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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>I S A I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. II.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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With this chapter begins a new sermon, which is continued in the two
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following chapters. The subject of this discourse is Judah and
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Jerusalem,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:1">ver. 1</A>.
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In this chapter the prophet speaks,
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I. Of the glory of the Christians, Jerusalem, the gospel-church in the
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latter days, in the accession of many to it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:2,3">ver. 2, 3</A>),
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and the great peace it should introduce into the world
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:4">ver. 4</A>),
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whence he infers the duty of the house of Jacob,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:5">ver. 5</A>.
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II. Of the shame of the Jews, Jerusalem, as it then was, and as it
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would be after its rejection of the gospel and being rejected of God.
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1. Their sin was their shame,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:6-9">ver. 6-9</A>.
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2. God by his judgments would humble them and put them to shame,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:10-17">ver. 10-17</A>.
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3. They should themselves be ashamed of their confidence in their idols
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and in an arm of flesh,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:18-22">ver. 18-22</A>.
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And now which of these Jerusalems will we be the inhabitants of--that
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which is full of the knowledge of God, which will be our everlasting
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honour, or that which is full of horses and chariots, and silver and
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gold, and such idols, which will in the end be our shame?</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Isa2_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa2_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa2_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa2_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa2_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Increase of the Church Predicted.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 758.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and
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Jerusalem.
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2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, <I>that</I> the
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mountain of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s house shall be established in the top of
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the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all
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nations shall flow unto it.
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3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up
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to the mountain of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, to the house of the God of Jacob;
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and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:
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for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
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from Jerusalem.
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4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many
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people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and
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their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword
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against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
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5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The particular title of this sermon
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>)
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is the same with the general title of the book
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:1"><I>ch.</I> i. 1</A>),
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only that what is there called the <I>vision</I> is here called <I>the
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word which Isaiah saw</I> (or the matter, or thing, which he saw), the
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truth of which he had as full an assurance of in his own mind as if he
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had seen it with his bodily eyes. Or this word was brought to him in a
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vision; something he saw when he received this message from God. John
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turned to <I>see the voice</I> that spoke with him.
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:12">Rev. i. 12</A>.</P>
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<P>
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This sermon begins with the prophecy relating to the last days, the
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days of the Messiah, when his kingdom should be set up in the world, at
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the latter end of the Mosaic economy. In the last days of the earthly
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Jerusalem, just before the destruction of it, this heavenly Jerusalem
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should be erected,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+12:22,Ga+4:26">Heb. xii. 22; Gal. iv. 26</A>.
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Note, Gospel times are the last days. For
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1. They were long in coming, were a great while waited for by the
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Old-Testament saints, and came at last.
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2. We are not to look for any dispensation of divine grace but what we
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have in the gospel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:8,9">Gal. i. 8, 9</A>.
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3. We are to look for the second coming of Jesus Christ at the end of
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time, as the Old-Testament saints did for his first coming; <I>this is
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the last time,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+2:18">1 John ii. 18</A>.</P>
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<P>
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Now the prophet here foretels,</P>
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<P>
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I. The setting up of the Christian church, and the planting of the
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Christian religion, in the world. Christianity shall then be the
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mountain of the Lord's house; where that is professed God will grant
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his presence, receive his people's homage, and grant instruction and
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blessing, as he did of old in the temple of Mount Zion. The gospel
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church, incorporated by Christ's charter, shall then be the rendezvous
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of all the spiritual seed of Abraham. Now it is here promised, I. That
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Christianity shall be openly preached and professed; it shall be
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<I>prepared</I> (so the margin reads it) in the top of the mountains,
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in the view and hearing of all. Hence Christ's disciples are compared
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to a city on a hill, which <I>cannot be hid,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+5:14">Matt. v. 14</A>.
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They had many eyes upon them. Christ himself <I>spoke openly to the
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world,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+18:20">John xviii. 20</A>.
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What the apostles did was not <I>done in a corner,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:26">Acts xxvi. 26</A>.
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It was the lighting of a beacon, the setting up of a standard. Its
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being every where spoken <I>against</I> supposes that it was every
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where spoken <I>of.</I>
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2. That is shall be firmly fixed and rooted; it shall be established on
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the top of the everlasting mountains, built upon a <I>rock,</I> so that
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the <I>gates of hell shall not prevail against it,</I> unless they
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could pluck up mountains by the roots. He that dwells safely is said to
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<I>dwell on high,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+33:16"><I>ch.</I> xxxiii. 16</A>.
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<I>The Lord has founded the gospel Zion.</I>
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3. That it shall not only overcome all opposition, but overtop all
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competition; it shall be <I>exalted above the hills.</I> This <I>wisdom
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of God in a mystery</I> shall outshine all the wisdom of this world,
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all its philosophy and all its politics. The spiritual worship which it
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shall introduce shall put down the idolatries of the heathen; and all
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other institutions in religion shall appear mean and despicable in
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comparison with this. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+68:16">Ps. lxvi. 16</A>.
