LIV. Chapter Neshammoth, defolate Cities, it were enough to prove that it must be understood of Jerufalem made defolate by the Captivity of her Inhabitants, which cannot fignify, as A Lapide expounds them, Civitates defertas a Deo, fide, lege, gratia & falute, fuch as were all the Cities out of Judea formerly, and India, Japan and Mexico now, which we every Day (fays he) fee more and more enlighten'd with the Faith of Christ. Ver. 4. Fear not, for thou shalt not be afhamed: neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to fhame: for thou shalt forget the fhame of thy youth,and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.] That is, fo glorious fhall thy Condition be, and thy Progeny fo numerous, that it shall drown the Memory of thy youthful Servitude in Egypt, and that which thou haft undergone when thou waft more advanc'd in Years, during the Time of thy folitary Wi-dowhood, meaning her Captivity. Ver. 5. For thy maker is thine husband, (the Lord of hosts is his name) and thy redeemer the holy One of Ifrael, the God of the whole earth shall he be called.] Here he gives the Reafon why Jerufalem fhould no more be put to Confufion and Shame, as he was when the faw the Heathen carry away her Sons and she could not help them, For thy Maker is thy Husband, and tho' he has for a while forfaken thee,he shall return to thee again, and acknowledge the Relation, and then thou mayft be fecure of not fuffering the fame Dif grace any more; for the Lord of Hofts is his Name, he has Power fufficient to protect thee from all thine Enemies. Ver. 6. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forfaken and grieved in fpirit, and a wife of youth, when thou waft refufed, faith thy God.] That is, when the Lord has refus'd to confort with thee, and feems to have caft thee off from being his Spouse, so that thou canst not expect to be taken again into his Favour, yet even then, when thy Condition is moft defperate, he fhall look upon thee with Compaffion, and make thee a Wife of Youth; that is, reftore thee to the fame place thou hadft before in his Affection. Ver. 7. For a small moment have I forfaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.] Thus their Seventy Years Captivity may fairly be call'd in refpect of God; but to call near Two Thousand Years a little Moment is exceffively hyperbolical, hyperbolical, and yet the Jews, and Mr. Whifton with them, Chapter LIV. will have the Prophet to fpeak of the Captivity of their Nation ever fince the laft Deftruction of Jerufalem, which is a ridiculous Fancy of theirs, without the leaft Colour of Reason to fupport it, for the Prophet is certainly speaking of the Jews as in Affliction, fmarting under the heavy Hand of an angry God, and infulted, opprefs'd and inhumanly treated by a barbarous Enemy; but where do thefe poor Creatures fuffer fuch Hardships now ?. In what part of the World are they thus rigorously dealt withal? How many Hundred Years have they enjoy'd Liberty in Christian Nations, even in fuch Places where the Profeffors of Christianity have not been allow'd the fame Favour? And how are they at prefent the Bankers of all, Europe, rich, and enjoying all the Conveniencies of Life, on the fame Foot with the reft of Mankind? Ver. 8. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a mo ment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, faith the Lord thy redeemer.] Everlasting Kindness, that is, as Grotius rightly renders the Words, Beneficiis in longum tempus duraturis; every one who is acquainted with the Hebrew Language knows that Nolam does not always fignify Eternity; the Bleffings which are promis'd here their Forefa-. thers enjoy'd, when God reftor'd them to their own Country, and gave them a long Succeffion of happy Years; and if the Jews find themselves deceiv'd in their Expectations, in relation to the great Advantages they pretend to look for at the coming of their Meffiah, as I am fully perfuaded they will, they may thank themselves for grounding their Hopes on a Prophecy,many Ages ago fulfill'd in the Perfons of their Ancestors. Ver. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have worn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth: fo have I fworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.] He ftill fpeaks to the Jews in Captivity; this Calamity which I have brought upon you fhall be as the waters of Noah, fuch as I will never bring upon you again; and God has been as good as his Word, for tho' he has fuffer'd their Enemies to plague them, and made them fmart for their Sins firft by Antiochus, and more feverely at laft by the Romans, yet he never caus'd them to be carry'd Ddd away. LIV. -Chapter away into Captivity; thofe few who were taken in the City perhaps might be made Slaves, the reft were scatter'd abroad over the Roman Empire, and the far greatest part of them enjoy'd their Liberty, as they have done ever fince, and they are ftill no more Captives than the rest of Mankind. Gataker. ་ Ver. 10. For the mountains fhall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness fhall not depart from thee, neither fhall the covenant of my peace be removed, faith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.] This ye may rely upon, that ye fhall never be