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Darby Synopsis
2. Ezra to Malachi
By John Nelson Darby
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BibleTruthPublishers.com
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Darby Synopsis
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Contents
Preface ...........................................................................24
Ezra 25
Ezra 1 ............................................................................27
Ezra 2 ............................................................................30
Ezra 3 ............................................................................32
Ezra 4 ............................................................................35
Ezra 5 ............................................................................38
Ezra 6 ............................................................................40
Ezra 7-8 .........................................................................42
Ezra 9-10 .......................................................................43
Nehemiah ......................................................................47
Nehemiah 1 ...................................................................48
Nehemiah 2-6 ...............................................................49
Nehemiah 7 ...................................................................51
Nehemiah 8 ...................................................................52
Nehemiah 9-11 .............................................................54
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Nehemiah 12-13 ...........................................................56
Esther ............................................................................61
Job 66
Job 1-2 ........................................................................... 73
Job 3 76
Job 4-31 ......................................................................... 79
Job 32-37 ....................................................................... 81
Job 38-42 ....................................................................... 83
Psalms ............................................................................86
Psalms - Book 1 ...........................................................107
Psalm 1 ........................................................................117
Psalm 2 ........................................................................120
Psalm 3 ........................................................................124
Psalm 4 ........................................................................125
Psalm 5 ........................................................................126
Psalm 6 ........................................................................127
Psalm 7 ........................................................................128
Psalm 8 ........................................................................131
Psalms 9-10 .................................................................138
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Psalm 11 ......................................................................146
Psalm 12 ......................................................................148
Psalm 13 ......................................................................149
Psalm 14 ......................................................................150
Psalm 15 ......................................................................151
Psalm 16 ......................................................................154
Psalm 17 ......................................................................162
Psalm 18 ......................................................................165
Psalm 19 ......................................................................172
Psalm 20 ......................................................................173
Psalm 21 ......................................................................175
Psalm 22 ......................................................................177
Psalms 23-24 ...............................................................186
Psalm 25 ......................................................................190
Psalm 26 ......................................................................193
Psalm 27 ......................................................................195
Psalm 28 ......................................................................197
Psalm 29 ......................................................................199
Psalm 30 ......................................................................200
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Psalm 31 ......................................................................201
Psalm 32 ......................................................................205
Psalm 33 ......................................................................207
Psalm 34 ......................................................................208
Psalm 35 ......................................................................210
Psalm 36 ......................................................................211
Psalm 37 ......................................................................212
Psalm 38 ......................................................................213
Psalm 39 ......................................................................216
Psalm 40 ......................................................................217
Psalm 41 ......................................................................225
Psalms - Book 2 ...........................................................228
Psalms 42-43 ...............................................................229
Psalm 44 ......................................................................231
Psalm 45 ......................................................................232
Psalm 46 ......................................................................233
Psalm 47 ......................................................................235
Psalm 48 ......................................................................236
Psalm 49 ......................................................................237
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Psalm 50 ......................................................................238
Psalm 51 ......................................................................240
Psalm 52 ......................................................................243
Psalm 53 ......................................................................244
Psalm 54 ......................................................................245
Psalm 55 ......................................................................246
Psalm 56 ......................................................................247
Psalm 57 ......................................................................248
Psalm 58 ......................................................................249
Psalm 59 ......................................................................250
Psalm 60 ......................................................................253
Psalm 61 ......................................................................254
Psalm 62 ......................................................................256
Psalm 63 ......................................................................258
Psalm 64 ......................................................................260
Psalm 65 ......................................................................261
Psalm 66 ......................................................................262
Psalm 67 ......................................................................263
Psalm 68 ......................................................................264
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Psalm 69 ......................................................................268
Psalm 70 ......................................................................271
Psalm 71 ......................................................................272
Psalm 72 ......................................................................273
Psalms - Book 3 ...........................................................275
Psalm 73 ......................................................................276
Psalm 74 ......................................................................278
Psalm 75 ......................................................................280
Psalm 76 ......................................................................281
Psalm 77 ......................................................................282
Psalm 78 ......................................................................286
Psalm 79 ......................................................................289
Psalm 80 ......................................................................291
Psalm 81 ......................................................................294
Psalm 82 ......................................................................297
Psalm 83 ......................................................................298
Psalm 84 ......................................................................300
Psalm 85 ......................................................................303
Psalm 86 ......................................................................306
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Psalm 87 ......................................................................308
Psalm 88 ......................................................................309
Psalm 89 ......................................................................312
Psalms - Book 4 ...........................................................317
Psalm 90 ......................................................................318
Psalm 91 ......................................................................320
Psalm 92 ......................................................................323
Psalm 93 ......................................................................324
Psalm 94 ......................................................................325
Psalm 95 ......................................................................328
Psalm 96 ......................................................................329
Psalm 97 ......................................................................330
Psalm 98 ......................................................................331
Psalm 99 ......................................................................332
Psalm 100 ....................................................................334
Psalm 101 ....................................................................335
Psalm 102 ....................................................................336
Psalm 103 ....................................................................339
Psalm 104 ....................................................................340
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Psalm 105 ....................................................................341
Psalm 106 ....................................................................342
Psalms - Book 5 ...........................................................344
Psalm 107 ....................................................................345
Psalm 108 ....................................................................347
Psalm 109 ....................................................................349
Psalm 110 ....................................................................351
Psalm 111 ....................................................................353
Psalm 112 ....................................................................354
Psalm 113 ....................................................................355
Psalm 114 ....................................................................356
Psalm 115 ....................................................................357
Psalm 116 ....................................................................359
Psalms 117-118 ...........................................................360
Psalm 119 ....................................................................363
Psalm 120 ....................................................................370
Psalm 121 ....................................................................371
Psalm 122 ....................................................................372
Psalm 123 ....................................................................373
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Psalm 124 ....................................................................374
Psalm 125 ....................................................................375
Psalm 126 ....................................................................376
Psalms 127-128 ...........................................................377
Psalm 129 ....................................................................378
Psalm 130 ....................................................................379
Psalm 131 ....................................................................380
Psalm 132 ....................................................................381
Psalm 133 ....................................................................383
Psalm 134 ....................................................................384
Psalm 135 ....................................................................385
Psalm 136 ....................................................................387
Psalm 137 ....................................................................388
Psalm 138 ....................................................................389
Psalm 139 ....................................................................390
Psalms 140-143 ...........................................................392
Psalm 144 ....................................................................394
Psalm 145 ....................................................................395
Psalm 146 ....................................................................397
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Psalm 147 ....................................................................398
Psalm 148 ....................................................................399
Psalm 149 ....................................................................400
Psalm 150 ....................................................................401
Proverbs ....................................................................... 402
Proverbs 1-9 ................................................................404
Proverbs 10-31 ............................................................409
Ecclesiastes .................................................................. 411
e Song of Songs .......................................................416
Song of Solomon 1 ......................................................419
Song of Solomon 2 ......................................................422
Song of Solomon 3 ......................................................423
Song of Solomon 4 ......................................................424
Song of Solomon 5 ......................................................425
Song of Solomon 6-7 ..................................................427
Song of Solomon 8 ......................................................430
Introduction to the Prophets .......................................436
Isaiah ...........................................................................441
Isaiah 1 ........................................................................449
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Isaiah 2-4 .....................................................................450
Isaiah 5 ........................................................................451
Isaiah 6 ........................................................................453
Isaiah 7:1 to 9:7 ...........................................................455
Isaiah 9:8 to 12 ............................................................459
Isaiah 13-14 .................................................................461
Isaiah 15-18 .................................................................465
Isaiah 19-23 .................................................................466
Isaiah 24 ......................................................................469
Isaiah 25-26 .................................................................471
Isaiah 27 ......................................................................473
Isaiah 28 ......................................................................474
Isaiah 29 ......................................................................476
Isaiah 30 ......................................................................477
Isaiah 31 ......................................................................478
Isaiah 32 ......................................................................479
Isaiah 33-34 .................................................................480
Isaiah 35 ......................................................................481
Isaiah 36-39 .................................................................482
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Isaiah 40 ......................................................................483
Isaiah 41-43 .................................................................485
Isaiah 44-45 .................................................................487
Isaiah 46-48 .................................................................488
Isaiah 49 ......................................................................490
Isaiah 50 ......................................................................492
Isaiah 51-52 .................................................................495
Isaiah 53 ......................................................................497
Isaiah 54 ......................................................................498
Isaiah 55-57 .................................................................499
Isaiah 58-59 .................................................................500
Isaiah 60 ......................................................................501
Isaiah 61-62 .................................................................502
Isaiah 63 ......................................................................504
Isaiah 64-65 .................................................................506
Isaiah 66 ......................................................................508
Jeremiah .......................................................................511
Jeremiah 1 ....................................................................517
Jeremiah 2 ....................................................................518
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Jeremiah 3 ....................................................................519
Jeremiah 4-6 ................................................................520
Jeremiah 7-9 ................................................................521
Jeremiah 10 ..................................................................522
Jeremiah 11-12 ............................................................523
Jeremiah 13 ..................................................................526
Jeremiah 14 ..................................................................527
Jeremiah 15 ..................................................................528
Jeremiah 16 ..................................................................532
Jeremiah 17 ..................................................................533
Jeremiah 18 ..................................................................534
Jeremiah 19-20 ............................................................536
Jeremiah 21-23 ............................................................538
Jeremiah 24 ..................................................................539
Jeremiah 25 ..................................................................541
Jeremiah 26 ..................................................................544
Jeremiah 27-28 ............................................................545
Jeremiah 29 ..................................................................548
Jeremiah 30 ..................................................................549
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Jeremiah 31-32 ............................................................551
Jeremiah 33 ..................................................................553
Jeremiah 34 ..................................................................555
Jeremiah 35 ..................................................................556
Jeremiah 36 ..................................................................557
Jeremiah 37-38 ............................................................558
Jeremiah 39-44 ............................................................560
Jeremiah 45-51 ............................................................561
Jeremiah 52 ..................................................................565
e Lamentations of Jeremiah ....................................567
Lamentations 1 ............................................................568
Lamentations 2 ............................................................569
Lamentations 3 ............................................................570
Lamentations 4 ............................................................578
Lamentations 5 ............................................................580
Ezekiel .........................................................................583
Ezekiel 1 ......................................................................585
Ezekiel 2 ......................................................................588
Ezekiel 3 ......................................................................590
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Ezekiel 4 ......................................................................592
Ezekiel 5-6 ..................................................................595
Ezekiel 7 ......................................................................597
Ezekiel 8 ......................................................................599
Ezekiel 9 ......................................................................600
Ezekiel 10 ....................................................................601
Ezekiel 11 ....................................................................602
Ezekiel 12 ....................................................................603
Ezekiel 13-14 ..............................................................604
Ezekiel 15 ....................................................................605
Ezekiel 16 ....................................................................606
Ezekiel 17 ....................................................................608
Ezekiel 18 ....................................................................610
Ezekiel 19 ....................................................................612
Ezekiel 20-21 ..............................................................613
Ezekiel 22-23 ..............................................................619
Ezekiel 24 ....................................................................620
Ezekiel 25 ....................................................................621
Ezekiel 26-28 ..............................................................622
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Ezekiel 29-32 ..............................................................626
Ezekiel 33 ....................................................................632
Ezekiel 34 ....................................................................634
Ezekiel 35 ....................................................................636
Ezekiel 36 ....................................................................637
Ezekiel 37 ....................................................................639
Ezekiel 38-39 ..............................................................641
Ezekiel 40-43 ..............................................................645
Ezekiel 44 ....................................................................647
Ezekiel 45-46 ..............................................................648
Ezekiel 47-48 ..............................................................651
Daniel .......................................................................... 653
Daniel 1 ....................................................................... 657
Daniel 2 ....................................................................... 659
Daniel 3 ....................................................................... 664
Daniel 4 ....................................................................... 669
Daniel 5 ....................................................................... 674
Daniel 6 ....................................................................... 676
Daniel 7 ....................................................................... 679
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Daniel 8 ....................................................................... 691
Daniel 9 ....................................................................... 699
Daniel 10-11 ...............................................................708
Daniel 12 ..................................................................... 713
e Minor Prophets ....................................................717
Hosea ..........................................................................725
Hosea 1 .......................................................................727
Hosea 2 .......................................................................730
Hosea 3 .......................................................................733
Hosea 4-5 ....................................................................734
Hosea 6-7 ....................................................................736
Hosea 8 .......................................................................738
Hosea 9-11 ..................................................................739
Hosea 12......................................................................741
Hosea 13......................................................................743
Hosea 14......................................................................746
Joel 748
Joel 1 ............................................................................749
Joel 2 ............................................................................750
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Joel 3 ............................................................................760
Amos ...........................................................................764
Amos 1-2 .....................................................................765
Amos 3 ........................................................................768
Amos 4 ........................................................................770
Amos 5 ........................................................................771
Amos 6 ........................................................................773
Amos 7 ........................................................................774
Amos 8 ........................................................................776
Amos 9 ........................................................................777
Obadiah .......................................................................780
Jonah ...........................................................................783
Jonah 1 ........................................................................785
Jonah 2 ........................................................................790
Jonah 3 ........................................................................792
Jonah 4 ........................................................................795
Micah ..........................................................................799
Micah 1 .......................................................................800
Micah 2 .......................................................................802
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Micah 3 .......................................................................803
Micah 4 .......................................................................804
Micah 5 .......................................................................806
Micah 6 .......................................................................810
Micah 7 .......................................................................811
Nahum ........................................................................814
Habakkuk ....................................................................818
Habakkuk 1 .................................................................819
Habakkuk 2 .................................................................821
Habakkuk 3 .................................................................823
Zephaniah ...................................................................825
Zephaniah 1 ................................................................830
Zephaniah 2 ................................................................831
Zephaniah 3 ................................................................833
Haggai .........................................................................836
Zechariah ....................................................................846
Zechariah 1 .................................................................848
Zechariah 2 .................................................................851
Zechariah 3 .................................................................854
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Zechariah 4 .................................................................858
Zechariah 5 .................................................................861
Zechariah 6 .................................................................862
Zechariah 7-10 ............................................................ 866
Zechariah 11 ...............................................................870
Zechariah 12 ...............................................................872
Zechariah 13 ...............................................................874
Zechariah 14 ...............................................................876
Malachi........................................................................880
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72710
Preface
is second volume of the Synopsis, with the exception
of the Psalms, is reprinted from papers published in the
“Present Testimony,” translated from the original French
edition. If the part which treats of the Psalms be excepted,
nothing is changed, save occasional passages with a view
to greater clearness and exactitude. With regard to the
Psalms, the inquiry into the nature of Christ’s suerings
threw largely increased light on their interpretation into
the mind of the writer. is he found it impossible to
interweave satisfactorily with the original article, and the
whole has been rewritten and an introductory part added.
ere is no substantial change of view, but he trusts that
there will be found in what is now published, considerably
greater clearness and solidity of interpretation.<P005>
Ezra
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72711
Ezra
God’s threat fullled; kingly power in Gentile hands
e events which we have been considering, at the
close of Kings and Chronicles, were deeply signicant.
e throne of God was no longer at Jerusalem. God had
fullled His threat of casting o the city which He had
chosen. He had bestowed the throne of the earth upon the
Gentiles (Daniel 2:37). Not only had Israel failed under
the old covenant, and rejected God (1Samuel 8:7), so that
God was no longer their king; but even after grace had
raised up the house of David to sustain the relations of the
people with God, under the rule of that house everything
was entirely corrupted by sin; so that there was no more
remedy, and God had written Lo-ammi (not my people),
as it were, on the forehead of a people who had forsaken
Him. e counsels of God cannot fail; but such was the
sad state in which the relationship between this people
and God stood, if it can be said that a judgment like this
allowed any relationship still to exist. So far as it depended
on Israel, on man, all was lost. e consequences of this,
with respect to God’s dealings, were of great importance;
they were nothing less than His taking His throne from
the earth, casting o His people for the time as to His
earthly government, and transferring power to the Gentiles.
Man, in probation under the law, had failed, and he was
condemned. He had been sustained in the way of grace
through means which God had granted, in the family of
David, for his continuance in the enjoyment of the blessings
granted him, and he had failed again. Kingly power was
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in the hands of the Gentiles, and the people were under
condemnation according to the old covenant.<P007>
Ezra 1
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72712
Ezra 1
e return of a little remnant from captivity
But God now brings back a little remnant, that the true
King might be presented to them, and causes the temple
to be rebuilt in its place, according to the promises given by
the mouth of Jeremiah, and at the request of His servant
Daniel.
e latter, indeed, still at Babylon, had a deeper sense
of the real condition of the people, than they had who
were rebuilding the temple, and received also much more
extensive information as to the future destiny of Israel and
the intentions of God respecting it. But a due appreciation
of this return from captivity also is not without importance,
since it is evident that the understanding of God’s dealings
with respect to the restoration of Israel, and the coming
among them upon earth of Messiah Himself is connected
with this event. It was the will of God that there should
be some respite. e current of His purposes, however,
concerning the times of the Gentiles, and the position of
His people, was unaltered. ey were still in subjection to
the Gentiles.1
(1. e coming of Christ did not change this. e
restoration of the remnant gave occasion to the presentation
of Christ to the people according to the promises; but His
rejection left their house desolate to see Him no more till
their repentance in the last days. Meanwhile, during His
lifetime on earth, not only have we, in Luke, the epoch
divinely dated by the reigns of Gentile rulers, but, pressed
on the point, the Lord refers to their position and baes
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their hypocrisy, which would have proted by what was
the fruit and wages of their own sin to put Him in an
inextricable diculty, by telling them to give to Caesar
what was Caesar’s, and to God what was God’s. Meanwhile
deeper and more blessed counsels were accomplished.)
Cyrus called of Jehovah to fulll His Word
It is Cyrus, king of Persia, who commands the people
to return to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the temple. A type
himself, in some respects, of a far more glorious deliverer,
he confesses Jehovah, the God of Israel, to be the true God.
He is “the righteous man, raised up from the east, who
treads down the princes like mortar.” Called of Jehovah by
name for this purpose, he favors Israel and honors Jehovah.
Distinguished and blessed by the favor of the mighty God,
a man whose conduct was certainly under the guidance of
God, his personal character did not interfere with its being
the times of the Gentiles, notwithstanding that God had
put it<P008> into the heart of one of these Gentiles to
favor His people. e word of God, by Jeremiah, is fullled.
Babylon is judged, a characteristic event of all importance.
But, in fact, that which still exists is a prolongation of its
power. e seat of the royal authority which God bestows
on man is a city which is not the city of God, which is
neither the earthly Jerusalem nor the heavenly. e house
of David no longer holds the scepter entrusted to it.
e rod of the tribe of Judah preserved
It is true that the rod of the tribe of Judah is preserved, in
order that “the Branch” of the root of Jesse may be presented
to this tribe. But the power of the Gentiles still continues;
it existed even when the Messiah was on the earth, and
the Jews had to be commanded to render unto Caesar the
things that were Caesar’s. e presentation of Jesus, the
Ezra 1
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true Messiah, was but the occasion of fully demonstrating
this in the cry, “We have no king but Caesar.”
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72713
Ezra 2
e family of God marked out; a numbered and
recognized people
Nevertheless, God still gives the people-guilty under
the law-an opportunity for the exercise of faith. Let us
examine the principles that characterize the energy of the
Holy Spirit in the people at the time of their return.
e rst thing to be observed is that, having felt
what it was to have to do with the Gentiles, and having
experienced the power and wickedness of those whose
help they had formerly sought (the unclean spirit was, in
this respect, gone out of them), the children of the captivity
resolve that Israel shall be an unmingled Israel, and proved
to be so. ey are most careful in verifying the genealogies
of the people, and of the priests, in order that none but
Israel should be engaged in the work. Formerly one
priest succeeded another without previous examination;
genealogy was not veried, and children came into their
father’s place in the enjoyment of the privileges which God
had granted them. But Israel now, through the great grace
of God, had to recover their position. is was neither
the beginning of their history, nor the power suited to the
beginning; it was a return, and the disorder that sin<P009>
had brought in was not henceforth to be endured. ey
were escaping from the fruits of it, at least in part. What
had any but Israel to do there? To mark out the family
of God was now the essential thing. Deliverance from
Babylon was their deliverance. It was this family, or a small
remnant of it, which God had brought, or was bringing,
Ezra 2
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out from thence. us, even among those who had come
back to Judea, whoever could not produce his genealogy
was set aside; and every priest with whom this was the case
was put away from the priesthood as polluted, whatever,
as it appears, might be the reality of his qualication.
Divine discernment might, perhaps, recognize them and
their rights another day; but the people who had returned
from captivity could not do so. ey were a numbered and
recognized people. ey dwelt each in his own city. It was
weakness, no priest with Urim and ummim, but it was
faithfulness.
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72714
Ezra 3
e altar built; the Word followed
In the seventh month,1 the children of Israel gather
themselves together at Jerusalem, each one going up from
the place where he dwelt. e rst thing which they do
there, under the direction of Jeshua and Zerubbabel, is
to build the altar, to place themselves under the wings of
the God of Israel, the sole Help and sole Protector of His
people; for fear was upon them because of the people of
those countries. eir refuge is in God. Beautiful testimony
of faith! Precious eect of the state of trial and abasement
they were in! Surrounded by enemies, the unwalled city is
protected by the altar of her God erected by the faith of
God’s people; and she is in greater security than when she
had her kings and her walls. Faith, strict in following the
Word, condes in the goodness of its God. is exactness
in following the Word characterized the Jews, at this time
in several respects. We have seen it, chapter 2:59-63, where
some could not show their genealogy; we nd it again here,
chapter 3:2; and again in verse 4, on the occasion of the
feast of tabernacles. Customs, traditions, all were lost. ey
were very careful not to follow the ways of Babylon. What
had they left <P010>except the Word? A condition like
this gave it its full power. All this takes place before the
house is built. It was faith seeking the will of God, although
far from having set everything in order. We nd, then, no
attempt at doing without God those things which required
a discernment that they did not possess. But with touching
faith these Jews exercise piety towards God, worship God,
Ezra 3
33
and, as we may say, set Him in their midst, rendering Him
that which duty required. ey acknowledged God by
faith; but until the Urim and ummim should be there,
they placed no one, on God’s part, with the object of giving
some competency to act for Him, in a position which
required the exercise of God’s authority.
(1. is was the month in which the blowing of trumpets
took place-a gure of the restoration of Israel in the last
days. )
e foundations of the temple laid with joy and tears
Having, at length, brought together the materials which
the king of Persia had granted them, the Jews begin to
build the temple and lay its foundations. e joy of the
people, generally, was great. is was natural and right.
ey praise Jehovah according to the ordinance of David,
and sing (how well it became them now to do so!), “His
mercy endureth forever.” Nevertheless, the ancient men
wept, for they had seen the former house, built according
to the inspired direction of God. Alas! we understand
this. He who now thinks of what the assembly1 of God
was at the rst will understand the tears of these old men.
is suited nearness to God. Farther o, it was right that
joy, or at least the confused shout, which only proclaimed
the public event, should be heard; for, in truth, God had
interposed in His people’s behalf.
(1. See Acts 2 and 4.)
Joy was in His presence and acceptable. Tears confessed
the truth, and testied a just sense of what God had been
for His people, and of the blessing they had once enjoyed
under His hand. Tears recognized, alas! that which the
people of God had been for God; and these tears were
acceptable to Him. e weeping could not be discerned
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from the shout of joy; this was a truthful result, natural and
sad, yet becoming in the presence of God. For He rejoices
in the joy of His people, and He understands their tears. It
was, indeed, a true expression of the state of things.<P011>
Ezra 4
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72715
Ezra 4
Diculties and snares
But, in such a case, diculties do not arise only from the
weakness of the remnant; they proceed, also, from elements
with which the remnant are outwardly connected, and
which, at the same time, are foreign to the relationship of
God’s people with Himself. In Israel’s case, there was real
weakness, because God-although faithful to His people
according to their need-did not, in fact, come forward to
establish them on the original footing. To do so would
not have been morally suitable, either with respect to the
position in which the people stood with God, or with
regard to the power which He had established among the
Gentiles apart from Israel, or with a view to the instruction
of His own people in all ages as to the government of God.
Relationship with God is never despised with impunity.
But besides this, in such a state of things the power
of the world having gained so much ground already in
the land of promise, even among the people to whom
the promise belonged, diculties arose from the fact
that persons who, in consequence of the intervention of
the civil powers, were within the borders of the promised
land, desired to participate with the Jews in constructing
the temple. ey alleged, in support of their claim, that
they called upon God as the Jews did, and had sacriced
unto Him since Esar-haddon had brought them into
the land. is was not enmity. Why repel such a desire?
e Spirit of God calls them the adversaries of Judah
and Benjamin. e people of God-the assembly of God-
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36
ought to be conscious of their own peculiar privileges, and
that they are the assembly of the Lord. e Lord loved
Judah and Benjamin. From His grace towards this people
owed all the blessing of which they were the object; and
the people were bound fully to recognize this grace. Not
to recognize it was to despise it. Now this grace was the
sovereign goodness of God. To admit strangers would have
been insensibility to this grace as the only source of good; it
would have been to lose it, and to say that they were not its
objects according to the sovereign goodness of God, more
than other persons of the world. But the faithfulness and
intelligence of the chiefs among Israel delivered them from
this snare. “We ourselves together,” said they, “will build
unto Jehovah<P012> the God of Israel.” “Ye have nothing
to do with us to build a house unto our God.” In fact, it
would have been to deny that He was their God, the God
of Israel. is is especially the case of the assembly when
called to remember her privileges after long forgetfulness
and painful chastisement. If God allow it for the trial or
the chastening of His people, it is possible that the work
may be stopped through the practices and the malice of
those who will praise the great and noble Asnapper to the
powers of the earth; before whom they will appear in their
true earthly character, just as they assumed the garb of piety
when seeking to insinuate themselves among the remnant
of Israel. e power that belonged to God’s people, at the
time of their former independence, will alarm one who, not
trusting in God, dreads the eect upon his own authority
of the energy which the Spirit of God produces in the
people of God independently of this authority, however
submissive the people may be. Israel was acting here
according to Cyrus’s own decree; but this is of no avail. at
Ezra 4
37
which depends on God is absolute; that which does not
depend on Him is arbitrary; but the faithful have nothing
to do with all this. God may see that trial and chastening
are needful to them.
Darby Synopsis
38
72716
Ezra 5
e prophets Haggai and Zechariah sent of God for
encouragement
Whatever happens, they have to go through that which
puts faith to the proof; but their path is ordered by the will
of God, and their faith relies upon Him. In this case they
had to wait; but God’s time would come; and that, not by
means of a mere decree from the Gentile king: God raises
up a much more precious encouragement for them from
another quarter. Although the people had been subject to
the Gentiles, God was still supreme; His Word is still of
supreme authority to His people, whenever He condescends
to speak to them. If necessary, He can dispose the hearts of
kings to uphold it. In every case His people are to follow
it, without seeking other motive, or other help. Haggai
and Zechariah are sent of God, and prophesy among the
people. ese immediate communications from God were
of innite value, as His Word ever is; and although they did
not change the position of the people<P013> with respect
to the Gentiles, they were a touching proof that God was
interested in His people, and that, whatever might be their
aictions, the God of Israel was above all that had power
to oppress them.
Want of faith the true hindrance to building
I have said that the people were obliged to wait. is was
the case as soon as they received the decree that forbade
their continuing to build. But many years had elapsed
before this prohibition came; and it seems evident to me,
from examining the prophecies which throw so much
Ezra 5
39
light on the contemporary history, and from comparing
their dates, that it was want of faith in the remnant which
was the true hindrance. ere were adversaries in the
land who made them afraid, and who thus prevented their
building. It appears that the Jews did not dare continue.
eir adversaries hired counsellors in the Persian court to
frustrate the purpose of the Jews. But the rst thing was
that the adversaries weakened the hands of the people.
It was not until two reigns later that the prohibition was
obtained; but the Jews had left o building through fear
of their adversaries. (Compare chapter 4:4,21 and 5:1 with
Haggai 1:1-2,4 and 2:15.) Neither was it because the king’s
decree was brought them that they began again to build,
but because they feared Jehovah, and feared not the king’s
command, as seeing Him who is invisible (Hag. 1:12-13).
God was not any more to be feared in the reign of Darius
than in that of Cyrus or of Artaxerxes; but the source of
their weakness was their having forgotten God. is makes
manifest the great grace of God in awakening them by the
mouth of Haggai. God had until then also chastened the
people.
Darby Synopsis
40
72717
Ezra 6
e eect of faith; the intervention of their adversaries
All this shows us that, in ceasing to build the temple,
Israel was in fault. It appears from Haggai (ch. 2:15) that
they had made no progress at all. e terror with which the
adversaries had inspired the Jews had stopped them. ey
had no excuse for this, since even the king’s commandment
was on their side. at which they lacked was faith in God.
We have seen that, when there was<P014> faith they dared
to build, although there was a decree against it. e eect
of this faith is to give rise to a decree in their favor, and that
even through the intervention of their adversaries. It is good
to trust in God. Blessed be His gracious name!
Under the inuence of the prophecies of Haggai and
Zechariah the house was nished (ch. 6:15).
e passover kept; Jehovah’s kindness and grace
Jehovah’s great grace in this was a real occasion for joy.
e priests are set in their divisions, and the Levites in their
courses, according to the law of Moses, and we nd more
faithfulness than in the best days of the kings. (Compare
chapter 6:20 with 2Chronicles 29:34.) But we hear nothing
of the ordinances of David, and a still greater deciency is
seen in their celebration of the feast of dedication. ey
kept the passover-a proof that the redemption of the people
could be remembered in the land. Happy privilege of the
restored remnant! Many also had joined them, separating
themselves from the lthiness of the heathen of the land.
Jehovah had given them cause for joy; but re no longer
came down from heaven to testify divine acceptance of the
Ezra 6
41
sacrice oered for the dedication of the house. is was
indeed a negative dierence, but one of deep signicance.
And even that which formed the subject of their joy
betrayed their condition. “Jehovah had turned the heart of
the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in
the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.” It was
great kindness and touching grace on His part. But what
a change!
Darby Synopsis
42
72718
Ezra 7-8
Ezra sent to Jerusalem by the Gentile king
Alas! this was not the end of the history. God, in His
goodness, must still watch over the unfaithfulness and
the failures of His people, even when they are but a small
remnant who by His grace have escaped from the ruin. He
puts it into the heart of Ezra, a ready scribe in the law of
Moses, to think of the remnant in Jerusalem, to seek the
law of Jehovah, to teach it and cause it to be observed. Here
again it is still the Gentile king who sends him for this
purpose to Jerusalem. All blessing is of God, but nothing
(except prophecy, in which God was sovereign, as we have
already<P015> seen in the case of Samuel at the time of
the people’s downfall), nothing in point of authority comes
immediately from God. He could not pass by unrecognized
the throne which He had Himself established among the
Gentiles upon the earth. And Israel was an earthly people.
e good hand of God
e character of this intervention of God by Ezra’s
mission is, I think, a touching proof of His loving-kindness.
It was exactly suited to the wants of the people. It was not
power. at had been removed to another place. It was the
knowledge of the will and the ordinances of God-of the
mind of God in the Word. e king himself recognized
this (ch. 7:25). Guarded by the good hand of his God,
this pious and devoted man goes up with many others to
Jerusalem.
Ezra 9-10
43
72719
Ezra 9-10
Disobedience, followed by humiliation and
confession
Alas! as soon as he can look into these things, he nds
the law already broken, evil already come in. e people of
Israel had not kept themselves separate from the people of
the lands, and even the princes and rulers had been chief
in this trespass. Ezra is confounded at this, and remains
overwhelmed with grief the whole day. Can it be that the
remnant, whom God had snatched, as it were, from the
re, have so soon forgotten the hand that delivered them,
and married the daughters of a strange god? ose who
trembled at Jehovah’s Word having assembled with him,
Ezra humbles himself on account of it. At the time of the
evening sacrice, he pours out the deep sorrows of his
heart before the Lord. A great multitude have their hearts
touched by grace. ere is no prophetic answer, as so often
before had happened in similar circumstances; but there
is an answer from God in the hearts of the guilty. “We
have sinned,” said one among them; “yet now there is hope
in Israel concerning this thing.” And they set themselves
heartily to the work. Israel is summoned, each one under
pain of exclusion, to come up to Jerusalem, and they
assembled at the time of rain, for the matter was urgent;
and the congregation acknowledge it to be their duty to
conform to the law. Under the<P016> hand of Ezra, and
by the diligence of those who were appointed to this work,
it was accomplished in two months. As for all those who
had taken strange wives, they gave their hand that they
Darby Synopsis
44
would put away their wives: they confessed their sin and
oered a ram for this trespass.
Separation from all who are not the people of God
Once more we nd that that which characterizes the
operation of the Spirit of God, and the intervention of God
among His people, with respect to their walk and moral
condition, is separation from all who are not the people of
God as they were. ose of the priestly family who were
unable to produce their genealogy had been excluded from
the priesthood as polluted; and those among the people
who were in the same case were not acknowledged. ey
positively refuse any participation in the work to the
people of the land who wished to join them in building
the temple; and, nally, with respect to their own wives,
several of whom had borne them children, they have to put
them away, and to separate themselves, at whatever cost,
from all that was not Israel. It is this which characterizes
faithfulness in a position like theirs; that is, a remnant come
out from Babylon, and occupied in restoring the temple
and service of God, according to that which yet remained
to them.
God’s unfailing comfort in His compassion
Moreover, we see that God did not fail to comfort them
by His testimony-sweet and precious consolation! But the
power of the Gentiles was there. at which appertained
to authority, and the throne at Jerusalem, and to the power
of ordaining, which belonged to it, was not reestablished.
e public sanction of God was not granted. Nevertheless,
God blessed the remnant of His people, when they were
faithful; and the most prominent thing, and that which
should dwell on our hearts, is the grace which, in the midst
of such ruin, and in the presence of the Gentile throne
Ezra 9-10
45
set up through Israel’s sin, could still bless His people,
though acknowledging the Gentile throne, which God
had established in judgment upon them. eir position is
clearly and touchingly stated in chapter 9:8-9.1<P017>
(1. Only for “were” in verse 9, we must read “are.”)
It is a solemn season, when God, in His compassion,
encourages and sustains the little remnant of His people
in the midst of their diculties; and owns them, as far
as possible, after the ruin which their unfaithfulness
has brought upon them-such ruin that God had been
constrained to say of them, Lo-ammi.
It is most aicting to see the people, after such grace as
this, plunging again into fresh unfaithfulness and departure
from God. But such is God, and such is man.
e peculiar display of God’s everlasting mercy and
His ways to the coming of Messiah in the Book of Ezra
We must ever bear in mind that Israel was an earthly
people, and their full place in blessing now1 that of the
seat of God’s power in righteousness upon earth, so that
their relationship to another power, now set up among
the Gentiles, was peculiar. But, if this be borne in mind in
the application of the contents to other circumstances, the
instructions aorded by this book are extremely interesting,
as exhibiting the principles of conduct in which faith
is displayed in the diculties connected with a partial
restoration from a ruined state, the dependence on God by
which man is sustained in the midst of these diculties,
God’s own ways in respect to His servants, and the absence
of all pretensions to reestablish what could not be set up
in power. Besides this, we have to view the Book of Ezra
as giving that peculiar display of God’s mercy and ways
which left the rod of Judah subsisting till Shiloh came.
Darby Synopsis
46
No Shechinah was in the temple; no Urim and ummim
with the priest. But there was a sovereign intervention of
God in that mercy which endures forever, so that occasion
was given to Messiah’s coming according to the promises
made to the fathers. e judgment of the Gentile power of
Babylon carried with it the witness of a better deliverance,
but for this the full time of God’s purposes was to be
awaited.<P018>
(1. I say “now,” because, till Samuel’s time, Israel was
called to be blessed in obedience under priesthood, God
being their King. But after David’s time in view of Christ,
the nation became the seat of God’s power in righteousness,
so far as it enjoyed the blessing.)
Nehemiah
47
72720
Nehemiah
Nehemiah as a necessary link in the history of God’s
dealings towards Jerusalem
e Book of Nehemiah will require but few remarks;
but it is important to establish its import. It is a necessary
link in the history of God’s dealings, in the recital of His
patience and loving-kindness towards Jerusalem, which
He had chosen.
e rebuilding of the temple and reestablishment of
the law recorded in Ezra
In Ezra we have seen the temple rebuilt and the
authority of the law reestablished among the people, who
are again separated from the Gentiles, and set apart for
God.
e rebuilding of the walls of the city, the people’s
civil condition restored, recorded in Nehemiah
In Nehemiah we witness the rebuilding of the walls of
Jerusalem, and the restoration of what may be termed the
civil condition of the people, but under circumstances that
denitely prove their subjection to the Gentiles.
Darby Synopsis
48
72721
Nehemiah 1
Nehemiah’s heart and that of the Gentile king
rough grace, faith had set up the altar, and the
Gentiles had had nothing to do with it, except by voluntary
service; but when the city is to be rebuilt, it is the governor
appointed by the Gentiles who holds the prominent place,
God having touched the heart of these Gentiles and
disposed them to favor His people. We see in Nehemiah
himself a heart touched with the aiction of his people,
a precious token of the grace of God; and He who had
<P019>produced this feeling disposed the king’s heart to
grant Nehemiah all he desired for the good of the people
and of Jerusalem. We see also in Nehemiah a heart that
habitually turned to God, that sought its strength in Him,
and thus surmounted the greatest obstacles.
Nehemiah 2-6
49
72722
Nehemiah 2-6
Nehemiah’s perseverance and faithfulness
e time in which Nehemiah labored for the good of
his people was not one of those brilliant phases which, if
faith be there, awaken even the energy of man, imparting
to it its own lustre. It was a period which required the
perseverance that springs from a deep interest in the
people of God, because they are His people; a perseverance
which, for this very reason, pursues its object in spite of the
contempt excited by the work, apparently so insignicant,
but which is not the less the work of God; and which
pursues it in spite of the hatred and opposition of enemies,
and the faintheartedness of fellow-laborers (ch. 4:8,10-11);
a perseverance which, giving itself up entirely to the work,
baes all the intrigues of the enemy, and avoids every
snare, God taking care of those who trust in Him.
It is also a beautiful feature in Nehemiah’s character,
that in spite of his high oce he had all the detail of service
so much at heart, and all that concerned the upright walk
of God’s people.
In the midst, however, of all this faithfulness, we perceive
the inuence of the Gentile power controlling the whole
state of things. Nehemiah’s arrival and even his conduct are
marked with this inuence. It was not faith alone that was
in action, but a protecting power also. (Compare Ezra 8:22
and Nehemiah 2:7-9.) Nevertheless, the separation from
all that was not Jewish is carefully maintained (ch. 2:20;
7:65; 9:2; 10:30; 13:1,3,29-30).
Faith stamps its own character on all surrounding it
Darby Synopsis
50
is history shows us, rst of all, how, when God
acts, faith stamps its own character on all who surround
it. e Jews, who had so long left Jerusalem desolate, are
quite disposed to recommence the work. Judah, however,
is discouraged by the diculties. is brings out the
perseverance which characterizes true faith when the
work is of God, be it ever so poor in appearance.<P020>
e whole heart is in it, because it is of God. Encouraged
by Nehemiah’s energy, the people are ready to work and
ght at the same time. For faith always identies God
and His people in the heart. And this becomes a spring of
devotedness in all concerned.
Let us remark, that in times of diculty faith does
not show itself in the magnicence of the result, but in
love for God’s work, however little it may be, and in the
perseverance with which it is carried on through all the
diculties belonging to this state of weakness; for that
with which faith is occupied, is the city of God and the
work of God, and these things have always the same value,
whatever may be the circumstances in which they are
found.
Nehemiah 7
51
72723
Nehemiah 7
e city walls rebuilt; the people numbered
God blesses the labors of the faithful Nehemiah,
and Jerusalem is once more encompassed by walls; a
less touching condition than when the city of God was
defended by the altar of God, which was a testimony to
His presence and to the faith of those who erected it; but a
condition that proved the faithfulness and loving-kindness
of God, who, nevertheless, while outwardly reestablishing
them, revoked no part of the judgment pronounced on His
people and His city. He who rebuilt the walls was but the
vicegerent of a foreign king; and it was the security of the
people, and that which uprightness of heart required of
them to acknowledge this; and it was done (ch. 9:37). Still,
God blesses them. Nehemiah recurs to the numbering of
the people, according to the register of their genealogies
that was drawn up at their rst return from captivity, an
already distant period. us the people are again placed in
their cities.
Darby Synopsis
52
72724
Nehemiah 8
e law resumes its authority
By means of Ezra and Nehemiah, the law resumes its
authority, and that at the people’s own request, for God had
prepared their hearts. Accordingly, God had gathered them
together on the rst<P021> day of the seventh month. It
was really the trumpet of God, although the people were
unconscious of it, that gathered them to this new moon,
which shone again in grace, whatever might be the clouds
that veiled its feeble light. e people’s hearts were touched
by the testimony of the law, and they wept. But Nehemiah
and Ezra bade them rejoice, for the day was holy. Doubtless
these men of God were right. Since God was restoring His
people, it became them to rejoice and give thanks.
e feast of tabernacles kept with great gladness
e second day, continuing to search into the holy
book, they found that Israel ought to keep a feast on the
fteenth day of the same month. On restoration from
chastening, when the church nds itself again before God,
it often happens that precepts are recollected, which had
been long forgotten and lost during the apparently better
days of God’s people; and with the precepts, the blessing
that attends their fulllment is recovered also. Since the
days of Joshua, the children of Israel had not followed
these ordinances of the law. What a lesson! is feast of
tabernacles was kept with great gladness,1 a touching
expression of the interest with which God marked the
return of His people; a partial return, it is true, and soon
beclouded (and even the hope to which it gave rise entirely
Nehemiah 8
53
destroyed by the rejection of the Messiah, who should have
been its crown), yet of great value, as the rstfruits in grace
of that restoration which will accompany Israel’s turning of
heart to Christ, as manifested by their saying, “Blessed is
he that cometh in the name of Jehovah!” e gladness was
sincere and real; but everything was imperfect. e tenth
day had not its antitype. Israel’s humiliation had, as yet, no
connection with that death which at once lled up their
iniquity, and atoned for it. eir joy was well founded. It
was yet but transient.
(1. e feast of tabernacles was the celebration of their
rest and possession of the land after passing through the
wilderness. e booths marked that they had been under
tents as pilgrims.)
Darby Synopsis
54
72725
Nehemiah 9-11
Heartfelt repentance; under the law
On the twenty-fourth day, the people came together to
humble<P022> themselves in a manner that became their
position, and they separated themselves from all strangers.
Beginning with the blessing promised to Abraham, they
relate all the tokens of God’s grace bestowed upon Israel,
the frequent unfaithfulness of which they had afterwards
been guilty, and there is a true expression of heartfelt
repentance; they acknowledge without any disguise their
condition (ch. 9:36-37), and undertake to obey the law (ch.
10), to separate themselves entirely from the people of the
land, and faithfully to perform all that the service of the
house of God required.
A conditional and Mosaic restoration looked for
under Gentile dominion
All this gives a very distinct character to their position.
Acknowledging the promise made to Abraham, and the
bringing in of the people to Canaan by virtue of this
promise, and their subsequent failure, they place themselves
again under the obligations of the law, while confessing
the goodness of God who had spared them. ey do not
see beyond a conditional and Mosaic restoration. Neither
the Messiah nor the new covenant has any place as the
foundation of their joy or of their hope. ey are, and they
continue to be, in bondage to the Gentiles.
is was Israel’s condition until, in the sovereign mercy
of God, the Messiah was presented to them. e Messiah
Nehemiah 9-11
55
could have brought them out of their position and gathered
them under His wings, but they would not.
It is this position that the Book of Nehemiah denitely
brought out. It is the king’s commandment that provides
for the maintenance of the singers. A Jew was at the king’s
hand in all matters concerning the people (ch. 11:23-24).
Darby Synopsis
56
72726
Nehemiah 12-13
e dedication of the walls; unfaithfulness and
recovery
by the written Word; order and cleansing reestablished
We have already seen that gladness was the portion
of the people; a joy which acknowledged God, for God
had preserved the people and had blessed them. But
the princes of the people had immediately relapsed into
unfaithfulness; and during Nehemiah’s<P023> absence
the chambers of the temple, in which the oerings had
been formerly kept, were given up to Tobiah, that subtle
and persevering enemy of God’s people. But at the
dedication of the wall of Jerusalem the joy of the people
and the faithfulness of Nehemiah brought them back to
the written Word, and Israel separated themselves again
from the mixed multitude. Tobiah’s stu is cast out of the
chamber prepared for him in the temple. e observance
of the Sabbath is again enforced. ose who had married
strange wives, and whose children spake partly the language
of strangers and partly that of the Jews, are put under the
curse and sharply rebuked and chastised. e order and the
cleansing, according to the law, are reestablished, and this
leading thought of the book, as to the people’s condition,
closes the narrative.
at which we have said will give an idea of the great
principle of this book.
I will add a few more remarks in this place.
e Jews’ position in the land till the coming of the
Messiah
Nehemiah 12-13
57
e Book of Nehemiah places Israel, or rather the Jews,
in the position they were to hold in their land until the
coming of the Messiah; separate from the nations, faithful
in keeping the law, but deprived of the privileges which
had belonged to them as the people of God; under the
yoke of the Gentiles, capable of rendering unto God the
things that were God’s, but deprived of His presence in
their midst, as they had formerly enjoyed it in the temple;
and, nally, bound to render unto Caesar the things that
were Caesar’s. When the Messenger of the covenant came
(the Son of God, who could have cleansed the temple and
placed the glory there), they received Him not; and they
continue under the burden of the consequences of this
rejection. is is now their condition until the coming of
Christ.
Nehemiah’s faith connected with God’s government
It is this which gives to the Book of Nehemiah its
importance. Nehemiah’s faith embraced those promises of
God which were connected with His government-such,
for instance, as those contained in Leviticus 26. But his
faith went no farther. (See chapter 1.) ere was blessing
upon this faith, and it accomplished the purposes of God;
but it left Israel where they were.<P024> e precious
phrase, “His mercy endureth forever,” is not found in this
book. Nehemiah’s faith did not rise so high. He is himself
the servant of the Gentiles, and he acknowledges them.
Such trust in God as is expressed in the words just quoted
was linked with the altar and the temple, where Jehovah
was everything to faith, and the Gentiles nothing, except
as enemies (Ezra 3-4).
Immediate blessing, but no prophetic future
Darby Synopsis
58
Although it leaves the Jews in a much better condition
than that in which they had previously stood, through the
good hand of God upon them for immediate blessing, yet
the Book of Nehemiah has no prophetic future, no future
for faith.1e Jews are still Loammi (not my people). e
presence of God, sitting between the cherubim, was not
with them; nor could it be, seeing that God had removed
the throne into the midst of the Gentiles. I speak of His
presence in the temple, the habitation of His glory. Set thus
in blessing and under responsibility, the Messiah’s coming
was to put everything to the proof. e result disclosed an
empty house, swept and garnished, from which the unclean
spirit had gone out, but in which there was nothing. e
unclean spirit will return, and others worse than himself
with him. Having rejected Christ, this unhappy people will
receive the Antichrist; but this was only manifested by the
coming of Christ.
(1. And where faith was not, and they had inwardly
departed from God, their legal exactitude without grace
in the heart became narrowness of heart and hypocrisy.
Scrupulousness is not uprightness.)
e prophecies of Zechariah and Haggai connected
with Zerubbabel’s work; the altar the means of blessing
In Nehemiah the people are only set, meanwhile, in this
place of blessing. e prophecies of Zechariah and Haggai
are connected with the work of Zerubbabel, and not with
that of Nehemiah; with the simple faith that reared the
altar as the means of blessing and safety. ere (Zech. 1:16)
Jehovah could say that He had returned to Jerusalem with
mercies; but it is “after the glory” that He will come to
dwell there (ch. 2:8-13). e prophecy encourages them by
blessing, and promises them the coming of Christ, and the
Nehemiah 12-13
59
presence of Jehovah at a still future period. Chapter 8 of the
same prophet connects these two things together<P025>
to encourage the people to walk uprightly; but it will
be seen in reading it that the fulllment is there clearly
marked as taking place at the end of the age, the rejection
of Christ (ch. 11) becoming the occasion of the judgments
that were to fall upon them, and to give occasion, in a still
more striking manner, for that sovereign grace which will
use the power of the rejected Messiah for the deliverance
of His people, when they are utterly ruined in consequence
of their sin.
e prophecy of Malachi, which was uttered after this,
declares and denounces the corruption already brought in
after the blessing restored in a measure by mercy; and the
coming of Jehovah in judgment.
To these remarks it may be added, that neither in
Zechariah nor in Haggai does the Lord call the people, My
people. It is said, prophetically, that this shall be the case
in the time to come, in the latter days, when Christ shall
come to establish His glory. But the judgment pronounced
in Hosea has never been revoked, and there is not one
expression used that could gainsay it.
e people in the land that the Messiah may be
presented to them
e Book of Nehemiah gives us, then, the partial and
outward reestablishment of the Jews in the land, without
either the throne of God or the throne of David, while
waiting for the manifestation of the Messiah, and His
coming to seek for the fruit of so much grace; in a word,
their restoration, in order that He may be presented to
them. e people are provisionally in the land, on God’s
Darby Synopsis
60
part, but under the power of the Gentiles who possess the
throne.<P026>
Esther
61
72727
Esther
e condition of the people in the land till Christ’s
coming as shown by Nehemiah
e Book of Nehemiah has shown us Judah reinstated
in the land, but deprived of the presence of God, except as
to general blessing, and unacknowledged by God as His
people; so that, whatever length of time may elapse, their
condition leads us morally up to the moment when the
Messiah should be presented to seal up prophecy, to nish
the transgression, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.
at book gave us the last word-until the coming of Christ-
of the history of Israel; and that, in grace and patience on
God’s part.
e Jews’ position out of the land but under God’s
hand shown in Esther
e Book of Esther shows us the position of Israel, or, to
speak more accurately, the position of the Jews, out of their
own land, and looked at as under the hand of God, and as
the object of His care. at He still cared for them (which
this book proves to us), when they no longer held any
position owned of God, and had, on their part, lost all title
to His protection, is an extremely touching and important
fact in the dealings of God. If, when His people are in such
a state as this, God cannot reveal Himself to them-which
is manifest-He yet continues to think of them. God reveals
to us here, not an open interposition on His part in favor
of His people, which could no longer take place, but that
providential care which secured their existence and their
preservation in the midst of their enemies. ose who were
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in danger were of the captivity of Judah (ch. 2:5-6), and
of those who had not returned to the land of Canaan. If
this betrays a want of faith and energy on their part, and
of aection for the house and city of God, we must see in
it so much the greater proof of the <P027>absolute and
sovereign goodness, absolute and sovereign faithfulness, of
that God Himself.
God’s secret, sovereign and unfailing care
We see then in this history, the secret and providential
care that God takes of the Jews, when, although
maintaining their position, as Jews, they have entirely fallen
from all outward relation to Him, are deprived of all the
rights of God’s people, and are stripped of the promises,
in the fulllment of which, as oered them by the mercy
of God at that time in Jerusalem, they take no interest.
Even in this condition God watches over and takes care
of them-a people beloved and blessed in spite of all their
unfaithfulness; for the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance. is, when well weighed, gives this book a
very touching and instructive character. It is the sovereign
unfailing care of God, come what will, and shows the place
which this people hold in His mind.
It has been often remarked that the name of God is not
found in the Book of Esther. is is characteristic. God
does not show Himself. But, behind the power and the
mistakes of that throne to which the government of the
world had fallen, God holds the reins by His providence;
He watches over the accomplishment of His purposes
and over everything necessary to their fulllment; and He
cares for His people, whatever may be their condition or
the power of their enemies. Happy people! (Compare, as
to Israel, Jeremiah 31:20.)
Esther
63
God’s government and sovereignty over the dispersed
Jews
It is to be noticed that faith in the protection of God,
and an acknowledgment of it, are to be found even when
the dealings of God, with respect to His promises, are
not owned. We are speaking of God’s government, and
not of salvation. Salvation is not the question here. e
Gentile reigns and does according to his will, taking at his
pleasure one of the daughters of Benjamin for his wife.
Sad condition, indeed, for the people of God! A position
contrary to all divine law, to all faithfulness under other
circumstances, but here not leading even to expostulation.
e people of Israel are lost here as to their own state. But
God acts in His sovereignty, and makes use of this sorrowful
evidence of their<P028> position to preserve them from
the destruction with which they were threatened.
Nehemiah unfolds the last relationship of God with the
people before the coming of the Messiah; a relationship
of long-suering, in which God does not own them as
His people; a provisional and imperfect relationship.
