NOW GATHER THYSELF IN TROOPS, O DAUGHTER OF TROOPS - The “daughter
of troops” is still the same who was before addressed, Judah. The
word is almost always . used of “bands of men employed in irregular,
marauding, in-roads.” Judah is entitled “daughter of troops,” on
account of her violence, the robb... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT - (And) thou, Bethlehem Ephratah With us, the chequered events of
time stand in strong contrast, painful or gladdening. Good seems to
efface evil, or evil blots out the memory of the good. God orders all
in the continuous course of His Wisdom. All lies in perfect harmony in
the Divine Mind. Each... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE - Since God has so appointed both to punish and to redeem,
He, God, or the Ruler “whose goings forth have been from of old from
everlasting,” who is God with God, “shall give them up, that is,
withdraw His protection and the nearness of His Presence, “giving
them up:”
(1) into the hands o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL STAND - The prophet continues to speak of personal acts
of this Ruler who was to be born. He was not to pass away, not to rule
only by others, but by Himself. To stand is the attitude of a servant,
as Jesus, although God and Lord of all, said of Himself, “He shall
come forth and serve t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS MAN SHALL BE THE PEACE - This, emphatically, that is, “This
Same,” as is said of Noah, “This same shall comfort us” Genesis
5:29, or, in the song of Moses, of the Lord, “This Same is my God”
Exodus 15:2. Of Him he saith, not only that He brings peace, but that
He Himself is that Peace; as P... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SHALL WASTE - Literally, feed on, and so eat up. They who
were shepherds of their own people, should consume their enemies.
Jeremiah uses the same image. “The shepherds with their flocks shall
come unto her; they shall pitch tents against her round about; they
shall feed, each his space” Je... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE REMNANT OF JACOB - Micah (Micah 4:7), as well as Isaiah
(Isaiah 10:21), had prophesied, that a remnant only should return unto
the Mighty God. These, though very many in themselves, are yet but a
remnant only of the unconverted mass; yet this, “the remnant, who
shall be saved” Romans 9:27, w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE REMNANT OF JACOB SHALL BE AS A YOUNG LION - o: “What more
unlike than the sweetness of the dew and the fierceness of the lion?
What so different as the gentle shower distilling on the herb, and the
savageness or vehemence of a lion roaring among “the flocks of
sheeps?” Yet both are ascribed... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR HAND SHALL BE LIFTED UP UPON THEIR ADVERSARIES - The might of
the Church is the Might of Christ in her, and the glory of the Church
is His from whom it comes and to whom it returns. It is all one,
whether this be said to Christ or to the “remnant of Jacob, that is,
His Church. Her “enemies” ar... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY - Of grace in the kingdom of
Christ and of His Presence in the Apostles and with the Church; “I
will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee.” The greater the
glory and purity of the church, the less it needs or hangs upon human
aid. The more it is reft of h... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL CUT OFF THE CITIES OF THY LAND - So God promised by Zechariah,
“Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls; for I will be
unto her a wall of fire round about” Zechariah 2:4. The Church shall
not need the temptation of human defense; for God shall fence her in
on every side. Great cit... [ Continue Reading ]