_THE PROPHET PRAISETH GOD FOR HIS JUDGMENTS, FOR HIS SAVING BENEFITS,
AND FOR HIS VICTORIOUS SALVATION._
_Before Christ 715._
THE deliverance of the church, with God's terrible judgments on his
enemies, having been exhibited to the prophet in vision, he assumes
the person, as it were, of this deli... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, THOU ART MY GOD— The elegance of the prophet is observable
in this verse, which he begins without any connecting particle or
introduction; bursting out immediately into praise, upon a sight of
the great deliverance spoken of in the last verse of the preceding
chapter. It is commonly thought... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU HAST MADE OF A CITY, AN HEAP— The prophet here plainly
speaks of the destruction of a city; but respecting what city is meant
interpreters greatly vary. Vitringa seems to have proved clearly that
_Babylon_ is meant, which was emphatically called _the city;_ which
was remarkably _fortified,_... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, &C.— These verses contain another gradation of this
triumphal song; the meaning whereof is, that the deliverance and
salvation which God had procured by his right hand for his people,
reduced to extreme straits, and, as it seemed, about to perish should
conciliate to him the reverence and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THIS MOUNTAIN SHALL THE LORD OF HOSTS— The words in this
third gradation are to be understood partly as a commemoration of the
benefit performed, partly as continuing and perfecting the prophesy
concerning it. The sense of the metaphor is, that God would provide on
mount Sion, for all people,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WILL DESTROY, &C.— Vitringa thinks, with the Chaldee, that
the _covering_ and _vail_ here spoken of mean Death; that mighty
ruler, who covers the whole race of _men_ with his black garment, and
hides them in obscure night; that _by the face of this covering,_
which is _the face of death,_ are... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL BE SAID— This verse contains the proposition of the
antistrophe, or antiphonal part of this doxology, wherein the people
may be supposed to sing in reply to the former part, which as we have
observed, was the song of the elders. It was to be sung _on that day,_
or at that time, in which... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IN THIS MOUNTAIN SHALL THE HAND OF THE LORD— In these verses we
have a confirmation of the proposition; and they contain two arguments
for the confidence and rejoicing of the people of God; the one taken
from Moab, Isaiah 25:10.; the other from the Babylonians, their true
or mystical enemies. Th... [ Continue Reading ]