Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_000_t.lzh/4_089.TXT

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ance, contrition, and conversion; and takes the sense
to .be," thou turnest till he becomes contrite, and
".sayest, be ye converted, ye sons of Adam ;" which
he thinks {c} best agrees with the mind of the Apostle
Peter, who quotes the following passage, 2 Pet. iii. 8, 9.
Some, as Arama observes, connect this with the fol-
lowing verse; though men live 1,000 years, yet they
are but as yesterday in the sight of God.
Ver. 4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as
yetesterday,. &c.] Which may be said to obviate the
difficulty m man's return, or resurrection, from the
dead, taken from the length of time in which some
have continued in the grave; which vanishes, when it
is observed, that in the sight, esteem, and account of
God, a thousand years are but as one day; and there-
fore, should a man lie in the grave six or seven thou-
sand years, it would be But as so many days with God;
wherefore, if the resurrection is not incredible, as it
is not, length of time can be no objection to it. Just
in the same manner is this phrase used by the Apostle
Peter, and who is thought to refer to this passage, to
remove an objection against the second coming of
Christ, taken from the continuance of things as they
had been from the beginning, and from the time of the
promise of it: see 2 Pet. iii. 4--8. though the words
aptly express the disproportion there is between the
eternal God and mortal man; for, was he to live a
thousand years, which no man ever did, yet this would
be as yesterday with God, with whom eternity itself
is but a day, Isa. xliii. 13. man is but of yesterday,
that has lived the longest; and were he to live a thou-
sand years, and that twice told, it would be but as yes-
terday when it is past; though it may seem a long time
to come, yet when it is gone it is as nothing, and can
never be fetched back again: and as a watch in the
night; which was divided sometimes into three, and
sometimes into four parts, and so consisted but of
three or four hours; and which, being in the night, is
spent in sleep; so that, when a man wakes, it is but
as a moment with him; so short is human life, even
the longest, in the account of God; see Matt. xiv. 25.
and the note there.
Ver. 5. Thou carriest them away as with a fiood, &c.]
As the whole world of the ungodly were with the de-
luge, to which perhaps the allusion is; the phrase is
expressive of death; so the Targum," if they are not
"converted, thou wilt bring death upon them ;" the
swiftness of time is aptly signified by the flowing
gliding stream of a flood, by the rolling billows and
waves of it; so one hour, one day, one month, one year,
roll on after another: moreover, the suddenness of
-death may be here intended, which comes in an hour
unlooked for, and unaware of, as a flood comes sud-
denly, occasioned by hasty showers of rain; as also the
irresistible force and power of it, which none can with-
stand; of which the rapidity of a flood is a lively em-
blem, and which carries all before it, and sweeps away
every thing that stands in its course; as death, by an
epidemical and infectious disease, or in a battle, carries
off thousands and ten thousands in a very little time;
nor does it spare any, as a flood does not, of any age or
sex, of any rank or condition of life; and, like a flood,
makes sad destruction and devastation where it comes,
and especially where it takes off great numbers; it not
only turns beauty to ashes, and strength into weakness
and corruption, but depopulates towns, and cities, and
kingdoms; and as the flowing flood and gliding stream
can ncver be fetched back again, so neither can life
when past, not one moment of time when gone; see
2 Sam. xiv. 14. besides this phrase may denote the
turbulent and tempestuous manner in which, some-
times, wicked men go out of the world, a storm being
within and without, as in Job xxvii. 20, 2l. they are as
a sleep; or dream, which soon passeth away; in a sound
sleep, time is insensibly gone; and a dream, before it
can be well known what it is, is over and lost in obli-
vion; and so short is human life, Job xx. S. there may
be, sometimes, a seeming pleasure enjoyed, as in
dreams, but no satisfaction; as a man in sleep. may
dream that he is eating and drinking, and please him-
self with it; but, when he awakes, he`s hungry and
empty, and unsatistied; and so is man with every
thing in this life, Isa. xxix. 8. and Eccl. i.8. and v. 10.
and all things in life are a mere dream, as the honours,
riches, and pleasures of it; a man rather dream s ofh onou r,
substance, and pleaSu re, than really enjoys them. Wicked
men, whilst they live, are "as those that sleep;" as
the Targum renders it; they have no spiritual senses,
cannot see, hear, smell, taste, nor feel; they are
strengthless to every thing that is spiritually good; in-
active, and do none; are subject to illusions and mis'-
takes; are in imminent danger, and unconcerned about
it; and don't care to be jogged or awaked, and sleep
on till they sleep the sleep of death, unless awaked by
powerful and efficacious grace; and men when dead
are asleep, not in their souls, but in their bodies;
death is often in Scripture signified by a sleep, under
which men continue until the resurrection, which-is
an awaking out of it: in the morning they are like
grass, which groweth up or passeth away, or chartgeth {d} ;
or is changed; some understand this of the morning
of the resurrection, when there will be a change for
the better, a renovation, as Kimchi interprets the
word; and which, from the use of it in the Arabic
language, as Schultens observes {e}, signifies to be green
and flourishing, as grass in the morning is; and so in-
tends a recovery of rigour and strength, as a man after
sleep, and as the saints will have when raised from the
dead. The Targum refers it to the world to come,
"and in the world to come, as grass is cut down, they
"shall be changed or renewed ;" but it is rather to be
understood of the flourishing of men in the morning
of youth, as the next verse shews, where it is repeated,
and where the change of grass is beautifully illustrated
and explained.
Ver. 6. In the morning it fiourisheth and groweth up,
&c.] That is, the grass, through the dew that lay all
night on it, and by the clear shining of the sun after
rain, when it appears in great beauty and verdure; so
man in the morning of his youth looks gay and beau-


{c} Ebr. Comment. p. 158.
{d} \^Plxy\^ quae mutatur, Pagninus; mutabitur, Montanus; immu-
tatur, Tigurine version; transiens, Junius & Tremellius; quae tran-
sit, Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis.
{e} Animadv. in Job, p. 34.