In Decalog. praec. 3.

{c} Life of Edward VI, by Sir J. Heywood.

Ver. 14. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.] Find such inexplicable sweetness in communion with God, use of his heart ravishing ordinances, meditation on his word and works, especially that of our redemption, as far far exceedeth all the dirty delights of profane sensualists and Sabbath breakers. {#Job 27:10 Pr 14:10}

And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth.] Yea, upon the heights of heaven, where thou shalt keep an everlasting Sabbath, in which all Sabbaths meet, and whereof there is no evening; -ανεσπερος ημερα.

And feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, ] i.e., With heavenly manna, such food as eye hath not seen, ear heard, or mouth of natural man ever tasted.

For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.] The Lord, cuius ego sum os et organon, will certainly do all this; you may build upon it.

Chapter 59

Ver. 1. Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened.] That their fasts were not regarded, their Sabbath keeping rewarded, {#Isa 58:3,14} their prayers answered, {#Isa 59:1,2} according to expectation, the fault is not at all in God, saith the prophet, as if he were now grown old, impotent, deafish, or bison, as they were apt to conceit it, but merely in themselves, as appeareth by the following catalogue of sins, which he therefore also, in his own and their names, confesseth to God, and assigneth for the cause of their so long lasting calamity.

Ver. 2. But your iniquities have severed, ] i.e., Have set you at a very great distance (hinted also by the redundance of speech that is here in the original), or rather defiance. {#Ps 5:5 Pr 15:29 29:13} Nothing intricates our actions more than our sins, which do likewise ensnare our souls, while they are as a wall of separation between God and us, {#Eze 43:8} and as an interstitium, such as is the firmament that divideth the upper and the lower waters. {#Ge 1:6}

And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.] Crudelem modicum intemperans aeger facit. {a} Sin is as a devil in the air, saith one, to hinder our prayers; turning from sin will charm the devil, and make him fall from heaven.

{a} Mimus.

Ver. 3. For your hands are defiled with blood.] The prophet well knew that these perverse Jews would stand upon their justification, and put God to his proofs, as their posterity also did, {#Jer 2:35} catalogum ergo bene longum texit; therefore he here brings in a long bead roll of their sins, wherein their hands, lips, heart, feet, &c., were found guilty of high offence. See #Isa 1:15.

Your lips have spoken lies.] Those very "lips" of yours that have uttered prayers, have muttered lies. See #Jas 3:10.

And your tongue hath muttered perverseness.] How this was done, none hath better set forth than the prophet Jeremiah {#Jer 9:3-8}

Ver. 4. None calleth for justice.] Mindeth the judges of their duty, but rather connive, collogue, partake, &c. The Chaldee hath it, ‘There is none that delivereth the poor and needy.’

They trust in vanity.] As those did; {#Jer 7:4} making a bridge of their own shadows, they fall into the brook.

They conceive mischief, &c.] This is taken out of #Ps 7:14 Job 15:35; {See Trapp on "Ps 7:14"} {See Trapp on "Job 15:35"} Heb., Going great with grievance, and bringing forth vexation.

Ver. 5. They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, ] i.e., Poisonous and pernicious designs; there are that interpret it of false doctrines, as destruetive to men’s souls, as cockatrice’ eggs eaten, or but broken, would be to their bodies. As the bird that sitteth on the serpent’s eggs, by breaking and hatching them, bringeth forth a perilous brood to her own destruction, so here.

And weave the spider’s web.] Good for nothing but to catch flies. The natural man is ever either weaving spider’s webs, which are futiles and fragiles, or hatching cockatrice’ eggs. Vanity or villany is his whole study and practice.

Ver. 6. Their webs shall not become garments.] "Garments" quasi gardments; one use of them being to guard our bodies from the injury of wind and weather. Wicked devices and false doctrines profit not those that are therein occupied. {as #Heb 13:9} In the day of God’s wrath, they will prove but as a coat of cobweb.

Their works are works of iniquity.] Here ministers may learn roundly to reprove the sins of the people.

Ver. 7. Their feet run to evil, &c.] They trot apace toward hell; they take long strides, as if they feared lest hell should be full before they come thither.

And they make haste to shed innocent blood.] This is taken from #Pr 1:16, and fitly applied by St Paul to the whole race of mankind, {#Ro 3:15} since by nature there is never a better of us; we are all in a pickle: Ecce hic telas arantarum et ova aspidum explicat. {a}

Wasting and destruction are in their paths.] A metaphor from torrents or tempests; or from a pestilence that sweepeth all, as now it doth at Genoa, and as it did not long since at Naples.

{a} A Lapide.

Ver. 8. The way of peace they know not.] Like salamanders, they love to live in the fire of contention, to swim against the stream with the trout, to sow sedition, as the devil, &c.

Shall not know peace.] Shall not know what it meaneth.

Ver. 9. Therefore is judgment far from us.] Here followeth the complaint of the godly party, together with their confession; this they knew well to be the readiest way to get off with comfort. God, say they here, hath neither avenged us on our enemies, nor showed us favour; he letteth our foes deal with us as we have dealt one with another.

We wait for light, but behold obscurity.] We promised ourselves a better estate, but ‘the matter mendeth with us,’ quoth that martyr, ‘as sour ale doth in summer.’

Ver. 10. We grope for the wall like the blind.] We are altogether to seek, utterly destitute of good counsel or advice; neither can we enjoy those comforts that we have.

We are in desolate places as dead men.] As "free among the dead," free of that company. {#Ps 88:5} Leo Judae rendereth it, We are in our graves as dead carcases; Piscator thus, In fatness (that is, in the abundance of all things) we are as dead men.

Ver. 11. We roar all like bears.] Fremimus, ac gemimus. The bear, when hurt or robbed, runs into his den and roareth; doves, when bereft of their mates, sit solitary and groan; so do we, indesinenter et intime gemimus, make pitiful moan; and that is all we can do.

Ver. 12. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee.] When complaints end in confessions, it is right—the medicine worketh kindly. Some furious fools have brutish and fell affections, full of rage; when in pain or grief, they fly upon God and man, and all that comes next hand, hoping to ease themselves, not by confession or reformation, but by revenge.

And our sins testify against us.] {a} Sin put a sting into their cresses, and hence it was they lay so heavy. This brought such roarings and groanings upon them, and that also when salvation was looked for.

For our transgressions are with us.] They lie like a load of lead upon our consciences, where they are yet unpardoned.

And as for our iniquities, we know them.] Our consciences are burdened with them, and we feel the terrors of God in our souls. Conscientia nihil aliud est quam cordis scientia; Conscience is the reflection of the soul upon itself. See #1Co 4:4. So here, "As for our iniquities, we know them"—namely, by a second act of the understanding, whereby, after we think or know a thing, we think what we think, and know what we know, and this is properly the action of conscience.

{a} Heb., Peccatum respondit—i.e., Peccatorum unumquodque.

Ver. 13. In transgressing and lying against the Lord.] Or, Dealing disloyally with him. This is to lay on load, to be full in the mouth, to enter into particulars, and to confess them all with utmost aggravation.

Ver. 14. And judgment is turned away backward.] Nihil amplius ex aequo et bono agitur; all is out of order, causes are carried the contrary way.

Truth is fallen in the streets.] When the disputation at Oxford with Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, martyrs, was finished, Weston, the prolocutor, triumphed with Vicit veritas, whereas he should rather have said, Vicit potestas -not truth, but force, hath carried it. In the convocation at Paul’s about the same time, when Philpot and other good men argued for the truth against the Popish prelates, it was said that those distressed ministers had the Word for them, but the prelates had the sword on their side, and would therefore get the better. {a}

{a} Acts and Mon., 1300.

Ver. 15. Yea, truth faileth.] See #Isa 59:13.

And he that departethfrom evil maketh himself a prey.] Praedae pater; is like to suffer for his singularity and preciseness. The luxurious Ephesians once made this decree, Ουδεις ημων ονηιστος εστω, Let there be never a sober man allowed to live among us. The Athenians were wont to cast good men out of their commonwealth by an ostracism. Thraseaes was commanded by Nero to die, because he was a better man than was fit to live in so loose an age. Josephus saith, that before the last destruction of Jerusalem, religion was not only a matter of form, but of scorn. Bede reporteth of the ancient Britons, immediately before their destruction by the Saxons, that they were come to that height of wickedness as to cast odium in religionis professores tanquam in adversarios, hatred upon professors of religion, looking upon them as their adversaries.

Ver. 16. And wondered.] The Vulgate hath it, Aporiatus est.

That there was no intercessor.] No interposer {as #Job 36:31} that would stickle for truth and right, as did Nehemiah, Athanasius, Luther, &c.

Therefore his arm brought salvation…and his righteousness, ] i.e., Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God {a} {#1Co 1:24,30}

{a} Jun.

Ver. 17. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, ] i.e., Christ did; and so must every Christian, {#Eph 6:14} where the apostle Paul soundeth the alarm, and describeth his weapons as here, defensive and offensive, alluding likely to this text.

Ver. 18. Fury to his adversaries, ] viz., The devil and his agents, his people’s adversaries.

Ver. 19. So shall they fear the name of the Lord.] Christ shall get him a great name, as a renowned conqueror.

When the enemy shall come in like a flood.] When they shall pour out a deluge of evils upon the Church. {#Re 12:15}

The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him, ] i.e., Against strong temptations, corruptions, persecutions. The motto shall be, as once Christus nobiscum: state. stand with our Christ.

Ver. 20. And the Redeemer.] Shall come to the Israel of God.

That turn from transgression.] See #Ro 11:26. {See Trapp on "Ro 11:26"}

Ver. 21. My Spirit which is upon thee, and my words.] The efficacy of the Word is by the Spirit, the expression of the Spirit by the Word; both are here promised to the Church as her true goods. {#Isa 30:20,21 Job 14:16,17} It is with the Word and Spirit as with the veins and arteries in the body; as the veins carry the blood, so the arteries carry the spirits to quicken the blood.

Chapter 60

Ver. 1. Arise.] Thou, O my Church, that now liest in pulvere vastitatis, as a forlorn captive, rouse up thyself, change both thy countenance and condition; Tanquam libera ac laeta ad novum nuncium; up, and look up, I have joyful tidings for thee.

For thy light is come.] Christ, who is αυτοφως—light essential. {#Joh 12:46}

And, the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.] The glorious gospel of grace. {#2Co 3:7 4:4}

Ver. 2. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth.] As once it did Egypt, {#Ex 10:21} when there was light in the land of Goshen. So is there in the Church, when all the world besides lieth buried in a fog of ignorance and a bog of wickedness. Rhodes is always located in the sun. {a} The separation of the saints in light is a wonderful separation. {#Ex 33:16}

But the Lord shall arise upon thee.] The Lord Christ, who is "the true light," {#Joh 1:9} "the light of the world," {#Joh 8:12} "the Sun of righteousness." {#Mal 4:2} {See Trapp on "Mal 4:2"}

{a} Semper in sole sita est Rhodos.

Ver. 3. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light.] The apostles, those shining luminaries, were Christ’s Δαδουχοι, holding forth the light of life to all people, as Simeon said. {#Lu 2:34,35} And we may well say, as our Saviour did, {#Lu 4:21} This day is this Scripture fulfilled in our ears, and made good to our hearts, praised be his holy name throughout all eternity.

And kings to the brightness of thy rising.] As did our King Lucius, who is reckoned to be the first Christian king; our Constantine, the first Christian emperor; our Edward VI, the first reforming prince, and many others. Facit hoc contra Anabaptistas, qui exclusos putant reges ab ecclesia. {a}

{a} Scultet.

Ver. 4. Lift up thine eyes.] As from a watchtower; for so Zion signifieth.

All they gather themselves together, &c.] See #Isa 49:18.

Thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.] Like sucking children, they shall suck, and be satisfied. {#Isa 66:11} The Vulgate version here hath surgent for sugent; as it hath unus de similibus for unus e millibus {#Job 33:23} and evertit for everrit {#Lu 15:8} with other such gross mistakes not a few.

Ver. 5. Then thou shalt see and flow together.] Or, Thou shalt break forth as a river; or, Thou shalt shine. {a}

And thy heart shall fear.] At first, at least, to see such a confluence of people unto thee.

And be enlarged.] With joy, upon better consideration.

Because the abundance of the sea, ] i.e., The multitude of the islanders, and such as dwell by the sea side, which are noted for the worst of men, whence the proverb, Maritimi mores. Such are we Britons.