Esther teaches us that God watches in sovereignty over
the dispersed Jews, and preserves them even without any
outward relationship, and that, without revoking any part
of the judgment passed upon them, God shelters them
without displaying Himself, and consequently by hidden
means.
It was this that, as a matter of history, had yet to be
made known before the public interposition of God at the
end, in the Person of Messiah, which prophecy alone could
reveal.
God’s interposition and His ways shown in connection
with the earth
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is interposition appears to me to be pointed out in the
circumstances of this history; vaguely, indeed, yet clearly
enough for one who has traced the ways of God, as revealed
in the Word. We see the Gentile wife set aside on account
of her disobedience, and her having failed in displaying her
beauty to the world; and she is succeeded by a Jewish wife,
who possesses the king’s aections. We see the audacious
power of Haman, the Gentile, the oppressor of the Jews,
destroyed; and the Jew, the protector of Esther, Mordecai,
formerly despised and disgraced, raised to glory and honor
in place of the Gentile. All this, be it remembered, is in
connection with the earth.
e hidden hand of God
Finally, in the details of this book there is a very
interesting point, namely, the providential means which
God employed, the opportuneness of the moment at
which everything happens- even to the king’s wakefulness,
showing, in the most interesting manner, how the hidden
hand of God prepares and directs everything, and how
those who seek His will may rely upon Him at all times
and under all circumstances, even when deliverance
appears impossible, and in spite of all the machinations of
the enemy and their apparent success.<P029>
Mordecai a type of the Lord
e close of the book presents, historically, the great
characteristic facts of the dominion of the Gentiles; but
one can hardly fail to see in it typically, in the position of
Mordecai, the Lord Himself as head of the Jews, in closest
connection with the throne that rules over all.
e appropriate circumstances of the book
e very circumstances into which this book enters are
appropriate. When an acknowledged relationship subsists,
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65
the dealings of God are according to the conduct of those
who stand in this relationship; but here there is no such
relationship subsisting. e scene is lled, and rightly
lled, with heathen circumstances and heathen manners.
Israel is as lost among them, their conduct does not come
forward; but their preservation, where to the eye of man
heathenism is everything, and their enemies seemingly all
powerful. is is all in place. Any other picture would not
have been the truth, nor given the true representation of
the state of things, nor brought out into their true light the
dealings of God.
It will be easily understood that this book concludes
the deeply interesting series of the historical books, which,
through the goodness of God, we have been considering,
exhibiting-as far as there has been ability-their leading
features. May the Spirit, who has enabled us to enjoy that
which God has deigned to reveal in them, continue to
instruct us while meditating on those books which we have
still to examine!<P030>
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72728
Job
e dierence between the Old and New Testaments
as to the knowledge of redemption and of a Redeemer
e Chetubim, or Hagiographa, in which I do not
now comprehend Daniel (though his book has a character
distinct from the other prophets) form a very distinct and
interesting part of divine revelation. None of them suppose
an accomplished and known redemption, in the New
Testament sense of the word, though like every blessing all
is founded on it. In Job a single passage gives a particular
application of the term: “I have found a ransom” (Copher).
e Psalms recount we know, prophetically, the sorrows
and suerings in which it was accomplished.
But redemption by blood is known by faith, when
accomplished, whether by the Jew or the Christian. Isaiah
prophesies of Israel’s recognition of it fully. ere were
also, as we know, shadows of it under the law. But the
knowledge of eternal redemption is Christian knowledge,
or that of the Jews when they look on Him whom they
pierced. Till Christ’s death, the veil was unrent, the holiest
unapproachable. ere was knowledge more or less clear
of a Redeemer-of a personal Redeemer to come; of God’s
favor towards those that walked with Him, and the
condence of faith in Him and in His promises. But there
was no such knowledge of sin as led, God being revealed,
to the consciousness of exclusion from His presence as a
present state, nor of such a putting of it away as reconciled
us fully and forever to God by its ecacy, and brought us
to Him.
Job
67
e poetical books: the divinely given expression of
man’s thoughts and feelings under God’s government
e books we are treating of are not prophecies of
God’s dealings or actings, save as the Psalms express
future deliverance by power and by God’s judgments; but
they are the divinely given <P031>expression of man’s
thoughts and feelings under the government of God,1
and the explanatory revelation of God before redemption
is fully known. is process has mainly gone on in Israel;
and hence they are in the main the various expression of
God’s ways with Israel. Still what was carried out there,
under revealed conditions and prophetic communications
in direct government, was what was in principle true of
God’s ways everywhere, though there specially displayed
(the question of man’s positive righteousness being raised
too there by the law, the perfect rule of life for the sons of
Adam).
(1. And these pass into what Christ’s were in His
humiliation and suerings, and thus become prophecies of
His suerings, but in the form of His feelings under them,
and this of innite price to us.)
e scope of the Book of Job
e Book of Job aords us the example of the
relationship of a godly man outside and doubtless before
Israel, and God’s dealings with men for good in this world
of evil; but then it runs up, I doubt not, into a clear type
of Israel in result. ose ways are fully displayed in that
people. And it is to be remarked that, when Job practically
feels the impossibility of man’s being righteous with God,
he complains of fear and having no daysman between
them; and Elihu, who takes up this ground in God’s stead,
explains not redemption but chastising and government.
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ese things God wrought oftentimes with man (ch. 33;
36).
Ecclesiastes: Can fallen man nd happiness and rest
in this world without redemption?
Ecclesiastes estimates this world under the same
government, in its present fallen state, and raises the
question whether by any means man can nd happiness and
rest there, with no trace of the knowledge of redemption.
Nor is there any recognized relationship with God. It is
always Elohim (God), never Jehovah, fearing God and
keeping His commandments being the whole duty of man
as such.
e standpoint of the Song of Solomon and of
Proverbs
e Song of Solomon aords direct relationship with
the Lord, the Son of David, the ardent aections which
belong to the <P032>relationship with Christ; Proverbs,
a guidance through the mixed and entangled scene, and
here all is on the ground of relationship with Jehovah, God
(Elohim) being only once or twice mentioned in a way
which does not aect this. (See more fully note to page
35.) But none place themselves on the ground of known
redemption. ey do look for redemption by power. Hence,
on the contrary, Romans begins with the revelation of wrath
from heaven, not government, against all ungodliness, and
unrighteousness where truth was, against Gentile and
Jew,1 and brings in redemption, personal justication, and
righteousness-God’s righteousness. e case of Gentile
and Jew is fully gone into, and brought out as before
God Himself, and wrath from heaven the necessary
consequence; complete redemption by blood for heaven,
and sovereign grace reigning through righteousness and
Job
69
giving us a place with the Second Adam, the Lord from
heaven, together with the result for Israel hereafter. All is
made clear in the light as God is in the light-His eternal
redemption, and heavenly places, though nally earth will
be blessed. But we are pilgrims and strangers here. is
is our place by redemption itself. To the Abrahams and
Davids it was so, by getting nothing of what was promised,
or else persecution under the government of God upon the
earth; so that under that order of things it was after all a
puzzle to both, though the nal inheritance of the land, the
heir, and the judgment of the wicked, known by revelation,
met the puzzle in their minds.
(1. And note here Psalm 14, which he quotes as proof
of sin in the Jew, and Isaiah 59, both end in deliverance
in Jerusalem by power. In Romans it is met by present
justication by blood.)
Eternal relationship and present, known redemption
unknown and unfound in Job, Psalms and the other
poetical books
But in Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, which express men’s
feelings under it, this puzzle is fully manifested. Faith and
condence in God may get over it, or persevere through
it; prophetic testimonies may meet it; but it is there, and
this earth is the scene of the reply of God, even if their
faith might be sometimes forced to rise above it, nourished
by personal condence in God. But a present xed
eternal relationship with God even our Father through
re<P033>demption, in a wholly new scene into which we
are brought by that precious blood, whose shedding has
gloried God Himself, and reconciled us to Him, though
yet in an unredeemed body-that was unknown. Much was
learned, learned as to God, and this was most precious. But
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the actual result for Job was more camels and sheep, and
fairer daughters; in the Psalms, judgment of enemies, and
deliverance through mercy that endured forever, and an
earth set free under heaven’s judicial rule; in Ecclesiastes, as
to the perception of the present eect of government, that
man must fear God, keep His commandments, and leave it
there. Present known redemption is nowhere found. And
oh what a dierence, an unbounded dierence, this makes!
“As he is, so are we in this world.” He who redeemed us
is gone to His Father and our Father, His God and our
God. Proverbs and the Song of Solomon have, as I have
said, another character, though referring to the same
scene: Proverbs, not man’s feelings in the scene, but God’s
guidance through it by the experience and wisdom of
divinely instructed authority;1 and the Song of Solomon,
the carrying the heart quite out of it all, though still in
it, not by known redemption, but by devoted aection to
Messiah, and of Messiah to Israel, by the revelation He
makes of Himself, indeed of His love to them to beget it
in Israel’s heart.
(1. It will much help the reader as to the character of
this book and Ecclesiastes to remark, that in Proverbs the
name Jehovah is always employed, save in chapter 25:2,
where it is “Elohim,” and “her God,” chapter 2:17. But this
is not an exception: that is, it is recognized relationship
with the revealed God of Israel. Whereas in Ecclesiastes
Jehovah is never found. It is always Elohim, the abstract
name of God without any idea of relationship: God as such
in contrast with man and every creature, and man having
to nd out experimentally his true place and happiness as
such, without special revealed relationship with God. In
Job the editor, if I may so speak, or historian who gives the
Job
71
dialogues, always uses Jehovah; but in the body of the book
Job, unless at any rate once as to the government of God
(ch. 12:9), and Elihu constantly, use the name of Almighty,
the Abrahamic name of God, or simply God. e friends
generally use God, or particularly Eliphaz the Almighty,
sometimes it is only, He. Zophar, I think, uses no name.
e dialogue is characterized by God or Almighty. )
ese exercises of heart have their place in us now, for we
are in the world; but in the consciousness of accomplished
redemption and the present care of a holy Father, the
perfection of whose ways, as seen in Christ, is the model of
our conduct. We can take joyfully the spoiling of our goods,
knowing in ourselves that we have in heaven a better and
an enduring substance; and glory in tribulation, because it
works its needed end, and the love of God<P034> is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us. is is
another case, and a blessed one it is.
I think these general remarks will help us to understand
the books which are now about to occupy us. I turn to the
books themselves.
Job, the upright and righteous man, put to the test,
his exercises and God’s dealings
After what I have said, the Book of Job will not require
a long examination-not that it fails in interest, but because
when the general idea is once laid hold of, it is the detail
which is interesting, and detail is not our present object.
In the Book of Job we have one portion of those
exercises of heart which this division of the holy book
supplies. ese are not joyful exercises, but those of a heart
which, journeying through a world in which the power of
evil is found, and not being dead to the esh, not having
that divine knowledge which the gospel furnishes, not
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dead as to one’s self with Christ nor possessing Christ in
resurrection, is not capable of enjoying in peace, whatever
its own conicts may be, the fruit of God’s perfect love; but
which struggles with the evil or with the non-enjoyment of
the only real good, even while desiring to possess it; while,
by the means of these very revelations, the light of Christ
is cast upon these exercises, and the sympathy and entering
of His Spirit in grace into them practically is touchingly
developed. What is learned in them is what we are-not
committed sins; that was not Job’s case, but the soul itself
is put before God.
Job 1-2
73
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Job 1-2
In Job we have man put to the test; we might say, with
our present knowledge, man renewed by grace, an upright
man and righteous in his ways, in order to show whether
he can stand before God in presence of the power of evil,
whether he can be righteous in his own person before God.
On the other hand, we nd the dealings of God, by which
He searches the heart and gives it the consciousness of its
true state before Him.<P035>
Job and his accuser before God
All this is so much the more instructive, from its being
set before us independent of all dispensations, of all especial
revelation on God’s part. It is the godly man, such as one
of Noah’s descendants would be, who had not lost the
knowledge of the true God, when sin was again spreading
in the world and idolatry was setting in; but the Judge was
there to punish it. Job was encompassed with blessings and
possessed real piety. Satan, the accuser of the servants of
God, goes to and fro in the earth seeking occasion for evil,
and presents himself before Jehovah among His mighty
angels, the “Bene-Elohim”: and God states the case of Job,
the subject of His government in blessing, faithful in his
walk.
Satan as God’s instrument
It is carefully to be remarked here, that the spring and
source of all these dealings is not Satan’s accusations, but
God Himself. God knew what His servant Job needed,
and Himself brings forward his case and sets all in
movement. If He demands of Satan if he had considered
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His servant Job, it is because He Himself had. Satan is but
an instrument, and an ignorant though subtle instrument,
to bring about God’s purposes of grace. His accusations
result really in nothing as against Job, save to disprove their
truth by what he is allowed to do; but, for Job’s good, he
is left to his will up to a certain point, for the purpose of
bringing Job to a knowledge of his own heart, and thus to
a deeper ground of practical relationship with God. How
blessed and perfect are God’s ways! How vain in result the
eorts of Satan against those that are His!
God as Job’s justier
Satan attributes the piety of Job to God’s manifest favor
and to his prosperity, to the hedge He had put around him.
God gives all this into the hands of Satan, who speedily
excites the cupidity of Job’s enemies; and they attack him
and carry o all his possessions. His children perish through
the eects of a storm which Satan is allowed to raise. But
Job, dwelling neither on the instruments employed nor
on Satan, receives this bitter cup from the hand of God
without murmuring. Satan suggests again that man will,
in fact, give up everything if he can preserve himself. God
leaves everything to Satan except the life of His servant.
Satan<P036> smites Job with a dreadful disease; but
Job bows under the hand of God, fully recognizing His
sovereignty. Satan had exhausted his means of injuring Job,
and we hear nothing more of him; but it is beautiful to
see that God has hereby completely justied Job from the
accusation of Satan. Job was no hypocrite. He had lost all
to which Satan traced his piety, and it shone forth brighter
than ever. Satan can trace the motives which work in esh,
the evil in man’s heart which he excites; but grace in God,
Job 1-2
75
His uncaused love, and grace in man which trusts in and
leans on it, he cannot measure, nor know the power of.
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Job 3
Job’s want of knowledge of his own heart and of God
But the depths of Job’s heart were not yet reached, and to
do this was the purpose of God, whatever Satan’s thoughts
may have been. Job did not know himself, and up to this
time, with all his piety, he had never been in the presence of
God. How often it is the case that even throughout a long
life of piety the conscience has never been really set before
God! Hence peace, such peace as cannot be shaken, and
real liberty, are not known as yet. ere is a desire after
God, there is the new nature; the attraction of His grace
has been felt: nevertheless God and His love, as it really
is, are not known. If Satan is foiled (the grace of God
having kept Job’s heart from murmuring) God has yet
His own work to accomplish. at which the tempest that
Satan had raised against Job failed in doing, is brought
about by the sympathy of his friends. Poor heart of man!
e uprightness and even the patience of Job had been
manifested, and Satan had no more to say. But God alone
can search out what the heart really is before Him; and the
absence of all self-will, perfect agreement with the will of
God, absolute submission like that of Christ, these things
God alone could test, and thus lay bare the nothingness of
man’s heart before Him. God did this with Job; revealing
at the same time that He acts in grace in these cases for the
good of the soul which He loves.
Job’s self-satisfaction; the pride of his heart
If we compare the language of the Spirit of Christ
in the Psalms, we shall often nd the appreciation of
Job 3
77
circumstances expressed in<P037> almost identical
terms; but instead of bitter complaints and reproaches
addressed to God, we nd the submission of a heart which
acknowledges that God is perfect in all His ways. Job
was upright, but he began to make this his righteousness;
which evidently proves that he had never been really in
the presence of God. e consequence of this was that,
although he reasoned more correctly than his friends, and
showed a heart that felt really far more than they what
God was, he attributed injustice to God and a desire to
harass him without cause. (See chapter 19, 23:3,13, 13:15-
18 and 16:12.) We nd also in chapter 29 that his heart
had dwelt upon his upright and benevolent walk with
complacency, commending himself, and feeding his self-
love with it. “When the eye saw me, it gave witness to me.”
God was bringing him to say, “Now mine eye seeth ee
and I abhor myself.” It is with these chapters (ch. 29-31),
which express his good opinion of himself, that Job ends
his discourse; he had told his whole heart out. He was self-
satised the grace of God had wrought and in a lovely way
in him; but the present eect through the treacherousness
of the human heart, and not being in God’s presence which
detects it, was to make him lovely in his own eyes. If (ch.
9) he confesses man’s iniquity (for who can deny it, and
especially what converted man?), it is in bitterness of spirit,
because it is useless to attempt being just with such a God.
Chapter 6, as well as the whole of his discourse, proves
that, whether it was the pride of his heart which could not
bear to be found in such a state by those who had known
his greatness, a state which pride would have borne in
stubbornness alone, or sympathy which, in weakening that
had left him to the full sense of it, it was the presence and
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the language of his friends that was the means of bringing
out all that was in his heart. We see also in chapter 30 that
the pride of his heart was detected.
Job 4-31
79
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Job 4-31
Job’s friends; their ignorance of God and His ways
As to the friends of Job, they do not call for any
extended remarks. ey urge the doctrine that God’s
earthly government is a full measure and manifestation of
His righteousness, and of the righteousness of man, which
would correspond with it a doctrine<P038> which proves
a total ignorance of what God’s righteousness is, and of
His ways; as well as the absence of all real knowledge of
what God is, or man as a sinner. We do not see either that
the feelings of their hearts were inuenced by communion
with God. eir argument is a false and cold estimate
of the exact justice of His government as an adequate
manifestation of His relationship with man, though they
say many true commonplace things which even the Spirit
of God adopts as just. Although Job was not before God in
his estimate of himself, he judges rightly in these respects.
He shows that although God shows His disapprobation of
the wicked, yet the circumstances in which they are often
found overthrow the arguments of his friends. We see in
Job a heart which, although rebellious, depends upon God,
and would rejoice to nd Him. We see, too, that when he
can extricate himself, by a few words, from his friends, who,
he is quite sensible, understand nothing of his case, nor of
the dealings of God, he turns to God (although he does
not nd Him, and although he complains that His hand is
heavy upon him), as in that beautiful and touching chapter
23, and the reasonings as to divine government, chapters 24
and 21. at is to say, we see one who has tasted that God
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is gracious, whose heart, wounded indeed and unsubdued,
yet claims those qualities for God-because it knows Him-
which the cold reasonings of his friends could not ascribe
to Him; a heart which complains bitterly of God, but
which knows that, could it once come near Him, it would
nd Him all that it had declared Him to be, and not such
as they had declared Him to be, or were themselves-could
he nd Him, he would not be as they were, He would put
words in his mouth; a heart which repelled indignantly
the accusation of hypocrisy; for Job was conscious that he
looked to God, and that he had known God and acted
with reference to Him, though God thought t to bring
his sin to remembrance.
Job 32-37
81
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Job 32-37
Elihu: Job’s self-righteousness reproved; God’s ways
explained and His power insisted upon
But these spiritual aections of Job did not prevent
his turning this consciousness of integrity into a robe of
self-righteousness which hid God from him, and even
hid him from himself. He <P039>declares himself to be
more righteous than God (ch. 10:7-8; 16:14-17; 23:11-
13; 27:2-6). Elihu reproves him for this, and on the other
hand explains the ways of God. He shows that God visits
man and chastises him, in order that when subdued and
broken down-if there is one who can show him the point
of moral contact between his soul and God, in which his
soul would stand in truth before Him1-God may act in
grace and blessing, and deliver him from the evil that
oppresses him. Elihu goes on to show him that, if God
chastises, it is becoming in man to set himself before God
to learn wherein he has done wrong: in short, that the ways
of God are right, that He withdraws not His eyes from the
righteous, but if they are in aiction He shows them their
transgressions, and if they return to Him in obedience
when He opens their ear to discipline, He will give them
prosperity; but that the hypocrite shall perish. e rst
case which Elihu brings forward (ch. 33) is God’s dealings
with men. He awakens their consciences to their state, and
puts His bridle on the pride and self-will of man. God
chastises and humbles him. e second is specially with
the righteous (ch. 36), the case of positive transgression but
in one righteous in God’s sight, from whom He withdraws
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not His eyes, in whom He allowed not iniquity; but in the
rst case he was in the path of destruction. It was this case2
which needed the interpreter to place him in uprightness
before God. Finally, he insists upon the incomprehensible
power of God Almighty.
(1. is is a very important point. God can bless in a
direct manner with the light of His grace, when the soul
is brought into its true place, to what it really is in His
sight. en, whatever its state may be, He can bless it, in
respect of that state, with increased light and grace. If I
have got far from Him, and careless in walk, when I have
the consciousness how far I am, He can fully and directly
bless. But the soul must be brought into the recognition of
its state, or there would be no real blessing; I should not see
God in unison with it. For its sensible state did not answer
to its real state in God’s sight.)
(2. In this case it may be a rst conviction of sin, or the
knowledge of self where self has never been really judged,
as was Job’s case.)
Job 38-42
83
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Job 38-42
Jehovah Himself speaks; Job made to know himself
Jehovah then speaks, and addressing Job, carries on
the subject. He makes Job sensible of his nothingness. Job
confesses him<P040>self to be vile, and declares that he
will be silent before God. e Lord resumes the discourse,
and Job acknowledges that he has darkened counsel by
speaking of that which he understood not. But now, still
more submissively, he declares openly his real condition.
Formerly he had heard of God by the hearing of the ear;
now his eye had seen Him, wherefore he abhors himself
and repents in dust and ashes. is is the eect of having
seen God, and of nding himself in His presence. e
work of God was accomplished-the work of His perfect
goodness, which would not leave Job without causing him
to know himself, without bringing him into God’s own
presence. e object of discipline was attained, and Job is
surrounded with more blessings than before.
e lessons of the Book of Job
We learn two things here; rst, that man cannot stand
in the presence of God; and secondly, the ways of God for
the instruction of the inner man.
It is also a picture of God’s dealings with the Jews on
the earth.
e place of Satan; God’s work
e Book of Job plainly sets before us also the teaching
of the Spirit, as to the place which Satan occupies in the
dealings of God and His government, with respect to man
on the earth. We may also remark the perfect and faithful
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care of God, from whom (whatever may have been the
malice of Satan) all this proceeded, because He saw that
Job needed it. We observe that it is God who sets the case
of Job before Satan, and that the latter disappears from
the scene; because here it is a question of his doings on
the earth, and not of his inward temptations. Further, if
God had stopped short in the outward aictions, Job
would have had fresh cause for self-complacency. Man
might have judged that those aictions were ample. But
the evil of Job’s heart consisted in his resting on the fruits
of grace in himself, and this would have only increased the
good opinion he had already entertained of himself: kind
in prosperity, he would have been also patient in adversity.
God therefore carries on His work, that Job may know
himself.
e depths of Job’s heart displayed
Either the sympathy of his friends (for we can bear
alone, and<P041> from God in His presence, that which
we cannot bear when we have the opportunity of making
our complaint before man), or the pride which is not roused
while we are alone but which is wounded when others
witness our misery, or perhaps the two together, upset the
mind of Job; and he curses the day of his birth. e depths
of his heart are displayed. It was this that he needed.
Job, humbled, can be fully blessed
We have thus, man standing between Satan, the accuser,
and God, the question being not God’s revelation of
everlasting righteousness, but His ways with the soul of
man in this world. e godly man comes into trouble. is
has to be accounted for, the friends insisting that this world
is an adequate expression of God’s righteous government,
and that consequently as Job had made great profession of
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85
piety he was a hypocrite. is he stoutly denies, but his will
unbroken rises up against God. God has chosen to do it,
and he cannot help it. Only he is sure if he could nd Him,
He would put words in his mouth. He spoke well of Him
though in rebellion, and thinking of his goodness as his
own. Still he arms that though there was a government,
this world did not show it as his friends said; but he is not
broken down before God. Elihu comes in, the interpreter,
one among a thousand (and practically how rare they are!)
and he shows God’s discipline with man and with the
righteous, and rebukes both sides with intelligence. en
God comes in and puts Job in his place by the revelation of
Himself; but owns Job’s right feeling as to Him, and puts
the friends in their true place, and Job is to intercede for
them. Job, humbled, can be fully blessed. is knowledge
of self in God’s sight is of all importance; we are never
humble nor distrustful of self till then.<P042>
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72734
Psalms
e character of the Book of Psalms
e Book of Psalms has evidently a peculiar character.
It is not the history of God’s people, or of God’s ways
with them, nor is it the inculcation of positive doctrines or
duties, nor the formal prophetic announcement of coming
events. Many important events, doubtless, are alluded to
in them, and they are immediately connected with various
prophetic revelations (as, indeed, with precepts and all
the other parts of the divine Word to which I have just
referred); but none of these form the true character of the
book itself. e subjects too, of which the various parts of
Scripture I refer to treat, necessarily nd their place in the
thoughts expressed in the Psalms. But the Psalms do not
directly treat of them.
e Psalms as the expression of the hearts of God’s
people and the work of the Spirit; the importance of
rightly judging their true bearing and application
e Psalms are almost all the expression of the
sentiments produced in the hearts of God’s people by the
events (or I should speak more correctly if I said, prepared
for them in the events), through which they pass, and
indeed express the feelings, not only of the people of God,
but often, as is known, those of the Lord Himself. ey
are the expression of the part the Spirit of God takes, as
working in their hearts, in the sorrows and exercises of
the saints. e Spirit works in connection with all the
trials through which they pass, and the human inrmity
which appears in those trials; in the midst of which it
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87
gives thoughts of faith and truth which are a provision for
them in all that happens. We nd in them consequently
the hopes, fears, distress, condence in God, which
respectively ll the minds of the saints-sometimes the part
which the Lord Himself takes personally in them, and
that, occasionally, exclusive of all but Himself, the place
which He has held that He<P043> might so sympathize
with them. Hence a maturer spiritual judgment is required
to judge rightly of the true bearing and application of the
Psalms than for other parts of Scripture; because we must
be able to understand what dispensationally gives rise to
them, and judge of the true place before God of those
whose souls’ wants are expressed in them; and this is so
much the more dicult as the circumstances, state, and
relationship with God, of the people whose feelings they
express are not those in which we nd ourselves. e piety
they breathe is edifying for every time; the condence
they often express in God in the midst of trial has cheered
the heart of many a tried servant of God in his own. is
feeling is carefully to be preserved and cherished; yet it is
for that very reason so much the more important that our
spiritual judgment should recognize the position to which
the sentiments contained in the Psalms refer, and which
gives form to the piety which is found in them. Without
doing this, the full power of redemption and the force of
the gospel of the grace of God is lost for our own souls; and
many expressions which have shocked the Christian mind,
unobservant of their true bearing and application, remain
obscure and even unintelligible.
e heart that places itself in the position described in
the Psalms returns back to experiences which belong to
a legal state, and to one under discipline for failure and
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trial in that state, and to the hopes of an earthly people. A
legal and, for a Christian, unbelieving state is sanctioned in
the mind: we rest content in a spiritual state short of the
knowledge of redemption; and while we think to retain
the Psalms for ourselves, we keep ourselves in a state of
soul in which we are deprived of the intelligence of their
true use and our own privileges, and become incapable of
the real understanding of, and true delight in, the Psalms
themselves; and, what is more, we miss the blessed and
deeply instructive apprehension of the tender and gracious
sympathies of Christ in their true and divinely given
application. e appropriating spirit of selshness does not
learn Christ as He is, as He is revealed, and the loss is
really great. ere are comforts and ministrations of grace
for a soul under the law in the Psalms, because they apply
to those under the law (and souls in that state have been
relieved by them); but to use them in order to remain in
this state, and to apply them prominently to ourselves,
is, I repeat, to misapply the Psalms themselves, lose the
power of what is given to us in them,<P044> and deprive
ourselves of the true spiritual position in which the gospel
sets us. e dierence is simple and evident. Relationship
with the Father is not, cannot be, introduced in them, and
we live out of that if we live in them, though obedience and
conding dependence be ever our right path.
e meaning and object of the Spirit of God in the
Psalms
I purpose in this study of the Psalms to examine the
book as a whole, and each of the psalms, so as to give a
general idea of it. e most protable manner of doing
this (though the character of the Book of Psalms renders
it more dicult here) will be, as I have attempted in the
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89
books we have already considered-to give the meaning and
object of the Spirit of God, leaving the expression of the
precious piety which it contains to the heart that alone is
capable of estimating it, namely, one that feeds on Jesus
through the grace of the Spirit of God.
e Psalms, and the workings of the Spirit of God
expressed in them, belong properly in their application and
true force to the circumstances of Judah and Israel, and are
altogether founded on Israel’s hopes and fears: and, I add,
to the circumstances of Judah and Israel in the last days,
though as to the moral state of things those last days began
with the rejection of Christ. e piety and condence in
God with which they are lled nd an echo, no doubt, in
every believing heart, but this exercise, as expressed here,
is in the midst of Israel. is judgment, of which the truth
is evidently demonstrated by the reading of the Psalms
themselves, is sanctioned by the Apostle Paul. He says,
after citing the Psalms, “Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law.”
eir primary character: the remnant and Christ
Himself
e Psalms then concern Judah and Israel, and the
position in which those who belong to Judah and Israel
are found. eir primary character is the expression of the
working of the Spirit of Christ as to, or in, the remnant of
the Jews1 (or of Israel) in the<P045> last days. He enters
into all their sorrows, giving expression to their confessions,
their condence of faith, their hopes, fears, thankfulness for
deliverances obtained-in a word, to every exercise of their
hearts in the circumstances in which they nd themselves in
the last days; so as to aord them the leading, the sanction,
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and the sympathy of the Spirit of Christ, and utterance
to the working of that Spirit in them and even in Christ
Himself. In addition to this, the Psalms present to us the
place which Christ Himself when on earth took among
them, in order to their having part in His sympathies, and
to make their deliverance possible, and their condence
in God righteous, though they had sinned against Him.
ey do not, as the Epistles, reason on the ecacy of His
work; but in the psalms which apply to Him, present His
feeling in accomplishing it. ey intimate to us also the
place He took in heaven on His rejection, and ultimately
on the throne of the kingdom; but, save His present
exaltation (which is only mentioned as a fact necessary to
introduce, and to give the full character to Israel’s ultimate
deliverance), all that is revealed of the Lord in this His
connection with Israel is expressed, not in narration, but
in the utterance of His own feelings in regard to the place
He is in, as is the case with the remnant themselves. is
feature it is which gives its peculiar character and interest
to the Psalms.
(1. is so distinctly characterizes the Psalms that there
are very few indeed even of those which are prophetic of
Christ, where the remnant is not found. In the second book
they are not, because that element is distinctly presented as
the primary subject in the rst: the connection being moral
through His entering into their sorrows in grace, this is
easily understood. And it is necessary to remember this, to
account for various passages in which they come in, though
partly applicable to, or used by, Christ. See pages 59, 60
and 62.)
Christ entering into the full depths of suering with
and for His people
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91
ey teach us thus that Christ entered into the full depths
of suering which made Him the vessel of sympathizing
grace with those who had to pass through them-and that
as seeing and pleading with God in respect of them. In the
path of His own humiliation, He got the tongue of the
learned to know how to speak a word in season to him that
was weary. ey were sinners, could claim no exemption,
count on no favor which could deliver and restore. ey
must, if He had not suered for them, have taken the
actual suerings they had to undergo in connection with
the guilt which left them in them without favor. But this
was not<P046> God’s thought; He was minded to deliver
them, and Christ steps in in grace. He takes the guilt of
those that should be delivered. at was vicarious suering
as a substitute. And He places Himself in the path of
perfect obedience and love in the sorrow through which
they had to pass. As obedient, He entered into that sorrow
so as to draw down, through the atonement, the ecacy of
God’s delivering favor on those who should be in it, and be
the pledge, in virtue of all this, of their deliverance out of it
as standing thus for them, the sustainer of their hope in it,
so that they should not fail.
Trial to bring the sense of guilt in a broken law and a
rejected and crucied Messiah
Still they must pass through sorrow, according to
the righteous ways of God, in respect of their folly and
wickedness, and to purify them inwardly from it. Into all
this sorrow Christ entered, as He also bore their sins, to be
a spring of life and sustainer of faith to them in it, when
the hand of oppression should be heavy without, and the
sense of guilt terrible within, and hence no sense of favor,
but that One who had assured to them and could convey
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this favor had taken up their cause with God, and passed
through it for them. e full ecacy indeed of His work
in their deliverance, in that one man’s dying for the nation,
will not be known by them till they look on Him whom
they have pierced. ey are purposely left (and especially
the remnant, because of their integrity; for the rest will
join the idolatrous Gentiles for peace’s sake) in the depth
of trial, which, as ways of God in government, brings them
through grace to the sense of their guilt in a broken law
and a rejected and crucied Messiah, that they may truly
know what each of them is, and bow before an oended
Jehovah in integrity of heart, and say, “Blessed be he that
cometh in the name of Jehovah.”
e Psalms under law and under grace
But, though the deliverance and a better salvation be
not to come till then, still, in virtue of the work wrought
to eect it, Christ can sustain and lead on their souls to
it; and that is just what is done in these Psalms. ese are
His language to, or rather in, their souls when they are in
the trouble-sometimes the<P047> record of how He has
learned it. Hence too, souls yet under the law nd such
personal comfort under them. Let not any soul, let me
remark in passing, suppose that deep heart-interest in these
sorrows of Christ is lost by passing from under the law
to be under grace. ere is immense gain. e dierence
is this- instead of using them merely selshly (though
surely rightly) for my own wants and sorrows, I, when
under grace, enter in adoring contemplation and joyful
love into all Christ’s sorrows, in the deeper competency
given by His Spirit dwelling in me. I go back now in peace,
as He is on high, and I trace with divinely given interest
and understanding (whatever my measure) all the sorrows
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93
through which He passed when here, tracing this “path of
life” in love to us across a world of sin and woe, glorifying
God in it, through death itself, to the righteous glory in
which He now is. Christ comforted His disciples in John
14, though not indeed as under law; but He says at the
close, “If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I said, I go
unto the Father.” Under law the Psalms may comfort us
in protable distress; under grace we enjoy them as loving
Christ and with divine intelligence.
e distinction between Christ and the remnant
But to return. e great foundation which had to be
laid to make sympathy possible was, that Christ did not
escape where the remnant of Israel will,1 because He must
suer the full penalty of the guilt and evil, or He could not
righteously and for God’s glory deliver them. us Christ
must pass personally fully through the sorrow as He did in
spirit; and besides that, make atonement for the guilt. He
passed through it, save in atonement work, near to God;
and makes all the grace and favor of God towards Him,
all that He found God to be for Him in sorrow, available,
through the atonement, to those who should come to
be in it, that they might thus have all the mind of God
towards<P048> them in grace in that case to use when
they found themselves in it, even though in darkness. If it
be said, How can they when they have not yet learned that
God is for them in the atonement? ese Psalms, entering
into every detail, are precisely the means of their doing so
according to Isaiah 50, as already referred to. In truth, many
Christians are in this state. ey cling to promise, feel their
sins, are comforted by hope, see the goodness of God, use
the Psalms as suiting them, and do not know redemption
nor peace.
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(1. It is in the point of death that the suerings of
Christ, whether for righteousness’ sake, and that which He
underwent to be able to sympathize with them when they
suer under the government of God, on the one hand, or
atonement on the other-the latter pregured in the burnt
and sin oering (compare Hebrews 9), the former the
expression and testing of perfectness in the meat oering-
meet. Christ suered onward up to death. en He also
made atonement for sin. Some of the remnant may suer
unto death, as faithful under the trials of this government;
but then, like Christ, they will obtain a better resurrection.
Of course, the atoning part is exclusively His.)
e Psalms, then, belong properly to Israel,1 and
in Israel to the godly remnant. is is the rst general
principle, which the Word itself establishes for us, as we
have seen stated by Paul: What they say, they say to those
under the law.
(1. I here use Israel as contrasted with the assembly
and Gentiles. We shall see Judah distinguished from Israel
when we enter into details.)
e faithful remnant distinguished from the rest of
the nation
In examining the Psalms themselves, we shall nd
other elements of this judgment, which are very clear and
positive. e Psalms distinguish (Psa. 73) and commence
by distinguishing (Psa. 1) the man who is faithful and
godly, according to the law, from the rest of the nation.
“e ungodly are not so,” nor shall they “stand . . . in the
congregation of the righteous.” Indeed, Isaiah teaches the
same truth doctrinally just as strongly.1eir characteristic
subject is the true believing remnant, the righteous in Israel
(Psa. 16:3 and many others). It is, therefore, the portion
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95
and hope of Israel which are in view in them. In Psalm 1
this is denitely and distinctly presented. But it is the hope
of a remnant, whose portion is from the commencement
distinguished in the most marked way from that of the
wicked.
(1. Compare Isaiah 48:22 and 57:21.)
e Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of prophecy, speaking
in the Psalms
Again, it is evident (and it is the second general principle
I would notice), that it is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of
prophecy, which speaks. at is to say, it is the Spirit of
Christ interesting Himself in the condition of the faithful
remnant of Israel. is<P049> Spirit speaks of things to
come as if they were present, as is always the case with the
prophets. But this does not make it the less true that it is
a spirit of prophecy which speaks of the future, and which
in this respect often resumes its natural character. But if
the Spirit of Christ is interested in the remnant of Israel,
Christ’s own suerings must be announced, which were
the complete proof of that interest, and without which
it would have been unavailing. And we nd, in fact, the
most touching expressions of the suerings of Christ, not
historically, but just as He felt then, expressed as by His
own lips at the moment He endured them.1 It is always
the Spirit2 of Christ that speaks, as taking part Himself
in the aiction and grief of His people, whether it is by
His Spirit in them or Himself for them, as the sole means
in presence of the just judgment of God, of delivering a
beloved though guilty people. Hence we see the beautiful
tness of the language of the Psalms in a point I shall touch
upon farther on. In the psalms which speak properly of
atonement Christ is alone, and thus His work is secured. In
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those which speak of suerings not atoning in their nature,
even though they go on up to death, parts may be found
personally applicable to Christ, because He did personally
and individually go through them, but in other parts of the
same psalms the saints also are brought in because they
will have a share in them, and thus His personal suerings
are presented to us, but His sympathy too is secured.
(1. Hence the intimacy of feeling and peculiar interest
of the Psalms. ey are the beating of the heart of Him, the
history of whose circumstances, the embodying of whose
life, in relationship with God and man, whose external
presentation, in a word, and all God’s ways in respect of it,
are found in the rest of Scripture.)
(2. Compare 1Peter 1:11.)
Earthly deliverance sought; sins felt and confessed
Another principle connects itself with this, which gives
the third great characteristic of the Psalms. e sins of
the people would morally hinder the remnant’s having
condence in God in their distresses. Yet God alone can
deliver them, and to Him they must look in integrity of
heart.
We nd both these points brought out: the distresses
are laid before God, seeking for deliverance; and integrity
is pleaded and the sins confessed at the very same time.
Christ, having come into their sorrows, as we have seen,
and made atonement, can lead<P050> them, in spite of
their sins and about their sins, to God. ey do not indeed
know at rst perhaps the full forgiveness, but they go
in the sense of grace as led by Christ’s Spirit (and how
many souls are practically in this state!),1 in expressions
provided in these very Psalms, to the God of deliverances,
confessing their sins also. ey “take with them words and
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97
return to the Lord.” Forgiveness also is presented to them.
e Spirit of Christ being livingly in them (that is, as a
principle of life), and xing the purpose of their heart, they
can, through confessing their sin, plead unfeignedly their
integrity and delity to God. But the thought of mercy
everywhere precedes that of righteousness as their ground
of hope. In substance, all this is true of every renewed
soul who has not yet found liberty, the liberty obtained by
known redemption. e Psalms, unless certain praises at
the close of the book and the end of some others, are never
the expression of this liberty: and even when the expression
of it is found, it is that of earthly deliverance or forgiveness.
(1. e state of the prodigal till he met his father-the
state of every soul, where the God who is light and love
has been revealed in Christ; but redemption work, and
acceptance in Him are not known-there is condence, but
not peace.)
e Psalms the expression of the Spirit of Christ in
the Jewish remnant or in Christ as suering for them
In sum, then, the Psalms are the expression of the Spirit
of Christ, either in the Jewish remnant (or in that of all
Israel), or in His own Person as suering for them, in view
of the counsels of God with respect to His elect earthly
people. And since these counsels are to be accomplished
more particularly in the latter days, it is the expression of
the Spirit of Christ in this remnant in the midst of the
events which will take place in those days, when God
begins to deal again with His earthly people. e moral
suerings connected with those events have been more
or less veried in the history of Christ on the earth; and
whether in His life, or, yet more, in His death, He is linked
with the interests and with the fate of this remnant. In
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Christ’s history, at the time of His baptism by John, He
already identied Himself with those that formed this
remnant; not with the impenitent multitude of Israel,
but with the rst movement of the Spirit of God in these
“excellent of the earth,” which led them to recognize the
truth of God in the<P051> mouth of John, and to submit
to it. Now it is in this remnant that the promises made to
Israel will be accomplished; so that, while only a remnant,
their aections and hopes are those of the nation. On the
cross, Jesus remained the only true faithful one before God
in Israel-the personal foundation of the whole remnant
that was to be delivered, as well as the accomplisher of that
work on which their deliverance could be founded.
e threefold suering of Christ during His life and
on the cross
ere are some further general observations on a point
to which I have already alluded, which, while in a great
measure they are drawn from the Psalms themselves, yet,
through the light the Gospels also cast on it, may aid us in
seeing the spirit of the whole book, and entering into the
purport of many psalms in detail. I mean the suerings of
Christ. We have seen in general already that the book brings
before us the remnant, its sorrows, hopes, and deliverance,
and Christ’s association with them in all these. He has
entered into their sorrows, will be their deliverer, and has
wrought the atonement which lays the foundation of their
deliverance, as it does of the deliverance of any living soul-
but He died for that nation. Of course His own perfection
shines out in this; but here we are to look for its connection
with Israel and the earth, though His personal exaltation
to heaven be mentioned, from which their nal deliverance
ows. We are not, however, to look for the mystery of the
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99
assembly, which at this time was hid in God, nor for Christ
viewed in His associations with the assembly. e Psalms
furnish most exquisitely all the earthly experiences of
Christ and His people which the Spirit of Christ would
bring before us. We must look to the New Testament (as
in Philippians, for example, and elsewhere) to nd the
heavenly ones of those He has redeemed.
Now Christ passed through every kind of moral
suering the human heart can go through, was tempted
in all points like as we are, sin apart. Nor can anything be
more fruitful in its place (for it must not be too long dwelt
on in itself, and entirely separated from the divine side of
His character, or it becomes protless or hurtful, because
really eshly sentiment), than to have the heart engaged
in contemplating the sorrows of the blessed<P052>
Redeemer. Never were any like His. But the Psalms will
bring them before us, and I refrain from entering on them
here. In these introductory remarks, I can only shortly refer
to the principles on which, and the positions in which, He
suered. ere are, I think, three. He suered from man
for righteousness and love, for the testimony He bore
in that which was good, in which He bore testimony to,
and revealed, God: He suered from God for sin. ese
two distinct characters of suering are very simple and
plain to every believer’s mind. e third kind of suering
supposes somewhat more attention to Scripture. It is said
of Jehovah’s ways with Israel, “In all their aiction he was
aicted, and the angel of his presence saved them.” is
was (as to the last part, yet will be) most especially fullled
in Christ, Jehovah come as man into the midst of Israel.
But the suerings of Israel, at least of the remnant of the
Jewish portion of the people, take a peculiar character at
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the close. ey are under the oppression of Gentile power,
in the midst of utter iniquity in Israel, yet are characterized
by integrity of heart (indeed, this is what makes them
the remnant), but conscious of, for that very reason, and
suering under, the present general consequences of sin
under the government of God and the power of Satan and
death. e deliverance which frees them from it not being
yet come, the weight of these things is on their spirits. Into
this sorrow Christ has also fully entered.
Suerings from man and from God
During His whole life, up even to death itself, He suered
from man for righteousness’ sake. (See, in connection with
this, Psalm 11 and others.) Besides this, on the cross He
suered for sin, drank the cup of wrath for sin, the cup
His Father had given Him to drink. But besides these
two kinds of suering He bore in His soul, at the close
of His life (we may say from after the paschal supper), all
the distress and aiction under which the Jews will come
through the government of God-not condemnation, but
still the consequence of sin. No doubt He had anticipated,
and, so far felt it, as in John 12 the coming cross; but now
He entered into it. It was, as to the point we are now on, as
He said, apostate Israel’s hour then and the power of darkness.
But He was still looking to His Father in the sense of
faithfulness.<P053> Nor was He yet forsaken of God. He
could still look to man’s watching with Him. What could
watching do when divine wrath was upon Him? But the
distinctive character of these kinds of suering is clearly
seen if we, as taught of God, weigh the psalms which speak
of them respectively. us we shall see that, when He
suers from man, He looks, as speaking by His Spirit in
and for Israel, for vengeance on man. Others too are then
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101
often seen to suer with Him. When He suers from God,
He is wholly alone, and the consequences are unmingled
blessing and grace. As to suering from man, we can have
the privilege of so suering, having the fellowship of His
suerings. In suering from God as under wrath, He did
so that we might never have the least drop whatever of
that cup; it would have been our everlasting ruin. In the
suerings He underwent under Satan’s power, and darkness,
and death, when not yet actually drinking the cup of wrath,
besides what was due to the majesty of God in view of this
(see Hebrews 2:10), He suered to sympathize with the
Jews in their aictions, which they come into through their
integrity and yet in their sins. Every awakened soul under
the law will nd comfort in this. All these suerings are
entered into in the Psalms as to Christ and as to Israel. But
the Jews passed into utter ruin, and loss of all the promises
(save sovereign grace), and the remnant into their place of
trial and sorrow as such, by the rejection of Messiah.
On the cross
It is to be remembered that, though all three principles
of suering are essentially dierent, and all very clear and
important in their character, at the close of Christ’s life
all coalesced and united in the sorrows of His last hours-
save that I doubt not, in coming out of Gethsemane, the
pressure of Satan’s power on His spirit had been gone
through and was over, but on the cross He suered from
man for righteousness, and from God for sin only. I am
persuaded that this last, when fully on His soul, was too
deep to leave it possible for the other or anything else to
be much felt.
Having made these general observations, which
appeared to me necessary to understand the book, we
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will now examine, with the Lord’s help, its contents; and
may He indeed guide both myself<P054> and my reader
in doing it! If it does depict Christ’s suerings and His
interest in His people on earth, it behoves us to search into
it reverently, yet with childlike condence, and to wait-as
indeed we ever should-upon His teaching, that we may be
led and taught in our search. at which speaks of what He
felt should be touched with conding love, but with holy
reverence.
e ve books of the Psalms
It is generally known that the Psalms are divided into
ve books, the rst of which ends with Psalm 41; the second,
with Psalm 72; the third, with Psalm 89; the fourth, with
Psalm 106; and the fth, with Psalm 150. Each of these
books is distinguished, I doubt not, by an especial subject.
Our examination of the Psalms contained in each will give
the fullest insight into the character of the several books;
but it may be well to give here a general notion of their
contents.
e rst book: the state of the Jewish remnant in
Jerusalem
e subject of the rst book is the state of the Jewish
remnant before they have been driven out of Jerusalem,
and hence of Christ Himself in connection with this
remnant. We have more indeed of the personal history of
Christ in the rst than in all the rest. is will be readily
understood, as He was thus going in and out with the
remnant, while yet associated with Jerusalem. I use Jewish
here in contradistinction with Israel or the whole nation.
e second book: the remnant cast out of Jerusalem
In the second book, the remnant are viewed as cast
out of Jerusalem (Christ, of course, taking this place with
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103
them and giving its true place of hope to the remnant
in this condition). e introduction of Christ, however,
restores them, in the view of prophecy, to their position in
relationship with Jehovah as a people before God (Psa. 45-
46). Previously, when cast out, they speak of God (Elohim)
rather than Jehovah, for they have lost covenant blessings;
but by this they learn to know Him much better. I doubt
not, the history of Christ’s life aorded occasion to His
entering into the practical personal sense of this condition
of the people, though, of course, less historically His place
in general. In<P055> Psalm 51 the remnant own the
nation’s (more precisely the Jews’) guilt in rejecting Him.1
(1. I think it will be found that the rst two books are
somewhat distinguishable from the last three. e rst two
are more Christ personally among the Jews; the last three,
more national and historical. And so Psalm 72, the last part
of the rst two books, closes with the Solomon reign.)
e third book: national deliverance and restoration
of Israel
In the third book we have the deliverance and restoration
of Israel as a nation, and God’s ways towards them as such
(Jerusalem, at the close, being the center of His blessing
and government). e dreadful eect of their being under
the law, and the centering of all mercies in Christ are
brought out in Psalms 88-89, closing with the cry for the
accomplishing of the latter. Electing grace in royalty for
deliverance, when all was lost, is presented in Psalm 87.
e fourth book: Jehovah the dwelling-place of Israel
In the fourth, we have Jehovah at all times the
dwelling-place of Israel. Israel is delivered by the coming
of Jehovah. It may, in its main contents, be characterized as
the bringing in the Only-begotten into the world. Jehovah
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having been always Israel’s dwell-ing-place, they look for
His deliverance. For this the Abrahamic and millennial
names of God, Almighty and Most High, are introduced.
And where is He to be found? Messiah says, “I seek them
in Jehovah, the God of Israel.” ere He is indeed found.
us there will be judgment on the wicked, and the
righteous delivered. e full divine nature of Messiah, once
cut o, is brought in to lay the ground for His having a
part in the latter-day blessings, though once cut o. He is
the unchangeable living Jehovah, the Creator. en comes
blessing on Israel, creation, judgment of the heathen, that
Israel might enjoy the promises. But it is the same mercy
which has so often spared them.
e fth book: God’s ways rehearsed, closing with
triumphant praise
e last book is more general, a kind of moral on all, the
close being triumphant praise.<P056>
Having spoken of the details of their restoration,
through diculties and dangers, and God’s title to the
whole land, the wickedness of the anti-Christian tool of
the enemy, the exaltation of Messiah to Jehovah’s right
hand till His enemies are made His footstool, and the
earthly people made willing in the day of His power-we
have then a rehearsal of God’s ways, a commentary on
the whole condition of Israel and what they have passed
through, and the principles on which they stand before
God, the law being written in their hearts.
en the closing praises.
e order of the Psalms the stamp of the hand of the
Spirit of God
As this rapid sketch will have shown (and the details
I shall now enter on will show more clearly still), there is
Psalms
105
far more order in the Psalms than is generally supposed by
those who take them up as each an isolated ode to serve as
the expression of individual piety. ey are not connected,
it is true, in one continuous discourse or history, as other
parts of Scripture may be; but they express in a regular and
orderly way distinct parts of the same subject; that is, as
we have seen, the state of the remnant of the Jews or Israel
in the latter day, their feelings, and Messiah’s association
with them. ese topics are treated in the most orderly way.
e Spirit of God, who has superintended the structure,
as He has inspired the contents of the whole Scripture,
has stamped the unequivocal traces of His hand on this
especial part of it. Who collected these divine songs, the
work of diverse authors, and written at dierent epochs,
I do not pretend to say. is the learning of divines may
discuss; but the result cannot, I think, leave a doubt on the
mind of anyone who enters into their purport as to whose
power wrought in it.
I have already noticed generally the subject of each of
the ve books. e distinction of subject I found in them
had led me to divide the whole Book of Psalms in the same
way, before my attention had been drawn to the well-known
fact of its being so divided in the Hebrew Bible. But this
principle of order is carried out also in the details of each
of the books. is order in the rst book, and the contents
of the psalms which compose it, are now to occupy us. It
is, perhaps, the most complete in the general<P057> and
characteristic view it gives of the subjects treated of in the
Psalms, and so far the most interesting. e others naturally
pursue more the details which carry out the general idea
thus given.
e principle running through the book
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It will be remarked that the following principle runs
through it, and indeed, more or less, the others when it
is applicable-some great truth or historical fact is brought
forward as to Christ or the remnant, or both, and then
a series of psalms follows, expressing the feelings and
sentiments of the remnant in connection with that truth
or fact.
