Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_568.TXT

Text File | 1994-11-10 | 7KB | 130 lines

the second and personal coining of Christ: and it shall
be exalted above the hills: by hills may be meant petty
kingdoms, inferior to greater monarchies; or religious
:states, not of Christ's constitution; and the exaltation
of the church above them denotes her power over
them, to enjoy the one, and crush the oth'er: it may
respect the glory of the church, both as to things
.temporal and spiritual; for now will the kingdoms
under the whole heaven be given to the saints of the
most High; civil government will come into their
hands, the kings and princes of the earth being now
members of Gospel churches; so that the church will
be in a glorious and exalted state, having riches,
power, and authority, a large extent everywhere, and
a multitu'de of members, and those of the highest class
and rank, as well as of the meaner and lower sort;
and all of them possessed largely of th.e girls axed graces
of the spirit of God, and enjoying the Gospel and
Gospel ordinances in their power and purity: and the
-people shall flow unto it: in great abundance, in large
numbers, in company like the flowing streams of a
river; and may denote not only their numbers, but
-.their swiftness and readiness to join themselves with
the church of God, to hear the word, and partake of
the ordinances, and of all the privileges of the house of
the Lord. It may be rendered, they shall look unto
4t, as the word is translated in Psai. xxxiv. 6. and so
the Targum here, "and the kingdoms shall look (or
"turn their faces) to serve upon it ;" and this sense is
.preferred by many learned Jewish writers"; and the
meaning may be, that multitudes, seeing the glory of
the church, and the many desirable things in it, shall
look to it with a look of love and affection, and with a
wishful look, greatly desiring to be admitted into it.
In Isa. ii. c2, it is said, and all nations shall flow unto it:
not the people of the Jews only, now converted; or a
single anti,on only, or some out of that; but all the na-
tions of the world, at least great numbers out of all,
by far the greatest in them; such an increase will
,there be of the churches in the latter day.
Vet. 2. And many nations shall come, and say, come,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the
house of the God of Jacob, &c.] Iu Isa. ii. 3, it is, many
people, &c. see the note there; the sense is the same:
and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
pathS; the teacher is the King Mess;,ab,' as Kimchi
observes; the great Prophet of his people, the teacher
sent from God; and will in the last days teach men bv
his spirit and word, in a very plentii'ul manner, and
with great success: for the law shall go forth of Zion,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; these, ac-
cording to Kimchi, are the words of the prophet, and
not of the people, that encourage one another to go up
to the house of the Lord; but the sense is much the
same; for they contain a reason why the people of dif-
ferent nations would encourage one another to go to
the house of the Lord, that they might learn his ways,
and walk in his statutes, be.canse here the word of the
Lord is preached; the word which comes from God,
and is concerning him, his love and grace to men; the
word of peace and righteousness, of life and salvation,
by Jesus Christ: and the several doctrines of grace in-
tended by the law or doctrine of the Lord; the doc-
trines or' God's everlasting love, of election in Christ,
and redemption by him; of justification by his righte-
ousness, pardon by his blood, and satisfacti0n by his
atonement; as well as of regeneration by the Spirit of
God, and of perseverance in grace: in th,!se, and others,
now shall all the Lord's people be taught more clearly,
,tistinctly,. and comtbrtably; all shall know hit'n, from
the least to the greatest; and not only their light and
knowledge, under such a teacher and snch
will be very great, but their practice will be answer-
able to it; as they will be instructed in .all the .ways of
the Lord, and in the methods of his grace, so they
will walk in all the commandments and ord!nances of
the Lord blameless; see the note on Isa. ii. 3.
Ver. 3. And he shall judge among many people, and
rebuke strong nations afar off, &c.] That are in the
most distant parts of the world; not only the isles afar
off, but the remotest.parts of the continent, the Ame-
rican nations found out si nee. In Isa. ii. 4, it is, and he
shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many
people; that is, the King Messiah, as Aben Ezra,
Kimchi, and Ben Melech. Some render it, it shall
judge, &c. and interpret it either of the Church, the
mountain of the Lord's house; or of the word and
doctrine of the Lord; or of the Lord in the church, by
the ministry of the word., The phrase, afar off, is not
in Isa. ii. 4. which the Targum interpretsfor ever, 'and
the strong nations of strong kings; signifyin that the
kingdom of Christ should not only be to the ends or'
the earth, but should endure for ever, unto distant
time, even till it shall be no more; as well asshall
reach to distant lands, as to situation, and to the Gen-
tiles afar off, as to state and condition; see Ephes. ii. 14.
and they shall beat their swords into ploztF, h-shares, and
their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall not lift up
a sword against nation, neither shall the?/learn war any
more; which as yet has never been fulfillcd; but will
be the case when Christ's kingdom ap'pears in its glory,
and the kingdoms of this world become his, and all
the enemies of the church are destroyed; see the note
on Isa. ii. 4. These words are by the Jews ° applied
to the days of the Messiah.
Ver. 4. But they shall .sit every man under his vine,
and under hisfig-tree, &c.] A proverbial phrase, ex-
pressive of the greatest tranquillily, security, and en-
joyment or' property; see I Kings iv. 25 when persons
need not keep within their walled towns and cities,
and lack themselves up in their houses, but may sit
down in their gardens, fields, and 'vineyards, and enjoy
the fi'uit thereof; as the Targum interprets it," under
"the fruit of his vine, and under ,the fruit of his fig-
" tree." It was usual for persons in the eastern coun-
tries to sit under vines and fig-trees to read, meditate,
pray, or converse together, where they grow very large,
as were their vines; and even with us they are fre-
quently raised and carried over supporterS, so as to be
sat under; and of fig-trees, we frequently read in Jew-
ish writings of their being very large, and of their going
np to them, and praying on the top of them; and of
Sitting under them, and studying in the law there.
one of the Rabbins says {p}, he went up into his mustard.


{n} R. Saadiah, Abu Walid, R. Tanchuma apud Pocock in loc.
{o} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 63. 1.
{p} T. Hieros. Peah, c. 7. fol. 20. 2.