upon my enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim", that is, "The place of breaches," or "of breaking forth". A victory which-as it was to him the proof that his kingdom should be established in defiance of all opposition-was a fit type of the great victory by which the throne of His Antitype, the true David, shall be established at His coming; here (as often elsewhere) called "the rising up of the Lord," because the revival of His interposition after a long interval of its cessation.1 And "the valley of Gibeon" was the scene of the memorable defeat of the five allied kings—“ all the kings of the Amorites" Joshua ch. x.—of which it is written, "And THE LORD discomfited them before Israel and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and as they fled from Israel THE LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died and they were more that died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword". (Compare "the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies" here ver. 17). The occasion also, when, at the bidding of Joshua, "the sun stood still upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon": he also the type, in this and his other victories by which he gave Israel rest, of Him whose name by appoint 1 See the references under the 'Arising of God' in the Index to the Author's 'Commentary on the Psalms'. So the Targum on this place of Isaiah-" as in the miracles which the Lord did for Joshua, in the valley of Gibeon”. ment he bore, "Jesus"; in "the day of His power" when "His enemies shall be made His footstool" and He shall give the possession of " the rest that remaineth for the people of God." Which interpretation, and reference to the Lord's Second Coming, is decided by this "strange work" of judgment being called, ver. 22, "a consumption, even determined, upon the whole earth". (See before, ch. x. 23, noticed in Lecture II.) Then, again, will the Messiah be proved to be "the foundation-stone. the sure foundation", when He shall prove to be the true "refuge" from "the overflowing scourge", and the true "hiding place" from the storm which shall sweep over the world: as KING as well as SAVIOUR. 2 And " laid in Zion", the seat of His kingdom, whence "Jehovah shall send the rod of His strength" in that day (Ps. cx. 2). And then also, amidst the dismay of His enemies and the unbelieving, will be verified anew, and finally and for ever demonstrated in the salvation of His people, the promise annexed-" HE THAT BELIEVETH IN HIM SHALL NOT BE CONFOUNDED". 1 In Hebrew the same as "Joshua". Comp. Acts vii. 45; Heb. iv. 8. 2 See again the Targum as quoted p. 143, note. LECTURE VI. THE WAY OF THE LORD PREPARED. ISAIAH xl. 1-5. 1. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a high-way for our God. 4. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. ITH this chapter commences a new section WITH of this Book of Scripture extending to the end of it, and forming a second part, distinguished from the preceding by the continuity of the subject; justly pronounced to be the most sublime and |