dispersed by the wind; but the flourishing produce of the incorruptible word shall never fade, nor wither, nor be removed, but shall expand its rich display of beauties in everlasting ages, when the Sun of Righteousness shall arise. The prophecy has, however, a fuller sense: there is a further meaning of the voices proclaiming this general truth at this particular era. It denotes that the coming of the Lord, by its preceding and accompanying judgments, had demonstrated this truth. As we read before, "the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day: for the day of Jehovah is against every one that is proud and lofty," * &c.

The next verse introduces a somewhat different figure: a party of women, according to the custom of the ancients, are assembled to celebrate some glad tidings, and to congratulate those whom the news concern.

9. Get thee up to the high mountain,

O' daughter' that bringeth good tidings to Zion,
Lift up thy voice with strength,

'Thou' that bringeth good tidings for Jerusalem,

Lift it up, be not afraid,

Say unto the cities of Judah,

"Lo, your Elohim!"

10. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come against the strong one,' And his arm shall have dominion over him.

Behold, his reward is with him,

And his retribution is before him.

Who the strong one is " whom the Lord will consume with the brightness of his coming," can now be no longer

* Chap. ii.

! VITRINGA, BP. LoWTH.

doubted. The reward or retribution may either be understood of the reward he will give to his servants, or of the recompenses on the enemy; or it may signify his own retribution which himself receives for the travail of his soul and former prophecies have shown us this last enemy, at this very time, engaged in the siege of Jerusalem: the daughter that bringeth good tidings to Zion, and to the cities of Judah, is the same as the prophetical chorus of women in the sixty-eighth Psalm.

God, the Lord, hath given the word;

66

Kings of armies flee they flee!

And she that stayeth in the house divideth the spoil.

Though ye are lying among the pots,

Ye shall be like the wings of a dove, covered with silver,
And her pinions with verdant gold.

When the Almighty scattereth kings,

Then is she white as the snow in Salmon.

To proceed with the prophecy :

11. As a shepherd shall he assemble his flock, In his arms he shall gather up the lambs,

And in his bosom carry them, gently leading the ewes.

This picture of the utmost tenderness to the weak and feeble is, at all times, applicable to the character and conduct of the Saviour, whether we regard him as the good Shepherd in the day of his flesh, or as now acting by his Holy Spirit in the invisible guidance of his people, though personally absent from them. But as a prophecy, which it certainly is, it must have a specific reference to some scenes of mercy in the last days.

12. Who hath measured the waters in the palm of his hand, Or hath meted out the heavens with a span?

Or hath taken the sum of the dust of the earth in a measure,
And hath suspended the hills in scales,

And the mountains in a balance?

13. Who hath directed the spirit of Jehovah,

Or as his counsellor hath informed him?

14. Whom hath he consulted that he should instruct him, That he should teach him the way of judgment;

That he should teach him knowledge,

And instruct him in the way of understanding?

This is meant, no doubt, as a rebuke to those puny reasoners of these latter days, who presume, in their vain philosophy, to scan the measures of the Creator-"THE ONLY WISE GOD;" who take up an argument against God, and talk as though they would instruct him. St. Paul quotes this passage, to show that the wisdom of man is not sufficient of itself to comprehend the things of the Spirit of God. He has quoted it on another occasion, † to show how wonderful, beyond all that we can conceive, will be the completion of the history of the redemption of man, as this redemption is completed in that restoration of Israel, which is to be to the world at large, life from the dead." "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out," &c.

The greatness of God is portrayed in the following verses; the nothingness of all created things; the insufficiency of human efforts to do Him service, should any suppose that he can be worshipped by men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things."

• 1 Cor. ii. 16.

+ Rom. xi. 34.

15. Lo, the nations are a drop of the bucket,

And they are esteemed as the dust on the balance ;
As an atom he taketh up the distant coasts.

The distant coasts, or countries beyond the seas, colonized from the old countries, ever designate the European nations; among whom arise, as we have learned from former oracles, the last adversaries to God and his people.

16. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,

Nor all its beasts sufficient for an offering.

17. All the nations are as nothing before him,

As an expiring breath, as an empty void, are they accounted.

Next follows, in the eighteenth and five following verses, an exposure of the folly and unreasonableness of idolatry. For whom the admonition in this connexion is intended, it is not difficult to see. Not for Israel, for the crime of that nation in the last days is not idolatry. But it is too well known, that the other branch of the visible church, the converted Gentiles, have long since defiled themselves with this abomination, and are at this hour "worshipping idols of gold and silver, and wood and stone, that neither hear nor see, nor walk, nor smell.". It is for these corruptions of his holy religion, that the great leaders and counsellors of the civilized world are to be destroyed at the appearance of the Just One: and this is the foe that conducts the last siege of Jerusalem. The twenty-sixth verses to the end of the chapter are spoken in the view of encouraging the waiting people of God: they are directed to view the starry heavens, and mark the wonderful regularity of these celestial bodies, the exactness and certainty in which they perform their appointed evolutions. To the same wisdom and power are

the saints of God to look for their safety, and for the accomplishment of all the promises. In trying times, the church is too apt to lose sight of the almighty power of her Redeemer; and we learn from other prophecies, that this will be a particular temptation of the last days.

Jacob and Israel are particularly mentioned in the twenty-seventh verse; and besides that these titles figuratively belong to all believers, we have already learned that the natural descendants of the patriarchs will again become conspicuous in the dispensation of the last times. To this people, in an especial manner, but generally to all the people of God in every age who wait for Him, are the concluding verses of the chapter applicable :

30. Even the young men shall faint and grow weary, And the chosen youths shall stumble and fall;

31. But those who wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength, They shall soar on the wing like eagles;

They shall run and not be weary,
They shall go on and shall not faint.

SECTION II.

On the Forty-first Chapter.

THE forty-first chapter is but a continuation of the same wonderful prophecy. "The distant coasts" are addressed, that is, as we have before observed, the nations of Europe, chiefly known to the ancient inhabitants of Asia by their coasts and harbours, which they visited by sea, and where they had first planted the colonies that