Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_600_e.lzh/3_625.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-30 | 8KB | 159 lines

\*Ver. 28. \\For the kingdom [is] the Lord's\\, &c.] Not
the kingdom of nature and providence, though that
is the Lord Christ's; but the kingdom of grace, the
mediatorial kingdom: this was Christ's by the desig,
nation and constitution of his father from eternity;
the government of the church was always upon his
shoulders during the Old Testament dispensation;
when he came into this world, he came as a King;
though his kingdom being not of this world, it came
not with observation; but upon his ascension to
heaven, whither he went to receive a kingdom and return,
he was made or declared Lord and Christ, and
was exalted as a Prince, as well as a Saviour; and in
consequence of his being set down at the right hand of
God, he sent forth the rod of his strength, his Gospel,
into the Gentile world, which was succeeded to the
conversion of multitudes of them, among whom he
has had a visible kingdom and interest ever since; and
which will more abundantly appear in the latter day,
when he shall be King over all the earth; and now
this is a reason why so many, in the distant parts of
the world, and among all the kindreds of the nations,
shall remember, turn to him, and worship him;
\*\\and he [is] the Governor among the nations\\; he rules in the
hearts of some by his spirit and grace, and over others
with a rod of iron.

\*Ver. 29. \\All [they that be] fat upon earth\\, &c.] Rich
men, who abound in worldly substance, are in very
flourishing and prosperous circumstances, of whom for
the most part this is literally true; yea, by these sometimes
are meant princes, rulers, the chief among the
people in power and authority, as well as in riches;
see \\#Ps 78:31 Isa 10:16\\; the phrase may design
such who are in prosperous circumstances in their
souls, in spiritual things, in faith, comfort, and spiritual
joy, \\#Ps 92:14\\; hut the former sense is best: Jarchi
inverts the words, %they shall eat%, that is, the meek shall
eat, %all the fat of the earth, and worship%; which may
be understood of the spiritual blessings of grace,
which converted persons shall feed and live upon,
\\#Ps 63:5\\; the allusion may be to the fat parts of
the earth, and what grows thereon, made so by ashes,
which the word used has the signification of; for some
lands are fattened by ashes being strewed upon
them {p}; but rather the rich and great men of the
earth are intended, who yet are but dust and ashes.
They
\*\\shall eat, and worship\\; for as, in the first times
of the Gospel, not many mighty and noble were called,
yet some were; so more especially, in the latter day,
many of this sort will be called, even kings and
queens; who will not live upon their titles of honour,
their grandeur and glory, but upon Christ and his
Gospel, and will fall down before him, and serve and
worship him; see \\#Ps 72:10,11 Isa 49:7,23 9:3,16\\;
\*\\all they that go down to the dust shall
bow before him\\; such as are in mean circumstances of
life; so that both rich and poor shall serve him; or
who are mean in their own eyes, sit in the dust of
self-abhorrence, and put their mouths in the dust, are
in a low condition, out of which the Lord raises them,
\\#Ps 113:7,8\\. The Targum paraphrases it, %who go
down to the house of the grave%; that is, the dead; and
then the sense is, that Christ is the Lord, both of the
dead and living, and that those that are under the
earth, and are reduced to dust, as well as they that
hive and are fat upon it, shall bow the knee to Christ,
when raised again, who is the JUdge of quick and
dead; see \\#Ro 14:9 Php 2:10,11\\;
\*\\and none can
keep alive his own soul\\; as no man can quicken himself
when dead in trespasses and sins; so when he is made
alive, he cannot preserve his life, nor nourish himself,
nor make himself lively and comfortable, nor cause his
heart to live, as in \\#Ps 22:26\\; but by eating the flesh, and
drinking the blood of Christ, feeding and living upon
him by faith: though some take the sense to be, that
such as are before described as converted persons,
will not seek to save their lives, but will freely lay
them down and part with them for Christ's sake; but
rather the meaning is, that so universal will the kingdom
of Christ be, as that high and low, rich and poor,
will be bowing to him; whoever are his enemies, and
will not have him to rule over them, will be brought
before him and slain, and none of them will be able to
save themselves; so the Targum, %he will not quicken%,
or %keep alive, the soul of the wicked%; or as Jarchi interprets it,
\*"he will have no mercy on them, to keep
"their souls alive from hell."\*

\*Ver. 30. \\A seed shall serve him\\, &c.] That is,
Christ shall always have a seed to serve him in every
age; a remnant according to the election of grace;
see \\#Ro 9:29\\; so that as the former verses speak of
the amplitude of Christ's kingdom, through the calling
of the Gentiles, these words and the following express
the duration of it: and this %seed% either means Christ's
seed; so the Septuagint version, and others that follow
it, render it, %my seed%; the spiritual seed and offspring
of Christ, which the father has given him, and
which shall endure for ever, \\#Isa 53:10 Ps 89:29,36\\;
or else the church's seed, which comes to the
same thing; not the natural seed of believers, but a
succession of godly men in the church, who are born
in her, and nursed up at her side; see \\#Isa 59:21\\;
such shall, and do, in every age serve Christ, willingly
and cheerfully, in righteousness and true holinesS,
without slavish fear, and yet with reverence and godly
fear. The Chaldee paraphrase is, %the seed of Abraham
shall serve before him%; but this seed designs not the
Jews only, but the Gentiles also, and chiefly;
\*\\it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation\\; of his
people,
his children whom he accounts of, reckons, and esteems
as such; or the seed shall be reckoned to the Lord, aS
belonging to him, %unto generation%; that is, in every
generation {q}, throughout all ages, to the end of time;
so the Targum, %to an after generation%; or %a generation to come%.

\*Ver. 31. \\They shall come\\, &c.] One generation
after another; there shall always be a succession of
regenerate persons, who shall come to Christ, and to
his churches; and a succession of Gospel ministers
among them, who shall come forth, being sent and
qualified by Christ;
\*\\and shall declare his righteousness\\,
either the faithfulness of God, in fulfilling his
promises; especially those which respect the mission
of Christ, and salvation by him, as Zacharias did, \\#Lu
1:68-73\\; or rather the righteousness of Christ, which
is revealed in the Gospel, and makes a most considerable
part of the declaration of it, and is published by
Gospel ministers in all ages, as the only justifying
righteousness before God: and that
\*\\unto a people that
shall be born\\; in successive generations; that shall be
brought upon the stage of time and life; or that shall
be born again; for to such only, in a spiritual and
saving way, is the righteousness of Christ declared, revealed,
and applied, by the blessed Spirit, through
the ministry of the word: it is added,
\*\\that he hath done [this]\\;
wrought this righteousness; so Jarchi; that is,
is the author of it; is become the end of the law for it;
has finished it, and brought it in; or else all the great
things spoken of in this psalm, relating to the Messiah,
his sufferings, death, and resurrection, and the calling
of the Gentiles; all which are the Lord's doings, and
are what is declared in the Gospel: the Targum is,
%the miracles which he hath done%; the Septuagint version,
and those that follow it, connect this clause with
the preceding thus, %to a people that shall be born, whom
the Lord hath made%; made them his people, created
them in Christ, and formed them for himself.

{p} %Effoetos cinerem immundum jactare per agros%, Virgil. Georgic. l.
1. v. 79.
{q} \^rwdl\^ %in quacunque generatione%, Noldius, p. 236. No. 1076.