CHAP. XXV.
The prophet praises God, for abasing his haughty foes, and protecting his afflicted people, 1-5. He predicts the salvation of Christ, the success of the gospel, and the triumphs of the church over all opposers, 6-12.
name:
O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy for thou hast done wonderful things ; thy
counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 2 For thou hast made dof a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city: it shall never be built .
3 Therefore shall the strong people
a 26:13. 61:10. Ex. 15:2. 1 Chr. 29:10-20. Ps. 99:5. 118: 28. 145:1. 146:2. Rev. 5:914. 7:12.
b Ps. 40.5. 78:4. 98:1. 107:8,15, 21,31. 111:4. Dan. 4:2,3. Rev. 15:3.
28:29. 46:10. Num. 23:19. Ps. 33:10,11. Jer.22:17-24. Ez. 38:17-23. Rom. 11:25-29.
Eph. 1:11. Heb. 6:17,18. Rev. 19:11.
d 12. 14:23. 17:1. 21:9. Deut. 13:16. Jer. 51:26,37,64. Nah. 3:12-15.
e 13:22. Rev. 18:2,3,19-23. f 49:23-26.60:10-14.66:18 20. Ps. 46:10,11. 66:3. 72:8- 11. Ez. 38:23. 39:21,22. Zech. 14:9,16. Rev. 11:13.15-17.
had broken their covenant, and "crucified the Lord of glory." Thus, in this world communities, and hereafter individuals, will be punished with a severity proportioned, not only only to the crimes which they have perpetrated, but to the advantages which which they have abused: and those who change the truths and ordinances of God, for their own conjectures and inentions, or human traditions, tradit will be condemned as the most heinous of those, who have "broken his everlasting covenant," or refuse to accede to it.
V.13-23.
There has in every age been a remnant, which have escaped the contagion of impiety and wickedness, and have been preserved from general destruction; but alas! they have hitherto been only as a gleaning. They, however, can sing the praises of God and glorify his name, in the hottest fires of persecution, and in all places whither they can be driven. They see and adore his majesty, in those dispensations which overwhelm the wicked; and they should excite each other to abound more and more in his pleasant service. Let us bless God, that "we have heard songs," ascribing glory "to the LORD our Righteousness," in this isle of the seas, this uttermost part of the earth: but we have also reason humbly to lament, that the number of true Christians among us is so small; and that our own graces and holy
CHAP. XXV. V. 1.
The prophet here praises God, not so much for mercies personal or national, already received, received, but in the prospect of the accor accomplishment of the prophecies, which he had just delivered: for even the vengeance to be executed first on the Jews, and then on other opposers of true religion, was intended for the benefit of the church, and its final complete triumph; to which every believer is more nearly related, than to any man_or body of men after the flesh.-Rejoicing in JEHOVAH, as his Portion, as well as his Governor, and penetrating into the remotest futurity; the holy prophet conceived the most exalted ideas of the divine perfections, and determined to extol them in the loftiest strains of praise.
His wonderful works to Israel in former times, and those far more glorious works which Isaiah viewed as already performed, accorded to the divine counsels of old, which had been revealed in prophecies and promises, and were essentially "faithfulness and truth." ( Notes , 11:11-16. 12:) - Thou hast done won'derful things; thy ancient faithful counsel. So let it be.' Sept.
V. 2. Egypt had been desolated in order to Israel's deliverance; the cities of Canaan had been destroyed, that the Israelites might possess their inheritance; Babylon and Tyre, those defenced cities, full of palaces, inhabited by strangers to God and his worship, would be made a desolation, and never be rebuilt; and even Jerusalem would cease to be the holy city, and become "a palace of strangers," after the Jews had rejected Christ, and soon after it would be made "a ruinous heap." Rome also is doomed to be destroyed, to make way for the universal success of Christianity. ( Notes , 13:18-22. 14:21-27. Rev. 18:) These, and other similar events, especially relating to the ruin of all Antichristian opposers of the gospel, in the latter days, seem to have been present to the prophet's mind, when he wrote these words. By "strangers," are meant, heathens , "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel," 'as St. Paul calls them, and enemies to it.'
duties are so feeble and defective. The difference, however, between the weakest believer and every unbeliever is essential: the former shall surely be preserved, the latter cannot possibly escape "the perdition of ungodly men," when the windows of heaven shall be opened to pour down vengeance, and the foundations of the earth shall shake, and it shall sink under the weight of man's transgressions, to rise no more.
Happy then are they, who take warning by the sentences denounced against others, or executed on them! for as surely as the predictions against the unbelieving Jews took effect, and were exactly fulfilled; so will every impenitent sinner siuk under the weight of his transgression, and rise no more. But the mystery of Providence is not yet finished: many kings with their armies must fall before the power of the divine Redeemer: the ruin of his enemies must make way for the universal establishment of his kingdom.
Then the Sun of Righteousness Lowth . will appear in his meridian glory; all other V. 3-5. These wonderful displays of direal or pretended luminaries will be eclipsed || vine power and justice, will induce many po -At Jerusalem, the partition-wall between body and soul of his expected felicity. "In that Jews and Gentiles was broken down by the e day shall they say: Behold, this is our God; we crucifixion of Christ: and thence the gospel have trusted in him, and he hath saved us shall bring down their pride, together with the spoils of their hands.
