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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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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. XXXIV.</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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In this chapter we have the fatal doom of all the nations that are
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enemies to God's church and people, though Edom only is mentioned,
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because of the old enmity of Esau to Jacob, which was typical, as much
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as that more ancient enmity of Cain to Abel, and flowed from the
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original enmity of the serpent to the seed of the woman. It is probable
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that this prophecy had its accomplishment in the great desolations made
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by the Assyrian army first, or rather by Nebuchadnezzar's army some
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time after, among those nations that were neighbours to Israel and had
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been in some way or other injurious to them. That mighty conqueror took
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a pride in shedding blood, and laying countries waste, and therein,
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quite beyond his design, he was fulfilling what God here threatened
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against his and his people's enemies. But we have reason to think it is
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intended as a denunciation of the wrath of God against all those who
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fight against the interests of his kingdom among men, that it has its
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frequent accomplishment in the havoc made by the wars of the nations
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and other desolating judgments, and will have its full accomplishment
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in the final dissolution of all things at the day of judgment and
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perdition of ungodly men. Here is,
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I. A demand of universal attention,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:1">ver. 1</A>.
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II. A direful scene of blood and confusion presented,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:2-7">ver. 2-7</A>.
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III. The reason given for these judgments,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:8">ver. 8</A>.
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IV. The continuance of this desolation, the country being made like the
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lake of Sodom
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:9,10">ver. 9, 10</A>),
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and the cities abandoned to wild beasts and melancholy fowls,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:11-15">ver. 11-15</A>.
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V. The solemn ratification of all this,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:16,17">ver. 16, 17</A>.
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Let us hear, and fear.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Isa34_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_8"> </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>Threatenings against God's Enemies.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 720.</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 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let
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the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all
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things that come forth of it.
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2 For the indignation of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> upon all nations, and
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<I>his</I> fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them,
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he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
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3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall
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come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted
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with their blood.
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4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the
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heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host
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shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a
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falling <I>fig</I> from the fig tree.
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5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come
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down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
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6 The sword of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> is filled with blood, it is made fat
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with fatness, <I>and</I> with the blood of lambs and goats, with the
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fat of the kidneys of rams: for the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath a sacrifice in
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Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
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7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks
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with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and
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their dust made fat with fatness.
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8 For <I>it is</I> the day of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s vengeance, <I>and</I> the year
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of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here we have a prophecy, as elsewhere we have a history, of the wars of
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the Lord, which we are sure are all both righteous and successful. This
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world, as it is his creature, he does good to; but as it is in the
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interest of Satan, who is called <I>the god of this world,</I> he
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fights against it.</P>
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<P>
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I. Here is the trumpet sounded and the war proclaimed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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All nations must hear and hearken, not only because what God is about
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to do is well worthy their remark (as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+33:13"><I>ch.</I> xxxiii. 13</A>),
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but because they are all concerned in it; it is with them that God has
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a quarrel; it is against them that God is coming forth in wrath. Let
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them all take notice that the great God is angry with them; his
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indignation is upon all nations, and therefore let all nations come
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near to hear. <I>The trumpet is blown in the city</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+3:6">Amos iii. 6</A>),
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<I>and the watchmen on the walls cry, Hearken to the sound of the
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trumpet,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+6:17">Jer. vi. 17</A>.
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<I>Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof, for it is the
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Lord's</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+24:1">Ps. xxiv. 1</A>)
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and ought to hearken to its Maker and Master. The world must hear, and
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<I>all things that come forth of it,</I> the children of men, that are
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of the earth earthy, come out of it, and must return to it; or the
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inanimate products of the earth are called to, as more likely to
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hearken than sinners, whose hearts are hardened against the calls of
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God. <I>Hear, O you mountains! the Lord's controversy,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:2">Micah vi. 2</A>.
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It is so just a controversy that all the world may be safely appealed
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to concerning the equity of it.</P>
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<P>
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II. Here is the manifesto published, setting forth,</P>
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<P>
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1. Whom he makes war against
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations;</I> they are all in
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confederacy against God and religion, all in the interests of the
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devil, and therefore he is angry with them all, even with all the
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nations that forget him. He has long <I>suffered all nations to walk in
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their own ways</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+14:16">Acts xiv. 16</A>),
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but now he will no longer keep silence. As they have all had the
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benefit of his patience, so they must all expect now to feel his
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resentments. <I>His fury is</I> in a special manner <I>upon all their
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armies,</I>
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(1.) Because with them they have done mischief to the people of God;
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those are they that have made bloody work with them, and therefore they
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must be sure to have blood given them to drink.
