Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_100_p.lzh/5_174.TXT

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their enemies, and in defence of them, which is shew-
ing mercy to them; or be exalted on his  throne of
grace, that he may give, and they may find, grace and
mercy to help them in time of need: or, he will exalt,
or lift up; that is, his son; so he was lifted up On  the
cross, that his people might be drawn after him, and
saved by him; and he has also exaltcd him at his right
hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance
unto Israel and forgiveness of sins; and he is now
lifted up as the serpent on the pole in the ministry o
the word, that whosoever believes in him should have
everlasting life,; so that these exaltations, or liftings
up, are in order to have mercy; and his waiting to be
gracious is by the Jews {t} interpreted Of Iris desire after
the Messiah's coming, and his waiting for that: or, he
will be exalted., in, or by, having mercy on you "; the
glory of God is displayed in shewing mercy to his
people; they are engaged and influenced hereby to
glorify God for his mercy, both in things temporal and
spiritual. The word *** in the Arabic language, as
Schultens observes", signifies to desire*; and this
will make the words run smoothly in agreement with
the former; and therefore, or nevertheless, will he desire
to have mercy on you; which denotes the Lord's good
will to his people, and how much his heart, and the
desires of it, are towards them: for the Lord is a God
of judgment; Or, though he is a God of judgment {y}, of
strict justice, judges in the earth, and will judge the
world in righteousness; see Mal. iS. 17. his grace,
mercy, and justice, agree together, in redemption'jus-
tification, pardon of sin, and salvation: or of modera-
tion, clemency, and grace to correct his people; he
corrects them not in wrath and hot displeasure, but in
judgment, in a tender and fatherly. way and manner,
Jer. x. 24. and he is a God of discretion,. Psal. cxii. 5. of
wisdom and knowledge, and does all things after the
counsel of his will; he has fixed upon the proper time,
and he knows which is the best time, and he waits that
time to shew grace and mercy to his people: blessed
are all they that wait for him ;, that don't run here and
there for help, and are tumultuous, restless, and impa-
tient, but wait God's own time to do them good; that
wait for his gracious presence, and the discoveries of
his love, for the performance of his promises, for
answers of prayer, for all blessings temporal and spi-
ritual, and for eternal glory and happiness; these are
happy persons, all and every one of them; they enjoy
much now, and it can't be said, nor conceived, what
God has prepared for them hereafter; see ch. xlix. 23.
and lxiv. 4.
Vet. 19. _For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusa-
lem, &c.] Or, for the people of Zion {z} shall dwell in
Jerusalem; those that belonged to the fort of Zion
should dwell in Jerusalem, or abide there, both they
and the inhabitants of it, at least many of them
should quietly continue there, waiting the Lord's time
to appear for them, and not run here and there, and
particularly to Egypt for help or shelter. Seeing there
are many things in the following verses which have
respect to Gospel times, and best suit. with them, this
may be understood of the safe and comfortable dwell-
ing of the children of Zion, or regenerate persons, in a
Gospel church-state, which is often called Jerusalem,
both in the Old and New Testament: thou shall weep
nb more; or, in weeping thou shall not weep {a}; though
they had been weeping because of the enemy's inva-
sion of their !and, and besieging their city, yet now 'all
tears should be wiped away from their eyes, being de-
livered from him; this may very well be accommodated
to Gospel times: he will be very gracious unto thee, at
the voice of thy. cry; these .are the words of the pro-
phet, declaring that the Lord would be gracious to his
people at the voice of their prayer and supplication to
him in their distress, as he was to the voice of Heze-
kiah's cry and supplication to him: when he shall hear
it, he will answer thee; he always hears the .prayers of
his people, and he always answers them, sooner or
later, in his own time, and in his own way; see ch.
lXv. 24.
Vet. 20. And though the Lord give you the bread of
adversity, and water of affli,ction, &c.] Either at this
present time, when the city was besieged by Sennache-
rib; or when it should be besieged by the Chaldeans,
when adversity was their bread, and affliction their
water; or when they had only bread and water in their
adversity and affliction; or a famine of bread and water,
as is common in times of a siege. It may refer to the
poor, and mean, and afflicted state of the people of God,
in the first times of the-Gospel especially: yet shall not
thy teachers be removed into a corner any more; or, .thy
rain{b}, as.some interpret it; one and the same word
signifies both rain and a teacher, because doctrine from
the mouth of a teacher drops like rain upon the tender
herb, and as showers on the grass; and is to be under-
stood, not merely in a literal sense, of rain, and fruit-
fulness by it, in opposition to penury and famine for
want of it; but of rain of spiritual .doctrine; and so
the sense is much the same as if it was rendered
teachers; that though the people of God should be at-
tended with afflictions, yet they should have spiritual
consolation; and though they might have a famine of
bread and water, yet not of hearing the word of the
Lord; their teachers should not be removed fi'orn
them, as. they had formerly been, perhaps in the time
of Ahaz: or take wing {e}, and fly away from them, as
the word signifies, being scared by persecutors; so the
prophets in the time of Ahab were forced to fly, and
were hid by fifty in a cave. The word here used has
in the Arabic language the signification of hiding, as
Maimonides{d} from Aben Ganach has observed; and so
may be read, thy teachers shall not be hidden any more;
things being hidden under wings; see Psal. xvii.'8:
but thine eyes shall see thy teachers; in their proper


{t} Gloss, in T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 97.2.
{u} \^Mkmxrl\^ dum miserabitur vestri; so some in Vatablus.
{w} Animadv. Philolog. in Job. p. 56.
{x} mavit rem, Golius, col. 922. quaesivit, expetivit, voluit,
CasteL co. 3551.
{y} \^yk\^ quamvis, so this particle is often used; see Noldius, p. 309.
{z} \^Nwyub Me\^ polpulus Sion, V. L. Gataker.
{a} \^hkbt al wkb\^ plorando non plorabis, Pagninus, Montanus.
{b} \^Kyrwm\^ pluvia tua, some in Munster, Calvin; so Ben Melech in-
terprets it; and the same in the next clause.
{c} \^Pnky al\^ non avolabit, Pncator; ad verb. alabitur, Forerius.
{d} More Ncvochim, par. 1. cap. 43. p. 61. So operuit, sub
alis tutatus est, Castel. col. 1760,