J Some think that ir had been beter Tranſlated, they went weeping, for though the Verb be the future Tenſe in the Hebrew, yer that Tenſe hath often the ſigfication of the Preter perfe& Tenſe, thus it anſwer- cth, Pſal. 126. 5, 6 He that goeth forch weeping. bearing precious ſeed, ſhall do:brl:(s come again rejoi ing, &c. but there is no need of it here, for there is a weeping for Joy, as well as for ſor:ow, as we have it in the inſtance both of Jacob and Joſeph, Gen 29 11. and 43. 30. and thus the Text correſponderh with that, Zcch. 12. 10. I wit pour upon them th: ſpirit of grace and Jupplications,and they ſhall look upoi him whom they have pierced, and mourn,Weeping alſo here may be undertood for their paſt fins. £ Andthey ſhall have no want as they had when they came out of Egyp*, through the Wilderneſs, where they often wanted water. « Neither ſhall they have ary rough Ways, nor turn backward and forward, as God made them to do in their Paſ- ſage through the Wilderneſs. w For as I have the affeQion of a Father for all Jracl, ſo will I ſhew the care and kindneſs of a Fa- ther to them, and uſe them as a Man vſcth his firſt-born ; ſo God anciently called the Jews, Exod. 4. 22. they being the firſt of all Nations, whom God owned, and took into Covenant, and who own= God, and Worſhipped the true and living God only.
io © Hear tne word of the LORD; O ye nations,
and declare t in the iſles afar off, and fay x, He that {cattereth Iſrael will gather him y, and keep him, as a ſhepherd doth his flock s.
x God willeth his Promiſes of good to his People, to be publi- ſhed and declared before hand, and that not ro them on'y. bur to other People, that the hand of his Providence when he brings them to pais may be more conſpicuous. and it may be undeniably own« ed to be the Work of God, being no mote than what he had fore« told long b:fore. y God is not only the Author of thoſe Judgments which come upon his People, but of their Mercies, and his Power in ſcattering them is enough to cenfirm us in a belief of his Power ro gather them. z He wall not only gather them, but keep and proteC& chem when gathered, and thus Gcd ſhewerb himſelf their Shepherd ; it is the Work of a Shepherdnor only to call, and gatber h's Sheep togerher, but to watch over them, proteCt and keep them, when they are ſo gathered together.
11 * For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob «, and * Iſa.4gf ranſomed him from the hand of bim that was ſtronger 3% 35s
than he 6b,
a Becauſe cf the certainty of Divine Prophecies and Promiſes, things in them :re often ſaid to be already d: ne, which are not to be fulfilled of many Years after : The ſenſe is, God will as cer= cainly do ir, as if he hadalready done it; for whether itbe under« ſtood of aDclieverance from Babylon, or of the Salvation of the Goſs pel by Chrif,, which by a Metaphor is often alſo called redeeming and ranſoming, tt was to be acccmpliſhed long after this time. b By him that was fironger than he, ſome underſtand the Chaldeanr, others underſtand the Devil, ( interpreting the Text of the Spiritual Re- demption of Gods People by the Blood of Chriſt, being the Ranſom, given forthem ) but undoubtedly the the Text 1s lirerally to be underſtood of their Deliverance from Babyln, though (as the Apo-« ſtle faith ) a rheje things happened to them in a figure. In their Delive« rance as well from Babylon as Egypt, they were Types of the De.
liverance of Gods People from {piritual Babylon,and Egypr by Chriſt, as well as in their entring into Canaan, they were ( as the Apoſtle proveth, Heb, 3 and 4.) Types of the Saints entring into Heae ven, of which Canaan was a Type.
12 Therefore they (ball come and ſing in the height
of Zion c, and ſhall flow together to the goodneſs of the LORD 4, for wheat,and for wine,and for oyl, and
mae ing bots Lf peer Ben | -Pa©- | che young of the flock, and of the herd e : and their tied of ie Verice in it {clf 1s either an Exhortation to thote a the 2-6 * —_—_— carden f, and they ſhall not * Iſa. 58;
if, c The particular Phraſes in this Verſe muſt not be ſtrained, nor
E]
L Chap, 23: 8.
hands, they ___ both publiſh the thing tha it ſhould certainly be, and alſo bleſs
would be occaſionffor Prayer as well as praiſe, there would be a
Remnant of J/rael, that would have at leaſt no preſent ſhare in theſe
Mercies, through their Impenitency, Unbelief, and hardneſs of
— Heart. Hereby minding usthat we ought not ſo to rejoyce in our
; good things, as to forger thoſe whoare no ſharers with us: The
od for it. o But withal he minds them, thar there
eſt of God's Peoples Lot, while they are in this Life, is ſuch as
will ſhew them a need of Prayer as well as Praiſe.
8 Behold, I will bring them * from: the north-coun-
try p, and gather them from the coaſts of the earthq,ond
with them, the blind, ahd the lame, the woman with
child,and her that rravailleth wich child rogerher,a greac --company ſhall return hither 7.
p By the North-Country; is unquſtionably meant Babylon and the
Land of the Chaldeans, and thoſe places which were Northward of Heeruſalem ; and by the Coafts of rhe Earth, all other parts into which any of the Jews had been driven. » Tne meaning of this is, that nothing ſhould hinder ſuch from returning as had a mind to rerurn; | when, blind Men that could not ſeerheir way, and lame Perſons, who leyes; for in a a trig ſenſe it was rot fulfilled to the Jews, — "8
S.
had no ſtrength to walk in ir, though they ſaw it, and Women