brought into the fame miferable Condition again, fince I have given you my Word for it, and confirm'd it by Qath: for Mountains and Hills may be remov'd, but nothing can alter that Kindhefs which I have for you, nothing but your own wilful Tranfgreffions, which the Senfe of thefe Sufferings will, I hope, make you take care that ye be not fo Limitation must be "heinously guilty of another time; to weak as to dote added, because we cannot fuppofe God on a People, and refolve never to punish them, let their Behaviour be what it will; and this Limitation is added by the Prophet in the following Words, neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed; that is, the Covenant which I now make with you fhall be exactly made good on my Part, and the Peace or Profperity which I have promis'd you, fecur'd; the mention of a Covenant fuppofes mutual Stipulations on both fides, God engag'd to be kind to them, and give them for many Years an uninterrupted Ccurfe of Profperity, and they to be fure engag'd to be obedient to his Laws, which they notoriously failing in, no Wonder God let loofe Antiochus firft, and the Romans afterward; which is no Impeachment of his Veracity, fince they kept not the Conditions on which this Covenant of Peace was founded. Ver. 11, 12. O thou afflicted, toffed with tempeft, and not comforted: behold, I will lay thy ftones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with faphirs. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleafant ftones.] Criticks are very much puzzled about the Signification of the Original Puk, which the Chaldee Para- · phraft renders by a Word fignifying Stibium, a Paint made of Red Lead, us'd by the Ladies in thofe Times, when Red Red Hair was a Beauty, to colour their Eyebrows, from whence probably the Fucus of the Latines may come; the LXX render it by deg, a Carbuncle; but whatever particular Stone was defign'd by it, the Prophet means, that the City or Temple fhould be rebuilt, not with ordinary Materials, but, like a magnificent Palace, have her Pavement adorn'd with Stones of various Colours, and the rest of the Building every way anfwerable, the Windows fhining with Agats, the Gates with Carbuncles, and the Foundation, on which the vileft Materials us'd to be employ'd, laid with Saphirs. Ver. 13. And all thy children fhall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.] That is, the Lord himfelf fhall take care of the Inftruction of thy People by a Succeffion of Prophets, whofe Business it fhall be to put them in mind of their Duty, and keep up a Senfe of Religion among them. Ver. 14. In righteousness fhalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppreffion, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it fhall not come near thee.] That is, thy State fhall be re-eftablish'd by righteous and faithful Governors, fuch as Zorobabel, Ezra and Nehemiah; or by walking uprightly with God: Thou shalt be far from oppreffion, it fhall not again be in the Power of thine Enemies to carry away thy Inhabitants and opprefs them, as the Babylonians have done, thou shalt have no Reafon to fear any fuch Misfortune, the Terror of hoftile Arms fhall no more alarm thee. Ver. 15. Behold, they fhall furely gather together, but not by me: whofoever shall gather together against thee, fhall fall for thy fake.] As if he had faid, Behold, I forefee your Enemies will combine together to prevent your Re-establishment, in fuch Numbers as may be apt to strike a Terror on your Minds, but their gathering fhall be without my Approbation, and therefore prove unfuccessful. Ver. 16. Behold, I have created the fmith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an inftrument for his work, and I have created the wafter to deftroy. The Lord here proves, by a very familiar obvious Reafon,that he is able to keep all their Enemies from doing them any Mifchief; For I have created both the fmith, who makes the Weapons of War, and the Wafter, that is, the Soldiers that use them, Ddd 2 there Chapter Chapter therefore both are under my Direction, and can offer no LIV. Violence, but where I give them Commission. Ezra 4.6. Ver. 17. No weapon that is formed against thee, fhall profper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the fervants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, faith the Lord.] That is, If any of thy Enemies prefume to disturb thy respose with Arms, their Undertakings fhall prove unfuccessful: And if others by malicious Mifreprefentations endeavour to prevent your Re-establishment, thou fhalt be able to vindicate thy felf to their confufion: Which plainly points at the Accufatation mention'd in the Hiftory of their Return, which their Enemies,in the Reign of Abazuerus,wrote to the Court of Perfia, and the Letter addrefs'd to Artaxerxes, wherein they were reprefented as a refractory People, who, if once they fhould be fuffer'd to build their Wall again, would not pay Tribute, and confequently . Jeffen the Royal Revenue. This is the Privilege of thofe who ferve God uprightly; their Innocence fhall be clear'd to the Confufion of their Adverfaries. And their Righ teousness is of me, faith the Lord; Meitti in the Original, their Juftification proceeds from me, or I will take care of their Innocence. The |