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Psalms - Book 1
e divisions of the rst book (Psalms 1-41)
e rst book may be in general thus divided into
distinct parts. e rst eight psalms form a whole, an
introductory whole to the entire collection of Psalms. is
series may be subdivided into the rst two, which, in a
more particular manner, lay the basis of all that is taught or
expressed in Psalms 3-7, and, nally, Psalm 8. e character
of these I shall enter on immediately. At present I proceed
with the order of the book. Psalms 9-10 form the basis
of the psalms which follow to the end of Psalm 15. ey
give, not the great principles which are at the foundation
of all Israel’s latter-day history, but the historical condition
of the remnant in the latter day. Psalms 11-15 unfold the
various thoughts and feelings which that condition, and the
circumstances in which the pious remnant nd themselves,
give rise to. Psalms 16-24 present to us Messiah formally
entering into the circumstances of the pious remnant, the
testimonies of God, the suerings of Messiah, and the nal
manifestation of His glory when He is owned as Jehovah
on His return. e remnant are found in this series, as in
Psalms 17, 20 and 23; but the main subject spoken of in
them, with the exception of Psalm 19, which gives the
testimony of creation and the law, is Messiah. Psalms
25-39 present to us the various feelings of the remnant
under these circumstances. e whole book closes and is
complete with the true source of the Messiah’s intervention
in the counsels and plans of God, the place He took in
humiliation, and the blessing which belonged to him who
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could with divine intelligence discern and enter into His
humbled condition, and that of the righteous remnant who
were associated with Him (for so indeed they were, and
this is what the Psalms especially bring out).
e beauty and excellency of Messiah’s moral character
It is extremely important that, on the one hand, some
psalms should personally bring before us the Messiah; but
it is also important that the moral traits which form the
beauty and excellency of His character in God’s sight, and
the attractive object which God delights to bless, should
be brought before us also, that, on the one hand, we may
delight in them, and, on the other, the indissoluble moral
connection between Christ and the remnant may be
brought into view. is connection of moral character and
its display in Christ is very distinctly brought before us in
the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. ere blessing
is pronounced on those who exhibit certain moral traits
and qualities. ese characterize the remnant; yet, if they
be carefully looked into, they will be found to be morally a
description of Christ Himself. Hence it is that we nd Him
and the remnant so mixed up together in many psalms,
while some, as I have said, present distinctively the great
foundation of blessing in Himself. We may apprehend
also thus the dierence of the associations of Christ with
the remnant of Israel and those of the assembly with
Him. ose of the assembly begin when redemption is
accomplished, and Christ is already exalted on high. By the
Spirit sent down from heaven the saints are united to Christ
there; and their experiences as Christians ow from their
position as united to Christ consequent on accomplished
redemption, and then in conict with the world.
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e Lord’s associations with the remnant dierent from
those with Christians
Previous to the knowledge of redemption, and for that
very reason, saints may now pass through experiences
analogous to, and in principle the same as, those of the
Psalms, and nd, in consequence, great comfort from
them; but their own place, as Chris<P059>tians, is in
union with Christ.1 e Lord’s associations with the
remnant are dierent. ey pass through their trials before
the knowledge of redemption or its application in power
to them. eir experiences are not the fruit of union2 with
Christ. Christ has trod the same path, in grace towards
them; not that they were united to Him, for He was alone;
but He was aicted in their aiction and oppression by
the world. Death was before Him; the fruits of the penal
government of God on them, manifested in the state in
which Israel then was, He has entered into in grace, as we
have seen. Suering under wicked Israel, and oppressing
Gentiles, as the remnant will in that day, He thus, by His
Spirit prophetically, associates Himself with them in all
their sorrows, and gives a voice by His Spirit to them on
their way up to the discovery of redemption.
(1. Hence it is too that in the Romans we nd
experiences, because the soul is brought through the
process which brings it into liberty; while in the Ephesians
we nd no experiences, because man is seen rst dead in
sins; and then united to Christ exalted to God’s right hand.
e Epistle to the Philippians gives us, almost exclusively,
proper Christian experience.)
(2. Union belongs to the assembly’s position alone, and
is by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. By one Spirit we are
all baptized into one body. He that is joined to the Lord is
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one Spirit. Union in Scripture is not attributed simply to
life. (Compare John 14:20.)
is makes the tone and purport of the Psalms very plain.
e “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”
was on the cross when atoning work, the fruit of grace,
was going on. Judgment on Israel was then suspended, and
the Holy Spirit blessedly took this cry up by the mouth of
Peter in Acts 3:17, where the return of Jesus to them (as
the children of the prophets, and the people in whom the
blessing of the nations was to be) was proposed on their
repentance. is grace was then of no eect; but in the last
days all the fruit of that cross and that cry on earth will be
made good on earth, when they have repented and looked
on Him whom they have pierced. But this demand (as its
nal accomplishment will be also) was founded on atoning
work, accomplished with God alone, which was based on
grace and will bring grace; and not in connection with His
suerings from men, which bring judgment on men, His
adversaries.
e call for judgment not found in the Gospels
e Psalms constantly present to us this consequence
of the<P060> wickedness of men against Christ, and the
wish of the remnant that it may arrive. Such a wish will
never be found expressed by Christ in the Gospels. He
pronounces prophetic woes on others for hindering those
that were entering in; but this is love to these souls. No call
for judgment is found. In the Psalms, on the other hand,
no such passage as “Father, forgive them” is found; though
the fruit of grace, after His own deliverance from the horns
of the unicorns, is most strikingly unfolded. e gospel was
the good news of the visitation of the world and of Israel
in love by the Son of God. e incarnation was Christ
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111
entering alone into this path of love towards all. God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Nought else
was, nought else could be, revealed and unfolded then. It
was what He was personally in the world. But the remnant
of God’s people are to go through these sorrows. e only
possible means of their deliverance was the destruction of
their enemies. We shall go up from the midst of our sorrows
to meet the Lord in the air; we have no need to wish our
enemies destroyed in order to our deliverance; we have in
the gospel to do with grace, with a heavenly Christ that is
not passing through sorrows, and with glory.
e remnant call for the righteous execution of
judgment in government
e remnant of Israel therefore call for this execution of
judgment on their enemies. ey have to do, not with that
heavenly, sovereign, abounding grace which gives us a place
with Christ clean out of the world (not of it, as He was not
of it who was loved before the world was founded), but
with the government of this world. Objects, no doubt, of
grace themselves (and of mere grace, for they have rejected
the promises in Christ presented to them in the truth of
God, and have been concluded in unbelief that they might
be the objects of mercy), still they are the nation in whom
the government of this world centers and in respect of
whom it is displayed. Hence they await judgment, and the
display of the righteous exercise of that government, and
the cutting o of the oppressor and the wicked. Hence
Christ (who has entered into, and will in spirit enter into,
their sorrows, but was Himself cut o instead of seeing His
enemies cut o, accomplishing a better and more glorious
work) did not then ask for the world, but for those<P061>
that were His, and that they might be with Him where
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He was. John 17 marks the formal contrast of the two
systems. He would not call down re from heaven-would
not execute righteous judgment. It is intimated indeed in
the Sermon on the Mount that He was in the way with
Israel (as in John, that the world had not known Him).
Still the Christian path is to do well, suer for it, and take
it patiently, as He did.
Hence, while passing through the suerings, He could
only prophetically be associated with the desires and
aspirations after judgment which will have their righteous
place when the time of public divine government of this
world and judgment is come. Hence already in Psalm 2
this is the place we nd Him set in. All the psalms are
constructed in view of that. us the remnant in suering,
calling for judgment, reach back to Him who, though He
never sought judgment for Himself, did suer and will
seek judgment for them and execute it-Himself the center
of that center of earthly government divine. He is seen by
the prophetic Spirit in the same circumstances, and the cry
for judgment is heard. But it will be found that, wherever
this is the case, as we have remarked, the remnant, other
men, are found besides the Lord Himself.
e importance of seeing the position and thoughts of
the remnant; Christ associated with them in grace
In principle, any suering Jew might so speak; only, as
Christ suered above all, the terms used in the Psalms,
where the demands for vengeance occur, sometimes rise
up to circumstances which have been literally true in Him
in His sorrow on earth. But the point of departure of the
feeling, and of the whole of what is said, is any godly Jew
whatever in the last days. Into that Christ has entered. e
proper or exclusive personal application to Himself is only
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113
true when it is proved by the circumstances and the terms
of the passage. e point of moral departure is always the
remnant and their state. He is merely associated with them
in the mind of the prophetic Spirit; though, as to the facts,
He entered into deeper sorrow than they all. Hence the
immense importance of rst of all seeing the position and
necessary thoughts of the remnant in the Psalms.
Christ is merely associated with them and their
position in<P062> grace; though He must be the center,
and preeminent, wherever He is found. ere is no
possibility of understanding the Psalms at all otherwise.
All interpretation is false which does not take this
principle or truth as its point of departure. When we get
into a prophetic and governmental order, even in the New
Testament, we at once nd the same demands of vengeance.
It is judgment, and not grace. e souls under the altar in
the Revelation desire that their blood may be avenged; and
the holy apostles and prophets are called to rejoice over the
destruction of Babylon.
is important principle then is to be laid down, that,
in every psalm in which the godly remnant can have a part,
that is, where the Person of Christ is not the direct subject
(we have seen there are some, as Psalms 2, 102, and others,
which speak personally of Christ), the whole is not to be
applied to Christ, nor the psalm itself, in general, primarily.
It belongs to the condition of the remnant, and speaks of
it; and the principle of God’s dealings with them through
Christ is often given as the great example of the sorrow of
the suering godly. And hence, in the circumstances it refers
to, it may rise up to such as literally depict those through
which Christ has passed, so as to show the way in which
Christ has entered into their circumstances. is last may
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be evidently the most important part of the psalm. But
this does not change the principle. ere may be psalms
where the remnant are introduced collaterally as objects
of blessing in result, but where a particular part may be
evidently applicable to Christ, who only procures that
result.
Christ entirely alone in suering in Psalm 22
Psalm 22 has a distinct and peculiar character, because
there Christ, while speaking of suerings common in kind,
though not in degree, to Him and the remnant, yet, as in
them already, passes into that in which He was entirely
alone. Indeed, the bringing these out in contrast is the very
subject of the psalm. e godly have been, the remnant will
be, in suering. But the godly were delivered when they
cried, so will the remnant; but Christ, perfect in the fullest
sorrow, was not. So that Christ is really alone here; though,
in order to show the contrast of this suering with others
in which saints could be, and had been, this last character of
suering is mentioned. e fact already mentioned (that, in
the<P063> psalms expressive of the godly man’s suering
from men, there is always the call for vengeance on the part
of the speaker, and that in Christ’s life-as the Gospels give
it to us, that is, according to truth as personally come into
the world, and standing as a witness alone in the world-He
never does so, but the contrary when on the cross, and in
His lifetime forbids it, reproaching the disciples with not
knowing what manner of spirit they were of) evidently has
the most important inuence on our judgment, how far
and in what way we nd the living historical Christ in the
Psalms as a direct object.
To turn now to details.
e principle running through Book 1
Psalms - Book 1
115
e attentive reader will remark that, in the order of
which I have spoken of the psalms of the rst book, a
principle I have referred to is fully exemplied: that is, that
standard psalms with some great principle or fact come rst,
and then a series expressive of the thoughts and feelings
of the remnant produced by these. us Psalms 1-2 are
followed by Psalms 3-7, which depict the state of things
as felt by the psalmist, connected with Psalms 1-2, Christ
being rejected (closing with the result in Psalm 8);1 then
Psalms 9-10, the state of facts in the latter days; Psalms
11-15, the various feelings of the remnant connected with
them. Next, Psalms 16-24, Christ and the whole testimony
of God, and Christ on the cross or atonement, having been
set before us, the feelings consequent on this are depicted
from Psalms 25-39. Sins are acknowledged for the rst
time in Psalm 25. Trials and deliverance had been spoken
of before; but sins could not be confessed but in view of,
and as building on, the foundation of atonement,<P064>
when God really taught. So it will be indeed historically
with Israel in the last days; though that is not entered on
here.
(1. Psalm 8, while it is the great result, is a mighty
change in the position of Christ according to the counsels
of God, which forms the basis of all that follows. It is
referred to in John 1, in contrast with what Nathanael says,
which refers to Psalm 2. It is found in Luke 9 and parallel
passages, and quoted in Ephesians 1, 1Corinthians 15, and
unfolded in Hebrews 2. In the close also of John’s Gospel
we have the three characters noticed on which these psalms
are founded. God vindicates in testimony His rejected
Son. He raises Lazarus, and the Son of God is gloried
thereby. He rides into Jerusalem as king of Israel. en the
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Greeks come up, and He says, e hour is come that the
Son of Man should be gloried; but thus, to take this place
in God’s purpose, He must suer and die. In chapter 13
consequently He begins His heavenly place. Psalms 1-2 are
in fact an introduction to the whole book. For His glory as
Son of Man, though prophesied of here when entered into,
is another sphere of glory. Still He is owned as such, as He
ever called Himself such down here.)
e rst two psalms: the law and Christ
I will now pursue in detail what the Lord may graciously
aord me on the psalms of the rst book. I have already
said that the rst two psalms lay the ground of the whole
collection. ey show the moral character and position of
the remnant, and the counsels of God as to Christ-King in
Zion; the law and Christ, the two great grounds of God’s
dealing with Israel. Psalm 1 is the description of the godly
remnant, and the blessing that accompanies their godliness
according to the government of God. is blessing, save in
the heart-comfort and peacefulness of an upright mind,
has never been accomplished; but it is given in the same
manner as the portion of the meek when Christ presents
the kingdom (Matt. 5). ey shall inherit the earth; but the
kingdom was not, has not yet been, set up in power. (is
is the subject of Psalm 2.) Hence the Lord in Matthew
speaks of suering for righteousness’ sake. e kingdom
of heaven is the portion of those who do; and if suering
for His name’s sake, then heaven itself comes in, and their
reward there is great.
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117
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Psalm 1
e godly remnant on the earth
In Psalm 1, however, we have simply the godly remnant
on the earth. I say remnant, for the subject of the psalm is
spoken of as characterized by individual faithfulness. e
ungodly, sinners, and scornful, are around him. e law
is his delight. He is a godly Jew, keeping apart from the
ungodly, and is blessed, and prospers. Such is the principle
of the psalm. But to make it good the earthly judgment
must come in. ere the ungodly shall not stand, nor
sinners in the congregation of the righteous-then left free
from
1. But they are viewed as in the last days with the
judgment at hand.
2. First Peter makes the same distinction, chapter 3:14
and 4:14.
the pressure of those who cared not for God. e psalm
gives us the general character of the godly man, and the
result under the judicial government of God.<P065>
e righteous and the wicked; the judgment of God
Another element is then brought in. Jehovah knows the
way of the righteous-the way of the ungodly shall perish. It
is a judgment on one side, and a moral approbation before
that judgment come on the other, which is connected with
the covenant-relationship of Jehovah with Israel. We have
seen that Christ was on earth this godly man, and took His
place among the faithful remnant, these excellent of the
earth-was perfect in that place. So far this psalm takes Him
in; but that is not yet directly spoken of. Its subject is the
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character of the godly, and the result under the government
of God, Jehovah, in the midst of His people. It is not yet
suering because of this. at is a circumstance which will
come out in its time. It is the character of the godly man
in presence of the wicked, and the result measured by the
abiding principles of God’s government. Jehovah knows
the righteous-others shall positively perish. Psalm 1 is the
moral character of the remnant, their position in the midst
of the ungodly, and the general government of God, and
the connection of Jehovah and the righteous.
Besides this, remark that the psalm places both in
presence of a proximate judgment, by which the wicked
are driven away like cha, and the righteous form the
congregation; that is, it refers denitely to the remnant in
the last days. e principles of this psalm, the character
of the persons spoken of in it, and their position, are
clear enough, and important as laying one great part of
the basis of the whole superstructure of the Psalms-God’s
government, and the trials of the remnant which seemed
to deny the government here spoken of, which is only to
be made good in judgment when the mystery of God shall
be nished. We are on the ground of Israel’s place and of
God’s government according to the law, but the righteous
distinguished from the wicked, and blessing, not the
portion of all Israel as a whole, but of the righteous who
will form the congregation when judgment is executed.
Blessing is on the righteous, but these shall be the people
when the ungodly shall be driven away as cha. It is just
the doctrine of the end of Isaiah. (See chapter 48:22, 57:20
and 65-66.) Only in the last passage the judgment reaches
the nations also.
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119
A godly remnant of the people, delighting in the law,
and the judgment of God, resulting in the congregation
of the righteous,<P066> according to the true character of
Jehovah, the wicked being driven away-such are the rst
truths presented to us, the moral government of God on
the earth made good by judgment in Israel.1 Hence the
last days are clearly in view.
(1. More specically in the Jews. e remnant of the
Jews are spared and pass through the tribulation when
two-thirds are cut o in the land (Zech. 13). e judgment
of the ten tribes is outside the land, and the rebels do not
enter into it (Ezek. 20). Israel is the general term of promise
as applied to the nation. )
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Psalm 2
Messiah; God’s counsels concerning His Anointed
e next great element of the condition of Israel and
the government of God, is Messiah-the counsels of God
concerning His Anointed. Here the heathen are brought in,
and form the principal subject of the psalm; and again we
nd ourselves in the last days, when Christ’s rights will be
made good against the kings of the earth and all opposers.
But Israel is again here the center and sphere of the
accomplishment of these counsels of God. e Anointed
is to be King in Zion. e adversaries are the great ones
of the nations, the evil reaching alas! to the heads of Israel
who, as we shall nd, “shall die like men, and fall like one
of the princes”-“an ungodly nation” (Psa. 43), and as Peter
also himself has taught us in applying this psalm.
e nations’ presumptuous resistance brings ruin
I have said that the counsels of God as to Messiah are the
element here introduced to us of the ways of God treated
of in the Psalms. But the psalm opens with the rising up
of the nations to cast o His authority, and Jehovah’s who
establishes it, the apostate Jews, as we have seen, being
engaged in this great rising alas! against God. e nations
rage, the peoples imagine a vain thing-the kings of the
earth, and the rulers would break the bands of Jehovah and
His Anointed together. But this rising only brings in wrath
and displeasure, against which all resistance will be vain.
He that sits in the heavens shall laugh, Adonai1 has them
in derision; Jehovah, in spite of all, has set His King upon
His holy<P067> hill of Zion. Such is the sure counsel
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121
of God made good by His power. Man’s presumption in
resistance only brings his ruin.
(1. e Lord, but not the word LORD which represents
generally Jehovah in the English version; but that which
gives the Lord as an ocial relative title. )
Christ born into the earth, owned Son of God by
Jehovah
But more is then brought out. is King, who is He?
Jehovah has said to Him, “ou art my Son; this day
have I begotten thee.” It is One who-begotten on what
can be called “today,” that is, begotten in time-is owned
Son by Jehovah. It is not then here the blessed and most
precious truth of eternal sonship with the Father, though
it is not to be dissociated from it, as if it could be without
it, but One who-the Anointed Man, and that holy thing
born into this world with the title, by His birth there also,
of Son of God-is owned such of Jehovah. us, St. Paul
tells us, this raising up Jesus (not raising up again) is the
accomplishing the promises made to the fathers, quoting
the psalm in conrmation. He quotes another passage for
His resurrection and incorruptibility. us we have Christ
born into the earth, owned Son of God by Jehovah.
e King yet to reign in Zion is now rejected
But large counsels ow from this title. He has only to
ask of Jehovah, and the heathen are given Him for His
inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His
possession. He will rule them with a rod of iron and break
them in pieces like a potter’s vessel- break with resistless
power, ruling in judgment all that impiously and impotently
rise up against His throne. But this execution of judgment
is not yet accomplished. e psalm itself invites the kings
and judges to submission and humbly owning the Son,
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lest they perish if His wrath be kindled but a little. He is
Himself to be trusted; and who can claim this but Jehovah?
is summons to the kings of the earth is founded,
remark, on the establishing the title of Christ to royal
judgment and power on the earth. But is Christ set King
in Zion? He was cast out of it and hung upon the cross for
better blessing and higher glory, even that He had with the
Father before the world was, yet cast out of Zion, to which
He presented Himself as king. And as to the heathen and
the earthly inheritance, He has not yet asked for it; when
He does, in the Father’s time, He will surely give it, and so
His foes be His footstool. He declares (John 17) that He
did not ask about it, but<P068> about those given Him
out of it. e kings of the earth reign on, many bearing His
name to be found yet in rebellion when He shall take to
Him His great power, and the nations be angry, and His
wrath come. No rod of iron has yet touched them- the
potter’s vessel, broken as nothing, is not now their image.
e Lord is not yet awakened to despise it. ey reign by
God’s authority. But there is no king yet in Zion. Christ
has been rejected. Meanwhile we know He is Adonai in
the heavens.
e great elements of latter-day history in Psalms 1-2
We have now the great elements of latter-day history,
a Jewish remnant awaiting judgment, the wicked being
still there, the heathen raging against Jehovah and His
Anointed, He that sits in heaven laughing at their protless
rage, Jehovah setting Christ surely king in Zion, yea, upon
His asking, giving Him all the nations for His inheritance
(the submission of all to be enforced by resistless judgment).
No sorrows here, not even as to the remnant in Psalm 1;
but the counsels and decrees of God, and power such as
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123
none can resist. In a certain sense the kings of the earth
did stand up and the rulers take counsel together, and-as
to earthly power and scenes-succeeded. Christ was rejected
and did not resist.
e great principles as to the place of the remnant
unfolded in Psalms 3-7
Where then is the remnant viewed in the Jewish scene
of this world’s history? What place have they? e great
principles on which they stand are unfolded in the Psalms
3-7. It will be easily seen now how the rst two psalms
form the basis of the whole book, though the great body of
its contents are the consequences of their non-fulllment
in the time to which those contents apply. Indeed in
this the structure of the book resembles that of a great
multitude of psalms-the thesis stated in the rst or few
rst verses, and then the circumstances, often quite the
opposite, through which the saint passes to arrive at what is
expressed at the beginning of the psalm. e ve following
psalms then unfold to us, in general and in principle, the
condition of the remnant and the thoughts and feelings
produced by the Spirit of Christ in them, in the state of
things consequent in Israel upon His <P069>personal
rejection. e circumstances in which they nd themselves
are not historically alluded to till Psalms 9-10. Hence these
psalms give the working of the Spirit of Christ in them
in the suited moral fruits, so as to display the state of the
godly remnant, the holy seed that is in Judah when all is
ruined. e principles of their state, the elements of feeling
unfolded in it, are brought before us. ere is not the strong
expression which ows from the pressure of circumstances;
but each moral phase is exhibited, the dierent feelings to
be produced by the Spirit of Christ in relationship to God.
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72738
Psalm 3
Surrounded by enemies the godly man of the latter
days rests in peace
e rst, Psalm 3, gives the condition in general in
contrast with Psalm 2, and the support and condence of
faith in it. e troublers of the godly man are multiplied,
haughty, and triumphing over him as having no help in
God; but Jehovah is his shield. He lies down in peace,
and by faith sees his enemies smitten and their power
destroyed. Salvation belongs to Jehovah, and His blessing
is upon His people. Here again, remark, we nd the latter
days; and, though surrounded by his enemies, the godly
man rests in peace and prophetically sees their destruction,
and blessing on Israel. It expresses condence in God in
the midst of hostile numbers, and without resource. Christ
has surely entered fully into this; but the place of the psalm
is in the latter days, after proof of the non-accomplishment
of Psalm 2, at His rst presenting Himself as Messiah to
Israel.
Psalm 4
125
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Psalm 4
Righteousness appealed to by the godly
Psalm 4 diers in this respect from Psalm 3, of which we
shall see other examples, that it is not simple condence,
but appeals to righteousness against the sons of men, who
turn all the glory that belongs to the people of Jehovah, and
especially to their king, into shame; but Jehovah has chosen
the godly. e light of <P070>Jehovah’s countenance is his
resource. In Psalms 3:4 and 4:1, the experienced mercy of
Jehovah is referred to.
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72740
Psalm 5
e cry of the godly; God’s character appealed to
In Psalm 5 the cry of the godly is presented, and the
character of God, as necessarily responding to that of the
godly, is appealed to as necessitating His hearing him and
judging the wicked. If the godly love godliness, surely
Jehovah does; if the godly abhor wickedness, surely He
does. It answers to the “righteous Father” of the Lord in
John 17: only there the answer was heaven; here, earth-
the necessary consequence of the dierence of Christ’s
position on earth and that of the remnant.
Psalm 6
127
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Psalm 6
e fear of Jehovah’s deserved displeasure, and
expectancy of mercy
In Psalm 6 the remnant take another ground. ey are
oppressed, their soul vexed, the extremity of distress presses
on their spirit, and their conscience not being cleared gives
the fear that Jehovah might be against them in anger, and
they look that Jehovah should not rebuke them in anger
nor chasten in hot displeasure, which they had as a nation
deserved but which the redeemed heart deprecates. But
they look to be saved through mercy and saved from death,
and call on the wicked to depart, for Jehovah has heard.
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72742
Psalm 7
Appeal against persecutors; Jehovah judges His
people
Psalm 7 appeals to Jehovah, on the ground of the
righteous and more than righteous dealing of the godly
with their enemies, that Jehovah may arise and awake to
the judgment He has commanded, and that thus, by the
deliverance of the remnant by judgment, the congregation of
the various nations of the earth would compass Him about.
He would then judge the peoples, thus <P071>distinctly
bringing out the future judgment. Another point is brought
out here. e Lord judges the righteous man. If a man turn
not, but go on in his wickedness, His wrath will follow
him.
e two principles connecting Christ on earth with
the remnant
In all this we have the Spirit of Christ as it associates
itself with the Jewish remnant, and in certain respects
Christ Himself called to mind; that is, as passing through
the circumstances which enabled Him to enter into theirs
with truth (for we have seen that the eect on His soul
personally was never what it is in the remnant). It is not
His history, but His sympathy with them. ere are two
principles which connect Christ on earth and the remnant
in the latter days: He takes them in grace into His place as
on earth,1 and He enters into theirs. As to the nature and
principles of their life, the righteous have the sentiments
of the Spirit of Christ as it would work in their state. eir
appeals are the expression of this. And God allows their
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129
claims (though they have not clear intelligence respecting
this), furnishing in the Psalms expressions to them. It
is a need and a desire too which the life that is in them
legitimates to His heart who can take account of the
ground Christ has laid for blessing, which makes Him
righteous in forbearance, though the righteousness, as to
the Jews, be not yet manifested. eir knowledge of what
Jehovah is as respects integrity and oppression-what He
has ever been-makes them look for a deliverance which
seems impossible.2
(1. See Matthew 17:24-27, already when here below.
is may seem in a measure anticipation: still, He revealed
the Father’s name to them.)
(2. Leviticus 9:22-24 strikingly shows this. e
acceptance of the sacrice by God was not manifested
till Moses and Aaron had come out after going in (vs.
24)-Christ as priest and king. en the people worship, but
Aaron blessed from the oering before. We know by the
Holy Spirit come out that the oering has been accepted,
while the priest is yet within the veil. And hence the full
value of divine righteousness.)
e expectation of faith
ere is another expression to note here-“how long?” It
expresses the expectation of faith. God cannot reject His
people forever: how long will He deal with them as if He
did, and take no notice of oppression? Hence in one place
He says, ere is none that knows how long. As a whole,
then, these psalms are a general<P072> exhibition of the
state of the remnant of the Jews before God in the latter
day, and the principles on which their souls stand as godly-
not as yet the strong outpouring of their feelings under the
trial of circumstances. Is Christ then absent from them all?
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Surely not, or the Psalms were not here. Christ entered
in sympathy into their condition, forms the faith of their
hearts in it by His Spirit, is thus fully found in their low
estate in the best way. His own personal feelings when on
earth they do not express,1 though He has learned by His
own sorrows in like circumstances-blessed truth!-to have a
word in season for him that is weary.
(1. I do not mean by this that none of the psalms do. We
know this is not so, as Psalm 22 notably shows; nor that
no sentence is found in psalms which are not wholly of
Him which does express feelings He had. I have referred to
several in the course of these notes and stated the principle
of their application already; but I here speak of the psalms
I am treating of (Psa. 3-7).)
Psalm 8
131
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Psalm 8
e Son of Man set over all the works of God’s hands
We have now come to Psalm 8 which closes this
unfolding of the condition of the remnant, and the counsels
of God as to the rejected Anointed of Jehovah. What is
said is still by the mouth of the now delivered remnant.
“O Jehovah, our Lord!” In vain have the heathen risen up
against Him! “How excellent is thy name in all the earth!
who hast set thy glory above the heavens.” It is not now a
king in Zion-though surely that will be true; but a glory set
above the heavens. It is not now merely the people of the
great King blessed; but wherever the children of men dwell,
Jehovah’s name, Israel’s Lord, is great. Is it now as setting
the Christ on His holy hill of Zion? No, it is in setting
the Son of Man, not merely over the children of men, but
over everything His hand has created in all places of His
dominion. He is set over all the works of His hand; none
are excepted. He only is excepted who put all things under
Him. And who is this Son of Man? It is one made a little
lower than the angels for the suering of death, crowned
now with glory and honor, and set (which the Epistle to the
Hebrews, chapter 2, shows us is not yet accomplished) over
all the works of God’s hands.1 He could not be rejected as
Christ (even if<P073> that title was afterwards to be made
good by Him who laughs from heaven at the impotent
rage of the kings of the earth) without His having a yet
more glorious place destined to Him in the counsels of
God-the being gloriously crowned in heaven, and set over
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all things. Son of God and (Son of David) King in Zion
was His title on earth.2
(1. e littleness of man compared with the creation on
high, gives occasion to the revelation of God’s counsels in
man.)
(2. Compare John 1:49-51.)
e wider glory of the Son of Man consequent on His
rejection
But His rst rejection in this character throws Him out
into this wider glory He had faithfully acquired too-what
belonged by divine committal to the Son of Man. Hence
we see in the Gospels the Lord charging His disciples to say
no more that He was the Christ (for He was now virtually
rejected by Israel), because the Son of Man must suer and
be rejected, delivered to the Gentiles, die, and rise again
(Luke 9). is was grace to Israel therefore; but to man,
to man in Christ. Still Israel’s Lord, Jehovah, was thus
excellent in all the earth. is is that with which the psalm
closes, as the proper result in the mouth of the remnant,
though it was brought about by, and dependent on, a much
higher glory. God, in the presence of the rage and ill-will
of His enemies, and to silence the oppressors and the pride
of the enemy, and of the relentless pitiless persecutors of
His saints and people, has chosen the weakest things of the
earth to perfect praise.
We have had an example of this-a little anticipative
example of this-in the reception of the rejected Christ
riding into Jerusalem. It shall be fully accomplished in
the last day. en He had witness given to Him, as Son
of God in raising Lazarus, as Son of David in thus riding
into Jerusalem, as Son of Man when the Greeks came up.
But then He must die to have this last glory (John 11-12).
Psalm 8
133
In the last days all shall not thus fail on earth. It shall be
accomplished in power. Meanwhile He is crowned with
glory and honor in a better place. e psalm has an elevated
and enlarged energy, as is suited to the great deliverance
celebrated. Creation makes man so little in himself. What
is he when we consider this vast and shining universe? But
glance at Christ, and you see all its glories grow dim before
the excellency of Him under whose feet all is put. Yea, they
are lighted up again by that glory. Man is <P074>indeed
great and above all in Him, the Son of Man set over all
things.
It is not the place here to enlarge on the use of this
psalm in the New Testament; but it makes its use and
import very clear. In 1Corinthians 15 we see that it is
accomplished in resurrection. In Hebrews 2 we see that the
subjection of all things is in the world to come-that they
are not yet put under Christ’s feet, but that He is crowned
already with glory and honor. Ephesians 1 shows that the
church is united to Him in this place of glory, but that does
not at all enter into the scope of the psalm. It was part of
the mystery hid from ages and generations.
Review of the introductory psalms (Psalms 1-8)
Before passing on, I would briey review the ground
we have gone over in these introductory psalms. First,
the remnant in the latter day is set before us; then the
counsels of God as to Messiah, but the kings of the earth
and the rulers setting themselves against Jehovah, and His
Anointed. Yet He will be set king in Zion. en Psalms
3-7 present the great principles on which the remnant will
have to walk under the circumstances in which they nd
themselves, Christ being rejected. ey do not aord us
the deep expressions of feeling which the extent of distress
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brings out, but only the sentiments produced by grace in
their position, so far as they are needed to give a voice to
the feeling of grace and faith in it: Psalms 3-5, condence;
Psalms 6-7, bowing of heart under distress; Psalm 3, simple
condence; Psalm 4, appeal to the God of righteousness,
and the path of the righteous marked out; Psalm 5, he cries
to Jehovah, because He discerns between the evil and the
good, and the wicked thus must be removed, and Jehovah
bless the righteous that trust in Him; Psalm 6, mercy is
appealed to, as, distressed in spirit, he entreats Jehovah
not to rebuke him in anger, and Jehovah has heard him
in his distress to save him from death; Psalm 7, he appeals
against his persecutors, contrasting their conduct and his
own towards them, but Jehovah judges His people.
e future value of the Psalms to the remnant; the
dierence between them and Christ in evil
ese are the great elements of relationship between
Jehovah and the remnant of His people in that day. How
precious it will be<P075> for the remnant to have their faith
sustained and given words to, above their fears, by these
gracious witnesses of the Spirit of Christ, to guide them,
and justify their best hopes, and calm their justest fears! It
is not dicult, I think, to understand why Christ could not
personally have the feelings and desires here expressed, and
yet animate by His Spirit prophetically these same desires
in the remnant, and enter into all their circumstances in
sympathy. He came from heaven, and never lost the spirit
that breathed there, though He was in the circumstances
which earth brought upon Him; but that spirit is love. He
was above evil in the power of love, and the consciousness
of divine feelings which the Son of Man who is in heaven
would have, though He passed through every sorrow
Psalm 8
135
which the Son of Man on earth could be subject to. He
went through all the distress that sin and man’s relentless
enmity and the insensibility even of His disciples1 could
bring upon Him; but, while only the more sensible of it
and feeling it the more deeply because He was perfect, He
was above all the evil in love in the personal perfection of
good. e remnant will not be so. ey will be sustained of
God, yet not only in the midst of evil, but under it, pressed
by it, by the sense of guilt, by fear of wrath-not merely the
deep sense of wrath, but a personally sifting dread of it.
ere is no deliverance for them without the destruction
of their enemies; and they desire it. ese are Jehovah’s
enemies too, and their desire is right. (See Psalm 6:5,7,10.)
(1. Not once did they understand what He said to
them.)
is Christ, as we have said, did not. He was above all this
enmity in heavenly love and through known communion
with His Father, whose will He had peacefully to do in
known approval: until, in the end, He entered into that
dark valley, where, for our sakes and Israel’s, He was indeed
to meet wrath, but there His converse was with God.
As to His human enemies, He only says, “If . . . ye seek
me, let these go their way,” and all were prostrate before
Him, and it is His to tell them in peace, “is is your hour
and the power of darkness.” Hence Himself, love divine,
passing through every sorrow that Israel or we may have
to pass through, He did so personally in love. All was felt,
but He was above the evil in love to men, being in perfect
communion with heaven and its loving favor. In this He is
a pattern for Christians, not for Israel. But He really went
through all that the remnant can ever go<P076> through,
yet was free enough from any power over Him to feel
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for others in it. is He does perfectly, and prophetically
inspires the expressions of faith to those who, not knowing
yet heavenly love and deliverance, are pressed under it; and
gives utterance, by the prophetic Spirit towards God (as
the Spirit would in such), to the sense of their oppression
of heart which circumstances give occasion to, when divine
favor and deliverance are not known.
e perfect sympathy of Christ
No one can enter into another’s sorrows under this
oppression so well as one who knows the cause of it, and
what that produces in respect of relationship with God, but
is not in it. Christ has been in all their aiction, and felt it,
but not felt, as to others, what those who are under it, and
necessarily and rightly occupied with themselves, feel. He
felt for His oppressors with heavenly love. His sympathy,
being perfect, has, by the prophetic Spirit, entered into
all the remnant’s circumstances and feelings, and given
divinely-furnished expression to them. e heart may rise
up and say, It is an easy thing to give it by the prophetic
Spirit if He is not really in it. I answer, He was in every part
of the aiction to the full, and innitely more than the
remnant ever will be, having suered, withal, that which
they never will because He has. But does His having a
better feeling in that into which He entered hinder His
having perfect sympathy with them? It enables Him to
have it, as regards all the distress, which came from Satan,
and from God when it was not merely a question of feeling
for those from whom the distress came, when He was
suering Himself. He went through all in the same way
(only much more deeply) than they; and, as to a part and
the deepest part of it, took on Himself what they never will
have.
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137
When the remnant are in the same sorrows, not
knowing divine favor, He will minister to them, and
through these psalms, all the feelings which God can look
upon with approbation and listen to. He will conduct their
souls through them. How often in trial when we hardly
dare to express what we feel (for fear of oending God, in
the uncertainties of a cloudy faith) does a text which utters
our sorrows in a way which, being in the Word, must be
right, assuage the heart and give condence in looking up
to God! So will it be then.<P077>
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72744
Psalms 9-10
e circumstances of the remnant in the last days
under oppression
In Psalms 9-10 we enter historically on the circumstances
of the remnant in the last days in the land. e great
principles having been laid down (the remnant-Messiah-
trial in the midst of Israel through His rejection-a path
He had learned in person- glory in the Son of Man), we
get in these a preface as regards the circumstances, a laying
of them down, that the scene of the exercises, the state
of things which gives rise to these, and the deliverance
wrought by the judgment of God, may be plainly before us.
We may remark here, in conrmation of previously
expressed judgments, that the righteous man, Messiah,
according to the counsels of God, but rejected (with the
consequent sorrows of the remnant into which He thus
enters), and in result gloried as Son of Man, and set over
all the works of God’s hands, having been brought before
us in the rst eight psalms, we nd ourselves at once (when
entering on the historical detail of circumstances) in the
last days, the righteous remnant being under the oppression
of the wicked and the heathen. Messiah, in Spirit, in the
oppressed remnant, owns the righteousness of Jehovah, in
judgment, sitting on the throne judging right.
e righteousness of God established in a heavenly
way
Remark the great dierence here, in passing, between
the celebration of the righteousness of God, sitting in the
throne, judging right, and vindicating the righteous man
Psalms 9-10
139
from the oppressor, and Christ on the cross, who was not
vindicated on the earth, but declares Himself forsaken of
God (His enemies, outwardly, having all their will against
Him), and then righteousness being established in a
heavenly way, God’s righteousness in setting Him at His
own right hand in the heavenly places. “Of righteousness,
because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more.” As
regards this righteousness, He was taken completely out of
the world, so that the disciples-as in esh, as was the case
with the Jews-saw Him no more. He had gloried God,
and was gloried in God, as God had been in Him. e
righteousness which judged the oppressor, though executed
by God who alone<P078> is really righteous and has power,
had its sphere and measure in earthly government, and in
discerning the righteous and the wicked among men, the
oppressed and the oppressor. It was connected with the
righteous government of God. e clear apprehension of
this dierence is a key to the whole frame of thought in
the Psalms.
Various Hebrew words translated “people”
Another point, it may be useful to remark, is this. In the
English translation several words are translated people: עם
(am),1 עמי (ammi)2 in the singular, people, or my people
(Israel): גוים (goim)3 heathens or nations, that is, those
outside, who are in contrast with Israel as the people of
God. Israel is once so designated to mark its guilt (Psa.
43:1).לאמים (leummim)4 the peoples and nations in general
on the earth, the various races of mankind; עמים (ammim)5
peoples in the plural, I think the nations viewed in
connection with Israel restored and taken into relationship
with Jehovah.
(1. Psalm 3:7.)
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(2. Psalm 3:9. (Here “thy people,” the same practically.))
(3. Psalm 2:8. e Hebrew references are to the verses
in Hebrew. )
(4. Psalm 7:8.)
(5. Psalm 7:9.)
Jehovah, the Most High, a refuge, delivering by
judgment
To turn now to the psalms before us: Psalm 9 presents
to us Jehovah, the Most High (the names of God which
connect themselves with the Jews, and the millennial
accomplishment of the promises made to Abraham),
delivering the people by judgment from the oppression of
the heathen, and destroying the wicked. e delivered Jew
celebrates this goodness which has maintained the right
and cause of the righteous. e Spirit of Christ speaks fully
in this, as having taken up their interests. It is really His
right. If the Jew has any, it is through Him. If they say it,
He has put the words in their mouth. Indeed, if Christ had
not entered into their sorrow, and given them these words,
they could not have said, My right.
Let us consider this (as to circumstances) rst leading
psalm with somewhat more detail. e humble and
oppressed one praises God with his whole heart, under
the double name of <P079>Jehovah and Most High.1e
turning back of his enemies is not merely a human victory.
ey fall and perish before the presence of Jehovah Elohim.
But this was to maintain the right and cause of the godly
one-really the right and cause of Christ, who had thus
thrown Himself into their portion in gracious sympathy.
In verse 6 a very important principle is brought out for
faith at all times, then to be veried in fact. e eorts of
the enemy here are for time. He can destroy, if God allow,
Psalms 9-10
141
present prosperity. e Lord endures forever. We have only
to do His will by the way. He has always His way at the
end. at will which we do by the way, perhaps in sorrow
and suering then, will surely reign at the end of the
way. Destructions were now to come to a perpetual end-
the cities and their memory had been destroyed. Jehovah
endures forever.
(1. ese names are not without importance. One is
the abiding name of God in Israel, His memorial forever;
the other, the millennial name of God introduced by the
judgments spoken of in the psalm. Compare Psalm 91 and
Genesis 14:19-20.)
We have heard of the patience of Job-that was by the
way; we have seen the end of the Lord-that is the ground
for faith. It walks with Him who certainly has the end at
His command. He shall endure forever-has prepared His
throne for judgment. He will judge the world universal in
righteousness, and minister judgment to the peoples in
uprightness. is was the public character of Jehovah. But
there was a private part of His character, so to speak, the
making of which however also public, is the great subject of
the psalm; and indeed, with that rst public one, the great
subject of all the Psalms. Both are known only to faith, but
are celebrated beforehand. is second part is this: Jehovah
is a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
e result is condence in Jehovah at all times on the part
of those who know His name. e intervention of Jehovah
in that day in favor of those that seek Him will make good
this name everywhere.
Praise to Him who dwells in Zion for His mercy and
judgment
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Another point is brought out also. Jehovah dwells in
Zion as thus revealing Himself. His doings, what He does
for the display of His name through judgment in favor of
the remnant, are to be declared among the peoples-another
word than that often used,1<P080> and signifying, I
apprehend, the peoples that He owns-that they may be
able thus to trust in Him. He is returned thus to Zion
at the close. Verses 13-14 are the cry of the remnant,
and on the ground of mercy, that their hearts may praise
Jehovah in Zion, as well as because of His judgments; verse
15 celebrates the judgment; and the moral, so to speak,
is told in verse 16. Jehovah is known by the judgment
which He executes. e way in which this psalm serves
as a preface for the understanding the scope of the book,
and its application to the last days, is evident. Once seized,
it largely helps in the intelligence of the whole book. In
verse 17 the wicked,2 be they who they may, Jew as well as
Gentile, and indeed particularly the Jew, and all the nations
who forget God,3 are shown to be rejected and judged, and
to have their place in hades by judgment. And in this God
remembers the needy, for the destruction of the wicked is
their deliverance. Hence for this, for Jehovah to arise, is the
cry of the remnant. is feature explains certain expressions
in the psalms to which I have before alluded-the demand
for judgment. Compare the characters of the judged ones
in Romans 1-2. Only there the wrath is from heaven, not
governmental on earth from Zion; and a greater moral
development will be found, as was to be expected, and not
the external judgment of nations.1
(1. עמים (ammim). In verse 9, לאמים (leummim).)
(2. Here in the plural. e dierence is sometimes
important, because, as Paul says, there is that wicked one.)
Psalms 9-10
143
(3. Had not liked to retain God in their knowledge.)
(4. In Revelation 4 are found the character of the
seraphim as well as of the cherubim, as prefacing, I believe,
the judgments there, as characterized as being according
to the holy nature of God as well as governmental. It is
true the application of Isaiah 6, where alone the seraphim
are found, is to a governmental judgment, because grace
preserved a remnant. But the incompatibility of Jehovah
and uncleanness-with man in himself-is what the prophet
sees.)
e state of things in the last days till Jehovah arises
to judgment
e body of Psalm 10 depicts the state of things in
the last days, until Jehovah arises to judgment, and more
especially the character of the wicked, for he is known by his
character, and is especially to be found in the Jew. Compare
Isaiah 40-48 and 49-58: in the one passage, the question
being particularly idolatry and Babylon; in the second, the
rejection of Messiah (the two capital sins which bring the
Jews to judgment-Jehovah, and His<P081> Anointed).
e wicked in his pride acts upon that which is seen; as
the righteous by faith on the character of Jehovah, faith
in Him. e wicked boasts himself in his heart’s desire,
and blesses him (counts him happy, that is) whom Jehovah
abhors. He pursues his plans without conscience, seeking
to destroy the humble by craft, and reckons that God has
forgotten him. How well Christ could help them here! e
humble cry under the oppression. Why does Jehovah stand
afar o, and hide Himself in the time of trouble?
ey were far indeed from being where Christ was, yet
the shadow, so to speak, of that sorrow was passing over
them, but they could hope in God. So in verse 12. ey
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call upon God to lift up His hand-not forget the humble:
why should the wicked contemn God? Jehovah has seen
it and will requite; the poor committed himself to Him.
Verse 16 to the end celebrates Jehovah’s coming in in reply,
and its results. Jehovah is King forever; the heathen are
perished out of His land. ere is the public judgment;
now the secret of the Lord. Jehovah has heard the desire
of the humble. He prepared their heart, and then hearkened;
and that hearing will be in judging, in being Judge for the
fatherless and the oppressed, so that the man of the earth,
he who had his strength and hope there, should no more
oppress.
e heathen and the wicked characterized in Psalms
9-10
One or two remarks are required on both psalms. ere
are two parties, and in a certain sense three, besides the
poor humbled remnant who wait upon God: the heathen
(goim), strangers to Israel, who oppress them, enemies of
God; and the wicked, then more especially among the Jews,
as we have seen. I have said three, because the wicked are
spoken of in a double way. In general, indeed exclusively
so in Psalm 10 and each time it is used in Psalm 9, except
verse 17, it is in the singular. In verse 17 it is plural, to show
that all of them will be cast down into sheol. In the singular
it is, I judge, characteristic; yet I doubt not, there will be
one special wicked one, harasha, ο ανομοσ (ho anomos), the
Antichrist, but known here certainly by his character, not
by a distinct prophecy of his person. e ανομια (anomia)
is manifested, but not ο ανομοσ (ho anomos), and it is not
conned to one. e analogy of this, with the circumstances
in which Christ was in His rejection on earth, is very plain,
as is the case with all<P082> the forms of wickedness.
Psalms 9-10
145
e very Trinity is imitated in mischief in the Apocalypse.
ere is the city of corruption, as the bride of Christ; and
so on.
Up to this, save as the Messiah of God’s counsels was
brought out in Psalm 2, the righteous man was given
characteristically, and here it was necessary to characterize
the whole party opposed to Jehovah and His Christ, though
one may be the concentrated expression of this character.
e remnant were to judge by this character morally. Next,
remark, these wicked ones are judged with the heathen; they
all come together under the same judgment. e wicked
shall be turned into “sheol,” and all the heathen who forget
God. So verse 5: “ou hast rebuked the heathen, thou
hast destroyed the wicked.” Psalm 9 is, as we have seen,
the general view of Jehovah’s intervention in judgment. In
Psalm 10 we have particularly the position of the sorrow
and trial of the remnant within. Hence we nd the wicked
(man), not the heathen until on the execution of judgment
they are found too to have perished out of Jehovah’s land,
so as to identify the judgment with the general statements
of Psalm 9. How completely this all answers to the history
we have of the latter days, I need not say.
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72745
Psalm 11
What the righteous are to do when evil is dominant
What the righteous remnant are to do when the power
of evil is thus dominant in Emmanuel’s land, Psalm 11
treats of. Psalms 11-15, as I have already remarked, give
the thoughts and feelings of the remnant at that time (that
is, consequent on the state of things spoken of in Psalms
9-10). I will now trace the outline of these ve psalms.
Psalm 11 presents to us the righteous repelling the idea of
quailing, as void of resource, before the godless wickedness
of those who fear not God. He trusts in Jehovah. Still the
wicked, with all will, seek the destruction of those who are
true of heart. And if all human resource fails-all that was
a ground on which hope could be built for the earth, what
was the righteous to do? Jehovah is as stable as ever. He
is in His holy temple-has His place on earth, which faith
owns, let it be ever so desolate; and His throne is in heaven:
no evil can enter there, and it rules over all.<P083>
But there is more than this. If He abide in sure repose,
because Almighty and far above all evil in heaven, He looks
on the earth- He governs it, for this, not the assembly’s
heavenly portion, is our subject here and indeed in all the
Old Testament. His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children
of men. is is a most solemn and consoling truth for those
in trial. But the ways of God in government are still further
revealed. e Lord tries the righteous: so the history of
Job, a picture of what happens to Israel, teaches us. e
present state of things is not in any way a revelation of the
government of God. Faith knows God has the upper hand,
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147
and that all things work together for good to those that love
Him; but immediate government, so that the present state
of things should show the result of God’s estimate of good
and evil here below, is not in exercise. If it were so, no evil
could be allowed. e righteous would ourish, and all he
does prosper. But it is not so. e assembly, meanwhile, has
her portion out of the world, has her place of abode where
Christ has gone to prepare her one. She suers with Him
and will reign with Him. But as to all His saints, He tries
them; as to the wicked, whom He abhors, upon them He
will rain judgment, snares, and re and brimstone; for the
righteous Jehovah loves righteousness, His countenance
beholds the upright. Here is the clear ground for faith
then, when the remnant are in trial. God beholds-He tries
the righteous, and will in due time execute judgment. It
involves this: the righteous Jehovah loves righteousness.
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72746
Psalm 12
Evil presented to the Lord whose words are sure
Such is the general basis of the godly man’s condence
and walk; but they are not insensible to the evil, but can
present it to the Lord. is is the subject of Psalm 12.
“Help, Jehovah, for the godly man ceaseth.” Jehovah will
cut o the proud and deceitful lips. It is the character of
the wicked. He knows no check, no bridle to his will-says,
Who is lord over us? But it is just for his oppression of the
poor that Jehovah arises. God’s Word, on which these had
relied, and which promised help as the necessary witness
of Jehovah’s character to which they looked, is a sure and
well-tried word. It will bear infallibly its promised fruit.
ere is<P084> nothing deceitful in it. Jehovah will keep
His poor from the generation of the wicked. But the wicked
have full scope when the worthless are exalted on high.
Psalm 13
149
72747
Psalm 13
Apparently forgotten the righteous is heard and sings
to Jehovah
In Psalm 13 the righteous is reduced to the lowest
point of distress as far as evil from men goes. It is as if God
had entirely and denitely forgotten him. His enemy was
exalted over him, and he taking counsel in his heart; but
then he cries-looks to Jehovah to hear lest he should perish
on the one hand, and his enemy on the other have to say
he had prevailed. But he is heard, and sings to Jehovah,
in whose mercy he had trusted, and who deals bountifully
with him at last.
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72748
Psalm 14
e climax of evil reached; salvation looked for out
of Zion
In Psalm 14 the evil has reached its climax in God’s
sight. What is ever true of esh is now brought up under
God’s eye at the time when He is going to judge. Man
rises up in pride before Him: yea, He judges because esh
does so. He looks down to see if any understand or seek
Him among men; but there are none. A remnant indeed
wrought in by grace, whom He already owns as His people
(vs. 4), are there, and these the wicked eat up as they would
bread-they do not call on Jehovah. It is man’s full-blown
pride and wickedness; but all is soon changed: God is
in the congregation of the righteous. Fear falls upon the
proud, who but a while ago were scorning the poor for
trusting Jehovah. e seventh verse shows us that all this
is anticipative and prophetic, and where and how it will be
accomplished. It is the desire of the godly one according to
the intelligence of faith. He looks for it, note, out of Zion,
not content till Jehovah establishes praise there. e people
too, remark, are seen as in captivity.<P085>
Psalm 15
151
72749
Psalm 15
e reward of uprightness of heart in the path of the
law
en comes the inquiry-who is the person that will
have a share in the blessings of that holy hill, when the
Lord shall have established the seat of His righteous power
in Zion?
Psalm 15 gives the answer-he in whom is uprightness
of heart in the path of the law. Remark here, that while
the godly (when all is utterly dark, and wickedness has
entirely the upper hand, and the foundations of human
earthly hope, even in the things that belong to God on
the earth, are destroyed, and wickedness is in the place of
righteousness) look above and see God’s throne immutable
in heaven, and thus all in heaven and earth brought into
connection; yet, as to the point they look to, it is Jehovah
in His holy temple and deliverance coming out of Zion;
and so it will. (See Isaiah 66:6.) e immutable throne
in heaven will establish in sure power the long desolate
throne upon the earth. Jehovah will be in His temple, but
will reign in the Person of Christ in Zion. is is Jewish
deliverance and according to just Jewish hopes.
Full relationship with Jehovah enjoyed in trial
ere is one important general remark to make here-
the sense of full relationship with Jehovah is enjoyed.