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(2.) Because with them they hope to make their part good against the
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justice and power of God they trust to them as their defence, and
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therefore on them, in the first place, God's fury will come. Armies
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before God's fury are but as dry stubble before a consuming fire,
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though ever so numerous and courageous.</P>
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<P>
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2. Whom he makes war for, and what are the grounds and reasons of the
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war
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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<I>It is the day of the Lord's vengeance,</I> and he it is <I>to whom
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vengeance belongs,</I> and who is never <I>unrighteous in taking
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vengeance,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+3:5">Rom. iii. 5</A>.
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As there is a day of the Lord's patience, so there will be a day of his
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vengeance; for, though he bear long, he will not bear always. It is
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<I>the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.</I> Zion is the
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holy city, the city of our solemnities, a type and figure of the church
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of God in the world. Zion has a just quarrel with her neighbours for
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the wrongs they have done her, for all their treacherous and barbarous
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usage of her, profaning her holy things, laying waste her palaces, and
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slaying her sons. She has left it to God to plead her cause, and he
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will do so when the time, even the set time, to favour Zion shall have
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come; then he will recompense to her persecutors and oppressors all the
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mischiefs they have done her. The controversy will be decided, that
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Zion has been wronged, and therein Zion's God has been himself abused.
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Judgment will be given upon this decision, and execution done. Note,
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There is a time prefixed in the divine counsels for the deliverance of
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the church and the destruction of her enemies, a year of the redeemed,
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which will come, <I>a year of recompences for the controversy of
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Zion;</I> and we must patiently wait till then, and <I>judge nothing
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before the time.</I></P>
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<P>
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III. Here are the operations of the war, and the methods of it,
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settled, with an infallible assurance of success.
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1. The sword of the Lord is <I>bathed in heaven;</I> this is all the
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preparation here made for the war,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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It may probably allude to some custom they had then of bathing their
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swords in some liquor or other, to harden them or brighten them; it is
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the same with the furbishing of it, that it may glitter,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+21:9-11">Ezek. xxi. 9-11</A>.
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God's sword is bathed in heaven, in his counsel and decree, in his
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justice and power, and then there is not standing before it.
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2. <I>It shall come down.</I> What he has determined shall without fail
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be put in execution. It shall come down from heaven, and the higher the
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place is, whence it comes, the heavier will it fall. It will come down
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<I>upon Idumea, the people of God's curse,</I> the people that lie
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under his curse and are by it doomed to destruction. Miserable, for
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ever miserable, are those that have by their sins made themselves the
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people of God's curse; for the sword of the Lord will infallibly attend
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the curse of the Lord and execute the sentences of it; and those whom
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he curses are cursed indeed. It shall come down <I>to judgment,</I> to
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execute judgment upon sinners. Note, God's sword of war is always a
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sword of justice. It is observed of him out of whose mouth goeth the
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sharp sword that <I>in righteousness he doth judge and make war,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+19:11,15">Rev. xix. 11, 15</A>.
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3. The nations and their armies shall be given up to the sword
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>God has delivered them to the slaughter,</I> and then they cannot
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deliver themselves, nor can all the friends they have deliver them from
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it. Those only are slain whom God delivers to the slaughter, for the
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keys of death are in his hand; and, in delivering them to the
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slaughter, he has <I>utterly destroyed</I> them; their destruction is
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as sure, when God has doomed them to it, as if they were destroyed
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already, utterly destroyed. God has, in effect, delivered all the cruel
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enemies of his church to the slaughter by that word
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+13:10">Rev. xiii. 10</A>),
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<I>He that kills with the sword must be killed by the sword,</I> for
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the Lord is righteous.