{a} רהנ tam de lumine quam de flumine dicitur.

Ver. 6. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, ] i.e., Of such peoples as usually ride upon camels, viz., the Arabians and the adjacent countries; these shall come flocking and flowing to the Church with their precious and pleasant riches.

The dromedaries.] A lesser and lower kind of camels, commended for their swiftness. {#Jer 2:23} We call slow people dromedaries by antiphrasis, and for this, that they can travel four days together without water. Bajazet, beaten by Tamerlane, fled for his life, and might have escaped, had he not stayed to water his mare by the way, which thereupon went the more slowly, and was overtaken by the Tartars.

They shall bring gold and incense.] This the ancients interpret as those wise men from the east, {#Mt 2:11} which was indeed a small essay of this prophecy. But why should the Papists call them the three kings of Cullen?

And they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.] This is more than all their rich gifts. A thankful {a} man is worth his weight in the gold of Ophir.

{a} Gratanti animo.

Ver. 7. All the flocks of Kedar, ] i.e., The Kedarenes and Nebateans with their flocks, whereof they had abundance; and they now had hearts to "honour the Lord with their substance, and with the best of their increase." See #Isa 23:17,18.

Ver. 8. Who are these that fly as a cloud?] Which flieth more swiftly than any bird, and covereth the sky far and near. Deus bone, quam multi catervatim accurrunt! saith the Church here; wonderful! what trooping and treading upon the heels one of another is here! {a}

And as the doves to their windows.] To their columbaries, whereinto they scour and rush gregatim, et mira pernicitate, especially if they have young ones there, or else are driven by some hawk or tempest. {b} God’s people are free hearted; {#Ps 110:3} they serve the Lord with cheerfulness. {#Ps 100:2} Amor enim alas addit: and well might Plato descant upon the word, Ον θνητοι μεν Ερωτα, Αθανατοι δε περωτα καλουσι, whom men call love, the immortal call winged.

{a} Confertis agminibus.

{b} "Columba Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet auras."

Ver. 9. Surely the isles shall wait for me.] They shall come off freely, et non quasi angariati ad auditum verbi et sacramentorum usum. And this is taken to be God’s answer, {a} declaring the cause of that wonderful concourse. {#Isa 60:8}

And the ships of Tarshish first, ] i.e., With the first, or, In the beginnings, as the Vulgate hath it. The islands were converted as soon as any, as this of Britain is said to have been by Joseph of Arimathea. Omnium provinciarum prima Britannia publicitus Christi nomen reeepit, saith Sabellicus, {b} Of all proviuces, Britain first embraced the faith of Christ. From the which also, as we first of all the ten kingdoms {#Re 17:7,12} revolted to the Pope, so we were the first that shook off that yoke; our Henry VIII being the first that broke the neck of the Pope’s usurped authority.

Because he hath glorified thee.] By his gracious presence, and the sanctification of his Spirit by the Word.

{a} Huic admirationi Messias ipse respondet.

{b} Ennead. 7, lib. v.

Ver. 10. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls.] By preaching and writing for the truth, as did many famous Greek and Latin doctors; and since them, not a few of all nations.

And their kings shall minister unto thee.] As did Cyrus and Darius; but especially Constantine the Great (who cared not what he bestowed upon the Church, and was therefore, in a jeer, by the heathens called Pupillus, as if he needed a guardian to order his expenses), Valentinian, Theodosius, Honorius, Justinian. Our Edward VI, {a} besides the much good he did at home, sent at one time five thousand pounds to relieve Protestants beyond seas. Queen Elizabeth sent both men and means in abundance to the relief of the French and Hollanders.

{a} His Life, by Sir John Heywood, p. 115.

Ver. 11. Therefore shall thy gates be open continually.] Such shall be thy spiritual security, and so great the resort unto thee

And that their kings may be brought.] Led captive, saith the Chaldee, sc., to the obedience of faith, {as #Ps 149:8} or, Led in state; so others.

Ver. 12. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish.] They are utterly out then, who hold that men may be saved in what religion soever, so be it they lead an honest life. And Pope Julius III is justly accused of sacrilege for stamping money with his own image and this inscription, "The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish."

Ver. 13. The glory of Lebanon.] The best cedars there, in allusion to the building of the material temple by Solomon, and afterwards by Ezra; q.d., Whatsoever is good in the world, either in understanding, virtue, or doctrine, shall be sanctified and employed for the building up of the Church.

The fir tree, the pine tree, and the box tree.] Which from those that would, but cannot, bring better, shall be well accepted.

And I will make the place of my feet glorious, ] ie., My Church, when at lowest, and the members thereof, even the meanest of them. Hence also Christ’s name, "King of kings and Lord of lords," is written "on his thigh," i.e., on his lower parts. {#Re 19:16}

Ver. 14. The sons also of them that afflicted thee.] When once they shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, {as #Mal 3:18} there shall be a strange alteration wrought in them, as was in Paul, Cyprian, Vergerius, Latimer, and others.

Shall bow themselves at the soles of thy feet.] Such was the custom of the Easterlings; and this, the Popish writers say, is fulfilled in their vicegod, as we may, in the worst sense, best call him. The first that held forth his feet to be kissed was Dioclesian the Tyrant. {a}

{a} Eutrop.

Ver. 15. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated.] The primitive Christians suffered Odio humani generis, saith Tacitus, {a} through the general hatred conceived against them; and non tam crimen quam nomen puniebatur, saith another, their very name was odious.

I will make thee an eternal excellency.] Here in part, but hereafter in all perfection. God so favoured the first orthodox Christian emperors, ut cum illorum pietate, Dei liberalitas certare videretur, That God’s liberality might seem to strive with their piety.

{a} Lib. xv.

Ver. 16. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles.] Satiaberis divitiis populorum, saith the Chaldee. Thou shalt be satisfied with the riches of the peoples.

And shalt suck the breast of kings, ] i.e., With kingly dainties and delicacies, saith Zanchez after the Rabbis.

Ver. 17. For brass I will brlng gold, ] i.e., I will beautify my Church with far greater gifts of my Spirit than now. The New Jerusalem (which signifieth, say some, the state of the Church in this world), when it shall be refined to the utmost, is all of gold, and these golden times are yet to come.

Thine exactors.] Or, Overseers; thy bishops, say the Septuagint.

Ver. 18. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land.] The full accomplishment of this is not to be expected here.

But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, ] sc., When thou hast got the great gulf {#Lu 16:26} between thee and thine enemies.

And thy gates Praise.] God will continually come to thee with new benefits, and thou shalt go forth to meet him with thanksgiving. {#Ps 89:16}

Ver. 19. The sun shall be no more.] God shall be thy sun and shield, thy solace and safety. {#Ps 84:11} The light of his loving countenance shall be lifted up upon thee, and this shall be better to thee than all outward comforts.

Ver. 20. Thy sun shall no more go down.] Thy joy shall no man take from thee; thou shalt have a habitual cheerfulness.

Ver. 21. Thy people also shall be all righteous.] Professional saints at least they shall all be, -saints by calling; some of them also shall be really righteous and religious, justified by the merit, and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ. And these together make up a true visible Church, such as was that of Corinth and of Sardis. A mixture there will be to the world’s end.

They shall inherit the land for ever.] Those that are righteous indeed, are heirs of the world together with faithful Abraham. The meek shall inherit the earth; and as for the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. {#Mt 5:3,5}

The branch of my planting.] So may some be that yet bear no fruit. {#Joh 15:2}

The work of my hands.] By regeneration. {#Eph 2:10} And so are such as are sanctified by habitual infusion, and not by baptismal profession only. In both sorts God is glorified.

Ver. 22. A little one shall become a thousand.] Three thousand were added to the Church in one day, {#Ac 2:41} five thousand in another. {#Ac 4:4} Homo ille tricubitalis, as Chrysostom calleth Paul, that little man, and least of all the apostles, what great pains took he! how many churches planted he! how many thousand souls gained he to Christ! See what a circuit he set, and what a deal of work he despatched at one bout. {#Ro 15:18-20} Here was minimus in mille, the least out of a thousand, as it is here. Think the like of the rest of the apostles, as also of Luther, Melanchthon, Ferullus, &c. Mr Foxe telleth us that many were made to see the falsities of Popery by reading Chaucer; more by reading Erasmus’s Colloquies.

I the Lord will hasten it in his time.] Heb., In its time—that is, in the time of the New Testament; but most completely and gloriously at the resurrection shall all these things that are foretold be accomplished.

Chapter 61

Ver. 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.] Christ had graciously promised to accomplish his people’s happiness in its due time. {#Isa 60:22} Here he showeth how and when he will do it—viz., by himself, anointed and appointed by his heavenly Father to be "Messiah the Prince"; {#Da 9:25} "Christ the Lord"; {#Ac 4:26} Priest, prophet, and king of his Church; a Saviour ex professo, consecrated as the priests of old were, first with oil, and then with blood. So was he (1.) By the Holy Spirit, invisibly at the first instant of his conception, and visibly, at his baptism; (2.) By his own blood sprinkled upon him at his circumcision, but especially at his Passion, which was another baptism. {#Mt 20:23 Lu 12:50}

Because the Lord hath anointed me.] Prae, consortibus et pro consortibus {#Ps 46:7} "Above thy fellows," and also for thy fellows, as some render that text. See #Joh 1:33 3:34 Lu 4:18 Ac 10:38 Heb 1:8 Ps 105:15 2Co 1:21,22 1Jo 2:20,27. "Only unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gifts of Christ"; {#Eph 4:7} "but God gave not the Spirit unto him by measure," {#Joh 3:34} he had it in an abundant and transcendent manner, "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over," even as much as his human nature was capable of. Let the saints love him for this, {#So 1:2} and labour to be more and nmre made partakers of his holiness, for "of his fulness we all receive grace for grace"; {#Joh 1:16} a perfection in some sort answerable to Christ’s own perfection. There are those who observe in this text, and not amiss, the mystery of the Holy Trinity—viz., God the Father anointing his Son Christ with the Holy Ghost. See the like at Christ’s baptism. {#Mt 3:16} See Trapp on "Mt 3:16"}

To preach good tidings unto the meek.] "To preach." This referreth to Christ’s prophetic office; as doth "binding up the broken hearted" to his priestly, and "proclaiming liberty to the captives," to his kingly office. To these three offices as God he was consecrated—set apart for a mediator; {as #Ex 30:30} and as man he was qualified, as before. That which Christ came to preach was good tidings, goodspel or gospel, as we call it, the best news that ever came into the world. {#Lu 2:10} This he came and preached not in his own person only, but by his prophets and apostles, {#Eph 2:17} in whom he spake, {#2Co 13:3} and before all whom himself preached the first gospel to our first parents, {#Ge 3:15} even the gospel of grace.

Unto the meek.] Or, Lowly; for humility and meekness are sorores collectaneae, twin sisters. There are those poor that are gospelised—viz., the poor in spirit, sensible of their utter indigence and nothingness; {#Mt 5:3} whereby also our Saviour proveth himself to John’s disciples, sent unto him for the purpose, to be the true Messiah foreshown by Isaiah, and foreshadowed in him. {#Mt 11:5 Lu 7:22}

He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted.] This Christ doth as a fit high priest, sensible of our miseries. {#Heb 4:15} He hath manum medicare, hand of healing, he is the true Samaritan; not the physician only, but the surgeon of his people, cataplasmans et obligans, { a} plastering and binding up their wounds given them by the devil, that wicked thief, then when the priest and the Levites—the law—had passed them by, and yielded them no help at all.

The broken hearted.] Broken with the sense of sin and fear of wrath; so broken as if all their bones were rattling within their skin. This was David’s case, {#Ps 51:8} and this he pleads, as one in case and capacity for mercy. {#Ps 51:17} He knew well enough that God poured not the oil of his mercy, save only into broken vessels; for whole vessels are full vessels, and so this precious liquor would run over, and be spilt upon the ground.

To proclaim liberty to the captives.] Liberty from the tyranny of sin, and terror of hell. This Christ doth as a king, with great power. {#Joh 8:32,34,36 Ro 6:17,18 Col 1:13 2Ti 2:26}

And the opening of the prison, ] i.e., Of hell, called here koach from lakach, to receive, because it is capacious, and still taking in more company; sic infernus dicitur ab inferendo, ut aliqui volunt.

