Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_700.lzh/6_745.TXT

Text File | 1994-11-26 | 7KB | 127 lines

as for the church and people of God, there shall be
universal holiness am.oug them, and not a single Ca-
naanire to be found in the midst of them, vet. 20, 2l.
Ver. 1. Behold, the day of the Lord comcth, &c.]
Or the day when. the Lord will cotne, both in his spi-
ritual and personal reign; for this is not to be under-
stood of his first coming in the flesh, at which time
none of the titlags after mentioned happened; nor of
his coming to take vengeance on the Jews; but rather
of his coining to convert them: and Shy spoil shall be
divided in the midst of thee; not the substance of the
nations, divided by the Israelites in the midst of Jeru-
salem, 'as the Targum and Jarchi interpret it; but the
spoil of Jerusalem, when taken by the enemy. as is
after said, which should bedivided by them with great
joy and triumph, in the midst of it: this refers not to
the spoil of Jerusalem by Antiochus or the Romans,
but to the slaying of the witnesses, and the triumph
oftheir enemies over them, Rev. xi. 7, 10. or else to
the spoil and prey the Turks will come to Jerusalem
for, when it shall begin the possession of the Jews; and
who p..e. rhaps at firstWill have some success; see Ezek.
xxxviii. 12, 13.
Ver. 2. For t will gather all nations against Jerusa-
lem to battle, &c.] Meaning not the Romans, in the
time of Vespasian, for they were not all nations; nor
did a part of the city only go into captivity then, but
the whole; nor did any remain. in it: it seems right
to refer it to the gathering of the kings of the earth to
the battle of the Lord God Almighty at Armageddon,
Rev. xvi. 14--16. unless it may be thought better to
interpret it of the vast numbers, out of several nations,
the Turk will. bring against Jerusalem, to dispossess
the Jews of it, by whom it will be again inhabited in
the latter day; see Ezek. xxxviii. 4--8. and Kimchi
interprets it of the Gog and Magog army. The Jews,
in their ancient Midrashes {d}, apply it to the times of
the Messiah; which is true, if understood not of the
first times of the Messiah, whose coming they vainly
expect, but of the last times of the Messiah. And
the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the
wonzen ravished, and ha.if of the city shall go into cap--
tivity: this will be the'.time when the outward court
sqhall be given, to the Gentiles, the Papists; the two
witnesses shall be slain, and their enemies shall re-
joice and send gifts to one another, Rev. xi. 2, 7, 10.
this will be'a ti, ying season,' and such a time of trou-
ble as has not been known: and the residue of the peo-
ple shall not be cut off from the city; there will be a
remnant according to the election of grace; the city,
the church, shall not be wholly extinct; Christ will re-
serve a seed for himself in those very worst of times,
as he has always done: this cannot refer to the de-
struction of Jerusalem by the Romans, for then all the
inhabitants of the city were cut off, orcarried captive,
and none left; but, if literally to be understood, must
refer to what will be, when the army of Gog shall come
against it in the latter day; though these circumstances
are not mentioned in Ezekiel.
Vet. 3. Then shall the Lord go forth, &c.] Out of
his place in heaven, either in person, or by the dis-
play of his power; t.hat is, the Lord Jesus Christ;
whose name is called the Word of God, and is the
King of kings, and Lord of lords, described as a
mighty warrior, Rev. xix. 11, &c.: and fight against
those nations, as when he fought iu the day of battle :
the Targum adds, at the Rea sea; when the Lord
fought tbr, Israel against the Egyptians, Exod. xiv. 25.
and afterwards against the Canaanires, when they
entered the land of Canaan under Joshua: thus Christ
shall judge, and make war iu righteousness, and over,
come those that shall make war with him; and with
the sharp sword that goeth out of his mouth shall
smite nations, and with a rod of iron rule them,
and break them to shivers, Rev. xiv. 14. and xix.
11, 15, and ii. 27. see also Ezek. xxxviii. 21, 22, and
xxxix. 1, 8, 4.
Ver. 4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon
the mount of Olives, &c.] Where he often .was in the
days of his flesh, and i'rom whence he ascended to
heaven, Luke xxi. 37, and xxiii..o9. Acts it. 12. but
here he did not appear at the time of the destruction
of Jerusalem; wherefore this must refer to a time to
come; and seeing it is/certain that he will stand in
the latter day- on the earth, at the time of the resur-
rection, and will come down from heaven in liko
manner as he went up; it seems very probable that he
will descend upon that v_ery spot of ground from whence
he ascended, Job xix. 25, 26, 27. Acts i. 11, ltJ. The
Jews, {} have a notion, that, at the general resurrection
of the dead, the mount of Olives will cleave asunder,
and those of their nation, who have been buried in
other countries, will be rolled through the caverns of
the earth, and come out from under that mountain.
This is what they call gilgul hammetim, the rolling
of the dead; and gilgul hammeChiloth, the rolling
through the caverns. So they say in the Targum of
Cant. viii. 5. "when the dead shall live, the-mount
"of Olives shall be cleaved asunder, and all the dead
"of Israel shall come out from under it; yea, even the
"righteous, which die in captivity, shall pass through
"subterroneous caverns, and come from nnder the
"mount of Olives." This is sometimesf represented
as very painful to the righteous; but another writer {g}
removes this objection by observing, that at the time
'of the rolling through the caverns of the earth, we
may say that this rolling will be of no Other than of
the bone luz, out of which the whole b6dy will
spring; so that this business of rolling will be easy and
without pain; but they are not all agreed about the
thing itself: Kimchi saysa," there is a division in
"the words of our Rabbins, concerning the dead
"without the land (i.e. of Israel); some of them say
"that those without the land shall come up out of their
"graves; and others say they shall come out of their
"graves to the land of Israel by rolling, and by the
"way of the caverns; but this verse (Ezek. xxxvii. 12)
".proves that those without the land shall live, as the
"dead of the land of Israel; for it says, I will open
"yourgraves, andcauseyou to comeupout of yourgraves;

{d} Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 22. 3. & Midrash Ruth, fol. 33. 2.
{e} Targum in Cant. viii. 5.
{f} T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 111. 1.
{g} Judah Zabarah apud Pocock. Not. Miscell. p. 119.
{h} Pirush in Ezek. xxxvii. 12.