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salvation, as a garment, and righteousness, as a robe; as a bridegroom decketh [himself] with ornaments, and as a bride adorn11 eth [herself] with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations; as seeds and plants in a garden seem to lie dead in winter, but in the spring revive and grow, so God will make his gospel spread, and the Jewish church remarkable through the world.

CHAP. LXII. Encouraged by the promises in the foregoing chapter, the prophet, in the name of all God's people, declares, 1 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp [that] burneth; until its deliverance and righteousness become illustrious in the 2 eyes of all the world. And God answers, the gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name; some say, the christian name; but it rather refers to a 3 new and better state. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God; thou shalt be precious and honourable to him, and his perfections 4 shall be displayed and glorified in thee. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, the object of my delight, and thy land Beulah, the wedded matron: for the LORD 5 delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For [as] a young man marrieth a virgin, [so] shall thy sons marry thee: and [as] the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, [so] shall thy God rejoice over thee; thou shalt live in harmony and love, and be no more separated.t

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I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [which] shall never hold their peace day nor night; ministers shall take pains to promote in their people a devout spirit: ye that make mention of the LORD, or, ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, 7 keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.‡

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The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn [to be] meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink 9 thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.|

The Jewish church is here represented as married to the Lord, and, for its unbelief, divorced; but hereafter it shall be taken into favour again, and shall be as much delighted with returning to its own country and living in it, as a bridegroom is with his bride.

It was customary in the east for youths that were never married always to marry vir gins, and widowers, however young, to marry widows. See Harm r's Observations, in foc.

The prophet here speaks of God after the manner of men, as overcome by importunity. This must refer to something fetme; for it is not applicable to the state of the Jews in anyt period. There is probably a reference to D. xii.

The prophet, firmly believing their general restoration, speaks of 10 it as now doing: Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people, cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; remove all obstacles, give them all assistance; lift up a standard for the people, to call them together amidst their dis11 persion. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughters of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward [is] with him, and his work before him; embrace the Messiah, in whose service you shall find great 12 advantage. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken; a people taken into covenant again, and never more to be cast out.

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REFLECTIONS.

OW welcome to our souls should Christ be, who came on so gracious an errand. How wretched was the state of mankind before he came ! Slaves of sin, captives of Satan, prisoners of death. But he proclaims liberty, communicates peace and comfort, and leads to everlasting joy. How venerable is the character of Christ, so richly anointed with the Spirit for this purpose! and how well has he executed his office! Let us rejoice that he hath done it; welcome him into our hearts, and seek comfort and salvation through him. Remember that the great end of his mission and ministration, and all the comforts which he bestows on his people, is, that they may be righteous; trees of righteousness, bringing forth the fruit of it abundantly, ornaments to the church, and serviceable to all about them.

2. How profane and impious is it to devote to works of charity and piety what is dishonestly procured, v. 8. Too much of this has been practised among christians. Many hospitals have been built and endowed, with the fruits of rapine and the spoils of the poor. God loves judgment in governors; and between man and man, in their commerce, dealings, and conversation; but he hates injustice and oppression; and those who think to atone for their dishonesty by such acts of charity, will find themselves miserably deceived, for the unrighteous shall not enter the kingdom of God.

3. How much is it the duty of all God's people to be constant and earnest intercessors with him for the prosperity of the church, and the advancement of religion! In how lively and encouraging a manner is this duty urged upon us! We are not to hold our peace, not to rest, not to keep silence, nor give God rest; all which implies great fervency and perseverance in prayer. It is not enough that the watchmen pray; but all God's people, all who make mention of his name, must also pray; otherwise they are not his people, for they want love both to God and man. He allows and encourages us to be importunate with him. It is very desirable that there were more of this devout, fervent spirit among us. The decay of

it is one of the clearest proofs of national degeneracy, and one of the strongest symptoms of national ruin. Whatever others do therefore, let us continue in prayer, and watch thereunto with all perse

verance.

CHAP. LXIII.

The prophet having described the prosperity of the Jews in the latter day, proceeds to describe the day of vengeance on their enemies, which he had just mentioned. (See ch. Ixi. 2.) They are called Edomites, because these were the ancient enemies of God's people; and the beginning of the chapter is parallel to several passages in the Revelations which refer to this event. There, as in Ezekiel, their enemies are called Gog and Magog; these shall attack them after their settlement, but be destroyed by the immediate hand of heaven. The prophet uses a dramatic form, or dialogue.

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HO [is] this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah,* this [that is] glorious in his ap parel, travelling in the greatness of his strength, with an air of majesty, and not like one fatigued or wounded? The heroic warrior is represented as answering, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save; I, the Messiah, who am faithful 10 all my firom2 ises. Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, sprinkled with blood, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat? 3 The Messiah answers, I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the people [there was] none with me :† for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, as easily and effectually as grapes are crushed in a wine press; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my 4 raiment. For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed, the time when they shall be redeemed, is 5 come. And I looked, and [there was none to help; and I wondered that [there was] none to uphold therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld 6 me; that is, my zeal and concern for my people. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth. The church then breaks out into grateful acknowledgments of former favours, as an encouragement to hope for what it promised.

