Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_700.lzh/6_721.TXT

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the world unto himself. The covenant of grace, in
which salvation is a principal article, was made with
him; and he, as the surety of that covenant, undertook
it; and in the fulness of time being sent, came to effect
it; for which he was abundantly qualified, being God
and man in one person, and so had something to offer
as a sacrifice for satisfaction to law and justice, in order
to obtain it ; and could put a sufficient virtue therein
to answer the end, being the mighty God; and having
as Mediator a commission from his divine Father, he is
become, by his obedience, sufferings, and death, the
author of eternal salvation to his people; andin him
salvation is, and in no other; and in vain it is to expect
it from any other, or in any other way, than by him,
Acts iv. 12 Jet. iii. 23. Some render the word saved {};
as he was by his divine Father, when he was raised
from the dead, and not suffered to see corruption; see
Heb. v. 7. others, saving himself {}; when he raised him-
self from the dead, and thereby declared himself to be
the Son of God; and when he brought salvation to his
body, the church, which is himself,. Isa. ixiii. 5. lowly;
meek, and humble, as he appeared to be in the as-
sumption of human nature; in his carriage to sinners,
conversation with them, and reception of them; in
his ministrations to his disciples; and in not seeking
his own, but his Father's glory. Or poor {}; as Jesus
the Messiah was; born of poor parents, had not where
to lay his head, and was ministered unto by others;
See 2 Cor. viii. 9. and riding upon an ass, and upon a
colt the foal of an ass; which was thlfilled in Jesus of
Nazareth, Matt. xxi. 4.5. not that he rode upon them
both, but on the foal only; for so it should be ren-
dered, upon an ass, that is, upon a colt, the foal of an
ass {}. The Jews have a fables, that the ass A
saddled, when he went to sacrifice Iris son Isaac, was
the foal of the ass that was created on the evening of
the sabbath, that is, at the creation; and that the same
Moses set his wife and sons upon, when he came out
ofMidian; and the same ass, they say, Messiah the son
of David was to ride upon at his coming {}; but one of
such a prodigious age surely could not be called a colt,
or a foal; however, this fable shews the conviction of
their minds that this is a prophecy of the Messiah,
and that they expected the MesSiah to ride upon an
ass, according to it, as our Messiah Jesus did. And the
Greeks have another fable, which perhaps took its rise
from this prophecy, that when Antiochus entered the
temple at Jerusalem, he found in it an image of a man
in wood, with a long beard, riding on an ass {f}. And a
like falsehood is told by Tacitus {g}, that the Jews con-
secrated the effigies of an ass in the inmost part of the
temple; because a flock of wild asses, as he pretends,
directed them to fountaius of water, when in the
wilderness, and ready to die with thirst; and yet
he himself afterwards says, the Jews have no images,
neither in their cities, nor m their temple: and from
hence it may be arose the calumny cast upon the pri-
mitive Christians, who were sometimes confounded
with the Jews, that they worshipped an ass's head;
and which is refuted by Tertullian {h}.
Vet. l O. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim,
&c.] That is, the military one; signifying that wars
shall cease, Psal. xlvi. 9: and the horse from Jerusalem;
the warlike one; see Mic. v. 10. Ephraim designs the
ten tribes, and Jerusalem stands for the two tribes of
Judah and Benjatnin; anti the sense is, that these shall
be one in the days of the Messiah, as Kimchi observes;
and that all instruments of war shall be removed from
them, aud there shall be an e. ntire peace between them;
see ]sa. xi. 13. Ezek. xxxvii. 16, 19: and the battle-bow
shall be cut off; another instrument of war. The Tar-
gum paraphrases it, "I will break the strength ofthose
"that make war, the armies of the people;" all this
does not design so much the outward peace that should
be in the world at the birth of Christ, as the spiritual
peace of his kingdom; and that, as it is not of this
world, so neither is it spread, supported, and defended
by carna{ weapons; and also the peaceableness and
safety of his subjects, and the destruction of their ene-
mies: and he shall speak peace unto the Heathen; not
only the church of Christ, gathered out of the Jews,
should enjoy great spiritual peace, prosperity, and
safety; but the Gentiles also should share in it, to
whom Christ went, and preached peace; not in his
own person, being the minister of the circumcision:
but by his apostles, who had the ministration of re-
conciliation committed to them; and being sent forth
by Christ, went everywhere preaching peace by him,
who is Lord of all, unto all nations; see Ephes. ii. 17:
and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from
the river even to the ends of the earth; accordlug to Aben
Ezra, from the Red sea to the sea of the Philistines,
and fi'om the river Euphrates to the ends of the earth:
or, as Kimchi cites him, from the south sea, called the
sea of Edom, to the north sea, which is the sea of the
ocean; from the river that goes out from Eden, which
is at the beginning of the east, unto the ends of the
earth, which is the end of the west: or, as the Targum
paraphrases it, "from the sea to the west, and from
"Euphrates to the ends of the earth." The phrases are
expressive of the extensivehess of Chfist's dominion,
through 'the preaching of the Gospel, both in Judea
and in the Gentile world, before the destruction of Je-
rusalem; and especially in the latter day; see Psal.
lxxii. S. This and the preceding clause are allowed
to belong to the Messiah, by a modern Jewish writer '.
Ver. 11. As .for thee also, &c.] These words are
not spoken to Christ, for \^ta\^, thee, is of the feminine
gender; but the congregation of Israel, as Kimchi ob-
serves; or the church of God: nor are they the words
of Christ to her; he is the person before spoken of; but
of God the Father, who, having given out prophecies

{a} \^awh evwnw\^ & salvatus ipse, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius; ser-
vatus, Calvin, De Dieu. Schultens * observes, that \^evy\^, in the Arabic
language, signifies large, ample, spacious, and denotes amplitude of
riches, power, knowledge, happiness, and glory; and in this place
the word describes a king endued with most ample salvation, and
brought into this amplitude out of poverty and straits, darkness and
misery.
{b} Servabit seipsum, Vatablus.
{c} \^yne\^ pauper, V. L. Calvin, Jun. & Trem. Piscator; inops, Cocceius
{d} \^rye lew\^ id est, super pullum, Noldius.
{e} Pirke Eliezer, c. 31. fol. 32. 1. Caphtor Uperah, fol. 81. 2.
{f} Diodor. Sicul. Excerpta, l. 34. p. 901, 902.
{g} Hist. l. 5. c. 3, 4, 5.
{h} Apologet. c. 16. ad nationes, l. 1. c. 11.
{i} R. Isaac, Chizzuk Emuna, par. 1. c. 1. p. 43, 44. So Kimchi in Isa.
lxv. 19.
* Origines Hebr. l. 1. p. 18, 19, 20. & indicul. voc. Hebr. in calce ejus.