Whatever the trial, whatever the condition of the remnant,
the wickedness of the people, the oppression of the Gentiles
in the land, the faith of the remnant contemplates its
relationship with Jehovah. And hence Jehovah is viewed as
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in His holy temple, though there is as yet no manifestation
of His power. We have not, therefore, the remnant as
yet entirely cast out, nor is the power of Antichrist here
contemplated as manifested. When he sets up his power,
there will be open apostasy, and the faithful will be driven
out. But the wicked and the Gentile, as such, in the land,
are contemplated. We learn clearly from this psalm (Psa.
11) that the wicked is characteristic. It is plural, except
verse 5 where it is in contrast with the righteous.<P086>
e scope of Psalms 11-15: the remnant among the
nations, looking on in faith to deliverance out of Zion
ese psalms, passing over the driving out from
Jerusalem, go on in hope to another scene-the deliverance
wrought by Jehovah when He is indeed returned to
Jerusalem; not the destruction of Antichrist by the Lord
coming from heaven, but the driving out of the Gentile
oppressors by Jehovah established in Zion. Hence all Israel
is brought in (Psa. 14:7). And their salvation comes out of
Zion. Hence these psalms, as far as they refer to Christ,
look at the time in which He walked on earth before His
nal rejection. ey do not, save Psalms 2 and 8, directly
refer to Him, but to the remnant. But in His public path on
earth, He did, from His baptism by John Baptist, associate
Himself graciously with them; as at the close He tasted in
grace their nal sorrows in the close of their history.
ese psalms present to us the state of the remnant
while still having their place among the nations who
have not yet openly broken, in apostasy, with Jehovah, but
whose wickedness is in fact showing itself, and ripening to
its highest pitch. And they pass over, in faith, to the time
when Jehovah, seated in Zion, delivers His people, casting
all the Gentiles out of His land, all Israel being restored
Psalm 15
153
from their captivity. e whole latter-day scene, except the
last half-week of Antichrist’s power, is before us. Jehovah is
still in His place, as publicly owned. It was just thus in the
Lord’s days. In Psalm 14:5, Elohim is spoken of, because
it is not relationship which is there in question, but God
Himself in His nature and character. Not man, or anything
human, or even Satan’s power, was there; but God was in
the generation of the righteous.
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72750
Psalm 16
Christ formally takes His place in dependence among
the remnant on earth
With Psalm 16 we begin a very important series of
psalms- those in which the connection of Christ Himself
with the remnant is brought before us by the divine Spirit.
In Psalm 16, Christ takes formally His place among the
remnant. It is quoted by the Apostle Peter to prove His
resurrection, and the principle of it is referred to in the
Epistle to the Hebrews to show His participation in
<P087>human nature.1 After examining many critical
authorities, I adhere to the English translation of the
second verse. e third leaves the sense obscure, from not
changing the preposition. “But to the saints” answers to
“said unto the Lord,” not to “extendeth not to thee.” He says
to the Lord, “My goodness . . . to the saints, . . . in whom
is all my delight.” us this psalm has a most important
and deeply interesting place. It is Christ taking His place
in grace among the poor remnant of Israel-of the servant
to tread the path of life which none as in esh had found
in this world, and that leading through death to beyond
it, where there was fullness of joy. He takes the place of
dependence, of trust, not of divine equality. And He who
says He does not, must have had title to do so, or need
not have said it. He was taking another place. He takes
the place of servant, and calls Jehovah His Lord. Nor was
this all. He takes a place, however alone He might be in
perfection and perfect in doing it, with the saints on earth.
And this He does, not merely as a fact, but with the fullest
Psalm 16
155
aection. His delight is in them. He joys to call them the
excellent of the earth.
(1. e quotation in Hebrews 2 is literally from the
LXX of Isaiah 8.)
Note further, it is not with the heavenly saints He
associates Himself, nor are those of whom He speaks here
united to Him in heaven, but He associated with them.
Some may go to heaven by that path of life of which He
has Himself left the track, but His association with them,
and theirs with Him, is under the title of the excellent of
the earth.
We may further remark, that the whole psalm breathes
this spirit, and takes this place, of dependence, so precious
for the poor remnant. It is not, Destroy this temple and I
will raise it up in three days-that was taking a divine place.
His body was a temple; He raised it up Himself. Here He
leans as man on Jehovah- in both perfect. “ou wilt not
leave my soul in hell, nor wilt thou suer thy Holy One to
see corruption.” Let us now consider the contents of this
psalm in more detailed order. We have already noticed the
rst verses; but the principles are of the last importance,
as presenting Christ taking this place, so that I return to
them.
Messiah taking the place of a man with God
Messiah looks as man to God to preserve Him. He
takes the place of man. It is not merely a Jew already there
calling on <P088>Jehovah, but a man with God. He puts
His trust in Him. e principle of trust Paul alleges in
Hebrews 2 as a witness that Messiah was the true man.
Next, He takes the place of a servant. He says to Jehovah-
for now He takes His place before Him- “ou art my
Adon, my Lord.” is is a denite and distinct place. He
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moreover takes His place, not in divine goodness towards
others, but before God in a man’s place. My goodness, He
says, extends not to thee. us He said to the young man
who came to Him, “Why callest thou me good? there is
none good but one, that is, God.” But though in truth
alone, looked at in His relationship to man, for all were
sinners, He takes His place with the remnant, the excellent
of the earth. is He did historically, when He went to
the baptism of John Baptist, with those whom the Spirit
led to God in the holy path of repentance. ey went rst
there. He associates Himself with them in grace. Still, we
look on to the full result in the last days even here. He will
not hear of any God but Jehovah. e sorrows of those
who did should be multiplied. Jehovah Himself was His
portion, and He maintained Him in the sure enjoyment
of that which He was to enjoy in the purpose of God,
and pleasant was the place where the lines had fallen to
Him. It was Jehovah’s inheritance on the earth that was
His portion, and this is specially in Israel. Such was His
portion; but then there was His path rst. Here He blesses
Jehovah too. His counsel was always His guide. He walked
by it. e secret of Jehovah was with Him to guide Him;
and away from men, when all was brought into the silence
of His heart and its inmost feelings, His own inmost
thoughts were light and guidance. It is ever so when we are
in communion with God; for, though in the heart (such
thoughts are always His light in it, the fruit, and the moral
fruit, of the working of His Spirit) there was the positive
direction and guidance of Jehovah, and those inward
apprehensions of His soul, the result of divine work in it.
e perfection of Christ as a man
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157
In Christ of course this was perfect. It is well, while
judging of all by the Word, not to neglect this working of
the soul, as moved and taught of God. e mind of the
Spirit, in moral discernment, is found in it. Besides this
guidance, there was positive purpose of heart. He had set
Jehovah always before Him. is only direction<P089> did
He follow, and because of His being near, and at His right
hand, He would not be moved. It was not self-dependence,
but trust in Jehovah. is was indeed the path of life,
though as yet unmanifested in visible power. (Compare
Romans 1:4.)
Hence He would rejoice through all, and pass through
death with unclouded hope; His esh should rest in it; as a
man He did not fear it. Jehovah, whom He trusted, would
not leave His soul in hades, nor suer His Holy One to see
corruption. Soul and body, though going respectively to the
place of departed spirits and the place of corruption, would
not be left in the one or see the other. Jehovah would show
Him the path of life through, but beyond, death. How
blessedly He did so! It led up to brighter joys than Israel’s
blessing, among whom He had come to sojourn. ere
indeed the excellent of the earth could not follow Him
(John 13:33,36; 21:19). He must rst dry up the waters of
Jordan for them, and make it the path for them also where
He was gone. For that path, since it led through death, must
lead, if it was indeed the path of life, to what was beyond
it-the presence of Him, in whose presence there is fullness
of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Resurrection, the blessed issue and result of the
Lord’s path here
Such is the blessed issue and result of the Lord’s path
across this world, where He took His place among the
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saints, and trod, in condence on Jehovah (into whose
hands He committed His spirit), the path which, if He
took us up, must lead through death, and then found the
path again in resurrection, and so as man up to Him with
whom is fullness of joy. e Spirit of holiness marked
the life of the Son of God all through. He was declared
to be such, with power, by resurrection; but, being man,
passed up into the presence of God. e holy conding
life found its perfect joy there. He is (blessed be God, and
the name of that blessed One who has trod this path!) our
forerunner.1<P090>
(1. Compare as to a special aspect of this, John 12:23-
24; and the Lord’s consequent place, in chapters 11-13, as
we have seen, had given testimony to His place according
to Psalm 2. See note, page 64.)
Christ’s position in the midst of Israel; the dierence
between Israel’s associations with Christ and those of
the assembly
Let us dwell for a moment on the connection of this with
other scriptures, partially referred to. It is of importance, as
showing Christ’s position in the midst of Israel, and the
dierence of their associations with Him, from those of
the saints of the assembly. And besides that, we get the
divinely perfect feelings of Christ Himself in this position:
He is in association with the saints in Israel; only He
voluntarily takes it (that is, that into which they are called
out in witness of their return to God). We see (Heb. 2:13)
that this association is with those that are sanctied. He
makes one company with that pious remnant manifested
thus for God. He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
having taken up their cause and consequently become
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159
man, become esh and blood, because the children whom
God had given Him partook of it.
We see that He really became man, but to identify
Himself with the interests, and to secure the blessing of
the saints,2 of the remnant, of the children whom God
was bringing to glory, and who are distinguished from the
mass of Israel, to whom they were to be a sign. (See Isaiah
8:18.) In this passage the condition of this remnant and the
expectation of better days are considered. Leaving aside the
assembly which is not the subject of prophecy, the passage
passes, as we often see, from Christ’s personal connection
with the saints in Israel to the position and portion of these
saints in the last days. is is with sucient distinctness
given us in this passage of Isaiah to help us much in
understanding the way in which the Spirit of God does
pass from the previous history of the saints in Israel over
to the last days, leaving out the assembly altogether. Christ,
in spirit, contemplates these only-His connection, that is,
with the remnant of Israel, and so far with the nation,
and thus passes over the whole history of the assembly, to
Himself again in the same connection with the nation in
the last days.
(1. us, becoming man, and through glorifying God in
His work as man, He has also title under God’s gift over
all esh.)
“Bind up the testimony,” He says (Isaiah 8:16-17),
“seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait1 upon
Jehovah, who hideth his face from the house of Israel, and
will look for him.”<P091> is was when He had become
the rejected sanctuary and the stumbling-stone.
(1. is is the passage quoted in Hebrews 2: “I will put
my trust in him.”)
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It continues to the nal glory, when Israel shall possess
Him as the Son born to them (Isaiah 9:6-7). If we do not
abstract the assembly, it is impossible to understand the
prophecies of the Old Testament. e assembly has her
heavenly portion, but Christ can consider His relationship
with His earthly people separately.
Trust alone in Jehovah ending in the highest joy- the
presence of God
To return to Psalm 16, the reader will remark the
reference to idolatry (one of God’s great controversies with
Israel) in the fourth verse. From Matthew 12:43-45, and
Isaiah 65 we learn that the Jews will fall into idolatry in the
latter days. Jehovah alone is acknowledged by the prophetic
Spirit of Christ. It is after this is all done away that He will
rejoice, in the days that are to come, in the portion which
Jehovah has given Him with the excellent of the earth. e
certainty of this hope is connected with the resurrection
(which is a necessary condition to its fulllment, and
which the favor of Jehovah secures to His Anointed) in
all the virtue of that power which will not suer His Holy
One to see corruption. Hence the Apostle refers to the
sure mercies of David; that is, to the accomplishment of
all God’s promises to Israel, as a proof that Christ was to
rise from the dead now no more to return to corruption.
Nothing can be more beautiful (if it be not His death) than
the expression of the Lord’s feelings given us in this psalm-
the expression by Himself of the place He has taken, and
that with the saints. Jehovah is His own portion. How
truly was it so! What other had He? Yet His delight was in
the saints. Do we not see it in His disciples? With the rst
step of spiritual life in the remnant, shown in their going
to John’s baptism of repentance, He identies Himself who
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161
surely had no need of repentance. So, as a faithful man, an
Israelite, He sets Jehovah always before Him. So, even in
death, He rests, in condence, on Him for resurrection, that
path of life through, and in spite of, death (and which He
has opened for us), and there Jehovah, God, His Father’s
presence, is (He knows) the fullness of joy; at His right
hand pleasures forevermore. is is the highest proper joy
of the mind and Spirit of Christ; not glory, but the presence
of God.<P092>
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Psalm 17
An appeal to Jehovah’s judgment; God’s vindication
e key to Psalm 16 was in the words, “In thee do I
put my trust”; to Psalm 17, “Hear the right.” In Psalm 16
we have seen the blessed path and working of that spirit
of condence. It is, though the same spirit works in the
remnant, essentially applicable to Christ Himself in
Person. Psalm 17 doubtless applies to Him also, but not
so entirely so. It is on somewhat lower ground, though
one on which the Spirit of God speaks. We see distinctly
that it contemplates others, though not without Christ, in
verse 11. “ey have now compassed us in our steps.” Still
Christ is found here: without Him none really could say to
purpose, Hear the right. It is an appeal to the judgment of
Jehovah, God, coming forth to vindicate the righteousness
of Him that cries to Him. e godly remnant will be, in
the main, delivered from their deadly enemies. Jehovah
will arise and disappoint them.
Still some will fall, even of the wise (Dan. 11)-Christ
Himself, the perfect One, though for more glorious
reasons, still in sympathy with His people, did. Hence the
righteousness goes higher up than the present deliverance
by God’s government of the godly remnant on earth to a
result true of Christ, and a comfort for the faith of all those
who may fall under the oppression of the enemy. “I will
behold thy presence in righteousness. I shall be satised
when I awake up after thy likeness.” is is fully true of
Christ, who is before His Father in righteousness, and is
the very image of the invisible God-He in whom He is
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163
displayed in glory. But He traces the path He trod as the
righteous One on earth, in the midst of evil, and where
He underwent the temptations of the enemy. First, there
was perfect integrity of heart, and that in the most secret
thoughts of it. ere was purpose not to transgress. In
obedience the words of God’s lips guided Him; and thus
the paths of the destroyer were never an instant entered
on; the words of God’s lips never lead there. is the Lord
showed in His temptation in the wilderness. In the paths
of Jehovah He looked to Him to hold up His goings. is
is a part of righteousness in man-dependence. He called on
God, sure that He would hear Him. is is the condence
we have. Such was His path.<P093>
Perfectness of moral character giving nearness of
condence and sense of preciousness to Jehovah
He applies it then as the ground of looking for the
intervention of God’s power to protect Him-as He does
those that trust in Him-from the wicked that oppressed
Him. Prosperous and lifted up as they were, Jehovah was
His refuge when He did not yet interfere. But He looked
to His openly doing so. Remark that the perfectness of
moral character gives nearness of condence and sense of
preciousness to Jehovah. Even in us God would have this.
We are of more value than many sparrows-the very hairs
of our head counted. Here it is perfect, and He looks to be
kept as the apple of the eye-that which is most preciously
guarded by him whose it is.
Prosperous oppressors; death and another world
After all, these prosperous oppressors were but the hand
of Jehovah-men of this world, who got all heart could
desire from the outward providence of God. But what a
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lesson among Jews, whose legal portion was blessing in
basket and store and children!
(Compare the parables of Dives and Lazarus, and of
the unjust steward.) Here then the breach with this world,
and a place in glory in the next, are fully contemplated.
Jehovah’s face in righteousness, and likeness to Him when
thus woke up into another world, were well worth the
portion of the men of this world. But here mark, death
and another world are contemplated, though deliverance
is also (the remnant being more distinctly brought in). It
is the same as we have seen in Matthew 5, where also both
are contemplated. We have thus, in this rst book, the Jews
at the end of days, but in circumstances analogous to what
Christ’s life was, that is, moving as godly ones in the midst
of the wicked people.
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165
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Psalm 18
Christ the center of Israel’s deliverances
Psalm 18 presents to us the connection of Christ, and
particularly of His (not atoning suering-that is found
in Psalm 22, but His) entering into the sorrows of death,
with the whole history of Israel. It is the connection of
the deliverance of Israel and the nal<P094> judgment
executed in their behalf on the earth with the title Christ
had to that intervention. No doubt the atonement was
absolutely necessary to this, but it is not on that side that
His suerings are looked at here. God delights in Him and
answers Him according to His uprightness, and delivers the
aicted remnant, into whose sorrows He has entered, with
Him. Christ is the center, in a word, of the deliverances of
Israel-the cause of their deliverance from Egypt, and of
their complete and nal redemption by power in the latter
day, and then their personal Deliverer too. He is dependent
on Jehovah, is heard, and His sorrows are before us; but at
the close He works in the power of Jehovah the deliverance
of His people, and then is the full witness of God’s mercy
(chesed) to His Anointed David and His seed forevermore.
Mercy here is not simply such as we would speak of to
sinners, but favor and grace shown and enjoyed, so as even
to be used for piety in man. It is particularly celebrated
in Psalm 89, where, from these mercies centering all in
Him, the term is applied to Christ in person. He is the
chasid (vs. 19). Hence the blessings conferred on Israel at
the close (and indeed on all who enjoy them) are called by
the same word “the sure mercies of David,” conrmed by
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an everlasting covenant, and indeed, as the Apostle shows
us, secured by the resurrection of Christ, making their
connection with His sorrows of death in this psalm very
plain.
Psalm 18 and illustration of the then-present and the
future application of prophecy
is psalm presents us also with a direct scriptural proof
and illustration of a most essentially important principle
as to the nature of all the psalms, giving a key to their
general character and form. We know from the Book of
Samuel that the occasion of this psalm was the celebration
of David’s deliverances from the hand of Saul and of all his
enemies. But it is evident that the language of the psalm
in no way stops short at any events in the life of David, or
that in its main purport the Spirit of God contemplates
even what happened to that already anointed suerer, who
was the occasion of the psalm. e Spirit of God takes up
the circumstance which has present personal interest for
him whom He uses as prophet merely, as the occasion to
bring out the larger and wider scene of which Christ alone
can be the center, giving a<P095> meaning to the whole,
in respect of which the more immediate circumstance only
forms a partial, though perhaps a most interesting, link in
the chain which leads up to the full display of God and
His ways in the great result. So it was with all the prophets,
only here more personally predictive. Sennacherib’s
invasion, for example, is the occasion of bringing on the
scene the Assyrian of the latter days. us prophecies
had an application of the deepest interest at the time and
became the instrument of the present government of God,
but were also the revelation of those ultimate events on
the earth in the same peoples and nations in which the
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167
government of God would be fully and nally displayed.
ey are of no private interpretation, ιδιασ επιλνσεωσ
(idias epiluseos). ey formed part of the great scheme of
divine government.
e Psalms as the Spirit’s provision for future days, or
prophecy relating to Christ
In the Psalms the writer and immediate occasion
sometimes almost wholly disappear, are never the main
object, but are not to be lost sight of in the expressions
used as the utterance of personal feeling, which are not
the revelation of objective facts. In the latter case the
circumstances of the writer have little application. e
Psalms necessarily bring in the speaker more, though
believers nd that the Holy Spirit used the speaker’s
feeling to provide for the hearts of others, yet commanded
and wrought in them, and led the writer by His power far
beyond anything that the occasion would have suggested
to his own mind. e feeling, in its nature suited to the
event which might give rise to the psalm, was only the
occasion of the Holy Spirit taking the writer up to provide
a divine record to guide feelings in future days, or to reveal
those of Christ as taking up the cause of His people. ey
may be those of the speaker too, as in simple piety was
often the case; but in all cases it was the Spirit’s provision
for future days, or a prophecy relating to Christ Himself
and the part He takes in those dealings of God with Israel,
and going on, looking at the book as a whole, to the full
and undisguised celebration of the results.
Deliverance already accomplished by Jehovah
e psalm, as we have said, takes in the whole history of
Israel, and speaks as in the time when deliverance from the
pressure of<P096> hostile power is already accomplished.
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But it celebrates especially Jehovah Himself the Deliverer,
and still declares the speaker’s dependence on Him. is
is the thesis of the psalm. It then, as is the usual form of
the Psalms, goes through all the circumstances which lead
the soul up to what is celebrated in the rst verse or verses.
Christ is seen, the sorrows of death compassing Him and
oods of ungodly men besetting Him, the sorrows of hades
upon Him and the cords of death about His soul. I have no
doubt the letter of this was the expression of what David
had felt, as indeed verse 50 shows. Still, as I have said, this
was merely the occasion. e substance of it applies to
Christ. He passes in His mind, as in Gethsemane, through
the sorrows of death. is is the groundwork laid for all
the rest.
Dependence and entreaty, and the results
e next point is dependence and entreaty. In His
distress He calls upon Jehovah and cries to His God. He
hears Him as in the midst of Israel, His cry comes before
Him. Now come the results. Christ but represented Israel
here, for we have nothing to do with the assembly here.
From verses 7-16 we have the deliverance of Israel from
Egypt by the mighty acts of Jehovah. But these were not
all Israel’s diculties. e power of his enemies was to be
annulled, who were stronger than he as regards esh. is
also was accomplished, and he was brought into a wealthy
place.
e righteousness in which God delighted
But this introduces another principle-the righteousness
in which God delighted; and which, while found absolutely
and perfectly only in Christ as a living man, yet characterizes
the remnant of Israel in whose hearts the delight in God’s
law is written. is principle is brought out from the latter
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169
part of verses 19-26. Christ is the foundation of this, but it
is as entering into the condition and sorrows of His people.
He is the Israel in spirit; and hence, while all the value of
His perfectness is before God for them, the perfectness of
that One whose whole life, as identied with the remnant,
was well-pleasing to Him, yet we must take the place and
state of the remnant, as of David himself. For, though
Christ entered into this place of the remnant in His own
perfectness, to give the value of that perfectness to them
before God, as<P097> agreeable in His sight, yet the state
of those to whom it was to be applied is that which is
substantially before us in the psalm. Hence we nd, “I kept
myself from mine iniquity.”
is is most important in judging of the literal use of
the Psalms. Christ could have said, “From iniquity”; but
personally, “from mine iniquity,” He could not. But the
Spirit of godliness (of Christ) in the remnant thus working
guards them from following the esh. ey own, that if
Israel goes astray (and so they did all but universally in
principle), this wickedness was theirs, in themselves; but
they were kept from it. Now this is truth in the inward parts-
just what God wants. It is the government of God which
we have here distinctly brought out in its unchangeable
principle (vss. 25-26). Now Christ, having taken up their
cause, as associated with them, with these “excellent of the
earth,” all the value of what awakened God’s delight in
Him, and which, by grace, animated them, was their place
of acceptance before God, though the atonement was the
nal ground of it. But in their case this integrity and divine
inward nature were shown in keeping themselves from
their natural course. But there was another part of this
government, tender care of the aicted ones, saving them
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and bringing down all man’s pride (vs. 27). In darkness
there would be light. To the righteous there arises light in
the darkness.
e coming in of Christ in power on the remnant’s
behalf
Now another scene dawns on us-the coming in of
power in their behalf. And, as Christ had taken the sorrow
at the beginning, and then we had the remnant in their
own condition, yet Christ not separated from them in the
way of interest and association (for it is not union here,
that is the assembly’s portion), so here He must take the
power in Person too; just as in Mark He was engaged in
the sowing and engaged in the harvest, all the intermediate
time going on without His personal intervention or
seeming care, though the crop was always His. God’s Word
had stood good all through, and Jehovah Himself was a
buckler to those that trusted in Him. But now He gives
strength and victory to His anointed for Israel from verse
29 to the end. Doubtless the language is that of David,
but it is substantially the introduction of the kingdom of
Christ.<P098>
Resistless victory; introduction of what is millennial
A very few remarks will suce to give the details, this
general character of the latter part of the psalm being seized.
e general strain is resistless victory. But in verse 43 there
are particulars to be noted. ree classes of persons are here
introduced: the people-He is delivered from their strivings;
the heathen-He is made their head; then a people, not
before known with which He had not been in relation as in
Israel, shall serve Him. at is, Messiah delivered from the
strivings and revoltings of ungodly Jews; made the head of
the heathen; and then a people hitherto strangers should
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171
serve Him-become now a people to Him. Submission will
be immediate, so evident is His glory and power now. And
even where there is no sincerity, or at least no proof of it,
they will at once serve, bowing down to Him. is is the
introduction of what is millennial. Here Jehovah is again
recognized.
We return, so to speak, to the original thesis of the psalm,
having arrived with Israel, or the Jews at least, across all the
diculties of the way. I do not see the Antichrist here. e
only word which might seem to speak of him is in verse
48-the man of violence; but I apprehend it is an enemy
from without. Hence he praises among the heathen. e
destruction of Antichrist would make him praise among
the Jews. Here, it is to be remarked, though clothed with
strength by God, Christ is seen as the dependent man, and
on earth, whether suering or victorious. We nd Him (as
we may have seen from the study of the details in verses
4-6, at the beginning of the psalm) in His sorrow and trial;
and though David be partly in the scene, yet substantially
Messiah again from verse 32. Between the two, it is Israel,
rst delivered as a nation, then in sorrow and calamity.
en the principles of God’s government are stated, and
the deliverance comes in. It is very interesting to see,
after the Person of Messiah has been introduced, and His
association with the godly remnant shown, the whole
public history of Israel dependent from rst to last on His
interest in them, His having entered into their sorrows,
aicted in all their aictions.<P099>
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Psalm 19
e testimonies given to the world and to Israel;
creation and the law
We now come (it is just the same order of thought in
John 17) to the testimonies given in the world or to Israel.
Psalm 19 gives us two: the creation, particularly that in the
heavens, which is above man and has not been corrupted
by him (this a testimony to God as such). en the law
(vs. 7). is is the law of Jehovah. Here, in lowliness, the
godly Jew takes two views of sin. First, he cannot tell his: so
much lies hidden from him. Here he desires to be cleansed.
Secondly, presumptuous sins: from these he desires to be
kept. us he would be kept from any falling away from
Jehovah.
Psalm 20
173
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Psalm 20
e faithful Witness; association with Him as
suering
In Psalm 20 we have, in the midst of sorrows and evil
come in as regards the two preceding testimonies, the
faithful witness, the living witness Himself. He is seen
in the day of His distress, for He is come down into the
midst of an ungodly people. e remnant is prophetically
designated by the fact that they in heart enter into His
distress, assured that Jehovah will hear His Anointed.
Conscience then characterizes the remnant, truth in the
inward parts in presence of the law, and taking that law
spiritually; interest of heart in Messiah, when He is the
despised and rejected of men. Still we are in Israel, and the
help is sought from the God of Israel, and still as dwelling
among them, having His sanctuary there.
In Psalm 16 the Lord identied Himself with the
remnant. Here they associate themselves in heart with
Him thus suering, and in His conict here, though they
may see as but the outside of it, yet be assured of His
acceptance with Jehovah. ey look for His oerings to
be accepted, the desire of His heart and His counsels to be
fullled, all His petitions accomplished. eir joy is in the
full deliverance of this blessed but dependent One. In verse
6 we have the assurance of faith as to it, that from heaven
itself Jehovah has heard, the mighty are fallen, the poor of
the ock are raised up and maintained before Him.<P100>
Messiah invoked as King-the mystery of the
manifestation of Christ in esh
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In verse 9 Messiah takes another place. While Jehovah
had delivered Him as the dependent One in the day of
His distress, the remnant now look to His hearing them
when they call. Jehovah is still looked to as the Saviour,
but Messiah the king is invoked. ey now know that the
Anointed is exalted. No part of Scripture opens out the
Person of Christ as the Psalms do, unless the rst two
chapters of Hebrews, which quote and serve as a key to
them: here Messiah connected with the remnant in the
dependent One, but exalted too as the king to be invoked
of Israel. A little farther on we shall nd that He is Jehovah
Himself. I see no reason to alter the text according to the
Septuagint, followed by others, such as the Latin. e
Targum, and Syriac, and all Jewish interpretations, read as
it is read in English. e other reading is, “Jehovah save the
king”-“hear us,” etc. Already in Psalm 21 Jehovah and the
king are associated in judgment, as indeed we have seen
they were already in Psalm 2. It is the very main point of
instruction in the Psalms-the mystery of the manifestation
of Christ in esh.
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Psalm 21
e divine answer to the cry of the suering Messiah
In Psalm 21 we get the full answer to Psalm 20 and
its desires, in the exaltation of Christ, throwing its light
back on the true character of that psalm. e king rejoices
in Jehovah’s strength and exults in deliverance through
it. What this is is then unfolded. e faithful longing of
the remnant was that Jehovah would grant the suering
Messiah according to His own heart, that He would fulll
His petitions. Now in the exaltation of Christ they can
say-the Spirit says for them-ou, Jehovah, hast given
Him His heart’s desire, and not withholden the request
of His lips. Nay, He was met by Jehovah’s free and willing
love towards Him, with the blessing of goodness, and was
gloriously crowned by Him. But what had really passed and
been done is more minutely revealed. He had asked life of
Jehovah. (Compare Hebrews 5.) He gave it Him, but it
was length of days forever and ever, the abiding eternal life
of the risen gloried man. at was the answer to the cry of
the suering Messiah when death was <P101>before Him.
And this is clearly seen in what follows. His glory is great
in this deliverance by Jehovah’s delight. He was raised from
the dead by the glory of the Father. Jehovah has laid honor
and majesty upon Him. He has made Him most blessed
forever and glad with Jehovah’s countenance. Such was
the suering Messiah’s deliverance, the divine answer to
His cry, His being gloried as the suering man. It is not
the wrath of God which He is here viewed as undergoing;
on the contrary, help is looked for from Jehovah when He
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is brought low. We have already seen the result of this-
judgment on His enemies. Man’s enmity and devices are
seen. Man’s judgment follows. e king’s right hand nds
out all His enemies. Jehovah shall swallow them up. It is
not His atoning suerings which are seen here, but the
mischievous devices of men. Hence His suerings do not
bring peace, but judgment.
We have here, then, Christ suering and crying to
Jehovah; Christ exalted as man, crowned with glory and
honor; Christ executing judgment on His enemies. In the
three psalms we have the witness of creation, the witness
of law, and the Messiah’s (the true and faithful Witness)
suerings and exaltation-the true nal witness of the
righteous ways of God. is must be a revelation of all
importance to the remnant in the latter day for suering
or for assured deliverance. Christ has suered as man from
men and for faithfulness; and judgment on men will be the
consequence; meanwhile He is exalted on high. But He
has suered for sin from God. e facts connected with
this last suering are unfolded to us in Psalm 22 with its
results also.
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Psalm 22
e atoning suerings of Christ
Here the suerings of Christ have another and deeper
character. We have before us that great work which is
the foundation of all the blessing developed in the other
psalms, and of every blessing and eternal glory, making the
interest He takes in the saints possible, because it makes it
righteous, and the very way of glorifying God. is psalm,
as it has been already observed to be a common principle
of their structure, gives us the theme in verse 1. Christ had
suered from man-from men alike heartless and violent:
dogs had compassed Him, fat bulls of Bashan closed Him
in.<P102> But if the measure of this was extreme, and felt
more and otherwise than ordinary suerings from men
because it was wholly unrighteous and for Jehovah’s sake,
for whose name He suered reproach; yet others had in
some measure borne the suering of violence and reproach
from heartless men too, and for Jehovah’s sake. If He in
grace was the leader and nisher of faith, others through
grace had trodden-it was their granted privilege, but His
willing grace-some steps of that divinely marked-out
path. But they trusted in Jehovah and they were delivered.
Jehovah never left or forsook them. He had promised He
would not. ey knew in their consciences that He had
never failed in one good or gracious thing He had promised.
A new, unrepeatable scene-the Righteous One
forsaken of God
But here was a suering out of the reach of promise,
yea, which was to lay the ground of its righteous
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accomplishment. It was a new scene, which none had been
ever like, nor ever will be, in the history of eternity; which
stands alone, the Righteous One forsaken of God. It cannot
be repeated a second time; it would have lost its character
and the repetition destroy or deny the witness of the rst-
God perfectly gloried, morally gloried, about evil; He
has not been, if it has to be repeated. It is once for all,
complete and perfect. e nature of God has been made
good in testimony, morally, in the universe. How should
that be repeated? I say again, if it had to be, neither had
done it; but it is done. e divine glory is perfectly, eternally,
made good. But for this in respect of good and evil-that
righteousness and grace, or love, where feebleness and evil
are, should be made good-all that God is against evil must
be veried and made good. Against whom? Who should
endure it? Against the sinner it were everlasting misery,
nor was love then displayed; what God is, not manifested.
But the Lord gives Himself for this; He who was able to
bear it, and, in the lowest humiliation of those He took up,
to accomplish it in their nature, He bears in His soul all
that God is against evil. Tremendous moment!
It is this alone which makes us in any way apprehend
what righteousness and judgment are. is is what is shown
to us here. It is shown in the utterance of Christ, showing
the fact and His sense of it. What it was in its depths no
human heart can fathom.<P103> It is the fact which is
given here, but as felt by Him. Yet we see the consciously
righteous One, but the perfectly submissive One, the sense
of His own nothingness as to His position, of the certain
and immutable perfectness of Jehovah. He is righteous; He
can say, “Why?”-submissive: “yet thou continuest holy”;
no working of will, calling God’s ways into question; the
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179
clear and perfect state thus, which sees God’s perfectness,
come what will. For it was the one righteous One who
had gloried God in all His ways, an exception from all
God’s ways in righteous grace with such. He is forsaken,
cries, and is not heard. He is a worm and no man. But this
could not last forever, no more than He could be holden
of death, having perfectly gloried God in going to the
close of trial and awaiting His time. He who was the very
delight of Jehovah all through could not be heard till all was
accomplished; though more gloriously, and deservedly more
gloriously, Jehovah’s delight than any living righteousness,
though ever so perfect, could claim to be. In that living
righteousness He had gloried God about good, perfect
in His obedience as man, and perfect in manifesting His
Father’s name of grace, declaring what God was, cost what
it might. e reproaches of those that reproached God fell
on Him. But now He gloried God in the place of evil
as made sin. is, as we have seen, stands alone. “erefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that
I may take it again.” ere in the place of sin before God,
that is, as made sin, yet in that wherein obedience was
absolute and perfect in entire self-devotedness to God-the
contrary of sin-where God’s righteousness found a motive
for love, yet where it was made good in forsaking Him;
there the foundation was laid of everlasting righteousness
and everlasting blessing; there God perfectly gloried, the
foundation laid for the accomplishment of all His counsels
in glory.1<P104>
(1. e more we study the cross, the more we shall see
that every question of good and evil was brought to an
issue, and the immutable basis laid for perfect blessing
according to what God is in righteousness and grace and
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majesty too, for the new heavens and new earth, wherein
dwells righteousness. We come by the blessed testimony
that it meets all our wants; but in contemplating it at peace,
we see man in absolute sin, hating and rejecting God in
grace and goodness; Satan’s full power-the disciples ed
in fear, and all the world else in his power against Christ;
man in absolute goodness loving the Father and obedient,
glorifying God in the very place of sin where it was
needed, and at all cost; we see God in perfect righteousness
against sin as nowhere else, and perfect love to the sinner.
Innocence was conditional blessing. is is completed in
perfectness, and its value never can change. It is everlasting
righteousness. Hence the blessing of the new heavens
and new earth is immutable. We have had an innocent
Eden; a sinful world; and shall have, besides the reign
of righteousness, new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwells righteousness. )
God gloried; Christ heard
en, when the work is complete, the moral work of
glorifying God, He is heard from the horns of the unicorn.
Man and all around was hidden by a darkened heaven from
view, when all of God, and of the power, and powerlessness,
of evil as against the sovereign goodness and righteousness
of God, was brought to this divine issue, and God gloried
about it. And all is between the soul of Him who is an
oering for sin and the righteous Jehovah. And it was
closed. He was perfect, had secured the glory of God, had
gloried Him when He could not be heard, and was heard
and it was nished. He goes down indeed into the grave,
that trusty and irrefutable witness that all was closed of this
great question of which death was the appointed witness,
but only to rise without one element wanting that the work
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181
of propitiation and of glorifying God in respect of sin was
completed, and the victory over every and the last enemy
fully won. He was heard. Who could call it in question
who knew that He was risen? And now what remained?
Not sin; it was as regards the work to be accomplished for
that purpose wholly and forever put away as in God’s sight,
though not in full result yet, but perfectly for those who
had a part with Him.1 Wrath for such? e cup had been
drunk. Judgment against the sin, or of the sinner for it,
where faith is? He had undergone it. e power of death
upon the soul? It was overcome. Of Satan who wielded
it? It was destroyed. But there was the full light of the
Father’s countenance and love, the delight of God in divine
righteousness, and for us. Into this relationship Jesus now
entered as established there in righteousness on the ground
of what He had accomplished to glorify His Father; not
merely in the everlasting delight which God had in His
Person. Hence it was immutable for those who had a part
with Him in this place, and for eternal blessedness in the
new heavens and the new earth. e place was won for
sinners in the putting away of their sin, and founded on
the righteousness of God Himself. Into the full blessedness
of this<P105> name (that is, true relationship with God
revealed according to it) He now entered as man.2
(1. And this is known by the Holy Spirit sent down
when He had ascended on high. e new heavens and
new earth wherein dwells righteousness will be the full
result, while it is the manifestation of the just ground of
unbelieving man’s nal condemnation.)
(2. Christ in His lifetime uses naturally the term Father;
on the cross, at the close of the hours of darkness, “my God,
my God” (in dying, Father, and so before in Gethsemane);
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after His resurrection, Father and God: one, in His personal
relationship and the Father’s delight; the other, in divine
righteousness, bringing us into it.)
e declaration of the Father’s name to His brethren
after His resurrection
But He had His brethren-those at least, with whom
He associated Himself and whom He had at heart rst
of all after His Father’s glory. He was entered into this
cloudless place of delight. What remained for His heart
was to declare the name which expressed it, and to know
which was the being brought into it, to His brethren. “I
will declare thy name unto my brethren.” And this most
precious witness of His love was exactly what He did after
His resurrection: “Go, tell my brethren, I ascend to my
Father and your Father, my God and your God.” Remark,
He was heard from the horns of the unicorn. It was on the
completing the work, or His subjection of soul to death as
divine judgment, that He was heard. When the obedience
unto death was complete, hearing became righteous and
necessary. e resurrection was the proof to man. But He
could say, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,”
and deliver it up to Him, and assure the thief he should be
that day with Him in paradise.
Judgment executed and passed, followed by wide,
outspread blessing on earth
I have already remarked an innitely important
characteristic of this psalm, so opposed to those which
speak of Christ’s suering from man: I mean that all is
grace-no word of judgment. Who was to be judged, when
God had been the One to inict the suering- the hiding
of whose face rather was the suering-and the men who
had a part in it, believing, had their sins put away by it? It
Psalm 22
183
was as to them the judgment, and the judgment executed
and passed. Hence what follows is the wide outspreading
of wave beyond wave of blessing and nought else. We may
remark, however, that the blessing here is all on earth: so
much does the Lord conne Himself to Israel and the
Jews in the Psalms. And though we<P106> have seen His
own resurrection, and we shall see His ascension brought
in, and the path of life thus opened up to faith into the
presence of God Himself, yet the heavenly place for the
saints is not unfolded. We know well that the truths on
which the blessing is based carry us farther; but the psalm
does not speak of them.
e widening circles of blessing and praise
“In the midst of the congregation will I sing to thee.”
e remnant then gathered is the rst circle gathered into
the place of praise; then millennial blessing-all Israel. ose
that fear Jehovah are to praise Him. Men fear Jehovah, and
only fear; but this work makes those that fear praise. ose
that feared Jehovah in that day and suered might take
courage, for Christ was their warrant for deliverance and
condence (and could be, having made atonement) but for
positive deliverance also; for Jehovah had not turned a deaf
ear to the aiction of the aicted, nor hid His face from
him. When He cried, Jehovah heard. He had been for a
time there: that had only wrought atonement. And now,
heard when that was accomplished, He could assure others
of deliverance also. e meek of the earth should now eat
and be satised, and be at peace. But the blessing would
not limit itself to Israel. All the ends of the world would
remember themselves, and turn to Jehovah, and worship
before Him; for the kingdom will then be Jehovah’s. All
should bow before Him. Nor was it conned to that
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generation: to the people that should be born those should
declare that Jehovah had done this.
e wonderful work of Christ in Psalm 22
I cannot, in explaining the Psalms, meditate on the
wonderful work on which this psalm is founded. I say
founded, because the psalm speaks directly of the feelings
of Christ under it, rather than of the work itself. I can only
desire that this constant and exhaustless theme of the saint
may have all the power on my reader’s soul, as upon my
own, that poor, but renewed, human beings, even by the
power of the Holy Spirit, can be capable of. Our comfort as
to peace is that God (as indeed His love gave it) estimates
it fully; and, while He has gloried Jesus, has Himself
accepted that work for our peace. My part here is to unfold,
as well as I can, the structure of the psalm itself.<P107>
e expiatory suerings on the cross
As to the outward suerings the reader will remark how
deep they were. But Christ alone, of all the righteous, must
undergo forsaking of God; and, having often declared His
condence in, and intimacy with, Jehovah, and taught His
disciples to trust in Him, as ever hearing prayer, has publicly
now to proclaim that He is not heard, but forsaken. What
a tale it tells of what that hour was! But what is important
is, as has been already remarked, that His suerings from
man bring judgment on His enemies; His forsaking of
God, being expiatory, is a bearing of the judgment, and
all that ows from it is unmingled grace. is work being
expiatory, once He is heard from the horns of the unicorns
all is grace. A stream of grace ows out for the remnant,
then for Israel, for the world, for the generation to come-
all from the sure and divinely perfect work of atonement in
the death of Christ. In the work, in the suering, He was
Psalm 22
185
alone. Once that was nished, He takes His place in the
congregation with which He surrounds Himself. Remark
how perfect must Christ’s knowledge of, and consequent
joy be in, the name of God and Father, into the enjoyment
of which He entered as man, consequent upon having put
away sin, and the delight of God in Him and His work: all
that God was against Him then, for Him according to the
virtue of this work now. How well He must know what the
deliverance out of His suerings on the cross into this light
is! Now this is the source of His praise. Such must be the
character of ours, founded on the blessed certainty of being
come out of the place of sin, death, and judgment, into the
perfectness of divine favor. All that is not thus in the spirit
of it is out of tune with Him who leads our praises.
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72757
Psalms 23-24
Condence in Jehovah and practical righteousness
Psalms 23-24 go in a certain sense by themselves, giving
the perfect condence in the Shepherd, Jehovah, founded
on the experience of what He is in all circumstances; and,
secondly, the character of those who would have a part
with Jacob. e two principles we have seen brought out
as to Christ in Psalms 16-17 (and shown in many others);
condence in the faithfulness of Jehovah, and the practical
righteousness which characterizes those<P108> who will
stand in Jehovah’s holy place in the time of His millennial
glory. But Jehovah Himself takes His place there as King
of glory. is gives us the divine side in all its perfectness,
of the principle of the path and the result in glory-glory
on earth both as to the remnant, Christ, and Jehovah-with
the blessed witness that on one side He took a place and
part with the remnant in their divinely-given path, and on
the other with Jehovah, for He was really a man, but really
Jehovah; the daysman that laid his hand upon both.
What Jehovah is, in all circumstances- past, present,
future
But we must examine them a little more closely. e
comfort of Psalm 23 is not in what Jehovah gives, but in
Himself. He does- it is the natural fruit of His grace at all
times and will be the result-make us to lie down in green
pastures, and lead us beside the waters of peace: pleasant
food where there can be no drought, security in enjoying
it, and guidance in divine refreshings in peace. Such is the
portion given by His shepherd care; but still it is Himself
Psalms 23-24
187
as that which gives condence and takes away care. Evil
is come in: we have to feel it-we in ourselves, Christ in all
that was around Him; so that He could be full of sorrow
and troubled-we alas! more than that. e Good Shepherd
(and Christ is such for us) restores the soul, and leads us
in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. e blessing
depends on what He is, not on what we have got. I have
blessing indeed, and learn it in green pastures; but, if
troubled or gone astray, He restores. And not only sorrow
and evil had come in with sin, but death too. en He
comes and leads me through it and comforts me. But there
are enemies to meet. I have a table spread, on which I feast
in their very presence. And how comforting this is to the
Christian also! Hence, as it is Jehovah Himself, and not
our circumstances, the soul has to depend on, it can say,
“ou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
When I have contemplated all the pains and diculties
of the way, I have Jehovah Himself more distinctly as the
blessing. Hence I can count on it forever, for He changes
not. Experienced in the past, in all the eects of the power
of the enemy, and knowing what He Himself has been for
me in them, I can reckon on it in the future and at all
times. e<P109> end of the Lord’s dealings will be our
dwelling with Him forever. e blessing thus, though less
apparent, is much deeper and more personal, at the close;
and, as we have said, the soul rests on Jehovah known in
all circumstances, not in the blessing it was natural to Him
to give.
An exercised soul thus has in result a far deeper
blessing than an outwardly blessed one. So the result for
Israel-still more for us-is more than the green pastures, in
which originally Jehovah set him. It is the deep knowledge
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in a tried heart of the faithfulness of Jehovah: and thus,
according to the blessing of His own nature, the rest will
be His rest. e green pastures were suited to sheep; but the
anointed head, and the cup running over, and the house of
Jehovah forever, were what suited Him who dwelt there.
Such is the result, for the remnant, of trusting Jehovah,
when the green pastures are for the time, at any rate, lost.
Such will follow the Lamb. For us Christ is the Shepherd.
We suer with Him, and we have yet better blessing. e
Shepherd’s care is there meanwhile under another form.
What grace produced in the remnant
Psalm 24 gives, as we have seen, the other part of the
condition of the remnant as to the good that is working
in them-what grace produced in them. Jehovah was the
Shepherd by the way. At the end the earth and the fullness
of it are His-the world and those who dwell therein.
Heaven does not here directly enter into the scene on the
road, nor at the end of it; but Jehovah has a special place,
a hill more especially His own, in the earth. Who shall
ascend into it? We then get their character-clean hands, a
pure heart. No idol-following heart, no false oath with his
neighbor. Such shall be blessed. at is the generation, the
real character of those who seek Jacob; for in Jacob is God’s
seat. ey seek Jacob as the blessed people of Jehovah; but,
if such ascend into the holy hill, and enter into the holy
place, the crowning blessing is that Jehovah Himself enters
in at the unfolded gates to dwell there. e victorious Lord
Jehovah of hosts enters in. It is Christ Himself who took
the place of His sheep to go before them, and has the place
of Jehovah, as that which is His by right, and in which
He is owned when the fullness of blessing comes in and is
revealed.<P110>
Psalms 23-24
189
is closes the development of Christ’s place in
connection with the remnant, rst formally entered upon
in Psalm 16. We have now to go through the position of
the remnant on a new ground and a dierent footing.
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Psalm 25
e whole case of the remnant laid before Jehovah
Christ has been introduced, not indeed yet in glory,
but associating Himself with the remnant, and suering
even unto death for them. Hence their whole case can be
prophetically gone into. And here for the rst time we meet
the confession of sins. It is not merely position-that we
had from Psalms 3-7; nor the sense of circumstances which
Psalms 11-15 gave, founded on Psalms 9-10; but the whole
case of the remnant, as they will feel, entered into. e rst
word characterizes them: “Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I lift
up my soul.” e godly man expresses his trust in his God,
and prays that he may not be ashamed, but that those may
that are willfully wicked. e remnant are distinguished
thus in verse 3. ere is the desire to be shown Jehovah’s
ways, to be taught in His truth, for He was the God of
their salvation: they always waited on Him.
Confession; mercy hoped for in Jehovah’s name
Next, verse 6, he casts himself on what God is in mercy,
as He had shown Himself, and pleads that He may not
remember Israel’s past sins, but himself according to His
mercy. He knows Jehovah, that He is good and upright,
and will therefore teach sinners in the way. His dealing
with them is according to His own nature and character
where He works in grace, goodness, and uprightness.
is is an all-important point. Next, we get the present
character of the remnant: they are the meek of the earth;
these Jehovah would guide in judgment. All Jehovah’s ways
were mercy towards such; and faithfulness to promises
Psalm 25
191
and righteousness infallibly marked them. In it we have
the fullest confession by the godly man of his own sin, not
merely the former sins of Israel. He looks only for mercy,
his iniquity is so great, and founds his hope on Jehovah’s
name. is is exceedingly beautiful. Jehovah’s name, as
revealed in Israel, had in the previous verses of this<P111>
psalm been fully entered into; His ways of mercy and truth
in Israel. e answer to this cry, in the eectual work of
Christ, though testied of in the prophets, and forming in
God’s sight the groundwork of all, is not, I apprehend, at
this time known by the godly remnant, nor till they look
on Him whom they have pierced; but they have the ways
of God, His promises, and the abundant declarations and
invitations, yea, pleadings, of Jehovah in the prophets, that
if their sins had been as scarlet, they should be as white
as snow. All this revelation was Jehovah’s name to them;
and to this they look, something in the state, though not
exactly, of the poor woman in the city that was a sinner
before she received the Lord’s answer of peace.
In verses 12-14 we get the prophetic answer of the Spirit
in hope; in verses 15-21, the meek one. He lays his whole
case before Jehovah. e great result and true application
is seen in the last verse. is psalm lays the whole case
of the remnant before Jehovah in the expression to Him
of a heart attracted and taught by grace. It is a very full
and distinct expression of their place and pleadings before
Him, and according to what He is. Some very denite
points are brought out-the confession of Israel’s past sins,
the confession of his own by him who speaks. Mercy is
looked to as the only resource. Yet from so gracious a God
they can count on His teaching sinners. But these sinners
are the meek of the earth who are to inherit it. Integrity
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of heart characterizes them, and they trust in and wait for
Jehovah. Compare with this the incomparable picture of
the remnant in the beginning of Luke. e psalm is both
beautiful and very fully characteristic.
Psalm 26
193
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Psalm 26
e pleading of integrity; redemption and mercy
sought
Psalm 26 is especially the pleading of integrity and trust
in Jehovah. Having trusted Him, the godly would surely
not slide. He invites Jehovah to search his inmost heart,
as Peter did even though fallen. Here, still the goodness
of Jehovah was his rst motive. en the separation of
the godly from the ungodly body of the nation is fully
brought out and taken as a plea that they might not
have their souls gathered with the ungodly. Still, though
integrity was pleaded, redemption is sought and mercy. e
end<P112> would be blessing. eir foot stood in an even
place. ey would, in the full assembly, bless Jehovah. is
is substantially the entire separation of the godly from the
nation, and the former becoming the congregation of God.
Scope of Psalms 25-26
us in these two psalms we have the confession of
sins and the pleading of integrity, both marking the real
renewal of mind. ough the possibility of government in
forgiveness and mercy is founded on the atonement which
has been presented in Psalm 22, and is owned fully in Isaiah
53 by Israel subsequent to the period of these psalms; yet
the aspect in which all is viewed by the remnant in these
two psalms is the known character and government of
Jehovah in Israel; and the feelings of a renewed heart are
expressed in reference to that government-to Jehovah’s
ways. His name is the key to their thoughts, and awakens
their best and truest aections. It is the faith of a godly
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Israelite in the last days. e moral state of the remnant is
especially brought out in all this part, and more especially
their own with Jehovah, circumstances comparatively little;
though the enemies without and the transgressors around
form necessarily the occasion of those feelings in respect of
deliverance and redemption. e heart of the godly one has
the key to all Israel’s history and Jehovah’s dealings with
them, because grace is looked to, and sin confessed. is it
is that ever gives understanding. And so it is here. Jehovah’s
ways have been-are-perfect. He is called upon to remember
His own mercies, and not the early sins of His people. e
enemies of His people are presented to Him. e hope of
forgiveness is founded on Jehovah’s name (it is, as we have
seen, connected with His government; they have not yet
looked on Christ, and understood atonement); the faithful
looks to be guided in the way, and Jehovah’s faithfulness to
him is reckoned on. His sins, sorrows, and enemies are all
presented to Him with an open heart. Covenant mercies
can be seen, looked to, because Jehovah is, in truth by an
upright confessing sinner.<P113>
Psalm 27
195
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Psalm 27
e believer’s condence; the ground of hope in
distress
In Psalm 27 we have two distinct parts, and, I apprehend,
then in the last two verses the result for the mind of the
saint as taught of God. e rst part, verses 1-6, is the
condence of the believer, and that absolutely, whatever
enemies there were. In the second part, verses 7-12, we
nd the cry of distress. In the former, singleness of eye
lays the ground of condence; in the second, the call of
Jehovah to seek His face. Enemies without or oppressors
within (for the remnant of the Jews will nd both against
them), a host and war arising, awake no fear. Jehovah is
the light and salvation of the soul; its only desire, dwelling
in the house of Jehovah to see His beauty and inquire in
His temple. He had known Him casting confusion on the
enemies of the faithful. He sought Him as the desire of his
heart. In the time of trouble He would hide him, and the
assault of foes would only be the occasion of lifting up his
head above them, and then he would oer sacrices of joy.