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I will mention the loving kindnesses of the LORD, [and] the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and 8 according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. For he

A chief city; though. as Edom signifies red, and Bozrah vintage, these may be general expressions for conquered enemies."

The whole of this verse intimates, that the final ruin of the enemies of the converted Jews shall not be owing to human means or power, but to the immediate hand of God.

said, Surely they [are] my people, children [that] will not lie; they are the children of my servants in covenant with me, and will not be false and treacherous: so he was their Saviour; he acted as 9 if they had been faithful. In all their affliction he was afflicted, he was tenderly affected, and sympathized with them, and the angel of his presence, that is, Christ, whom they tempted in the wilderness, saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them ;* 10 and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit, which directed Moses and the elders of Israel; therefore he was turned to be their enemy, 11 [and] he fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, [and] his people, [saying,] Where [is] he that brought them up out of the sea, with the shepherd, or shepherds, of his flock, that is, Moses and Aaron? where [is] he that put 12 his holy Spirit within him?† That led [them] by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, 13 to make himself an everlasting name? That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, [that] they should not stumble? as a horse runs safely and swiftly in a plain open 14 country: As a beast goeth down into the valley to feed where he finds abundance, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people into Canaan, to make thyself a glorious name. Then follows a prayer suited to the present case of the Jews, in their dispersion, which is continued to the end of the next chapter.

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Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where [is] thy zeal, thy great compassion, and thy strength, the sounding, or multitude, of thy bowels, and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained? 16 are they quite gone? Doubtless thou [art] our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not; though they are dead and gone, and can afford us no relief, or, if they could, would not, because we have been so wicked; yet thou, O LORD, [art] our father, our redeemer; thy name [is] from 17 everlasting; O deliver us for the sake of thy name. O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? [and] hardened our heart from thy fear? why hast thou suffered us to do it, and done those things in the course of thy providence, from which thou knewest our perverse heart would take occasion to depart from thee? Return to us in mercy, for thy servants' sake, the 18 tribes of thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have possessed [it] but a little while our adversaries have trodden 19 down thy sanctuary.‡ We are [thine :] thou never bearest rule over them; they were not called by thy name; we are

Bp. Lowth translates the passage thus: It was not an enzey nor an engel of his presence that saved them; through his love and his indulgence he himself redemed them.

+ By an elegant figure God is represented as recollecting their former importance, as an argument to show them favour, though undeserving.

This Isaiah foresaw, and therefore prepared this prayer for the people; and this is the case with the holy land; it was destroyed by the Romans, is possessed by the Turks, and thus trodden under foot of the Gentiles.

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thy covenant people, and they are not; or rather, we have long been as those over whom thou didst not rule, who have not been called by thy name : which sense agrees well with the present condition of the Jews.

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REFLECTIONS.

OW glorious is the character of Christ, as here described. What a great and majestic Saviour! He speaks in rightcousness; his commands are all righteous, and he is faithful to his promises. He is able to save his people in the greatest extremity, and to overcome their most numerous and mighty enemies. How safely then may we trust in him! How secure are the interests of the church, and those of every particular believer, in such mighty and gracious hands!

2. Let us learn carefully to remember, and seriously to mention, the loving kindness of the Lord. What a variety of strong expressions does the prophet, in the name of the church, use to describe it! Let it teach us to remember his goodness to us, to our families, to our country, and to the church of God. This will show us the baseness and guilt of our own ingratitude and rebellion, and thus lead us to repentance; and it will encourage our hope in him, notwithstanding our guilt and unworthiness.

3. From the covenant relation between God and his people, he may reasonably expect faithfulness from them, and they salvation from him. His people are children that will not lie; their character is, that they do not dissemble in their covenant transactions, but are sincere and honest; they mean what they say, and perform what they promise. If they do not this, whatever they may think of themselves, they are not God's children; but children of the devil, who was a liar from the beginning. If we are faithful, he will be our Saviour; will deliver us from sin and hell, and conduct us to immortal glory. But if we rebel, and vex his holy Spirit, that strives with us, he will turn to be our enemy, and will fight against us; we shall lose our best friend, and fall into the hands of the most formidable enemy.

4. We may from this chapter draw many noble arguments and encouragements in prayer, especially in time of trouble. We may observe God's tender regard to his people: he is afflicted in the affliction; like a tender parent sympathizing with a sick child; his bowels yearn over his suffering servants. He is so good that he makes his former mercies an argument to bestow further favours; which men would rather consider as an argument against doing it. Let us think of our covenant relation to him; and plead these things in prayer: let fatherless children especially, remember, that though their parents are ignorant of them, and acknowledge them not, yet God is their father, and his name is everlasting. Let them seriously address him under that title; and in him the fatherless will find mercy.

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