Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 4.djvu/80

74 constellations thereof, shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall hot cause her light to shine. 11. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 14. And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. 15. Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. 16. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. 17. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. 18. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

We have here a very elegant and lively description of the terrible confusion and desolation which should be made in Babylon by the descent which the Medes and Persians should make upon it. They that were now secure and easy, are bid to howl, and make sad lamentation. For,

1. God is about to appear in wrath against them, and it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands; The day of the Lord is at hand, (v. 6.) a little day of judgment, when God will act as a just Avenger of his own and his people's injured cause. And there are those who will have reason to tremble when that day is at hand; the day of the Lord cometh, v. 9. Men have their day now, and they think to carry the day; but God laughs at them, for he sees that his day is coming, Ps. xxxvii. 13. Fury is not with God, and yet his day of reckoning with the Babylonians is said to be cruel with wrath and fierce anger. God will deal in severity with them for the severities they exercised upon God's people; with the froward, with the cruel, he will show himself froward, will show himself cruel, and give the blood-thirsty blood to drink.

2. Their hearts shall fail them, and they shall have neither courage nor comfort left; they shall not be able either to resist the judgment coming, or to bear up under it, either to oppose the enemy, or to support themselves, v. 7, 8. They that in the day of their peace were proud, and haughty, and terrible, (v. 11.) are, when trouble comes, quite dispirited, and are at their wits' end; all hands shall be faint, and unable to hold a weapon, and every man's heart shall melt, so that they shall be ready to die for fear. The pangs of their fear shall be like those of a woman in hard labour, and they shall be amazed one at another; in frightening themselves, they shall frighten one another; they shall wonder to see those tremble, that used to be bold and daring; or, they shall be amazed, looking one at another as men at a loss, Gen. xlii. 1. Their faces shall be as flames, pale as flames, through fear; so some; or red as flames sometimes are, blushing at their own cowardice; or their faces shall be as faces scorched with the flames, or as theirs that labour in the fire, their visage blacker than a coal; or like a bottle in the smoke, Ps. cxix. 83.

3. All comfort and hope shall fail them; v. 10. The stars of heaven shall not give their light, but shall be clouded and overcast; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, rising bright, but lost again, a certain sign of foul weather. They shall be as men in distress at sea, when neither sun nor stars appear, Acts xxvii. 20. It shall be as dreadful a time with them as it would be with the earth, if all the heavenly luminaries were turned into darkness; a resemblance of the day of judgment, when the sun shall be turned into darkness. The heavens frowning thus, is an indication of the displeasure of the God of heaven; when things look dark on earth, yet it is well enough if all be clear upward; but if we have no comfort thence, wherewith shall we be comforted?

4. God will visit them for their iniquity; and all this is intended for the punishment of sin, and particularly the sin of pride, v. 11. This puts wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery, (1.) That sin must now have its punishment; though Babylon be a little world, yet, being a wicked world, it shall not go unpunished. Sin brings desolation on the world of the ungodly; and when the kingdoms of the earth are quarrelling with one another, it is the fruit of God's controversy with them all. (2.) That pride must now have its fall. The haughtiness of the terrible must now be laid low, particularly of Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar, who had, in their pride, trampled upon, and made themselves very terrible to, the people of God. A man's pride will bring him low.

5. There shall be so great a slaughter as will produce a scarcity of men; (v. 12.) I will make a man more precious than fine gold. You could not have a man to be employed in any of the affairs of state, not a man to be enlisted in the army, not a man to match a daughter to, for the building up of a family, if you would give any money for one. The troops of the neighbouring nations would not be hired into the service of the king of Babylon, because they saw every thing go against him. Populous countries are soon depopulated by war. And God can soon make a kingdom that has been courted and admired, to be dreaded and shunned by all, as a house that is falling, or a ship that is sinking.

6. There shall be a universal confusion and consternation; such a confusion of their affairs, that it shall be like the shaking of the heavens, with dreadful thunders, and the removing of the earth, by no less dreadful earthquakes. All shall go to wreck and ruin in the day of the wrath of the Lord of hosts; v. 13. And such a consternation shall seize their spirits, that Babylon, which used to be like a roaring lion, and a ranging bear, to all about her, shall become as a chased roe, and as a sheep that no man takes up, v. 14. The army they shall bring into the field, consisting of troops of divers nations, (as great armies usually do,) shall be so dispersed by their enemies' sword, that they shall turn every man to his own people, each man shall shift for his own safety; the men of might shall not find their hands, (Ps. lxxvi. 5.) but take to their heels.

8.7. [sic] There shall be a general scene of blood and horror, as is usual where the sword devours. No wonder that every one makes the best of his way, since the conqueror gives no quarter, but puts all to the sword, and not those only that are found in arms, as is usual with us even in the most cruel