From the seventh verse things are otherwise. It is not
his state, as thinking of the Lord in faith; distress is there,
and he cries. Here he appeals, not to his integrity, but that
Jehovah had said, Seek My face. Was He going after that
to turn it away? He looks to be guided in a straight path.
ere is integrity, but he looks to the call of God. Finally, he
looks for, and trusts for temporal deliverance in the land of
the living; meanwhile he must wait on Jehovah. He would
interfere at the right time; He would strengthen the heart
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meanwhile. It is an additional and instructive picture of
the state of the faithful remnant; their abstract condence
and their ground of hope in distress when Jehovah must be
waited for.
Psalm 28
197
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Psalm 28
e cry of the remnant furnished, and the witness
given that Jehovah has heard
e godly Jew pleads, in the time of trouble come
on the nation, that he may not be confounded with the
wicked. If Jehovah did not appear in his behalf, so much
was he in the same distress with them, death would drag
him into its jaws. He looks for judgment on the wicked.
ey slight Jehovah. Jehovah should reward their<P114>
doings. e psalm furnishes to the remnant not only the
cry, but the prophetic witness that Jehovah has heard it.
e heart trusts in Jehovah, had found help, and thus joy
and praise. en Messiah is fully joined with the righteous.
Jehovah is their strength, He is Messiah’s. is once settled,
the prophetic desire of the godly, according to the Spirit of
Christ, expresses itself that Jehovah should have His people
and bless His inheritance (for the faith of covenant blessing
and relationship runs through all this part of the Psalms),
that He should also feed them and lift them up forever.
Deliverance, blessing, feeding, and unaltered exaltation,
such are the fruits looked for of Jehovah’s coming in in
power.
e scope of and connection between Psalms 25, 26,
27 and 28
In Psalms 25-26 we have seen the great moral principles
of trust in Jehovah (even when confessing sins) and
integrity. In these last we have more the personal sense of
condition, and way or ground of relationship with God,
beautifully shown in the rst part of Psalm 27 in the one
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desire of the heart; and in the second part, in the touching
plea, You taught me to seek Your face; my heart, in those
times of divine instructions, said, I will seek it: Lord, will
You turn it away now that I am in trouble, when You taught
me to seek and trust it? e truth is the same, but in the
rst part it is the one moral desire of the heart; in the last,
the exhortation of God to do it becomes a resource to the
soul. Jehovah Himself is their refuge, and has taught them
to look for it.
In Psalm 28 the pressure of evil is more felt, and coming
judgment and the separation of the remnant looked for.
is separation characterizes the whole testimony of God
connected with the coming of Messiah, a circumstance
which will aid us in seeing the unity of the remnant in the
mind of God. Not only was it prophetically announced, as
in Isaiah 65, but John the Baptist characterizes the coming
of Messiah by it, their being children of Abraham being
of no avail (Matt. 3:9); as indeed it spiritually took place:
only that He being rejected and not yet coming in power,
they were then added as the σωζομενοι (sozomenoi) to the
assembly. For that however Peter takes it up (Acts 2:40).
e Lord Himself receives them as His sheep (John 10).
Paul rests his argument in Romans 11 upon it too.<P115>
Psalm 29
199
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Psalm 29
Encouragement for the faithful in the presence of the
Mighty One
Psalm 29 summons the mighty to hear the mightier
voice of Jehovah, to own Him and worship before Him
according to the holy order of His house, celebrating the
power of His voice in universal creation; but there is a place
of intelligent worship where His glory is understood-His
temple where men are to come. But this Jehovah is above
the haughty raging of the surges of created strength; He
sits king forever above and in spite of all. And He, this
mighty Jehovah, will give strength to His people and bless
them with peace. It is a positive encouragement for the
faithful; not their complaint or appeal, but a testimony for
them to encourage their hearts in presence of the mighty.
He that cares for them is mightier than they.
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72763
Psalm 30
e contrast between trust in prosperity and in God
Himself; a living people blessed on earth
In Psalm 30 we have the contrast between trust in
prosperity- even in that given of God, and in God Himself.
He has come in and lifted up the poor, and not left him
to his foes. His favor is life. If angry, it is but for a little
moment, and for the good of His saints: the favor is
forever. In the morning it is light, if heaviness endure for
a night. He may let them down as to the grave’s mouth,
but only to show His power in infallible deliverance. He,
the godly man, Israel themselves, as a people, had trusted
in given prosperity. Now, in the depth of adversity, he has
found Jehovah in deliverance. e power of evil overcome
is better than good we may lose. It is security, and in the
blessing and arms of Jehovah for us; for He is the deliverer.
We see plainly here that it is a living people to be blessed
on earth (vss. 3,9). And though there may be analogous
mercies in all times, for there is a government of God as
regards Christians, to apply it to the saints now would be
a dangerous mistake. It speaks of temporal deliverance
for peace in this world. (Compare Isaiah 64:7-8.) No
mountain, even if we own it to be made strong by Jehovah,
is like Jehovah Himself, even if<P116> I am at the pit’s
mouth. It is my mountain for my heart when I think of it.
Psalm 31
201
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Psalm 31
e complaint and condence of the remnant
Psalm 31 is a proof how Jesus could use devout and
holy expressions of a psalm, and indeed pass through all in
spirit, without its having a literal application to Him. Here
is found the expression He used, “Into thy hand I commend
my spirit,” which was in the fullest sense true. But the
psalm continues, “For thou hast redeemed me, O Jehovah
God of truth”-He added Father. Yet I doubt not that His
spirit had got into the comfort of divine delight again. Still
the words, “ou hast redeemed me,” cannot apply.1 So
the whole complaint of the psalm is, besides David, the
complaint and condence of the remnant-connecting the
two principles, trust and righteousness, and looking for
guidance for Jehovah’s name’s sake, and deliverance when
surrounded by enemies. e godly man had called on
Jehovah. His name was in question. On His goodness, laid
up for them that trusted in Him, he counted; and this in
the midst of a life spent in sighing. Distress pressed upon
him, and drank up his strength. Yet, tried for faithfulness,
friends and acquaintances ed from him. Such will be the
condition of the remnant. How truly Christ entered into it,
I need not say. But the time of deliverance, and of all that
in any time the saint should be under and pass through,
were in God’s hand-not the enemy’s, though he might
rage. And in the adversities Jehovah knew his soul, for
he walks in the knowledge of covenant-relationship. e
presence of Jehovah was a tabernacle and a hiding place.
In the pressure of his spirit, the godly thought himself
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cast o; but when he cried, Jehovah heard. In all the rage
around (vss. 13-14) he cried to Jehovah as his God. e
result he now celebrates, and encourages the saints in the
last two verses, and all that hope in Jehovah. Whatever
sorrows they are in, Jehovah helps the faithful and judges
the proud.<P117>
(1. e only possible sense it could have as to Him
was the deliverance of His soul at that moment as a fact,
from the curse He bore for us, in which He had perfectly
gloried God as to our sins, and as made sin for us. But the
Lord does not use it. But though He had as a fact yet to
die, its bitterness and sting were past.)
Psalm 31 the expression of the Spirit of Christ, though
His own relationship as Son was dierent
is, in a certain sense, closes and sums up the
experimental expression by the Spirit of the state of the
remnant, and fully unfolds it. In the psalm that follows,
forgiveness in grace is spoken of. en there is a clearer
apprehension and more objective condence and judgment
of all around, till we come to Psalms 38-39, which have
a peculiar character of their own. Of course, deliverance
is not yet come; but the sentiment expressed is become
more that of favor in light than condence out of the
depths. How fully this Psalm 31 is the expression of the
Spirit of Christ must be obvious to every divinely-taught
reader. Yet His own relationship was dierent. He was Son,
and commends His spirit to His Father in death, not to
Jehovah to save Him from it; and, as we have seen in the
preface, prays for His enemies who crucied Him, instead
of demanding vengeance upon them. is demand of His
Spirit in the remnant is according to His mind in that day. In
Him personally it must have been otherwise; for He came
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in grace, and was giving His life a ransom for Israel and
for many. Hence He passed through all in perfection with
His Father in Gethsemane, and gives Himself up then, as
being His will, to death. Yet, as to the sorrow and trial, He
went through all. And the prophetic Spirit in the Psalms
expresses in the denunciatory words what will certainly be
accomplished as the consequence of the wicked enmity of
the Jews and heathens too at the close; and will become
living demands in the mouth of the remnant, whose only
and necessary deliverance these judgments will be.
Christ did ask life, and it was given in resurrection and
glory, as Psalm 21 shows; but not, as we know, in His being
spared here. e path of life led for Him through death
in the accomplishment of redemption, though He could
not be holden of it. us in spirit He entered into all their
aiction. e literal application in the writer’s mind was to
his own feelings; the prophetical is to the godly remnant
in the latter day. e word translated “iniquity,” in verse 10,
should, I doubt not, be “distress.” But the fullness of the
various motives and feelings brought together in this psalm
require a further brief notice. I have already remarked how
the two grounds, so frequently found, of the appeal of the
saint’s trust in God, and righteousness as the motive and
ground of it, are both<P118> brought together here. e
name’s sake of Jehovah is also added here. In verses 3-6
we have His utter rejection of the followers of idolatrous
vanities. In verse 7 Jehovah’s goodness is recognized
as mercy. He has known the soul of the believer in
adversities-a sweet thought, how dark soever all may have
been. And deliverance was granted (vss. 9-10). He pleads
his extreme present distress. e rst eight verses are a kind
of preface of general principles; now it is the pressure of
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his present state. He was a reproach to enemies, specially
to neighbors-a fear to his acquaintance; so mean, despised,
and yet hated and rejected, was he. It is the portion of a
divine character, of God Himself, to be both. Man neglects
a despised person; but he never does God, or what is of
Him.1ey will bring Him low if He puts Himself low,
or those that are His; but will fear and hate Him too. He
is forgotten, yet slandered, and the active enemy plotting
against his life. us verses 9-13 give the condition the
Spirit of Christ, or Christ Himself, holds in the world.
(1. What thief would, if hung, revile another thief hung
by his side? But the condemned thief did so to Christ.)
It is a most striking picture in verse 14. He trusts in
Jehovah. All that is to befall him is, after all, in His hand.
Another motive now is pleaded. He has called on Jehovah.
It is the lying lips which should be put to silence (vs. 18).
Condence in goodness laid up for them is there, and the
hiding in God’s presence for the time of evil (vs. 20). Verse
21 celebrates the faithfulness of Jehovah. Verses 23-24,
encourage the saints by it. us, with the extremest distress,
all the pleas of the faithful are beautifully brought together
here. All these past psalms have been the feelings of Israel
under the pressure of distress, and sought deliverance from
it. And this Israel will do.
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Psalm 32
Forgiveness of sins follows confession and leads to
true blessing
Now we have what he wants still more-the forgiveness
of sins. e pressure of aiction turns him to God’s law,
but to the consciousness of having broken it. Righteousness
in that sense he could not plead: forgiveness was his need,
and that Jehovah<P119> should not impute the iniquity he
had, and was brought to acknowledge. Long he had striven
against this; but Jehovah gave him no rest. But he confesses
sin, and guile is gone from his heart: impossible till then.
We are hiding iniquity in it. Forgiveness in grace draws the
godly man to God. In the water-oods they do not come
nigh him. Jehovah is the hiding-place of the soul-preserves,
blesses, guides. Only they are warned to be intelligent
through obedience, and not to be without understanding,
so that God must guide by providential power.
Remark here that while forgiveness is celebrated (and
the remnant will deeply need it), yet the great distinctive
truth which separates them from the mass of the people
is kept up distinctly- trust, righteousness, and integrity of
heart. To the wicked there are sorrows.
In principle, such a psalm, blessed be God, has the widest
application. For the remnant it is prophetic, to induce truth
in the inward parts, and encourage them by goodness to
that confession of sin in which alone God can bless, as
is ever the case. For forgiveness and no guile go together.
ey will only know full acceptance when they look upon
Him whom they have pierced, who comes as Jehovah to
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deliver. But let us lay to heart the great principle of this
psalm. Full absolute forgiveness, the not imputing sin at all,
is what takes guile from the heart. Else we ee from God,
excuse, palliate, if we dare not justify. Where full pardon is
before us, we have courage to be true in heart. Who will not
declare all his debts when their discharge by another is the
only thing in question? who not tell his malady for a certain
cure? Grace brings truth into the heart brought to confess
its transgressions. He nds all the burden of his sins gone.
e humble and godly are encouraged to draw near to a
God thus known. “ere is forgiveness with thee, that thou
mightest be feared.” e psalm will encourage the remnant
thus to true confession. When possessed, they will enter into
full blessing. We thus see how it is a prophetic preparation
and school for them, drawing out before them what will
not all be accomplished when they are thus brought to look
to Jehovah, but which they thus know will be. Hence these
psalms speak of Jehovah’s character, as it has been proved
with the inspired composers; in principle, often in letter,
with Christ, in order to draw out the condence of the
Jews in the day of distress, and to comfort every uneasy
soul. us the celebration of <P120>complete deliverance
is mixed with the cry for it, because it is prophetic and has
had fulllments.
Psalm 33 has its just place after the forgiveness of the
people. Before we pass on to these psalms, remark how the
guilelessness of heart produced by complete forgiveness
leads to that intimacy with God which gives us to be guided
by His eye. We have His mind with Himself, and that in
the perfectness of His own nature in which He reveals it.
Forgiveness leads to full blessing.
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Psalm 33
e full result of deliverance celebrated
In Psalm 33 the full result of deliverance is celebrated.
e upright are called on to rejoice. Jehovah’s character,
His Word and works, are made manifest, and the earth is
now full of His goodness. He is the glorious Creator; the
earth is to fear Him; all man’s devices and counsels come
to nothing before Him; His counsel stands. Blessed the
nation whose God is Jehovah, the people He has chosen
for His inheritance. It is Jehovah who has looked down on
men and disposed of all; but His eye is on them that fear
Him and hope in His mercy. us the great result of the
intervention of Jehovah is brought before the faith of the
remnant, chanted as if all were come. e last three verses
show the condence this produces in them.
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Psalm 34
Assurance of God’s government enabling faith to
bless at all times
e sure government of God enables faith to bless at all
times. He has proved His faithfulness to them that were in
distress. e psalmist, Christ in spirit, calls on the remnant
to praise, for Jehovah has manifested His deliverance in his
case. e eyes of Jehovah are over the righteous, and His
ear open to their prayers; His face set against them that
do evil, and to cut them o from the earth (vss. 17-19).
e broken heart, the aicted and the contrite, to such
Jehovah is nigh. e righteous must look for suering
while man has his day, but Jehovah delivers<P121> him.
While evil slays the wicked, Jehovah redeems the soul of
His servant, and none that trust Him shall be desolate. It is
the full assurance of the government of Jehovah in favor of
the humble in heart. is enables to bless, not only when
they are blessed (that is not faith), but at all times, for they
are heard, preserved, redeemed, when they are in trouble.
Christ is the great example of this. I doubt that He speaks
personally, though He does in spirit in the beginning. e
faith of the remnant takes His case up as an encouragement
in verse 6. Verse 20 was accomplished also literally in Him.
It is the secret of faith alone, the test of it, to bless at all
times. Peter applies this psalm to the constant principles of
the government of God. is is the rst psalm in which we
have found the interlocutory character, which sometimes
occurs (as in Psalms 91 and 145), though doubtless the
psalmist’s experience, who again speaks in verse 11. Yet, I
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apprehend, it is Christ in spirit who opens out God’s ways
in this psalm. “O magnify with me.” “I sought Jehovah.” It
is the fullest encouragement to the humble righteous.
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Psalm 35
An urgent appeal for Jehovah’s judgment
Psalm 35 is an urgent appeal for the judgment of
Jehovah against relentless and insidious persecutors who
seek after the soul of the righteous. Insult, craft, violence, all
were used against him. ey pretended to have found him
out. Deliverance is sought that Jehovah may be praised in
the great congregation, that is, the full assembly of restored
Israel. In verses 13-14, we see the grace in which the
godly (Christ Himself) dealt with these enemies. ough
generally true of the godly, Christ specially comes in here
in spirit.
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Psalm 36
Warning as to the wicked
We have a needed warning as to the wicked, particularly
the enemies of righteousness, the instruments of Satan’s
power. ere is no conscience to be expected; nothing that
will stop<P122> them in their evil plans. e power and
goodness of Jehovah are the sure refuge of those that trust
in Him. In result the wicked are cast down.
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Psalm 37
Waiting on Jehovah
In this interesting psalm the great point pressed on the
remnant, a lesson for every soul, is waiting on Jehovah, and
not having the spirit disturbed by evil; they will soon be cut
down like grass. ey are not to fret themselves, but trust in
Jehovah and do good; to delight in Him-they will have their
desires; to commit their way to Him-He will justify them;
to rest in Him and wait patiently for Him. Jehovah will
soon interfere, the wicked doers be cut o, and the meek
inherit the land. e other character of the remnant is also
largely unfolded-the righteous man-from verse 12 onward.
Jehovah does not forsake His saints: they are preserved.
e righteous shall inherit the land. e nal word is, Wait
on Jehovah and keep His way. e righteous suer, but
are not forsaken; the ungodly are in great prosperity, and
soon their place knows them no more. How this, as to the
righteous, points to the deep character of the suering One
who was forsaken, though the perfection of righteousness!
is psalm also helps to show the connection between the
disciples and this remnant (see Matthew 5:5)-yet, to show
the dierence; the Son was there. ey could suer for His
name; this brought in heaven (Matt. 5:12). He could reveal
the Father, which He does, in that discourse. e light
goes out to the world, as well as being the salt of the earth.
Details of grace also are brought in, of which the latter-
day remnant know nothing, because of this revelation of
the Father, who acts in grace. Still, de facto, it is the same
remnant.
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Psalm 38
e godly man under God’s chastening
Psalms 38-39 have, as I have said, a distinct and peculiar
character. e deliverance has been sought and looked for
by the upright, and forgiveness of sins granted for blessing.
But in<P123> these psalms the governmental rebuking for
sins lies on the remnant; there is the sense of why they
suer from the divine hand. In Psalm 6 the chastening in
anger was deprecated as a part of the sorrow that might
belong to their position; but here they are under full
chastening for sin: the rod has reached the ock outwardly,
their soul inwardly. When I say they, it is individual, but
still the remnant. Friends shrank from such a case; enemies,
without compassion, plot against his life. Still he is before
Jehovah, and all his desire and groaning. He is true in heart
with God, and owns Him-is silent with man. e sorrows
are, for his soul, Jehovah’s; and to Jehovah he turns. is
is all right. (See verses 13-16.) He will bow under it. His
enemies are busy and strong. But though Jehovah smites,
he trusts Him; because the smiting is owned by the humble
soul to be righteous. But he can look to deliverance from
his enemies. ey were glad he slipped, and rejoiced over
him. But he declares and owns his sin: no excuse-no hiding
in his soul from God. His cry is to Him for speedy help.
It is a beautiful psalm as to the state of soul; for the
Spirit provides for every case-the failure of the upright,
which may call down severe chastening, and cause joy to
the wicked. But he accepts the punishment of his iniquity,
and places himself openly before God, owning his sin, but
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looking to Him against the wicked. However sad such a
case may be, nothing more shows truth before God and
condence in Him. How confess one’s sin, and look for help
from God, when one has been unfaithful, He dishonored,
and the enemy triumphing in it? No excuse, no attempt
to hide-none: he owns all, and casts himself on God. e
picture of the remnant would not have been complete
without this, nor the gracious instruction for every soul at
every time.
Christ’s perfect sympathy in chastening
e question then arises, How far does the Spirit of
Christ enter into it? Fully, I believe; though of course He
never could have been personally there. No doubt it arose
from some deep chastening of the writer-a chastening
which was openly manifested. Such cases may in the
full extent arise among the remnant. e principle is of
universal application. Christ of course could have nothing
to be chastened for; but, having the full bearing of sin
<P124>before Him, and meeting in His path all the
sorrow which will beset the people, He can enter, though
the green tree, into the judgment which will come upon
the dry.1 He could not say what is said here, but He can
perfectly sympathize with those who have to say it. He has
provided the words which will express it by His Spirit in
their hearts. Had He not suered the full anger for these
very iniquities which press on their consciences, and from
which in its full extent as wrath they escape, it would not
have been merely needed chastening in which they plead
with Jehovah. Hence He can more than feel it when it has
that character. And in all the sorrow of the circumstances
He has borne the largest part.
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(1. Although the dry tree be in the full sense lifeless
Israel, yet, as the remnant, so long rejecters of Jesus being
the Messiah, are mixed up with the nation, they go through
the sorrows in heart and spirit which come upon the nation,
though not its nal judgment from God. For them Christ
had done that; He died for the nation. But all short of that
they go through, and feel in bitter sorrow and anguish, in
some sort, more than before the judgment comes, because
they feel the sin that is bringing it. Hence it was that
Christ, who did know the cause and looked forward to
the judgment which He did go through (undergoing the
oppression without apparent deliverance, for His hour was
come to be reckoned with the transgressors), could enter
fully into their case. ough He entered into it in love,
yet the righteousness which threatened Israel was before
Him.)
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Psalm 39
Vanity nding its level; God trusted in
In Psalm 39, the godly man is still under the stroke
of God; but there is more the sense of the emptiness of
all esh under the hand of God than disgrace and shame
and fear. He bows before God rather than let his spirit
rise and speak foolishly with his tongue. He might have
retorted-been fretted to do evil; but, restraint, when under
the hand of God, was his tting place. It is ever so. He
refrains even from good; and sorrow is stirred up in him.
In beautiful language he shows this. At last his heart bursts
forth; but it is to present to God the nothingness of which
the sense was thus matured. He desires to know his days.
How little he is! He sees all is vanity; but he sees his own
transgression and sin in the presence of One whose rebuke
consumes the beauty of man as a moth. To Jehovah he looks
for deliverance. His stroke is what he cares for. He trusts
Him not to make him the reproach of the foolish. ere
is great beauty in vanity nding its level in self<P125>-
annihilation, and then God trusted in to deliver from the
pride of men. He has to say to our transgressions.
Here the moral history of the remnant closes, as in
connection on covenant ground with Jehovah (that is, as
employing His name, as connected with Him). Hence
we have much of Christ personally in the psalms of this
rst book. His taking the place in which He should be
associated with them, according to the counsels of God, is
stated in the next psalm. e understanding of this place is
then shown to be the really blessed one.
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Psalm 40
Complete deliverance through Christ
In Psalm 40 then Christ is seen, not only in His passage
through the sorrows which beset His way, if He took up
the cause of the disobedient and guilty people of His love-
sorrows which gave Him the tongue of the learned, and
enabled Him to enter into those of the tried and spared
ones in the latter days, and give a voice to their cry suited to
their condition before God; but primarily the deliverance
in which, having waited on Jehovah in these sorrows,
Jehovah’s faithfulness was proved, so that He came out
from them for the encouragement of many, and then the
blessed key to His whole history in His having undertaken
to do the will of Jehovah, the whole Jewish system under the
law being thus closed and set aside. He has been perfectly
faithful to Jehovah in the face of the whole congregation of
Israel, yet is in the deepest sorrow and trial. So the psalm
closes, and it is important it should, because the thesis of it
is complete deliverance. Hence the application of this very
deliverance to the sorrows of Christ, which were analogous
to that of the remnant, is most precious for the remnant
when they are in them.
Christ’s perfect faithfulness and willing obedience in
connection with the remnant
But this principle is brought out in a very distinct way
in the psalm, and makes it one of the most remarkable
in this wonderful book. It brings out the connection of
Christ with Israel in the remnant in the most striking
way possible-lays it down as a foundation for the whole
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teaching of the Psalms, though the <P126>circumstances
are altered after Psalm 41. at Christ is personally spoken
of in it, I need hardly say, as the Apostle quotes it as His
words, undertaking that blessed work by which gures
and symbols were set aside, and which has perfected, as
he tells us, the believer forever. “Lo, I come” is the word
of the Son’s free oering of Himself to accomplish the
whole will of God in His work here below according to
the everlasting counsels of the Godhead. It is the blessed
Lord’s undertaking the work. His work was to obey; but
He in perfect free voluntariness oers Himself for it in
the delight of willingly undertaken obedience. In the great
congregation of Israel, in pursuing His service to Jehovah,
He had not shrunk (whatever reception He met with) from
preaching righteousness-had not refrained His lips. He had
been faithful to His service at all cost; and it was Jehovah
He thus proclaimed. His righteousness, His faithfulness,
His salvation, His loving-kindness, and His truth, He had
not refrained from declaring before the whole body of
Israel. Such had been His service.
Innumerable evils encompassing the faithful One
en, all changes with this faithful One; for innumerable
evils have compassed Him about. He looks for Jehovah’s
loving-kindness and truth, to whom He had been faithful.
Nor is it all that evils had compassed Him, that men sought
after His soul to destroy it. “Mine iniquities have taken
hold on me,” He says, “so that I am not able to look up.”
Of course, with Christ they were those of others-of all the
redeemed, and also particularly of Israel viewed as a nation.
In this state He desires that those that seek Jehovah may be
able to praise, to say continually, Let Jehovah be magnied;
and that the others may be ashamed and confounded. He
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separates the godly remnant who seek Jehovah from those
who, when He is faithfully and lovingly presented, are
enemies to Him who manifests His name. us Christ
closes His experience in this world, poor and needy, yet
assured that Jehovah thinks upon Him.
He is not forsaken in what is presented here, but comes
into that place, through a life of faithfulness, in which He
was to undergo that dreadful moment. It is the cry when,
so to speak, He confesses the sins before the victim is
consumed or slain. He is in the deep sorrow of the position
crying to Jehovah, not in the wrath<P127> shown in the
time of His not being heard. e psalm depicts not that
wrath, but the faithfulness of Christ in waiting for Jehovah
when in the sorrow, rather than seek ease, or have twelve
legions of angels, or drink the stupefying myrrh, or shrink
back from suering the will of God, any more than He did
from facing man when He preached it. He waited patiently
for Jehovah; and He inclined unto Him and heard His
cry. is was His perfection: no outlet from obedience
sought, no shrinking, no turning back or aside. He waited
for Jehovah’s time in the path of perfect obedience, and
it came. e time, as said of Joseph, came that His cause
was known; it is not said here how or when. e object
of the Spirit here was to show to the tried ones that One
had gone before them in the path of sorrow and had been
heard. We can say that it was fully in resurrection; but even
on the cross the dark hour was passed, and with a loud
voice He could commend His own spirit to His Father,
and His mother to His beloved disciple.
But these are details history has given us, not prophecy;
they would not have been available for the remnant.
ey want to know that they will be heard when waiting
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patiently for Jehovah. If killed, the answer will be for them
in resurrection; if not, to have Israel’s place in blessing, I
doubt not with the Lamb on Mount Zion, as having gone
through (however feebly or inrmly) like trials and sorrows
in faithfulness to Jehovah in the great congregation. Do
their iniquities alarm them? ey are not left out. ey do
not yet know atonement, but they know that One, who
could say, “Mine iniquities have taken hold of Me,” waited
patiently, was heard and delivered. ey wait, trusting the
mercy of Jehovah, though peace be not yet known. eir
iniquities have taken hold of them, so that they feel:
how can they hope Jehovah will deliver them? ere is
forgiveness with Him, that He may be feared. And the
psalm assures them that One in like depths has been set
free. When they look upon Him, they will judge their sins
in the light of His having borne them and they will nd
peace; but the foundation of peace is laid in hope for them
here. A heart failing under iniquities, laying hold of it,
can look for deliverance. It has been found (and however
obscure their light, and it will be), the ground of hope is
laid. Compare Isaiah 50:10-11, which describes this very
state, consequent, as to the remnant, on Christ’s being
justied and helped.<P128>
e new song
But this is not all. Messiah puts Himself in this
association with them. “He hath put a new song in my
mouth, praise unto our God: many shall see it and fear,
and shall trust in Jehovah. Blessed is the man that makes
Jehovah his trust, and does not trust outward prosperity nor
apostatize to lying vanities.” So in verse 5, to usward. at
is, in verse 1, we have Christ, who has waited on Jehovah,
and been heard, and brought up out of a horrible pit and
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miry clay. I doubt not that David’s heart sung it: still it
is surely Christ in prophetic purpose. But then Christ
identies Himself (though, as we have seen, distinguishing
the remnant) with Israel. Praise, He says, unto our God. e
eect of this is that many see it, fear, and trust in Jehovah.
It acts on the remnant in the latter day, and leads them to
trust in Jehovah. ey can trust for deliverance too; many
will. His preaching righteousness to the great congregation
gathered a little ock. His deliverance as the suering One
will be blessed to many. Who hath begotten me all these?
says Zion in that day. is may take in the ten tribes too;
still, as a principle, a multitude will be there. It was not
so at Christ’s rst coming. He was to be a despised and
rejected One in His own history and trial.
Christ’s coming as a Man to do God’s will; His
consequent suering
Verse 5. ese are the thoughts of Jehovah in blessing.
is leads to the great thought, the center and groundwork
of it all- Christ coming to do Jehovah’s will. Now, we can
comment, or, still better, the Spirit of God has commented
for us, on the value of His doing Jehovah’s will. Here we
have much more the faithfulness of Christ in doing it, His
being overwhelmed with iniquities taking hold of Him in
His own spirit, as we see in Gethsemane, but deliverance.
We must remember that the confession of sins over the
head of the sacrice was not the slaying, or casting into
the re, of the victim. So Christ’s acknowledging thus,
or confessing the iniquities with which He was charging
Himself as His, was not His enduring the wrath, nor His
being cut o out of the land of the living. Dreadful indeed
it must have been to Him, as we see in the Gospels, and
He saw all that was coming upon Him by reason of it;
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still it was essentially dierent-confessing the<P129>
sins and bearing the wrath due to them. His confession
of sins His people must (I will not say imitate, but) take
up in the knowledge that those He confessed were their
own; and may, till grace is fully known, do it with dreadful
anguish and apprehension of the wrath to come. It is this
which particularly, besides outward trials, constitutes the
analogy between the Jewish remnant and the Lord. e
wrath endured in atonement, we know, He endured that
we never might.
e eternal counsels of God
In this psalm then we see Christ, according to the eternal
counsels of God, come to do God’s will in human nature,
taking His place in the midst of the great congregation of
Israel, suering most deeply in consequence, getting into
the horrible pit, but His trust is rm in Jehovah. He waited
patiently for Him, and He is brought up, and a new song
put into His mouth. e rst three verses state the great
fact: Jehovah heard and delivered out of the horrible pit.
It is a lesson for all the remnant. How blessed is the man
who trusts Jehovah, and does not look at the appearance of
persons to turn aside after vanity! en we get the course
of events. Wonderful have been Jehovah’s counsels. Christ
comes to do His will as a man, delights to do it, declares
Jehovah’s righteousness before all. is brings Him into
the greatest distress. Evils come upon Him unnumbered,
and, besides that, His iniquities (those of His people) come
upon Him; but patience has its perfect work, and He is
perfect and complete in all the will of God; and, as the
psalm shows at the beginning, He is delivered, as we well
know. But, as already said, the psalm recites His faithfulness
especially. Hence we see Him up to the close of the trial
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still under it. What He asks for is that the ungodly, being
found His enemies, may be set aside; but that the poor
of the ock may be able to praise, rejoice, and be glad in
Jehovah.
Christ’s patience in trial
It is beautiful to see His perfect patience in the trial,
that the whole will of God may be accomplished, and
seeking the joy and full blessing of the poor remnant;
yet Himself taking the place of complete dependence on
Jehovah, and praying for His coming in as God. Obedience
and dependence are the two characteristics of<P130> the
acting of the divine life in man towards God. It may be
remarked here that the testimony in the congregation is
closed when the innumerable evils come upon Him. e
preface of the psalm speaks of the horrible pit when He
is out of it, and we know whereunto He was obedient; but
His death is not spoken of here. In the body of the psalm
we have, as come to do God’s will, His faithfulness in life
as witness, and the evils that came upon Him at the close
when He had to meet the burden of the iniquity of His
people. e fourth verse applies to the remnant the result
of Christ’s faithfulness for instruction and encouragement.
“Digged ears”
A few words on the expression, “Opened my ears.” e
word is not the same as in Exodus 21. ere it is attaching
the ear with an awl to the door post; the man thus became
a servant forever. Nor is it the same as in Isaiah 50, where
it has the signication of being so completely a servant
to His Master’s will that He received His commands
morning by morning. Here it is “digged ears” (that is, took
the place of a servant). But this He did, as may be seen
in Philippians 2, by becoming a man. Hence the Spirit
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accepts the interpretation of the LXX-“a body hast thou
prepared me.” Compare John 13 (which answers in point
of time to Exodus 21), Luke
12:37 and 1Corinthians 15:28.
Psalm 41
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Psalm 41
e blessedness of him who understands and enters
into the position of the poor of the ock
Psalm 41 shows the blessedness of the man who
understands this position of the poor of the ock and
enters into it. (Compare Matthew 5:3 and Luke 6:20.) It
is spoken in the person of one of the suering remnant-
doubtless with the psalmist’s own experience. It is one of
the psalms in which Christ takes up an expression to show
how, in the close of His life, when He entered into their
sorrows, He tasted fully their bitterness. Still the poor man
is upheld in his integrity, and set before Jehovah’s face. e
apparent triumph of the wicked is short.
is closes the book. It is the experience, as a whole, of
the remnant before they are driven out, or at the least of
those who are<P131> not so. And the covenant name of
Jehovah is used. Hence, the place of Christ is entered into,
so far as He came and set Himself among the poor of the
ock upon earth, and led the life of sorrow and integrity in
the midst of evil. Of this last psalm He is not the subject,
as verse 4 shows.
e subject of the rst book
We have seen an introduction in the rst eight psalms,
in which the whole scene is brought before us in its
principles and result in the purpose of God; then in Psalms
9-10, the actual historical circumstances of the Jews in the
latter day. us, as to historical facts, their state forms the
groundwork and subject of the whole book; while the way
in which Christ could enter into their sorrows, and they be
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encouraged by His example, is fully introduced. His whole
life amid the nation is passed in review; but particularly
the close, when, after declaring God’s righteousness in the
great congregation, He passed into the deep suerings of
the last hours of His passage on earth, going on to His
being forsaken of God. Yet it was for Him-surely for us,
blessed be God-the path of life.
e peculiar interest of Psalm 40
Psalm 40 has this peculiar interest, that it gives us, not
merely the history of Christ, His faithfulness, but His
freely oering Himself to accomplish all that the Father’s
counsels required of Him; and then shows Him waiting in
obedience till Jehovah was pleased to come in. And then
He has the new song to sing. Of this intervention of God
the resurrection was the grand witness; through which,
as we have seen in Psalm 22, He has awakened, or rather
created, it in so many other hearts. As is common, the rst
three verses give the thesis-the rest all that led up to this:
only here it is traced from His rst oering Himself to do
it.
Additional remarks as to Psalm 41
e reader will remark in Psalm 41 what we have noticed
as characterizing the remnant-the acknowledgment of
sin (vs. 4), and the declaration of integrity (vs. 12). We
have Christ using it as to Himself, showing, though the
psalm be not of Him, how He took the place to which the
spirit of the whole applies. e proud<P132> and wicked
could despise and trample upon the meek and lowly, and
perhaps chastened remnant. Here it is more the false and
treacherous spirit of those whom he ought to have been
able to trust. Blessedness is with those who understand,
the meek and lowly ones who are chastened, for they
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understand the Lord’s ways; the meek one himself looks
to the Lord when His hand is upon him. e point of the
psalm is the blessedness of those who understand and enter
into the position of those with whom Jehovah is dealing.
is place, Christ fully took, though not chastened with
sickness.
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Psalms - Book 2
e contents of Book 2 (Psalms 42-72)
In the second book, the remnant is viewed as outside
Jerusalem, and the city as given up to wickedness. is is
seen throughout it. e covenant connection of the Jews
with Jehovah is lost, but God is trusted. When Messiah
comes in, all is changed. We have further, more distinctly,
the exaltation of Christ on high as the means of their
deliverance, and His rejection and sorrow when down here.
It closes with the millennial reign of Messiah in peace
under the gure of Solomon. e spirit of the godly man is
tested by these circumstances. And, as all hope of nding
good in the people is given up, the soul of the believing
remnant is more entirely looking to God Himself and
attached to Him. It is with this that the book opens.
Psalms 42-43
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Psalms 42-43
e cry of the heart after God Himself
e godly man had been going with the multitude to
the house of God, but that is all over. He is driven away,
and his cry is from Jordan-the land of the Hermonites, and
the hill Mizar. All God’s waves are gone over him. It was
terrible to see an enemy in possession of the sanctuary, and
the true one of Jehovah cast out and His name blasphemed.
e heathen, as stated in Joel, had come in in power, and
taunted those who had trusted in Jehovah’s faithfulness
with the cry, “Where is thy God?” (Joel 2:17). It was,
of<P133> course, a dreadful trial (so with Christ upon the
cross; and with Him yet more, for He declared He was
forsaken); so that what God was to them by faith was put
to the test. is faith is what this psalm now expresses. e
heart of the godly pants after God. It was not merely for
His blessings; they were gone. e preciousness of what He
Himself was, was only so much the more vividly brought
out. e main distress was the cry, “Where is thy God?”
But if the saint is not in Jerusalem, God is the condence
of the saint. Faith says, “I shall yet praise him for the help of
his countenance.” e heart too can appeal to Him (vs. 9),
and, under the pressure of the repeated taunt, hope in God
Himself, and He will be the health of the countenance of
him that trusts in Him.
e reader will remark that in verse 5 it is the help of
God’s countenance: in verse 11 He becomes the health of
the countenance of him that trusts in Him. is making
God Himself to become everything by the deprivation of
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all blessings, and the exercise of faith in it casting the soul
entirely on God Himself, is very precious.
e enemy-Gentile, ungodly Jew, and the wicked
e enemy in Psalm 42 is the outward enemy and
oppressor- the Gentile. ough in circumstances, of course,
and not in the depths of atonement, it is interesting to see
the analogy in verse 3 with what the Lord said upon the
cross. Psalm 43 is a supplementary psalm to the former:
only that here the ungodly nation, the Jews, are before us,
and the deceitful and unjust man, the wicked one; though
the Gentile oppressor be yet there (vs. 2). We know they
will both be there in that day. From the Jewish nation being
now in the scene, the return to the holy hill and tabernacle
and altar of God are more before the mind of the remnant.
Verses 3-4 form the groundwork of the book.
Psalm 44
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Psalm 44
e nation cast o and scattered
Psalm 44 gives a full and vivid picture of the state of the
nation, as in the conscience of the remnant. ey had heard
with their ears. Faith rested in the memorial of all the old
mighty deliverances wrought by God, and how He had put
them in possession of the land by His power, not theirs (vss.
1-8). In verses 9-16 their<P134> present state is recounted.
ey are cast o and scattered. e enemy and avenger is
among them; they scattered among the heathen-sold of
God for no price (vss. 17-22). Yet they have, in no wise,
swerved from their integrity. On the contrary, it is for His
sake they are killed all the day long, and counted as sheep
for the slaughter. (Note, the moment Messiah was rejected,
this began in principle; compare Romans 8:36.) Verses 23-
26 contain the appeal to God to wake up to redeem them
for His mercies’ sake. Why should He forget them forever?
We have still God, not Jehovah, in this psalm; for they are
outside.
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Psalm 45
e coming in of Messiah in glory and judgment
Psalm 45 introduces Messiah, and, as we shall see,
changes everything. I know not, interesting and full of
bright energy as the psalm is, that I have much to note
upon it, by reason of its force being so very plain. It
will be remarked that it is Messiah in judgment and
taking the throne. He had already proved that He loved
righteousness and hated iniquity-was t to govern. He is
saluted as God. Yet His disciples (the remnant) are called
His fellows. (Compare Zechariah 13:7, where He is seen
in His humiliation and smitten, but owned to be Jehovah’s
fellow.) I apprehend the queen is Jerusalem. Tyre and
others own her with presents. She is gloriously received
into the chambers of the king himself. is, I apprehend, is
the force of within. She is in the closest relationship with
the king. e virgins her companions are, I suppose, the
cities of Judah. e glory of Israel is no longer now their
fathers. e presence of Messiah (the fulller of promise)
has eclipsed the depositaries of promise of old. Instead of
fathers, they have children to be made princes in all lands.
e coming in of Messiah in glory and judgment, brings in
the full triumph and glory, among the nations, of Jerusalem
and the Jewish people. e psalm is full of Messiah, and
exclusively, yet as man, and God is only alluded to as his
God. But Messiah is God.<P135>
Psalm 46
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Psalm 46
God of Israel with the spared remnant; the result
e remnant, now that Messiah has appeared in glory,
can celebrate what God is in favor of His people, and with
the special knowledge acquired through what He has been
for them in trouble. ere may be yet an assault: indeed
according to prophecy I believe there will be. But as the
whole eect of Messiah’s coming in blessing was celebrated
in Psalm 45, so here the great result in divine government.
e spared remnant have Jehovah with them as the God
of Israel (vs. 7). For here Jehovah is again introduced as a
present thing. Here it is specially (and suitably, after what
we have been studying, needs not to be said) as refuge and
deliverance. Earth, mountains, and waters may tremble, or
swell and roar: His people need not fear. God is with them.
Nor is this all. He has His city on the earth, where He who
is the Most High dwells, and has His tabernacles gladdened
by that river which is everywhere in these descriptions the
sign of blessing; as in the heavenly Jerusalem, and in the
earthly in Ezekiel-nay, in paradise, and in gures, in the
believer, and in the assembly, who calls to the water of life
him who thirsts. But even then the river is there. God is
there-the sure and best of answers to the taunting demand,
“Where is thy God?” She shall not be moved, but helped
right early.
Verse 6 gives in magnicent abruptness the great result.
All is decided. en they say, “Jehovah Sabaoth is with us.”
e God of the whole people is the refuge of this feeble
remnant (vss. 8-9), they summon the earth to see what the
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works of Jehovah are, what is come of the impotent rage
and violence of men; for He will be exalted among the
heathen and exalted in the earth. e place of faith is to
be still and wait on Him and know that He is God, as the
remnant of Jacob will with joy-that Jehovah of hosts, the
God of Jacob, is with them.
Psalm 47
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Psalm 47
Jehovah a great King over all the earth
Psalm 47 only pursues this deliverance to its bright
results for Israel according to God’s glory in the earth.
Jehovah is now a<P136> great King over all the earth.
(Compare Zechariah 14.) He subdues the nations
under Israel and Himself chooses their inheritance.
is is triumphantly celebrated from verses 5-9, and the
association of the princes of the peoples now owning God,
with the people of the God of Abraham. He is specially
Israel’s (the remnant’s) King, but if He is, He is King of all
the earth. In these verses God Himself is celebrated, but
He is the God of Israel. It is the celebration of the earthly
part of the millennial glory of God: Israel owned in the
delivered remnant being the center. I apprehend verse 9
should be, “Have joined themselves to the people.”
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Psalm 48
Israel’s God in Zion, the praise of the whole earth
Psalm 48 completes this series. Jehovah is fully
established as Israel’s God in Zion, now the praise of the
whole earth, the city of the Great King, and in whose
palaces God is well-known as a refuge. e kings were
assembled; they found another sort of power there than
they thought of, marvelled, were troubled, and hasted away.
e power of the sea was broken by the east wind, and
Jehovah’s hand manifested there too. e psalm beautifully
refers to the beginning of Psalm 44, where they had said
in their distress, We have heard with our ears … the mighty
works of the fathers’ days. Now they say, As we have heard,
so have we seen in the city of Jehovah Sabaoth, the city of
our God. ey do not now say, as in Psalm 42, “I had gone
with the multitude,” but now cry to ee from Jordan; but
in sweet and unendangered peace, “We have thought of thy
loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.” God’s
name they had trusted, but now His praise was according
to it. He had come in in power. It was so to the ends of
the earth. He calls on Mount Zion to rejoice because of
these judgments, with the joyful assurance that this God
is their God forever and ever; their life long will He guide
and bless them. It is an earthly blessing, and death, the last
enemy, is not destroyed (vss. 11-14).<P137>
Psalm 49
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Psalm 49
All that is exalted in man is nothing
Psalm 49 is a moral conclusion for all, founded on these
judgments of God. Wealth, elevation, all that is exalted
in man, is nothing. Man expects to endure, gives his own
name to his lands, blesses himself, is praised by posterity,
and spoken well of as prudent and wise, seeing he has done
well to himself. ey are laid in sheol like sheep. e hope of
the man of the world does not last; he leaves the world he
was great in; his reputation, which lives, is nought for him,
deception for others. Satan’s power is for this life; there is
no deceiving after it. Man in honor without understanding
is like the beasts that perish, but the righteous remnant
trusts in God: his soul is redeemed from the power of the
grave. God shall accept him. e preservation on earth,
or heavenly blessing is left somewhat vague here. e
immediate hope would be of preserving life; but it would
meet those that might be slain with the fullest and securest
hope. It is even so in Luke 21:19, κτησασθε τασ ψυχασ
υμων (ktesasthe tas psychas hymon), and in Matthew
24:13. e ambiguity is preserved there too designedly.
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Psalm 50
God’s judgment of the people
In Psalm 50 we enter on new ground-God’s judgment
of the people. Jehovah the mighty God summons the
whole earth; as in Psalm 51 we have their confession of
killing Christ.
e introduction of Psalm 50 is magnicent, but requires
little comment, God shining out of Zion the perfection of
beauty. Only remark that the rst two verses are the thesis;
from verse 3 is the bringing it about. But heaven is called in
to stand by, a witness of righteousness, and the earth; but the
judgment is the special judgment of the people. In verses
5-6, He takes up and accepts and gathers the remnant, His
chasidim, who have now entered into covenant with Him
by sacrice. It is in view, I apprehend, of their seeing Christ
whom they had pierced, that these words are uttered. e
heavens (though in result God be seated in Zion) bring
in their display of the righteousness of God; distinct in
itself, note, from His judgment. is is general. It is not in
itself the judgment<P138> of God. I doubt not, He shines
forth in glory therein, but in a particular manner. We can
say it is the gloried saints who display this, of course with
Christ Himself; yea, so fully that they shall judge the earth.
It is not judgment through secondary causes: God is now
judge Himself-hence gathers His saints too. In verse 7 the
people are judged. God does not want sacrice, He wants
righteousness. He will not have wickedness, nor, now, the
wicked among His people. So we read in the very same
way in Isaiah 48-57. Man fancies God is such as he himself
Psalm 50
239
is; but all shall be set in order before Him. is is God’s
judgment.
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Psalm 51
e full confession of the true remnant as to Christ’s
death
Psalm 51 is the true remnant’s confession. ey have
fully entered into the mind of God. (See verse 16.) ere
is true and complete humiliation for sin before God, yet
condence in Him. He is looked to to cleanse and deliver,
with the true faith of God’s people. e whole sin of the
heart and nature is acknowledged, and the dreadful crime of
Christ’s death owned (vs. 14). e humiliation is accepted,
but with the sense of God’s cleansing being perfect He
creates too a clean heart. He prays that that Spirit (which
Haggai declares abode with them after all their faults, and
in spite of the Babylonish captivity), might not be taken
from him, nor he lose the sense of the presence of his God.
Persons have found diculty in this verse; I see not any.
No good could have been wrought by the Old Testament
saints without the Holy Spirit: withdrawn from them, all
their joy and comfort ceased and gave place to darkness.
is he prays might not be. ere cannot for a moment
be a doubt that the Spirit wrought in the Old Testament
saints. e question is, whether He was present in the same
manner, and dwelling in them, in virtue of Christ’s work
and glory, uniting them to a risen Head in heaven. is,
of course, could not be. e work was not yet wrought,
the glory not yet entered into by the man Jesus. e New
Testament is clear on this point. He was not; but He must
have wrought in and with the saints. He acts in everything
good; the agent in all divine action in the creature, as in the
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241
creation He moved on the face of the waters, but specially
in the hearts of men for any good that is there,<P139> and
to be the source of joy and strength to the saints. So in the
prophets and others.
An intelligent saint now could not say what is said in
this psalm (vs. 11); he knows God will not take His Spirit
from him. He might indeed perhaps in anguish say it, and
with a true heart, and be heard; but not intelligently. is
repentance of Israel, as so constantly taught in Scripture
(see Acts 3), is the path to Zion’s blessing there. Will God
accept their oerings? In these two psalms we have the
separative judgment in Israel connected with wickedness,
sin against Jehovah-a judgment which is real deliverance
for the remnant; and now (when He has appeared) the full
confession, and that even of having shed the blood of the
Saviour.
Psalms 50-51 as giving the circumstantial setting of
what follows
ese two psalms complete the setting, as to
circumstances, of the whole scene before us, which forms
the groundwork of this book. e series of psalms now
commences (as we have seen in other instances), to supply
and unfold the expressions of feeling for the remnant under
these circumstances. It will be found, accordingly, that it is
not so much trial by being in the midst of evil, as from
seeing it dominant and prevailing in the place even that
belonged to Jehovah. Hence in general, they are addressed
to God and the Most High, the God of promise-not to
Jehovah, the God of present covenant blessings, for they
are out of the place of them. When otherwise, I purpose
noticing it in its place. After all this is gone through up to
the full inshining of hope, the position of Christ exalted on
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high, and once suering in Israel as that in virtue of which
He could help and deliver them, is brought out. is (with
the application of it to the remnant and the employment of
David’s last appeal in his sorrow, as now fatigued with years,
to Israel’s own state at the end) ushers in the millennial
reign of Christ under the gure of Solomon.
Psalm 52
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Psalm 52
Faith in regard to the power of the wicked man
In Psalm 52 we nd faith as regards the power of
the wicked man, who was in presence of the godly. e
goodness of God <P140>endured. God would destroy the
proud and deceitful man, while the righteous would abide.
It reminds of Shebna-not enemies from without nor even
the beast, but within among themselves-the Antichrist of
power.
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Psalm 53
e wicked in general
In Psalm 53 we have the wicked in general, the whole
mass of the people, all, save where grace had come in. It is
the same as Psalm 14, but does not speak of Jehovah, but of
God, for the remnant are no longer in the place of covenant
relation. Hence here it is not God is in the generation of
the righteous, but the utter ruin of those encamped against
them-the public judgment of the external enemies. ose
who are in great fear are the ungodly Jews. (See Isaiah
33:14, 8:12 and 10:24.) In Psalm 14 they despised the
poor who trusted in Jehovah. ere they were outwardly
together. is is not so now. God has put His enemies to
shame-not the proud ungodly the poor of the ock. e
desire of the full salvation of Israel out of Zion as a center,
not merely God’s deliverance by judgment from enemies
without, is then expressed. e power which comes from
heaven and destroys the faithless oppressor, is a distinct
thing from the establishment of the result of covenant
power in Zion according to promise.
Psalm 54
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Psalm 54
e cry to God to deliver
Psalm 54 is the cry to God to deliver according to
the value of His name, the subject of trust. e double
character of the enemies is spoken of-strangers, enemies
from without; and oppressors, the proud within, who hunt
for the life of the poor. When deliverance comes, then
the name of Jehovah is introduced (vss. 6-7). e name of
God is the revelation of what He is. is is what is trusted.
Jehovah’s name, that of their covenant God, will be praised
when they get back into the place of association with
Him.<P141>
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Psalm 55
Wickedness in Jerusalem
Psalm 55 is a distressing picture of wickedness in
Jerusalem. e speaker is outside, but has experienced
this wickedness in the treachery of his dearest friends.
His resource is in God: Jehovah will save. He is looking
back, I judge, at all that he had experienced in Jerusalem.
Wickedness went about her walls. Wickedness, deceit, and
guile were in her midst, nor departed from her streets. He
would fain have ed from it all. e enemy was without,
the wicked within; but they charged the godly with
wickedness, and utterly hated them; but worst of all was
the heartless treachery of those within, those with whom
the godly had gone in company to the house of God. Still
his trust was in God, for where else should he seek help?
Psalm 56
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Psalm 56
e Word of God a sure trusting-place
Psalm 56 expresses the sense of the bitter and relentless
enmity of the wicked, but the tears of the godly are put in
God’s bottle. God is owned as the Most High, the title of
promise but not of covenant (that of covenant is Jehovah);
and here the remnant are cast out. But the Word of God
is a sure trusting-place. It carries the truth of God as its
basis to the soul, and contains all the expression of His
goodness, and ways, and faithfulness, and interest also in
His people. Hence there is no fear of man. e soul of the
godly was delivered from death; he had escaped and ed,
and now he looks to God that his feet may be kept, that
he may walk before God in the light of the living. As the
expression of the tried heart driven out, but so escaped, it
has a most clear and distinct place.
