Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_500_p.lzh/5_593.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-15 | 7KB | 127 lines

ing voice it is. And by the bride may be meant the
church, who is the bride, the Lardb's wife, being
married to him; whose voice of prayer and praise to
Christ, and of encouragement to sensible sinners, is
heard in Zion, and is very desirable, Cant. ii. ll. Rev.
xxii. 17. The roice of them It:at shall say, praise the
Lord of hosts; the husband of his church, and Re-
deemer of his people, and who is the sovereign Lord
of all; the voice of such is heard, who stir up others to
this work and service, and enforce it by the reasons
tbllowing: for the Lord is good; originally and essen-
tially in himself, and the fountain of goodness to others;
the good Head and Husband of his church; the good
Samaritan: the good Shepherd of his sheep, and
Saviour of his people: for his mercy endureth for ever;
it is from everlasting to everlasting; in his love and pity
he has redeemed his church; and this is seen in his
tender care of her, and will en{lure to eternal life: these
words seem to be taken out of Psai. cvi. 1. and cvii. 1,
2. and cxxxvi. 1. and were used by the Jews at the
!aying of the foundation of the second temple, Ezra
iii. 11. And of them that shall bring the sacrifice of
praise into the house of the .Lord; the church of the
living God, the materials of which are lively stones, or
true believers in Christ; into which none should enter
without an offering; and this should be a spiritual one,
the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; which God
has enjoined as well-pleasing to him, because it glori-
fies him. This shews that this prophecy belongs to
Gospel times; since no other sacrifice is tnentioned as
brought into the house of God but the sacrifice of
praise. And remarkable is the .note of Kimchi on this
passage; "he does not say a sin-offering, or a tres-
"pass-offering, because at this time there will be no
"ungodly persons and sinners among them, for they
"shall all know the Lord. And so our gabbins of
"blessed memory say, all offerings shall cease in time
"to come (the times of the Messiah} but the sacrifice
"of praise." For I will cttuse to return the captivity of
the land as at the first, ssith the Lord : a release from
spiritual captivity, or redemption by Christ; being the
foundation of' all solid joy, praise, and thanksgiving.
Ver. 12. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, &c.] Which
phrase, or what is answerable to it, is often repeated,
to give authority to what is said, and Io command a
belief of it: again, in this place which is desolate;
which was said to be so, vet. 10. and ch. xxxii. 43. and
indeed was so; and was near utter destruction, as to
be without man and without beast; both falling into the
hands of the enemy; and that not in the city of Jeru-
salem only, but in all the cities thereoJ; of the land of
Judea; and from thence in other countries, even in
Gentile ones: shall be an habitation of shepherds,
causing their flocks to lie down; which is expressive of
great peace, no foreign enemy to make afraid or dis-
turb the shepherds and their flocks; and of diligence
and industry, plenty and prosperity; though this is to
be understood not in a literal, but mystical sense. For
by shepherds are meant the apostles of Christ, tile first
ministers of the Gospel, and pastors of churches, that
should be first raised up in the land of Judea, and then
sent into and spread in all the world; shepherds tinder
Christ, of Iris raising, qualifying, and calling; to whom
he gives a commission to feed his sheep and lambs;
assigns them their distinct flocks, and gives them food
to feed them with, and to whom they are accountable
for those under their care, and the girls bestowed upon
them; and whose business lies in feeding the flock
with the solid doctrines of the Gospel, by faithfully
administering the ordinances, and in all directing to
Christ, where they may find pasture; as also in ruling
and governing according to the laws of Christ; in
watching over the sheep that they go not astray, and
in protecting and defending them from beasts of prey.
By the habitation of these shepherds is meant the house
of God, where the word is preached, and ordinances
are administered; here are the shepherds' tents, which,
like the tents of Kedar, which were shepherds' tents
also, are mean and coarse without, but rich and beau-
tiful within; and are like tents, movable from place
to place; and it is the glory and happiness of a coun-
try where they are. And by flocks, orflock, for it is in
the singular number, are meant the church of Christ,
which is but one, the general assembly and church of
the first-born written in heaven, and the several par-
ticular congregated churches; consisting of such per-
sons as may be compared to sheep, being weak and
timorous, meek and humble, harmless and inoffensive;
of persons gathered out of the world, distinguished by
the grace of God, and folded together in a Gospel
church-state; though but few, and despised of men,
and persecuted, a little flock, and a flock of slaughter:
these, by their shepherds, are made to lie down in a
good fold at night,. where they are safe and secure;
these shepherds watch over them; angels encamp about
them; salvation is walls and bulwarks to them; and
God himself a wall of fire around them; and in the
day they are made to lie down in the green pastures
of the word and ordinances, where they have an abun--
dance, a sufficiency of provisions; and at noon under
the shadow of Christ, where they have rest, and where
they are screened and sheltered from the heat of a
fiery law, of Satan's fiery darts, and of the world's
persecution.
Ver. 13. In the cities of the mountains, in the cities o.f
the vale, and in the cities of the south, .&c.] Into which
three parts the land of Judea was divided; see the note
on oh. xxxii. 44: and in the land of Benjamin, and
in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of
Judah; in the cities of the two tribes, of which Je-
rusalem was the metropolis; and which returned
from the captivity, and settled here, and were in being
when the Messiah came, here prophesied of, the
great Shepherd of the sheep :,shall theftodes pass again
under the hands of him that tdleth them, saith the Lord;
alluding to the custom of shepherds telling their
flocks, when they led them out of the fold in the
morning, and when they put them in at evening{s};
or to the tithing of them, Lev. xxvii. 32. this is not
to be understood literally, but mystically. So Jarchi,
Kimchi, and Abarbiuel interpret it of the Israelites
going in and out under the hands of their king, that
goes at the head of them; and the Targum, of the
King Messiah, and who is no doubt meant. The elect

{s} Bisque die numerant, alter pecus, alter & haedos. Virgil