{a} Pangit et ungit ut sanet.

Ver. 2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.] The new and true jubilee, or year of releasement, called here in the Hebrew the year of good will, like as the elect are called the men of God’s good will. {#Lu 2:14} This year is now, {#2Co 6:2} and the present now must be embraced and improved, since God is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace; which opportunities are headlong, and, once past, irrecoverable.

And the day of vengeance of our God.] Tribulation to them that trouble his people. {#2Th 1:6,7} Gog and Magog shall down in that day; all humans be hanged up at that royal feast, at the last day especially. {#Lu 19:27}

To comfort all that mourn.] This Christ did both by word and deed, and this must all his ministers do: "Comfort the feebleminded"; {#1Th 5:14} not burdening men’s consciences with human traditions and merit of works. Popery is a doctrine of desperation.

Ver. 3. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion.] {a} Here is showed how it is that Christ comforteth his people, sc., by clearing up their consciences from the stain and sting of sin, and by healing their natures, causing them to grow in grace as trees of righteousness, well rooted and well fruited.

To appoint unto them, ] sc., Comfort. {as #Isa 61:2}

To give unto them beauty for ashes.] {b} Cidarim pro cinere, lusum pro luctu, risum pro rictu, &c., to turn all their sighing into singing, all their musing into music, all their sadness into gladness, all their tears into triumphs. But then those that would rejoice with "joy unspeakable," must stir up sighs that are unutterable, for even Christ himself favos post fella gustavit, tasted first of the sour, and then of the sweet.

That they may be culled.] Have the comfort and the credit of growing Christians, full of goodness, and filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another, as were those Romans, {#Ro 15:14} to their eternal commendation. See #Joh 15:5-8 Php 1:11.

That he might be glorified.] As indeed he is by one gracious action performed by a fruitful Christian, more than by all his works of creation and providence.

{a} Apud Hebraeos ornatus est in verbis. among the Hebrews, it was furnished in the words, םקנ and םחנ. (Original had final ן not נ for second Hebrew word. Editor.)

{b} ראפ for רפא.

Ver. 4. And they shall build the old wastes.] Desolationes saeculi, the Gentiles that have long lain forlorn and desolate, as ruined houses; or the wild waste, shall, by the apostles and other doctors of the Church, be brought to Christ, and built up in holiness.

And they shall repair.] The same thing is four different times said over for better assurance, and to set forth the miracle.

Ver. 5. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, ] i.e., Shall be very well pleased to serve you, so they may serve the true God with you: yea, being proselyted, they shall become eminent pastors and teachers of the gospel; such as were Justin Martyr, Cyprian, Augustine, &c.

Shall be your ploughmen.] See #1Co 3:9.

Ver. 6. But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord.] Or, Princes of the Lord, as the word is used #2Sa 8:18. See #Ex 19:6 Re 1:6 1Pe 2:9 Ro 12:1 Heb 13:15.

Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles.] Ye shall have the double honour of countenance and maintenance.

Ver. 7. For your shame ye shall have double, ] i.e., Plentiful reparation, double damages, as Job had. {#Isa 42:10,12}

And for confusion they shall rejoice.] Your grief shall be turned into joy, as our Saviour somewhere saith. See #Mt 5:12.

Everlasting joy shall be unto them.] They shall be everlastingly merry; not so much for the double honour done to themselves, as for the enlargement of God’s kingdom, and the increase of his people, with whom they shall spiritually rejoice and reign for ever.

Ver. 8. For I the Lord love judgment, &c.] One rendereth it roundly thus, For I the Lord love right; I hate rapine by iniquity—q.d., therefore I will right and repay the wrongs and damages done to my people. Neither is it for any one to think to expiate his bad deeds by his good, to set off with God, and to make him amends. In the times of Popery, indeed, men were taught so to do; they were persuaded that God would accept rapinam in holocaustum, and they practised accordingly: as did the French fury Brunbildis, who founded many colleges; and our King Stephen, who built many monasteries: eo scilicet beneficio maleficia sun expiaverunt, saith mine author. How much better Selymus, the great Turk, who, being on his death bed moved by Pyrrhus, his favourite, to bestow the great wealth taken from the Persian merchants in various places of his empire upon some notable hospital for relief of the poor, refused so to do, and forthwith commanded restitution thereof to be made to the rightful owners. {a}

And I will direct their work in truth, ] i.e., In sincerity: there shall be good actions and good aims; which two make a good Christian. Some render the words thus, And I will give them according to their work in truth; making "in truth" to be God’s oath—q.d., truly and without all doubt, I will perform my promises: you have mine oath and my covenant both for your better assurance.

{a} Turkish History, fol. 567.

Ver. 9. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, ] i.e., Shall be noted and noticed for eximious and exemplary: non aliunde noscibiles quam ex vitae emendatione, { a} as it was said of the primitive Christians, famous among the very heathens for their holy conversation. Pliny giveth a very honourable testimony of their innocence in his second epistle to Trajan. Those that stood with the Lamb had his Father’s name in their foreheads; {#Re 14:1} they led convincing lives, so that their friends could never sufficiently praise them, nor their foes justly find any fault with them. Such a one was Luther, Bucer, Bradford, &c. Christians should shine as lamps, show forth the power of godliness in their whole practice, do more than others possibly can do, {#Mt 5:47} that all may see and say, "These are the seed that the Lord hath blessed," these are his darlings, his earthly angels. What a shame was it to those flagitious Jews that it should be asked, "Are these the people of Jehovah?" {#Eze 36:20} And the like to profligate professors, that Papists should say, Are these your new gospellers? For certain, said one, {a} when he had read Christ’s sermon in the mount, either this is not gospel, or we are not right gospellers.

{a} Tertul. ad Scapul.

{b} Linaker.

Ver. 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.] Me beatam! quare dolerem? Oh happy am I, said the Church; why should I be troubled at ought: why should not I over abounding exceedingly with joy who have such rich and precious promises? gaudium in re, gaudium in spe; gaudium de possessione, gaudium de promissione, &c. -i.e., Joy in hope and joy in hand, joy in possession and joy in reversion, &c., as Bernard sweetly. When once a soul enjoyeth God, it is quiet, as a bee that is got into her hive, or a bird got into her nest, or the dove into the ark; nay, it is triumphant, as "more than a conqueror."

For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation.] By salvation and righteousness, Jerome here understandeth Christ our Saviour and Justifier, whom we are bidden also to put on. {#Ro 13:14 Ga 3:27 Re 12:1}

As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments.] Tanquam sponsum qui sacerdotem refert ornatu, so Piscator rendereth it: as a bridegroom bravely arrayed; like a priest, os humerosque Deo similis. {a}

And as a bride adorneth herself with jewels.] Mundo suo, With her ornaments, habiliments. Heb., Implements. The Church is here compared to a bridegroom for her strength and constancy, saith Cyril; and again, to a bride for her fruitfulness, beauty, and glory, here begun, and hereafter to be perfected. There is in this verse a double elegance in the Hebrew that cannot be translated.

{a} Ιερατευμενος στεφανω.—Aquila.

Ver. 11. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud.] Hic rursum loquitur Christus, saith Piscator: here Christ speaketh again, giving us to understand that piety is planted by God in the hearts of his people. We are God’s husbandry, saith the apostle; see #Mr 3:26-28. The Church is Christ’s garden. {#So 5:1} Howbeit it is with holy affections as with exotic noble plants; this country is not so kindly for them, being but a stepmother to them; therefore must they be much watered and cherished, &c. We have a gracious promise that our hearts shall be like watered gardens, {#Isa 58:11} and that if we quench not the Spirit, but quicken and cherish it, there shall flow out of our belly, that is, out of the bosom and bottom of our souls shall flow rivers of living water, {#Joh 7:38} better than those that watered the garden of Eden; so that we shall be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. {#Php 1:11}

Chapter 62

Ver. 1. For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace.] Habes hic orationem prophetae sanctissimam, saith Oecolampadius. Here we have the prophet’s oration, yea, here we have the prophet’s panegyric, to the Church, saith Hyperius, {a} by way of congratulation for her felicity and dignity in Christ, her head and husband; as also his resolution to be earnest and importunate with God and men for her deliverance and restitution. Terentius, that noble general under Valens the emperor, asked nothing but that the Church might be freed from Arians; and when the emperor tore his petition, he said that he would never ask anything for himself if he might not prevail for the Church.

Until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness.] Till Christ come in the flesh, if I should live so long; as long as I have any being howsoever, {#1Ti 6:14} and after that by my writings, which shall continue to the world’s end.

{a} Pro panegyrico Ecclesiae dicto omnia quae hoc capite dicuntur recte meo iudicio accipientur. -Hyper.

Ver. 2. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness.] The prophet here very artificially turneth his speech to the Church herself, as if he would pronounce his panegyric in her presence; and presently celebrateth her dignity and happiness herein, that the Gentiles should worship her, and be joined unto her. Some read it, "And the Gentiles shall see thy righteous One,"—i.e., Christ, who came from the Jews, was preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up to glory. {#1Ti 3:16}

And thou shalt be called by a new name, ] viz., Hephzibah, i.e., My darling; and Beulah, i.e., A married woman. {#Isa 62:4} There are that by this new name will have to be understood the name of sons and daughters of the Almighty. {#Re 2:17 2Co 6:18} Others the name of the Church Catholic. And others, again, the honourable name of Christians, which yet is at this day in Italy and at Rome a name of reproach, and usually abused to signify a fool or a dolt, as Dr Fulk proveth out of their own authors. {a}

{a} Fulk, Rhem. Test. on Acts xi.

Ver. 3. And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord.] Or, A glorious crown by the hand, the good hand, of the Lord upon thee. The saints are God’s glory.; {#Isa 46:13} the house of his glory; {#Isa 60:7} a crown of glory and a royal diadem here: the throne of glory; {#Jer 14:21} the ornament of God; {#Eze 7:20} the beauty of his ornament, and that also set in majesty (ib.) Oh learn and labour to live up to such high preferment.

Ver. 4. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah, ] i.e., My delight is in her; as if Christ should say to his Church, {as #Jud 14:3} Tu mihi sola places, { a} Thou art mine only joy. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him. {#Ps 147:11} Let us reciprocate, {b} love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; not only with a love of desire, {as #Ps 42:1,3} but also of delight and complacency, solacing ourselves in the fruition of him, {as #Ps 16:5,6} and of his people, these "excellent ones of the earth" who were David’s Hephzibam, {#Isa 62:3} in whom was "all his delight."

{a} Ovid. De Arte Am.

{b} Redamemus ergo sponsum.

Ver. 5. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shalt thy sons marry thee.] This translation (saith one who preferreth the Vulgate, ‘The young man shall dwell with the virgin’), marreth the sense, since it is improper to say of sons that they shall marry their mother. But I say, that the Church never flourisheth more, than when the son marrieth the mother, and doth his utmost to beautify and amplify her. See #2Co 11:2.

And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.] Communicating with our souls his sweetest favours in his ordinances, as in the bridal bed, and making us to be conceived with the fruits of righteousness to everlasting life. It is, therefore, a most unworthy thing, that men should go a whoring from under him, {#Ho 4:12} and seek to themselves among the creatures alias delicias et amasias, other sweethearts.

Ver. 6. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, ] i.e., Angels, say some, who are called "watchers, ";{ #Da 4:13,33} {See Trapp on "Da 4:13"} {See Trapp on "Da 4:33"} prophets and pastors, say others, who are as "watchmen upon the walls," to admonish thee by their preaching, and to preserve thee by their prayers to God. {#Isa 21:11 Eze 13:17 31:7}

Which shall never hold their peace.] Never but be either praying or preaching. {as #Ac 6:4 De 33:10} Augustine desired that death might find him aut precantem nut proedicantem. Of Paul’s incessance, see #Ac 20:31 1Th 3:10.

Ye that make mention of the Lord.] Or, Ye that are the Lord’s remembrancers, that jogged him as it were, and remind him of his people’s necessities and miseries. The kings of Israel, Persia, and of other nations, had their Mazkirim, or remembrancers, to mind them of those matters that concerned the weal public, and to these he here alludeth. All the saints are such like officers, and must be active.

Keep not silence.] Be still sueing and soliciting.

Ver. 7. And give him no rest.] Heb., No silence; the same word as before, to quicken their diligence, and to set forth the necessity of the work. "Continue instant in prayer"; {#Ro 12:12} give not in, but persevere, without remission or intermission.