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Psalm 57
Condence in God; full and heavenly deliverance
looked for
Psalm 57 looks more at the evil and the feet being kept,
leaning on the Word. is psalm while crying to God in
the same spirit and circumstances and under the same title,
is more the <P142>expression of condence in God as a
refuge. His wings are a covert till the evil be overpast, and
full deliverance is looked for by His gloriously putting an
end to the trial. God will send from heaven and deliver.
Hence the end of the psalm is more triumphant than that
of Psalm 56. He will praise among the peoples and various
tribes of the earth, for God’s mercy and truth are great.
God’s publicly exalting Himself above heaven and over all
the earth is looked for. No help was on earth, none to be
looked for; but this cast more entirely on God, and thus
brought out a fuller condence in His safeguard, and in
the nal display of power in deliverance. So it ever is. God
would send from heaven. How this directs the remnant
upwards, and links them with a heavenly deliverance. en
Jehovah is praised.
Psalm 58
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Psalm 58
Judgment the only and promised deliverance for the
remnant
All righteousness was silent in Israel. e wicked were
such and nought else. e godly man looks for judgment
on them, for, let favor be shown to them, they will not
learn uprightness. In the land of uprightness will they
deal unjustly (Isa. 26:9-10). ey cannot, says David of
the same, be taken with hand; one must be fenced with
iron to touch them (2Sam. 23). Hence the godly looked
for judgment-the only possible means, by God’s own
testimony, of removing the evil; for patience had been
fully exercised towards them, but when even God’s hand
was lifted up they would not see. And the vengeance of
deliverance would come, and men would say, Verily there
is a reward for the righteous; doubtless there is a God that
judges in the earth. (See Isaiah 26:9.) is is the meaning
of these terrible judgments: they establish the government
and righteous judgment of God in the earth. Grace has
taken us out of the world; we are not of it, as Christ was not
of it. Christ will, as to our deliverance, even from suering,
come and take us out of the evil, so that we have in no way
need to seek the destruction of our enemies. But for the
persecuted remnant, it is the only and promised deliverance;
and not only that-it establishes God’s government of the
earth.<P143>
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Psalm 59
External enemies; the might of human power judged
Psalm 59 gives more the external enemies. e same
wickedness is found there, but the might of human power
with it. But they also must be judged, that wickedness
may be set aside. Nor was it the sin of Israel against
them that brought the heathen on them (however God
might chasten them for sin against Him, so that He was
justied). e suering remnant look therefore for the
intervention of Jehovah to judge them. And Jehovah shall
judge all the heathen. ey are not destroyed, but scattered,
yet practically, as power, consumed; and many, as we know,
slain.
is psalm speaks of no restoration of blessing. It is
judgment, and judgment going on and not yet nished.
And this judgment of the proud and wicked enemies will
go on. ough rising up in rage to a head of wickedness,
they will be sore smitten and consumed. All the heathen
are concerned in it, but I apprehend that it is especially
the apostate power animated of Satan-partially the king
of Daniel 8 perhaps. It will be remarked here that, the
moment it is in contrast with the heathen, the name of
Jehovah is introduced. e personal address is still under
the name of God, for the people are still outside. (See
verses 3, 5 and 8 for Jehovah, and verses 1, 9-10 and 17 for
the personal address.) Note, the result is, that God rules
in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Verses 14-15 are, I
apprehend, a challenge. Let the heathen be as hungry dogs
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about the city, the believer will sing of Jehovah’s power. It
is at the close of the tribulation.
e connection between Israel and Messiah shown
by David
is psalm presents another phase of the connection
of Israel and Messiah, and shows how David became the
tted instrument whom God had attuned to tell Messiah’s
and the remnant’s suerings. “Slay them not, lest my people
forget.”1 Now, this is not the language of the king, as such,
but of Jehovah. e only case where “my people” is used is
2Samuel 22:44, or Psalm 18:43, where<P144> Christ is
the speaker. But when Christ is born, He is called Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Now Jesus was
the personal verifying of that which was said of Jehovah.
In all their aictions He was aicted, as in Isaiah 63. It
is Jehovah who gets the tongue of the learned (Isa. 50). So
that “my people,” where not directly of Jehovah which is
frequent, is Christ entering into the sorrows of Israel, but
in the love of Jehovah to them-no doubt as man (or how
could He have actually suered?) but still in the sympathies
of Jehovah-yet, and because He is Jehovah, perfectly
entering into them. It is thus He wept over Jerusalem,
saying, “How often would I have gathered thy children
together!” But that was Jehovah. Hence, though He can
say “we,” because He graciously takes a place among the
children, yet, in saying “we,” it brings in all His own value
and excellency into the cry. “I” and “me” may often take
up the case of an individual of the remnant; but in case of
such an expression as “my people,” we clearly get One who
stands in another position-not merely David. He says (like
Moses) to Jehovah, “thy people” ever, and that is all right,
but One who, in whatever sorrow, could say, as Jehovah,
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when spoken of by the Spirit, “my people,” and enter into
their griefs with divine sympathy, and a righteous call for
divine judgment. I apprehend that, though the enemies are
the heathen, yet their complete intimacy and anity with
the wicked among the Jewish people is clearly intimated
here. e same thing is found in Isaiah 66. ey are all
melted into one system and state of wickedness.
(1. If the title be right, David was not yet king de facto,
and the Spirit of Christ in him spoke anticipatively of the
title of the anointed one; but evidently in view of another
epoch. Note too here all Israel is in view of the desires
of faith, though no deliverance even of the Jews be yet
accomplished.)
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Psalm 60
e remnant’s acceptance of punishment; their hope
In Psalm 60 the remnant acknowledge God’s having
cast them o. eir only hope is, that He will turn to them
again. is is exactly the point of Israel’s righteousness as a
nation: no going for help elsewhere-no spirit of rebellion.
ey accept the punishment of their iniquity. Still God
had put His ensign among the faithful in Israel. He was
their Jehovah-nissi. ey now look to Him. e end of the
psalm is God asserting His title to the land of promise.
Victory will be to Israel through Him.<P145>
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72794
Psalm 61
e cry of depression but a known God trusted
e main point of all these psalms is trust in God when
all is against the godly One. e more all circumstances
are adverse, the more God is trusted in; but Christ shines
through all as taking the dependent godly one’s place. Many
of the psalms of this book were, it is very likely, composed
when David was driven out through Absalom.
is condence in God which calls Him to hear is
expressed in Psalm 61. It is not an appeal of the godly man
against enemies, but the sinking of his heart as cast out; but,
when at the end of the earth and his spirit overwhelmed,
he cries to God and looks for a rock higher than himself
from this ood. us his condence was restored. It was
a known God whom he thus trusted, whatever his then
sorrows. In verse 5 he applies it to present certainty of
having been heard. e vows he had sent up God-ward
had reached His ear above; full blessings would rest upon
him, and in those blessings he would perform them. Verse
6, doubtless, as to the occasion of it, was David, but it looks,
I apprehend, clearly to a greater than he, and the abiding
life into which He entered as man; and though the godly
remnant be thus driven out and their spirit overwhelmed
within them, yet the fact that the King had been so would
be a cheer and a security to their hearts: His song would
become theirs, His having sung it a relief to them when
they might have sunk in despondency. ough the being
driven out is the occasion and is felt, the psalm does not
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refer to wickedness, but to nature, the human heart being
overwhelmed.
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Psalm 62
e condence and encouragement of trust
In Psalm 62 condence is more expressed. It is not
looking from an overwhelmed heart, but a free looking up,
so that one is not overwhelmed. His soul waits on God, has
none else indeed, but does not desire any other. ere is a
“How long?” as well as a waiting. God will certainly come
in at the right time, and then it will be known to whom
power belongs. e psalm is spoken <P146>individually
and may be in the mouth of anyone of the godly remnant.
How long would they imagine mischief against a man?
What was their object? Why have him thus in hatred, and
by falsehood seek to root him out of his place-the place of
God’s blessing, in which He had placed the godly in Israel?
But this, I doubt not, has special application to Christ as
the One who was indeed in this place, and against whom
all their malice was directed to cast Him down from His
excellency. He invites also the people (Jewish) to trust in
God, to pour out their hearts before Him, and, putting
Himself with them in this place, says, Not only my refuge
is in God, but He is a refuge for us. In saying “mine” He
shows that He had it; but these maskilim shall instruct the
many and turn to righteousness many of them.1 Above
all did that truly understanding One do so. ey were not
to trust in the great and violent ones of the earth. Power
belongs to God, and with Him is mercy. ey may trust in
Him as a God of righteousness, and walk uprightly and
not be turned aside by the prosperity of the wicked; for
Adonai will reward every man according to his works. It is
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the desire to cast down the poor of the ock (because the
wicked after all have the consciousness that the excellency
of God is with them, and specially with Christ), which
draws out this psalm, which expresses the faith of the saint
and the warning to the people to trust God and not the
mighty. ey are exalted in the earth; but true elevation
from God is with Christ, and those who thus walk, who
fear God and obey the voice of His servant.
(1. Compare Daniel 12:3 and Isaiah 53:11. Not “justify
many,” but turn to righteousness, and bear, etc.)
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72796
Psalm 63
Desire after God Himself; praise even in the
wilderness
If Psalm 61 has been the cry of depression, Psalm 62
the condence and encouragement of trust in God, Psalm
63 is the longing of the soul, still as cast out and far from
the sanctuary (so we can speak of heaven, for we have seen
the power and glory there by faith); but having, by faith
in the loving-kindness itself, praise as its portion even in
the wilderness, marrow and fatness to feed upon. It is a
beautiful psalm in this respect; for it knows God;<P147>
praise is thus begotten in the soul and for all times. ere are
two points: rst, a most sweet word-because God’s loving-
kindness is better than life, his lips praise God, though
life in the wilderness be sorrow; secondly, because He has
been his help, therefore he will rejoice in His protection.
Verse 8 describes the practical result-his soul followed hard
after God, and God’s right hand upheld him. ere was
the longing to see the power and the glory as he had seen
it; the present satisfying of the soul as with marrow and
fatness, and that in the silent watches of the night, when all
outward excitement was hushed and the soul left to itself.
ose that sought the soul of the righteous to destroy it
should go down into hades, but the king shall rejoice in
God. ose that own His name should glory, but the false
ones who departed from Him should be put to shame. It
is again the king, and applies to Christ in a higher sense
than to the remnant. For Him it was the desire to see the
glory from which He was descended; for the Jew it was in
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the temple; for us, a Christ who has been revealed by faith
to us, who have seen the glory and sanctuary into which
He is entered.
ere is a dierence between Psalm 84 and this psalm-
that is the desire to revisit the sanctuary of God; this, desire
after God Himself. ere the tabernacles of Jehovah, a
covenant God, are amiable; here God Himself is a delight
when there are no tabernacles to go to.1
(1. For Christ and for the new man, the world is a desert,
without anything in it to refresh the soul. But divine favor
being better than life, we can praise while we live; our soul
is satised as with marrow and fatness. e saint is not in
the sanctuary, but has seen God in it. His desire is after
God Himself. Christ could literally say this. “He hath seen
the Father”: we have seen Him in Him.)
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Psalm 64
God’s sudden judgment of the wicked and its result
Psalm 64 chiey speaks of the unceasing crafty hatred
of the enemy and cries to God: God will shoot at them
suddenly. e result of this judgment will be that all shall
fear and declare the work of God, for they shall wisely
consider of His doing. en (for judgment is now come) the
righteous shall be glad in Jehovah, for His covenant name
is now taken, the judgment having removed the<P148>
power of evil. e upright in heart glory. us judgment
introduces the millennium.
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Psalm 65
Condence in what the Blesser of the earth will do
In Psalms 65-67 we have the bright side, the bright and
joyful condence of the saint who is conscious of being
heard, and who, though not yet in the blessing, counts upon
it; whereas up to this it has been the sense of the power of
evil, or the cry to God and waiting upon Him. Still in Psalm
65 the door of praise is not yet opened. Praise is silent in
Zion; still it surely would not be silent, the vow now made
would be performed. ere God was the hearer of prayer
if praise was yet silent, and all esh would come to Him.
But condence is very bright here. As to the actual state
of the people and the remnant (indeed, the remnant alone
enter into their case) iniquities prevailed against them.
Still condence is unshaken, God would purge them away.
Blessed the man that Elohim chose (for all was grace) and
made to dwell in His courts. ey would be satised with
the goodness of His house. e thing was sure and gave
satisfying joy. In verse 5 we have the judgment in favor of
the remnant by which the blessing would be introduced-
terrible things in righteousness. God is the blesser of the
earth in every place. e end of the psalm is the celebration
of the earth’s blessings, when God comes in in judgment
in favor of His people. At the door of Zion, as yet eating
the fruit of their sins outside, the plea of the remnant is,
that as yet praise was silent in Zion, but it was ready; God
had only to bring in the judgment and deliverance, and it
would wake up; and Elohim would do this, He who was
the one blesser and orderer of the whole earth.
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Psalm 66
e celebration of God’s intervention in righteousness
Psalm 66 celebrates this intervention in righteousness.
Men are called to see God’s works, but (vs. 6) it is the very
same God who once delivered Israel before out of Egypt.
Verse 8 calls upon the nations brought into connection
with God, to bless the God of<P149> the remnant, that
is, of Israel. ey had been brought through every kind
of sorrow and oppression, to prove and try them as silver,
but now they would go before Him and praise Him. ey
had cried, been righteous, were heard, and found mercy;
their prayer was not turned away, nor God’s mercy from
them. us after the sorrows (seen clearly now as the
way and hand of God with them), to the righteous there
is arisen up light in the darkness. ey can pay the vows
uttered in their distress, and tell to others the blessed and
sure deliverance of the Lord who cares for the righteous,
and has indeed heard their cry. But it is a deliverance by
terrible acts of righteousness on God’s part, the display of
His intervention in judgment in the government of this
world. We see, as indeed in so many other psalms, how it
is in the Jewish remnant, though not a sparrow falls to the
ground without Him, that God displays His government
of this world; as it is in them, which is the subject of the
next psalm, that the blessing of the world takes place.
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Psalm 67
e repentant Jew the way of blessing for the world
Psalm 67 closes this short series by looking for the
blessing of the remnant, not only as the righteous and
merciful answer to their cry, but as the way of spreading the
knowledge of God’s ways to all nations. “God be merciful
unto us, that thy way may be known upon earth.” us all
the peoples will praise God, and the earth be judged and
governed righteously. e earth will yield her increase,
God’s blessing will be upon it, and He will, as the own
God of the godly remnant that have trusted in Him, bless
them. e result is summed up in the last verse-“God shall
bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.” For
the repentant Jew is the way of blessing, life from the dead
for the world.
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72801
Psalm 68
God at the head of His people in majesty
Psalm 68 follows on these psalms, being the celebration
of the introduction of Israel into the position spoken of
in them. Still it<P150> has a complete and individual
character of its own. It begins with the formula employed
when the camp broke up in the wilderness under the
guidance of God, the pillar rising up and going before
them. So it is now. God takes this place at the head of His
people. It is thus introduced suddenly with great majesty.
Let God arise-so His enemies are scattered before Him:
as wax before the re, the wicked perish at His presence.
e righteous may be glad and rejoice before God, yea,
exceedingly rejoice. He shall appear to the shame of the
mighty wicked, and the righteous poor will be gloried.
us the purport of this psalm is most clear. But the
character of Him who thus interferes is further most
beautifully unfolded. He is a father of the fatherless, a judge
of widows. He makes the solitary to dwell in families, the
rebellious in a dry land. Judgment is the true and gracious
deliverance of the blessed God. And now His people can
celebrate this goodness.
History is then recapitulated (vs. 7). Such was He when
He brought forth Israel from Egypt. At Sinai the earth
shook at His presence. But He refreshed the heritage of
His weary people, when He had prepared of His goodness
for the poor. But now present facts told that tale still more
to their hearts. Adonai’s word went forth. e glad tidings
were chanted by Israel’s daughters in a great company
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(vs. 11). Kings ed apace. What a sudden and complete
deliverance it was! e quietest home-stayer divided the
spoil, for it was the Lord’s doing. en Israel came out in
all her beauty, though they had been lying in poverty and
wretchedness.1 In all the pretensions and striving of the
nations, this is God’s will. God challenges these pretensions
of human power: “Why leap ye, ye high hills?”-the seats
of human power. Zion was God’s hill, He would make
it His perpetual abode. For the sake of His remnant He
scattered the kings. In the midst of them He would dwell.
But whence all this deliverance? e Lord had ascended
on high, received gifts as man and for men; yea, even for
rebellious Israel, who was now in question, that Jehovah
might dwell among them.<P151>
(1. e force of the word is much disputed; its sense,
I suppose, is evident. It is used for the stables of sheep or
cattle.)
Praise for the full restoration of Israel’s blessing and
glory; its Source
is brings out praise to the God of their salvation; for
their God was the God of salvation. Oh! how could Christ
witness that? But they were still mortal men down here.
e deliverance was earthly and temporal, though of saints.
But He would be their guide always, even unto death. But
He would destroy the wicked. What was really the occasion
of all this burst of joy (of which the heart was too full to
tell quietly the occasion) is now however drawn out; yet the
exultation still casts its light and joy over it.
Israel was set up again in power; her enemies destroyed;
the beauty of her temple-order restored. e tribes would
come up, the kings bring presents. God had commanded
strength, and they look to His strengthening what is
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wrought. e subjection of every enemy or mighty one
follows. Princes would come out of Egypt, and Ethiopia
stretch out her hands to God. e kingdoms of the earth are
all called upon then to sing praises to Adonai. Strength is
to be ascribed to God; but His excellency, that in which He
is exalted, is over Israel, and, in the clouds of His dwelling-
place in power, His strength watches over His people. It is
the full restoration of Israel’s blessing and glory, and indeed
much more than restoration; and this consequent upon the
exaltation of the Lord to receive gifts as man.
e Lordship of Christ
But, while it is the intervention of God in the power
of judgment, for the blessing of the remnant and putting
down human power and every haughtiness of man’s will-
“God’s arising” before His earthly people and His enemies
eeing-there are some points in it, which are brought
out by this, which it is well to notice. First, the use of
Adonai. His name Jah is introduced (vss. 4,18), but it is
always Adonai is spoken of. It is not the covenant name
of relationship, though Jah recall it, but power in exercise,
Lordship-divine Lordship-but still Lordship. It is what
omas owned when he saw the Lord, it would seem; not,
Tell My brethren, “I ascend unto my Father and your Father,”
etc. It is God; but as the Lord manifested here in power
as Psalm 2:4; only there He is not redescended. Hence
here we have His ascension as a past fact. It is not that
God gives, but He who is Adonai has gone<P152> up and
received gifts as, and in respect of, man. In His Adam (last
Adam) character He has received them, having led the
enemy captive (Acts 2:33-36); here clearly the ascended
man, though much more, and as head having received the
gifts באדם (“in Man”)-the human head of glory-He shed
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267
forth the gifts (Acts 2; Eph. 4). But though as, and for, and
in, man, yet there was also a special object added, yea, even
for the rebellious, that Jah Elohim might dwell among
them. Here the remnant, the Israel of our psalm, comes in.
Hence the Apostle does not quote it, but stops halfway at
His receiving them for man.
In the following psalms we nd the humiliation of this
blessed One. What a contrast! Yet how far indeed from
being less glorious or of feebler interest in the eyes of us
who have learned and know who He is.
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Psalm 69
e godly in deepest distress
e state of soul of which this most important psalm is
the expression demands the utmost attention and patient
inquiry. We have all along seen the remnant of Israel before
us, or Christ associated with that remnant. It is the case
here. He who speaks is doubtless, rst of all, David; but
evidently a greater than he. e state described is this: He
is in the deepest distress, sinking in deep mire, has to weigh
before God the foolishness and sins which have been the
occasion of it. He is in the midst of numerous and mighty
enemies, who are such without a cause. Whatever sins may
be dealt with, personally He has been faithful. e zeal
even of God’s house has eaten Him up, and He is suering
reproach for the God of Israel’s sake. Hence He prays
that this may not be a stumbling block to others, seeing
that One so faithful to God should nd such distress and
trouble. Yet He is not forsaken of God. On the contrary
His prayer is to Jehovah in an acceptable time. He looks to
be heard in the multitude of God’s mercies and the truth
of His salvation. His complaint is of His enemies; yet He
sees Himself smitten of God, and among those whom He
has wounded. His desire is for vengeance against men; it is
not the testimony of grace.
If we look at the godly man in the remnant of Israel,
all this <P153>answers perfectly. He acknowledges his
sins-all the sins of his nation. Yet he suers reproach and
causeless enmity for the name of the God of Israel: and
the more faithful he is, the more he suers it. Faith yet
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makes him know that he prays in an acceptable time (we
have seen this to be the character of the last psalms) to the
God of Israel. Yet he is in the deepest distress. His eyes fail
while waiting for God. His care for the good of Israel, his
submission to injury, only makes him their scorn. He looks
for the destruction of his adversaries and persecutors, for
whom no mercy is of avail (they will it not); assured that
Jehovah hears the poor and despises not His prisoners. All
creation is to praise Him, for God will save Zion and build
the cities of Judah, that they may dwell therein and have it
in possession. e seed also of His servants shall inherit it;
and they that love His name shall dwell therein. All this is
exactly and precisely the position and feeling of the godly
remnant-the maskilim.
Christ’s personal suerings as a Man from men
But in verse 21, and indeed, though of more general
application, in verse 9, we have what has been literally
fullled in Christ. e use of verse 22 in the Epistle to
the Romans leads us to the same conclusion; and many
other verses, though applicable to others, have their fullest
application to Christ. Yet He is not speaking as forsaken of
God at all. Yet, though His life is referred to, His suerings
on the cross, as we have seen, are reached in the description
given of them; yet there is no trace of grace and mercy
owing from them. ey are man’s part in them, not God’s
forsaking; and judgment on man sought, not righteous
grace announced. Yet withal trespasses are confessed
before God, and the persecutions are of One whom God
has smitten. Hence, I cannot but see in this psalm, after
His righteous life, in consequence of which He suered
reproach (and which He rehearses as regards the great
principles which had governed it), Christ entering in heart
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and spirit into the sorrow and distress of Israel, into which,
as to God’s government, they had brought themselves; yet
not the forsaking or the rejecting-that was Christ’s alone
as bearing and expiating sin. Still, they are smitten of God
and wounded by Him; and into this Christ could enter,
because He (in the highest and fullest sense, though it be
not the general subject of this psalm in <P154>general) was
smitten of God. e subject is the persecution by the Jews,
but the persecuted One was smitten of God, and felt how
terrible was the wickedness that taunted and reproached
Him who had taken that bitter cup, which we too had lled
by our sins. Christ was smitten of God upon the cross, and
felt the reproach and dishonor then cast upon Him.
As regards the trespasses recalled to mind in verse 5,1
I apprehend they are in connection with the government
of God as to Israel; and that, though the fact of smiting is
referred to, its expiatory power is not at all treated of in this
psalm. Only judgment is sought for; that is not the fruit
of expiation. (Compare Psalm 22.) But it gives to us, for
that very reason, a fuller apprehension of all the personal
suerings of Christ at that time; not that which stands
wholly and entirely alone-His atoning and expiatory work.
Were this only revealed, it is so immensely great, it would
have eclipsed His personal suerings as a man, as such,
gone through at that time; and this it is, blessed be God,
which we have in this psalm-what accompanied the great
act of the smiting of God.
(1. Further, as already remarked, in no case is the
assumption of sins or their confession, on the head of the
victim, the act of expiation. It is the assumption of that
which had to be expiated.)
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271
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Psalm 70
e Spirit’s desire in connection with Christ’s
suerings from man
Psalm 70 embodies the desire of the Spirit of Christ in
connection with His suerings from man (but expresses
itself, as in the remnant in that day) that His enemies may
be confounded-those that say, Aha, aha, as they did when
He was on the cross; that those that seek Jehovah may
rejoice, and be glad and rejoice, and those who look for His
deliverance say, Let God be magnied- that is, enjoy that
deliverance. For this, He, as on earth, is content to be poor
and needy, and nothing else, to the end. Still He trusts in
Jehovah; He is His help and deliverer. He is assured He
will come. He asks He may not tarry. Any saint of the
remnant could say it doubtless; but it is a summing up of
the principle on which the Spirit of Christ speaks in them,
and of His personal <P155>association with their sorrows,
and thus in principle furnishes a key. It will be remarked
that from Psalm 69:13 the covenant name of Jehovah is
introduced.
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72804
Psalm 71
God’s ways with Israel; appeal to His faithful care
Psalm 71, founded, I suppose, as much of this book,
upon the ight of David on the rebellion of Absalom,
presents, I apprehend, the sum of all God’s ways with Israel
from the commencement of their history, and the display
of His faithful care, with the appeal not now to leave them
at the last. Christ, I doubt not, in spirit enters into it (see
verse 11) as in every case, but it cannot personally apply to
Him. e close of His life witnessed exactly similar trials,
only faultless and deeper ones; but its application is to the
old age of Israel, who will be brought up as from the depths
of the earth through the faithful grace of the Holy One of
Israel.
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273
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Psalm 72
e reign of peace and royal blessing; its Source and
Securer
Psalm 72 introduces us, not to David in suering and
conict, but to the full reign of peace and royal blessing. It
is the Son of David we have here, the source and securer
of millennial blessings. I know not that this psalm requires
much explanation by reason of its clearness. It is the king
to whom God gives His judgments, and who is at the
same time the king’s Son, the Son of David, in His reign
of righteousness and peace, as Solomon or Melchisedec.
His kingdom has the full extent of promise, but all kings
fall down before Him. Blessings of every kind accompany
this reign of righteousness. e expression, “Prayer shall be
made for him continually,” shows simply, that the blessings
enjoyed through Him raise the desire and request for His
glory and continuance in power. While literally spoken
of Solomon, I think it would point out Christ reigning as
a true man upon earth. Verse 17 shows, I think, it is not
uncertainty of duration, but the eects of His rule on the
hearts of all that are under it. ere will<P156> be a prince
of the house of David in Jerusalem, I suppose: still this, I
think, looks beyond him.
e contents of Book 2
is closes the book. We have seen in it the godly ones
cast out; their distress and condence in this position; this
ending in the certainty and condence of restoration; and
then Messiah’s deliverance and exaltation and previous
humiliation-the glorious and yet humbled person being
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thus brought out-and then the human royal rule established
in Israel. is ends the dealings with the remnant in the
land, looked at as apart from the rest.
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Psalms - Book 3
e contents of Book 3 (Psalms 73-89)
In the third book we get out into a larger sphere than
the state of the residue of the Jews in the last days, whether
in Jerusalem or driven out; and hence we nd much less of
the personal circumstances and feelings and associations of
the Lord, who, in His day, walked among them. e general
interests of Israel are in view, and thus Israel’s history is
entered into. e whole national position is before us, still
distinguishing a true-hearted residue. Remark here that,
save one, we have no psalms of David in this book. Asaph,
sons of Korah, Ethan, are the professed authors; I know
of no reason to reject the alleged authorship. It is still the
state of Israel in the last days: only that the general facts
are spoken of in reference to the whole nation, not the
particular details of the Jewish remnant, and of Christ as
taking a place among them. It is much more Israel and
general principles; there is more reference to their past
history and God’s dealings with them.
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Psalm 73
Perplexity at the prosperity of the wicked; the solution
of the problem
is the rst psalm of it shows. Truly God is good
to Israel, to such as are of a true heart: but the saint was
perplexed at the prosperity of the wicked, and his feet almost
gone. e prosperous ungodly are then described; the body
of the people join them, and<P157> the Most High is
scorned; whereas the godly is continually chastened, he
had cleansed his hands then in vain. But in speaking thus
he would oend against the generation of God’s children.
Man pondering on it, it was too painful. In the sanctuary
of God, where His mind was revealed, all became plain.
As a dream when one awakes, so all their pretensions
would disappear when once God awoke. e godly man
complains of his want of divine sense in these thoughts and
feelings. Still after all he was ever before God, and God’s
right hand upheld him; guided by His counsel in that time
of darkness, when the glory shall have been revealed, he
will be received. (Read, “After the glory, thou wilt receive
me.” Compare Zechariah 2:8.) e result is blessed. He
has none in heaven but the Lord, none on earth whom
he desires beside Him: such is the eect of trial. But his
esh and heart fail: that is nature. It must be so, but God
is the strength of his heart and his portion forever. e last
two verses declare the result- those far from Jehovah, and
apostates, perish; but it is good for the godly to draw near
to God. He has put his trust in Him when He did not
show Himself, that he might declare all His works when
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deliverance came; for those blessed without trial afterwards
will not learn this knowledge of God.
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Psalm 74
e desolation of the sanctuary; God’s faithfulness
Psalm 74 complains of the hostile desolation of the
sanctuary, when rebuilt in the land. God’s enemies, as
faith here calls them, roar in the congregations. Man’s
ensigns, not God’s, are the signs of power. All public
Jewish worship was laid low. Not only this- what might
have been a comfort in such a time fails. ere are no signs
from God to meet it, no prophets, none that know how
long (know, that is, by the teaching of God, when He will
come in in power). Still there is here faith that God will
not forsake His people, and that word, How long? if there
be no answer as to it, turns into a cry. It cannot be forever.
God’s faithfulness is trusted in. Heretofore He had smitten
Egypt and delivered His people through a divided sea. All
power in creation was His. e enemy had reproached the
name of Jehovah. Israel is still held to be, in the remnant, as
God’s turtledove. He is entreated to have respect<P158> to
the covenant, for the dark places of the earth (or land) are
full of the habitations of cruelty. e oppressed, the poor,
the needy, are, as ever, presented to the eye and heart of
God. We have them ever come before us as those of whom
God thinks, in whom Christ delighted in the land. And
so it is even as to the spirit we have to be of. He calls on
God to arise and plead His own cause. e tumult of those
who rose up against Him daily increased. While looked
at as the poor and oppressed, it is remarkable how faith
identies the interests of the godly remnant and of God,
and pleads their cause with Him. It is spoken of as from
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without. God is addressed: only God is reminded that His
name in Israel has been blasphemed. is name recalls (vss.
19-20) the covenant relationship with, and tender love of
Jehovah towards, His people.
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72809
Psalm 75
Praise for wondrous works already wrought
In Psalm 75 Messiah is introduced speaking, though
the psalm commences with the remnant giving thanks to
God for wondrous works already wrought. en judgments
of God introduce Messiah to the kingdom. He receives
the congregation of Israel; then upright judgment will be
executed. e earth is dissolved in guilt and confusion.
Messiah upholds its pillars. In the following verses He
warns the wicked and despisers of God not to exalt
themselves, for God is the Judge; He puts up and puts
down. e wicked should drink the cup of judgment to the
dregs; but the despised Messiah would exalt the God of
Jacob and cut o the horns of the wicked; the horn of the
righteous would be exalted.
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Psalm 76
e unexpected judgment of kings by the unlooked-
for Judge
Psalm 76 is extremely simple in its application to the
judgment of the kings, who come up against Jerusalem in
their pride, and nd, unlooked for, the Lord Himself there.
(Compare Micah 4:11-13 and Zechariah 12:2 and 14:3-
4.) e judgment of God is rehearsed, and God is now
celebrated as having His dwelling-place in Zion. He is the
God of Jacob and known in Judah: His<P159> judgment
was heard from heaven. e long-despised Zion is more
glorious than the mountains of prey, the high places of
human violence. e earth feared, and was still, when God
arose to judgment, and to help all the meek upon the earth.
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Psalm 77
Spiritual deliverance and restored condence
In Psalm 77 we have spiritual deliverance and restored
condence. He cried with his voice to God, and God gave
ear to him. To cry with the voice is more than to have a
wish. A cry is the expression of weakness, dependence,
recourse had to God, the reference of the soul to God,
even of uprightness of heart. In the day of trouble, it was
not merely complaint, irritation, anger; but, “I sought the
Lord,” Adonai, not Jehovah. His rst thought was whether
the Lord would cast o forever (vss. 7-9); for here he, as
often remarked in the Psalms, is going through the process
which led to the statements of the rst verses.1 In verse 10 he
judges himself in the thought, and remembered those years
in which the power of Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel,
the Most High of the fathers, was displayed. (Compare the
remark, verse 5.) e way of God is always and necessarily
according to His own most blessed and holy nature, and
understood in the secret place in which He makes known
His thoughts to those in communion with Him. His way
is according to that place, in which He judges His people
according to His present relationship with them. (Hence
the place of the interpreter, one among a thousand.) e
ways of God are the application of the divine principles of
His holy nature, owned as placing Himself in relationship
with His people, according to which principles that
relationship must be maintained. at is His sanctuary.
ere is where He is approached. ence He deals with
His people, not merely in outward guidance, but as making
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good in His majesty the principles of His nature (so far as
revealed) in the hidden man of the heart.2 He deals in the
holy place of His nature and majesty with us in the truth of
our state- our<P160> real, moral, inward state. He does not
deviate from these ways, nor compromise the majesty they
make good. But they (though according to His nature)
are carried out in a revealed relationship. ey make good
His nature and majesty in it, but never infringe it. Man in
relationship with Him must suit himself to it, must walk
in his inward state with Him in it; but God, if He deals
according to it, puries him for it, shows the evil, hides
pride from man in order to bless him, but makes good His
own majesty. Hence the heart in the evil turns back to that
which formed the relationship in redemption (vss. 14-18).
(1. is, if noticed, makes many psalms easy to
understand, which would otherwise be dicult; because
sorrow and distress follow after the condence, but it is
really what the spirit passed through in reaching it.)
(2. is supposes, of course, truth in the inward parts,
conversion.)
God’s ways-in the sanctuary and in the sea
Israel or the godly remnant is not in the enjoyment here
of covenant blessings, but, when distressed, looks back by
faith to a time which recalls the power of Him who cannot
change. e comfort of the soul is, that God’s way is in
the sanctuary, according to the nature and ways of God
Himself, so far as He is revealed. If I look out to judge as
man, His way is in the sea-I cannot trace it; His footsteps
are not known, for who can follow out Him who disposes
of all things with a thought? We do know God’s own nature
and character in relation to us by faith, and can reckon on
it, as to all He does, as faithful and unchangeable; but we
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cannot know and judge His ways in themselves. Hence the
unbeliever is discontented and will blame God; the believer
is happy, because he has the key to all, in what the God is
whom he knows, and on whose ordering of all things he
can count. It must be according to what God is. He does
not order all things contrary to what He is; but He is for
us and therefore orders all things for us-makes all things
work together for good. He leads His people like sheep.
In Psalm 73 the tried one learned the end of his outward
enemies, who prospered while he was chastened. Here he
learns the ways of God with himself.
But this psalm is practically both interesting and
instructive. e soul away from the enjoyment of divine
blessing, is awakened by grace to cry to God, the sense
of the loss of these blessings pressing upon it. He seeks
the Lord, and this presses the trouble, as it ever does, on
him; he feels where he is, his soul refused comfort; but
the thought of God is a source of trouble, for if faith is
awakened, conscience is too, which mingled with the
loss of <P161>blessing, and the spirit overwhelmed; his
soul is kept in wakeful consciousness of where he is. He
thinks of bright days of old when the “candle of the Lord
shone upon” him. Had God given him up, forgotten to be
gracious and shut up His loving-kindness in displeasure?
Can he think that God has given him up, and he one of
His people? is brought God Himself into his mind. How
could it be all over with him? It was his own inrmity; and
he turns back to the years of the right hand of the Most
High. He remembers Jehovah’s works. In reaching Jehovah
with his own humbled spirit, he reached One who was
for His people ever and who had wrought for them and
redeemed them of old. He, their God, became the source
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of his thoughts, not his own state towards Him. en His
being their God made it so dreadful. en he can think
and judge rightly of His ways too. ey are in the sea not
to be tracked by man’s foot, but in the sanctuary always
according to His nature and character, and accomplishing
His purposes in good.
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72812
Psalm 78
Israel’s conduct; God’s sovereign mercy and grace
In Psalm 78 the conduct of Israel is discussed by
wisdom, historically as regards the whole people, but with
very important principles brought out. ere was not
only a redemption of old, to which faith recurred, but a
testimony given, and a law to guide Israel’s ways, that they
should make them known to their children. But the fathers
had been a stubborn and rebellious generation. Now, the
law and the testimony were given that the children might
not be like their fathers; but they were, and their history is
here brought out. God, therefore, chastened them; there
was direct open government in respect of their ways. For all
this they sinned still. At the moment of chastisement they
turned to Him. Nevertheless they did but atter Him with
their mouth, their heart was not right with Him, nor they
steadfast in His covenant. But He showed compassion,
also forgave, remembered they were but esh. Yet after
Egyptian signs they forgat Him; brought into the land,
they turned to idolatry. When God heard this, He was
wroth and greatly abhorred Israel. On the ground of this
government, under law and testimony and compassionate
mercy, Israel was wholly given up, the tabernacle forsaken,
the<P162> ark delivered into captivity and the enemies’
hand. e people also were delivered over to judgment. But
Jehovah’s love to His people in grace was not weakened,
and the sorrow they were brought into called out that love.
He awoke, as one out of sleep, and smote His enemies, and
put them to a perpetual shame. But now He had interfered
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in grace in His own proper love to His people. It was not
governmental blessing on condition of obedience, but
the interference of grace, when disobedience had, on the
principle of government, brought in complete judgment, in
spite of compassion and mercy. Sovereign mercy now had
its place. Old blessings had put Joseph as natural heir; he
had the rich and double portion. God chose Judah. He chose
Zion. is gave it its importance. It is the place of love in
grace, when all had failed under law, even with the fullest
compassionate patience. He built His sanctuary. at is
not directly presented as the subject of electing goodness,
but He chose David when in the humblest condition, who
then fed His people.
In this most beautiful psalm we have the most
important principles possible. Viewing Israel as established
on the ground of government in Sinai, on law mixed with
compassion, Israel had entirely failed, was abhorred, cast
o. A total breach had been made; the ark of the covenant,
the link between Israel and God, the place of propitiation,
and His throne, given up to the enemy. But God, whose
sovereign love to His people had come in in power to
deliver, had chosen Judah, Zion, David, and set up a link
in grace, and by deliverance after failure. Faith can go back
to God’s works in redemption, but not to man’s conduct
under law. Psalm 78 is the converse of Psalm 77. Yet in
Israel all this is declared to produce that which grace will
eect in the last day- that value for the law in the heart
which will make them teach it to their children. (Compare
Genesis 18:17-19; see Exodus 34.) Mercy put Israel again
under the condition of obedience. Here power delivers,
after they have failed even under this, and judgment is
come, God acting according to His mind of love. Pure law
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they never were under in fact; the tables never came into
the camp. (Compare 2Corinthians 3.) Moses’ face shone
only when he had seen God, when he went up the second
time accepted in grace; but for Israel, this was putting them
back under law. It is grace, and law brought in after it,
which is death and condemnation. is is impossible with
substitution; but this place, of<P163> course, Moses could
not take. “Peradventure I shall make an atonement for your
souls.” “Blot me out, I pray you.” No, was the answer; the
soul that sins, it will I blot out. is was law and (as we see
here, and as is denitely stated in 2Corinthians 3) ruin.
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Psalm 79
e inroad of the heathen; Israel’s standing outside
blessing
Psalm 79 refers, in the plainest terms, to the inroad of
the heathen, especially the northern army (Joel 2 refers to
a second attack, in which the cry of the psalm is answered;
Isaiah speaks of both), who had laid waste Jerusalem and
the temple, and shed the blood of the servants of Jehovah.
ere is the owning of former sins, and mercy looked to-
tender mercies. e plea is the plea called for in Joel 2, and
referred to in previous psalms (Psa. 42-43), “Why should
the heathen say, Where is their God?” and it demands
that He may be known by the avenging the blood of His
servants. us His people and the sheep of His pasture
would give Him thanks forever. Jehovah’s anger is seen,
and so far there is faith to say, How long? at is, though
covenant mercies are not enjoyed by the remnant (yea, quite
the contrary), yet faith looks to them, and sees Jehovah
angry with His people; hence if such, and He thus in
relationship with them, He cannot give them up. It is only,
“How long?” Yet the direct cry is to God, even here, not
Jehovah. Israel is not restored to his covenant place. ere
he will be in known covenant relationship, and then in
grace, nor will this ever be lost sight of. Here they were not,
but cast out on their failure under a conditional covenant,
and though faith in promises sustained them, the new
covenant was not entered into; they stood outside blessing,
looking backward and forward, having nothing now. is
is never the Christian’s state. In applying it to himself he
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makes himself a Jew. For while Christ is hidden on high
as to them, the Holy Spirit is come down to us while He
is there, and we know that He is accepted and gloried as
having stood for us, and that we are in Him.<P164>
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291
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Psalm 80
Israel’s national historic circumstances
In Psalm 80 it is remarkable how we are upon the ground
of Israel here, their past or future historical associations,
not Christ (though all depends on Him, of course) or the
godly Jew in the midst of the apostate assembly. We may
have Jerusalem taken, confederacies, ancient deliverances of
Israel, in a word, national history or prophecy concerning
national circumstances; but all is external, not trials within
so that Christ should come personally on the scene, save
when He receives the congregation, though the godly in
Israel are distinguished. Jehovah also is not referred to, save
prospectively, when they enter into the new covenant, until
the judgment of the last confederacy, which makes Jehovah
known as Most High over all the earth. ese psalms do
not, I apprehend, exclude the Jews-they are part of Israel;
and then in Judah, Jehovah will be revealed: only all Israel,
including Joseph, is historically brought in-the nation. In
this psalm God is addressed as the Shepherd of Israel, who
leads Joseph like a ock, and dwells between the cherubim.
is is, again, historic Israel. It is not God calling from
heaven, nor coming. He is seen by faith only when He is
there, having taken His place in Israel.
e urgency of faith; power laid upon the Son of Man
e psalm is a remarkable one. It sees God in Israel-
His throne of right there, and looks to His shining forth,
stirring up His strength to help them; but still, as in Israel
of old in the desert, Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh
were immediately next the ark behind the tabernacle, and
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the sanctuary went immediately before them on the march
of the camp (Num. 10). is was Jehovah, God of hosts.
Faith looks for His presence in power with His people as it
was then. e touching inquiry is, How long-the urgency of
faith-wilt ou be angry against the prayer of y people?
is is also viewed in faith. e vine brought out of Egypt
was laid waste; its hedge (as, indeed, Isaiah had threatened
them) was broken down. Tears were the drink of Jehovah’s
people. ey beseech God to look down from heaven and
visit the vine, the vineyard, and the branch made strong for
God Himself-David’s family, I suppose. Still it was God’s
rebuke;<P165> but further, it looks that the divine hand
of power should be upon the man of that power-the Son
of Man whom God had made strong for Himself. We can
understand from this, and not merely from Daniel 7 (which
merely gives a peculiar place to the Son of Man), why the
Lord gives Himself habitually the title of Son of Man. He
is the One, then, indeed rejected, but upon whom God’s
right hand is to be in power. To this the Lord refers Luke
22:69 (only reading “henceforth” for “hereafter”). Come
down in grace, His mission there was closed; from that
out they would only know Him in exalted judicial power.
It gives large importance to the name, and taking in Psalm
8 brings the deliverance of the remnant of Israel into the
wide scope of His power; for as Son of Man He takes
manhood up in His own Person according to the counsels
of God, only is over all the works of God’s hand. He is
Lord of all, but as such, and in virtue of His own work for
them, eectuates this deliverance of the remnant of Israel.
us the people of Jehovah would be kept. Such is the cry
of this psalm-the coming in of power from Jehovah, the
God of Israel-power laid upon the Son of Man. e cry
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is occasioned by the great distress in Israel; still Jehovah
is looked for, and faith sets Him in Israel. When He thus
visited them, they would not go back from Him; when He
quickens them out of the dust, they will call on His name.
(Compare Psalm 2, Messiah.)
e humiliation and exaltation of the Son of Man
Verses 3,7,19 give the theme of desire: still outward
deliverance is looked for. Verse 17 demands special attention
in the point of view already noticed, as showing what was
in the Lord’s mind when presenting the immense anomaly
that this Son of Man should suer. Psalm 8, of course, gives
the key, in the purposes of God, as to both humiliation
and exaltation, and man’s place. It was this humiliation the
Lord pressed upon His disciples. Now they look for the
display of divine power in Him. e assembly, and its union
with Christ, and adoption individually known, are the only
things I am aware of not revealed in the Old Testament; all
as to Christ was. Perhaps we may add His present position
as priest. Neither of these is mentioned in the titles given
to Christ in the rst chapter of John’s Gospel, nor His
being the Christ.<P166>
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Psalm 81
e restoration of all Israel; God’s love and
unconditional grace
Psalm 81, while celebrating in gure the restoration
of Israel, again returns to historical ground, specially
introducing Joseph, who represents the ten tribes. (See
Ezekiel 37:16.) Otherwise Judah, the Jews, might have
claimed everything. But in the restoration (although there
are special events connected with the Jews, and it was
among them that Jesus was conversant, entering especially
into their circumstances in the latter day, producing the
association, so profoundly interesting, which we have been
studying in the rst two books) yet it is evident that in the
full purposes of God the stick of Joseph must have its place
and become one in the Son of Man’s hand, and as all Israel.
Now the new moon was the symbol of the reappearance of
Israel in the sun’s light, hailed with joy by the people and
connected with redemption in the thought of faith. (See
verse 5 of the psalm.) en Israel called in trouble, and God
delivered him; but then another important principle comes
in. God answered them when in trouble; but He proved
them also. ey tempted God then, doubting His care
and power. He was putting them to the test by diculties,
which seemed to say there was want of care or power; and
they said, Is Jehovah among us! But Jehovah answered in
grace (Ex. 17). is, I apprehend, is the case referred to.
But even in the second Meribah- called so because Israel
strove again with Jehovah, when Moses (Num. 20) spake
unadvisedly with his lips and was shut out from Canaan
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(for, from Sinai on, they were under legal though gracious
government)-Jehovah was sanctied in giving them water
in a grace which was above even Moses’ failure. Still, while
grace and faithfulness to His promises to His people were
found in the government of God (Ex. 34:6-7), they were
put to the test legally on the very terms of that mercy. It
was a testing government though a merciful one, and so
indeed in some sense is the divine government. God puts
this test to them-if faithful to God, no strange god among
them (He was Jehovah their God, which brought them out
of the land of Egypt), blessing was prepared. ey had only
to open their mouth wide, and He would ll it. But Israel
would not hearken, and they were given up to their own
hearts’ lusts.
Still<P167> we see God’s yearning love over them and
the delight He would have had in blessing them and putting
aside all their enemies. His righteous government would
have been manifested in them. (Compare Matthew 23:37
and Luke 19:42.) Oh that they had hearkened! us we get
the ground of Israel’s ruin. ey were placed as redeemed
from Egypt under the test of obedience and delity to God.
ey had failed. Still they would appear again, to reect the
light of Jehovah’s countenance. is love of Jehovah for the
people breaks out even in their failure.
A very important principle for every soul is brought
before us here. Redemption, with conditional blessing after
it, only ends in the loss of the blessing, just as creation did.
It is the same thing or worse. It depends on us to secure the
blessing; and now as fallen beings (instead of innocent and
free ones), grace alone can keep us, and so it will be with
Israel. e gracious and tender character and thoughts of
God towards His people come out most beautifully in this
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psalm. e passages I have referred to in the Gospels show
the same tenderness, but, further that Jesus is this very
Jehovah.
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Psalm 82
God assuming government into His own hands
We nd God assuming the government into His own
hands. He had set up authority in the earth and especially
in Israel. Directed by His Word in judgment and armed
with His authority, the judges in Israel had borne the name
of God (Elohim). But none would understand or deal
righteously. All the foundations of the earth were out of
course. All magistrates had received power and authority of
God-the Jewish, His Word also; but even these would not
know or understand. ey were men, and would die like
men, and fall like one of the uncircumcised princes of this
world. God who had given the authority judged among
the gods. He must have righteousness. is judgment the
Spirit of prophecy then calls for in the understanding one.
“Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all
nations.”<P168>
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Psalm 83
e last confederacy of the nations; judgment to be
executed that Jehovah’s name be known
Psalm 83 requires only to call attention to its subject. It
is the last confederacy of the nations surrounding Canaan,
with Assur helping them. At the close of the psalm, though
the cry be to God as such (for Israel is not yet established
in covenant blessing), Jehovah’s name is brought in.
Judgment is to be executed, that the rebellious nations may
seek Jehovah’s name. It is not, Know the Father, nor, Know
there is a God; but, Know Jehovah. When His judgments
are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn
righteousness. Men will know that He whose name alone
is Jehovah (He who is, and was, and is to come) is the Most
High over all the earth; that is, Jehovah (the one true God),
the God of Israel, is the One above all, the One supreme
over the earth. It is in this name He takes possession of
the earth, as Melchisedec pronounces the blessing in the
name of the Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.
And Nebuchadnezzar, the humbled head of the Gentiles,
praises and blesses the Most High. It is His millennial
name in which He takes to Him His great power and
reigns, and the true Melchisedec is priest upon His throne,
and the counsel of peace between both. is establishes
prophetically Jehovah, the God of Israel, supreme in the
earth. His people, now restored to relationship, look for
a full blessing and the name of Jehovah is again used. Up
to this, save as looking back or looking forward, the cry of
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the people is addressed to God, the people not being in
possession of covenant blessings.
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Psalm 84
Jehovah’s courts and the way there
Psalm 84 contemplates the blessedness of going up to
the courts of Jehovah, yet, in the gurative allusion to the
road thither, refers to the path of tears which His people
have had to tread towards their blessings. us it has a full
moral force, and is instructive for Christians as for Jews.
In Psalm 63 the people cast out were longing for God
Himself, and found, in spite of all, even in the dry and
thirsty land, marrow and fatness in Him. In this<P169>
psalm it is the joys of His house that occupy their soul, as
entering into the enjoyment of covenant blessings. Not but
that the living God is longed for; but it is in His courts.
“Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be still
praising thee.” Brought in there, such is the blessing. ey
will have nought to do but praise. is is the rst great
theme of blessing. It is blessing, perfect and complete in its
nature. It is at the end.
But there is the way. “Blessed is he whose strength is in
Jehovah”-in whose heart are the known ways that lead to
the house. is characterizes the state of soul-their strength
in Jehovah- their heart in the ways that lead to Him. is
path of blessing is through trial; for hence is the need of
strength. And the way is loved and taken, whatever it may
be, that leads to Him. ey pass through the vale of tears-it
becomes a well to them; for by these things men live, and
in all these things is the life of the spirit. Besides, from
on high the rain lls the pools in that thirsty land. ey
use their strength, no doubt. It is put to the test; but they
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renew it-go from strength to strength, till all appear before
God in Zion. ey are a praying people. Dependence is
exercised in condence in grace.
Jehovah’s Anointed, now the link between Him and
His people
e covenant name here is again introduced-Jehovah
of hosts-God of Jacob. He is His people’s shield: they seek
that He should look upon His anointed. is was now the
link between Jehovah and His people, not the law they had
broken. ey appear before God in Zion. But that is the
place of royal deliverance in grace. Nor can the interests of
the people and the anointed be now separated. e blessing
rested on Him, and on them because of Him. e heart’s
interest in the kind of blessing is then sweetly and strongly
expressed, and the sum of what Jehovah is, which makes
it such, is declared from the heart. He is light, protection,
gives grace and glory, and withholds no good thing from
them who walk uprightly. e thought of what Jehovah is
makes him resume all in one conscious word. “O, Jehovah
of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in thee.”<P170>
e way opened to Zion; royal deliverance in grace
It is a most beautiful returning celebration of Jehovah
their covenant God with their heart, when the way, though
through sorrow, is now opened to them into His known
presence. Psalm 63 was joy in God in the desert, when they
had nothing else-the real character of one enhancing the
depth and sweetness of the blessing of the other. is is
joy in Him when brought, or going up, to the enjoyment
of Him in the midst of what surrounds His presence. e
following psalm takes up the blessing of the land and
delivered people. In those that follow after we shall nd
Christ Himself, as far as connected with the people, still
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with a view to the covenant relation subsisting between
Jehovah and His people.
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Psalm 85
e need of Jehovah’s blessing; restoring work
I have long hesitated, in reading Psalm 85, whether
the rst part referred to external deliverance and the grace
shown in it, and the following to the causing the people to
enter into the enjoyment of it by the restoration of their own
souls; or, as we have seen is often the case, the statement of
the great result as the theme of the psalm, and then going
through the sorrows of the remnant and divine workings
which led to this result. ere will be a restoring work in
the souls of the people after their outward deliverance. Nor
do I now speak of this psalm with very great certainty on
this point. On the whole, I am disposed to think that they
look for their enjoyment of divine favor in it, as between
themselves and God, when delivered from all their enemies,
and shown to be forgiven by that deliverance. us the rst
three verses lay this ground, that God has been favorable to
His land, and brought back the captivity of Jacob. is was
the great public truth. But in verse 4 the restored people
have need of other blessing in the reality of their own
relationship with God. “Turn us, O God of our salvation.”
