Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_400.lzh/4_468.TXT

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are of the Lord.'s own make. The Lord hath made even
both of them; they are the effects of his wisdom,
power, and goodness; see Exod. iv. 11. Psal. xciv. 7, 8.
they are both senses of excellent use and service; great
mercies and blessings of life, for which men should be
abundantly thankful, and pray for the continuance of,
and make use. of to the best purposes; they are means
of conveying much knowledge to the mind, and by
which it may be cultivated and improved in it. The
words may be considered in a figurative as well as a
literal sense. Some by the seeing eye understand the
civil magistrate, who is that to the body politic as
the eyes are to the natural body, eminent in it, over-
look it, watch and provide for its good, and against
its hurt; see Numb. x. 31. Job xxix. 14--16. and by
the hearing ear the obedient subject, that hearkens to
the laws and directions of his governors, and cheer-
fully obeys them, and both these are of the Lord's
making; civil magistracy. is his ordinance, and civil
magistrates are ordained by him; and from him they
have their .qualifications fitting them for their office;
and it is owing to the overruling providence of God on
the hearts of men that they are inclined to yield sub-
jection to them. Others think that by the seeing eye
are meant the ministers of the word, who are set in
the highest place in the church; whose business it is
to inspect, take the oversight of, and watch the souls
of men; to pry and search into the truths of the Gos-
pel, and show them to others: and by the hearing
ear the hearers of the word, that receive it readily in
the love of it, and heartily obey it. I am rather of
opinion that one and the same sort of persons are in-
tended; converted ones, who have the hearing ear,
who try what they hear by the word of God; un-
derstand what they hear, know it experimentally;
can distinguish truth from error, approve and love
the Gospel, receive it with all gladness and readiness,
with eagerness and pleasure; keep it when they have
it, and practise what they hear, and bring forth fruit
to the glory of God: this they have not of them-
selves, being naturally averse to and dull of hearing,
and even stop their ears to the truth; but it comes by
the word, and is the Lord's work, and owing to
his mighty power, who opens their ears, gives them
new ears, which they have in regeneration; when they
 hear spiritually, profitably, pleasantly, comfortably,
and to their great astonishment: these also have the
seeing eSte, a sight of themselves, their sinful and lost
estate; of the plague of their own hearts, their want
of righteousness, and impotence to do any thing that
is good; a sight of Christ, of the loveliness of his per-
son, of the fulness of his grace, of their need of him,
and of his suitablehess as a Saviour and Redeemer;
and this is not of themselves, who are dark and darkness
itself, but they are made light in the Lord; he opens
their eyes by his spirit and by means of his word,
which is a work of almighty power.
Ver. 13.. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty,
&c.] Sleep is a very great natural blessing; it is a
.gift of God, what nature requires, and is desirable;
it is to be loved, though not immoderately; it is sweet
to a man, and what he should be thankful for; yet
should not indulge himself in to the neglect of the
proper business of life; nor. to be used but at 'the pro-
per time for it; for the eye is made for sight, and not
for sleep only, as Aben Ezra observes, connecting the
words with the preceding; and therefore should not
be kept shut and inattentive to business, which must
necessarily end in' poverty and want; see ch. vi. 9--11..
and so spiritual sleep and slothfulness bring on a spi.
ritual poverty in the souls of men, both as to the ex-
ercise of grace and the performance of duty. Open
thine eyes, and thou shall be satisficd with bread; that
is, open thine eyes from sleep, awake and keep so,
and be sedulous and industrious in the business of thy
calling; so shalt thou have a sufficiency of food for
thyself and family; see ch. xii. 11. It may be applied
tO awaking out of sleep in a spiritual sense, and to a
diligent attendance to duty and the use of means,
whereby the souls of men come to be satisfied with the
goodness of the Lord, and the fatness of his house;
see Ephes. v. 14. Psal. lxv. 4.
Vet. 14. It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer,
&c.] When he comes to the shop of the seller, or to
market to buy goods, he undervalues them, says they
are not so good as they should be, nor so cheap as he
can buy them at. But when he is gone his way, then he
boasloth; after he has brought the seller to as low a
price as he can, and has bought the goods, and gone
away with them, and got home among his friends;
then he boasts what a bargain he has bought, how
good the commodity is, how he has been too many
for the seller, and has outwitted him; and so glories
in his frauds and tricks, and rejoices in his boasting,
and all such rejoicing is evil, Jam. iv. 16. Jarchi ap-
plies this to a man that is a hard student in the law,
and through much difficulty gets the knowledge of
it, when he is ready to pronounce himself unhappy;
but when he is got full-fraught with wisdom, then he
rejoices at it, and glories iu it.
Vet. 13. There is gold, and a multitude of rubies,
&c.'] A man may have a large quantity of either, or
of both of thorn, as some men have; for there is much
of them in the world, not only in mines and quarries,
but in the houses and cabinets of men. But the lips
of knowledge are a precious jewel; knowledge even of
things natural, and a gift of elocution to express it by,
are a rare jewel, and much more precious than gold
and rubies, than a multitude of them; these are not
to be mentioned with it, it is not equalled by them,
it is greatly superior to them; see Job xxviii. 12--19.
and much more spiritual knowledge, and a capacity
of expressing that to the edification of others; and
especially Christ, the Wisdom of God, and the know-
ledge of him, who is more precious than rubies, and
all desirable things, in comparison of which all things
are loss and dung, ch. iii. 14, 15. Phil. iii. 8.
Ver. 16. Take his garment that is surety for a stranger,.
&c.] Whi'ch a man is cautioned against, ch. vi. 1. but
if a man will be so weak and foolish, others ought to
take care of him, and be cautious how they trust him;
for he is in danger of being ruined  by his suretyship,
and therefore nothing should be. lent him without a
pledge, without a proper security; for though it was
not lawful to take the garment of a poor man for a
pledge, at least it was not to be kept after sunset,
Exod. xxii. 26. yet it was right to take such a man's.
garment who had or would be thought to have such