Till he establish, till he make Jerusalem a praise.] Till he send the Messiah, who may restore Zion, set up and illustrate his Church, &c. Such lawful petitions from honest hearts have unmiscarrying returns.

Ver. 8. The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, ] i.e., By his almighty power, or, as Oecolampadius holdeth, by his Son, "by whom he made the world," and "upholdeth all things." {#Heb 1:2,3}

Surely, I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies.] Or, If I do, yet I will give you to "suffer with joy the spoiling of your goods, as knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance." {#Heb 10:34} Spiritual security and safety, from the devil and all the enemies of our souls, is also signified by this similitude of protection against corporal enemies and plunderers, saith Piscator.

Ver. 9. But they that have gathered it shall eat it.] A sufficiency of outward comforts they shall be sure of, together with righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; so much, at least, as shall support their spirits. Mr Paul Bain {a} saith thus of himself, I thank God in Christ, sustentation I have, but suavities spiritual, I taste not any.

Shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.] He alludeth to their manner of feasting before the Lord, when they brought thank offerings; and the like is still done by us at the Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper especially.

{a} Bain’s Letters.

Ver. 10. Go through, go through the gates.] Thus the prophet bespeaketh the teachers and keepers of the Church, with great alacrity of spirit, and most ardent affection; being, as it were, in a spiritual rapture. That which he exhorteth them to do, is rightly and faithfully to teach the people; and next, to take out of the way stumblingblocks, {as #Isa 57:14} such as are heresies, soul offences, &c., to the scandal of the weak, and scorn of the wicked.

Lift up a standard for the people, ] q.d., Certa et solida urania constituite; settle all things fast and firm, that all men may be sure of their way, and what they ought to follow. It was a sad complaint of holy Melanchthon, Quos fugiamus habemus: quos sequamur, non intelligimus; but this lasted not long with those first famous reformers, whom the Lord soon set in a course.

Ver. 11. Behold, thy salvation cometh, ] i.e., Christ thy Saviour. {as #Lu 2:30}

Behold, his reward is with him.] See on #Isa 40:10. The three "beholds" in this verse should he well weighed.

And his work before him, ] i.e., That which he worketh for us and in us, rewarding the work of his own free grace.

Ver. 12. And they shall call them the holy people.] Profane persons, therefore, and persecutors of holiness, are not to be reckoned among the people of the Lord. Are not all the Lord’s people holy? said those rebels; but that helped them not.

And thou shalt be called, Sought out.] Or, Much set by, contrary to that of #Jer 30:17; "This is Zion that none seeketh after."

Chapter 63

Ver. 1. Who is this that cometh from Edom?] It had been said, in #Isa 62:11, "Behold, thy salvation (thy Saviour) cometh." Here, therefore, by an elegant hypotyposis, { a} the Sionidae, or saints, are brought in wondering at his coming in such a garb, and asking, Who is this? What gallant conqueror have we here? Edom, or Idumaea, signifieth red; Bozrah, (the chief city of Idumaea), a vintage. {compare #Isa 63:2} It may very well be also that this prophecy was uttered in vintage time, and therehence haply might grow the comparison here used. John the divine, representing to us Christ’s coming to judgment, useth the same simile. {#Re 19:13} Some also of good note, do understand this prophecy of Christ’s triumphing over all his and our enemies (the Romish Edomites especially), at the last day.

With dyed garments.] Heb., Leavened, i.e., drenched, {b} besmeared.

This that is glorious in his apparel.] Which is the more glorious, because laced or embroidered with the blood of his enemies.

Walking in the greatness of his strength.] Fortiter grassans, walking and stalking, going in state, gressu grallatorio, emperor like, so as Epaminondas marched before his army; which, when Agesilaus, king of Spartans beheld, he cried out, O virum magnificum! {c} O that is a gallant man! "Ye shall see the Son of man coming with great power!" saith Christ.

I that speak in righteousness.] Christ’s answer, q.d., " Fear not, little flock"; this strange garb and gait of mine portendeth no hurt but good to you; to whom whatsoever I have faithfully promised, I will powerfully perform. As King of Zion, I will

“ Parcere subiectis et debellare superbos.”

At the last day also I will "come to be glorified in my saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." {#2Th 1:10} See #Re 19:11.

Mighty to save.] Suficiens ad salvandum, sive Magister ad salvandum, a Master to save. This those lepers had learned, and therefore cried, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." {#Lu 17:13}

{a} Vivid description of a scene, event, or situation, bringing it, as it were, before the eyes of the hearer or reader.

{b} Metaph. a massa conspersa.

{c} Plutarch. in Epam.

Ver. 2. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel?] The wondering Church had proposed two questions in #Isa 63:1 -viz., Who that was? and why so bloodied? To the first she bad an answer in few, but very full in #Isa 63:1. To the second, she here again presseth for an answer; and the rather because, candor magis quam cruor, clemency would better beseem a Saviour than cruelty. {a}

{a} Augustine.

Ver. 3. I have trodden the winepress alone.] I, the sole and all-sufficient Saviour of my Church, have executed God’s just vengeance upon all her enemies, spiritual and corporal; {compare #La 1:15 Re 14:19,20 19:15} and this with as much ease as men tread grapes in a winepress.

And of the people there was none with me.] Christ maketh use of men for the beating down of Satan’s strongholds; but the power whereby it is done is from Christ alone. {#2Co 10:4,5 4:7} Papists, who will needs share with Christ and make him but a half Saviour, have no share in his salvation.

For I will tread them in mine anger.] I have already done it; and I will much more at that great "day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." {#Ro 2:5} See #Re 19:20,21.

And their blood shall be sprinkled.] Or, Was sprinkled. Their blood; not his own. The Fathers, therefore, and others who interpret this text of Christ’s passion, were mistaken. There is one among the rest who thus descants upon this verse, but not so well. The wild bull, saith he, of all things cannot abide any red colour. Therefore the hunter, for the time being standing before a tree, puts on a red garment; whom, when the bull seeth, he runs hard at him, as hard as he can drive. But the hunter slipping aside, the bull’s horns stick fast in the tree; as when David slipped aside, Saul’s spear stuck fast into the wall: such a hunter is Christ. Christ standing before the tree of his cross, putteth on a red garment dipped and dyed in his own blood, as one that cometh with red garments from Bozrah. Therefore the devil and his angels, like wild bulls of Bashan, run at him; but he, saving himself, their horns stick fast in the cross; as Abraham’s ram, by his horns, stuck fast in the briers. Thus he.

Stain my raiment.] Heb., Pollute it; for other blood polluteth, {#Isa 59:3 La 4:14} but "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." {#1Jo 1:7}

Ver. 4. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart.] Or, Was in mine heart. Hence I made such havoc. Christ is the "Lord God of recompenses," {#Jer 51:56} and the "Lord God of revenges"; {#Ps 94:1} he is "jealous and furious," {#Na 1:2; see the note there} his feet, wherewith he treadeth down his enemies, are "like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." {#Re 1:15} Oh, "it is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of this living God." {#Heb 10:31}

And the year of my redeemed is come.] Their joyful jubilee. It is hail with the saints when ill with the wicked. The deliverance of those is oft the destruction of these.

Ver. 5. And I looked, and there was none to help.] See on #Isa 59:16.

Ver. 6. Make them drunk in my fury.] I will give them large draughts of my displeasure. {as #Ps 75:9} I will infatuate and utterly disable them to rebel and resist; yea, I will make them drunk with their own blood, as with new wine. {#Isa 49:26 Re 16:6} {See Trapp on "Re 16:6"} The perverse Jews, at the last destruction of their city, became a famous instance, being buried, as it were, in a bog of blood.

And I will bring down their strength.] Or, Their blood, as it is rendered #Isa 63:3, eo quod vita et virtus hominis in sanguine, { a} because life and strength is in the blood.

{a} Oecolam.

Ver. 7. I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, ]{ a} scil., As an aggravation of Israel’s great unkindness and unthankfulness to so liberal a Lord, so bountiful a benefactor. Good turns exaggerate unkindness; and men’s offences are increased by their obligations. See #De 32:7,14.

According to his mercies, &c.] Which are such as words are too weak to utter; hence this Copia verborum, and all too little. See the like, #Eph 2:5,7.

{a} Summam Cantici sui paucis complectitur.

Ver. 8. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie, ] q.d., I presume they will not; it were a foul shame for them if they should deceive my expectation, deal disloyally, show themselves deceitful in the covenant. The officers of Merindol, in France, answered the Popish bishop that moved them to abjure, that they marvelled much that he would offer to persuade them to lie to God and the world. And albeit that all men by nature are liars; yet they had learned by the Word of God that they ought diligently to take heed of lying in any matter, be it never so small. Also that they ought diligently to take heed that their children did not accustom or use themselves to lie, and therefore punish them very sharply when they took them with any lie, even as if they had committed a robbery; for the devil is a liar, &c. Here the bishop rose up in a great anger, and so departed. {a}

{a} Acts and Mon., 866.

Ver. 9. In all their afflictions he was afflicted.] See #Ex 3:7,9 Jud 10:16 Zec 2:8 Ac 9:4 Jer 31:20. O God, we may better say, than the poet did of Augustus—

“ Est placidus, facilisque parens, veniaeque paratus:

Et qui fulmineo saepe sine igne tonat.

Qui rum triste aliquid statuit, fit tristis et ipse:

Cuique fere poenam sumere poena sua est.” {a}

And the angel of his presence saved them, ] i.e., Jesus Christ, who is called the "face of God"; {#Ex 33:14,15} "the image of the invisible God"; {#Col 1:15} whom whoso "hath seen, hath seen the Father also"; {#Joh 14:9} he "who is in the bosom of the Father"; {#Joh 1:18} and as an everlasting priest mediateth and ministereth in the presence of his Father, making request for us; {#Heb 9:24 Re 8:3} that "angel of the covenant." {#Mal 3:1}

And he bare them.] As parents do their young children.

And carried them.] As eagles do their young. See #Ex 19:4 De 32:11. {See Trapp on "De 32:11"}

{a} De Ponto, ii., Eleg. 2.

Ver. 10. But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit.] By sinning against light, checks of conscience, motions of the Spirit, mercies without measure, &c. Junius thinketh this a clear place for proof of the Trinity in unity.

So he was turned to be their enemy.] This was an ill turn for them; abused mercy turneth into fury; with the froward God will wrestle. {#Ps 18:26}

Ver. 11. Then he remembered, ] i.e., Israel remembered the days of old; Heb., Of antiquity, the days of yore, as some old translations have it. See #Ps 89:50, &c.

Saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea?] q.d., How is it that he is not now to be found, as then he was for the succour of his poor people? They had "vexed his Holy Spirit," and therefore he withdrew himself. See #Ho 5:6.

With the shepherd of his flock.] Or, Shepherds—as some ancient copies had it—viz., Moses and Aaron. {#Ps 77:20}

Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him?] But this Holy Spirit they had vexed, {#Isa 63:10} and now they sorrowfully inquire after. Delicata res est Spiritus Sanctus; ita nos tractat, sicut tractatur, saith a father—i.e., The Spirit of God is a delicate thing; he deals with us, as we deal by him.

Ver. 12. That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm.] Or, That made his gallant arm to go at Moses’ right hand.

Dividing the water before them.] So that pseudo Moses—the devil likely—made many overly credulous Jews of Crete believe that he would do for them whom he beguiled into the midst of the sea, to their destruction, 434 AD. {a} Some are of the opinion that this affectionate prayer was purposely penned by the prophet, for the use of those poor Jews, who, after the coming of Christ, and manifestation of the gospel, should see themselves to be rejected by God and his Church, and should now beg to be owned again; Cui sane instituto omnia, magis quam dici queat, conveniunt, saith Hyperius; the ensuing petitions suit very much.

{a} Funccius.

Ver. 13. That led them through the deep.] Which threatened to swallow them, but indeed preserved them; so doth every main affliction.

As a horse in the wilderness.] Or, As a horse goeth in the plain, when led by his rider, in qua non est lutum vel lapis, where there is neither mire to stick in, nor stone to stumble at. See #Ps 106:9-11

Ver. 14. As a beast goeth down into the valley, ] i.e., Gently and leisurely, {a} according to that known saying—

“ Ascendente tuo, vel descendente caballo,

Vox ait ista, Fave; vox ait illa, Cave.”

