Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_100_p.lzh/5_197.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-09 | 6KB | 122 lines

tioned shall be wanting here, or be deprived of its
prey: none shall want her mate; the satyr, or vulture,
or any other, which will engage their continuance, and
by which means there will be a fresh brood of them in
succession for after-ages:for my ,r, outh, it hath com-
manded them; these beasts and birds, to assemble in
the above-mentioned place: and his spirit, it hath ga-
thered them; the spirit of the mouth of the Lord, his
power, and his providence; as he gathered all crea-
tures to Adam, to give them names; and to Noah, ,to
be preserved with him in the ark; so, by a secret in-'
stinct; will he gather together these creatures, to ihha-
bit the desolate places of Edom or Rome. The Tar-
gum is, "for by his word they shall be gathered, and
"by Iris will they shall draw near."  So Ben Melech
interprets it of his will and pleasure.
Ver. 17. And he hath cast the lot for them, &c.]
The Targum adds, "by his word :" and his hand hath
divided it unto them by line; the same adds, "by his
"will." The allusion is to the dividing of the land
of Canaan by lot and line, to the children of Israel,
for their inheritance and possession; and in like man-
her, it is suggested, shall Rome and its territories be
distribnted to those wild beasts and birds of prey, and
every one shall know and take its proper place and
portion: they shall possess it fOr ever; as their inherit-
ance, allotted and appointed to them: from genera-
tion to generation shall they dwell therein: see the note
on ver. 10. where Jarchi, out of the Derash, has this
note, "this is the curse of Moses; the war of the Lord
"against Amalek, from generation to generation; from
"the generation of Moses to the generation of Saul;
"from thence to the generation of Mordecai; and
"from thence to the generation of the King Messiah.

C H A P. XXXV.

THIS chapter is a prediction of the glory and flourish-
lag estate of the Gospel church, and of the blessings
received by it from Christ. Its flourishing state is
expressed by the fruitfulness of the desert, being
made like to Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon; and by
the inhabitants of it seeing the glory and excellency of
Christ, ver. 1, 2. the ministers of the word are di-
rected and exhorted to strengthen the weak, and com-
fort the feeble-minded, by assuring them of the
coming of Christ to save them, ver. 3, 4. when mira-
cles, both in nature and grace, should be wrought;
and great alterations should be made in the wilderness,
by the power of God, ver. 5, 6, 7. when a way should
be cast up, described; and the persons that should
walk in it are pointed at; and the end it should bring
them to, everlasting joy and happiness, ver. 8, 9, 10.
Ver. 1. The wilderness, and the solitary places, shall
be glad for them, &c.] Either for the wild beasts,
satyrs, owls, and vultures, that shall inhabit Edom or
Rome, and because it.shall be an habitation for
them: or they shall be glad for them, the Edomites,
and for the destruction of them; that is, as the Tar-
gum paraphrases it, "they that dwell in the wilder-
" hess, in the dry land, shall rejoice ;" the church, in
the wilderness, being obliged to fly there from the
persecution of antichrist, and thereby become deso-
late as a wilderness; and so called, in allusion to the
Israelites in t, he wilderness, Acts vii. 38. shall now
rejoice at the ruin of Rome, and the antichristian
states; by which means it shall come into a more
flourishing condition; see Roy. xii. 14. and xviii.
2.0. and xix. 1, 2: and the desert shall rejoice, and
blossom like the rose; or as the lily, as the Septua-
gint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions; and so the
Targum, "as the lilies :" not Judea or Jerusalem, as
the Jewish writers, become like a desert, through the
devastations made in it by the king of Assyria's army;
and now made glad, and become fiourishing, upon the
departure of it from them: rather the Gentile world,
which was like a wilderness, barren and unfruitful,
before the Gospel came into it; but by means of that,
which brought joy with it, and was artended with fra-
grancy, it diffusing the savour of the knowledge of
Christ in every place, it became fruitful and flourish-
ing, and of a sweet odour, and looked delightful, and
pleasant: though it seems best to understand it of the
Gentile church in the latter day, after the destruc-
tion of antichrist, when it shall be in a most desirable
and comfortable situation. These words stand in con-
nexion with the preceding chapter, and very aptly
follow upon it.
Ver. 2. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even
with joy and singing, &c.] A redundancy of words, to
express the very flourishing estate of the church, and
the great joy there shall be on that occasion, as well as
because of the destruction of their enemies, and deliver-
ance froth them: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto
it; a mountain in Judea, famous for its choice and tall
cedars, which were the glory of it; signifying hereby,
that the church of God, which had been in a desolate
condition, should abound with choice and excellent
Christians, comparable to the cedars of Lebanon.
Jarchi interprets it of the sanctuary or temple; which
may be so called, because built of the wood of Lebanon.
This was an emblem and type of the Gospel church;
and the glory of it lay not only in its outward form
and building, but in those things which were in the
holy places of it, especially the most holy, which
were all typical of Spiritual things in Gospel times; so
that all the glory of the Jewish church-state and tem-
ple is brought into the Gentile church, into tim
Christian or Gospel church-state; and which will
still more appear in the latter day, when the temple
of God will be opened in heaven, and the ark of the
testament; see Rev. xi. 19: the excellency of Carreel
and Sharon; two places in the land of Judea, famous
for fruitfulness and pasturage; and so denote the
very great fruitfulness of the Gospel church; the word
and ordinances of which are as green pastures for the
sheep of Christ to feed upon, and by which they be-
come fat and flourishing: they shall see the glory of our
Lord, and the excellency of our 'God; the Targum
introduces this clause thus, "the house of Israel, to
"whom these things are-said, they shall see," &c.;