Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_400.lzh/4_400.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-15 | 7KB | 128 lines

digs up the earth, makes a circle and buries itself in
it; so the wicked dig a pit for others and fall into it
themselves, Psal. vii. 14, 16. and ix. 15, 16. and as a
whirlwind passes away to the joy of men, so when the
the wicked perish there is shouting; as will be at the
destruction of antichrist more especially, Prov. xi. 10.
Rev. xix. 1. and it is in the whirlwind and storm of
divine wrath, which falls upon the head of the wicked,
by which they are caused to pass away, Jet. xxiii. 19.
Job xxvii. 20--23. so that they are not: not that they
are annihilated at death, they will rise again and come
to judgment, and live in torment for ever; when they
pass away, they are somewhere; they are not indeed in
tim land of the living, in their own houses, as formerly,
which will know them no more; they are not in their
grandeur and prosperity, enjoying their riches and
honour; but they are in their own place, in hell they
lift np their eyes, though they wish they had no being.
But the righteous is an everlasting foundation ; he is in a
firm and stable state here and herear'let; interested in ever-
l. asting love; in which he isrootedand grounded; secured
m an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things .and
sure; having a share in everlasting salvation, and eternal
redemption wrought out by Christ; being justified by
his everlasting righteousness, which will answer for him
in a time to come; and a partaker of those graces of the
spirit, faith, hope, and love, which are a well of living
water springing up to everlasting life; and having ever-
lasting strength and everlasting consolation in Christ,
and a title to eternal life through him. Or, but the
righteous has an everlasting foundation t; the sense is
the same; which foundation is not external privileges
of birth and education, or a mere outward profession
of religion, or works of righteousness done; these are
not everlasting, but sandy foundations; but Christ
is the righteous man's foundation, and he is the
only one, 1 Cor. iii. 11. Some take the sense to
be, the righteous, that is, Jesus Christ the righteous,
is an everlasting foundation; he is the foundation of
the church, the rock on which it is built; he is the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, on which they
were laid, andby wliom they are saved; he is the foun-
dation of every particular believer, they are rooted and
built up on him; he is the foundation of their fifith,
hope, love, peace, joy, and comfort, and of their eternal
glory and happiness: and an everlasting one he is; he
is so in his person as God-man; iu his offices of Prophet,
Priest, and King; in the efficacy of his blood, righte-
ousness, and sacrifice; and is a foundation which is
sure, and will never fail: he has been the foundation of
his people in all ages; and he is the same to-day,
yesterday, and for ever. Hence, though the wicked
pass away as the whirlwind, and by one, the righteous
shall not; they are on a foundation, and cannot be
blown off of it by the storms and tempests of Satan's
temptations, their own corruptions, the persecutions of
men, the errors of the wicked, or by the whirlwind
of divine wrath and vengeance. Some render it, the
righteous is the foundation of the world {u}; the pillar and
support of it; as the righteous are the salt of the earth,
they are the stay of it: the whirlwind of God's wrath
would tear up the course of nature, dissolve the earth,
and all things in it, were it not for the sake of the righte-
ous; and, when they are called and gathered in, there will
be a general dissolution of all things, c2. Pet. iii. 9, 10.
Ver. 26. As vinegar to the teeth, &c.] Which, with
its coldness and sourhess, blunts the teeth, and makes
it troublesome to eat: the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic
versions, render it," as the sour grape is hnrtful to the
"teeth ;" sets them on edge. And as smoke to the eye;
dims the sight, causes the eye to water, and is very
pernicious and vexatious: so is the sluggard to them
that send him: that is, the slothful messenger, as the
Targum explains it; who, being sent on an errand, is
dilatory, does not mal{e haste to bring back the answer;
which is very vexatious to those that send him, raises
their passions, makes them fretful and very angry, be it
on what account it will: so slothful and unprofitable
servants, to whom talents are given for usefidness,
which they hide or use not, are very provoking to
Christ, and whom he will oi'der into outer darkness;
those who have gifts for sacred service ought not to
be slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord, 1Matt. xxv. _06, _o9. Rom. xii. 6--11.
Ver. 0-7. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, &c.]
Not beyond the time fixed in the unalterable purposes
anti decrees of God, Job xiv. 5. but longer than some
others, or than those that fear the Lord expect to live;
or longer than, according to the course of nature, and
the weakness of their constitutions, it could be thought
they should live. Long life is promised to them that
fear the Lord; godliness has the promise of this life
and of that to come; the fear of the Lord is the means
of pre. serving persons fi'om those things which are
pernicious to the health of men, and so of prolong,
ing their days; as well as it has length of days, tbr
ever and ever, even eternal life, annexed to it; see
Psal. xxxiv. 11--14. But the years of the wicked shall
be shortened; through diseases, which their sins bring
upon them, which cut them off' before they have lived
out half their davs; or by means of which, their sins,
they come into the hand of the civil tnagistrate, and die
before their time; or are taken off in their full strength
by the immediate judgment of God, as were Ananias
and Sapphira; and so they die in the midst of their
days; and before tile time, which, according to the
coure of nature, and the common period of life, in all
human probability they might have arrived unto, Psal.
lv. _o3. Eccl. vii. 17.
Ver. _o8. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness,
&c.] Or, is gladness"; it is now attentted with joy;
he has a pleasure in the exercise of the grace of hope
as to future things; he rejoices in hope of the glory of
God, and is enabled to hold fast the rejoicing of his
hope firm unto the end, Rom. v. c2. tteb. iii. 6. and the
issue of his hope will be an abundant entrance into the
,joy of his Lord; a being brought into Iris presence, in
which is fulness of joy; he is not ashamed of his hope
now, and he will not be disappointed hereafter. But
the expectation of the,wicked shall perish; his hope and

{t} \^Mlwe dwoy qyduw\^ at justi fundamentum perpetuum est, Tigurine
version; justo vero sit, vel est fundamentum perpetuum, Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator.
{u} Fundamentum mundi, Hebraei in Mercer. Maimonides apud Gro-
tium.
{w} Est, Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis.