Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_200_p.lzh/5_253.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-09 | 7KB | 128 lines

shew forth his praise. What they were to hear and
hearken to is as follows,
Ver. e. Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and
formed thee from the womb, &c.] Which is not to be
understood 6f the forming of the people of Israel into
a commonwealth or church-state, for this is not said
of the body of them; nor of the natural creation and
formation of these individuals, but of their new crea-
tion, regeneration, and spiritual formation; which, as
it was owing to the grace and power of God, by which
the Lord describes himself, who is speaking to them,
the consideration of it might serve to encourage their
faith and confidence in the performance of the pro-
mises about to be made to them; see Psal. c. 3. Gai. i.
15. and iv. 19: which will help thee; in the exercise of
grace, in the performance of duty, in suffering for his
name's sake in every time of trouble, and out of all
trouble, and that right early, and when none else can:
fear not, 0 Jacob, my servant, and thou 3taurus, whom
I have chosen; the titles are as before, only instead of
Israel is3esurun, which is a name of the people of
Israel, Dent. xxxii. 15. and xxxfii. 5. and here the
Targum instead of it puts Israel; and so the Syriac
and Arabic versions. The Septuagint version renders
it, beloved Israel; the word signifies upright; and so
the Vulgate Latin version translates it, O thou most up-
right one [w}; and well agrees with this little remnant of
Israelites indeed, in whom there was no guile. Some
derive the word from one that signifies to see, behold,
contemplatc{x}; and so it may be rendered, the seeing
ones whom I have chosen. such whose eyes the Lord
opened to see their own vileness and sinfulness, and
the glory of Christ and salvation by him: these are
bid not to fear: not any of their enemies, though they
themselves were but worms; and thou,,h their num-
ber was small, and they weak and feeble, and their
enemies numerous, strong, and mighty; and tho. ugh
their countrymen would reproach, revile, and persecute
them for Christ's sake, and they should be obliged to
turn to the Gentiles, and carry the Gospel among
them, when those of their nation would reject it,
which would issue in the ruin of it, as before predicted;
see ch. xli. 10, 13, 14. and xliii. 1, e.
Ver. 3. For I will pour water oh him that is thirsty,
&c.] Or rather upon the thirsty land, as the Targum;
and so the Syfiac version, in a thirsty place; as a dry
land is a thirsty land; it thirsts for water, gapes and
opens for it: see Psal. lxiii. 1: and floods upon the dry
ground; large quantities of rain to moisten it, and
make it fruitful; these figurative expressions are ex-
plained in the next clauses: I will pour my spirit upon
thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring; by
which seed and offspring are meant the spiritual seed
of this remnant or little church of Christ among the
Jews, in the first times of the Gospel: such as should
be regenerated and converted in it, and who are signi-
fied by the dry and thirsty ground; for being made
sensible of their desolate condition, tSeir barrenness
and unfruitfulness,/they hungered and thirsted after
righteousness; were desirous of Christ and his grace,
and more knowledge of him, and eagerly sought after
them; and to these are promised the spirit, and his
gifts and graces, compared to water, for its purifying,
softenlug, fructifying, and refreshing nature, and for ex-
tinguishing thirst, and giving a real pleasure and de-
light; see Ezek. xxxvi. 25. John iii. 5. and the shun-
,lance thereof is signified byfioods of water; for in first
conversion especially, there is an aboundlug, yea a su-
· perabounding of the grace of God; it is a well of living
water; yea, out of the believer flow rivers of living
water, John iv. 14. and vii. 37, 38. see Rom. v. 20.
1 Tim. i. 14. and this grace of the spirit is always a bless-
ing: and indeed all the blessings of grace go along
with it, as to the manifestation and application of
them as justification, pardon of sin, adoption, &c.;
here per'haps a more special regard is had to the extra-
ordinary effusion of the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost,
when the apostles of Christ being furnished with his
gifts and graces, were tilted to go forth with theful-
,iess of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. The Tar-
gum of the whole is, "for as waters are given upon the
"thirsty land, and they flow upon the dry land, so
"will I give my holy spirit on thy children, and my
"blessing upon thy children's children;" a succes-
sion of converts in the Christian church.
Ver. 4. And they shall spring up as among the grass,
&c.] That is, such on whom the spirit of the Lord
shall be poured with his gifts and grace, and with the
blessings of it: by the grass may be meant common
believers, comparable to green grass, for their num-
bers, being many; for their weakness in themselves;
for their flourishing condition; like grass for its green-
ness, and verdure, and its springing up by clear shining
after rain; see Psal. lxxii. 6, 16. and by those that
spring up among them are intended the apostles and
ministers of the word, who exceed common Christians
in their gifts, and grace, and usefulness; grow up
higher and taller than they, like palm-trees and cedars
in Lebanon; and as such exceed private saints as tall
trees exceed the grass they grow among: as willows by
the water-courses; a sort of trees well known, and
which delight in wate?y places, and grow best on
banks of rivers, and shoot up apace in a very short
time, and spread their branches; so the apostles, after
the effusion of the Spirit on them, grew fast in gifts,
and grace, and evangelic knowledge; and their use-
fulness spread far and near. The Targum is, "the
"righteous shall grow tender and delicate as the flowers
"of the grass, as a tree that sends forth its roots by
"flows of water."
Ver. 5. One shall say, I am the Lord's, &c.] This
expresses the success of the apostles' ministry, not
only among the Jews, but more especially among the
Gentiles, who were not called by the name of Jacob
and Israel; but now should call themselves by those
names, as the following clauses shew, being called
by grace and converted; when they should openly
profess their faith in Christ, claim their interest in him,
and acknowledge his property in them, and not be
ashamed of the name of Christians; and this one, and
another, even many should do. The Lord has a peo-
ple who are his special and peculiar people, his be-

{w} \^Nwrvyw\^  et rectissime, Vulg. Lat. a \^rvy\^ rectum fuit,
Forerius; so Ben Melech says, that Israel is called Jeshurun,
because he is upright among the peolple.
{x} A \^rwv\^ contemplari, respicere.