Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

ing to this word, [it is] because [there is] no light, no 21 understanding, no piety in them. And they fhall pafs through it, hardly beftead and hungry; diftreffed and famished: and it fhall come to pass, that when they fhall be hungry, they fhall fret themselves, and curfe their king and their god, and look upward; that is, when unbelievers pass thro' the land, they shall curfe their 22 king or rulers for hiring the Affyrians. And they fhall look on the earth; and behold trouble and darknefs, dimness of anguish, they shall look upward and down ward, and fee nothing but perplexity and forrow; and [they shall be] driven to darkness, to gloom and accumulated distress.

འ.

LE

REFLECTION S.

ET us reflect with pleasure on the care which the prophets took to prove their prophecies authentick. They did not merely fpeak them, and commit them to memory or tradition, but wrote them in a plain, legible manner; and did it before witneffes, who probably fubfcribed the fame, and were ready to declare upon oath that they faw the prophet write or atteft it, that it might be read and appealed to in order to fupport the faith of the people in what they foretold. This remark tends to confirm our faith in the prophecies; and the fame remark, in fome measure, is applicable to the whole fcripture.

2. There is need of great refolution not to be led away by popular panicks or common errors. The prophet himfelf feems to have been in danger of catching the fears of the people, therefore it was that God warned him against it with a strong hand, with a confiderable force on his mind. We are ready to catch the groundless terrors of others, to imitate their example, and walk in the way of the people around us. We ought to watch against this, and labour after a fober fingularity; earneftly praying that God would fecure us against the infection of ill examples, and preferve us in the way of holiness and peace.

3. A holy fear of God is the best remedy against the fear of man. 1 Peter iii. 14. Sanctify the Lord of hosts in your

hearts;

W

hearts; and make him your fear and your dread; give him the glory of his power, providence, and promifes; reverence his univerfal dominion; fear his difpleasure; and acquiefce in his difpofals. This will keep our minds in peace; preferve us from that fear which hath torment: and he will be our refuge and strength, and a very prefent help in time of trouble.

Sa

4. Let us be thankful for the law and the testimony, and keep close to them. What is fealed up from the blinded jews, is opened to us, the difciples of Chrift, who have feen many of these prophecies fulfilled. Let us learn hence, to reverence and ftudy the fcriptures, to abhor the wicked practices of those who ufe fpells and charms, who pretend to discover fecrets and tell fortunes: this is heinous wickednefs, and ought never to be encouraged by any that believe in the providence and word of God. It is our duty to feek direction from him by prayer, and confult his word; to conform to it in fentiments and practice; otherwise we shall displease him, and wander in the paths of error, fin, and ruin. Let his teftimonies be our delight and our counsfellors; they will guide us in a fafe and pleasant way, and conduct us to a happy end.

CHA P. IX. CHA P. X. 1-4.

It is

The fame prophecy is continued as in the former chapter. here foretold that the troubles of Judah fhould not be fo great as thofe of the other ten tribes, because they should be but fhort, and then the promised Messiah should come.

I

NEVER

EVERTHELESS the dimnefs [fhall] not [be] fuch as [was] in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievoufly afflict [her] or, as it may be better tranflated, as the first time made vile the land of Zebulun, (that is, by the Affyrians,) fo the latter time fhall make them glorious, [by] the way

of

of the fea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.' 2 The people that walked in darkness have feen a great light they that dwell in the land of the fhadow of death, that is, the thickest and most perplexing darkness, 3 upon them hath the light fhined. Thou haft multiplied the nation, [and] not increased the joy; or rather, and haft increafed the joy to him, or to it, that is, to the jewish nation: they joy before thee according to the joy in harveft, [and] as [men] rejoice when they divide the fpoil, their joy fhall be exceeding great. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his fhoulder, the rod of his oppreffor, as in the day of Midian; as when Gideon overthrew the Midianites, (Judges vii. 22.) by fuch unlikely and contemptible means. 5-For every battle of the warrior [is] with confufed noife, with fhouts, and groans, and founding of arms, and garments rolled in blood; but [this] fhall be with burning [and] fuel of fire; referring to the deliverance of God's people by Christ, from the yoke of fin and fatan. The preaching of the gospel might feem an unlikely means, but it Should be fuccessful, owing to the influences of the fpirit, 6 which should be like fire, and spread like a flame. For unto us a child is born, unto us a fon is given; and the government fhall be upon his fhoulder: this deliverance fhall certainly be accomplished, for Chrift fhall be born for our redemption, and his name fhall be called, that is, he shall be the Wonderful, Counseller, acquainted with the counfels of God, fo as to reveal the most important truths to men, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the great almighty governor, and the father of the ages, or the difpenfation to come, and the Prince of Peace;