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4. Pursuant to the sentence, a terrible slaughter shall be made among
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them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>The sword of the Lord,</I> when it comes down with commission, does
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vast execution; it <I>is filled,</I> satiated, surfeited, <I>with
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blood,</I> the blood of the slain, and <I>made fat with their
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fatness.</I> When the day of God's abused mercy and patience is over
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the sword of his justice gives no quarter, spares none. Men have by sin
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lost the honour of the human nature and made themselves like the beasts
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that perish; they are therefore justly denied the compassion and
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respect that are owing to the human nature and killed as beasts, and no
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more is made of slaying an army of men than of butchering a flock of
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lambs or goats and feeding on the fat of the kidneys of rams. Nay, the
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sword of the Lord shall not only dispatch the lambs and goats, the
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infantry of their armies, the poor common soldiers, but
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>)
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<I>the unicorns</I> too <I>shall</I> be made to <I>come down with them,
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and the bullocks with the bulls,</I> though they are ever so proud, and
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strong, and fierce (<I>the great men, and the mighty men, and the chief
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captains</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+6:15">Rev. vi. 15</A>),
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the sword of the Lord will make as easy a prey of as of the lambs and
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the goats. The greatest of men are nothing before the wrath of the
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great God. See what bloody work will be made: <I>The land shall be
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soaked with blood,</I> as with the rain that comes often upon it and in
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great abundance; <I>and their dust,</I> their dry and barren land,
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shall be <I>made fat with the fatness</I> of men slain in their full
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strength, as with manure. Nay even <I>the mountains,</I> which are hard
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and rocky, <I>shall be melted with their blood,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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These expressions are hyperbolical (as St. John's vision of <I>blood to
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the horse-bridles,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+14:20">Rev. xiv. 20</A>),
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and are made use of because they sound very dreadful to sense (it makes
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us even shiver to think of such abundance of human gore), and are
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therefore proper to express the terror of God's wrath, which is
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dreadful beyond conception and expression. See what work sin and wrath
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make even in this world, and think how much more terrible the wrath to
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come is, which will bring down the unicorns themselves to the bars of
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the pit.
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5. This great slaughter will be a great sacrifice to the justice of God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>The Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah;</I> there it is that the great
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Redeemer has his <I>garments dyed with blood,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:1"><I>ch.</I> lxiii. 1</A>.
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Sacrifices were intended for the honour of God, to make it appear that
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he hates sin and demands satisfaction for it, and that nothing but
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blood will make atonement; and for these ends the slaughter is made,
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that in it <I>the wrath of God may be revealed from heaven against all
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the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,</I> especially their
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ungodly unrighteous enmity to his people, which was the sin that the
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Edomites were notoriously guilty of. In great sacrifices abundance of
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beasts were killed, hecatombs offered, and their blood poured out
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before the altar; and so will it be in this day of the Lord's
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vengeance. And thus would the whole earth have been soaked with the
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blood of sinners if Jesus Christ, the great propitiation, had not shed
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his blood for us; but those who reject him, and will not make a
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covenant with God by that sacrifice, will themselves fall as victims to
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divine wrath. Damned sinners are everlasting sacrifices,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+9:48,49">Mark ix. 48, 49</A>.
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Those that sacrifice not (which is the character of the ungodly,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+9:2">Eccl. ix. 2</A>)
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must be sacrificed.
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6. These slain shall be detestable to mankind, and shall be as much
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their loathing as ever they were their terror
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>They shall be cast out,</I> and none shall pay them the respect of a
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decent burial; but <I>their stink shall come up out of their
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carcases,</I> that all people by the odious smell, as well as by the
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ghastly sight, may be made to conceive an indignation against sin and a
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dread of the wrath of God. They lie unburied, that they may remain
|
|
monuments of divine justice.