The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest.] Or, Led them until he brought them to rest.—scil., in the promised land.

To make thyself a glorious name, ] q.d., So thou mayest do again, if thou please to show mercy unto us. Name is here put for fame or renown.

{a} Leniter et commode.

Ver. 15. Look down from heaven.] Affectus dolentium atque ardenter petentium scite exprimuntur, a pathetic and pithy prayer.

And behold from the habitation of thy holiness, &c.] They pray otherwise now than when the temple stood; {#Ps 121:1} now they look higher, and oh that they would do so! The modern Jews pray thus daily; but because not from a right principle, they are not heard.

Where is thy zeal?] Thine ancient fervour and forwardness in vindicating thy people, and being avenged of their enemies.

The sounding (rumbling or yearning) of thy bowels, &c.] Sometimes God seemeth to lose his mercy, and then we must find it for him, as here; sometimes to sleep or delay, and then we must waken, quicken him. {#Ps 40:17 Isa 62:7}

Are they restrained?] Chrysostom {a} exhorteth people, whether God grant or not, to pray still; for when God denies, it is as good as if he grants. And if we pray for any temporal mercy, the very ability to pray is better than the thing we pray for; for "whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

{a} Hom. 30, in Genes.

Ver. 16. Doubtless thou art our Father.] Though thou frownest and withdrawest. The people of God saw that he was angry, that their hearts also were hard; yet they thought they should know him amidst all his austerities, and they make to him for help. And, doubtless, help the Jews might yet have, could they seriously say, as here, "Certainly thou art our Father," and would no longer rest upon carnal things, boasting of Abraham their father, circumcision, and other external privileges.

Though Abraham be ignorant of us.] Ipsi nunc sua quiete fruuntur; they are at rest, and know nothing of our affairs. The monks tell us that the saints departed see things done here in the face of God as in a glass. But this is a mere fiction of theirs. See #Ps 27:10 2Ki 22:20. Augustine {a} saith of his mother Monica, deceased, that she did now no longer yield him comfort, because she knew not what befell him. The greatest Popish clerks themselves confess that the invocation of saints departed had neither precept, promise, nor precedent in the book of God. Moreover, they cannot determine how the saints know our hearts and prayers, whether by hearing, or seeing, or presence everywhere, or by God’s relating or revealing men’s prayers and needs unto them. All which ways some of them hold as possible or probable, {b} and others deny and confute them as untrue. {c} The Syriac and Arabic render the text thus: Thou art our Father, we are ignorant of Abraham, and we acknowledge not Israel. Thou, O Lord, art our Father, &c. Agreeable whereunto is that of the heathen, Contemno minutos istos Deos, modo Iovem mihi propitium habeam, I care not for those petty gods, so that Jupiter will stand my friend. And that better saying of a devout Christian,

“ Una est in trepida mihi re medicina, Iehovae

Cor patrium, os verax, omnipotensque manus.”

- Nathan. Chytraeus.

It hath been well observed that the defeat given to the Spanish fleet, A.D. 1588, happened to be on St James’s day, whom the Spaniards pray to as their patron or saint tutelar.

Thy name is from eternity, ] i.e., This name of thine, "Our Redeemer." Some read the text thus: Our Redeemer is from of old thy name. Our redemption was not of yesterday, but verily foreordained before the foundation of the world. {#1Pe 1:20}

{a} Lib. de cura pro mortuis agenda, cap. 13.

{b} Eccius, in locis.

{c} Morton’s Appeal, lib. ii. cap. 12, sect. 5.

Ver. 17. O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? &c., ] i.e., Given us up to error and obstinace? Why dost thou thus punish sin with sin, for the illustration of thy justice and jealousy against us, who have rebelled and vexed thine Holy Spirit? {#Isa 63:10} Oh, be pleased to deal with us rather according to thy mercy. "Return for thy servants’ sake," the good people that are yet left among us; give us hearts of flesh, and lead us in the way everlasting. Here observe that God’s best children may find in themselves hardness of heart, {#Ho 4:16} yet not total, but mixed with softness and tenderness in every part, so that though they resist, neglect, profit not as they might do—through pride, worldliness, voluptuousness, {#Mt 13:22 Lu 21:34} hypocritical hiding of any sin, {#Ps 32:3,4 Pr 28:14} letting fall the watch of the Lord {#2Ch 32:25} -yet it is not done with full consent, but with reluctance now, and repentance afterwards.

The tribes of thine inheritance, ] q.d., Wilt thou abhor thy people in covenant with thee, and abandon thine own inheritance? How few are there that thus urge the seal, and enter a suit with the Lord!

Ver. 18. The people of thine holiness have possessed it but a little while, ] viz., In respect of that perpetuity promised them by thee; {#Ge 17:8,26:3 28:13 Ex 32:13} besides the many calamities that have befallen us, whereby we have had small enjoyment of this thine inheritance. All the days of the afflicted are evil, {#Pr 15:15} their life lifeless, and not to be reckoned on.

Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.] This they did in the days of Antiochus, but especially about the time of our Saviour’s incarnation; when the sceptre departed from Judah, Pompey with his army entered into the sanctuary; Herod got the government, the Romans set up their ensigns and statues in the holy of holies, &c. This desolation of the second temple the Jews do here bewail; but we have cause to rejoice, for that by Christ the whole world is now become a temple, and every place a goodly oratory. {#1Ti 2:8}

Ver. 19. We are thine.] And shouldst thou then deal with us as some profane, idolatrous nation? See here the holy boldness of faith standing upon interrogatories, {#1Pe 3:21} and filling her mouth with arguments of all sorts.

Thou never barest rule over them.] No such reason or relation is there of children, servants, subjects, wherefore they should thus be favoured and we disowned. {#Am 3:2 Isa 63:17}

Chapter 64

Ver. 1. Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens.] That thou wouldst lie no longer hid there, as to some it may seem; but making thy way through all impediments and obstacles, thou wouldst powerfully appear for our help, as out of an engine. Utinam lacerares coelos et descenderes. {a} Some take the words for a hearty wish that Christ would come in the flesh; others that he would make haste and come to judgment, late fisso coelo ad percellendum impios. The metaphor seemeth to be taken from such as being desirous suddenly and effectually to help others in distress, to break open doors, and cast aside all lets, to make their way to them.

That the mountains may flow down.] As in #Jud 5:5. By "mountains" some understand the enemy’s kingdoms.

{a} Lyra. Alex. Ales.

Ver. 2. As when the melting fire burneth.] So let the mountains burn and boil at thy presence. Aristotle {a} reporteth that from the hill Etna there once ran down a torrent of fire, that consumed all the houses thereabout. The like is recorded of Vesuvius, and of Pietra Mala, a mountain in the highest part of the Apeninnes, which perpetually burneth; so Hecla and Hogla, in Iceland.

{a} De Mundo, cap. 6.

Ver. 3. When thou didst terrible things.] Or, As when thou didst &c.; as thou didst of old for our forefathers.

Which we looked not for.] See #De 4:32,33, where God himself extolleth them.

Ver. 4. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, ] scil., The mysteries of the gospel revealed by the Spirit; whereunto the angels also desire to look, as the apostles witness. {#1Co 2:9 1Pe 1:12}

Neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee.] Or, A God beside thee, i.e., That can do as thou doest.

For him that waiteth for him.] For "them that love him," saith the apostle. It is by faith and hope that we wait upon God; now Faith, Hope, and Charity are near of kin, and never severed. All that truly love God are well content to wait for him, yea, to want, if he see it fit, being desirous rather that God may be glorified, than themselves gratified.

Ver. 5. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness.] That doth thy work diligently and with delight; that being acted by thee, acteth vigorously for thee. Tantum velis, et Deus tibi praeoccurret, saith an ancient, as the prodigal’s father met him upon the way. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good things of the land, {#Isa 1:21} which that we may be, Nolentem praevenit Deus ut velit, volentem subsequitur ne frustra velit, { a} God worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. Howbeit he expecteth that we should go as far as we can naturally, if ever we look that he should meet us graciously. Though the miller cannot command a wind, yet he will spread his sails, be in the way to have it, if it come.

In those is continuance, ] i.e., In those sins of ours; and shall we be saved? Or, In those ways of thine, thy ways of mercy and fidelity, is permanence; therefore we shall be saved, our sins notwithstanding.

{a} Augustine.

Ver. 6. But we are all as an unclean thing.] Both our persons and our actions are so; for "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" What a mercy is it then that God should look upon such walking dunghills as we are, and accept the work of our hands?

And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.] {a} Or, As a coat of patches, a beggar’s coat, vestis centonum, vestis e vilibus paniculis consuta. Heb. A cloth of separations, a matury rag, a menstruous clout, nauseous and odious, such as a man would loathe to touch, much more to take up. Such are our best works as they proceed from us; when there springeth up any sweet fountain of grace within us, our hearts closely cast in their filthy dirt, as the Philistines dealt by Isaac; they drop down from their impure hands some filth upon that pure web the Spirit weaveth, and make it a menstruous cloth. Where, then, are justiciaries, our merit mongers? &c. Those that seek to be saved by their works, Luther fitly calleth the devil’s martyrs; they suffer much, and take great pains to go to hell. We are all apt to weave a web of righteousness of our own, to spin a thread of our own to climb up to heaven by, but that cannot be. We must do all righteousnesses, rest in none but Christ’s, disclaiming our own best as spotted and imperfect.

And we all fade as a leaf.] That falleth to the ground in autumn. The poet could say,

“Οιηπερ φυλλων γενεη, τοιηδε και ανδρων.’’—Hom.

And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.] Out of thy presence; and will hurry us to hell, if thou forefend not.

{a} Panno ancumulentae. -Scultet.

Ver. 7. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, ] i.e., Very few; {a} for that God had then a praying people, this very prayer declareth; but they were drowned in the multitude, being scarce discernible.

That stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.] That rouseth up himself and wrestleth with God, laying hold on him by faith and prayer, resolved to retain him. Let us go forth, as Samson did, and shake up ourselves against that indevotion and spiritual sloth that will creep upon us in doing good. See for this Mr Whitfield’s Help to Stirring Up, an excellent treatise, written upon this text.

For thou hast hid thy face from us.] Or, Though thou hast hid thy face, Ne tuis quidem ferulis caesi resipuimus.

{a} Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto.

Ver. 8. But now, O Lord, thou art our father.] Or, Yet now, O Lord, thou art our father; therefore "we shall not die," say they, {#Heb 1:12} boldly, but warrantably. See on #Isa 63:16.

We are the clay, and thou art our potter.] This was grown to a proverb among the heathens also, Κεραμος ο ανθρωπος, Man is a clod of clay; πηλος κομψως πεφυραμενος, A piece of clay neatly made up, saith Arian upon Epictetus. Fictus ex argilla et luto homulus, { a} saith Cicero. And Nigidius was surnamed Figulus, or the Potter, saith Augustine, because he used to say that man was nothing else but an earthen vessel. See #2Co 4:7 5:1.

We are all the work of thy hands.] Both as made and remade by thee; therefore despise us not. {#Job 10:8,9 Ps 138:8} Look upon the wounds of thy hands, and forsake not the work of thine hands, prayed Queen Elizabeth.

{a} Orat. ad Pison.

Ver. 9. Be not wroth very sore, O Lord.]]Neither overly much nor overly long, but "spare us, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." This is commended for the best line in all Terence—

“ Pro peccato magno paululum supplicii satis est Patri.”

Ver. 10. Thy holy cities are a wilderness.] And is that for thine honour. "Behold, see, we beseech thee."

Ver. 11. Our holy and our beautiful house.] The Church riseth higher and higher in her complaints to God; we must do likewise.

Where our fathers praised thee.] Their own praises there they mention not, as not holding them worth mentioning.

Ver. 12. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things?] Or, Canst thou contain thyself at these things? No, he cannot; witness his answer hereunto. {#Isa 65:1} The obstinate Jews do in vain still recite these words in their synagogues, as Jerome here noteth.

Wilt thou hold thy peace?] And by thy silence seem to consent to the enemy’s outrages and our calamities? Habet acrimoniam, saith Hyperius. There is some sharpness in these short questions; and yet because they were full of faith and fervency, they were highly accepted in heaven.

And afflict us very sore?] Heb., Usque valde? Unto very much, or unto extremity.

