Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_000_p.lzh/5_073.TXT

Text File | 1995-02-03 | 7KB | 129 lines

set up, a banner displayed, is for the gathering of sol-
diers together; it is a sign of preparation for war, and
an encouragement to it; and is sometimes done when
victory is obtained, see \\#Isa 5:26 Jer 4:19,20 50:2\\
and is a direction where soldiers should stand, when
they should march, and who they should follow, as
well as it serves to distinguish one company from
another; and of all this use is the preaching of Christ
and his Gospel: \*\\to it shall the Gentiles seek\\; that is, to
Christ, signified by the root of Jesse, and set up for an
ensign of the people; being sought out by him in re-
demption and vocation, and being sensible of their need
of him, and that there is something valuable in him,
having had a manifestation of him to them; and there-
fore seek to him, not out of curiosity, nor with worldly
views, nor in the last, but in the first place, and chiefly;
not hypocritically, but sincerely, and with their whole
hearts; not carelessly, but diligently and constantly;
not partially, but for every thing they want; princi-
pally for the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,
for eternal glory and happiness, and for a justifying
righteousness, as the title to it: or to him shall they
%betake themselves% {f}, see \\#De 12:5\\ as to an ensign,
standard bearer, captain-general, leader and commander
of the people; or as to a strong hold, for protection
from enemies; or as to a city of refuge, to secure from
avenging justice and wrath to come; and, under a sense
of danger and ruin, to one that is able to save; and for
help to one that is mighty; or him %shall% they %consult% {g};
or seek to him for advice and counsel, see \\#Isa 8:19\\
who is a most proper person to be consulted on all
occasions, he being the wonderful Counsellor, \\#Isa 9:6\\.
This is a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles, and
which had its accomplishment, in part, in the first
times of the Gospel, and will be completely fulfiiled in
the last days: \*\\and his rest shall be glorious\\; either that
which Christ gives to those that seek unto him, and
which is both a spiritual rest here, from the burden
and guilt of sin, and the tyrannical power of it; from
the bondage, curse, and condemnation of the law; from
a sense of divine wrath; and a rest in afflictions, though
not from them; and an eternal rest hereafter, a %rest in
glory% {h}; as the words may be rendered here; it will be
a glorious one, the bodies of the saints at death rest in
the grave, and their souls in the arms of Jesus; and
after the resurrection, body and soul will rest together
from sin and Satan, from unbelief, doubts, and fears,
and from all enemies; or else this rest is what Christ
himself enjoys. Some understand it of his death,
which, though ignominious in itself, yet glorious in its
consequences; a glorious display of the condescension
and love of Christ was made in it; and glorious things
have been effected by it: others, of his grave, which
was an honourable man's; his grave was made with the
rich; though perhaps better of his rest in glory; when
he had done his work, and sat down at the right hand
of God, he was crowned with glory and honour; or
rather it may design his church, which is his rest,
\*\\Ps 132:13,14\\ which is glorious, with his righte-
ousness, grace, and presence, and being put in order by
him, as an army with banners; and especially it will be,
when all the glorious things spoken of it shall be fulfilled.
\*Ver. 11. \\And it shall come to pass in that day\\, &c.]
Before spoken of, and which includes the whole Gos-
pel dispensation: \*\\[that] the Lord shall set his hand again
the second time\\; which refers to a first, in which the
Lord exerted his power in the recovery of his people
out of the hands of their enemies; and that was the
deliverance of them out of Egypt, and which was
typical of the deliverance of the Lord's people in the
times of Christ; and it is usual with the Jews {i} to
call Moses the first redeemer, and the Messiah the
latter; wherefore this %second time% refers to the times
of the Messiah, and not to the time of the deliverance
from the Babylonish captivity; for that, as Aben Ezra,
Jarchi, and Kimchi observe, was not a perfect redemp-
tion; only Judah and Benjamin returned, not the ten
tribes, and so did not answer to the first time, when all
Israel came out of Egypt; and much less can it be
understood of the return of those, in the times of He-
zekiah, carried captive by Tilgath-pilneser and Sal-
maneser: or the first and second time may be distin-
guished thus; the first time may intend the calling of
a large number, both of Jews and Gentiles, through
the preaching of the Gospel by the apostles; and the
second time the bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles,
and the conversion of the Jews, in the latter day; or
the first time may respect the calling of the Gentiles,
and the second the gathering in of the Jews: or both
may intend later times; the first time, the reformation
from Popery; the second time, deliverance from
Babylon, or the antichristian yoke, under which all
nations will again be brought, before the destruction
of the man of sin: \*\\to recover the remnant of his people\\;
or to %obtain%, or to %possess% {k}; for this is not to be under-
stood of the recovery or redemption of them by the
price of Christ's blood, but of the calling and conver-
sion of them, when the Lord claims them, possesses
and enjoys them, as his own; and as they are but a
remnant whom God has chosen for his people, and
Christ has redeemed by his blood, so they are no other
that are called; though here they may be called a
remnant, or what remains, with respect to those who
have been called already: \*\\which shall be left, from
Assyria, and from Egypt\\; Egypt, and other places fol-
lowing, being joined with Assyria, shew that this can-
not be understood of the deliverance from the Baby-
lonish captivity; but designs the several places where
Christ would have a people in Gospel times, and who
would be found out, and called by grace; some of
which already have been, as in Babylon and Egypt,
\\#1Pe 5:18 Ac 2:10\\ and others will be hereafter,
according to the prophecies, \\#Ps 68:31 87:4 Isa 19:18-25\\
and as Assyria and Egypt are now
in the hands of the Turks, it may design the call and
conversion of many in those parts, when the Turkish
empire shall be destroyed; or else the deliverance of
God's people from the tyranny of the Romish anti-
christ, called Egypt and Babylon, at the time of his
ruin: \*\\from Pathros\\; by which some understand Par-

{f} \^vrd\^ %non? significat %quaerre%, sed %tendere%, aut %se
    confere%%, Bootius, Animadv. I.? 1. c. 5. sect. 6.
{g} Ad eum consulent, Junius.
{h} So Ben Melech observes that \^b\^ is wanting, and the sense is
    \^dwbkb\^, %in%, or, %with glory%.
{i} Midrash Koheleth, fol. 63. 2.
{k} \^twnql\^ %ad possidendum%, Grotius; \~tou kthsasyai\~, Aquila.