Isaiah 45:8

Drop down, ye heavens, from above— Drop down, &c. and let the clouds pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and all kinds of salvation flourish; and let righteousness shoot forth together, &c. Vitringa is of opinion, that this strongly-figurative passage refers primarily to the blessings consequent upon the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity; but secondarily, and in its more complete sense, to that righteousness and salvation liberally imparted to man by the grace of the Messiah. The sense of the metaphor may be resolved into these positions. That God is willing, first, with the deliverance of the people to be effected by Cyrus, or after that deliverance and the time of Cyrus, that there should be a nearer alliance between heaven and earth than there had been before: secondly, that righteousness, as a celestial gift, should be sent down from heaven to earth, liberally and gently, and should widely diffuse itself among men. Thirdly, that the minds of men should be disposed to receive that righteousness; and that, fourthly, the faithful, together with righteousness, should be made partakers of the full salvation which God had prepared for the world; and fifthly, that all causes, celestial and terrestrial, should concur to produce this effect of the divine providence and grace. The prophet's ideas are taken from the spring, when, the rains descending, the earth opens to receive them, and is thereby rendered fruitful.