Chapter 65

Ver. 1. I am sought of them that asked not for me.] I am sought—that is, I am found, {a} {as #Ec 3:6} or, I am sought to by those that asked not of me—viz., by the Gentiles, who knew me not, inquired not of me. See #Ro 10:20,21, where the apostle, than whom we cannot have a better interpreter, expoundeth this verse of the calling of the Gentiles, and the next verse, of the rejection of the Jews. And herein "Esaias was very bold," saith St Paul; so bold, say Origen and others, that for this cause, among others, he was sawn asunder by his unworthy countrymen. See on #Isa 1:10.

I am found of them that sought me not.] The first act of our conversion then, the infusion of the sap, is of God; our will prevents it not, but follows it. See #2Co 3:5 Ro 8:7 Joh 6:44 1Co 12:3 De 29:3,4 Ps 36:10. Note this against the patrons of nature, freewill men, Papists especially, who not only ascribe the beginning of salvation to themselves, in co-working with God in their first conversion, but also the end and the accomplishment of it, by works of condignity, meritorious of eternal life.

I said, Behold me, behold me.] We are not easily aroused out of that dead lethargy into which sin and Satan hath cast us; hence this "Lo I, lo I." And here we have both God’s answer to the Church’s prayer, {#Isa 64:12} and the scope of the whole book, as Oecolampadius observeth, set down in the perclose—viz., the coming in of the Gentiles, and the casting off of the Jews for their many and mighty sins. {#Am 5:12}

{a} Piscat.

Ver. 2. I have spread out my hands.] As preachers use to do, {#Pr 1:24 Ac 26:1} or as those that invite and beckon others to themselves with the hand. See #Mt 11:28.

Unto a rebellious people.] Whose destruction therefore is of themselves, since they will not be ruled, reclaimed.

After their own thoughts.] Which were evil, only evil, continually so. A toad may as easily spit a cordial, as a natural man think a good thought.

Ver. 3. A people that provoketh me to my face.] As it were for the nonce, in despite and defiance of me. Siquis me in faciem depalmaret, vix indignius essera laturus: I could almost as well bear a blow on the face.

And burneth incense upon altars of brick.] {a} Erected on the house tops. {#2Ki 23:12 Zep 1:5} They should have offered on the golden altar only. {#Ex 30:3-5}

{a} Lateres—per meiosin cum contemptu.

Ver. 4. Which remain among the graves.] Which use necromancy and consult with devils—as Saul did, and died for it—contrary to #De 18:11. See #Isa 8:19 Mr 5:5. {See Trapp on "Isa 8:19"} {See Trapp on "Mr 5:5"} This they had learned from the heathens, with whom it was common, as Tertullian teacheth.

And lodge in the monuments.] As believing that there they should dream dreams divinatory, or have revelations in the night. By such ill arts as these, Timotheus Herulus made himself bishop of Alexandria, A.D. 467; and Boniface VIII duped Celestine V of the Popedom, A.D. 1295. Some {a} render it, that lodge with the kept ones, i.e., with their idols, which they were fain to keep, for fear they should be stolen.

That eat swine’s flesh.] Which was flatly forbidden; {#Le 11:7} and which those martyrs in the Maccabees would rather die than do. But these belly gods, who, like swine, had their souls only to keep their bodies from putrifying, securely violated this plain law—gratifying their lusts, and making their gut their god.

And broth of abominable things is in their vessels.] They had animos in patinis, catinis, calicibus, &c. Therein they kept the broth of their swine’s flesh, {b} which they offered, and in offering eat of. But what saith one from this text? Men must not only abhor the devil’s beef, but his broth too; all occasions, appearances.

{a} Jun., Piscat.

{b} Porcus quasi spurcus. -Rupert.

Ver. 5. Which say, Stand by thyself; come not near to me.] These Jews were all manner of naughts, and therefore worthily rejected by God; necromancers, idolaters, epicures, gross hypocrites, as here their words, full of pride and contempt of others, show them to be. Such were the Pharisees with their sanctior sum quam tu {#Lu 7:39} the monks and mass priests among the Papists, and the Brownists with their broad leaves of formal profession among us. From #Mt 18:19, because Christ promiseth not doing for them that ask, except they agree on earth, Brownists peremptorily conclude that they ought not to pray with them that do not consent with them in their opinions; nor will they pray with their own wives and children, though never so pious, if they do not meet in the same centre of conceits. {a}

These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day, ] i.e., A continual offence to me, as smoke is to the nose and eyes, {#Pr 10:26} and shall be perpetually tormented by me in the hottest fire of hell; whereof hypocrites are the freeholders, and other sinners are but tenants as it were to them, while they are said to have their portion with the devil and hypocrites. Some think he hinteth at their smoking and sacrificing in their gardens and groves. {#Isa 65:3}

{a} Abbott’s Trial of Church Forsakers, p. 148.

Ver. 6. Behold, it is written before me.] Heb., Before my face, as your sins were committed to my face, {#Isa 65:3} which, therefore, I shall surely remember and punish.

But will recompense, even recompense.] Certo, cite, penitus, - surely, severely, suddenly; you may write upon it.

Ver. 7. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together.] Your "vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers," {#1Pe 1:18} whom you have striven to out sin. {#Ge 15:16 Mt 23:32,35,36 27:25 1Th 2:15,16}

And blasphemed me upon the hills.] Or, Reproached or dishonoured me. Displeasing service is double dishonour, because men dishonour God in that wherein they pretend (or presume at least) to please him. Such are all Popish will-worshippers; neither will it help them to plead the example of their forefathers, for here that of the prophet Ezekiel {#Eze 20:18} should take place, "Walk ye not in the ways of your fathers."

Therefore will I measure into their bosom.] Or, Lap; very largely. See #Ps 79:12 Lu 6:38. I will pay them home, for the new and the old together.

Ver. 8. Thus saith the Lord.] This he saith in effect, I will not destroy the righteous with the wicked, but still reserve a "seed," a remnant; and this he setteth forth by a fine and fit comparison; even as the husbandman, if he find any wine in the cluster, that is, any life or sap in the vine, cutteth it not down utterly.

So will I do for my servants’ sake.] Few though they be, even as one cluster of grapes upon a vine, yet because they are botri mustei, clusters full of new and sweet wine, full of the juice of piety, they shall be preserved.

Ver. 9. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob.] The good husband keeps some of his corn for seed; which, though it be not much, yet it will come to much.

And mine elect shall inherit it, ] i.e., Reinhabit the land, a type of the last conversion of the Jews to Christ. {#Ro 11:25,26}

Ver. 10. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks.] The fieldlings shall be folds, and I will feed them daily and daintily {#Ps 23:1} with my graces and blessings. Sharon is a very sweet and fruitful quarter, reaching from Caesarea of Palestine to Joppa; Achor is also a very rich vale near Jericho northward, {#Jos 3:16} their first footing in the promised land. By both these they are assured that they shall want for nothing, and least of all for the Word of God, the food of their souls,

Ver. 11. But ye are they that forsake the Lord.] Or, As for you, that have forsaken the Lord to observe lying vanities, and so are miserable by your own election, {#Joh 12:8} you shall be yet more miserable at the great day of judgment especially, of which some take this following part of the chapter to be meant and intended. Then these improbi et reprobi shall be sure to smoke for it; then they shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked; yea, the judge himself shall show them a manifest difference. {#Isa 65:13-16}

That forget my holy mountain, ] i.e., My temple and pure worship, which ye slight and neglect, q.d., There is no new wine in your cluster, but rather gall and deadly poison; therefore it shall be otherwise with you.

That prepare a table for that troop.] As the Israelites feasted before the Lord; {#De 16:14,15} so in an apish imitation did the heathens before their idols; {#Jud 9:27 Eze 18:6,7 1Co 8:10} and of them these superstitious Jews had learned to do the like, in the days of Ahaz and Manasseh, who degenerated into his grandfather Ahaz, as if there had been no intervention of a Hezekiah.

For that troop.] So the prophet speaketh, as pointing to their idols, whereof they had great store. Gad (here used) and Menni (rendered number here likewise), some interpret fortune and fate; others, Jupiter and Mercury. The Septuagint, for "to that number," hath "to the devil." Oecolampadius thinks the prophet alludeth to the Pythagorean numbers, and especially to the number of four (τετρακτος), which they superstitiously observed. Others say, the Jews symbolised with the heathens in drinking to their idols by number. To such an idol they would drink so many cups, and that was called a drink offering to that number. Hence Antiphanes in Athenaeus {a} saith,

“ Adusque tria pocula venerandos esse deos.”

{a} Lib. x.

Ver. 12. Therefore I will number you to the sword.] Est elegans paronomasia: I will give you up to the sword by number and tale, to the end that none of you may escape. God usually retaliateth, and proportioneth number to number. So, choice to choice; {#Isa 66:3,4} jealousy to jealousy, provocation to provocation; {#De 32:21} device to device; {#Mic 2:1,3} frowardness to frowardness. {#Ps 18:26}

And ye shall all bow down to the slaughter.] As you used to bow down to your idols.

Because when I called, ye did not answer.] See on #Pr 1:24.

But did evil before mine eyes.] Did evil things as you could; {#Jer 3:5} with both hands earnestly. {#Mic 7:3}

Ver. 13. Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry.] Lepidas antitheses ponit. You have spent your meat and drink upon idols; therefore ye shall fast another while, yea, you shall feed upon the fierce wrath of God in hell, and drink deep of that cup of his that hath eternity to the bottom.

But ye shall be ashamed.] Your hopes and hearts failing you together, ye shall pine away in your iniquities. {#Eze 24:23}

Ver. 14. Behold, my servants shall sing.] "In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare," or a cord to strangle his joys with; "but the righteous doth sing and rejoice." {#Pr 29:6} {See Trapp on "Pr 29:6"}

And shall howl.] When ye come to hell especially, where is wailing, and yelling, and gnashing of teeth.

Ver. 15. And ye shall leave your name for a curse.] So that when mine elect shall denounce my curse against any one, they shall say, God make thee such another as was such a cursed wretch. See #Jer 24:9 29:22 44:8 Zec 8:13, {See Trapp on "Zec 8:13"} Iadaeus sim si fallo, say the Turks at this day; As hard-hearted and unhappy as a Jew, say we.

And call his servants by another name.] Jews inwardly, Israelites indeed, Christians, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. {#1Pe 2:9} The wicked, when they die, go out in a snuff, leave a stench behind them, as they say the devil doth when he goeth out of a room; but when the saints depart, they leave a sweet smell behind them, as those lamps do that are fed with aromatical oil. Yea, it is more than probable that in the next world we shall look upon Bradford and such with thoughts of extraordinary love and sweetness through all eternity, as Bonner and such with execration and everlasting detestation.

Ver. 16. That he who blesseth himself in the earth, &c.] Or, That blesseth, either himself or any other.

Shall bless himself in the God of truth.] Heb. Shall bless in the God of Amen—that is, say some, in Christ, who is "Amen, the faithful and true witness," {#Re 3:14} in whom all the promises are, Yea, and Amen, {#2Co 1:20} and who was wont often to say, Amen, amen. Others render it thus, Benedicat sibi per Deum firmi, shall bless himself by the God of the firm or faithful people, founded and rooted in God, so as that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against them."

Shall swear by the God of truth.] Or, By the God of the firm and faithful people, as before.

Because the former troubles are forgotten.] Remembered no otherwise than "as waters that are past." See #Zec 10:6. {See Trapp on "Zec 10:6"}

Ver. 17. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.] I am making of a new world—that is, gospel times, called a "new creation," {#2Co 5:17} and "the world to come"; {#Heb 2:5} heaven beforehand. {#Mt 3:2} The consummation hereof we are to expect at the last day, {#2Pe 3:13 Re 21:1,5} when the "former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind," because the Lord, who made heaven and earth, shall "bless his people out of Zion" {#Ps 134:3}

Ver. 18. But be glad and rejoice for ever.] What can ye be less than everlastingly merry when you consider your gospel privileges, which are such as may well swallow up all discontents, and make you "more than conquerors," and that is triumphers?

For, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing.] Creo talem Ierusalem ut sit ei nomen tripudium, et populus eius vocetur gaudium. {a} Hence it appeareth that these things are not to be taken according to the letter, but of "Jerusalem which is above, that mother of us all."

{a} Oecolamp.

