make his People in Heaven #0 fit down to meat, and will come forth and ſerve them, Luk. 12. 17. But the Words ſeem to be berter rendred interrogatively, as they are in the Margent. and by ſome other In- terpreters, Do you, or, will you ack me of things to come concerning my Sons, and concerning the work of mine hanas will ye command me ? Will you nt allow me that Liberty which your ſelves take, of diſpoling of my own Children and Works ; as I ſee fit? Muſt Igive you an account of theſe matters ? Will you ſet Bounds to me by your commands, that I ſhall do this, and not thar according to your good pleaſure ? This is intolerable boldneſs in you ; and yet I am able to give a ood account of my Affions. And the Account 1s given in the following Verſe. | 12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it e: I, even my hands have ſtretched out the heavens,and all cheir hoſt have I commanded f.
e They are wholly and ſolely my Creatures, and therefore ab- ſolutely ar my diſpoſal. f I have commanded them to be,or made them by my Command, gx the Word of my Power : Compare > P/al. 148. 5. ;
E 13 I have raiſed him g up in righteouſneſs h, and I | Or, make will || direct all his -waysz: he ſhall * build my city, and
"Fature, ſo, thine, they ſhall come after thee, in chains they
£5. ſhall come over 0: and they * ſhall fall down unto thee,
Go. I» and they (ball make ſupplication unto thee p, ſaying,
©* x Cor. Surely God is in thee 9, and * there is none elle, there 25,vr.5. zz no God r.
I The wealth gotten by their labour. »» A tall and ſtrong Peo- ple, who yer ſhall uſe their ſtrength not to oppoſe thee, bur to ſerve thee, and to bring their labour to thee. » Either, z. To thee O Cyrus : Becauſe thou waſt ſo generous asto diſmiſs my peo- ple freely, I will give thee another, and a better recompence, even the labour of Egypt, &c. Or, 2. to thee, O my City, or my Capti- vity or Caprive People. For it is not ro be neglefted, that there are no leſs than ſix pronouns in this Verſe, all which are of the fe- minine gender ; which ſeemsnor to, agree to Cyrus. It is true which is obje&ed by the moſt learned Author of this parr of the Engliſh 47 notations, that the Scripture oft ſpeaks of States and Kindoms in the
wonderful Condeſcentions, as when it is ſaid, that The Lord wil
feminine gender ; but when it ſpeaks of any particular King orEm- perour, it conſtantly ſpeaks of him in the maſculine gender, as it doth of Cyrus in this very Chapter, ver. r. and elſewhere. And thus the ſeaſenf the place ſeems to be this, Jeruſalem ſhall not on-
fore we deſire to joyn our ſelves with thee. +» We are now con- vinced, that thou art the only true God, and that Idols are vain and empty nothings. Which was but very obſcurely fulfilled in Cyrus his time, but was moſt evidently and eminently accomplithed in the days of the Meſſiah, of whom Cyrus was a Type ; as alſo this deliverance of the Jews from Babylon by Cyras, was a '['ype of the Re- demption of God's People by Chriſt.
i5 Verily thou art a God 5 that hideſt thy ſelf z, O God of Iſrael the Saviour.
5 Theſeare the words of the Prophet drawn from him by the contemplation of the great and various works and diſpenſitions of God towards his Church, and inthe World. * To wit, from thy People for a ſeaſon : Thy Counſels are deep and and incomprehen- ible, thy ways and carriages are paſt finding out, and full of bezy- riful variety : Sometimes thou hideſt thy face, and withdraweſt thy help from thy people, and ſometimes thou doſt ſhew thy ſelf to be their God and Saviour, as it follows. And therefore it is meer that we ſhould patiently wait for the accompliſhment of theſe glo- 110usthings here promiſed to us. And thisadmonition 15 moſt fitly inierted here, to prevent the miſtak=s of God's people, and to in- timate, that theſ: promiſes were not to be {pecdily executed, but that they muſt expe and prepare for many and ſharp afflitions, betoie that time ſhould come, which yet ſhould end in their Salva-
tion. | 16 They « ſhall be aſhamed, and alſo confounded all
of them : they ſhall go to confuſion together that are * makers x of Idols.
# The Idolatrous Gentiles, as it is explained in theend of the verſe, Oppoſed to Iſrael in the beginning of the next verſe. x Either the artificers, or the chief ma1iers that tet them on work, and confe- quently all their Worſhippers ; although the Makers being moſt guilty, and the cauſe of rhe fins of others, might juſtly expe a higher degree of confulion.
I7 But Iſrael ſhall be ſaved in the LORD with an e- verlaſting Salvation y : ye ſhall not be aſhamed nor con- founded world without «nd.
y Not for a thort time, as it was inthe days of the Judges and of the Kings, under whom their dar:gers and calamiries did frequent= Iy return upon them ; but unto all ages, as it follows, whence it appears, that he ſpeaks nor only nor chiefly of their Deliverance out of Babylon, which was far from being compleart or perpetual, as a p= pears both from Scripture, as Ezra. 9. 8. and elſe-where, and fiom
. Other Authors ; bur of their Redemption by Chriſt, by which this ; was truly and fully verified, unto a great number of Iſraelitcs after
the Fleih, and eſpecially unto the myſtical,God's Church and Peo- ple, who are frequently c:iled in Scripture by that name; as the Ordinances and Priviledges of the Goſpel are commonly deſcrib- ed in the O.d Teſtament, by expreſſions borrowed from the Levi- tical ditpenfation. And thar this is the meaning of the place is evi- dent from ver.22.wherein' all che ends of the Earth are faid to be ſharers
18 For thus ſaith the LORD * that created the hea- »c1, 42-5,
vens, God himlclf that formed the earth, and made it, he hath eſtabliſhed it, he created ir nor in vain, he for-
n Right-ouſneſs, and Truth, and | med it ro be inhabited, * Iamthe LORD, and rhere is
z This deſcription "f God is here added, Either r. Todete& the vanity of Icols, by afferting,that none wasto be owned as the true God, b-ſides that one God who made the Heavens and the Farth, and the Inhabitants thereof: Or, 2. To demonſttate God's Suffici= ency to fulfill all theie glorious promiſes madeto his Church, be- canic he made the World of nothing, and upholds it by the word of his Power; a::d withal to diſcover God's goodneſs ro menkind, inaſmuch as he did not Create the Earth in vain, but for the uſe and comfort of men, that ir might be a fit habitation for them :