Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_000_p.lzh/5_067.TXT

Text File | 1995-02-03 | 7KB | 128 lines

the inhabitants of Jerusalem; such of them especially
as feared the Lord, and worshipped him, and served
him in the temple: \*\\be not afraid of the Assyrian\\: the
king of Assyria; neither Sennacherib, that threatened
them with ruin, having taken the cities of Judah, and
laid siege to Jerusalem; nor Nebuchadnezzar, who
carried them captive, since he would not be able
utterly to destroy them, they would return and dwell
in the land again; for there was a decree concerning
the salvation of a remnant, which would certainly take
place; and till that was executed, it was impossible
the nation should be destroyed. \*\\He shall smite thee
with a rod\\; be an instrument of chastising and cor-
recting, but not of destroying; Jarchi interprets it of
smiting with the rod of his mouth, by means of
Rabshakeh reproaching, and blaspheming: \*\\and shall
lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt\\;
which Kimchi explains of the tribute the Assyrians
exacted of them, in like manner as the Egyptians set
taskmasters over them, and afflicted them with hard
bondage, in Egypt: the sense is, that though the
Assyrians should annoy and distres them, yet should
not utterly consume them; there would be an end of
their oppression, and a deliverance out of it; even as
when they were in Egypt, and oppressed there, the
Lord appeared for them, and supported them, and at
length saved them, and so he would now. Mention is
made of a rod and a staff, in allusion to what the
Assyrian is said to be in the hand of the Lord, \\#Isa 10:5\\. KILL
\*Ver. 25. \\For yet a very little while\\, &c.] Within a
few days; for in a very short time after Sennacherib
was come up against Jerusalem his army was destroyed
by an angel: \*\\and the indignation shall cease\\; the indig-
nation of the Lord against his people Israel, shewn by
bringing the Assyrian monarch against them, of which
he was the staff or instrument, \\#Isa 10:5: KILL  \*\\ and mine anger
in their destruction\\; not in the destruction of the Jews,
but the Assyrians: the sense is, that the anger of God
towards the people of the Jews for the present should
be discontinued, when the Assyrian army was de-
stroyed. The Targum is, \*"for yet a very little while,
"and the curses shall cease from you of the house of
"Jacob; and mine anger shall be upon the people
"that work iniquity, to destroy them;"\* that is, the
Assyrians.
\*Ver. 26. \\And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge
for him\\, &c.] The Assyrian monarch; this scourge
stirred up or awakened by the Lord, with which that
monarch was severely scourged, is no other than the
angel that was sent of God to destroy his army, \\#2Ki 19:35\\: KILL
\*\\according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock
of Oreb\\: this refers to the destruction of the Midianites
in the time of Gideon; and suggests, that the slaughter
of the Assyriaus should be like that, as it was; for as
that was in the night, and very general, and imme-
diately from the hand of the Lord, and was unthought
of, and unexpected, and such of their princes that
fled were taken and slain, particularly Oreb, at the
rock which took its name from him; for not mount
Horeb, and the rock there smitten by Moses, are
meant, which is written with different letters; see the
history of this in \\#Jud 17:19-25\\ so it was in the
night when the Assyrian army was destroyed, and
that wholly; and not by the Israelites, but by the
Angel of the Lord; and at once, at an unawares; and
though Sennacherib fled and escaped, he was slain by
his own sons, in his own city, in the temple of his god,
\\#2Ki 19:35-37\\: KILL \*\\and [as] his rod [was] upon the
sea\\; referring to Moses's rod, which was lifted up, by
the order of the Lord, over the Red sea, when the
Egyptians were drowned: \*\\so shall he lift it up after
the manner of Egypt\\; and destroy the Assyrians, in
like manner as he destroyed the Egyptians, all at once.
\*Ver. 27. \\And it shall come to pass in that day, [that]
his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder\\, &c.]
The tax or tribute imposed upon Hezekiah by the
king of Assyria, \\#2Ki 18:14\\: KILL \*\\and his yoke from
off thy neck\\; the same with the burden; unless it
means also the subjection of the cities of Judah, which
were taken by the Assyrian; and indeed it may be ex-
tended further, and be considered as a prophecy not
merely of deliverance from the present distress, but
from the future captivity in Babylon; and which was
a type of the deliverance and redemption by Christ,
when the Lord's people were delivered from the bur-
den of sin, the guilt and punishment of it; from the
yoke of the law, the yoke of bondage; and from the
tyranny of Satan, and out of the hand of every enemy;
and this seems to be hinted at in the next clause: \*\\and
thy yoke shall be destroyed, because of the anointing\\; or,
%be corrupted, because of fatness {u}; through the multi-
tude of riches and honours, with which the Assyrian
monarchy abounded; which fill with pride, introduce
luxury, and so bring ruin, on a state. Jarchi and
Kimchi interpret the anointing of Hezekiah, the
anointed king of Israel, for whose sake the Assyrian
yoke was destroyed. The Rabbins say, that this de-
liverance was wrought on account of the large quan-
tity of oil which Hezekiah consumed in the schools
and synagogues, for the study of the law, and the
explanation of it; but the Targum much better refers
it to the Messiah, \*"the people shall be broken from
"before the Messiah;"\* who was anointed with the
oil of gladness above his fellows, and for whose sake,
and by whom, the yoke of sin, Satan, and the law, has
been destroyed. Vitringa interprets it of the spirit
of God, and his powerful operations, whose gifts and
graces are often compared to oil and ointment; and
makes the words parallel to \\#Zec 4:6\\. KILL
\*Ver. 28. \\He is come to Aiath\\, ?? &c.] In this and
the following verses is prophetically described the
expedition of Sennacherib to Jerusalem, when he ei-
ther went from Assyria, or returned from Egypt thi-
ther; and the several places are mentioned, through
or by which he passed, or near to which he came, the
tidings of which greatly distressed the inhabitants of
them; and the first that is named is Ajath, thought
to be the same with Ai, which was beside Beth-aven,
and on the east side of Beth-el, \\#Jos 7:2\\ and though
it was burnt, and made desolate by Joshua, \\#Jos 8:28\\
yet it was afterwards rebuilt, for it was in being
in Nehemiah's time; or at least there was a place of
this name, which was upon or near the spot where
this stood, since it is mentioned with Geba, Michmash,

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