_GOD PROMISETH TO THE CAPTIVITY A GRACIOUS RETURN, A JOYFUL STATE, A SETTLED GOVERNMENT, CHRIST, THE BRANCH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, A CONTINUANCE OF KINGDOM AND PRIESTHOOD, AND A STABILITY OF A BLESSED SEED._ _Before Christ 589._ THIS chapter contains a prophesy, which, though applicable in some parts t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MAKER THEREOF— _Who made the earth._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
CALL UNTO ME— The spirit of prophesy commonly came upon the prophets in such a manner that they could not resist its impressions. At other times they prayed for, they earnestly requested, the influence of the Spirit: Daniel intreated the Lord to give him the explanation of his visions. See Daniel 9:... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH ARE THROWN DOWN BY THE MOUNTS— _Which are thrown down for the raising of mounts;_ Jeremiah 33:5 _and to give space for those who are about to come to fight with the Chaldeans; and to fill up the number of the dead bodies of men,_ &c. Houbigant. Others read—_Mounts, and by the sword of the Chal... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, &C.— _Behold, I will bring them,_ &c. "I will restore them to their wonted prosperity; I will re-establish their walls; I will repair their breaches.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL CLEANSE THEM— "I will no more remember their iniquity, or the iniquity of their fathers; their captivity, and the evils which they have endured, shall be under my grace a kind of baptism to purify them." But, as Houbigant well observes, God will then only pardon _all the iniquities_ of th... [ Continue Reading ]
PRAISE THE LORD, &C.— By referring to Ezra 3:11 you will find that the Jews, on their return from captivity, made use of this hymn.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THE FLOCKS PASS AGAIN, &C.— See Leviticus 27:32. Virgil alludes to the same custom when he says, _Bis die numerant ambo pecus:_ "Twice each day they count my goats and sheep." Eclogue 3: The Chaldee explains the phrase of the Messiah: "My people shall be instructed and formed under the hand of... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THOSE DAYS, &C.— See the note on chap. Jeremiah 23:6. Many commentators render the last clause of the 16th verse thus, _And this is he that shall proclaim to her,_ or, _And he that shall call her, is the Lord,_ &c. Such qualities are given to the person here called _the Branch,_ as can belong to... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID SHALL NEVER WANT A MAN TO SIT UPON THE THRONE, &C.— Or rather, _There shall not be a failure in the line of David of one sitting,_ &c. From the Babylonish captivity to the coming of Christ, David was without a successor of his family sitting upon the throne of Judah or Israel, in any sense wha... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TWO FAMILIES— The Jews indirectly accuse God of breach of promise, in saying that he had rejected the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; which made the whole race of Jacob: others understand the tribes of Judah and Levi. The Lord fully answers this objection in the subsequent verses. REFLECTIONS.—1s... [ Continue Reading ]