he

It is called Galilee of the Gentiles, becaufe it was peopled by many of the heathen, by reafon of its nearness to Tyre and Sidon, and to distinguish it

ly with the quor from the other Galilee; and thus it agrees exact

the verfe thus:

in the new teftament.-Bp. Lowth translates But there fhall not hereafter be darkness in the land which was diftreffed. In the former time he debafed the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he hath made it glorious, even the way of the fea beyond Jordan, Galilee of w the nations.'

k

Bp. Lowth translates it, The mighty God, the father of the everlafting age, the prince of peace.'

he shall be peaceful himself, and promote the peace of his 7 fubjects. Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there fhall be] no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with juftice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hofts. will perform this, for his own honour and the happiness of mankind.-The following verfes contain a prophecy of the calamity and deftruction of the ten tribes.

8 The LORD fent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Ifrael; because they would not regard it, therefore it fell upon them with great violence, as an inSupportable burden. And the threatening fhall be accom9 plished, for, all the people fhall know, and feel the truth of it, [even] Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, 10 that fay in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn ftones: the fycomores are cut down by our enemies, but we will change [them into] cedars; thus defying the judgments 11 of God. Therefore the LORD fhall fet up the adverfaries of Rezin against him, that is, Ifrael; and his enemies together; the Syrians, Ifrael's

being

conquered by the Affyrians, fhall be forced to allies in

against

12 Ifrael. The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they fhall devour Ifrael with open mouth, like a wild beast. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] ftretched out ftill; he will 13 continue to punish them. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they feek the 14 LORD of hosts. Therefore the LORD will cut off from

"

Ifrael head and tail, branch and rufh, in one day; 15 the rich and poor, the noble and the bafe. The antient and honourable, the prince and the magistrate; he [is] the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he [is] 16 the tail, the most contemptible of all the people. For the leaders of this people, their governors and prophets, caufe [them] to err, and [they that are] led of them [are] 17 destroyed. Therefore the Lord fhall have no joy in their young men, neither fhall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one [is] an hypocrite, a profane perfon, and an evil doer, and every

mouth

[ocr errors]

mouth fpeaketh felly; they have no pity on thofe that used to be the objects of complacency, or of compaffion. For all this, because all are alike corrupt, his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] ftretched out ftill. 18 For wickedneís burneth as the fire: it fhall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the foreft, and they fhall mount up like] the lifting up of fmoke; it produceth mifery and caufeth ruin, and the 19 high and low fhall be devoured by it. Through the wrath of the LORD of hofts is the land darkened, and the people fhall be as the fuel of the fire: no man fhall fpare his brother; civil wars fall be among them, and 20 they shall destroy one another. And he fhall fnatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he fhall eat on the left hand, and they fhall not be fatisfied: there fhall be a grievous famine, fo that they will be ready to eat their own flesh; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm; fhall prey upon those that might have defended them. 21 Manaffeh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manaffeh; even they who have been leagued together against Judah, shall devour one another; [and] they together [fhall be] against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] ftretched out ftill.

T

I

[ocr errors]

CHAP. X. WOE unto them, to thofe Ifraelites, that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousnefs [which] they have prefcribed; who are guilty of injustice and oppreffion, of paffing unrighteous fentences, and 2 those who put them in execution. To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, 3 and [that] they may rob the fatherlefs! And what will ye do in the day of vifitation, and in the defolation [which] fhall come from far, from the Affyrians? to whom will ye flee for help? what ally will ye feek to then? and where will ye leave your glory? your wealth that 4 you gained by oppreffion, who shall fecure it? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they fhall fall under the flain; because you have caft me off, and I have forfaken you, ye shall be taken prisoners and flain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] ftretched out still. REFLECT

« AnteriorContinuar »