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the LORD God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and "the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it .
n 10. 2:2,3. Ps. 72:14-16.78:
68. Mic. 4:1,2. Zech. 8:3. Heb. 12:22.
o 55:1,2. Ps. 63:5. Prov. 9:15. Cant. 2:3-5. 5:1. Jer. 31: 12,13. Zech. 9:16,17. Matt. 22: 1-10. Luke 14:16-23. 22:30. Rev. 19:9.
p.49:6-10. Dan. 7:14. Matt. 8:11. Mark 16:15,16.
q Cant. 1:2,4. Jer. 43:11. Matt. 26:29. Luke 5:39.
r 60:1-3. Matt. 27:51. Luke 2:
32. Acts 17:30. 2 Cor. 3:13 18. Eph. 3:5,6. 4:18. 5:8. Heb. 9:8,24, 10:19-21.
Heb. swallow up.
† Heb. covered.
s Hos. 13:14. 1 Cor. 15:26,54. 2 Tim. 1:10. Heb. 2:14,15. Rev. 20:14. 21:4.
t 35:10. Rev. 7:17. 21:4.
u 30:26. 37:3. 54:4. 60:15. 61: 7. 66:5. Ps. 69:9. 89:50,51. Matt. 5.11,12. 1 Pet. 4:14.
tent, or fierce and terrible nations, to stand in awe of God, and render glory to him. The accomplishment of some of the prophecies against Babylon had this effect on the Persian kings : ( Ezra 1: 6: 7:) and this was a shadow of the future conversion of the nations unto Christ. It will then appear most evident, that the Lord has, from age to age, protected his Church of humble, poor, and despised believers, in all their distresses, and against every persecutor.
When the fury of their enemies menaced their destruction, as the violent hailstorm drives against the wall; his power preserved them, as in a strong tower, both safe and undismayed, till the tumult of their foes was silenced in their destruction. And when temptations resembled the sultry heat of the sun, in the sandy desert; he interposed his protection, as "the shadow of a cloud," till the heat was abated: and the flourishing prosperity of their most terrible assailants was at length brought low.
The verse ... more fully 'expressed would run thus: "As a thick cloud 'interposing tempers the heat of the sun on the 'burnt soil; so shalt thou, by the interposition 'of thy power, bring low and abate the tumult 'of the proud, and the triumph of the formida'ble." Bp. Lowth . (Notes, 4:5,6. 26:1-6,20, 21. 32:1,2,16-20. Ez . 13:10-15. Matt . 7:2427. Rev. 19:1-6.)
V. 6-8. These verses evidently contain a prophecy of the "sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow," ( Note , 1 Pet . 1:10 -12.) from the coming of Christ to the end of the world. The Lord of hosts would make a feast; in "the mountain of the Lord's house," (2:2-5.) on mount Zion, the type of the true church. ( Notes , Heb . 12:18-21. Rev. 14:1-5.) This feast would be provided for all people, people, or peoples, ( plur .) Gentiles as well as Jews, and would consist of the choicest viands, in variety and plenty, and of the richest wines well refined by continuing long upon the lees. ( Marg . Ref . Note, Jer. te, Jer. 48:11.5 Under these emblems all spiritual blessings, as conferred through his atonement and mediation, are shadowed forth. ( Notes , es, Prov. 9:1-6. Matt . 22 : 1-14 . P. 0.1-15. Note , Luke 14:15-24.)
in great
9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
11 And dhe shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and che
was diffused through the nations of the earth.
Thus the ignorance, delusion, and idolatry, which, like a veil, or covering, were spread over all the nations, would be removed, torn, and at length destroyed. ( Notes , 29:9-12. 2 Cor . 3:7-18.) This was begun by the conversion of the Gentiles in the days of the apostles, and has been in some degree carried on, by the propagation of the gospel dispelling heathen darkness, to this present day: and at length "the knowledge of the glory of God shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea." This will continue almost to the day of judgment; when, by the glorious resurrection of all believers to eternal life, and the final confinement of sin and misery to hell, "death will be swallowed up in victory." ( Notes , 1 Cor . 15:50 -54.
Rev. 20:11-15, ν . 14.) Then all tears will be wiped away, by the Lord himself, from the faces of all his people; every reproach will be removed from their character; an end will be put to all correction and rebuke; and from the whole earth they shall be gathered into his kingdom. (Notes, 35:8-10.54:15-17. Rev. 7: 13-17.21:1-4.) Israel is not here mentioned: but the reproach, under which that people has so long lain, and which will be turned into honor, by their conversion and restoration, is supposed by some to be specially intended. supposed when appeared on earth V. 9.
those who waited for him, welcomed him as their God and Savior: and as others became acquainted with him, they were ready, with Thomas, to confess to him, "My Lord, and my God;" ( Note , John 20:24-29, v . 28.) and to rejoice in his salvation. The church yet waits for him to come and set up his kingdom, and to turn all her mourning into joy; being prepared to welcome that event with triumphant praise, "honoring him, even as the Father that sent him." Every believer expects his final appearance, as "the great God and our Savior." ( Notes , Tit . 2:11-14.) -14.) And when he shall come, and "all the nations of the earth shall wail because of him," ( Note , Rev. 1:7.) these words will express the very heart of every one of his redeemed people; as about to receive the completion of his salvation, and the fruition in
12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.