Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 4.djvu/76

70 done in the land, on which errand the king of Babylon's ambassadors came. To them the Gentiles sought; and Jerusalem, the rest or habitation of the Jews, was then glorious, v. 10. Then many of the Israelites who belonged to the kingdom of the ten tribes, who, upon the destruction of that kingdom by the king of Assyria, were forced to flee for shelter into all the countries about, and to some that lay very remote, even to the islands of the sea, were encouraged to return to their own country, and put themselves under the protection and government of the king of Judah; the rather, because it was an Assyrian army by which their country had been ruined, and that was now routed. This is said to be a recovery of them the second time, (v. 11.) such an instance of the power and goodness of God, and such a reviving to them, as their first deliverance out of Egypt was. Then the outcasts of Israel should be gathered in, and brought home, and those of Judah too, who, upon the approach of the Assyrian army, shifted for their own safety. Then the old feud between Ephraim and Judah shall be forgotten, and they shall join against the Philistines and their other common enemies, v. 13, 14. Note, Those who have been sharers with each other in afflictions and mercies, dangers and deliverances, in consideration thereof, ought to unite for their joint and mutual safety and protection; and then it is likely to be well with the church, when Ephraim and Judah are one against the Philistines. Then, whatever difficulties there may be in the way of the return of the dispersed, the Lord shall find out some way or other to remove them; as, when he brought Israel out of Egypt, he dried up the Red sea and Jordan, (v. 15.) and led them to Canaan through the invincible embarrassments of a vast howling wilderness, v. 16. The like will he do this second time, or that which shall be equivalent; when God's time is come for the deliverance of his people, mountains of opposition shall become plain before him. Let us not despair, therefore, when the interests of the church seem to be brought very low; God can soon turn gloomy days into glorious ones.

II. It had a further reference to the days of the Messiah, and the accession of the Gentiles to his kingdom; for to that the apostle applies, v. 10. of which the following verses are a continuation. Rom. xv. 12. There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. That is a key to this prophecy, which speaks of Christ as the Root of Jesse, a branch out of his roots, (v. 1.) a root out of a dry ground, ch. liii. 2. He is the Root of David, (Rev. v. 5. ) the Root and Offspring of David, Rev. xxii. 16.

1. He shall stand, or be set up, for an Ensign of the people; when he was crucified, he was lifted up from the earth; that, as an Ensign or Beacon, he might draw the eyes and hearts of all men unto him, John xii. 32. He is set up as an Ensign in the preaching of the everlasting gospel, in which the ministers, as standard-bearers, display the banner of his love, to allure us to him, (Cant. i. 4.) the banner of his truth, under which we may enlist ourselves to engage in a holy war against sin and Satan. Christ is the ensign to whom the children of God that were scattered abroad, are gathered together, (John xi. 52.) and in whom they meet as the Centre of their unity.

2. To him shall the Gentiles seek; we read of Greeks that did so; John xii. 21. We would see Jesus; and upon that occasion Christ spake of his being lifted up, to draw all men to him. The apostle, from the LXX, (or perhaps the LXX from the apostle, in the editions after Christ,) reads it, (Rom. xv. 12.) In him shall the Gentiles trust; they shall seek to him with a dependance on him.

3. His rest shall be glorious. Some understand it of the death of Christ; the triumphs of the cross made even that glorious. Others of his ascension; when he sat down to rest at the right hand of God. Or rather, it is meant of the gospel church, that Mount Zion, of which Christ has said, This is my rest; and in which he resides. This, though despised by the world, having upon it the beauty of holiness, is truly glorious; a glorious high throne, Jer. xvii. 12.

4. Both Jews and Gentiles shall be gathered to him, v. 11. A remnant of both, a little remnant in comparison, which shall be recovered, as it were, with great difficulty and hazard. As formerly God delivered his people, and gathered them out of all the countries whither they were scattered, (Ps. cvi. 47. Jer. xvi. 15, 16.) so he will a second time, in another way, by the powerful working of the Spirit of grace with the word. He shall set his hand to do it; he shall exert his power, the arm of the Lord shall be revealed to do it. 1. There shall be a remnant of the Jews gathered in. The outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah, (v. 12.) many of whom, at the time of the bringing of them in to Christ, were Jews of the dispersion, the twelve tribes that were scattered abroad, (James i. 1. 1 Pet. i. 1.) these shall flock to Christ; and, probably, more of those scattered Jews were brought into the church, in proportion, than those which remained in their own land. (2.) Many of the nations, the Gentiles, shall be brought in by the lifting up of the ensign. Jacob foretold concerning Shiloh, that to him shall the gathering of the people be. Those that were strangers and foreigners, shall be made nigh. The Jews were jealous of Christ's going to the dispersed among the Gentiles, and of his teaching the Gentiles, John vii. 35.

5. There shall be a happy accommodation between Judah and Ephraim, and both shall be safe from their adversaries, and have dominion over them, v. 13, 14. The coalescence between Judah and Israel at that time, was a type and figure of the uniting of Jews and Gentiles in the gospel-church, who had been so long at variance. The house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, (Jer. iii. 18.) and become one nation; (Ezek. xxxvii. 22.) so the Jews and Gentiles are made of twain one new man, Eph. ii. 16. And being at peace one with another, those that are adversaries to them both, shall be cut off; for they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines, as an eagle strikes at her prey, shall spoil them on the west side of them: and then they shall extend their conquests eastward, over the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites; the gospel of Christ shall be successful in all parts, and some of all nations shall become obedient to the faith.

Lastly, Every thing that might hinder the progress and success of the gospel, shall be taken out of the way. As when God brought Israel out of Egypt, he dried up the Red sea and Jordan before them, (ch. lxiii. 11, 12.) and as afterward when he brought up the Jews out of Babylon, he prepared them their way; (ch. lxii. 10.) so when Jews and Gentiles are to be brought together into the gospel-church, all obstructions shall be removed, (v. 15, 16.) difficulties that seemed insuperable shall be strangely got over; the blind shall be led by a way that they knew not. See ch. xiii. 15, 16.—xliii. 19, 20. Converts shall be brought in chariots and in litters, ch. lxvi. 20. Some think it is the further accession of multitudes to the church, that is pointed at in that obscure prophecy of the drying up of the river Euphrates, that the way of the kings of the east may be prepared, (Rev. xvi. 12.) which seems to refer to this here. Note, When God's time is come for the bringing of nations, or