_A SONG INCITING TO CONFIDENCE IN GOD, FOR HIS JUDGMENTS, AND FOR HIS
FAVOUR TO HIS PEOPLE. AN EXHORTATION TO WAIT ON GOD._
_Before Christ 715._
THIS chapter contains the second doxology, and is truly poetical. It
is twofold: We have first, after the preface, Isaiah 26:1 the song of
the true belie... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT DAY— That is, at the time of the deliverance which the
church had gained by the divine aid, which time is that of Simon the
Ethnarch and John Hyrcanus, if we take the prophesy literally; if
mystically, the times of the deliverance of the Christian church from
its great afflictions, which we... [ Continue Reading ]
OPEN YE THE GATES— We have here another chorus, congratulating those
who have been found faithful in affliction, and proclaiming that they
should have communion not only with the earthly Jerusalem, and the
earthly temple, but also with the spiritual and heavenly city and
temple; and the scene is so... [ Continue Reading ]
TRUST YE IN THE LORD— The fourth chorus, in these verses, contains
an exhortation directed to others to place their confidence in God,
upon the knowledge and observation of the present illustrious
deliverance vouchsafed. The fifth and sixth verses should be rendered
in the perfect tense, _He hath br... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WAY, &C.— Or, _The way_ [_chalked out_] _to the just is
perfectly right. Thou, most upright, dost mark out the path of the
just._ Here begins the confession, which is extended to the 19th
verse. In this verse the believers acknowledge the equity and justice
of the ways of God in general toward h... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, IN THE WAY OF THY JUDGMENTS— How excellently does this passage
correspond to the preceding, according to the interpretation we have
given! The holy confessors, persuaded of the equity and justice of the
ways of God, here declare with what disposition of mind they receive
the trial with which Go... [ Continue Reading ]
LET FAVOUR BE SHEWED, &C.— This passage corresponds with the former
in such a manner as to illustrate it. The chorus had shewn the
necessity of the divine judgments, and the disposition of the
righteous towards them. They continue their discourse, and say, that
the wicked, when God, out of his long-... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD OUR GOD— The holy confessors, having in the preceding verse
expressed their hope that God would perfect all his good works for
them, proceed to unfold that hope; after having already obtained their
deliverance in part with the overthrow and destruction of their
enemies. They say, that other l... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST INCREASED THE NATION— Vitringa renders the last clause of
this verse, _Thou hast far enlarged all the boundaries of the land._
The meaning is, that God had treated his people so kindly, as to
increase, adorn, and amplify them with various benefits of his grace
and benediction, thus concili... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, IN TROUBLE HAVE THEY VISITED THEE— _O_ JEHOVAH, _in affliction
have we sought thee._ Lowth. The 18th verse may be read, _We had
conceived; we were in pain; we brought forth as it were wind: As to
deliverance, it was not yet perfected in the land, neither had the
inhabitants of the world fallen... [ Continue Reading ]
THY DEAD MEN SHALL LIVE, &C.— _Thy dead shall live; my deceased,
they shall rise: awake,_ &c.—_But the earth shall cast forth, as an
abortion, the deceased tyrants._ Lowth. The present period, which
closes this confession, is excellent; wherein the pious declare, in
the beginning of the deliverance... [ Continue Reading ]
COME, MY PEOPLE— These verses contain the _conclusion_ wherewith the
prophet, speaking in the name of God, seals and confirms the hope of
the pious—delivered in the preceding verses. He exhorts them to
_hide themselves,_ and patiently to await, amid the exercises of piety
and devotion, _for a short... [ Continue Reading ]