_THE PROPHET, FOR THE COMFORT OF THE BELIEVING GENTILES, PROPHESIETH
THE AMPLITUDE OF THE CHURCH, THEIR SAFETY, THEIR CERTAIN DELIVERANCE
OUT OF AFFLICTION, THEIR FAIR EDIFICATION, AND THEIR SURE
PRESERVATION._
_Before Christ 719._
THE great mystery of the obedience and passion of the Messiah havi... [ Continue Reading ]
SING, O BARREN— We have often had occasion to observe, that the
covenant between God and his people is represented in Scripture under
that of marriage. See the notes on Solomon's Song, and chap. Isaiah
50:1 of our prophet. If there were any doubt of the application of
this chapter to the church of b... [ Continue Reading ]
ENLARGE THE PLACE OF THY TENT— The same figure and idea recur; chap.
Isaiah 33:20 which, together with the following references, will
sufficiently explain the present passage: chap. Isaiah 43:5; Isaiah
43:7 Isaiah 44:5 Isaiah 49:12; Isaiah 49:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THY MAKER IS THINE HUSBAND— See Jeremiah 3:20. In the original
the verse may be divided into a stanza of four lines; for it is
undoubtedly poetry, in which the first and third, and the second and
fourth, are to be connected together. This will make the sense run
thus: _For thy Maker is thine hus... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD, &C.— _For as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
the Lord calls thee against as a wife of youth, after she had been
despised, saith thy God._... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR A SMALL MOMENT, &C.— The contrast, or antithesis, used in this
and the following verse, illustrates in the most pathetic manner the
mercy and affection of God toward his servants in general. Vitringa is
of opinion, that the little time of dereliction here spoken of, refers
to the yoke of the law... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS IS AS THE WATERS OF NOAH— To confirm the promise above
given, a beautiful emblem taken from the deluge is here set forth;
for, as God then swore that the waters should no more cover the earth,
to destroy the human race, in like manner he assures his church that
no persecutions or affliction... [ Continue Reading ]
O, THOU AFFLICTED, &C.— _O, thou afflicted, tossed with tempest,
void of comfort; behold, I range thy stones in paint, and found thee
upon sapphires:_ Isaiah 54:12. _And I make thy turrets of rubies, and
thy gates of carbuncles, and the whole circuit of thy walls of
precious stones._ The Almighty pr... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, &C.— The meaning of Isaiah 54:15 is this: "It shall come to
pass, that enemies shall gather themselves together against, and
oppose the church, but their endeavours shall become fruitless, and
they shall fall." God, by his providence, would so order it, (as it
follows in the next verse,) tha... [ Continue Reading ]