Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_000_p.lzh/5_038.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-14 | 6KB | 120 lines

under such a sore judgment of God upon them:

\*\\and he answered, until the cities be wasted without inhabitant,\\
\\and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate\\; until
there is not an inhabitant in the cities of
Judea, nor in Jerusalem, the metropolis of the land,
nor a single man in any house in them; which denotes
the utter desolation of the land and city; and can refer
to no other than to the desolation thereof by the Ro-
mans; and till that time the blindness which hap-
pened to them continued; the things which belonged
to their peace were hid from their eyes till their city
was destroyed, and not one stone left upon another,
\\#Lu 19:42-44\\ till that time, and even to this
day, the veil of blindness, ignorance, and and penitence,
is on their hearts, and will remain until they are con-
verted to the Lord, in the latter day.;
see Ro 11:25,26 2Co 3:14-16\\.
\*Ver. 12. \\And the Lord have removed men far away\\,
&c.] Not to Babylon, but to the ends of the earth,
into the most distant countries, by means of the Ro-
mans; for they were but instruments of carrying the
Jews captive out of their own land, and dispersing
them among the several nations of the world; it was the
Lord's doing, and a judgment which he inflicted upon
them for their sins: \*\\and [there be] a great forsaking in
the midst of the land\\; not that there should be many
left in the land, and multiply and increase in it; which
is the sense of the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Ara-
bic versions; but that the land should be greatly for-
saken of men; there should be many places in the
midst of the land destitute of them; and this should
continue a long time, as Kimchi observes, which there-
fore can't be understood of the Babylonish captivity,
but of their present one.
\*Ver. 13. \\But yet in it [shall be] a tenth\\, &c.] Which
some understand of ten kings that should reign over
Judah from this time, the death of Uzziah, unto the
captivity, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe; and which
are, as Kimchi reckons them, as follows, Jotham,
Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz,
Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah; but the prophecy, as
we have seen, respects not the captivity of the Jews in
Babylon, but their present one; wherefore the words are
to be understood of a few persons, a remnant, accord-
ing to the election of grace, that should be called, and
saved amidst all the blindness, darkness, and destruc-
tion that should come upon that people; and may be
illustrated by the words of the apostle in \\#Ro 11:5\\
and these chosen, called, and saved ones, are the %tenth%,
that is, the Lord's tenth, as the words may be ren-
dered {r}. To this sense the Targum agrees, \*"and there
"shall be left in it righteous persons, one out of ten;"\*
though indeed the Christians were not left in Jerusa-
lem when it was destroyed, but were called out of it just
before, and were preserved from that ruin. \*\\And [it] shall
return, and shall be eaten\\; or %be for burning%. I should
choose to render it, %it shall return, and be burnt% {s}; that
is, it shall be burnt again; it was burnt a first time by
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and his army,
\\# Jer 52:13\\ and a second time by Titus Vespasian, to
which this prophecy refers: \*\\as a teilt ree, and as an oak,
whose substance [is] in them, when they cast [their leaves]\\;
the word %Beshallecheth%, which we render, %when they
cast their leaves%, is by some, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra,
and Kimchi observe, thought to be the name of a gate
in Jerusalem, called %Shallecheth%, from which a cause-
way went towards the king's palace, from whence it
had its name, \\1Ch 26:16\\ and along which
causeway, as is supposed, were planted teil trees
and oaks, which are here referred to. But the Tar-
gum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret the word as we do,
of casting their leaves: and the sense seems to be this;
that as the teil tree and oak, when they cast their
leaves in autumn, and look as if they were dry, withered,
and dead, yet have a substance in them, and in spring
appear alive and green, and flourishing again; so the
Jews, notwithstanding their miserable destruction by
the Romans, when they were stripped of all their
riches and glory, yet were not utterly consumed as a
people, but remained an entire distinct people, and do
so to this day, among the nations of the world; though,
like a dry withered trunk of a tree, without verdure or
beauty; the reason of this follows: \*\\so\\, or %because%, \*\\the
holy seed [shall be] the substance thereof\\; that is, they shall
subsist, or continue a distinct people, though in this
miserable condition; because there is a %holy seed%, or
a certain number, whom God has chosen to be holy,
that is to arise from them, and will be called and con-
verted in the latter day; hence they have a substance,
a subsistence, and shall remain till that comes, and
that chosen remnant is called and saved, \\#Ro 11:25,26\\.
The Targum is, \*"as the elm and oak, when
"their leaves fall, and are like to dry %trees%, and yet
"are moist to raise up seed from them; so the cap-
"tivities of Israel shall be gathered, and shall return
"to their land; for the seed which is holy is their
"plantation."\* Some, interpreting the passage of the
Babylonish captivity, by the %holy seed% understand the
Messiah. See \\#Lu 1:35\\ {t}.

\*Ver. 1. \\INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 7\\

\*This chapter contains a prophecy of the preservation
of the kingdom of Judah, from its enemies; a con-
firmation of it by a sign; and a prediction of various
calamities that should come upon it, antecedent to the
accomplishment of that sign. The enemies of Judea
are named, and the besieging of Jerusalem by them,
and the date of it, which was without effect, are men-
tioned, \\Isa 7:1\\ the fear and dread which seized the
house of David upon the news of this confederacy,
\\Isa 7:2\\ the orders given by the Lord to the Prophet

{r} \^hyryve\^ %decima ejus%, i.e. Dei.
{s} \^rebl htyhw hbvw\^ %& convertatur sitque in incendium%, Syr.;
    %ad conflagrandum%, Montanus; %ad urendum%, De Dieu.
{t} Ericus Phaletranus de ablat. Sceptr. Jud. in Graev. Syntag.
    p.437