Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_700.lzh/6_741.TXT

Text File | 1994-11-26 | 6KB | 118 lines

Ver. 14. All the families that remain, &c.] That
will be in being in those times; every family apart, and
their wives apart; for the whole nation shall be born
at once, and converted, and all Israel shall be saved,
Isa. lxvi. 8. Rom. xi. 26.
In this chapter are prophecies concerning the purifi-
cation of the penitent Jews before spoken of; the re-
moral of idols, and false prophets, out of the earth;
the death of Christ; the destruction of the greater
part of men, and the salvation of a few of them. The
cleansing of such that mourn for sin, in a fountain
opened for that purpose, is spoken of, ver. 1. the utter
abolition of idols, and false prophets, and unclean
spirits, is affirmed, ver. 2. the parents of false prophets
will forbid them to prophesy; they themselves will be
ashamed of their visions; they'll throw off the rough
garment, which was a token of their being prophets,
and by which .they deceivect: they'll confess they are no
prophets, and what they are, and own the wounds
they have received from their friends on that account,
ver. 3, 4, 5, 6. and whereas the Messiah, as pierced
and crucitied, is spoken of in the prece. ding chapter,
whose blood is the cleansing fountain mentioned in
this, an account is given of his death; who is described
by his office, the Shepherd of the Lord; and by his
natures, human and divine, the Man his fellow; his
death is signitied by smiting with the sword, which
was done by the order of the Lord; the consequences
of which were the scattering of the sheep, and the
turning of the hand of the Lord upon them in a way
of mercy, ver. 7. and then it is declared that two
parts in three of the land should be cut off, and a third
part saved, but yet so as by fire, whom the Lord would
own as his people, and they should acknowledge him
to be their God, yet. 8, .9.
Vet. 1..In that day there shall be a .fountain opened,
&c.]] Which Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand li-
terally; btlt R. Moses the priest figuratively; and so
the Targum, which interprets it of the doctrine of the
law being open as a fountain of water; and so Aben-
dana, who compares it with Isa. ii. 3. but rather it
should be understood of the preaching of the Gospel,
and the administration of Gospel ordinances; though
better of Christ himself, the fountain of gardens, and
of living waters, from whose pierced side, of whom
mention is made as pierced in the preceding chapter,
sprung blood and water; blood for justification, re-
mission, and cleansing, and water for sanctification:
and best of all of his blood particularly, called a foun-
tain, not so' much for the quantity of blood shed, as
for its full virtue and efficacy to answer the purposes
for which it was shed; it being the blood not only of
man, and of an innocent man, but of the Son of God;
and may be said to be opened, because of its continued
virtue to cleanse from sin; it is not sealed, but opened,
and always stands open; there is no hindersave or ob-
struction in coming to it; not the meanness or poverty
of persons, they that have no money may come to
these waters; nor their sinfulness, even though they
are the chief of sinners; nor their being of this and the
other nation, it is exposed to all; to all that the Fa-
ther has given to Christ; to all sensible sinners: though
it follows, to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem; for this, as it may be literally understood
of the Jews in the latter day, including their great
men and common people, high and low, rich and poor;
so mystically of all the family of Christ the son of
David, and of all that belong to the heavenly Jerusa-
lem, even the whole church of the first-born, whose
names are written in heaven: for sin, and for unclean-
ness; that. is, for sin, which is uncleanness; sin is an
unclean thing, and has defiled all human nature, and
nothing can remove the pollution of it; but the blood
of Christ can remove it, and that being shed makes
atonement for it, procures the pardon of it, and
justities from it in the sight of God; and being
sprinkled on the conscience, removes it from that.
The Targum interprets it mystically of the forgive-
ness of sins, paraphrasing it thus, "I will forgive their
"iniquities, as they are cleansed with the water of
"sprinkling, and the ashes of the heifer, which is for
". sin."
Ver.. 2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith
the Lord of hosts, &c.] In the latter day, at the time of
the conversion of the Jews, when they shall turn to the
Lord, and their sins shall be forgiven, and washed away
in the fountain of his blood; for this refers not to the
times of the Babylonish captivity, and their deliverance
from that, which was now over, when idolatry ceased
among that people; nor to the times of,Christ, when
soon after the thlse prophets among the Heathens, and
their lying oracles, ceased, and Paganism in the Roman
em p ire was destroyed; but to the t i mes before mentioned,
of which it is predicted by the Lord, saying, that I
will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and
they shah no more be remembered ; meaning the idols
of gold, silver, brass, and wood; images of the Virgin
Mary, and saints departed, w6rshipped by the Papists,
Rcv. ix. 20, 21. for at this time mystical Babylon will
fall, the idolatry of the church of Rome will be at an
end, and will never be revived more: and also I will cause
the prophets, and the unclean spirit, to pass out of the
land; by the prophets are meant false prophets, as the
Targum explains it, even all the Popish hierarchy,
pope, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, &c. all
that wretched body,, which goes by the name of the
false prophet, who- at the battle of Armageddon will
be taken, and with the beast cast alive into the lake of
fire, Rev. xix. 20. and by the unclean spirit, or spirits,
the singular for the plural, are meant the three unclean
spirits like frogs, and which are the spirits of devils,
that come out of the mouth of the dragons beast, and
false prophet, the jesuits, monks, and fi'iars; these
shall be no more then on the earth, after these times,
Rev. xvi. 13, 14. Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the un-
clean spirit of the corruption of nature; but ,that will
not cease as long.as men are in a mortal state. This