Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_600.lzh/4_654.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-30 | 7KB | 130 lines

Cyrus considering that men are most. easily taken
when eating and drinking, and in the bath, and in bed,
and in sleep, looked out for the most faithful men to
be his body-guard {s}. By night or nights {t} may be meant
the nights of desertion, temptation, affliction, and
persecution; when saints are in fear of their spiritual
enemies, and of being overcome and destroyed by
them: now Christ has provided a guard for his
people, to prevent or remove these fears, and defend
them from such as would make inroads upon their
faith and comfort; namely, his ministers, that by their
ministrations they may be a means of securing their
peace and comfort, and of freeing them from all terri-
bleapprehensions of things; which, as it shews the
safety and security of the saints, so the tender care
and concern of Christ for them.
'Vet. 9. King Solomon znadc himself a chariot of the
wood of Lebanon.] The word translated chariot is only
used in this place; some render it a bridechamber {u};
others a nuptial bed {w}, such as is carried from place
to place; it is used in the Misnah {x} tbr the nuptial,
bed, or open chariot, in which the bride was carried
from her father's house to her husband's. The Septu-
agint render it by \~foreion\~, a word near in{q} sound to that
in the Hebrew text, and was the lectica of the ancients,
somewhat like our sedan; some of which were adorned
with gold and precious stones, and had silver feet {y}, or
pillars, as follows: it seems upon the whole to be the
nuptial chariot in which, according to Pausanias{z},
three only were carried, the bride, who sat in the
middle, then the bridegroom, and then the friend of
the bridegroom: something of this kind is the palki
or palanquin of the Indians, in which the bride and
bridegroom are carried on the day of marriage on four
men's shoulders{a}: and by this chariot may be meant
either the human nature of Christ, in which he de-
scended and ascended to heaven; or his church, in'
which he shews himself to his people in his ordinances,
where he rides in triumph, conquering and to conquer,
by his spirit and grace, in his word; or the covenant
of grace, in which Christ shews the freeness and sove-
reignty of his love in being the Mediator, surety, and
messenger of it; and in which Iris people are bore up
and supported under and carried through many trials
and exercises in this life, and are brought triumphantly
to heaven; or rather the Gospel, and the ministration
of it, in which Christ shews himself as in a chariot, in
the glory of his person, offices, grace, and love; in this
he is carried up and down in the world, Acts ix. 15.
and by it is conveyed to the souls of men; and in it he
triumphs over his enemies, and causes his ministers to
triumph also: and he is the subject, sum, and sub-
stance of it, and the alone author of it; for he is the
Solomon here spoken of that made it; it is not a de-
vice of men's, but a revelation of his, and therefore
called the Gospel of Christ; and which he gives to men
to preach, a commission to preach it, and qualifications
for it: and this he does for himself, to set forth the
glories of his person and office, to display the riches of
his grace, and to shew himself to be the only way of
salvation to host sinners: and this chariot being said to
be of the wood of Lebanon, cedar, which is both incor-
ruptible and of a good smell; may denote the incor-
ruptuess of the Gospel, as dispensed by faithful mini-
sters, and the continuance and duration of it, notwith-
standing the efibrts of men and devils to the contrary.;
and the acceptablehess of it to the saints, to whom
is the sayour of life unto life; and it being a nuptial
chariot that secms designed, it agrees with the Gospel,
in the ministry or' which souls are brought to Christ,
and espoused as a chaste virgin to him, c2 Cor. xi.
Ver. 1 o. He made the pillars thereof of silver, &c.]
The truths and doctrines of the Gospel are the pillars
of it; which, like pillars, are solid and substantial, and
continue tirm and immovable, and are of great use to
support the children of God under the several trials and
exercises they are attended with; and, for their utility,
value, and duration, are said to be of silver, and are as
carefully to be sought for and into as that is, and even
to be preterred to it, being of more worth than thou-
sands ofg'old and silver; the ministers of the Gospel
are sometimes compared to pillars, and the church it-
self is said to be the pillar and ground of truth, Gal. ii.
9. 1 Tim. iii. 15. The bottovz thereofofgold; Christ,
the golden bottom of the Gospel, the sam and sub-
stance of it, the principal subject in it to be insisted on;
he is laid in it as the bottom, ground, and foundation of
faith ant! hope, and of everlasting life and salvation;
and for its richness, firmness, and duration, may be
said to be of gold, as the street of the New Jerusalem,
Rev. xxi. c2l. or its paoement{b}, as the word here sig-
nifies. The Septuagint render it, a reclining {e} place,
to sit and rest, or lean upon; such is Christ. The
covering of it of purple; or the top of it; the word
signifies a chariot itself: it may respect such doc-
trines of the Gospel which relate to redemption, par--
don of sin, and justification through the blood of
Christ; and all under the purple covering of the blood
of Christ are secure from wrath to come, and go safe to
heaven. The midst thereof being paved with love, for
the daughters ofJerusalem; the carpet wrought with
lovely figures or with love-stories: the doctrines and
ordinances of the Gospel are full of love, of God in
Christ, in providing Christ as a Saviour, and sending
him to be one; and of the love of Christ in assuming
human nature, and suffering and dying in it tbr sinners,
even for Jerusalem sinners; the Gospel sets forth the
heart of Christ as inflameda, as the word here used
signifies, with love to the daughters of Jerusalem, his
dear children, which moved him to do all he did and
suffered for them; and could his heart be looked into,
the very images of these persons would be seen upon


{s} Xenophon. Cyropaedia, l. 6. c. 29.
{t} \^twlylb\^ in noctibus, Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Marckius,
Michaelis.
{u} \^Nwyrpa\^ thalamum sponsarum, Montanus.
{w} So Schmidt, Marckius, David de Pomis, Kimchi in Sepher
Shorash. rad. \^hrp\^ & Ben Melech in loc.
{x} Sotah, c. 9. s. 14. & Jarchi in ibid.
{y} Vid. Alstorph. de Lecticis Veter. c. 3.
{z} Vid. Suidam in voce \~zeugov\~.
{a} Agreement of Customs between the East-Indians and Jews, artic.
17. p. 68.
{b} \^wtdypr\^ pavimentum ejus, Vatablus, Grotius.
{c} \~anakliton\~, Sept. reclinatorium ejus, Arabic interpreter.
{d} \^Pwur\^ succensum, Montanus, Marckius; accensum, sive exustum,
some in Vatablus, so Aben Ezra.