|
|
|
|
7. The effect and consequence of this slaughter shall be universal
|
|
confusion and desolation, as if the whole frame of nature were
|
|
dissolved and melted down
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>All the host of heaven shall pine and waste away</I> (so the word
|
|
is); the sun shall be darkened, and the moon look black, or be turned
|
|
into blood; <I>the heavens</I> themselves <I>shall be rolled together
|
|
as a scroll</I> or parchment when we have done with it, and lay it by,
|
|
or as when it is shrivelled up by the heat of the fire. The stars shall
|
|
fall as the leaves in autumn; all the beauty, joy, and comfort, of the
|
|
vanquished nation shall be lost and done away, magistracy and
|
|
government shall be abolished, and all dominion and rule, but that of
|
|
the sword of war, shall fall. Conquerors, in those times, affected to
|
|
lay waste the countries they conquered; and such a complete desolation
|
|
is here described by such figurative expressions as will yet have a
|
|
literal and full accomplishment in the dissolution of all things at the
|
|
end of time, of which last day of judgment the judgments which God does
|
|
now sometimes remarkably execute on sinful nations are figures,
|
|
earnests, and forerunners; and by these we should be awakened to think
|
|
of that, for which reason these expressions are used here and
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+6:12,13">Rev. vi. 12, 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
But they are used without a metaphor,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+3:10">2 Pet. iii. 10</A>,
|
|
|
|
where we are told that <I>the heavens shall pass away with a great
|
|
noise and the earth shall be burnt up.</I></P>
|
|
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|
<A NAME="Isa34_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa34_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa34_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa34_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa34_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa34_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Threatenings against God's Enemies.</I></FONT></TD>
|
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 720.</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>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the
|
|
dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become
|
|
burning pitch.
|
|
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof
|
|
shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie
|
|
waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
|
|
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl
|
|
also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out
|
|
upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.
|
|
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none
|
|
<I>shall be</I> there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
|
|
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and
|
|
brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be a habitation
|
|
of dragons, <I>and</I> a court for owls.
|
|
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild
|
|
beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the
|
|
screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place
|
|
of rest.
|
|
15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch,
|
|
and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be
|
|
gathered, every one with her mate.
|
|
16 Seek ye out of the book of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and read: no one of
|
|
these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath
|
|
commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.
|
|
17 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided
|
|
it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from
|
|
generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This prophecy looks very black, but surely it looks so further than
|
|
upon Edom and Bozrah.
|
|
|
|
1. It describes the melancholy changes that are often made by the
|
|
divine Providence, in countries, cities, palaces, and families. Places
|
|
that have flourished and been much frequented strangely go to decay. We
|
|
know not where to find the places where many great towns, celebrated in
|
|
history, once stood. Fruitful countries, in process of time, are turned
|
|
into barrenness, and pompous populous cities into ruinous heaps. Old
|
|
decayed castles look frightful, and their ruins are almost as much
|
|
dreaded as ever their garrisons were.
|
|
|
|
2. It describes the destroying judgments which are the effects of
|
|
God's wrath and the just punishment of those that are enemies to his
|
|
people, which God will inflict when <I>the year of the redeemed has
|
|
come,</I> and <I>the year of recompences for the controversy of
|
|
Zion.</I> Those that aim to ruin the church can never do that, but will
|
|
infallibly ruin themselves.
|
|
|
|
3. It describes the final desolation of this wicked world, which is
|
|
<I>reserved unto fire at the day of judgment,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+3:7">2 Pet. iii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
The earth itself, when it, and all the works that are therein, shall be
|
|
burnt up, will (for aught I know) be turned into a hell to all those
|
|
that set their affections on earthly things. However, this prophecy
|
|
shows us what will be the lot of the <I>generation of God's
|
|
curse.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The country shall become like the lake of Sodom,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:9,10"><I>v.</I> 9, 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The streams thereof,</I> that both watered the land and pleased and
|
|
refreshed the inhabitants, <I>shall</I> now <I>be turned into
|
|
pitch,</I> shall be congealed, shall look black, and shall move slowly,
|
|
or not at all. <I>Their floods to lazy streams of pitch shall turn;</I>
|
|
so Sir <I>R. Blackmore. The dust thereof shall be turned into
|
|
brimstone;</I> so combustible has sin made their land that it shall
|
|
take fire at the first spark of God's wrath struck upon it; and, when
|
|
it has taken fire, it shall become burning pitch; the fire shall be
|
|
universal, not a house, or town, on fire, but a whole country; and it
|
|
shall not be in the power of any to suppress or extinguish it. It shall
|
|
burn continually, burn perpetually, and <I>shall not be quenched night
|
|
nor day.</I> The torment of those in hell, or that have a hell within
|
|
them in their own consciences, is without interruption; the <I>smoke of
|
|
this fire goes up for ever.</I> As long as there are provoking sinners
|
|
on earth, <I>from one generation to another,</I> an increase of sinful
|
|
men, to <I>augment the fierce anger of the Lord</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+32:14">Num. xxxii. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
there will be a righteous God in heaven to punish them for it. And as
|
|
long as a people keep up a succession of sinners God will have a
|
|
succession of plagues for them; nor will any that fall under the wrath
|
|
of God be ever able to recover themselves. It will be found, how light
|
|
soever men make of it, that it is a <I>fearful thing to fall into the
|
|
hands of the living God.</I> If the land be doomed to destruction, none
|
|
shall pass through it, but travellers will choose rather to go a great
|
|
way about than come within the smell of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The cities shall become like old decayed houses, which, being
|
|
deserted by the owners, look very frightful, being commonly possessed
|
|
by beasts of prey or birds of ill omen. See how dismally the palaces of
|
|
the enemy look; the description is peculiarly elegant and fine.
