Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_000_t.lzh/4_012.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-02 | 7KB | 130 lines

gum, " thou hast given them for destruction to the
· ' people o,f, the house of Israel, and their bodies to the
"dragons ;' and so Jarchi, "thou hast given his mam-
"mon or riches to the people of Israel, to feed their
"companies and armies ;" and Kimchi interprets it of
the spoil of the sea which the Israelites took from
them; and they may be truly called the people inha-
biting the wilderness, since they were in one forty
years; so the Romish leviathan, or antichristian whore,
will be given to the Christian kings, who will hate her,
eat her flesh, and bum her with fire; and to the Chris-
tian church, which now is in the wilderness, where it
is nourished for a time and times, and halfa time.
Vet. 15. Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood,
&c.] That is, the rocks at Horeb and at Kadesh,
from whence water flowed as out of a fountain, and
became a flood, whereby the people of Israel were sup-
plied with water in the wilderness, and also their
beasts; and from this instance it may be concluded
that God will not leave his people, nor suffer them to
want, but will supply all their need while they are in
the wilderness, and will open fountains and rivers for
them, Isa. xli. 17, 18. he himself is a fountain of
living water; Christ is the fountain of gardens, and
the Spirit and his grace a well of living water spring-
ing up unto everlasting life: thou driedst up mighty
rivers; the river of Jordan, called mighty, as Kimchi
says, because by its strength it overflowed all its banks
and rivers, and because other rivers flowed into it;
this was dried up, or way was made through it, as on
dry land, for the people of Israel to pass into Canaan,
Josh. iii. 14, 15. the Targum is, "thou hast dried up
"the fords and brooks of Hermon, and the fords of
"Jabbok and Jordan;" see Numb. xxi. t4, 24. and
the Lord, that did this, is able to dry up, and will dry
up, the river Euphrates, as is foretold, Rev. xvi. 12.
that is, destroy the Turkish empire, and make way for
the spread of the Gospel in the eastern parts of the
world; to which reference is had in ha. xi. 15, 16.
Vet. 16. The day is thine, and the night also is thine,
&c.] He made the one and the other, and divided the
one from the other; and can make them longer or
shorter, clear or cloudy, as he pleases: and the day of
prosperity and night of adversity are at his disposal;
all the times of his people and of his church are in his
hands; sometimes it is a night of darkness, deadhess,
sleepiness, and security, as it now is; ere long there
will be no more night, but bright day; the light of the
moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of
the sun will be seven-fold as the light of seven days;
and this is to be expected from him whose is the day
and the night also, Rev. xxi. 25. Isa. Ix. 1. and xxx.
Jarchi interprets the day, of the redemption of Israel;
and the night, of distresses and afflictions: thou hast
prepared thc light and the sun; tirst the light, and then
the sun; for the light was before the sun; or the lu-
minary, even the sun. Aben Ezra interprets the light
of the moon, and so the Targum; and Kimchi, both of
the moon and of the stars; Jarchi takes the light figu-
ratively to be meant of the light of the law; but it is
much better to understand it of the light of the Gospel,
which God has prepared, and will send forth more
largely in the latterday, whereby the whole earth shall
be lightened; and when Christ the sun of righ.teousness

will arise with healing in his wings, and who gives
both the light of grace and glory to his people.
Ver. 17. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth,
&c.] Of the whole world, and of the several nations,
as of the land of Canaan, so of others, Deut. xxxii. 8.
and even has fixed and settled the bounds of every
man's habitation, Acts xvii. 26. thou hast made sum-
mer and winter; see Gen. viii. 22. which, taken lite-
rally, are great benefits to the world; and, figuratively
understood, may represent the two dispensations of the
law and Gospel; see Cant. iS. 11, 12. and the different
frames of God's people when under temptations, and
clouds, and darkness, and when they enjoy peace and
comfort; and the different state of the church, when
affected with affliction, persecution, false doctrine,
deadness, and formality, which is now greatly the case;
but there is a summer coming, when it will be other-
wise; see Luke xxi. 30, 31.
Ver. 18. Remember this, that the enemy hath reproach-
ed, 0 Lord, &c.] Or hath reproached the .Lord, as the
Septuagint version and others render it, and very
rightly; though not so well the former part of the
clause, which it renders, or rather paraphrases, thus:
remember this thy creation, or creature; as if it referred
to what goes before, as day and night, light and sun,
the borders of the earth, summer and winter; whereas
it is to be connected with what follows, the reproach
of the Lord by the enemy; and it is a prayer of the
church, that God would remember the enemy and his
reproaches, which seemed to be forgotten, and inflict
deserved punishments on him, which will be don_e in
due time, Rev. xvi. 19. and xviii. 5, 6. and that the
foolish people have blasphemed thy name; the foolish
people are not such as want common sense, or are
idiots; the blasphemers of God and Christ, and the
blessed Spirit, are generally the wise and prudent of
this world, from whom the things of the Gospel are
hidden; but wicked and profane men: scoffers at
religion, and blasphemers of Christ, his truths and or-
dinances, are commonly such who walk after their
own ungodly lusts, who, though wise to do evil, are
foolish in matters of religion: perhaps the Gentiles,
which know not God, are here meant, and are so
called, Deut. xxxii. 21. and it is observable, that the
Papists bear the name of Gentiles in. Rev. xi. 2, 18.
and may be the foolish people here chiefly designed,
who worship images of gold, silver, brass, and wood,
and are notorious for their blasphemies; see the note
on ver. 10.
Ver. 19. 0 deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove, &c.]
By which is meant the church, see Cant. iS. 14. and
v. 2. and vi. 9. which is comparable to this creature for
its cleanness and purity, for its amiablehess and beauty,
for its harmlessness and innocence, for its modesty and
meekness, for its affection and chastity to its mate,
for its mournful and bemoaning voice for the loss of it,
for its being a timorous. and fearful creature, a weak
one, and exposed to the prey of-others; all which is
true of the church, and may be applied to it: the Tar-
gum is, "do not deliver the souls of them that teach
"thy law ;" the word having some affinity with torah,
the law; but Jarchi says, that Jonathan, in his Targum
(which is not now extant) interprets it a turtle; the
Syriac version, by the change of a letter, renders it,