Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_400.lzh/6_476.TXT

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with. the means of grace, with the sincere milk of the
word; to. which the Gospel is compared for its white-
hess a,nd purity, for every word of God is pure and
purifyrag; for assuaging the wrath the law produces;
R being easy of digestion, even to new-born *babes;
and its salutary nourishing virtue and efficacy.; and of
this there will be great abundance in the latter day;
see .Cant. iv. 11.1 Pet. ii. 2, & And all the rivers of
3udah shall flow With waters; .that is, the channels in
which the rivers run; these, in a time of drought, are
sometimes empty, and the bottoms of them to be seen,
but now full of water, and flow with it: grace is often
in Scripture compared to water. because of its refresh-
ing,, cleansing, and fructifylag nature; and rivers de-
note, an abundance of it; and the channels, through
which it is conveyed to men, out of the fulness of
Christ, are the ordinances; see Zech. iv. l2. and the
prophecy suggests, that these should not be dry and
empty, but that large measures of grace shall be com-
municated by means of them to the souls of'men, to
their great comfort and e. dification, and for the supply
of their w. ants ; see Ezek. xxxvi, 25. John. iii. & and
iv. 10, 14. and vii. 37, 38, 39. And a fountain shah
come forth of the house of the Lord; not meaning bap-
tism, as some; nor Christ, the fountain of grace, life,
and salvation; but the Gospel, the word of the Lord,
that fountain full of excellent truths and doctrines;
of the blessings of grace; of exceeding great and pre-
cious promises; and of much spiritual peace, joy, and
comfort: this is the law or doctrine of the Lord, that
should come out Of Zion, or the church, Isa. ii. 3. the
living waters that shall come out of Jerusalem, Zech.
xiv. 8. and' the same with the waters in Ezekiel's vi-
sion, that came from under the threshold of the house,
Ezek. xlvii. 1. it seems to denote the small beginnings
of the Gospel, and the great increase and overflow of
it in the world, as it does in all the above passages:
this is referred by the ancient Jews {x} to the 6rues of
the Messiah. And shall water the valley of Shittim ; a
p{ain or valley near Jordan, upon the borders of Moab,
at the further end of Canaan that way, Numb. xxxiii.
49. Josh. iii. 1. Benjamin of Tudela {y} says, that from
the mount of Olives may be seen the plain and brook
of Shittim, unto or near Mount Nebo, which was in
the land of Moab.. This valley or plain, as the Targum,
was so called, either from the shittah-tree,. Isa. xli. 19.
of which was the wood shittim, so much used for va-
rious things in the tabernacle and temple, that grew
there ;. and which Jerom on this place says Was a kind
of tree that grew in the wilderness, like a white thorn
in colour and leaves, though not in bighess, for other-
wise it was a very large tree, out of which the broadest
planks might be cut, and its wood very strong, and of
incredible, smoothness and beauty; and which grew
not in cultivated places, nor in the Roman soil,. but in
the desert of Arabia; and therefore one would think
did not grow in this plain near Jordan, and so could
not 'be denominated 'from hence: but Dr. Shaw · ob-
serves, that the Acacia is by much the largest and
the most common tree of these deserts {i.e. of Arabia),
as it might likewise have been or' the plains of Slaittim.
over-against Jericho, from whence it-took its name;
and adds, we have some reason to'conjecture that the
shittim-wood, whereof the. several utensils, &c. of the.
tabernacle, &c., Exod. xxv. 10, 13, 23, &c. were made,
was the wood of the acacia.  Or it may be. thisplace
had its-name from the rusheswhich grew on the banks
of Jordan, 'near to which it was ;.for so, is-the word.
interpreted by some {a}: and Saadiah Gaon says, this
valley is Jordan; so called, because Jordan was near
to a place called Shittim: however, b6 it as it will, this
can never be understood in a literal sense, that any
fountain should arise out of the temple, and flow as
far as beyond Jordan, and water any tract of land
there; but must be. understood spiritually, of the
same waters of the sanctuary as in Ezekiel's vi-
!sion, ch. xlvii. l, 8. at most, the literal sense could
only be, that the whole land should be well wa-
tered from one end to the other, and, become very
fertile and fruitful, by the order and direction of the
Lord, that dwells in his temple. The mystical sense
is best. Jarchi makes mention- of a Midrash, that
interprets it of the expiation of the. sins of the Israel-
ites, in the affair of Baal-peor at Shittim, Numb. xxv.
1, 2, 3. but the true spiritual sense is,. that the Gospel
shall be carried to the further parts of the earth;
that the. whole world shall be filled..and watered with
it, and becomefruitful, which before .was like a desert;
these living watersshall flow, both toward the former
and the hinder. seas, the eastern and west:era, as in
Zech. xiv. 8.. see Isa. xi. 9;" Some render it, shall water
the valley of cedars {}; the shittim-wood being a kind of
cedar, of which many things belonging to.the taber-
nacle, a type of the church, was made, being' firm,
sound, incorruptible, and durable; see Exod. xxv.
10, 23. and x'xvi. 26, 32. and xxvii. 1. saints are com-
pared to cedars .for their height in Christ, their strength
in him, and in his grace; their large and spreading
leaves, branches, .and roots/or growth in grace; and
for their duration and incorruption; see Numb. xxivo
5, 6. Psal. xcii. l3. a valley maysignify the low estate
of God'S people;-or be' an 'emblem of lowly, .meek,
and humble souls, to whom the Gospel lap'reached,
and who are watered and revived by it,. and to whom
more grace is given; see Isa. xl. 4. and lxi. 1. and
lvii. 15.. It is by Symmachus rendered .the valley of
thorns; and so Quinquarboreus {} says the word signt-
ries and designs such whoare barren in good works.
Vet. 19. Egypt shah be a desolation, and Edom shall
be a desolate wilderness, &c.] These two nations having
been the implacable enemies of Israel, are here put for
the future adversaries of the church of Christ, Pagan,
Papal, and Mahometan; who will all be destroyed as
such, and be no more: Rome iscalled, spiritually or
mystically, Egypt, Rev. xi. 8,. and Edom is a name
that well agrees with .it, it signifying red, as it is with
the blood of the saints: and it is common, with the
Jewish writers, by Edom to understand Rome; which
though it. may not be true of all places they so inter-
pret, yet is of many, and so here. Kimchi, by Egypt

{x} Midrash Kohelet, fol. 63, 2.
{y} Itinerarium, p. 44.
{z} Travels, ch. 3. p. 444, 459. Ed. 2.
{a} Vid. Relaud. Palestina illustrata, I. 1. c. 54. p. 351, 352.
{b} \^Myjvh lxn ta\^ "vallem cedrorum lectissimorum, Junius & Tre-
mellius, Tarnovius.
{c} Scholia in Targum in loc.