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<I>Why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which God desires to
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dwell in.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. The bringing of the Gentiles into it.
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1. The nations shall be admitted into it, even the uncircumcised, who
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were forbidden to come into the courts of the temple at Jerusalem. The
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partition wall, which kept them out, kept them off, shall be taken
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down.
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2. <I>All nations shall flow into it;</I> having liberty of access,
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they shall improve their liberty, and multitudes shall embrace the
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Christian faith. They shall flow into it, as streams of water, which
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denotes the abundance of converts that the gospel should make and their
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speed and cheerfulness in coming into the church. They shall not be
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forced into it, but shall naturally flow into it. <I>Thy people shall
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be willing,</I> all volunteers,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+110:3">Ps. cx. 3</A>.
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To Christ shall the <I>gathering of the people be,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+49:10">Gen. xlix. 10</A>.
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See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+60:4,5"><I>ch.</I> lx. 4, 5</A>.</P>
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<P>
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III. The mutual assistance and encouragement which this confluence of
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converts shall give to one another. Their pious affections and
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resolutions shall be so intermixed that they shall come in in one full
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stream. As, when the Jews from all parts of the country went up thrice
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a year to worship at Jerusalem, they called on their friends in the
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road and excited them to go along with them, so shall many of the
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Gentiles court their relations, friends, and neighbours, to join with
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them in embracing the Christian religion
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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"<I>Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord;</I> though it
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be uphill and against the heart, yet it is <I>the mountain of the
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Lord,</I> who will assist the assent of our souls towards him." Note,
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Those that are entering into covenant and communion with God themselves
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should bring as many as they can along with them; it becomes Christians
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to provoke one another to good works, and to further the communion of
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saints by inviting one another into it: not, "Do you <I>go up to the
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mountain of the Lord,</I> and pray for us, and we will stay at home;"
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nor, "We will go, and do you do as you will;" but, "<I>Come, and let us
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go,</I> let us go in concert, that we may strengthen one another's
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hands and support one another's reputation:" not, "We will consider of
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it, and advise about it, and go hereafter;" but, <I>Come, and let us go
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forthwith.</I> See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+122:1">Ps. cxxii. 1</A>.
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Many shall say this. Those that have had it said to them shall say it
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to others. The gospel church is here called, not only <I>the mountain
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of the Lord,</I> but <I>the house of the God of Jacob;</I> for in it
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God's covenant with Jacob and his praying seed is kept up and has its
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accomplishment; for to us now, as unto them, he never said, <I>Seek you
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me in vain,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+45:19"><I>ch.</I> xlv. 19</A>.
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Now see here,
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1. What they promise themselves in going up to the <I>mountain of the
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Lord;</I> There <I>he will teach us of his ways.</I> Note, God's ways
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are to be learned in his church, in communion with his people, and in
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the use of instituted ordinances--the ways of duty which he requires us
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to walk in, the ways of grace in which he walks towards us. It is God
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that teaches his people, by his word and Spirit. It is worth while to
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take pains to go up to his holy mountain to be taught his ways, and
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those who are willing to take that pains shall never find it labour in
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vain. Then <I>shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord.</I>
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2. What they <I>promise for themselves</I> and one another: "If he
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will <I>teach us his ways,</I> we will <I>walk in his paths;</I> is he
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will let us know our duty, we will by his grace make conscience of
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doing it." Those who attend God's word with this humble resolution
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shall not be sent away without their lesson.</P>
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<P>
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IV. The means by which this shall be brought about: <I>Out of Zion
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shall go forth the law,</I> the New-Testament law, the law of Christ,
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as of old the law of Moses from Mount Sinai, even <I>the word of the
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Lord from Jerusalem.</I> The gospel is a law, a law of faith; it is the
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<I>word of the Lord;</I> it <I>went forth from Zion,</I> where the
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temple was built, and from Jerusalem. Christ himself began in Galilee,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+4:23,Lu+23:5">Matt. iv. 23; Luke xxiii. 5</A>.
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But, when he commissioned his apostles to preach the gospel to all
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nations, he appointed them to begin in Jerusalem,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+24:47">Luke xxiv. 47</A>.
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See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+15:19">Rom. xv. 19</A>.
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Though most of them had their homes in Galilee, yet they must stay at
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Jerusalem, there to <I>receive the promise of the Spirit,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+1:4">Acts i. 4</A>.
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And in the temple on Mount Zion they preached the gospel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+5:20">Acts v. 20</A>.