Jehovah was the God of their salvation; but they needed
His blessing in the midst of the land. ey would that His
people should rejoice in Him. How true this is often of the
soul which knows forgiveness! It looks for Jehovah’s mercy
and salvation, being thus restored to Him, and listens to
know what Elohim Jehovah will speak; for they<P171>
reckon on mercy. He will speak peace to His people-their
public character-and to His saints-the remnant who are
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to enjoy it. Faith has then the certainty in every way that
His salvation is nigh them that fear Him, that the glory of
Jehovah may dwell in the land.
Mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, the divine
principles of establishment of blessing
e last verses celebrate, in remarkable terms, the divine
principles on which their blessings are then established.
God’s mercy and truth had now met. His promises, always
true, had now been fullled by mercy. It is to be remarked
that in the Psalms mercy always precedes righteousness
and truth. For Israel had forfeited all title to promise in
rejecting the Lord-had come under full guilt-had no
righteousness on which to lean-had been concluded in
unbelief, that they also might be objects of mere mercy.
But then through Christ’s work these promises would now
be fullled, and mercy and truth met. But more than this.
Jehovah was their righteousness, through grace; and hence
that righteousness was peace for them; and that which in
judgment would have been their ruin, was in grace their
peace-righteousness and peace kissed each other. I need
hardly say how true these great principles are for any sinner
for yet better and heavenly blessings; here they are applied
to earthly ones. Truth shall spring out of the earth (that is,
the full fruit and eect of God’s truth and faithfulness shall
be manifest in blessings, full blessings, on the earth). But it
was not by a righteousness that man had wrought legally
here below. Righteousness looked down from heaven. It
was God’s righteousness, Jehovah their righteousness.
But this made it stable. Jehovah gives that which is good,
and the land is blessed. Righteousness traces the path of
blessing for Jehovah and Himself in the land-His own
no doubt. Still His rule shall be so characterized. “A king
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shall reign in righteousness”-no more oppression. Justice
is no longer fallen in the streets, as Isaiah 59:14 speaks;
judgment is returned to it, and the government has this
character. “And the fruit of righteousness shall be peace,
and the eect of righteousness quietness and assurance
forever.” is last, indeed, is practical; but it is the result
of righteousness having looked down from heaven, yea, of
its<P172> being established on the earth. (Compare Psalm
72:1-7, where this state is described.)
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Psalm 86
e pious appeal of the returned remnant in the land
is psalm is the meek yet conding and condent
appeal of a soul conscious of its godly feelings towards
Jehovah and looking to the results of relationship with Him.
We have had Jehovah since Psalm 84, which is founded
on these covenant relationships in which the remnant feel
themselves to be, though awaiting full blessing in the land.
Still it is yet in distress, for the people are not revived nor
set in their covenant blessings in the land. Holy (vs. 2) is
pious or gracious (chased, not kodesh). e three requests
of the psalm are, “Bow down thine ear and hear me” (vs.
1). e gracious attention of Jehovah is called for to give
ear to the prayer of the suppliant; then to attend to the
voice of his supplication (vs. 6); that is, he looks for his
request being granted; thirdly, to be taught in the way of
truth (vs. 11). Jehovah’s mercies in the terrible conict of
the remnant are then owned; but he who thus cried, still
looked for His interference in his behalf, that they that
hate him may be ashamed, because Jehovah has helped and
comforted him. How the state of the remnant, like Job,
brings out the great conict between the power of Satan
and divine deliverance, but in which, however low he may
be brought, the godly soul owns the source of all to be
Jehovah, though his feet may well nigh slip in seeing the
prosperity of the ungodly! It is not a psalm of complaint
nor bitterness of soul, but of one who is yet poor and needy,
but has tasted the comfort of Jehovah’s goodness.
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307
It is to be remarked that, save the cases noticed, Lord
is Adonai, not Jehovah. is is not the same as Jehovah,
that is, the covenant name of God with Israel in eternal
faithfulness-here Adonai, one who has taken power and is
in the relationship of Lordship to those who call. Hence
in fact we own Christ to be in this place-“our Lord Jesus
Christ”; and so it will be for Jews, though, till they see Him,
they will not own Him fully thus. is Adonai is Elohim.
Death and human power were before the thoughts of the
godly, but the comfort of a known Jehovah as a support.
ey had found deliverance, but it was not complete
in<P173> blessing. e psalm is essentially the pious
appeal to Jehovah of the returned remnant of Israel in the
land; but in the main its spirit is that into which Christ
fully entered, but it is not directly applicable to Him.
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Psalm 87
Zion as founded of God
Psalm 87 views Zion as founded of God, a city which
has foundations. Men had cities, and boasted of them; but
God had a city He founded in the holy mountains. Even
here it was not Joseph or the richness of nature; God was its
riches, its place the holy mountains, what was consecrated
to Himself. In the power of the Spirit the godly is not
ashamed of it (glorious things are spoken of it), nay, not
in presence of all the earth’s seats of boasting. Egypt and
Babylon in vain vaunted themselves; Philistia, Tyre, and
Ethiopia, who had all had their day. e godly could talk
of them without fear of comparison. It was accounted the
birthplace of the man of God; the birthplace of the beloved
ones of Jehovah. e Highest established her. When
Jehovah made the registry of the people, He reckoned this
man as born there. Joy and the celebration of His praise
was found there, and all the fresh springs of Jehovah. I have
little doubt that “this man” refers to Christ. Zion boasts of
her heroes. e word translated “man” (vs. 5), refers to great
men, not the poor and miserable. ey are the children of
the once desolate. (Compare Isaiah 49:21-22.)
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309
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Psalm 88
God’s just wrath as to a broken law
Psalm 88 puts the remnant under the deep and dreadful
sense of a broken law, and God’s erce wrath, which, in
justice, comes upon those who have done so. It is not now
outward sorrows or oppression of enemies, but that which
is far, far deeper between the soul and God. And though
the judgments of God have brought him into lowliness
(and so it ever is morally with the soul when thus visited
of God, for what can man then do, if he would help?),
yet this was only a part of the trouble, viewing it as a full
expression<P174> of God’s wrath; but death and wrath are
the true burden of the psalm-God’s terrors on the soul.
Nor is there, as a present thing, any comfort, or a prospect
of deliverance as from human oppression, however dark for
faith. e psalm closes in distress; its dealings are wholly
with God; and so God must be known, till grace is known.
Israel under law must come under a sense of divine wrath
for a broken law; it is right it should. But remark further, it
is still a God with whom they are in relationship. ey have
been delivered, brought back into the land, nearer to God,
and hence into the sense of what their deserved position is
in respect of this relationship. is is much to be observed,
and observed for ourselves too; for a God of salvation may
be really known in a general way, and truly, without the
conscience being searched out, and divine wrath known
in, and removed from, the conscience. “O Jehovah, God of
my salvation!” is the address of this psalm. is gives it its
weight and true character, and makes it much more terrible.
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e full blessing of liberty in grace may not be known, but
the relationship with the God of salvation-He Himself-
the consciousness of having to say to Him is suciently
known to make the privation of His favor and the sense of
His wrath dreadful beyond all-the one dreadful thing.
With the Jews, under the law, circumstances and
government may more enter into this case, because their
relationship with Jehovah is connected with them. Still
Jehovah’s erce wrath is the great and terrible burden; and
this terror of the Almighty, or more accurately, of Jehovah,
drinking up the spirit, is the subject of this psalm-the
sense the remnant will have of wrath, under a broken law,
in that day. Sorrow had visited them before. ey had been
aicted and ready to die from youth; for such indeed had
been their portion as cast o but now restored, and so far
brought into connection with Jehovah, the God of their
salvation, they must feel the depths of their moral position
between Himself and them alone-the wrath of Jehovah
that was due to them. e real recovery, the righteous
bringing into blessing, could not be without this. Not that,
indeed, the wrath would abide on them. Hence there is
faith, hope, though no comfort, in the psalm; for it is when
mercy has been shown and known, that this distress comes
on them; when they have entered on the relationship by
that mercy that its value, as has been said, may be felt; just
like Job, already blest, and then made to know himself-
what man was, as be<P175>tween him and Jehovah when
the question of acceptance, of righteousness, was raised.
e wrath will not abide upon them because the true cup
of it has been drunk by Christ; but they must enter into
the understanding of it, as under law, for they had been
under law, and pretended to righteousness under it-at least,
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311
that question was not solved for them. How truly Christ
entered into this in the closing epoch of His life, I need not
say. It is the great fact of His history.
It is to be remarked that, even as to the direct subject of
the psalm, the terrors have not been always on the suerer.
Aicted and ready to die he had been;1 such had been his
life; but now he felt his soul cast o, and lover and friend
even, whom he previously had had, put far from him by the
hand of God. So, indeed, it was with Christ. His disciples
could not then continue with Him in His temptations. He
bore witness to them, that till then they had; but now, sifted
as wheat, desertion or denial was the part of the best of
them. Such was our Saviour’s portion: only that, unspared
and then undelivered, He indeed drank the cup which
shall make the remnant escape the death they are fearing.
It may press upon them as a lesson to know righteousness
and deliverance, but the cup of wrath they will not drink.
ey are heard and set free on the earth. is psalm then is
wrath under law; the next, mercy and favor in Christ, but
as yet resting in promise. Actual deliverance is in the next
book, by the full bringing in of Jehovah-Messiah for the
world, and Israel’s sabbath.
(1. Some, as Venema, translate, “Because of my casting
away or down,” instead of, “From my youth.” Rosenmüller
gives both. Compare Psalm 129.)
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Psalm 89
e subject of the third book: the restored people in
the land, but attacked, destroyed and the temple ruined
We have seen that Psalm 88 puts Israel in the presence
of Jehovah (when guilty of having been unfaithful to Him),
under the judgment of Jehovah, with the sense of wrath, yet
in faith in Jehovah Himself-a place Christ most especially
took, though of course for others, in particular for Israel,
but not for that nation only. Psalm 89 takes the other side of
Jehovah’s relationship with Israel; not the nation’s, Israel’s,
which was under law, but Jeho<P176>vah’s promises
to David. It is not, remark here, guilt which is brought
forward-surely in both cases it was the ground of the state
spoken of-but wrath, instead of salvation. For Jehovah had
been Israel’s Saviour, and so faith viewed Him still; yet
instead of the fulllment of promise, as made to David,
there was desertion of him. ere is no trace of confession
of sin. Psalm 88 is complaint of death and wrath; and this
(Psa. 89), when mercy was to be built up forever, shows
the covenant made void and the crown profaned. Isaiah
(ch. 40-58) pleads against Israel to convict them of guilt:
rst, against Jehovah, by having idols; secondly, by rejecting
Christ (ch. 40-48 and ch. 49-58). But here the plaint is
Israel’s against Jehovah Himself, not unholily, I apprehend,
as blame, but as an appeal to Himself on the ground of
what He had been for Israel. Jehovah is establishing these
relationships here, as indeed we have seen. Israel is Israel,
and in the land (Psa. 85). e heathen are there-all is not
restored; the last confederacy is in view, but it is against
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313
Israel. God is standing in the congregation of the mighty,
judging among the gods (Psa. 82). Jehovah has been
Himself recalling His former mercies (Psa. 81:10-16). e
ark is remembered, and God as the dweller between the
cherubim, as once in the wilderness (Psa. 80). In a word,
the whole book is the condition of a restored people in
the land, but attacked, destroyed; the temple which exists
again ruined and broken down (Psa. 74-76; 79). Not a mere
Jewish remnant complaining of anti-Christian wickedness
within, with which they were associated externally, or
which had cast them out; but Israel the nation (represented
by the remnant) with enemies who destroy what is dear to
them, with encouraging prophecies of the result, having
instruction as to sovereign grace in David when they had
failed in their own faithfulness as a nation (Psa. 78-79),
which looks to God (Elohim) as such in contrast with
man-to the Most High, but returns to Jehovah (as His
own out of Egypt) with prayer, and demand that His hand
might be on the Son of Man, the branch1 made so strong
for Himself (Psa. 80). e whole book, in a word, is Israel
taking the ground of being a people, and actually in the
land, and with a temple, entering into the relationship
by faith, but subject to the destructive inroads of hostile
powers-the Assyrian and allies, to whom indeed, because of
success, the people return.<P177> (Psalm 73:10; for Isaiah
10:5-23 is not yet fullled. Compare Isaiah 18, particularly
verses 5-7.)
(1. Compare the connection and remarkable contrast
with John 15.)
Now these two last psalms of the book present the whole
pressure of this state of things on the spirit of the faithful.
Instead of a blessed people, it is loneliness under wrath.
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Yet Jehovah is the God of their salvation. e throne cast
down and profaned, though immutable promises in mercy,
not to be set aside by faults, had been given to David. e
result is in the next book, in the manifestation of Jehovah,
the bringing in the Only-begotten into the world. In all
this book we are on prophetic ground with Israel; not
the special condition in which the Jewish remnant will
be with Antichrist, because they rejected Christ-their
sorrows therefore coming much more fully out when that
condition is treated of. is, we have seen, is in the rst
and second books. Hence, in the following books we get
to the recognition of Jehovah having been their dwelling-
place in all generations. It is their history which ends by
the appearing of Jehovah-Messiah in glory.
Details of Psalm 89: the sure mercies of David;
Jehovah’s faithfulness
A few words now on Psalm 89 in detail. Its subject is
the mercies of Jehovah (His graciousness towards Israel,
chasdee) and their unchangeableness-the sure mercies.
ere was faith to say, Forever, for it was grace. is gave the
appeal, elsewhere noticed. How long should it be otherwise,
and even apparently forever? Jehovah was faithful. For he
had said in faith, Mercy, manifested goodness, shall be
built up forever, and faithfulness was established where
nothing could reach it. And so it will be, Satan being cast
down. It is the very description of the millennium. He then
recites the covenant originally made with David, which is
the expression of mercy, and that to which Jehovah was to
be faithful, the sure mercies of David. He turns then, and
continues his praises of Jehovah (vss. 5-18), recalling the
ancient deliverance from Egypt, and looking to the praise
necessarily owing from what He was, and the blessedness
Psalm 89
315
of the people that know the joyful sound. In His name
they would rejoice all the day, in His (for we are in grace
here) righteousness be exalted. He was the glory of their
strength; and in His favor their horn will be exalted.
Such was the blessedness of association with Jehovah
in favor.<P178> But this blessing was in the faithful mercy
to David. And where was this (vs. 18)? Jehovah, the kodesh
of Israel, is their king. But, then, He had spoken of, not
a kodesh, but a chesed, in whom all the chasdee (the same
word in the plural as chesed), all the mercies, were to be
concentrated, and to whom the unchangeable faithfulness
was to be shown-the sure mercies of David. Read “of thy
holy One” (chesed) in verse 19. Here he returns to the
covenant made with David, showing it never to be altered
(vss. 34-37). But all was dierent. But there was faith,
founded on this promise, to say, How long, Jehovah? If He
hides forever, and His wrath burns like re, what is man to
abide it, and not go down into death (vs. 48)?
e former loving-kindness to David is appealed to, as
in the person of David himself, but, I doubt not from verse
50, applicable to all the faithful. Still the Spirit of Christ
falls in here, as He did with the wrath, to take the whole
reality of the burden. He of course in that day will suer
nothing. But He has anticipated that day of suering, that
His Spirit might speak as with His voice in His people; for
the reproach of the mighty ones and apostates in that day
will reproach the footsteps of God’s anointed. And if the
faithful walk in them, they will share the reproach from the
enemies of Jehovah. Such is their then position-walking
in His footsteps, looking for Israelitish covenant blessings,
feeling wrath, yet in faith, but looking to God’s promise
in mercy to David (which was already pure grace, for the
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ark of the covenant was gone, and Israel Ichabod), and yet
waiting for the answer. is is in the following book. We
are here, as I have said, in prophetic times, in Isaiah’s scenes
with the Assyrian and a devastated temple. e wicked are
there: people ock with them in prosperity. If we are in
Daniel, it is chapter 8, not 7. e beast and the Antichrist
are not on the scene, but the land, guilty Israel, promises-
not the question of a rejected Christ. is psalm closes the
third book.
Psalms - Book 4
317
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Psalms - Book 4
e contents and connection of the rst four books of
the Psalms
e fourth book is not so markedly separated from
the third, as the preceding three from one another; and
specially the third from<P179> the rst two, because
the third, while prophetically announcing the blessing,
describes a state of things which leaves the expectation of
divine interference to bring in the blessing in full play. e
rst had given the great principles of the position of the
Jewish remnant in connection with the history of Christ; in
the second, they are viewed as outside Jerusalem; the third
turns to the condition of Israel as a nation restored to their
land, but not yet in the full blessing of Jehovah; the fourth,
as I have said, completes this by the coming of Messiah.
is connects the nation and Christ, as well as the nation
and Jehovah. us the book is introduced with the nation’s
connection with Jehovah, looking to His returning and
nally blessing them, that His beauty may be upon them.
e second psalm of the book shows Christ’s connection
with the nation as man in this world; the third psalm (Psa.
92) gives, in prophetic celebration, the great result, into the
whole establishment of which the Psalms 93-100 enter;
then some deeply-interesting details as to Christ (Psa.
101-102), while the general result, as displaying Jehovah’s
ways, is treated in the praises of Psalms 103-104 as to Israel
and the earth; Jehovah’s dealings from the beginning, and
Israel’s ways, on the contrary, with Him, in Psalms 105-
106, which close the book.
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Psalm 90
e nation’s faith in Jehovah; desire for His return in
deliverance and blessing
e rst psalm (Psa. 90) of the book places the people-
that is, the godly believing part of it-on the ground of
faith in Jehovah, and expresses the desire of deliverance
and blessing from His hand. First, the godly Israelite owns
Jehovah to have been the dwelling-place of Israel for all
generations, their shelter and their home; next, He was
the everlasting God before the world was, and turned and
returned man in a moment, as seemed to Him good: time
was no time to Him. Now Israel was consumed by His
anger. But this was not all. ough His power was absolute,
its use was not arbitrary. It was true and holy moral
government; and unfeigned confession is made, not merely
of open faults, but of that holy government of God which
sets secret sins in the light of His countenance (for so,
blessed be God, He does). eir days were<P180> passed
in this wrath. ey look that the pride of their heart may
be so broken, their feeble mortality remembered, that the
self-suciency, so natural to our heart, might be done away
with, and that heart applied to wisdom-the fear of God.
is putting of man in his place and God in His, connected
with faith, as Israel’s in Jehovah, is full of instruction as to
the moral position suited for the remnant in that day-in
its principle ever true. us Jehovah is looked to to return
for deliverance, with the word of faith, “How long?” and,
as regards His servants, that His work might appear, as the
aiction came from Him; and that the beauty of Jehovah
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319
their God might be upon them, and their work established
by Him. It is the true faith of relationship, but of relationship
with the supreme God in His holy government upon earth.
But, if so, Jehovah is the God of Israel.
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Psalm 91
Messiah with Israel in the place of trust; the channel
for full blessing on earth
We have now (Psa. 91) another most important principle
introduced; Messiah’s taking His place with Israel, the
place of trust in Jehovah, so as to aord the channel for the
full blessing of the people. ree names of Elohim (God)
come before us in this psalm: one that by which He was in
relationship with Abraham, the Almighty; another which
Abraham through the testimony of Melchisedec may have
known prophetically, the millennial title of Elohim when
He takes His full title over the earth (compare Genesis
14:18-20), the Most High. Both, as all the names of God,
have their proper meaning: one complete power; the other
absolute supremacy. e question then arises, Who is the
God who has this place? Who is this supreme God over
all to the earth? Who shall nd His secret place to dwell
in? He who has found this shall be completely protected
by almighty power. Messiah (Jesus) says, I will take the
God of Israel as that place, Jehovah. In verses 3-8 we have
the answer. Doubtless it is true of every godly Israelite,
and they are in view, but led by the Spirit of Jesus, the one
perfect faithful One who took this place indeed.
In verse 9 I apprehend Israel speaks (that is, the Spirit
personifying Israel addressing Messiah): “Because thou
hast taken <P181>Jehovah, which is my refuge, . . . as thy
habitation,” almighty power shall guard thee. is continues
to verse 13. In verse 14 Jehovah himself speaks of Him as
the One who has set His love upon Him. e form of the
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321
psalm is striking. e Spirit of God proposes the problem.
He who nds the secret place of the supreme God (of the
millennium) will have all the full blessing of Abraham’s
God, the Almighty. Messiah says I take Jehovah the God
of Israel. en the answer; so it was and He (vss. 3-8) would
enjoy the fruit of it. In verse 9 Israel speaks and declares by
the Spirit He would have the blessings. In verse 14 Jehovah
sets His seal on all this, and the solver of the great riddle
of God will nd the full blessing of Jehovah, on whom He
had set His love, whose name He had known-even Jehovah
the God of Israel. It is a very interesting psalm in this way.
But we have to remark that all is viewed on earth, the
character of God in all respects. How Christ, as a present
thing, relinquished the title to deliverance owing from
this, for perfect obedience, trusting His Father absolutely,
belongs to deeper views of the purposes of God and of
the path of the blessed One Himself. Satan would have
just used this to take Him out of the path of obedience,
and into that of distrust and His own will: blessed be God,
in vain, as we know. e sure mercies of David were to
be in an obedient and risen One-this point is treated in a
psalm of unexampled beauty farther on-and thus deeper
blessings and higher glories brought out. But He who went
in that perfect path of submission, has not the less made
good all the fruit of all that is here, for those who shall walk
after Him in the place of this trust in Jehovah upon earth.
is principle we see indeed, in various forms, all through
the Psalms. Indeed the atonement of Christ was needed,
which implied His resigning personally this blessing, in
order that others might walk in that path in which He
could personally walk, of course, without it. Psalm 21 gives
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a divine revelation as to the way in which the promise of
life was fullled to the Lord.
Psalm 92
323
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Psalm 92
e celebration of God’s answer to faith in His power
Psalm 92 takes up these names of God, Jehovah and
Most High; only it is no longer a secret place, known
only to delity and faith.<P182> Almighty power secured
blessing and answers faith; verses 7-8 explain how. What
is celebrated is not the disciplinary exercise of faith, but
the answer to it, showing that Jehovah (vs. 15) is upright,
and that there is no unrighteousness in Him. Psalms 90-
92 go together as an introduction to the great theme that
follows, Jehovah reigns. Already power had been displayed;
and the full result in the judgment of all enemies and
abiding blessing is looked for now, not merely as hope,
but as founded on the manifested intervention of God.
It is spoken in the place which Messiah had taken in the
previous psalm, identied there in spirit with Israel in
the latter days, Israel restored by divine power, but not
yet in the full peaceful enjoyment of divine blessing, just
as we have seen in Book 3. Messiah takes therefore the
lead in praises, and looks to His horn being exalted with
honor. (Compare Psalm 75:9.) But Jehovah’s thoughts are
deeper. He sees far, even the end from the beginning, and
accomplishes all His purposes and His Word. is is what
faith has to remember.
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Psalm 93
Jehovah reigns; the summary of the whole history of
God and man in government
Psalm 93 states the grand and blessed results. Jehovah
reigns. Ever indeed was His throne established, but the
oods had lifted up their voice. e waves of ungodly men
had risen up high. Jehovah on high was mightier. Two
other great principles complete this short but remarkable
summary of the whole history of God and man in
government. Jehovah’s testimonies are very sure. Faith
could count upon them, come what would; but, further,
another great truth came out as to the character of God.
ere could be no peace to the wicked. Holiness became
His house. But I apprehend this last phrase describes the
comely holiness of God’s house for the now lasting period
for which the earth was established.<P183>
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Psalm 94
e cry of the remnant to Jehovah as the God of
vengeance
We have now the details of the coming in of the Only-
begotten into the world to establish the glory and divine
order in the world, introduced by the cry of the remnant
in Israel.
Psalm 94 gives us this cry, which is at the same time the
expression of the fullest intelligence of their position, of
the dealing of God, of the position of the wicked, and the
result about to be produced, and, as all the psalms in this
book, founded on known relationship with Jehovah. We
have seen that Psalm 91 is Christ’s taking this place with
the people, that full blessing may come on them as thus
associated with Him. Psalm 94 addresses itself to Jehovah
as the God of vengeance, and demands that He should
show Himself-lift Himself up as Judge of the earth and give
a reward to the proud. e “how long” is made pressing and
urgent. e conduct and impiety of the wicked is stated.
Verses 4-11 address the unbelieving Israelites on the folly
of this. Verses 12-15 give a most instructive explanation
of the ways of Jehovah. Blessed is the man whom Jehovah
chastens and teaches out of His law. is is the position of
the suering remnant, to give him quiet from the days of
evil until the pit be digged for the ungodly.
No doubt, as indeed is expressed in the Psalms, the
godly had sometimes well-nigh forgotten this (Psa. 73),
not always (Psa. 27:5); but faith does not, and this is the
true meaning of the remnant’s sorrows-of ours too under
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our Father. e heart in the midst of evil has to say to
God, not only in submission, but as a cup given of Jehovah
(of our Father). Hence the distraction and distress felt in
meeting man’s will in our will without resource is gone; and
God, the will being subdued (the great hindrance), teaches
the submissive heart, which is in a true position before
Him.1 For faith it was withal a settled thing that Jehovah
would never cast o His people. But judgment would
return to righteousness, and the upright in heart would
follow it. is is the great and all-important principle of
the change which takes place in these psalms. Judgment,
long separated from righteousness, now<P184> returns to
it. Judgment was in Pilate, righteousness in Christ. ere
the opposition was perfect-more or less everywhere else.
Suering for righteousness’ sake and divine righteousness
established in the heavens may be, and assuredly is, a yet
better portion. It is Christ’s as man, now gloried, but
it is not the maintenance of righteousness on the earth.
is will now be eectually maintained. But who shall
be found to make it good? Who will take up the cause
of the godly one, or stand up for the remnant against the
mighty workers of iniquity? If Jehovah had not, their souls
had soon gone down to silence. How true this was (as to
men) of Christ, how fully He can enter into this, I need
hardly say. Even when the remnant feared falling, Jehovah
helped them. And in the overwhelming of thought, where
all the power of evil was, Jehovah’s comforts delighted his
soul. In verse 20 a most remarkable appeal is made. Were
the throne of iniquity and Jehovah’s throne about to join
together? If not, the days of the throne of iniquity were
numbered. at wickedness was there, was now patent. But
Jehovah, the defence of the godly, the Judge of the wicked,
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whose iniquity He would bring on themselves-Jehovah
would cut them o. us the fullest review, as I have said,
of the whole position and of Jehovah’s ways is remarkably
given to us in this psalm.
(1. Christ, however deeply feeling what was before Him,
was just the opposite of this struggling of will, being perfect
in subjection (John 12 and Gethsemane). Peter would have
resisted, but Christ took the cup as His Father’s will.)
e introduction of the coming in of the Only-
begotten into the world
From Psalms 95-100 we have the progress of the
introduction of the Only-begotten into the world most
distinctly brought out; but here, all through, seen as
Jehovah coming from heaven in judgment, and at length
taking His place between the cherubim, and calling up the
world to worship Him there. It puts the setting up of Israel
in blessing by power, in contrast with their old failure when
rst delivered.
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Psalm 95
e summons to Israel, the remnant, in the closing
day
Psalm 95 summons Israel to come with joyful songs and
thanksgiving before Jehovah (verses 3-4 describing His
excellency above the gods and as Creator). But Jehovah
is Israel’s Maker, his God<P185> also; and now they may
look for rest even after so long time and continued failure.
Till power comes in to judgment, while it is called today-
for in that great tomorrow no evil and no rebellious will be
allowed-they are called upon not to harden their hearts as
of old in the wilderness, when God sware that they should
not enter into His rest. But now, after all, grace says Today,
and invites to come before His presence who is the rock of
their salvation.
Psalm 96
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Psalm 96
e summons to the Gentiles; Jehovah comes to
judge
Psalm 96 summons all the earth to come in, in the
spirit of the everlasting gospel. ey are to own Jehovah;
the gods of the nations are mere vanity. Psalm 95 invites
as of the company- “Come, let us sing.” Now it is said to
those who are afar o, Sing unto Jehovah, and His glory is
to be declared among the nations. Jehovah is Creator (vs.
5). His excellency is then spoken of, but He is known in the
sanctuary in Israel on the earth (vss. 7-8). ey are again
summoned to own Him there, to worship Him according
to the order of His house on the earth, for Jehovah reigns
and the world is established, and Jehovah will judge the
peoples righteously. is introduces a summons to a chorus
of celebration of all this created world to rejoice before
Jehovah, who comes to judge the world with righteousness
and His people with truth; for Israel had the place of
promise and the revelation of His ways.
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Psalm 97
e coming itself celebrated
In Psalm 97 the coming itself is celebrated; Jehovah has
taken to Him His great power and His reign. e earth and
the multitude of isles are to rejoice. Clouds and darkness are
round about Him, for it is the revelation of His judgments
in power, not of Himself. Righteousness and judgment ever
characterize His throne. e re of judgment goes before
Him and consumes His enemies. Jehovah, the Lord of the
whole earth, comes forth out of His place. e heavens (for
on earth there is none) in power declare His righteousness.
e peoples see His glory. e eect of the judgment
is<P186> then stated. Idol worship is confounded before
Him, and all power and authority, from angels downwards,
are now to own Him. But another fact comes out-this was
joy and deliverance to Zion. e judgment of evil was her
deliverance, for it was the glorious exaltation of Jehovah,
her God.1 In verses 10-12 we see the blessed objects of
the deliverance-the godly remnant. Light is sown for the
righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. It is a very
complete statement of the character of the Lord’s coming
to earth.
(1. is in Isaiah 30:32, where the grounded sta, that is
the decreed rod, was to pass, it was with tabrets and harps.)
Psalm 98
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Psalm 98
e result of the coming celebrated by Israel on earth
Psalm 98 is the result celebrated by Israel on earth.
Jehovah has made known His salvation, and remembered
His mercy and truth towards Israel. All the land (or earth)
is summoned to celebrate Jehovah as king. e heavens
are not summoned here, as in Psalm 96. ey are already
lled with His glory, and the angels have been called to
worship; but the sea and its fullness, and the world and its
inhabitants are to rejoice before Jehovah, who comes to
judge the earth and the whole world.
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Psalm 99
Jehovah reigning as King upon earth; the two hinges
of God’s ways
Psalm 99, though simple in its character, embraces
some important principles. Jehovah now reigns, not only in
making manifest heavenly power, but in the establishment
of that power as king upon the earth. He now sits between
the cherubim as heretofore in Israel. He is great in Zion
and high above all peoples. I have no doubt this word
peoples (ammim), generally translated “people” in the
Authorized Version, which confounds it with Israel, is
used, not as goim (Psa. 98:2 and often) in opposition with
Israel and the knowledge of Jehovah, but for nations not
Israel, but brought into relationship with Israel, and so with
Jehovah Himself. Israel is called goi (Psa. 43) when judged
and rejected. Further, the King<P187> (Messiah, but still
Jehovah) loves judgment, and establishes equity, executing
judgment and righteousness in Jacob. us Jehovah, the
God of Jacob, was to be exalted, and in Jerusalem.
But another touching and important principle is then
brought out: Israel had utterly failed, cast o Jehovah,
rejected Messiah, was judged and cast o. But Jehovah
had never given up His faithfulness and grace. Hence the
Spirit turns back here to recognize the saints under the
old covenant who had, through grace, been faithful (the
remnant was always acknowledged; in one aspect we are
it still, all children of Jerusalem the desolate, and waiting
under discipline and government, only a Father’s). Moses
and Aaron among His priests, Samuel among those who
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333
called on His name, the true prophets with no oce,
whatever their measure-these called on Jehovah, and He
heard them. e relationship of faith was there. Jehovah
answered them, but governed His people, taking vengeance
of their inventions. So, at the end, whosoever shall call on
the name of Jehovah shall be saved; but how surely are
their inventions punished! ese are the two hinges of all
God’s ways-grace and the ear of goodness to the cry of the
meek and needy, and government as holy and true. So with
us: only we have a Father’s government (still God’s) after
salvation and adoption. us newborn Israel is identied
with the faithful Israel of old. e child of Ruth and Boaz
is a son born to Naomi. Mara is known no more.
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Psalm 100
e summons to universal worship in gladness and
praise
Psalm 100 is the summons to universal worship of
Jehovah with gladness and praise. Jehovah is good. Verse
5 gives in principle the great truth so often laid down as
Israel’s hope-His mercy endures forever-which gave them
too to say, How long? “All ye lands” is free as a translation;
it is rather “all the land” (of Israel) or “all the earth.” e
claim of Israel to be His people and the sheep of His
pasture seems to extend it to the earth. It is, however, to
me very doubtful if it is not simply “all the land of Israel.”
is closes the remarkable series picturing the coming of
Jehovah (Christ) to establish righteousness and judgment
in the earth and His throne in Israel.<P188>
Psalm 101
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Psalm 101
e principles of the King’s government
Psalm 101 states the principles on which the King will
govern His house and the land when He takes the kingdom
in the name of Jehovah.
Summary of Psalms 93-101
Psalm 93 is the thesis, Jehovah reigns: the rage of
men, the supreme authority of Jehovah, the holiness that
becomes His house. Psalm 94 begins the series with the cry
of the remnant when iniquity is still on the throne. Psalm
95, Israel (the remnant) summoned in the closing day.
Psalm 96, the Gentiles called, Jehovah coming to judge the
earth. Psalm 97, Jehovah is on His way. Psalm 98, He has
executed judgment on the earth and remembered Israel.
Psalm 99, He has taken His throne on earth in Zion. Psalm
100, Israel is there as His people; but it is a call to worship
Jehovah. Still a house of prayer for all the earth: for Israel,
mercy, for they had sinned; truth, for God had promised,
and, as said elsewhere, they had now met together. Psalm
101, when the earthly throne is taken up, it is mercy and
judgment.
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Psalm 102
Christ rejected and cast o, yet Creator of heaven and
earth
Psalm 102 is one of the most, perhaps the most,
remarkable of all the Psalms, and presents Christ in a way
divinely admirable. Verse 10 gives the occasion of the cry
with which the psalm begins. Christ is fully looked at as
man chosen out of the people and exalted to be Messiah,
and now, instead of taking the kingdom, He is rejected
and cast o.1e time is the immediate approach of the
cross, but was, we know, perhaps often, anticipated in
thought, as John 12. He looks to Jehovah, who cast down
Him whom He had called to the place of Messiah, but
who now meets<P189> indignation and wrath. We are far,
here, beyond looking at suerings as coming from man.
ey did, and were felt, but men are not before Him in
judgment; nor is it His expiatory work, though that which
wrought it is here if we take it in its full eect on the cross-
the indignation and wrath. It is Himself-His own being
cut o as man. He is in trouble; His heart smitten like a
pelican of the wilderness and an owl of the desert; His days
as a shadow that declines, withered like grass. Such was
Messiah, to whom all the promises were. Jehovah endured
forever. His promises were certain. He would arise, and
have mercy on Zion, and the set time was come.
(1. Note, there is no bringing in of “me” in connection
with indignation and wrath, as in Psalm 22, though Christ
realizes it in spirit. But personally He is lifted up and cast
down. It is a key which opens up much in the Psalms.)
Psalm 102
337
e whole scene, from Christ on earth to the remnant
in the last days, is one. When Zion was restored, the
heathen would fear the name of Jehovah. Jehovah will
appear, and, when He builds up Zion, hear and answer the
poor remnant, and thus declare His name in Zion, and His
praise in Jerusalem, when all nations would be gathered
together there. But where was Messiah then? His strength
had been weakened in His journey, His days shortened.
He had cried to Him able to deliver, to save from death.
Was Zion to be restored and no Messiah-He weakened
and cut o? en comes the wondrous and glorious
answer: He was Himself the creator of the heavens and
the earth. He was ever the same. His years would not fail
when the created universe was rolled up like a garment.
e children of His servants would continue and their seed
be established before Him. e Christ, the despised and
rejected Jesus, is Jehovah the Creator. e Jehovah we have
heard of coming, is the Christ that came. e Ancient of
Days comes, and Christ is He, though Son of Man. is
contrast of the extreme humiliation and isolation of Christ,
and His divine nature, is incomparably striking.
But it is Christ’s personal sense of rejection, and that
in connection with the remnant, not His bearing the
judgment of sin in His soul for men. Look at the dierence
of the consequences in Psalm 22, though that perfect work
was needed for “the nation,” too, or their deliverance could
not have taken place.
Summary of Psalms 103-106
Psalms 103-106 give us the results-and the covenant-in
grace and in responsibility, of Israel’s history.<P190>
Psalm 103 is the voice of Messiah in Israel in praise
according to God’s dealing with them; Psalm 104, the same
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in creation; Psalm 105, God’s ways in grace, from Abraham
up to the giving of the land (now to be possessed in peace);
Psalm 106, the acknowledgment of Israel’s ways from rst
to last, but owning Jehovah’s mercy, and looking for it, for
it endures forever. Grace and favor are the one foundation
on which hope can be built leading to obedience. is
closes the book.
Psalm 103
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Psalm 103
Messiah’s voice in Israel in praise
Psalms 103-104 call for a few observations on the details.
No doubt the Spirit of Christ leads these praises, for His
praise shall be of Jehovah in the great congregation; but it
is in the name of all Israel the psalm is spoken. ey have
forgiveness and mercy through the tender compassions
and mercy of Jehovah. As for man, he is as grass; and
the people had been as grass and withered (Isa. 40). But
the mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting
upon them that fear Him, the obedient ones. us all is
ascribed to goodness, yet faithfulness, from the very nature
and name of Jehovah; but to the obedient ones, the godly
remnant. Now Jehovah owned them with loving-kindness
and tender mercies. All their sins were utterly removed
from them. Jehovah’s throne was prepared in the heavens-
the only possible means of securing blessing. And now
His kingdom ruled over all. It was not only His title, but
established in fact. It is Israel’s praise, consequent on the
intervention of Jehovah, of which the previous psalms have
spoken. Matthew 9:1-6 marks Jesus out as the Jehovah
who now at the close healed all Israel (vs. 3). e more
intimately we know Scripture, the more simple and distinct
is the truth that, though Son of Man, Christ is the Jehovah
of the Old Testament.
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Psalm 104
Messiah’s voice in creation in praise
Psalm 104, which celebrates Jehovah as Creator,
requires very few remarks. It will be noticed that it is
occupied almost entirely<P191> with the earth. He is
clothed with the glory of the heavens, which is described
in most beautiful language; but the earth is the subject. It
is looked at as existing as the abode of men, as it is, but all
depended on Jehovah’s sovereign will. It is not the earth
which is celebrated, but Jehovah, the Creator of it. It is not
paradise, but this earth, as we see it in man’s hand. But the
psalm looks to sinners being consumed out of it, and the
wicked being no more. is gives the psalm, evidently, a
peculiar character, and connects it with the introduction of
the rst-begotten into the world.
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Psalm 105
God’s ways in grace, from Abraham to the giving of
the land
Psalm 105 oers thanksgiving to Jehovah, and calls on
the seed of Abraham and Jacob to remember Him and glory
in His name. Verses 7-8 give the occasion. He is Jehovah,
their God. His judgments are in all the earth. And He has
remembered His covenant forever. It was to be permanent.
It was commanded to a thousand generations. He had
now remembered it. e psalm then recites how God had
cared for the fathers, and judged Egypt for the deliverance
of His people; and, in spite of bondage, there was not a
feeble person among their tribes. “He remembered his holy
promises, and Abraham his servant,1 and brought forth
his people with joy and his chosen with gladness, and gave
them the lands of the heathen, that they might observe his
statutes and keep his laws.” All their subsequent failure is
not touched on. For now again (vs. 8) He had remembered
His covenant with Abraham and had delivered His people
by judgments; for it is the accomplishment of promise.
And the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
(1. e dierence of a reference to the promises to
Abraham, and those to Moses the blessings of which
depended on the faithfulness of the people, is a marked
feature in all the renewals of mercy to the people and the
faith that referred to one or the other.)
e following psalm will tell us Israel’s ways, but only
so to bring out His mercy and never-failing goodness; for
this is the theme.<P192>
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Psalm 106
Israel’s acknowledgment of their ways but owning
and looking for Jehovah’s enduring mercy
“Hallelujah. Give thanks to Jehovah, for it is good [or,
He is good]. His mercy endureth forever.” is last we have
often seen-the expression of this unfailing faithful mercy of
Jehovah, which secures Israel. It then recites the character of
those that are blessed; and personally looks, as in the mouth
of a godly Israelite at the close, to be remembered with the
favor Jehovah shows His people-desiring withal to see the
good of Jehovah’s chosen, and rejoice in the gladness of His
nation and glory with His inheritance. It is the expression
of genuine piety, which then turns to confess the sinfulness
of the people-not they have sinned, though that is owned,
as showing how Jehovah’s mercy has endured; but “we have
sinned with our fathers.” It is the practical piety which
proves, in its own confession, enduring mercy. It then goes
through all the history of Israel with this view; and at the
close shows that, in spite of all, Jehovah, remembering His
covenant, thought on their aiction, and caused them to
be pitied of the heathen, among whom they were. For this
mercy he now looks, that they may triumph in the praise of
Jehovah. is closes the fourth book.
All Israel spoken of in the third and fourth books
It will be remarked that, as we had seen in the third, the
fourth also speaks of all Israel, and, though the humiliation
of Christ is brought out and His eternal divinity contrasted
with it in a remarkable way, yet it does not enter into Jewish
circumstances particularly, nor the association of Christ
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343
with them, though His Spirit be in it all. In Psalm 94
Antichrist is presented to us, but it is for his destruction
by the coming in of Messiah the King, as Jehovah the
Judge.<P193>
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Psalms - Book 5
e viewpoint of the fth book
In the fth book the people are looked at as brought
back, and a general survey of God’s ways taken, with a kind
of divine commentary on it all, ending, as all His ways
surely will, in praise.
Psalm 107
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Psalm 107
e celebration of God’s mercy and goodness shown
in temporal things
Psalm 107 is a kind of heading or introduction to all
this. It celebrates the enduring of God’s mercy forever-
that blessed formula of faith in the unchanging goodness
of Jehovah in all ages from the display of grace in David’s
time. It is restored Israel’s part especially to chant it. e
psalm celebrates the two parts of that deliverance in which
the mercy has been shown. ey are redeemed from the
hand of the enemy; they are gathered back from east,
west, north, and south. is is the double character of
the restoration of Israel-deliverance in the land, and the
gathering from among the heathen on every side. But the
proper theme of the psalm is the goodness of Jehovah.
e various circumstances of deliverance of every kind
(and that as an answer to the cry of distress of man who
has brought himself low by his folly) are gone through,
with the desire that men would praise Jehovah for His
goodness, His wonderful works for the children of men.
Israel is he in whom it may be fully learned. It goes on to
their chastisement in the land after their return, but adds
the complete ruin of the pride of men as the result. He
pours contempt on princes, and sets the poor on high from
aiction, giving him families like a ock. e great result
of God’s government is then shown: the righteous rejoice;
all iniquity has its mouth stopped. Whoso is wise and will
consider these ways of God will understand the loving-
kindness of Jehovah. It is to be remarked how entirely the
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goodness of God, here rehearsed, is shown in temporal
things. It does not for that cease to be His goodness and to
have its sweetness, but it gives very clearly the character of
the ground on which these teachings go.<P194>
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Psalm 108
Praise for deliverance; full security in the land waited
for
Psalm 108 is a psalm of a peculiar character, being
composed of the ends of two others, the earlier and the
latter parts of which, the cry of deep distress, and the answer
to the cry in faith and hope, have been here put together.
e former part of this, the end of Psalm 57, expresses the
xed assurance of the godly heart, who can now give praise
and will praise among the peoples (ammim), united now
in relation with Israel and in the various races of people.
But all the results of God’s favor are not yet produced, and
the same faith, taking up Psalm 60, leaving out the cry of
distress, celebrates the going out of Him whose mercy is
above the heavens, to bring into subjection all those who
are yet in possession of dierent parts of the territory of
Israel.
It may be remarked here that the general character of
this, as indeed of the previous book, as far as regards the
position of Israel, is that of the people being restored by
God to the land and delivered, but not free yet from attack,
nor in possession of all the promised land; so that there is
thanksgiving and praise, for God has interfered, and the
state of Israel is changed; but there remains the need of
help and securing against enemies yet undestroyed, and
the full blessing of God in peace. A very few psalms at
the end are of unmingled praise, and only praise called for.
is state of deliverance, and yet full security waited for, is
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expressed at the end of Psalm 107; as to nal deliverance,
the fact only is stated.
e connection of the two parts of this psalm is not
without interest. e rst part praises Jehovah for what He
is as known to the heart in faith; but God in contrast with
man. His mercy is great above the heavens and His truth
reaches to the clouds, mercy being as ever rst as the root
of all. e second part begins with looking for Jehovah to
rise up as God above the heavens and His glory above all
the earth. He is to take His place and vindicate His name
as God, that His beloved may be delivered. Verse 7 brings
out the answer of God, taking up in detail all Israel’s rights
as His. us Jehovah has war with the nations possessing
their land, but it is in Israel, and through God they will
do valiantly. Hence here it is God, not Jehovah, because it
is not the covenant relation, but what He who is so is in
contrast with man, whose help is vain.<P195>
Psalm 109
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Psalm 109
e individual and general application of the Psalms
It is certain that this psalm applies to Judas; but we shall
see, in reading it, that we cannot apply all of it exclusively
to him. And this is a help to us, to understand the way
in which the Psalms are written. ere is the general
condition of the saints in the latter day, and that even
in a way which cannot apply to Christ personally at all,
as Psalm 118:10-11-passages of general application to
the righteous, and others which may be, and some with
prophetical purpose and exactitude, applied to Christ, and
the circumstances in which He was. All this has to be before
the mind, and divine teaching sought. I have said that the
application of the psalm was not exclusively to Judas. e
greater part of it is in the plural number. Up to verse 5
from the outset, the enmity of the wicked, of the band of
Jews hostile to Christ, and hostile to the godly remnant,
is spoken of. Judas was a special instance of this wicked
hatred against Christ. But I have no doubt of the general
application of even this part, and that the judgments called
for are general, and no prophetic revelation that Judas
had wife and children or anything of the sort. Verse 20
makes indeed the generalization of the application of
these deprecations certain. So we can have no doubt that
the blessed Lord stood in this sorrow, but I have none the
less, that it is merely as taking in grace the place of the
remnant, and that the psalm applies to the remnant, who
go through similar sorrows. Verses 30-31 show it. Still it is
most certain Christ entered fully into it-and this is of the
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deepest interest to us-nay, that His being in it gave it its
true character.
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Psalm 110
David’s Lord at Jehovah’s right hand; promise and
prophecy
Psalm 110, though of the very highest interest, is in
application so simple that it needs but brief comment.
e despised and poor man, hated for his love, is David’s
Lord, and called to sit at the right hand of Jehovah. It is of
deep interest to see how in Isaiah 6 Adonai is Jehovah of
hosts in the fullest sense, and in this psalm, being David’s
Son, sits at the right hand of Jehovah, and strikes<P196>
through kings in the day of His wrath. Compare Psalm 2.
All the truth, in regard to the assembly of association with
Him on high is passed over, and the psalm passes from the
session of Christ at God’s right hand to the sending the
rod of His strength out of Zion. is shows how entirely
all is Jewish in these psalms. Note, further, it is the answer
to His rejection on earth. It is not His coming from heaven
to destroy Antichrist. What is in view is His having already
taken possession of Zion, and the rod of His strength goes
out thence. is answers to the whole position of this book,
where we have seen the Jews restored, but the dominion
of Israel or of Christ in Zion not yet made good. But the
people are now Amminadib in the day of His power. (See
Song of Solomon 6:12.) Alas! how dierent in the day of
His humiliation! at was depicted in Psalm 109. But this
is the morning of a new day, in which we have not fathers,
but the children of grace. en we have the certain oath
of Jehovah for Christ sitting thus a priest on His throne
on earth. is is promise and prophecy. e day too of His
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wrath is looked forward to. Adonai, who is at Jehovah’s
right hand, has a coming day of wrath-one already noticed,
when His enemies are made His footstool. While sitting
at the right hand of Jehovah, it is not so. It is then the
time of mercy, the accepted time. Christ has been heard
and exalted, and His work among men is the result of His
atonement in grace. Now the time of wrath is come, in
which the judgment written will be executed. I suppose
in verse 6 it is “the head over a great country”-the head of
power in the earth, not Antichrist, nor even the beast. ese
are destroyed on His coming from heaven. Self-exalting
man is brought low. Christ, who in humble dependence on
His Father took the refreshment given Him according to
God’s will on the way, shall have His head high exalted in
the earth. ese psalms give the groundwork of the whole
scene. What now follows is a review of the circumstances,
and indeed from of old, and such as are to come, with
reections (so to speak) on them, and praise as to the result.
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Psalm 111
Praise for Jehovah’s works
Psalms 111-113 go together as a hallelujah in reference
to Jehovah’s ways with Israel in their deliverance. First,
Psalm 111, the<P197> works of Jehovah, glorious in
themselves, He has made to be remembered by His
mighty intervention in righteousness; yet showing Him
full of compassion, mindful of His covenant also. He has
shown His people the power of His works, to give them
the heritage of the heathen: moreover, His works last. e
occasion of the praise, a knowledge of His name, is that He
has sent redemption to His people. Jehovah being such, the
fear of Him is the beginning of wisdom. is gives good
understanding in our walk. Faith knows this. e Lord’s
appearing in judgment will indeed prove it to the world.
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Psalm 112
Blessing and deliverance for those in Israel who fear
Jehovah
Psalm 112, on the other hand, gives the character of
those who fear Jehovah, and the blessing that comes upon
such when the government of God is made good. is
shows how impossible it is to apply these psalms to the
position of the saints now, though the exercise of faith and
piety may be often in the spring of it the same. Still then,
it is the deliverance of Israel which brings out Jehovah’s
name (vss. 9-10).
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Psalm 113
Widespread universal praise
Psalm 113 is more general and full universal praise, but
on the same occasion. It is from this time forth forevermore.
It is now widespread over all the earth; but He is Israel’s
God who dwells on high, yet looks down so low, but to
exalt those He loves, to set them with the princes of His
people, and ll the hopeless with joy in their habitation.
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Psalm 114
Israel’s ancient and present deliverance by the same
Jehovah
Psalm 114 is of the highest style of poetry, but is
important to us<P198> as directly connecting the ancient
deliverance of Israel out of Egypt with the present
deliverance of the people, and seeing the same Jehovah in
both calling the earth to tremble at the presence of Jehovah.
It was right in those days. At Jacob’s deliverance then, the
sea ed and Jordan was driven back. What was this? Was
it aright before the presence of man? e earth was now
to tremble before Him who appeared for the deliverance of
His people then, and for their sakes turned the sea into dry
land, and the int stone into a springing well.
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Psalm 115
e true and full ground of this deliverance
Psalm 115 gives the true and full ground of this
deliverance, as seen in the heart of faith. It is not that they,
but that Jehovah may be praised, specially in His mercy,
and then His faithfulness to promise. e godly one, that
is, the Spirit, then refers to that cry which was the bitter
grief spoken of in Joel, and referred to in Psalms 42-43.
Why should the heathen say, Where is now their God? So
in the same spirit Moses: “e Egyptians shall hear of it,
and what wilt thou do to thy great name?” What a blessed
boldness of faith! is character of sorrow shows, how it
was on the cross and in those last sorrows that Christ came
into this character of sorrow. For the Jews practically said
this to Him then, but never could have done so before. e
believing Israelite’s answer is, Our God is in heaven.
He then contrasts Him with idols. And Israel, the house
of Aaron, and all that fear Jehovah, are called to trust Him.
is last would open the door to all Gentiles who sought
Jacob’s face. It then recites, what we have seen to be the
ground these psalms go on, that He had been mindful of,
and would bless them; yea, increase them more and more,
them and their children. ey were the blessed of Jehovah,
the maker of heaven and earth. Heaven was His, the earth
had He given to men. is marks how distinctly the earthly
blessing is the scene before us, for He has not given us the
earth, but the cross in it; and heaven, and what is there, as
our own things. We seek the things which are above, not
the things which are on the earth. So, in even almost a
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stronger manner, the dead do not praise Jehovah; but we
(says the<P199> Spirit in them) will praise from this, the
time of their nal deliverance, forevermore. We say, “To
depart and to be with Christ is far better.”
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Psalm 116
Love and praise drawn out by deliverance at the very
point of death
Psalm 116 celebrates this deliverance when they were
at the very point of death. Jehovah had heard them, and
they would walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
In this view it is a continual recital of the gracious mercy
of Jehovah: they were brought low and He helped them. It
drew out their love to Him. Such was Jehovah’s character.
