Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_500_p.lzh/5_591.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-15 | 7KB | 129 lines

name; Jehovah, the self-existing Being, the Being of
beings; who is able to perform whatever he under-
takes, and so is equal to this work, of settling and
establishing his interest.
Ver. 3. Call-unto me, and I will answer thee, &c.]
This is spoken not to Jerusalem, and the inhabitants
of it; hut to the prophet, encouraging him to seek the
Lord by prayer, promising an answer to him. So the
Targum, "pray before me, and I will receive thy
"prayer :" and show thee great and mighty things; or,
forttried ones{p}; which are like fortitled cities, that can't
easily be come at, unless the gates are opened to enter
into; and designs such as are difficult of understand-
ing, which exceed human belief, and which reason
cannot comprehend and take in; and such are the
great things of the Gospel. Some copies read it, things
reserved {q}; as the Targum; and so Jarchi, who inter-
prets it .of things future, of things reserved in the
heart of God, and which he parposed to do; and very
rightly: which thou knowest not; until revealed; and
from hence it appears, that by these great and hidden
things are not theant the destruction of Jerusalem, and
the seventy-years' captivity, and return from that,
things which Jeremiah had been made acquainted with
time after time, and had prophesied of them; but spi-
ritual blessings hereafter mentioned, some of which
the deliverance frotn Babylon were typical. of. Ben
Melech interprets these of comforts great and strong.
Ver. 4. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel,
&c.] The destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans,
which was now fulfilling, is here mentioned as a pledge
of the accomplishment of spiritual blessings after
spoken of; and to assure the prophet, that as he
would with his own eyes see the fulfilment of the
prophecies he had delivered out in the name of the
Lord concerning that, so likewise as certainly would
the other be brought to pass: concerning the houses of
this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah,
which were thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
by the mounts, which the Chaldeans raised without the
city; or by the engines they placed there, by which
they cast out stones into the city, to the demolishing
of the houses in it; not in common only, but particu-
larly the houses of the king and nobles, which they
especially directed their shot at; and by the sword,
hammers, axes, and mattocks, for which sometimes
this word is used, when they entered into the city.
Though some render the words, which are thrown down
for mounts, andJbr the sword{r}; that mounts might be
made of them within, on which the Jews might fight
and defend themselves against the Chaldeans. So the
Targum, "which they pulled down, and threw up
"mounts to strengthen the wall, against those that
"kill with the sword ;" and so Jarchi interprets it.
Ver. 5. They come to fight with the Ch. aldeans, &c.]
Either the Jews out of the country, or their auxiliaries,
their neighbours, to oblige them to break up the siege;
but all to no purpose: or rather the Jews within;who,
from the mounts erected, fight with the Chaldeans; or
by sa!lying out upon them: but it is to fill them with
the dead bodies of men; the mounts, made of their
houses, or their houses themselves; it is only to make
them graves, and fill them with these carcasses: whom
I have slain in mine anger, and in my fury; that is, suf-
fered to be slain, being wroth and angry with them.
for their sins, as follows: and for all whose wickedness
I have hid my face .from the city; had no pity for it..
showed no mercy to it, gave it no help and assistance,
or protection, having withdrawn his presence from it.
So the Targum, "I have caused my Shechinah to de-
'' part from this city, because of their wickedness."
Ver. 6. Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and
I will cure them, &c.] That is, the church of God, the
members of it, typified by Jerusalem; and it is to be
understood of the healing of their spiritual maladies,
the diseases of sin, through the blood of the Messiah-,
who should arise with healing in his wings; that is,
with remission of sin, which is often meant by healing
in Scripture: Christ is the physician; his blood the
balm in Gilead, which being applied to those that are.
diseased with sin, to sin-sick souls, it makes an ef-
fectual cure of them; so that they shall not say they
are sick, because their iniquities are forgiven them; see
Psal. ciii. 3. Isa. xxxiii. 24. Mal. iv. 2. Jet. viii. 23:
and wi,:l reveal unto them the abundance of peace and,
truth; the same with grace and truth, which are come
by Christ; under the Old Testament, these were
figured out by types and shadows; but not revealed
clearly, as under the New Testament, to which this
prophecy belongs. Peace may intend peace made
with God by.the blood of Christ; peace of conscience,
which he gives, and arises from a sense of pardon and
atonement by his blood, and justification by his righte-.
ousness; and all kind of spiritual welfare, prosperity,
and happiness; of which there will be an abundance,
especially in the latter days of the Messiah, Psal.
ixxii. 8. Truth may design the faithfulness of God, in
fulfilling all his promises and prophecies concerning
the Messiah, and salvation by him, and may stand
opposed to the types and shadows of the old law; and
include the Gospel, the word of truth, and all the
doctrines of it; which are clearly and fully revealed
by the spirit of truth, wisdom, and revelation, in the
knowledge of Christ. Here begins the account of the
great, mighty, and hidden things the Lord promised
to show the prophet, ver. 3. The Targum of this last
clause is, "and I will reveal the gate of repentance
"unto them, and I will show them ,how they shall
"walk in the way of peace and truth ;" and the Syriao
version is, "I will reveal unto them the paths of peace
"and faith ;" but the word here used signifies abund-
ante, as Kimchi and Ben Moloch observe.
Ver. 7. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and
the captivity of Israel to return, &c.] Mention being
made of the return of the captivity of Israel, or the
ten tribes, as well as that of Judah, shews that this
prophecy does not relate to the return of the Jews from
their seventy-years' captivity in Babylon; but is to be
understood spiritually, of a release of the mystical and
spiritual Israel of God from the captivity of sin, Satan,

{p} \^twrub\^ munita, Vatablus, Paganinus, Montanus; fortia, Tigurine
version.
{q} \^twrun\^ abstrusa, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; recondita' so
some in Vatablus.
{r} \^brxh law twlloh la\^ ad aggeres & vastitatem, Tigurine ver-
sion; in missilia catapultaria, & in gladium, Junius & Tremellius;
ad catapultas, & ad gladium, so some in Calvin.