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This honour was allowed to Jerusalem, even after Christ was crucified
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there, for the sake of what it had been. And it was by this gospel,
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which took rise from Jerusalem, that the gospel church was
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<I>established on the top of the mountains.</I> This was the rod of
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divine strength, that was <I>sent forth out of Zion,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+110:2">Ps. cx. 2</A>.</P>
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<P>
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V. The erecting of the kingdom of the Redeemer in the world: <I>He
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shall judge among the nations.</I> He whose word goes forth out of Zion
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shall by that word not only subdue souls to himself, but rule in them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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He shall, in wisdom and justice, order and overrule the affairs of the
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world for the good of his church, and rebuke and restrain those that
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oppose his interest. By his Spirit working on men's consciences he
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shall judge, and rebuke shall try men and check them; his kingdom is
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spiritual, <I>and not of this world.</I></P>
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<P>
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VI. The great peace which should be the effect of the success of the
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gospel in the world
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>They shall beat their swords into ploughshares;</I> their
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instruments of war shall be converted into implements of husbandry; as,
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on the contrary, when war is proclaimed, <I>ploughshares are beaten
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into swords,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joe+3:10">Joel iii. 10</A>.
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<I>Nations shall then not lift up sword against nation,</I> as they now
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do, <I>neither shall they learn war any more,</I> for they shall have
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no more occasion for it. This does not make all war absolutely unlawful
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among Christians, nor is it a prophecy that in the days of the Messiah
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there shall be no wars. The Jews urge this against the Christians as an
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argument that Jesus is not the Messiah, because this promise is not
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fulfilled. But,
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1. It was in part fulfilled in the peaceableness of the time in which
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Christ was born, when wars had in a great measure ceased, witness
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<I>the taxing,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+2:1">Luke ii. 1</A>.
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2. The design and tendency of the gospel are to make peace and to slay
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all enmities. It has in it the most powerful obligations and
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inducements to peace; so that one might reasonably have expected it
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should have this effect, and it would have had it if it had not been
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for those lusts of men from which come wars and fightings.
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3. Jew and Gentiles were reconciled and brought together by the gospel,
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and there were no more such wars between them as there had been; for
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they became <I>one sheepfold under one shepherd.</I> See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+2:15">Eph. ii. 15</A>.
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4. The gospel of Christ, as far as it prevails, disposes men to be
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peaceable, softens men's spirits, and sweetens them; and the love of
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Christ, shed abroad in the heart, constrains men to love one another.
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5. The primitive Christians were famous for brotherly love; their very
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adversaries took notice of it.
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6. We have reason to hope that this promise shall yet have a more full
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accomplishment in the latter times of the Christian church, when the
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Spirit shall be poured out more plentifully from on high. Then there
|
|
shall be on earth peace. <I>Who shall live when God doeth this?</I> But
|
|
do it he will in due time, for <I>he is not a man that he should
|
|
lie.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Lastly,</I> Here is a practical inference drawn from all this
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>O house of Jacob! come you, and let us walk in the light of the
|
|
Lord.</I> By the house of Jacob is meant either,
|
|
|
|
1. Israel according to the flesh. Let them be provoked by this <I>to a
|
|
holy emulation,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:14">Rom. xi. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
"Seeing the Gentiles are thus ready and resolved for God, thus forward
|
|
to go up to the house of the Lord, let us stir up ourselves to go too.
|
|
Let is never be said that the sinners of the Gentiles were better
|
|
friends to the holy mountain than the house of Jacob." Thus the zeal of
|
|
some should provoke many. Or,
|
|
|
|
2. Spiritual Israel, all that are brought to the God of Jacob. Shall
|
|
there be such great knowledge in gospel times
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>)
|
|
|
|
and such great peace
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
and shall we share in these privileges? Come then, and let us live
|
|
accordingly. What ever others do, <I>come, O come!</I> let us <I>walk
|
|
in the light of the Lord.</I>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Let us walk circumspectly in the light of this knowledge. Will God
|
|
teach us his ways? Will he show us his glory in the face of Christ? Let
|
|
us then <I>walk as children of the light and of the day,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+5:8,1Th+5:8,Ro+13:12">Eph. v. 8; 1 Thess. v. 8; Rom. xiii. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Let us walk comfortably in the light of this peace. Shall there be
|
|
no more war? Let us then go on our way rejoicing, and let this joy
|
|
terminate in God, and be our strength,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+8:10">Neh. viii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus shall we walk in the beams of the Sun of righteousness.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_6"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_7"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_8"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_9"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>A Charge against the Israelites.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 758.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob,
|
|
because they be replenished from the east, and <I>are</I> soothsayers
|
|
like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children
|
|
of strangers.