Ver. 19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem.] Well may Jerusalem then rejoice in God, who as in all her afflictions he is afflicted, so he taketh pleasure in the prosperity of his people.

And the voice of weeping.] See #Isa 35:10 51:12 Re 21:4.

Ver. 20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days.] This verse, as some others, had been easy, had not commentators made it so knotty. There shall be no more thence—that is, from Jerusalem {#Isa 65:19} -an infant of days, or a child for days; viz., that shall so die by an untimely death, for longevity is the blessing here promised.

Nor an old man that hath not filled his days.] That hath not lived his utmost, satur dierum, as Abraham.

For the child shall die an hundred years old, ] i.e., He that is now a child, shall live till he be so many years old. Note this against those that otherwise understand the words, and have therehence fished out many frivolous crotchets too long here to be related.

But the sinner, being an hundred years old, {a} shall be accursed.] And the more accursed because so long lived, and yet dieth in his sin, going down to the grave with his bones full of the sins of his youth. See #Ec 8:12,13. {See Trapp on "Ec 8:12"} {See Trapp on "Ec 8:13"}

{a} Hinc proverb, Puer centum annorum.

Ver. 21. And they shall build houses and inhabit them.] The contrary whereunto is threatened against the wicked. {#De 28:30-68} God’s people are freed from the curse of the law, from the hurt, if not from the smart of afflictions.

Ver. 22. They shall not build, and another inhabit.] They shall not provide for posterity alone, but live a long while to take benefit of their own labours.

For as the days of a tree are the days of my people, ] i.e., Robusti atque diuturni; they shall be hearty, healthy, and long lasting, {#Ps 52:9 92:13} even as if they had eaten of that tree of life in paradise.

Ver. 23. They shall not labour in vain.] As wicked men shall. {#Le 26:14-20 De 28:15-68 Hag 1:6; {See Trapp on "Hag 1:6"}

Nor bring forth for trouble.] Bring forth children to the murderer, {#Ho 9:13} to the great grief and trouble of their poor parents.

Ver. 24. And it shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer.] Mirabilis certe promissio, a wonderful promise, verily, saith Scultetus. The prayers of the saints do sooner pierce from their hearts to heaven, than they can find way from their hearts to their mouths. So David found it; {#Ps 32:5} and Daniel; {#Da 10:12} and that prodigal. {#Lu 15:18,20} Our Saviour, who came out of the bosom of the Father, gives two reasons (1.) "The Father himself loveth you," {#Joh 16:27} and love is liberal; (2.) "The Father knoweth before ye ask, that ye have need of all these things." {#Mt 6:32}

And while they are yet speaking, I will hear.] Thus he heard those praying Israelites at the meet at Mizpeh, {#1Sa 7:6} David, {#Ps 6:8,9} Daniel, {#Da 9:21} Cornelius, {#Ac 10:3} and his company; {#Ac 10:44} Luther, when he came leaping out of his study, where he had been praying, with Vicimus! vicimus! in his mouth; the day is ours, we shall carry the cause.

Ver. 25. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together.] Heb., As one. {a} See #Isa 11:6. There shall be a holy harmony of hearts, and all good agreement among Christ’s subjects, when they come to heaven especially.

And dust shall be the serpent’s meat.] He shall be held in to his first condemnation. {#Ge 3:14} The devil also, that old serpent, shall be limited to the heel of the saints; the head he shall not touch; he shall be tied up to his own meat—viz., that unquenchable fire prepared for him and his angels from the beginning.

They shall not hurt, &c.] See on #Isa 11:9.

{a} Antipathiam in sympathiam convertent. -A Lapide.

Chapter 66

Ver. 1. Thus saith the Lard.] The same he saith in effect here in this last chapter that he had done in the first, rejecting the Jews’ vain confidence in their temple and sacrifices, and showing that he was neither confined to their temple nor contented with their sacrifices, so long as the hidden man of the heart and the spiritual worship was wanting—so long as they neglected his laws and served their own lusts. {#Isa 66:3}

Heaven is my throne.] Coelum est solium meum; there do I manifest the most glorious and visible signs of my presence; there I am in a special manner worshipped according to mine excellent greatness; and there my courtiers have a more ardent zeal for me than those flatterers had for Darius. {#Da 6:7}

The earth is my footstool.] So it should be ours, since God hath in Christ "put all things under our feet." {#Ps 8:6} The earth hath its name in Hebrew from treading upon; and terra a terendo, these earthly things should be trampled on as base and bootless.

Where is the house that ye build unto me?] q.d., A house indeed I commanded to be built for me, but not to hold me, or there to keep me cooped up as in a cell, that, you should therehence conclude, The temple, God’s house, shall never perish; therefore neither shall we. You must know that I am intra, et extra, et supra, et circa, et infra omnia, within and without, and above and about, and beneath all things.

“ Enter praesenter Deus hic et ubique potenter.”

This the heathens knew. Empedocles said that God was a circle, the centre whereof is everywhere, the circumference nowhere. This the Turks acknowledge, by building their mosques or temples open at the top, to show that God is nowhere circumscriptively and definitively, but repletively everywhere. He is higher than heaven, saith Bernard, deeper than hell, larger than earth, broader than the sea: he is nowhere, and yet everywhere, yet he is everywhere all-present. The heavens have a large place, but they have one part here and another there; but the Lord is totally present wheresoever present, not commensurable by any place whatsoever.

Ver. 2. For all those things hath my hand made.] And could not I, then, have made myself a house without your help if I had listed or needed? Required I a temple for any other use or purpose but for the furtherance of your faith in Christ and love one to another? "These things have I made," yet these all I regard not in comparison. But

To this man will I look, ] viz., With special intimation of my care and kindness—q.d., To thee be it spoken, I have an eye to thee.

Even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit.] Sept., Humble and quiet, {a} Vera Sabbata agens, that being poor in spirit hath a Sabbath of spirit, comforting himself in the Lord his God: to such God looketh. He cannot look upwards, saith one, because he hath none above him; nor on either side, because he hath none equal unto him: therefore he is said to look down, and that also upon the humble and broken-hearted, with singular delight and complacence. Humilitas est thronus sapphirinus in quo Deus cum maiestate residet.

And trembleth at my word, ] viz., With a filial fear flowing from faith in Christ, trembling at the threatenings before they come into execution. This is a point of singular prudence, for God therefore threateneth that he may not inflict punishment: but ‘they that tremble not in hearing, shall be crushed to pieces in feeling,’ said that martyr. What, then, will be the end of such as hear the menaces of God’s mouth no otherwise than they do the stories of foreign wars or the predictions of a prognostication, which they think may come to pass, and it may be not?

{a} ηουχον.

Ver. 3. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man.] Unless, together with his ox, he kill his corruptions, and lay fast hold upon Christ (who himself was sacrificed for us, #1Co 5:7) by a lively faith. Heathens sacrificed men to Saturn; dogs also, and swine, and other unclean creatures, to their other dunghill deities. Mass priests do the like by their cruelty, hypocrisy, idolatry, impudence, luxury: their prayers, therefore, fastings, penances, pilgrimages, &c., are not accepted.

He that sacrificeth a lamb.] Unless with it he sacrifice his lusts, and look to "the Lamb of God, slain from the beginning of the world."

As if he cut off a dog’s neck.] Heb., As if he necked a dog, {a} that is, decolled him, beheaded him for sacrifice: this was absolutely forbidden. {#De 23:18} The Athenians also suffered not a dog to enter into their tower dedicated to Minerva, for his heat in venery and ill savour, saith Plutarch. {b}

He that offereth an oblation.] Unless with it he present his body for a sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God. {as #Ro 12:1}

Is as if he offered swine’s blood.] Blood was not to be offered at all in an oblation or meat offering, but meal, oil, wine; {#Le 2} much less swine’s blood. See #Le 11:7.

He that burneth incense.] In honour of me, unless his heart ascend up withal in those pillars of sweet smoke, as Manoah’s angel did in the smoke of the sacrifice.

Is as if he blessed an idol, ] i.e., Gave thanks to an idol (called here by a name that signifieth vanity or vexation) as if he were a god: in doing whereof God holdeth himself less dishonoured than by their hypocritical services performed to himself. {#Eze 20:39}

Yea, they have chosen their own ways.] Which must needs be naught: Nemo sibi de suo palpet. {c} Are ye not carnal and walk as men, saith Paul that is, as naughty men. Horreo quicquid de meo est, ut meus sim.

{a} Excerebraret. -Vulg.

{b} Plut., Ελληνικ.

{c} Bernard.

Ver. 4. I also will choose their delusions.] As they have had their will, so will I have mine another while. I will make them to perish by their mockeries, idque ex lege talionis. See #Isa 65:11,12. They thought to dupe me by an outside service; but it shall appear that they have duped themselves when I bring upon them mercedem multiplicis petulantiae eorum, as Piscator rendereth it, the reward of their manifold petulancies and illusions.

And will bring their fear upon them.] Inducam nivem super eos qui timuerunt a pruina. They have feared the coming of the Chaldees, and come they shall. So their posterity feared the Romans, {#Joh 11:48} and they felt their fury. See #Pr 10:24. {See Trapp on "Pr 10:24"}

Because when I called, &c.] See #Isa 65:12.

Ver. 5. Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble, &c.] Here is a word of comfort for you, who, being lowly and meek spirited, are more apt to be trampled on and abused by the fat bulls of Bashan: where the hedge is lowest, those beasts will leap over; and every crow will be pulling off wool from a sheep’s sides.

Your brethren.] By race and place, but not by grace.

That hated you.] For like cause as Cain hated Abel, {#1Jo 3:12} for trembling at God’s judgments while they do yet hang in the threatenings.

And cast you out.] Either out of their company, as not fit to be conversed with, {#Isa 65:5} or out of their synagogue by excommunications, as fit to be cut off: see #1Th 2:14. Papists at this day do the like; whence that proverb, In nomine Domini incipit omne malum. Ye begin in a wrong name, said that martyr, when they began the sentence of death against him with "In the name of God. Amen."

Let the Lord be glorified.] With suchlike goodly words and specious pretences did those odious hypocrites palliate and varnish over their abominations: they would persecute godly men, and molest them with Church censures, and say, "Let the Lord be glorified." So do Papists and other sectaries deal by the orthodox. Becket offered, but subdolously, to submit to his sovereign salvo honore Dei, so far as might stand with God’s glory. {a} The conspirators in King Richard II’s time endorsed all their letters with "Glory be to God on high, on earth peace, good-will towards men." The Swenckfeldians styled themselves, The Confessors of the glory of Christ; and Gentiles, the Anti-Trinitarian, when he was called to answer, said that he was drawn to maintain his cause through touch of conscience and when he was to die for his blasphemy, he said that he did suffer for the glory of the most high God; so easy a matter it is to draw a fair glove upon a foul hand. Some for "Let the Lord be glorified," render it, Gravis est Dominus, The Lord is burdensome, or heavy; and they parallel it with those sayings in the Gospel, "This is a hard saying": "Thou art an austere man"; "We will not have this man to reign over us," &c.

But he shall appear to your joy.] Parallel to that, "Your sorrow shall be turned into joy." How did some of the martyrs rejoice when excommunicated, degraded, &c.

{a} Speed, 508, A.D. 1386.

Ver. 6. A voice of noise from the city.] This is a prophetic description of the last destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans. {a}

A voice from the temple.] Wherein they so much gloried, where they had oft heard Christ and his apostles preaching repentance unto life; but now have their ears filled with hideous and horrid outcries of such as were slain even in the very temple, which they defended as long as they were able, and till it was fired. That which Josephus {b} reporteth of Jesus, the son of Ananis, a plain country fellow, is very remarkable, viz., that for four years together before the last devastation, he went about the city day and night, crying as he went, in the words of this text almost, A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple, a voice against all the people, Woe, woe, woe to Jerusalem; and thus he continued to do, till at length, roaring out louder than ordinary, Woe to Jerusalem and to me also, he was slain upon the wall with a stone shot out of an engine, as Josephus reporteth.

That rendereth recompense to his enemies.] So they are here called who pretended so much to the glorifying of God. {#Isa 66:5} False friends are true enemies.

{a} Diod.

{b} Lib. vii. Belli., cap. 12.