|
|
|
|
1. God shall mark them for ruin and destruction. <I>He shall stretch
|
|
out upon Bozrah the line of confusion with the stones</I> or plummets
|
|
<I>of emptiness,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
This intimates the equity of the sentence passed upon it; it is given
|
|
according to the rules of justice and the exact agreeableness of the
|
|
execution with the sentence; the destruction is not wrought at random,
|
|
but by line and level. The confusion and emptiness that shall
|
|
overspread the face of the whole country shall be like that of the
|
|
whole earth when it was <I>Tohu and Bohu</I> (the very words here
|
|
used)--<I>without form and void.</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:2">Gen. i. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
Sin will soon turn a paradise into a chaos, and sully the beauty of the
|
|
whole creation. When there is confusion there will soon be emptiness;
|
|
but both are appointed by the governor of the world, and in exact
|
|
proportions.
|
|
|
|
2. Their great men shall be all cut off, and none of them shall dare to
|
|
appear
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall call the nobles of the kingdom</I> to take care of the
|
|
arduous affairs which lie before them, but none shall be there to take
|
|
this ruin under their hand, and all her princes, having the sad tidings
|
|
brought them, shall be nothing, shall be at their wits' end, and not be
|
|
able to stand them in stead, to shelter them from destruction.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Even the houses of state, and those of strength, shall become as
|
|
wildernesses
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
not only grass shall grow, but <I>thorns shall come up, in her palaces,
|
|
nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof,</I> and there shall be
|
|
none to cut them up or tread them down. We sometimes see ruined
|
|
buildings thus overgrown with rubbish. It intimates that the place
|
|
shall not only be uninhabited and unfrequented where a full court used
|
|
to be kept, but that it shall be under the curse of God; for thorns and
|
|
thistles were the production of the curse,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:18">Gen. iii. 18</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. They shall become the residence and rendezvous of fearful frightful
|
|
beasts and birds, which usually frequent such melancholy places,
|
|
because there they may be undisturbed, and, when they are frightened
|
|
thither, they help to frighten men thence. This circumstance of the
|
|
desolation, being apt to strike a horror upon the mind, is much
|
|
enlarged upon here,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The cormorant shall possess it,</I> or the pelican, which affects to
|
|
be solitary
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:6">Ps. cii. 6</A>);
|
|
|
|
and <I>the bittern,</I> which makes a hideous noise, <I>the owl,</I> a
|
|
melancholy bird, <I>the raven,</I> a bird of prey, invited by the dead
|
|
carcases, shall dwell there (<I>with all the ill-boding monsters of the
|
|
air,</I> Sir <I>R. B.</I>), all the unclean birds, which were not for
|
|
the service of man,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>It shall be a habitation for dragons,</I> which are poisonous and
|
|
hurtful.</P>
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<TABLE BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD> And in their lofty rooms of state,
|
|
<BR> Where cringing sycophants did wait,
|
|
<BR>Dragons shall hiss and hungry wolves shall howl;
|
|
<BR> In courts before by mighty lords possess'd
|
|
<BR> The serpent shall erect his speckled crest,
|
|
<BR> Or fold his circling spires to rest.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD ALIGN=RIGHT>S<FONT SIZE=-1>IR</FONT> R. B<FONT SIZE=-1>LACKMORE</FONT>.