|
|
7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither <I>is there
|
|
any</I> end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses,
|
|
neither <I>is there any</I> end of their chariots:
|
|
8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of
|
|
their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
|
|
9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth
|
|
himself: therefore forgive them not.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The calling in of the Gentiles was accompanied with the rejection of
|
|
the Jews; it was their fall, and the <I>diminishing of them, that was
|
|
the riches of the Gentiles;</I> and the <I>casting off of them</I> was
|
|
<I>the reconciling of the world</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:12-15">Rom. xi. 12-15</A>);
|
|
|
|
and it should seem that these verses have reference to that, and are
|
|
designed to justify God therein, and yet it is probable that they are
|
|
primarily intended for the convincing and awakening of the men of that
|
|
generation in which the prophet lived, it being usual with the prophets
|
|
to speak of the things that then were, both in mercy and judgment, as
|
|
types of the things that should be hereafter. Here is,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Israel's doom. This is set forth in two words, the first and the
|
|
last of this paragraph; but they are two dreadful words, and which
|
|
speak,
|
|
|
|
1. Their case sad, very sad
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people.</I> Miserable is the
|
|
condition of that people whom God has forsaken, and great certainly
|
|
must the provocation be if he forsake those that have been his own
|
|
people. This was the deplorable case of the Jewish church after they
|
|
had rejected Christ. <I>Migremus hinc--Let us go hence. Your house is
|
|
left unto you desolate,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:38">Matt. xxiii. 38</A>.
|
|
|
|
Whenever any sore calamity came upon the Jews thus far the Lord might
|
|
be said to forsake them that he withdrew his help and succour from
|
|
them, else they would not have fallen into the hands of their enemies.
|
|
But God never leaves any till they first leave him.
|
|
|
|
2. Their case desperate, wholly desperate
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Therefore forgive them not.</I> This prophetical prayer amounts to a
|
|
threatening that they should not be forgiven, and some think it may be
|
|
read: <I>And thou wilt not forgive them.</I> This refers not to
|
|
particular persons (many of them repented and were pardoned), but to
|
|
the body of that nation, against whom an irreversible doom was passed,
|
|
that they should be wholly cut off and their church quite dismantled,
|
|
never to be formed into such a body again, nor ever to have their old
|
|
charter restored to them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Israel's desert of this doom, and the reasons upon which it is
|
|
grounded. In general, it is sin that brings destruction upon them; it
|
|
is this, and nothing but this, that provokes God to forsake his people.
|
|
The particular sins which the prophet specifies are such as abounded
|
|
among them at that time, which he makes mention of for the conviction
|
|
of those to whom he then preached, rather than that which afterwards
|
|
proved the measure-filling sin, their crucifying Christ and persecuting
|
|
his followers; for the sins of every age contributed towards the making
|
|
up of the dreadful account at last. And there was a partial and
|
|
temporary rejection of them by the captivity in Babylon hastening on,
|
|
which was a type of their final destruction by the Romans, and which
|
|
the sins here mentioned brought upon them. Their sins were such as
|
|
directly contradicted all God's kind and gracious designs concerning
|
|
them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. God set them apart for himself, as a peculiar people, distinguished
|
|
from, and dignified above, all other people
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+23:9">Num. xxiii. 9</A>);
|
|
|
|
but they were <I>replenished from the east;</I> they <I>naturalized</I>
|
|
foreigners, not <I>proselyted,</I> and encouraged them to settle among
|
|
them, and mingled with them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+7:8">Hos. vii. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their country was peopled with Syrians and Chaldeans, Moabites and
|
|
Ammonites, and other eastern nations, and with them they admitted the
|
|
fashions and customs of those nations, and <I>pleased themselves in the
|
|
children of strangers,</I> were fond of them, preferred their country
|
|
before their own, and thought the more they conformed to them the more
|
|
polite and refined they were; thus did they profane their crown and
|
|
their covenant. Note, Those are in danger of being estranged from God
|
|
who please themselves with those who are strangers to him, for we soon
|
|
learn the ways of those whose company we love.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. God gave them his oracles, which they might ask counsel of, not only
|
|
the scriptures and the seers, but the breast-plate of judgment; but
|
|
they slighted these, and became soothsayers like the Philistines,
|
|
introduced their arts of divination, and hearkened to those who by the
|
|
stars, or the clouds, or the flight of birds, or the entrails of
|
|
beasts, or other magic superstitions, pretended to discover things
|
|
secret or foretel things to come. The Philistines were noted for
|
|
diviners,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+6:2">1 Sam. vi. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Those who slight true divinity are justly given up to lying
|
|
divinations; and those will certainly be forsaken of God who thus
|
|
forsake him and their own mercies for lying vanities.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. God encouraged them to put their confidence in him, and assured them
|
|
that he would be their wealth and strength; but, distrusting his power