Ver. 7. Before she travailed, she brought forth.] Quum nondum parturiret peperit; understand it of Zion, or of the Church Christian, which receiveth her children, that is, converts, suddenly on a cluster before she thought to have done, and in far greater numbers than she could ever have believed. {a} That lady that brought forth as many at a birth as are days in the year {b} was nothing to her: nor those Hebrew women. {#Ex 1:10}

She was delivered of a man child.] For the which there is so great joy, {#Joh 16:21} and which is usually more able and active than a woman child. So, good and bold Christians, strong in faith; unless he meaneth Christ himself, saith Diodat, who is formed by faith in every believer’s heart. {#Ga 4:19}

{a} Subito ac simul. Suddenly and at the same time.

{b} Margaret, Countess of Henneburg.

Ver. 8. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things?] The birth of a man would seem a miracle, were it not so ordinary, miracula assiduitate vilescunt; but the birth of a whole nation at once, how much more!

Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?] Yes, if the day be long enough, as among the Hyperboreans, of whom it is written that they sow shortly after the sun rising, and reap before the sunset; because the whole half year is one continual day with them. {a} But the words here should be rather read, Can a land or a country be brought forth in one day? a nation be born at once? Cardinal Pool abused this scripture in a letter to Pope Julius III, applying it to the bringing in of Popery again here so universally and suddenly in Queen Mary’s days. So he did also another, when at his first return hither from beyond sea, he blasphemously saluted the same Queen Mary with those words of the angel, "Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee."

{a} Heresbach. de re rust.

Ver. 9. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?] i.e., Shall I set upon a work and not go through with it? God began and finished his work of creation. Christ is both "author and finisher" of his people’s faith. {#Heb 12:2} The Holy Ghost will sanctify the elect wholly, "and keep them blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." {#1Th 5:23} Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia, saith Ambrose. Otherwise his power and mercy would not equally appear to his people in regeneration, as the power and mercy of the Father and the Son in creation and redemption.

Ver. 10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem.] As friends use to do with her that is newly made a mother. {#Lu 1:58}

Rejoice for joy with her.] Out of the Church there is no solid joy. See #Ho 9:1. {See Trapp on "Ho 9:1"} Others may revel, the godly only rejoice; their joy is not that of the mouth, but of the heart—- nec in labris nascitur sed fibris; it doth not only smooth the brow, but fills the breast; wet the mouth, but warm the heart, &c.

Ver. 11. That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations.] Zion is not only a fruitful mother, but a joyful nurse. God giveth her the blessings both of the belly and of the breasts; and these breasts of hers are full strutting with the sincere milk of the word, that rational milk, {#1Pe 2:2} the sweet and precious promises of the gospel. These "breasts of consolation" we must suck, as the babe doth the mother’s dug, as long as he can get a drop out of it, and then sucks still till more cometh. Let us suck the blood of the promises, saith one, as a dog that hath got the blood of the bear—-he hangs on, and will hardly be beaten off. Let us extort and oppress the promises, saith another, descanting upon this text, as a rich man oppresseth a poor man, and getteth out of him all that he hath; so deal thou with the promises, for they are rich—there is a price in them; consider it to the utmost, wring it out. The world layeth forth her two breasts, or botches rather, of profit and pleasure, and hath enough to suck them, though they can never thereby be satisfied. And shall alma mater Ecclesia, the nourishing mother of thye Church want those that shall milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory?

Ver. 12. Behold, I will extend peace to her.] This and the following promises are the delicious milk spoken of before—scil., pax copiosa et perennis, peace as a river, as the waters cover the sea; joy unspeakable and full of glory, God’s fatherly care, motherly affection, &c., all that heart can wish, or need require.

Like a river.] As Euphrates, saith the Chaldee.

Like a flowing stream.] Or, Overflowing as Nile—

“ Qui cunctis amnibus extat

Utilior.’’—Claudian.

Ye shall be borne upon her side.] Humanissime et suavissime tractabimini, ye shall be borne in the Church’s arms, laid to her breasts, set in her lap, dandled on her knees, &c. Hac similitudine nihil fieri potest suavius. See #Nu 11:12.

Ver. 13. And as one whom his mother comforteth.] Her darling and dandling, especially when she perceiveth it to make a lip and to be displeased: mothers also are very kind to, and careful of, their children when they are grown to be men: {a} as Monica was to Augustine, and as Matres Hollandicae, the mothers in Holland, of whom it is reported, Quod prae aliis matribus mire filios suos etiam grandaevos ament, ideoque eos vocant et tractant ut pueros. See #Isa 46:4. {See Trapp on "Isa 46:6"}

{a} A. Lapide in #Isa 54:13.

Ver. 14. And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice.] Videbitis, gaudebitis; you shall see that I do not give you good words only, but that I am in good earnest; ye shall know it within yourselves, in the workings of your own hearts. {as #Heb 10:34}

And your bones shall flourish like an herb, ] i.e., They shall be filled again with moisture and marrow. See #Eze 37:10,11. You shall be fair liking and reflourish.

And the hand of the Lord, ] i.e., His infinite power; tantorum beneficiorum in piis operatrix, the efficient cause of all these comforts.

Ver. 15. For, behold, the Lord will come with fire.] With hell fire, say the Rabbis here; with the fire of the last day, say we, whereof his particular judgments are as pledges and preludes.

And with his chariots like a whirlwind.] As he did, when he sent forth his armies, the Romans, and destroyed those murderers, the Jews, and burnt up their city. {#Mt 22:7} And when they would have rebuilt their city and temple under Julian the apostate, who, in hatred to Christians, animated them thereunto, balls of fire broke forth from the earth, which marred their work, and destroyed many thousands of them.

Ver. 16. For with fire.] Than which nothing is more formidable.

And with his sword.] Which is no ordinary one. {#Isa 27:1}

Ver. 17. In the gardens.] Where these idolaters had set up altars, offered sacrifices, and had their ponds, wherein, when they were about to sacrifice, heathen like, they washed and purified themselves one after another, and not together, which they held to be the best way of purifying. This they did also, not apart and in private, but in the midst, ut hoc mode oculos in nudis lavantium, praesertim muliercularum, corporibus pascerent, that they might feed their eyes with the sight of those parts which nature would have hid; for your pagan superstitions were ofttimes contrary to natural honesty. {a}

Behind one tree in the midst.] Or, as others render it, After; or, Behind Ahad, which was the name of a Syrian idol, representing the sun, as Macrobius telleth us, calling him Adad. {b}

{a} Donec me flumine vivo Abluero. -Virg. Qui noctem in flumine purgas. -Pers.; i.e., nocturnam Venerem.

{b} Saturnal., lib. i. cap. 23.

Ver. 18. For I know (or, I will punish) their works and their thoughts.] Or, Yea, their thoughts which they may think to be free. See #Jer 6:19.

It shall come to pass that I will gather.] It is easy to observe that this chapter consisteth of various passages interwoven the one within the other; of judgments to the wicked, of mercies and comforts to the godly, &c.

All nations and tongues.] A plain prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles to the kingdom of Christ; for which purpose the miraculous gift of tongues was bestowed upon the apostles.

And they shall come and see my glory, ] i.e., In Christ, who is the brightness of his Father’s glory; and in sending of whom the glory of his truth, wisdom, power, justice, and goodness shone forth as the sun at noon.

Ver. 19. And I will set a sign among them.] This sign may very well be that visible pouring out of the gifts of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, under the symbol of wind and fire, {#Ac 2:2-4} {a} together with the signs and wonders whereby the apostle’s doctrine was confirmed. Others make this sign to be the profession of the Christian faith. Some also, the doctrine of the gospel, and especially the sacraments.

And I will send those that escape of them, ] i.e., The apostles and their fellow helpers, such as were Barnabas, Silas, Luke, &c.

To Tarshish, Pul.] To all parts of the world, east, west, north, and south.

That draw the bow.] The Mosches or Muscovites, say the Septuagint; the Turks, saith one of the Rabbis. {See Trapp on "Re 9:15"} {See Trapp on "Re 9:16"} {See Trapp on "Re 9:17"}

{a} Scultet.

Ver. 20. And they shall bring all your brethren.] Now become all your brethren in Christ: Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis, Religion is the strongest tie.

Upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, ] i.e., With much swiftness and sweetness; though sick, weakly, and unfit for travel, yet rather in litters than not at all. The apostles "became all things to all men, that they might gain them to Christ."

Ver. 20. And they shall bring all your brethren.] Now become all your brethren in Christ: Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis, Religion is the strongest tie.

Upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, ] i.e., With much swiftness and sweetness; though sick, weakly, and unfit for travel, yet rather in litters than not at all. The apostles "became all things to all men, that they might gain them to Christ."

Ver. 21. And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites.] For evangelical pastors and teachers, who have a distinct function and employment in the Church of the New Testament, as the priests and Levites had in that of the Old, to teach, instruct, and edify God’s people.

Ver. 22. For as the new heavens.] So shall there be a true Church and a ministry for the good of my people to the world’s end. It shall not be taken away, as is the Jewish polity and hierarchy.

Ver. 23. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another.] God shall be served with all diligence and delight. In the kingdom of Christ here, but especially in heaven, it shall be holiday all the week, as we say; a constant solemnity, a perpetual Sabbath. King Edgar ordained that the Lord’s day should be kept here in England from Saturday nine of the clock till Monday morning. {a} The Ebionites kept the Saturday with the Jews, and the Sunday with the Christians. But here it is foretold—and we see it fulfilled—that all flesh, i.e., all the faithful, whether Jews or Gentiles, shall not only keep every day holiday, {#1Co 5:8} by resting from sin and rejoicing in God, but shall also, both "in season and out of season," have their Church meetings for holy services, worshipping God—from day to day, and from month to month, as the phrase is {#Es 3:7} -in spirit and in truth, and having the continual feast of a good conscience.

{a} Acts and Mon.

Ver. 24. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcases.] Rhetoricians tell us that in the introduction to a discourse τα ηθη milder affections, suit best to insinuate; but in the conclusion τα παθη, passionate passages, such as may leave a sting behind them and stick by the hearers. This art the prophet here useth, for being now to period his prophecy, he giveth all sorts to know what they shall trust to. The godly shall go forth, i.e., salvi evadent, liberi abibunt; they shall have safety here, and salvation hereafter. "They shall also look upon the carcases," &c.; they shall be eye-witnesses of God’s exemplary judgments executed on the wicked, that would not have Christ to reign over them, {#Re 19:21} who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord and from the presence of his power. {#2Th 1:9} This the righteous shall "see, and fear, and laugh at them," {#Ps 52:6} giving God the glory of his justice and goodness. Some think they shall have at the last day a real sight of hell, and the damned there, {#Re 14:10} and this may very well be. Oh that wicked men would in their daily meditations take a turn or two in hell, and so be forewarned to flee from the wrath to come! Is it nothing to have the worm of conscience ever grabbing upon their entrails, and the fire of God’s vengeance feeding upon their souls and flesh throughout all eternity? Oh that sternity of extremity! Think of it seasonably and seriously, that ye never suffer it. The Jewish masters {a} have, in some copies, wholly left out this last verse, as in other copies they repeat—both here and in the end of Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Malachi—the last verse save one, which is more sweet and fuller of comfort; and that for this reason, that the reader may not be sent away sad, and so fall into desperation. But of that there is no such danger, since most people are over slight in their thoughts of hell torments, regarding them no more than they do a fire painted on the wall, or a serpent wrought in arras. And besides, non sinit in Gehennam incidere, Gehennae meminisse, saith Chrysostom: to remember hell, is a good means to preserve us from it. This verse hath sufficient authority from our Saviour’s citing of it. {#Mr 9:44} {See Trapp on "Mr 9:44"} Plato {b} also—if that be anything—in his description of hell, which be calleth πυριφλεγετων, a fiery lake, saith the same as here—that their worm dieth not, neither is their fire quenched. He might possibly have read Isaiah as he had done Moses. It is thought, Laertius telleth us, that he travelled into Egypt, where he conversed with some Hebrews, and learned much of them. {c}

And they shall be an abhorring to all flesh, ] i.e., All good men abominate them now as so many living ghosts, walking carcases, {#Eph 2:2 Pr 29:27} and shall much more at the last day, when they shall arise again to everlasting shame and contempt. {#Da 12:2}

“ Scribendo haec studui bene de pietate mereri;

Sed quicquid potui, Gratia, Christe, tua est.”

{a} Amama in Antibarb.

{b} In Phaed. p. 400.

{c} Inde dictus este, Moses Atticus.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66