_THE PROPHET, FOR THE COMFORT OF THE BELIEVING GENTILES, PROPHESIETH THE AMPLITUDE OF THE CHURCH, THEIR SAFETY, THEIR CERTAIN DELIVERANCE OUT OF AFFLICTION, THEIR FAIR EDIFICATION, AND THEIR SURE PRESERVATION._ _Before Christ 719._ THE great mystery of the obedience and passion of the Messiah havi... [ Continue Reading ]
SING, O BARREN— We have often had occasion to observe, that the covenant between God and his people is represented in Scripture under that of marriage. See the notes on Solomon's Song, and chap. Isaiah 50:1 of our prophet. If there were any doubt of the application of this chapter to the church of b... [ Continue Reading ]
ENLARGE THE PLACE OF THY TENT— The same figure and idea recur; chap. Isaiah 33:20 which, together with the following references, will sufficiently explain the present passage: chap. Isaiah 43:5; Isaiah 43:7 Isaiah 44:5 Isaiah 49:12; Isaiah 49:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THY MAKER IS THINE HUSBAND— See Jeremiah 3:20. In the original the verse may be divided into a stanza of four lines; for it is undoubtedly poetry, in which the first and third, and the second and fourth, are to be connected together. This will make the sense run thus: _For thy Maker is thine hus... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD, &C.— _For as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, the Lord calls thee against as a wife of youth, after she had been despised, saith thy God._... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR A SMALL MOMENT, &C.— The contrast, or antithesis, used in this and the following verse, illustrates in the most pathetic manner the mercy and affection of God toward his servants in general. Vitringa is of opinion, that the little time of dereliction here spoken of, refers to the yoke of the law... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS IS AS THE WATERS OF NOAH— To confirm the promise above given, a beautiful emblem taken from the deluge is here set forth; for, as God then swore that the waters should no more cover the earth, to destroy the human race, in like manner he assures his church that no persecutions or affliction... [ Continue Reading ]
O, THOU AFFLICTED, &C.— _O, thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, void of comfort; behold, I range thy stones in paint, and found thee upon sapphires:_ Isaiah 54:12. _And I make thy turrets of rubies, and thy gates of carbuncles, and the whole circuit of thy walls of precious stones._ The Almighty pr... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, &C.— The meaning of Isaiah 54:15 is this: "It shall come to pass, that enemies shall gather themselves together against, and oppose the church, but their endeavours shall become fruitless, and they shall fall." God, by his providence, would so order it, (as it follows in the next verse,) tha... [ Continue Reading ]