|
|
and promise, they made gold their hope, and furnished themselves with
|
|
horses and chariots, and relied upon them for their safety,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
God had expressly forbidden even their kings to multiply horses to
|
|
themselves and <I>greatly to multiply silver and gold,</I> because he
|
|
would have them to depend upon himself only; but they did not think
|
|
their interest in God made them a match for their neighbours unless
|
|
they had as full treasures of silver and gold, and as formidable hosts
|
|
of chariots and horses, as they had. It is not having silver and gold,
|
|
horses and chariots, that is a provocation to God, but,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Desiring them insatiably, so that there is no end of the
|
|
treasures, no end of the chariots, no bounds or limits set to the
|
|
desire of them. Those shall never have enough in God (who alone is
|
|
all-sufficient) that never know when they have enough of this world,
|
|
which at the best is insufficient.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Depending upon them, as if we could not be safe, and easy, and
|
|
happy, without them, and could not but be so with them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. God himself was their God, the sole object of their worship, and he
|
|
himself instituted ordinances of worship for them; but they slighted
|
|
both him and his institutions,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their land was full of idols; every city had its god
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+11:13">Jer. xi. 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
and, according to the goodness of their lands, they made goodly images,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+10:1">Hos. x. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that think one God too little will find two too many, and yet
|
|
hundreds were not sufficient; for those that love idols will multiply
|
|
them; so sottish were they, and so wretchedly infatuated, that they
|
|
<I>worshipped the work of their own hands,</I> as if that could be a
|
|
god to them which was not only a creature, but <I>their</I> creature
|
|
and that which their own fancies had devised and <I>their own fingers
|
|
had made.</I> It was an aggravation of their idolatry that God had
|
|
enriched them with silver and gold, and yet of that silver and gold
|
|
they made idols; so it was, <I>Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked,</I> see
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hos+2:8">Hos. ii. 8</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. God had advanced them, and put honour upon them; but they basely
|
|
diminished and disparaged themselves
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The mean man boweth down to his idol,</I> a thing below the meanest
|
|
that has any spark of reason left. Sin is a disparagement to the
|
|
poorest and those of the lowest rank. It becomes the mean man to bow
|
|
down to his superiors, but it ill becomes him to <I>bow down to the
|
|
stock of a tree,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+44:19"><I>ch.</I> xliv. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Nor is it only the illiterate and poor-spirited that do this, but even
|
|
the <I>great men</I> forgets his grandeur and humbles himself to
|
|
worship idols, deifies men no better than himself, and consecrates
|
|
stones so much baser than himself. Idolaters are said to <I>debase
|
|
themselves even to hell,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+57:9"><I>ch.</I> lvii. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
What a shame it is that great men think the service of the true God
|
|
below them and will not stoop to it, and yet will humble themselves to
|
|
bow down to an idol! Some make this a threatening that the mean men
|
|
shall be brought down, and the great men humbled, by the judgments of
|
|
God, when they come with commission.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa2_22"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Doom of Idolaters.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 758.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of
|
|
the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and for the glory of his majesty.
|
|
11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness
|
|
of men shall be bowed down, and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> alone shall be exalted
|
|
in that day.
|
|
12 For the day of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts <I>shall be</I> upon every <I>one
|
|
that is</I> proud and lofty, and upon every <I>one that is</I> lifted up;
|
|
and he shall be brought low:
|
|
13 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, <I>that are</I> high and
|
|
lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
|
|
14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills
|
|
<I>that are</I> lifted up,
|
|
15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
|
|
16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant
|
|
pictures.
|
|
17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the
|
|
haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> alone shall be
|
|
exalted in that day.
|
|
18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
|
|
19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the
|
|
caves of the earth, for fear of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and for the glory of
|
|
his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
|
|
20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his
|
|
idols of gold, which they made <I>each one</I> for himself to worship,
|
|
to the moles and to the bats;
|
|
21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the
|
|
ragged rocks, for fear of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and for the glory of his
|
|
majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
|
|
22 Cease ye from man, whose breath <I>is</I> in his nostrils: for
|
|
wherein is he to be accounted of?