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
That which was a court for princes shall now be a court for owls or
|
|
ostriches,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The wild beasts of the desert,</I> the dry and sandy country, shall
|
|
meet, as it were by appointment, with the wild beasts of the island,
|
|
the wet marshy country, and shall regale themselves with such a perfect
|
|
desolation as they shall find there.</P>
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<TABLE BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD>Leopards, and all the rav'ning brotherhoods
|
|
<BR>That range the plains, or lurk in woods,
|
|
<BR>Each other shall invite to come,
|
|
<BR>And make this wilder place their home.
|
|
<BR>Fierce beasts of every frightful shape and size
|
|
<BR>Shall settle here their bloody colonies.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD ALIGN=RIGHT>S<FONT SIZE=-1>IR</FONT> R. B<FONT SIZE=-1>LACKMORE</FONT>.
|
|
</TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>The satyr shall cry to his fellow</I> to go with him to this desert
|
|
place, or, being there, they shall please themselves that they have
|
|
found such an agreeable habitation. There shall <I>the screech-owl
|
|
rest,</I> a night-bird and an ominous one. <I>The great owl shall
|
|
there make her nest</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>and lay and hatch;</I> the breed of them shall be kept up to provide
|
|
heirs for this desolate place. <I>The vultures</I> which feast on
|
|
carcases, <I>shall be gathered there, every one with his mate.</I> Now
|
|
observe,
|
|
|
|
1. How the places which men have deserted, and keep at a distance from,
|
|
are proper receptacles for other animals, which the providence of God
|
|
takes care of, and will not neglect.
|
|
|
|
2. Whom those resemble that are morose, unsociable, and unconversable,
|
|
and affect a melancholy retirement; they are like these solitary
|
|
creatures that take delight in desolations.
|
|
|
|
3. What a dismal change sin makes; it turns a fruitful land into
|
|
barrenness, a frequented city into a wilderness.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. Here is an assurance given of the full accomplishment of this
|
|
prediction, even to the most minute circumstance of it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+34:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Seek you out of the book of the Lord and read.</I> When this
|
|
destruction comes compare the event with the prediction, and you will
|
|
find it to answer exactly." Note, The book of the prophets is the book
|
|
of the Lord, and we ought to consult it and converse with it as of
|
|
divine origin and authority. We must not only read it, but see out of
|
|
it, search into it, turn first to one text and then to another and
|
|
compare them together. Abundance of useful knowledge might thus be
|
|
extracted, by a diligent search, out of the scriptures, which cannot be
|
|
got by a superficial reading of them. When you have read the prediction
|
|
out of the book of the Lord then observe,
|
|
|
|
1. That according to what you have read so you see; <I>not one of these
|
|
shall fail,</I> either beast or fowl: and, it being foretold that they
|
|
shall possess it <I>from generation to generation,</I> in order to
|
|
that, that the species may be propagated, <I>none shall want her
|
|
mate;</I> these marks of desolation shall be fruitful, and multiply,
|
|
and replenish the land.
|
|
|
|
2. That God's mouth having commanded this direful muster <I>his Spirit
|
|
shall gather them,</I> as the creatures by instinct were gathered to
|
|
Adam to be named and to Noah to be housed. What God's word has
|
|
appointed his Spirit will effect and bring about, for no word of God
|
|
shall fall to the ground. The word of God's promise shall in like
|
|
manner be accomplished by the operations of the Spirit.
|
|
|
|
3. That there is an exact order and proportion observed in the
|
|
accomplishment of this threatening: <I>He has cast the lot</I> for
|
|
these birds and beasts, so that each one shall know his place as
|
|
readily as if it were marked by line. See the like,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joe+2:7,8">Joel ii. 7, 8</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall not break their ranks, neither shall one thrust
|
|
another.</I> The soothsayers among the heathen foretold events by the
|
|
flight of birds, as if the fate of men depended on them. But here we
|
|
find that the flight of birds is under the direction of the God of
|
|
Israel: <I>he has cast the lot for them.</I>
|
|
|
|
4. That the desolation shall be perpetual: <I>They shall possess it
|
|
for ever.</I> God's Jerusalem may be laid in ruins; but Jerusalem of
|
|
old recovered itself out of its ruins, till it gave place to the gospel
|
|
Jerusalem, which may be brought low, but shall be rebuilt, and shall
|
|
continue till it give place to the heavenly Jerusalem. But the enemies
|
|
of the church shall be for ever desolate, shall be punished with an
|
|
everlasting destruction.</P>
|
|
|
|
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