Against this discouragement a double relief is applied in the fol- lowing verses ; the one is a promise of full deliverance at last, the other an invitation into a sure sanctuary and place of defence for the present, until the time of their full deliverance came. The pro- mise we have in verse 19. " Thy dead men shall live, together with " my dead body shall they arise: awake and sing ye that dwell in " the dust," &c. Their captivity was a civil death, and Babylon as a grave to them. So it is elsewhere described, Ezek. xxxvii. 1, 2, S, 14. " I will open your graves, and cause you to come out of your " graves, and bring you into the land of Israel." And therefore their deliverance is carried under the notion of a resurrection in that promise.
Object. Yea, (might they reply) the hopes of deliverance at last is some comfort, but alas, that may be far off: How shall we subsist till then .?
Solut. Well enough, for as you have in that promise a sure ground of deliverance at last, so in the interim here is a gracious invitation into a place of security for the present. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers. In which invitation four things call for our close attention.
1. The form of the invitation, including in it the qualified sub- ject. Come, my -people. God's own pecidiar people, who liave chosen God for their protection, and resigned up themselves sincerely to
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him in the covenant, are the persons here invited, the same which he before called the righteous nation that kept the truth, ver. 2. he means those that remained faithful to God, as many of them did in Babylon, witness their sorrow for Sion, Psal. cxxxvii. pei' totum ; and their solemn appeal to God, that their hearts were not turned back, nor had their steps declined though they were sore broken in the place of dragons, and covered with the shadow of death, Psal. xliv. 18, 19, 20. These are the people invited to the chambers of security. And the form of invitation is full of tender compassion ; Come, my people ; like a tender father who sees a storm coming upon his children in the fields, and takes them by the hand saying. Come away, my dear children, hasten home with me, lest the storm over-take you ; or as the Lord said to Noah before the deluge. Come thou and all thy house into the ark, and God shut him in, Gen. vii. 1, 16. This is the form of invitation, Come, my people.
2. The privilege invited to ; Enter t/iou into thy chambers. There is some variety, and indeed variety rather than contrariety in the exposition of these words.
In this all are agreed, that by their chambers is not meant the chambers of their own houses, Ezek. xxi. 14. for alas, their houses were left unto them desolate ; and if not, yet they could be no se- curity to them now, when neither their own houses nor their for- tified city was able to defend them bc'^jre.
■Grotius* expounds it of the grave, and makes these chambers the same with the chambers of death. Ite in cubicula, i. e. sepulchra vestra. The grave indeed is a place of security, where God some- times hides some of his people in troublesome times, as it is plain in Isa. Ivii. 1, 2. but I cannot allow this to be the sense of this text ; God doth not comfort his captives with a natural against a civil death, but with protection in their troubles upon earth, as is evident from the scope of the whole chapter.
By chambers therefore, others understand the chambers of Divine Providence, where the saints are hid in evil days. So our Annotators on the place, and no doubt but this is in part the special intendment of the text.
Others understand the attributes and promises of God to be here meant, as well as his providence. And I conceive all three make the sense of the text full, i. e. the Divine attributes engaged in the promises, and exercised or actuated in the providences of God ; these are the sanctuaries and refuges of God's people in days of trouble.
Calvin understands it of the quiet repose of the behever's mind
Grotius on the place,
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in Gocl, but that is rather the effect of his security, than the place of it. It is God's attributes, or his name (which is the same thing) to which the righteovis fly and are safe, Pro v. xviii. 10.
Object. But you will, say, why are they called their chamhers? Those attributes are not theirs, but God's.
Solut. The answer is easy ; though they be God's properties, yet they are his people's privileges and benefits ; for when God makes over himself to them in covenant to be their God, he doth, as it were, dehver to them the keys of all his attributes for their benefit and security; and is as if he should say, my wisdom is yours, to contrive for your good ; my power is yours, to protect your persons ; my mercy yours, to forgive your sins ; my all- sufficiency yours to supply your wants ; all that I am, and all that I have, is for your benefit and comfort. These are the chambers provided for the saints' lodgings, and into these they are invited to enter. Enter thou into thy cliamhers. By entering into them un- derstand their actual faith exercised in acts of affiance and resigna- tion to God in all their dangers. So Psal. Ivi. 3. " At what time " I am afraid (saith David) I will trust in thee :" q. d. Lord, if a storm come I will make bold to shelter myself from it under thy •wings by faith ; look, as unbelief shuts the doors of all God's attri- butes and promises against us ; so faith opens them all to the soul : and so mucli of the privilege invited to, which is the second thing.
3. We have here a needful caution for the securing of this pri- vilege to ourselves in evil times, shut thy doors about thee. Or as the Syriac renders "|Tr:i behind or after thee, i. e. saith Calvin, Dili' genter cavendum ne ulla rimula diaholo ad nos j)Citeat. Care must be taken that no passage be left open for the devil to creep in after us, and drive us out of our refuge ; for so it falls out too often with God's people when they are at rest in God's name or promises, Sa- tan creeps in by unbelieving doubts and puzzling objections, and beats them out of their refuge back again into trouble ; it is there- fore of great concernment, in such times especially, not to give place to the devil, as the phrase is, Eph. iv. 17. but cleave to God by a resolved reliance.
4. Lastly, We are to note with what arguments or motives they are pressed to betake themselves to this refuge. There are two found in the text, the one working upon their fear, the other upon their hope.
1. That which works upon their fear is a supposition of a storm coming, the indignation of God will fall like a tempest ; this is sup- posed in the text, and plainly expressed in the words following, " For the Lord cometh out of liis place to punish the inhabitants ^' of the earth," ver. 21.
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