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The prophet here goes on to show what a desolation would be brought
|
|
upon their land when God should have forsaken them. This may refer
|
|
particularly to their destruction by the Chaldeans first, and
|
|
afterwards by the Romans, or it may have a general respect to the
|
|
method God takes to awaken and humble proud sinners, and to put them
|
|
out of conceit with that which they delighted in and depended on more
|
|
than God. We are here told that sooner or later God will find out a
|
|
way,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. To startle and awaken secure sinners, who cry peace to themselves,
|
|
and bid defiance to God and his judgments
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Enter into the rock;</I> God will attack you with such terrible
|
|
judgments, and strike you with such terrible apprehensions of them,
|
|
that you shall be forced to <I>enter into the rock, and hide yourself
|
|
in the dust, for fear of the Lord.</I> You shall lose all your courage,
|
|
and tremble at the shaking of a leaf; your heart shall <I>fail you for
|
|
fear</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+21:26">Luke xxi. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
and you shall <I>flee when none pursues,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+28:1">Prov. xxviii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
To the same purport,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the
|
|
earth,</I> the darkest the deepest places; they shall <I>call to the
|
|
rocks and mountains to fall on them,</I> and rather crush them than not
|
|
cover them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+10:8">Hos. x. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was so particularly at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:30">Luke xxiii. 30</A>)
|
|
|
|
and of the persecuting pagan powers,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+6:16">Rev. vi. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
And all <I>for fear of the Lord, and of the glory of his majesty,</I>
|
|
looking upon him then to be a consuming fire and themselves as stubble
|
|
before him, <I>when he arises to shake terribly the earth,</I> to
|
|
<I>shake the wicked out of it</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:13">Job xxxviii. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
and to shake all those earthly props and supports with which they have
|
|
buoyed themselves up, to shake them from under them. Note,
|
|
|
|
1. <I>With God is terrible majesty,</I> and the glory of it is such as
|
|
sooner or later will oblige us all to flee before him.
|
|
|
|
2. Those that will not fear God and flee to him will be forced to fear
|
|
him and flee from him to a refuge of lies.
|
|
|
|
3. It is folly for those that are pursued by the wrath of God to think
|
|
to escape it, and to hide or shelter themselves from it.
|
|
|
|
4. The things of the earth are things that will be shaken; they are
|
|
subject to concussions, and hastening towards a dissolution.
|
|
|
|
5. The shaking of the earth is, and will be, a terrible thing to those
|
|
who set their affections wholly on things of the earth.
|
|
|
|
6. It will be in vain to think of finding refuge in the caves of the
|
|
earth when the earth itself is shaken; there will be no shelter then
|
|
but in God and in things above.</P>
|
|
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<P>
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|
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II. To humble and abase proud sinners, that look big, and think highly
|
|
of themselves, and scornfully of all about them
|
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
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<I>The lofty looks of man shall be humbled.</I> The eyes that aim high,
|
|
the countenance in which the pride of the heart shows itself, shall be
|
|
cast down in shame and despair. And the <I>haughtiness of men shall be
|
|
bowed down,</I> their spirits shall be broken, and they shall be
|
|
crest-fallen, and those things which they were proud of they shall be
|
|
ashamed of. It is repeated
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>The loftiness of man shall be bowed down.</I> Note, Pride will, one
|
|
way or other, have a fall. Men's haughtiness will be brought down,
|
|
either by the grace of God convincing them of the evil of their pride,
|
|
and clothing them with humility, or by the providence of God depriving
|
|
them of all those things they were proud of and laying them low. Our
|
|
Saviour often laid it down for a maxim that <I>he who exalts himself
|
|
shall be abased;</I> he shall either abase himself in true repentance
|
|
or God will abase him and pour contempt upon him. Now here we are
|
|
told,</P>
|
|
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|
<P>
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|
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|
1. Why this shall be done: because the <I>Lord alone will be
|
|
exalted.</I> Note, Proud men shall be vilified because the Lord alone
|
|
will be magnified. It is for the honour of God's power to humble the
|
|
proud; by this he proves himself to be God, and disproves Job's
|
|
pretensions to rival with him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+40:11-14">Job xl. 11-14</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Behold every one that is proud, and abase him; then will I also
|
|
confess unto thee.</I> It is likewise for the honour of his justice.
