Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 4.djvu/86

80 had determined to cut off the name and remnant of it, so that none should be left, to have both the sons and grandsons of the king slain; and yet we are sure he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures.

2. The royal city is to be demolished and deserted, v. 23. It shall be a possession for solitary frightful birds, particularly the bittern, joined with the cormorant and the owl, ch. xxxiv. 11. And thus the utter destruction of the New Testament Babylon is illustrated, (Rev. xviii. 2.) it is become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Babylon lay low, so that when it was deserted, and no care taken to drain the land, it soon became pools of water, standing puddles, as unhealthful as unpleasant: and thus God will sweep it with the besom of destruction. When a people have nothing among them but dirt and filth, and will not be made clean with the besom of reformation, what can they expect but to be swept off the face of the earth with the besom of destruction?

24. The of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand; 25. That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. 26. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. 27. For the of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? 28. In the year that king Ahaz died, was this burden. 29. Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. 30. And the first-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. 31. Howl, O gate; cry, O city: thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. 32. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

The destruction of Babylon and the Chaldean empire was a thing at a great distance; the empire was not risen to any considerable height when its fall was here foretold: it was almost 200 years from this prediction of Babylon's fall to the accomplishment of it. Now the people to whom Isaiah prophesied, might ask, "What is this to us, or what shall we be the better for it, and what assurance shall we have of it?" To both which questions he answers in these verses, by a prediction of the ruin both of the Assyrians and of the Philistines, the present enemies that infested them, which they should shortly be eye-witnesses of, and have benefit by. These would be a present comfort to them and a pledge of future deliverance, for the confirming of the faith of their posterity. God is to his people the same to-day that he was yesterday, and will be hereafter; and he will for ever be the same that he has been, and is. Here is,

I. Assurance given of the destruction of the Assyrians; (v. 25.) I will break the Assyrian in my land. Sennacherib brought a very formidable army into the land of Judah, but there God broke it, broke all his regiments by the sword of a destroying angel. Note, Those who wrongfully invade God's land, shall find it is at their peril, and those who with unhallowed feet trample upon his holy mountains, shall themselves there be trodden under foot. God undertakes to do it himself, his people having no might against the great company that came against them; "I will break the Assyrian; let me alone to do it, who have angels, hosts of angels at command." Now the breaking of the power of the Assyrian would be the breaking of the yoke from off the neck of God's people. His burthen shall depart from off their shoulders, the burthen of quartering that vast army, and paying contribution; therefore the Assyrian must be broken, that Judah and Jerusalem may be eased. Let those that make themselves a yoke and a burthen to God's people, see what they are to expect.

Now, 1. This prophecy is here ratified and confirmed by an oath; (v. 24.) The Lord of hosts has sworn, that he might show the immutability of his counsel, and that his people may have strong consolation, Heb. vi. 17, 18. What is here said of this particular intention, is true of all God's purposes; As I have thought, so shall it come to pass; for he is one in mind, and who can turn him? Nor is he ever put upon new counsels, or obliged to take new measures, as men often are, when things occur which they did not foresee. Let those who are the called according to God's purpose, comfort themselves with this, that as God has purposed, so shalt it stand, and on that their stability does depend.

2. The breaking of the Assyrian power is made a specimen of what God would do with all the powers of the nations that were engaged against him and his church; (v. 26.) This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, the whole world, so the LXX; all the inhabitants of the earth, so the Chaldee; not only upon the Assyrian empire, (which was then reckoned to be in a manner all the world, as afterward the Roman empire was, (Luke ii. 1.) and with it many nations fell, that had dependence upon it,) but upon all those states and potentates that should at any time attack his land, his mountains; the fate of the Assyrian shall be theirs, they shall soon find that they meddle to their own hurt. Jerusalem, as it was to the Assyrians, will be to all people a burthensome stone; all that burthen themselves with it, shall infallibly be cut to pieces by it, Zech. xii. 3, 6. The same hand of power and justice that is now to be stretched ont against the Assyrian for invading the people of God, shall be stretched out upon all the nations that do likewise. It is still true, and will be ever so, Cursed is he that curses God's Israel, Num. xxiv. 9. God will be an Enemy to his people's enemies, Exod. xxiii. 22.

3. All the powers on earth are defied to change God's counsel; (v. 27.) "The Lord of hosts has purposed to break the Assyrian's yoke, and every rod of the wicked laid upon the lot of the righteous; and who shall disannul this purpose? Who can persuade him to recall it, or find a plea to evade it? His hand is stretched out to execute this purpose; and who has power enough to turn it back, or to stay the course of his judgments?"

II. Assurance is likewise given of the destruction of the Philistines and their power. This burthen, this prophecy, that lay as a load upon them, to sink their state, came in the year that king Ahaz died; which, was the first year of Hezekiah's reign;