not come within their cityP; but it is in dependence on Christ that we defy all our enemies, and say without fear, that " the blind and the lame shall repel them all." " His is the king- dom, and his the power ; and his shall be the glory, for ever and ever."]
p 2 Sam. v. 6—8.
Isai. xxxv. 1, 2. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose : it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing : the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.
AS the planting of the Jews in Canaan was ac- companied with the slaughter of the Canaanites, so in every age the establishment of God's Church on earth is represented as immediately connected with, and in a measure consequent upon, the judgments inflicted on her enemies. This appears, as in many other places, so especially from the words of our text ; which are a continuation of the prophecy contained in the preceding chapter, or rather, a transition from one part of the subject to another part of the same subject. In the foregoing chapter, the destruction of the Edomites was predicted, as introductory to the enlargement of the Redeemer's kingdom. But the devastation of their country by Nebuchadnezzar did not by any means correspond with the strong expressions used to describe it ; nor did the reforma- tion under Hezekiah at all answer to the exalted terms in which the prosperity of Zion is set forth. The true sense of the passage must be found in events yet future. Edom is here considered as a type of all the Church's enemies, which at some future period will be fearfully destroyed ; and then will the Church be enlarged and prosper, in a way that has never yet been seen upon earth. " For them," that is, for those judgments before spoken of, " will the wilder- ness and the solitary place be glad," because they