|
|
Proud men stand in competition with God, who is jealous for his own
|
|
glory, and will not suffer men either to take to themselves or give to
|
|
another that which is due to him only. They likewise stand in
|
|
opposition to God; they resist him, and therefore he resists them; for
|
|
he <I>will be exalted among the heathen</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+46:10">Ps. xlvi. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
and there is a day coming in which he alone will be exalted, when he
|
|
shall have put <I>down all opposing rule, principality, and power,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:24">1 Cor. xv. 24</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. How this shall be done: by humbling judgments, that shall mortify
|
|
men, and bring them down
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The day of the Lord of hosts,</I> the day of his wrath and judgment,
|
|
<I>shall be upon every one that is proud.</I> He now laughs at their
|
|
insolence because he sees that his day is coming, this day, which will
|
|
be upon them ere they are aware,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+37:13">Ps. xxxvii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
This day of the Lord is here said to be upon <I>all the cedars of
|
|
Lebanon, that are high and lifted up.</I> Jerome observes that the
|
|
cedars are said to praise God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+148:9">Ps. cxlviii. 9</A>)
|
|
|
|
and are <I>trees of the Lord</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+104:16">Ps. civ. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>of his planting</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+41:19">Isa. xli. 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
and yet here God's wrath fastens upon the cedars, which denotes (says
|
|
he) that some of every rank of men, some great men, will be saved, and
|
|
some perish. It is brought in as an instance of the strength of God's
|
|
voice that it <I>breaks the cedars</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+29:5">Ps. xxix. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
and here the day of the Lord is said to be <I>upon the cedars,</I>
|
|
those of Lebanon, they were the straightest and statliest,--upon the
|
|
oaks, those of Bashan, that were the strongest and sturdiest,--upon the
|
|
natural elevations and fortresses, <I>the highest mountains and the
|
|
hills that are lifted up</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
that overtop the valleys and seem to push the skies,--and upon the
|
|
artificial fastnesses, <I>every high tower and every fenced wall,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Understand these,
|
|
|
|
(1.) As representing the proud people themselves, that are in their own
|
|
apprehensions like the cedars and the oaks, firmly rooted, and not to
|
|
be stirred by any storm, and looking on all around them as shrubs;
|
|
these are the high mountains and the lofty hills that seem to fill the
|
|
earth, that are gazed on by all, and think themselves immovable, but
|
|
lie most obnoxious to God's thunderstrokes. <I>Feriuntique summos
|
|
fulmina montes--The highest hills are most exposed to lightning.</I>
|
|
And before the power of God's wrath these mountains are scattered and
|
|
these hills bow and <I>melt like wax,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+3:6,Ps+68"8">Hab. iii. 6; Ps. lxvi. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
These vaunting men, who are as high towers in which the noisy bells are
|
|
hung, on which the thundering murdering cannon are planted--these
|
|
fenced walls, that fortify themselves with their native hardiness, and
|
|
intrench themselves in their fastnesses--shall be brought down.
|
|
|
|
(2.) As particularizing the things they are proud of,in which they
|
|
trust, and of which they make their boast. The day of the Lord shall be
|
|
upon those very things in which they put their confidence as their
|
|
strength and security; he will <I>take from the all their armour
|
|
wherein they trusted.</I> Did the inhabitants of Lebanon glory in their
|
|
cedars, and those of Bashan in their oaks, such as no country could
|
|
equal? The day of the Lord should rend those cedars, those oaks, and
|
|
the houses built of them. Did Jerusalem glory in the mountains that
|
|
were round about it, as its impregnable fortifications, or in its walls
|
|
and bulwarks? These should be levelled and laid low in the day of the
|
|
Lord. Besides those things that were for their strength and safety they
|
|
were proud,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Of their trade abroad; but the day of the Lord shall be <I>upon
|
|
all the ships of Tarshish;</I> they shall be broken as Jehoshaphat's
|
|
were, shall founder at sea or be ship-wrecked in harbour. Zebulun was a
|
|
haven of ships, but should now no more rejoice in his going out. When
|
|
God is bringing ruin upon a people he can sink all the branches of
|
|
their revenue.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Of their ornaments at home; but the day of the Lord shall be
|
|
<I>upon all pleasant pictures,</I> the painting of their ships (so some
|
|
understand it) or the curious pieces of painting they brought home in
|
|
their ships from other countries, perhaps from Greece, which afterwards
|
|
was famous for painters. Upon <I>every thing that is beautiful to
|
|
behold;</I> so some read it. Perhaps they were the pictures of their
|
|
relations, and for that reason pleasant, or of their gods, which to the
|
|
idolaters were delectable things; or they admired them for the fineness
|
|
of their colours or strokes. There is no harm in making pictures, nor
|
|
in adorning our rooms with them, provided they transgress not either
|
|
the second or the seventh commandment. But to place our pictures among
|
|
our pleasant things, to be fond of them and proud of them, to spend
|
|
that upon them which should be laid out in charity, and to set out
|
|
hearts upon them, as it ill becomes those who have so many substantial
|
|
things to take pleasure in, so it tends to provoke God to strip us of
|
|
all such vain ornaments.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. To make idolaters ashamed of their idols, and of all the affection
|
|
they have had for them and the respect they have paid to them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The idols he shall utterly abolish.</I> When the Lord alone shall be
|
|
exalted
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>)
|
|
|
|
he will not only pour contempt upon proud men, who like Pharaoh exalt
|
|
themselves against him, but much more upon all pretended deities, who
|
|
are rivals with him for divine honours. They shall be abolished,
|
|
utterly abolished. Their friends shall desert them; their enemies shall
|
|
destroy them; so that, one way or other, an utter riddance shall be
|
|
made of them. See here,
|
|
|
|
1. The vanity of false gods; they cannot secure themselves, so far are
|
|
they from being able to secure their worshippers.
