Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_100.lzh/6_181.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-18 | 7KB | 127 lines

or habitations where they dwell: or rather this may be
understood of the church of God, Often compared to a
hill for its height and eminence; for its fertility and
fruitfulness; for its stability and firmness; and in al-
lusion to the hill of Zion for its holiness, and being the
place of the divine residence; see Psal. xv. 1. and xxiv.
4. and lxviii. 15, 1($. now, the persons about this hill
are those who are come to Mount Zion the church of
God; being brought there by the Lord himself, and
who take up their abode there; who lie about this hi!l,
as flocks of sheep, in their several folds or congregated
churches; see Jet. xxiii. 3. and xxxiii. 13. and these
the Lord makes a blessing to one another, by their spi-
ritual conversation, prayers, and services of love; and
to the world, to kingdoms and states, to cities, towns,
and neighbourhoods, and to particular families, where
they are placed; and even to the world in general; for
they are the light, stay, and stability of it; and without
which it would be in darkness, corrupt and putrefy,
and. not continue long: and I will cause the shower to
come down in his season; which, in the spiritual sense,
may design the Gospel; which, like a shower of rain,
comes from God; descends from heaven; is a gift of
God; which falls according to divine direction;re-
freshes, revives, and makes fruitful; brings a plenty.of
divine blessings with it; and comes in season, at its
proper time; and is a word in season to weary souls:
thereshall be showers of blessings; w h ich the Gospel bri rigs
with it; spiritual blessings, blessings of grace; such as
peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life: these,
like showers, come from God ;' are free-grace gifts of
his, of which there is a large abundance; and which
descend on Mann, Zion the church of God; which is
another Gerizzim, on which the blessings are pro-
nounced, Psai. cxxxiii. 3. see Isa. Iv. 10, 11, Zech. x. 1.
Ver. 27. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit,
&c.] Such as are trees of righteousness, rooted in
Christ, and planted in Iris church, and watered with his
grace; these bring forth, bear, and are filled with the
fruits of righteousness by him: and the earth shall yield
her increase; the fallow ground of men's hearts being
broke up, and the seed of the word and of divine grace
being sown in them, they bring forth fruit, some thirty,
some sixty, and some an hundred fold; see Psal. lxvii.
1, 2, 6, 7. this, and what goes before, may be literally
understood of the land of Canaan, and the fruitfulness
of it, when the Jews shall again possess it; to which
the next clause seems to have some respect: and they
shall be safe in their land; no enemy to disturb them,
to invade or do any acts of violence to them: this will
be when the Jews are converted, and become Chris-
tians; and antichrist destroyed; they will have none
but Christian powers about them, who will be their pro-
tection. This is true, in a spiritual sense, of all the
saints, who are under the care and government of
Christ their Shepherd and Prince: and shall know that
I am the Lord; Jehovall their righteousness, SaySour
and Redeemer: when I t.ave broken the bands of their
yolce; of sin, Satan, and the law, and of all enemies:
and delivered them out of the hand of those that served
themselves of them; or made them their servants, to
whom they were subject; literally, the nations of the
world, among whom they are dispersed; and figura-
tively, sin, whose servants men in a state of nature
are; and Satan,'by whom they are led captive; and
the law, under which' they are held as transgressors;
and all other spiritual enemies; see Luke i. 74, 75.
Vet. 28. And they shall no more be a prey to the
Heathen, &c.] To. the Papists, who shall now be pe-
rished out of the !and, Psal. x. 16: neither shall, the
beasts of the land devour them; neither that beast which
rose up out of the Sea, nor that which came up out of
the earth, Rev. xiii. 1, 11. the pope, both in his secular
and ecclesiastic p6wer, being destroyed. So the Tar-
gum," and the kingdoms of the earth shall not con-
" sume them ;" the antichristian kingdoms: but theb,
shall dwell safely, and none shah make them afraid;
see the notes on ver. 25, 27.
Ver. 29. And I will raise up for them a plant of re-
nown, &c.] Or, for a name; or, of a name{t}; a famous
one: this is to be understood, not of the Jewish nation
itself, as the Targum," and I will raise up for them a
"plantation for standing ;" or which shall continue;
but of the Messiah, and not of his incarnation, when h;e
sprung up as a tender plant out of the dry ground, and
as a branch out of the roots of Jesse, being on that ac-
Count often spoken of as a branch; see Isa. xi. 1. and
iSiS. 2. Zech. iii. 8. and vi. 12. but of him in a more
raised and exalted state, as grown up to a stately tree,
a goodly cedar, as in oh. xvii. c2.3. when his interest and
kingdom should be great and glorious in the world, as
it will be at the time of the conversion of the Jews;
and it is spoken of his manifestation to them as a plant
of renown, or as a renowned plant, the true vine and
tree of life; or as a famous renowned person, one of
name; whose glorious names and titles .are Shiloh, the
Messiah, Iramanuel, Jehovah our righteousness, Jesus
the SaySour, the Word of God, the King of kings, and
Lord of lords: and they shall be no more consumed with
hunger in the land; the Targum is, "they shall no
"more move from place to place through famine in
"the land ;" and which is to be understood, not of hun-
ger through a famine of bread and water, but of hear-
ing the word of the Lord; which they shall now have,
and hear, and believe, and so have food for their souls,
and hunger no more; as those do not who believe in
Christ, John vi. 35. for this plant raised up for them,
and pointed out to them, the tree of li.fe, Christ Jesus,
bears all manner of precious fruit, sweet tothe taste,
and nourishing to the souls of his people; under his
shadow they sit, and his fruit is sweet to them; and
with him is bread enough, and to spare; so that there
is no want, nor fear.of constimption with hunger,
where he is: neither bear the shame of the Heathen any
more; being called by them Jews, in away of taunt, a
proverb, and a curse; and outcasts, whom none seek
after; but now they shall nomore be termed forsaken,
Or called desolate, but instead thcreofHephzi-bah and
Beulah; see Jer. xxx. 17. Isa. lxii. 4, 12.
Ver. 30. Thus shall they lcnow that [ the Lord their
God am with them, &c.] Granting them his gracious
and powerful presence, by all the above instances of

{t} \^Mvl ejm\^ plantato in nemen, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius,
Starckius; plantam celebri nomine, Tigurine version; plantam in
nomen, Vatablus.