|
|
|
|
2. The victory of the true God over them; for <I>great is the truth and
|
|
will prevail.</I> Dagon fell before the ark, and Baal before the Lord
|
|
God of Elijah. The gods of the heathen shall be famished
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zep+2:11">Zeph. ii. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
and by degrees shall perish,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+10:11">Jer. x. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
The rightful Sovereign will triumph over all pretenders. And, as God
|
|
will abolish idols, so their worshippers shall abandon them, either
|
|
from a gracious conviction of their vanity and falsehood (as Ephraim
|
|
when he said, <I>What have I to do any more with idols?</I>) or from a
|
|
late and sad experience of their inability to help them, and a woeful
|
|
despair of relief by them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
When men are themselves frightened by the judgments of God into the
|
|
holes of the rocks and caves of the earth, and find that they do thus
|
|
in vain shift for their own safety, they shall cast their idols, which
|
|
they have made their gods, and hoped to make their friends in the time
|
|
of need, to the moles and to the bats, any where out of sight, that,
|
|
being freed from the incumbrance of them, they may <I>go into the
|
|
clefts of the rocks, for fear of the Lord,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Those that will not be reasoned out of their sins sooner or later
|
|
shall be frightened out of them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) God can make men sick of those idols that they have been most fond
|
|
of, even the idols of silver and the idols of gold, the most precious.
|
|
Covetous men make silver and gold their idols, money their god; but the
|
|
time may come when they may feel it as much their burden as ever they
|
|
made it their confidence, and may find themselves as much exposed by it
|
|
as ever they hoped they should be guarded by it, when it tempts their
|
|
enemy, sinks their ship, or retards their flight. There was a time when
|
|
the mariners threw the wares, and even the <I>wheat into the sea</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+1:5,Ac+27:38">Jonah i. 5; Acts xxvii. 38</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the <I>Syrians cast away their garments for haste,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+7:15">2 Kings vii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or men may cast it away out of indignation at themselves for leaning
|
|
upon such a broken reed. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+7:19">Ezek. vii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
The idolaters here throw away their idols because they are ashamed of
|
|
them and of their own folly in trusting to them, or because they are
|
|
afraid of having them found in their possession when the judgments of
|
|
God are abroad; as the thief throws away his stolen goods then he is
|
|
searched for or pursued.
|
|
|
|
(3.) The darkest holes, where the moles and the bats lodge, are the
|
|
fittest places for idols, that have eyes and see not; and God can force
|
|
men to cast their own idols there
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:22"><I>ch.</I> xxx. 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
when they are <I>ashamed of the oaks which they have desired,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:29"><I>ch.</I> i. 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed
|
|
of Bethel,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+48:13">Jer. xlviii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
(4.) It is possible that sin may be both loathed and left and yet not
|
|
truly repented of--loathed because surfeited on, left because there is
|
|
no opportunity of committing it, yet not repented of out of any love to
|
|
God, but only from a slavish fear of his wrath.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. To make those that have trusted in an arm of flesh ashamed of their
|
|
confidence
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+2:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Cease from man.</I> The providences of God concerning you shall
|
|
speak this aloud to you, and therefore take warning beforehand, that
|
|
you may prevent the uneasiness and shame of disappointment; and
|
|
consider,
|
|
|
|
1. How weak man is: <I>His breath is in his nostrils,</I> puffed out
|
|
every moment, soon gone for good and all." Man is a dying creature, and
|
|
may die quickly; our nostrils, in which our breath is, are of the
|
|
outward parts of the body; what is there is like one standing at the
|
|
door, ready to depart; nay the doors of the nostrils are always open,
|
|
the breath in them may slip away ere we are aware, in a moment. Wherein
|
|
then is man to be accounted of? Alas! no reckoning is to be made of
|
|
him, for he is not what he seems to be, what he pretends to be, what we
|
|
fancy him to be. Man is like vanity, nay, he is vanity, he is
|
|
altogether vanity, he is less, he is lighter, than vanity, when weighed
|
|
in the balance of the sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
"2. How wise therefore those are that cease from man;" it is our duty,
|
|
it is our interest, to do so. "<I>Put not your trust in man,</I> nor
|
|
make even the greatest and mightiest of men your confidence; cease to
|
|
do so. Let not your eye be to the power of man, for it is finite and
|
|
limited, derived and depending; it is not from him that your judgment
|
|
proceeds. Let not him be your fear, let not him be your hope; but look
|
|
up to the power of God, to which all the powers of men are subject and
|
|
subordinate; dread his wrath, secure his favour, take him for your
|
|
help, and let your <I>hope be in the Lord your God.</I>"</P>
|
|
|
|
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