He preserves the simple. e soul so sorely tried could
return to its rest. e death of His saints was precious in
His sight; and now, before all His people, in the courts of
Jehovah’s house, in the midst of Jerusalem, he would pay
the vows made in his distress when he called on Jehovah.
He would oer the sacrice of thanksgiving. e quotation
of the Apostle shows how these psalms can be used as
containing holy principles of life for every saint. In spite
of suering and trial, trust in Jehovah opened the mouth
of the believer. e passage does not apply to Paul, nor did
he say in his haste that all men were liars, though there be
something like it in “all seek their own”; but the general
and important principle the Apostle can adopt. e word,
translated “haste,” is not haste in the sense of moral defect,
hastiness, but in distress-rather sudden distress or alarm
from the pressure of circumstances, and hence hasting
away.
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Psalms 117-118
e other nations called to praise Jehovah; praise and
thanksgiving founded on enduring mercy
Psalm 117 is the calling the other nations and peoples
to come and praise Jehovah, who will be now King over
all the earth. ey join and are brought happily into this
relationship, Jehovah being made known to them by His
ways with Israel. Merciful kindness<P200> is here, as ever,
rst; and truth enduring forever, which no failure has made
to fail. is, as the last, is a hallelujah.
Psalm 118 is also, though not formally so, rendering
praise and thanksgiving as promised, connected with, or
rather founded on, the known formula-His mercy endures
forever. e same that in Psalm 115 were called to trust in
Jehovah are now called to praise Him. From verse 5 the
Holy Spirit speaks in the person of delivered Israel, and
speaks of this faithfulness of Jehovah, and now, He being
on their side, man need not be feared; Jehovah is better
than man, Jehovah better than princes. Verses 10-18 unfold
the circumstances and dealings through which Israel has
passed. All nations had compassed them; in Jehovah’s name
he would destroy them. ey are quenched as re. Verse
13, the enemy had thrust sore at them that they might
fall; Jehovah helped them. e result in rejoicing and joy
is chanted in verses 14-17. Another aspect of their trial is
given in verse 18. It was withal Jehovah’s chastening, and
He had chastened them sore, but not given them over to
death, which was the power of the enemy for them. us
we have the full character of trial, as we have seen it even
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in Job: instruments, men, even all nations; next, the enemy
by them, and acting on the spirit, thrusting sore at the soul;
but behind it, and before it too, is God chastening, but
not giving over. is is full of instruction for us in many
circumstances we pass through, where all these elements
are found in what we are passing through.
Israel now owns the once-despised and rejected
Messiah
Now the gates of righteousness are open before Israel.
e turning to this at once, as the result of trial, is beautiful:
he will go in and praise Jehovah. It is withal the gate of
Jehovah, and the righteous enter into it. Israel there will
praise, for Jehovah has heard him and become his salvation;
but further and deeper truth comes out here. ere is no
restoration of Israel without Messiah, and Israel now owns
Him once despised. “e stone which the builders rejected
is become the head of the corner. is is Jehovah’s doing,
and it is marvellous in our eyes.” We see, in the expression
“our eyes,” who is the real speaker, and, though the voice
had been one, who they are that now take part in the psalm
of praise. is is the day Jehovah has made; it is His day, the
blessing of His <P201>people in connection with Messiah,
and His people rejoice in it. And now they cry, Hosanna
to the Son of David, the Jehovah of Israel; and say, Blessed
be he that comes in His name. is gives us the witness
from the Lord’s own teaching, who it is that speaks in the
Psalms, and to what time it applies; for the house was left
desolate, and they were not to see Him again till they said,
Blessed be He that comes. So that it is Israel, that is, the
remnant, who speak, and in the day of their repentance,
under grace, when they are to see Messiah again. ey bless
Him that comes out of the house of Jehovah. Jehovah is
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the God of strength, He has given Israel light; and now
worship and sacrice are oered to Him that has delivered
and blessed. Now they say, ou art my God, and praise
and exalt Him.
e psalm closes with the well-known verse of Israel’s
thankful praise: “Give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good, for
his mercy endureth forever,” with which it had commenced.
us the spiritual apprehension of God’s dealings, the
coming to worship Jehovah in righteousness, and the
owning the despised and rejected Messiah, are all unfolded
in connection with the deliverance and blessing of Israel,
and the full manifestation of Jehovah’s nature and character.
Various verses of this psalm are quoted at the close of the
Saviour’s trials; no psalm indeed so often, as connecting
Him with the sorrows of, and promises to, Israel.
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Psalm 119
e law written in the heart
Psalm 119 is in general the law written in the heart.
is gives it an important place in the series of psalms.
It is found distinctly connected too with Israel’s sorrows
in the last days and their previous departure from God.
e dierent divisions of the psalm show, I think, each a
dierent phase of the exercises of heart connected with
the law being written on it, though the general principle
runs of course through it. I will very briey notice the main
bearing of each.
e blessedness of the walk with God
e rst part presents to us naturally the great general
principle. It is the third general “Blessed is the man”-
the return of the<P202> soul in trial and distress to the
great truth of Psalm 1, where the eect is seen under
the immediate government of God. Psalm 32 gives the
blessedness of forgiveness; this, of the walk with God on
the return of the wanderer in spite of all diculties and
contempt. We have indeed another special blessing at the
end of the rst book, where Christ is so fully brought in.
In the last psalm of that book he is pronounced blessed
who understands His position, be it in Himself or in those
who walk in His footsteps; for the rst psalm supposed
blessedness under the government of God, making good
all His will towards the just, and the reverse seemed to
be true. In fact, as we know, to man’s eye this wholly
failed (bringing in a heavenly and divine righteousness
and redemption). Hence true blessedness was shown in
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discerning, in understanding, the position in which that
true blessed One was as rejected by men-that true poor
man-taking Himself practically the place He describes as
blessed, as we have seen in the sermon on the mount, while
the great truth of the law in the heart is laid down. Yet the
circumstances also come out in this rst part- “forsake me
not utterly.”
Cleansing by the Word
Secondly the Word associates with God. Not only is
one blessed who keeps it, but it is cleansing: the desire of
the heart is positively xed on it. (See the connection of
Jehovah and His Word, verses 10-11.)
Divine mercy in trial connected with the law in the
heart
In the third part we nd very distinctly the leaning on
divine mercy in trial, connected with the law in the heart.
e godly Israelite looks to Jehovah’s bountiful dealing, but
with a view to hearty obedience (vs. 17). Verse 19 shows his
state; verse 21, as we have seen in all this book, Jehovah’s
intervention, already known in deliverance, though not in
complete blessing; verses 22-23, the contempt the poor
remnant undergo. Jehovah’s law had been his delight and
comfort under it.
Inward trial; divine relief according to the Word
In the fourth part the trial is more inward. His soul is
cleaving to the dust, but he looks to divine relief according
to the Word. His<P203> desire looks to the eect of that
living water from God. He has been open before God-has
declared his own ways: so it ever is. He desires all way of
evil to be removed by God from him. He has held fast by
the Word-looks that God should not put him to shame.
But he is looking for enlargement of heart, that he may run
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freely in God’s ways. Such is the sure eect when under the
discipline of God. A soul who has found delight in His will
and holiness is yet looking to run in liberty. ough in the
heart, the Word here referred to is more of an outwardly
expressed will, like Zacharias and Elizabeth, a beautiful
moral expression of the remnant. With the Christian
it will be more absolute and inward, more holiness than
testimonies (though it may begin by them perhaps),
whether in his rst divine calling or under discipline. It is
for him walking in the light as God is in the light-not the
“ordinances and commandments of Jehovah.” Yet it is in
principle essentially the same. To apply this psalm directly
is to lower the divine standard of thought for the saint
now. But the nature of the moral exercise may be most
instructively used; just as subjection and condence in trial
is always right, though the forms of it in the Jew are wholly
below the Christian’s. (Compare with this Philippians,
where we have Christian experience.)
Divine guidance, teaching, courage and comfort- all
from the Word
e fth part looks for divine guidance and teaching in
the ways and law of God; the sixth, for manifest mercies
in that path, that he may have courage before adversaries
and hold fast the law of God. In the seventh, having been
quickened by the Word, he reckons on it, for God had
caused him to trust it as His; so that now he leans on all
its assurances. In troubles, when there was no outward
cheering of nature, it sustained his heart. is brings
him to the eighth. Jehovah was thus his portion. He had
sought Him, judged himself, turned his feet to Jehovah’s
testimonies. He reckoned on Him, and would thank Him
in the secret watches of the night, when his heart was left to
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itself. He was the companion of those that feared Jehovah.
is brightens up his thoughts, and he sees His power in
mercy around. is is a beautiful picture of the working of
the heart.<P204>
God’s will sought
e ninth brings out the circumstances of the psalm. In
the comfort of the last part he can look with God’s eye and
mind at these circumstances. ese are much before our
view (that is, feelings about them) in this part of the psalm.
Jehovah has already dealt well with him according to His
Word, and he looks for divine teaching to understand the
mind of God well. He had been under discipline: but before
this he had gone astray, but now had got into the spirit and
path of obedience. He sees the proud lying against him, and
their heart fat as grease (no link in state or obedience with
Jehovah); and sees how good it was to have been aicted,
that he might learn Jehovah’s statutes. Nothing marks
more the setting right of the soul than this-the turning to
Jehovah’s will-“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”-and
counting all good that leads to this, and gives God’s will as
authority, and morally its place in the heart.
e creature’s hope in the Creator’s Word
e tenth part has two main thoughts. Jehovah is his
Creator- has formed him. He looks to Him to guide His
own poor creature as a faithful Creator. ose that fear
Jehovah will be glad when they see Him, because they
hope in His Word. Secondly, he knows that thus in very
faithfulness He has caused him to be aicted, and now
looks for mercies to come unto him, and the proud to be
ashamed, and that those that fear Jehovah may turn to
Him. All this is linked with soundness in Jehovah’s statutes.
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e cry for deliverance because of walking in Jehovah’s
precepts
In the eleventh the cry becomes more urgent. He is
under the pressure of trial, his soul fainting for deliverance-
looking for Jehovah to execute judgment, for he is walking
in Jehovah’s precepts. And the proud persecute him
wrongfully-they heed not Jehovah nor His law.
e abiding faithfulness of God
But, twelfth, creation is a witness to the abiding
faithfulness of God: His Word is settled in heaven, where
nothing can reach or shake it. But for Jehovah’s law, which
sustained his heart, he had<P205> perished in the pressure
of aiction. In truth, how precious to have the Word in
such a world! We have more than commandments. But we
can say, I have seen an end of all perfection. Another and
more condent thought grows up out of all this exercise-“I
am ine.”
e psalmist’s delight in the guidance, comfort,
sustenance and value of the Word
In the thirteenth he expresses his own internal delight
in Jehovah’s law, and its eect in spiritual intelligence.
In the fourteenth it guides his path. Aicted and
oppressed, he looks for comfort to Him whose judgments
he has taken as his path in spite of enemies and their snares.
e fteenth gives the horror of vain thoughts, and
looking to God as his hiding-place, with his rejection of
evildoers. He looks to Jehovah to uphold him, that he
may not be ashamed in his hope; and looks with solemn
trembling on the sure judgment of the wicked.
In the sixteenth he presses more earnestly the
interference of Jehovah in deliverance. e way in which
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the wicked have made void Jehovah’s law only makes him
cling the closer to it. It was time for Jehovah to work.
e eects of strong attachment to Jehovah’s law and
testimonies
e following parts all bring out the eects of his strong
attachment to Jehovah’s law and testimonies, its value in
every aspect for his heart; the trial he was in still in this
path of righteousness; and how he would walk in Jehovah’s
ways when set free; his grief at transgressors. He looks for
teaching, quickening, keeping; and recalls the everlasting
character of God’s testimonies; so that he held fast, though
oppressed by the wicked.
Israel’s moral state in the last days
e last part is more general as a closing one, though in
the same spirit. It sums up, so to speak, the whole. It desires
that the cry of the oppressed delighter in the law may come
up before Jehovah; asks for understanding according to His
Word-for deliverance according to it; and assures praise
when taught His<P206> statutes. His tongue will speak of
His Word. He has the sense of their righteousness-looks
for the hand of Jehovah to help, because he has chosen His
precepts. Jehovah’s salvation has been longed for (man not
trusted in). Jehovah’s law has been his delight, not his own
will, nor the prosperous man’s ways. He looks for life, that
he may praise, and that Jehovah’s judgment may help him;
for the power of death and evil was before him. He owns
nally his having gone astray, and looks for Jehovah as the
Shepherd of Israel to seek him, for he has not forgotten
His commandments. Such is the moral state of Israel in
the last days when (in their land, I apprehend) the law is
written in their heart, but full deliverance and nal blessing
are not come. e psalm is, in fact, the moral development
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of the hearts of those that fear God in the circumstances
prophetically brought out in Psalm 118.
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Psalm 120
e songs of degrees; the godly in the land with Gog’s
power not destroyed
We now come, Psalms 120-134, to the songs of degrees,
which depict, I doubt not, the outward circumstances of
the same period, when Israel is in the land, but the power
of Gog not yet destroyed. e rst of this series begins with
the statement of the cry sent up by the godly in his distress
to Jehovah who heard. e special charge here is deceit and
falsehood. Judgment should come on it. But it is against
the godly himself, not the violence and oppression done
to Jerusalem, or the apostate oppression of the people. His
woe is to dwell in Mesech, and among the tents of Kedar.
Wrong is in their hearts; and, when the godly spoke of
peace, they prepared for battle. It does not seem to me to be
the oppression of Antichrist or the beast at Jerusalem, but
to apply to those who in the land found themselves where
the last hostile power which had pretended to favor them,1
and had led many to apostatize for quietness and prosperity,
now showed himself as only a deceitful oppressor.<P207>
(1. I do not refer here to Daniel 9 but to Daniel 8.)
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Psalm 121
Jehovah the Creator and Keeper
In Psalm 121 Jehovah is assuredly declared to be his
protection. He who never slumbers nor sleeps-He will not
suer his foot to be moved. e general intention is plain.
I am not quite sure what is the force of verse 1, unless to
identify Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth, with the
hill of Zion,1 and the city of the great King. However this
may be, Jehovah (as the great security) is the subject of the
psalm. is is very distinct, and His name reiterated for the
purpose. He is referred to in the double character, Creator
of heaven and earth, and the Keeper of Israel, especially of
the godly: Jehovah would preserve him in all circumstances
and forever.
(1. A hill is used as a symbol of exalted strength, a high
hill as the hill of Bashan. is is the Lord’s hill.)
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Psalm 122
Jerusalem and the house of the Lord
Psalm 122 celebrates Jerusalem. e saint is glad to go
there. e tribes go there; the thrones of judgment, of the
house of David, are there. His brethren and companions,
and the house of Jehovah, the God of Israel, their God,
made his heart cling to it. It is a restoring of the associations
with Jerusalem, recalling the old and establishing the new
ones.
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Psalm 123
Israel’s sorrows and resource
e series then returns to their sorrows and resource.
Blessing is not fully come; but Jehovah is looked to in the
heavens, but as the God of Israel; the remnant say “our
God” now. But they are lled yet with the contempt of
those that are at ease and of the proud.<P208>
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Psalm 124
Escape by Jehovah’s intervention
e power of the enemy had been just now fully
displayed against them-the godly in the land who trusted
in Jehovah. But they had escaped, but only by Jehovah
being on their side, or they had been utterly swallowed
up, by the last power of the enemy, I apprehend, when the
apostate beast and Antichrist were gone from the scene.
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Psalm 125
Enduring protection for those who trust Jehovah
e position of those who trust in Jehovah is celebrated,
in virtue of this intervention of Jehovah, who would now
protect them forever, and they abide forever. Peace would
be on Israel. ose that turned to their crooked ways-
Jehovah would lead them forth with the open evildoers
in judgment. e rod of wickedness would not rest upon
the lot of the righteous. ere would be an exclusion of
the rod of wickedness (what represented the wicked as
a tribe), separation from its mischief, that the righteous
might not go astray. All this, I apprehend, refers to the last
inroad of the nal power of Gog, or the last condition of
the Assyrian, perhaps to Daniel 8 (only that that gives its
whole character, not merely its nal one); also to the nal
king of the north, who comes in after the willful king in
Daniel 11.
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Psalm 126
Zion the center of full unlooked-for joy
e heart of the godly now nds its center in Zion, when
deliverance has been learned; for so it will be. (Compare
Isaiah 29:4,7.) How low she was brought, according to
Psalm 124! (Isaiah 29:4. Compare Isaiah 17:12-14, and
other passages.) It was a dream- so full, so unlooked-for,
the joy. e very heathen now owned Jehovah’s hand. But
the godly look for the full blessing, and the captivity to
be turned again in the fullness of possessed blessing. Still
God had manifested Himself; and to the faithful, who had
taken<P209> up His testimony in sorrow, and when it was
shame and reproach, it was now a harvest of joy. So it ever
is; for full joy only comes through sorrow: for the testimony
of God is in a world of evil.
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Psalms 127-128
Present temporal blessing: God’s gift out of Zion
ese full blessings thus sought, the building the house,
the keeping the city, the desired abundance of children, are
all (Psa. 127) Jehovah’s doing and gift, or man labors and
watches in vain. e blessing is distinctly Jewish.
A numerous progeny are distinctly God’s gift: happy
the man that has his quiver full of them (Psa. 128). e
blessings spoken of are declared to be the portion of whoever
fears Jehovah. It is present temporal blessing-blessings out
of Zion; and, the desire of the godly’s heart, Jerusalem in
prosperity all their days. Although the direct object be the
remnant, the godly Gentile, so fearing Jehovah, owning
Israel’s God, would, as a principle, enjoy the blessing, and
rejoice with His people.
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Psalm 129
Recurring with joy to past sorrows and trials
Psalm 129 recurs now with joy to the sorrows and
trials through which the children of Zion have gone. But
Jehovah is righteous, and has cut asunder the cords of
the wicked. e haters of Zion (for Zion is here always
the central thought) are withered, without resource, and
without being desired.
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Psalm 130
e eect of the sense of sin and of mercy
Psalm 130 takes up another subject, of the place of
which we have found clear traces before-the sins of Israel
as between the people and God. It is not, however, now
merely legal distress. Condence in Jehovah characterizes it,
though accompanied by depth of distress and humiliation.
is is the eect of the connection of the sense of sin and of
mercy in the soul. Mere legal distress is<P210> more selsh
in its terror, though admirable for destroying condence in
self and throwing on mercy; conviction with the sense of
mercy is more the sense of wronging the God of goodness.
It is a deeper work after all. Here there is forgiveness with
Jehovah that He might be feared, and the soul waits on
Jehovah, though it has cried out of the depths. ere is
desire, grace being looked to, as well as waiting for Jehovah,
verse 6. e groundwork is stated in verse 7, while verse 8
shows condence in the full results. Verse 4 is the upright
acknowledgment of where the need came from, grace
meeting that need; verse 7, that which can be reckoned on
in Jehovah; verse 8, the full counting on it for Israel, that is,
redemption, not from troubles, but from iniquities.
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Psalm 131
Self-condence gone; unwavering trust left
Psalm 131 briey states the humble absence of all self-
condence, that so he has walked. Israel is now to trust in
Jehovah and forever.
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Psalm 132
e ark in Zion; Jehovah’s promises fullled
Psalm 132 is, in some respects, a very interesting
psalm. It is the restoration of the ark of the covenant to its
resting-place, and the promises of Jehovah, in answer to
the supplication of His servant. It is founded on David’s
bringing the ark up to Zion. is, as we have seen in the
historical books, has a very important place. It was grace
acting by power when Israel had so completely failed that
the bond of the people with God, so far as it was founded
on the people’s responsibility, was wholly broken, and the
ark gone into captivity, and Ichabod written on all.1 But
now, in a fuller and more lasting sense, a habitation was
found<P211> for the mighty God of Jacob, where the
godly would worship low before His footstool. e fruit
of David’s body, the Messiah of Jehovah, was to sit on His
throne, and that forevermore. Jehovah was entering into
His rest-He and the ark of His strength. Before (Num.
10:35-36), if He arose it was to scatter His enemies, and
then He returned to the many thousands of Israel. But
now, and this is what characterizes the psalm, the enemies
were scattered, and Jehovah arose to take His rest in Israel.
e sovereign election of God is seen, verse 13; and, then,
it will be remarked, that the promise, in answer to the
supplication, goes each time beyond the request. (Compare
verses 14-15 and 8, 16 and 9, and 17-18 and 10.) is is of
the highest interest as showing the grace of the Lord, and
how His love surpasses all the hopes of His people, His
interest in them.
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(1. e three principles of government had been
brought out in Israel. First, direct responsibility to God
under priesthood. at had failed under Eli, and that was
Ichabod. It was over with Israel on the ground of their own
responsibility. en God intervened by a prophet. at He
could still do; it was a sovereign act. But that failed; so
did royalty as set up by the people. en we have royalty
as power in grace, as it will be in Christ, and the lost ark
brought back. is is what we have in this psalm.)
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Psalm 133
Israel dwelling together in unity
e people are now dwelling together in unity. It is as
the anointing of Aaron, which, poured on the head, gave
the odors of divine favor on all, as the abundant dew of
the lofty hills, but which brought, however high its source,
its refreshing power where God had ordained blessing and
life forevermore.1 I see no need to seek for any mountain
of a like name near Hermon, but the contrary.
(1. is is one of the two places where life forevermore,
life eternal, is spoken of in the Old Testament; the other
is Daniel 12; both as accomplished in the time of blessing
to come. In the New Testament, I need not say, it is
fully revealed in Christ, and he that believes in Him has
everlasting life. )
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Psalm 134
Jehovah’s servants called to bless the Blesser
Psalm 134 closes the series by calling on the servants
of Jehovah to bless Him. Night and day should furnish
praise to Him, and in the holy place holy hands be lifted
up to bless. Jehovah was there, His servants there to praise
Him. Jehovah, who made heaven and earth, blessed now
(not simply from heaven, but) out<P212> of Zion. It is the
place of blessing Jehovah, and Jehovah blessing. I should
be disposed to count the last verse rather the voice of
Christ as the Son of David, something in the character of
Melchisedec, who said, Blessed be the Most High God,
and blessed be Abraham of the Most High God, only
specially in connection with Jehovah (as Zechariah 6:13)
blessing the godly remnant out of Zion. e last verse is a
kind of answer to the call of the preceding ones; the Spirit
of Christ in the remnant calls on Jehovah’s servants to bless
Him, and they from Him bless the godly one.
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Psalm 135
Hallelujah; the call to celebrate Jehovah as almighty
and as now dwelling in Jerusalem
Psalms 135-136 celebrate Jehovah, who has delivered
Israel and now dwells in Jerusalem, and give thanks to Him
whose mercy has endured forever-the Creator of all things
in goodness who rst delivered them, and remembered
them to redeem them when brought low.
Psalm 135 is a very characteristic psalm, giving a
remarkable key to the interpretation of the book, and
linking it with the early statements of Jehovah as to His
relationship to Israel, so as to bind together their history
in one whole. e subject is Hallelujah-praise the name of
Jehovah. He is good: it is pleasant to do it; for He has chosen
Jacob and Israel for His peculiar treasure. He is then (vs. 6)
celebrated as the Almighty God, doing what He pleased,
daily disposing of creation; then as He who executed
judgment on the oppressors of Israel, and freed them, and
drove out the heathen and gave them their land. Now
comes His name in connection with Israel and in contrast
with idols; and the two passages, in one of which He rst
took up Israel forever under the name of Jehovah, and, in
the other, prophetically announced their deliverance when
they should have wholly and utterly failed, are cited from
Exodus 3:15 and Deuteronomy 32:36. e rst takes the
name of the Lord God of their fathers, God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, when He sends Moses to deliver them,
and declares this is His name forever, His memorial to all
generations, and then promises deliverance and bringing
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into the land; then He takes the name of Jehovah. e
second is in the prophetic song of<P213> Moses, when
he has drawn out to them their picture as apostate, their
spot not the spot of God’s children, when they forsook
God who made them, and provoked Him to jealousy with
strange gods, and Jehovah hid His face from them, and, but
for the fear of man’s pride, had made the remembrance of
them to cease from among men. en, when they should be
helpless and hopeless in themselves, Jehovah would judge
His people, and repent Himself concerning His servants,
execute judgments on the heathen, and then make them
rejoice with His people. So that these two verses give the
rst deliverance and purpose of God, and the judgment
and ways of God in the last days, to which the Psalms have
brought us. us they give a clear key to the application
of the Psalms themselves. en we have (vss. 15-18) the
present judgment of the idols spoken of in Deuteronomy
32, and to which they had fallen away. e psalm closes
with the summons to those already generally specied-
the divers parts of Israel and all that fear Jehovah-to bless
Jehovah; the house of Israel, of Aaron, of Levi, and all that
fear Jehovah; and this now out of Zion, even Jehovah, of
whom now they could say that He dwelt in Jerusalem.
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Psalm 136
e answer to the summons
Psalm 136 may be considered as the answer to this
summons. It is characterized by the formulary, as often
noticed, the expression of Jehovah’s unchanging goodness
to Israel in spite of all: “His mercy endureth forever.” It
celebrates Him as Creator, God of gods, the Deliverer of
Israel, who had led them through the wilderness, as Him
who by power slaying mighty kings had given them the
inheritance of the land; and who, nally, remembering
them in their low estate, had redeemed them from it, and
now supplied every living thing with food, the God of
heaven. is, in a certain sense, closes the historical psalms.
Sorrows, Jehovah’s ways, millennial praises
We have then a kind of supplementary series: rst, of
their characteristic sorrows and Jehovah’s ways in the latter
days, and then of millennial praises. ese sorrows are from
Psalms 137-144-the latter, however, being the expectation
of <P214>deliverance and blessing. Psalm 139 also has a
peculiar character, as will be at once seen.
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Psalm 137
Remembrance of Zion in their past captivity
Psalm 137 refers, and alone does-to give the full history
of Israel’s sorrows-to Babylon, which has only a mystic
fulllment in the latter days, but has its importance,
because at that time was the closing of the period of the
divine presence in Jerusalem, and the setting up of the
power of the Gentiles. But faith could not content itself
in a strange land nor sing the Lord’s songs there; for they
were not a heavenly people-hence they turn to Jerusalem,
which faith never forgets. Babylon is to be destroyed and
her judgment is desired; Edom’s enmity not forgotten. e
object of the psalm is to bring out their attachment to Zion
in their captivity; there was no separation of heart from it
in the strange land.
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Psalm 138
e ground of faith-God’s Word
Psalm 138 gives the ground of faith-God’s Word; and
now the godly turns to own it in worship; and when that
Word reaches the kings of the earth, they shall turn and
praise Jehovah and sing in His ways. Nor is His truth all.
ough so high, He has respect to the lowly; He revives,
protects, and perfects all that concerns the believing
righteous. “His mercy endureth forever.”
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Psalm 139
Man’s heart searched out; God’s omniscience,
omnipresence and omnipotence
Psalm 139 shows the complete exercise of heart that
belongs to God’s ways. ough the faithfulness of God
perfects all His purposed blessing, not a thought escapes
God. ere is, morally speaking, no staying in His presence;
but there is no getting out of His presence, nor where He
sees not, though conscience might be glad to ee. But this
brings in another aspect. He knows all, be<P215>cause also
He has formed all. is connects us with the taking perfect
notice of us in goodness. He cares for us, watches over every
member that is formed, as He knows our every thought; if
He does, He has His own too, and these are precious to
us. is is just the change and working of faith. It begins
necessarily by conscience under God’s eye; for it brings us
into His presence, and then gets at God’s thoughts, who
has formed us for Himself, and then unfolded boundless
spheres of His own blessing and ways. God watches over
him in the silence of sleep: waking, therefore, he nds
himself with God.
But, further, this connection with God is a perfect
breaking with the wicked: God will slay them. And he
calls on them to depart from him. erefore he looks at
the wicked with horror, because of what they are to God-
for himself, that he may be searched throughout, that no
wickedness may remain in him. is psalm goes far in the
relationship of man’s spirit with God, though it looks to
the external judgment of the wicked, and uses language
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which becomes veried in the assembly guratively and
which is so also in the resurrection. e great direct point
in it is the full searching out of man’s heart, as it will be
then, as it must be ever. But this searching, when we are
under our own responsibility, is, Whither shall I ee from
Him? But when we are God’s workmanship (that is, when
grace and power have come in), God’s thoughts become
precious to us, and we can ask to be searched, known, and
tried-the more the better, that, emptied of self, we may be
able to enjoy God. en also we look for leading. e will
is broken, as the thoughts are judged, and our desire is to
be led of God. We see at the same time the character of
the psalm connects it with the latter day. “Surely thou wilt
slay the wicked.” It looks for judgment, and has hatred and
horror of the haters of God.
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Psalms 140-143
A restored Israel, still in conict and distress
e ve following psalms go over ground which we
have trodden over in detail: only they apply to a restored
Israel, still in conict, and not fully blessed.<P216>
Encompassed by the proud; deliverance looked for
from the evil and violent
Psalm 140 looks for deliverance from the evil and violent
man. Israel is in connection with Jehovah, but compassed
about by the proud.
e desire of the godly that his words and thoughts
be kept
Psalm 141. Having learned the government of Jehovah,
the godly looks for his words and thoughts to be kept
of Jehovah, that Jehovah may bless him. Smiting he will
accept as discipline. He looks for acceptance for his prayers.
And even in the judgment coming upon the proud (Israel,
I apprehend), he looks to it as breaking them down so as
to hear His Word. It is such a psalm as David might have
penned when pursued by Saul. He looks for judgment on
the wicked, but that calamities may arrest some.
Jehovah alone looked to as a refuge
Psalm 142 looks to Jehovah alone as a refuge.
e cry for mercy and goodness
Psalm 143 specially for mercy and goodness, that in the
midst of the persecution of the enemy, and the pressure on
the godly, Jehovah would not enter into judgment with him,
but show His loving-kindness. As the servant of Jehovah,
he begs to be taught and guided. us these psalms are all
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393
of one in deep distress; but they look, in relationship with
Jehovah (not cast out, and knowing Him only as God), for
the cutting o of the enemies.
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Psalm 144
Jehovah blessed as the source of strength
Psalm 144 blesses Jehovah as the source of strength. Its
plea for the destruction of the enemies is, What is man?
Why should Jehovah make account1 of such a worm, and
delay bringing in blessing by thus lingering in judgment?
Deliverance is thus looked for, for the full true nal blessing
of Israel. Happy the people in such a<P217> case: happy
the people who have Jehovah for their God! Directly, the
psalm applies to David himself, who is named in it, and
owns God, as subduing his (David’s) people under him,
as the source of royal power. I do not see that it brings in
any personally in the latter day. Did it so, it would be “the
prince”; for there will be a human house of David on the
earth. But it is the bringing in of the people into that state
of subjection under Christ, when they will be willing in
the day of His power, when in the day of Jezreel they will
appoint themselves one head, when the day will be great,
when Jehovah will utterly scatter the power of the enemies
of Israel, give them a new song, and bless them. Messiah
will surely be their head; but it is prophetically spoken of
by David in person. e true Beloved will be their sure
head.
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Psalm 145
Christ in the midst of Israel leading and awakening
Jehovah’s praises
Psalm 145 goes on in thought into the millennium,
after the distress is over, and the full deliverance can be
celebrated. It is Christ in spirit-perhaps even in person-
as in the midst of Israel, leading the praises of Jehovah,
and awakening them among men. Hence, though only
expressing purpose, it is a dialogue in its character. First, he
expresses his own purpose of praising Jehovah, and forever
and ever. One generation should do it to another. “I will
speak.” One sees his heart is full of praise, and he speaks
of it (vs. 5). “And men shall speak of the might of Jehovah’s
terrible acts. And I will declare thy greatness. ey shall
speak of the
1. Compare Psalm 8, grace’s view of it, and Job’s impatience
(ch. 7:17-18) against discipline, God’s taking notice
of men’s ways in government.
memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy
righteousness.” en he breaks o most beautifully to
speak of the goodness: for still out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaks. All Jehovah’s works shall praise
Him. e saints bless Him. eir subject shall be the glory
of Jehovah’s kingdom and His power, to make known to
the mass of mankind His acts, and the glorious majesty of
His kingdom, and that an everlasting one. en in verses
14-20 His character is spoken of. Verse 21 returns to the
purpose of heart of the leader of praise. It is as man Christ
speaks here-“my God.” Jehovah is looked at as King. In
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general, the outward acts and greatness are more in the
mouth of the rest<P218>-what Jehovah is in the leader’s,
though he does celebrate His wondrous works. Still the
greatness and excellency and majesty of Jehovah are that
which we see his heart full of, as verses 3, 5 and 8-10; and
so, in general, His gracious ways and character (vss. 14-19).
It is to be remarked that there is the leader who speaks in
the psalm, the saints (the Jewish remnant), and the world
in general, the sons of Adam. It is of the highest interest
in this way; because we have Messiah fullling the word,
“My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation.” And
how full in heart He is of His praises! Jehovah’s kingdom
is set up; the Messiah in the midst of Israel rst, then the
preserved saints, and then, through their leading, all the
world join in His praises, for His greatness, goodness, and
wonderful works.
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Psalm 146
e introduction to full nal praises
Psalm 146 introduces the full nal praises: the rst, the
outpouring of the heart in praise to Him as the God of Jacob,
celebrating what He is, and the comfort of trusting Him,
the Creator, the Helper of the oppressed, the Comforter of
the lowly, the Lover of the righteous, who turns the way of
the wicked upside down. He shall reign forever, even Zion’s
God to all generations. e character of this praise, after
what we have gone through, is most simple.
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Psalm 147
e saints’ song of praise to tell what Jehovah is
In Psalm 147 the saints take their place now in Jerusalem
and Zion to say what He is. He is their God; He builds
up Jerusalem and gathers together the outcasts of Israel,
healing the broken in heart and binding up their wounds.
In verses 4-5 His greatness is celebrated and His goodness
and judgment; in verses 7-9, His goodness in blessing
the earth; in verses 10-11, His pleasure, not in animal
strength, but in them that fear Him. In verse 12, the song
of praise returns to celebrate His ways towards Jerusalem
again; in verses 15-18, His dealings with the seasons in
power; in<P219> verses 19-20, His showing His Word
and judgments to Jacob as He had not done to any nation.
ey might have seen the creative and providential power
of Jacob’s God, but His mind and laws were His people’s.
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Psalm 148
e call to heaven and earth to take their part in the
great Hallelujah
Psalm 148 calls rst on heaven, and all in it, to take
their part in the great Hallelujah, and praise Jehovah who
had created and sustains them in their place; and then
on the earth, with all in it, to join in praising Him whose
name alone is excellent, and His glory above the earth and
heaven, but who exalts the horn of His people, the praise
of His saints (the godly ones we have seen throughout, but
who now are fully Israel), a people near to Him. e great
Creator whom heaven and earth must praise is the God of
Israel, and Israel His people.
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Psalm 149
e call to Israel to praise and the reasons
Psalm 149 calls upon Israel to praise. e creation and
Israel we have seen all through to be coordinate (the new
creation and the assembly), and to form the sphere of the
Psalms. Still it is now in the congregation of the saints.
Israel’s relationship is double: Jehovah has formed him for
His praise; He is King in Zion. e reasons of praise are
then given. Jehovah takes pleasure in His people; but we
learn who have this place. He beauties the meek with
salvation. en he can say, Let the saints be joyful in glory;
but if the high praises of God are in their mouths, the
sword of earthly judgment and vengeance is in their hands
to execute it on the nations and peoples, to bind the mighty
ones who had once oppressed them. It was the judgment
written. Such honor have all His saints. e persons here
in view are thus evident, as is their position: the meek in
Israel now delivered, and the Lord Jesus, King in Zion,
execute judgment on those who had oppressed them. Such
is indeed, as said, the judgment written, and conrms
the<P220> view I have taken of the last two books: only
now it is complete in its statements. e millennium itself
is not described. e Psalms are the introduction to it, and
by their connection of Christ, as seen in the Gospels, and
the remnant of Israel, with the last days, throw the greatest
light on the Gospels themselves.
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Psalm 150
e general closing summons to everything that has
breath to praise Him
Psalm 150 is a general closing summons to praise
Jehovah- only, remark, it is now freely in His sanctuary, as
well as in the rmament of His power-in His sanctuary,
with all the various instruments of the temple-praise for
His mighty acts, praise for His own excellent greatness:
everything that has breath is called to praise Him. It is a
loud and chorus-like termination, full of power and energy,
suited to the Jewish state and temple service.
Here we close this most interesting and instructive study,
as to which I could hope only to give the outline of general
principles, which might enable the reader to use the book;
not its varied and beautiful contents in detail-this would
have required volumes, both on the prophetic connection
of its contents, and on the exercises and feelings of faith, so
far as we can apply them to saints now.<P221>
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Proverbs
e scope and purpose of the book
e Book of Proverbs gives us the application of that
wisdom which created the heavens and the earth to the
details of life in this world of confusion and evil. is
thought brings out the immensity of grace unfolded here.
God deigns to apply His wisdom to the circumstances of
our practical life, and to show us, with His own intelligence,
the consequences of all the ways in which man may walk.
For it is often in the way of knowledge, not of precept,
that the statements made in the Book of Proverbs are
presented. It is a great blessing to be provided for the
labyrinth of this world, in which a false step may lead to
such bitter consequences, with a book that sets forth the
path of prudence and of life; and that in connection with a
wisdom which comes from God.
Heavenly wisdom exercised in, and applied to, this
world
It is well to remember that the Book of Proverbs treats
of this world, and of God’s government, according to
which man reaps that which he has sown. is is always
true, whatever may be the sovereign grace that bestows on
us things beyond and innitely above this world.
Solomon was lled with wisdom from above, but which
had its exercise in this world, and its application to it; that
is to say, which applied to it God’s way of viewing all things,
discerning the truth of all that, day by day, is developed
in it. We have here the ways of God, the divine path for
human conduct, the discernment of that which the heart
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of man produces, and of its consequences; and also-for
one who is subject to the Word-the means of avoiding the
path of his own will and of his own foolish heart (which is
unable to understand the bearing of a multitude of actions
that it suggests to him), and this, not by bringing him
back to moral perfection-for that is not the object of the
Proverbs; but to that<P222> wisdom and prudence which
enable him to avoid many errors, and to maintain a serious
walk before God, and an habitual submission to His mind.
e precepts of this book establish practical happiness in
this world by maintaining earthly relationships in their
integrity according to God. Now it is not human prudence
and sagacity that are enjoined. e fear of the Lord,1 which
is the beginning of wisdom, is the subject here.
(1. I have left “Lord” here as an expression of general
application, but Jehovah is always His name in Israel, and
that of government, save in a few cases where Adonai (Lord,
in the proper appellative use of it) is employed. But it is to
be noted that Jehovah is used in Proverbs, because it is
authoritatively instructive in known relationship; never in
Ecclesiastes, where it is God in contrast with man, having
his own experience as such on earth. “God” abstractedly is
only once used in Proverbs (ch. 25:2). We have “her God”
in chapter 2:17.)
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Proverbs 1-9
e distinct parts of the book
ere are two very distinct parts in this book. e rst
nine chapters, which give the great general principles; and
the proverbs, properly so called, or moral aphorisms or
sentences, which indicate the path in which the wise man
should walk. At the end of the book is a collection of such
made by Hezekiah.
e fear of the Lord; the madness of self-will
Let us examine the rst part. e grand principle is laid
down at the outset-the fear of the Lord on the one side,
and on the other the madness of self-will which despises
the wisdom and instruction that restrain it. For, besides the
knowledge of good and evil in respect of which the fear
of the Lord will operate, there is that exercise of authority
in God’s created order which is a check on will (the
origin of all disorder), as that conded to parents and the
like. And these are carefully insisted on, in contrast with
independence, as the basis of happiness and moral order in
the world. It is not simply God’s authority giving precepts;
nor even His statements of the consequence of actions,
but the order He has set up in the relationships He has
established among men, especially of parents, subjection
to them is really owning God in His order. It is the rst
commandment with promise.<P223>
Man’s will manifested in violence and corruption
ere are two forms in which sin, or the activity of
man’s will, manifests itself-violence and corruption. is
was seen at the time of the deluge. e earth was corrupt
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405
before God, and the earth was lled with violence. Satan is
a liar and a murderer. In man, corrupt lusts are even a more
abundant source of evil.
In chapter 1 violence is pointed out as the infringement
of those obligations which the will of God has laid upon
us. But wisdom cries aloud that her voice may be heard,
proclaiming the judgment of those who despise her ways.
e way of deliverance
Chapter 2 gives us the result of subjection of heart to
the words of wisdom, and an earnest search after it-the
knowledge of the fear of Jehovah, and the knowledge of
God Himself. He who applies himself to this shall be
kept: he shall not only have no part with the wicked man,
but he shall be delivered from the deceitful woman-from
corruption. e judgment of the earth and the prosperity
of the righteous are declared.
e clue to guidance through a world of wickedness
e latter principle being established, chapter 3 shows
that it is not human sagacity or the prudence of man which
imparts the wisdom here spoken of. Neither is it the ardent
desire after prosperity and happiness, manifesting itself in
crooked ways; but the fear of Jehovah and subjection to
His Word supply the one clue to guide us safely through a
world of wickedness which He governs.
e necessity of pursuing wisdom; warning
Chapter 4 insists on the necessity of pursuing wisdom
at whatever cost; it is a path of sure reward. It warns against
all association that would lead the contrary way and into
ruin, adding that the heart, the lips, and the feet are to be
watched.
Corruption of heart seen by Jehovah
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Chapter 5 returns in detail to the corruption of heart
that leads a man to forsake the wife of his youth for another.
is path <P224>demoralizes the whole man. But the eyes
of Jehovah are upon the ways of man.
e principles of life; hearkening to wisdom’s words
In chapter 6 wisdom will not be surety for another. It
is neither slothful, nor violent, nor deceitful. e strange
woman should be avoided as re: there is no reparation for
adultery.
In chapter 7 the house of the strange woman is the
path to the grave. To curb oneself, to be rm in resisting
allurements, looking to Jehovah and hearkening to the
words of the wise-such are the principles of life given in
these chapters.
e everlasting wisdom of God, active, revealed and
unfolded
Chapter 8. e wisdom of God is active. It cries aloud;
it invites men. ree principles distinguish it-discretion,
or the right consideration of circumstances, instead of
following self-will; hatred of evil, which evidences the fear
of Jehovah; and detestation of arrogance and hypocrisy in
man. It is by wisdom that kings and princes rule; strength,
counsel, and sound wisdom, and durable riches, are found
in it. Moreover Jehovah Himself has acted according to His
own perfect discernment of the right relations of all things
to each other; that is to say, He created them according
to the perfection of His own thoughts. But this leads us
farther; for Christ is the wisdom of God. He is the center of
all relations, according to the perfections of God; and is in
Himself the object of God’s eternal delight. e everlasting
wisdom of God is revealed and unfolded in Him. But this
is not the only link. If Christ was the object of God the
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Father’s delight, as the center and fullness of all wisdom,
men have been the delight of Christ, and the habitable
parts of Jehovah’s earth. It is in connection with men that
Christ is seen, when considered as uniting and developing
in Himself every feature of the wisdom and the counsels of
God. e life that was in Him was the light of men. Christ
is then the object of God the Father’s delight. Christ ever
found His joy in God the Father, and His delight with the
sons of men,1 and in the earth in<P225>habited by men.
Here then must this wisdom be displayed. Here must the
perfection of God’s ways be manifested. Here must divine
wisdom be a guide to the conduct of a being subject to its
direction. Now it is in Christ, the wisdom of God, that
this is found. Whoso hearkens to Him nds life. Observe
here that, all-important as this revelation is of the display
of God’s wisdom in connection with men, we do not nd
man’s new place in Christ, nor the assembly here. She is
called away from this present evil age to belong to Jesus
in heaven. Christ cannot actually yet rejoice in the sons of
men, if we take their state into account. When He takes
possession of the earth, this will be fully accomplished-
this will be the millennium. Meantime He calls on men to
hear His voice. e principle of a path to be followed by
hearkening to the words of wisdom is one of the greatest
importance for this world, and of the most extensive
bearing. ere is the path of God, in which He is known.
ere is but one. If we do not walk in it, we shall suer the
consequences, even if really loving the Lord.
(1. So He became a man, and the unjealous testimony
of the angels on His birth is, Glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace, good pleasure in men. Man would not
have Him, and the special relationship of His risen place
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as man with God, “my Father and your Father, my God
and your God,” and that of the assembly was formed, but
His delight was in that race; for the time it was not peace
on earth but division, but even after the millennium the
tabernacle of God will be with men, where we have both
the special relationship and the general blessing.)
Wisdom’s invitation
But in fact (ch. 9) wisdom has done more than this; it
has formed a system, established a house of its own, upheld
by the perfection of well-regulated and coordinate solidity.
It is furnished with meat and wine; the table is spread; and,
in the most public manner, wisdom invites the simple to
come and partake, while pointing out to them the right
way in which life is found. ere is another woman; but
before speaking of her, the Spirit teaches that instruction
is wasted on the scorner; he will but hate his reprover.
Wisdom is wise even in relation to its enemies. ere is
progress for the wise and the upright, but the beginning of
it is the fear of Jehovah. is is its fundamental principle.
But scong is not the only character of evil. ere is
the foolish woman. is is not the activity of love which
seeks the good of those who are ignorant of good. She is
clamorous, sitting in the high places, at the door of her
house, seeking to turn aside those who go right on their
ways, and alluring those that have no <P226>understanding
into the paths of deceit and sin; and they know not that
her guests are the victims of death. Such are the general
instructions which God’s warning wisdom gives us.
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Snares to be avoided, the path to be followed
In chapter 10 begin the details which teach those who
give ear how to avoid the snares into which the simple
might fall, the path to be followed in many cases, and
the consequences of men’s actions: in short, that which
characterizes wisdom in detail, what may be prudence for
man, divine discretion for the children of God; and also,
the result of God’s government, whatever appearances may
be for a while. It is well to observe, that there is no question
of redemption or propitiation in this book; it proposes a
walk according to the wisdom of God’s government.
Wisdom for government; industry and its reward
In the nal chapter we have the character of a king
according to wisdom, and that of the woman in her own
house-the king who does not allow himself that which, by
darkening his moral discernment through the indulgence
of his lusts, would make him unt to govern. In the woman
we see the persevering and devoted industry which lls
the house with riches, brings honor to its inhabitants, and
removes all the cares and anxieties produced by sloth. e
typical application of these two specic characters is too
evident to need explanation. e example of the woman is
very useful, as to the spirit of the thing, to one who labors
in the assembly.
e great use of the book to the Christian
Although in this book the wisdom produced by the fear
of Jehovah is only applied to this world, it is on that very
account of great use to the Christian, who, in view of his
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heavenly privileges, might, more or less, forget the continual
government of God. It is very important for the Christian
to remember the fear of the Lord, and the eect of God’s
presence on the details of his conduct; and I repeat that
which I said at the beginning, that it is great grace which
deigns to apply divine wisdom to all the details of the life
of<P227> man in the midst of the confusion brought in by
sin. Occupied with heavenly things, the Christian is less in
the way of discovering, by his own experience, the clue to
the labyrinth of evil through which he is passing. God has
considered this, and He has laid down this rst principle,
“Wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning
evil.” us the Christian may be ignorant of evil (if a
worldling were so, he would fall into it), and yet avoid it
through his knowledge of good. e wisdom of God gives
him the latter; the government of God provides for all the
rest. Now, in the Proverbs, we have these things in principle
and in detail. I have not dwelt on the gurative character
of the forms of evil. ey are rather principles than gures.
But the violent man of the last days is continually found in
the Psalms; and Babylon is the full accomplishment of the
woman who takes the simple in her snares and leads them
down to death; just as Christ is the perfect wisdom of God
which leads to life. But these two things which manifest
evil proceed from the heart of man at all times since the
fall: only we have seen that there is an active development
of the wiles of the evil woman, who has her own house
and her own arrangements. It is not simply the principle of
corruption, but an organized system, as is that of sovereign
wisdom.<P228>
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Ecclesiastes
e viewpoint of the book: the wise man’s search for
happiness under the sun and his discovery
e Book of Ecclesiastes is, up to a certain point, the
converse of the Book of Proverbs.1 It is the experience
of a man who-retaining wisdom, that he may judge of
all-makes trial of everything under the sun that could
be supposed capable of rendering men happy, through
the enjoyment of everything that human capacity can
entertain as a means of joy. e eect of this trial was the
discovery that all is vanity and vexation of spirit; that every
eort to be happy in possessing the earth, in whatever way
it may be, ends in nothing. ere is a cankerworm at the
root. e greater the capacity of enjoyment, the deeper and
wider is the experience of disappointment and vexation
of spirit. Pleasure does not satisfy, and even the idea of
securing happiness in this world by an unusual degree
of righteousness, cannot be realized. Evil is there, and
the government of God in such a world as this, is not in
exercise to secure happiness to man here below-a happiness
drawn from the things below and resting on their stability;
though as a general rule it protects those who walk with
God: “Who is he that shall harm you, if ye be followers of
that which is good?”2ere is no allusion to the truth that
we are dead in sins and oences. It is the result in the mind
of the writer of the experience which he has gone through,
and which he sets before us. As to the things around us,
there is nothing better than to enjoy the things which God
has given us; and nally, the fear of Jehovah is the whole of
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man, as the rule of his walk on earth. His own capacities do
not make him happy nor<P229> the gratifying of his own
will, even when he has everything at command. “For what
can the man do that cometh after the king?” Man fails to
secure joy; and permanent joy is not to be found for man.
Consequently, if there be any joy, it is with the sense that it
cannot be retained.
(1. See the note to Proverbs, page 223.)
(2. Peter’s epistles, after laying the foundation of
redemption and being born again, are occupied with the
degree in which what was immediate (in promise) among
the Jews is applicable now. e rst epistle, its application
to saints; the second, to the world and the wicked here
below: hence he goes on to the new heavens and the new
earth.)
Wisdom and folly in this world and their end
e moral of this book goes even farther than that of
the Proverbs-on one side at least; for we must remember
that it is this world that is in question (under the sun).
Wisdom avails no more than folly. e dierence between
them is as great as that between light and darkness. But
one event happens to all men, and much reection only
makes us hate life. e heart becomes weary of research,
and after all one dies like another. e world is ruined as a
system, and death cuts the thread of thoughts and projects,
and annihilates all connection between the most skillful
workman and the fruit of his labors. What prot has been
to him? ere is a time for all things, and man must do each
in its season, and enjoy that which God gives on his way.
But God is the same in all His works, that men should fear
before Him. He knows that God will judge the righteous
and the wicked; but, as far as man’s knowledge extends, he
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dies as the beast dies, and who can tell what becomes of
him afterwards? ere is no question here of the revelation
of the world to come, but only of the conclusions drawn
from experience of what takes place in this world. e
knowledge of God teaches that there is a judgment; to man
all is darkness beyond the present life.
Injustice and unredressed wrongs
Chapter 4 expresses the deep sorrow caused by the
crying injustice of a sinful world, the unredressed wrongs
which compose the history of our race, and which, in fact,
make the history of man insupportable to one who has a
sense of natural justice, and creates the desire to put an end
to it. Labor and sloth alike bring their quota of distress.
Nevertheless, in the midst of this quicksand in which there
is no standing, we see the thought of God arise, giving a
rm foundation to heart and mind.<P230>
God over all in government and judgment
is is in the beginning of chapter 5. He demands
respect from man. e folly of the heart is indeed folly in
His presence. From thence onward we nd that that which
takes away the vain hope of earthly happiness gives a more
true joy to the heart that becomes wise, and therefore
joyful, in separating itself from the world. ere is therefore
the grace also of patience. e self-sucient eort to be
righteous only ends in shame; to be active in evil ends in
death. Finally, to strive after wisdom by the knowledge of
things below is labor in vain. He has found two things:
rst, with respect to woman, judged by the experience of
the world, he has found none good; among men, one in a
thousand; and, in a word, that God made man upright, but
he has sought out many inventions apart from God.
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God must be honored, and the king also, to whom God
has given authority. We see too in chapters 9-10, how little
everything here meets the apparent capacity of man; and,
even when this capacity is real, how little it is esteemed.
Nevertheless the wisdom of the upright, and the folly of
the fool, have each its own consequences, and, after all, God
judges. To sum up the whole, God must be remembered,
and that before weakness and old age overtake us. For the
manifest conclusion of all that has been said is, “Fear God
and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.”
Submission and obedience to God the principle of all
true wisdom
e chief subject, then, of this book is the folly of all
man’s eorts in seeking happiness here below, and that
the wisdom which judges all this only renders man still
more unhappy. And then all this experience, on the part of
one who possessed the highest capacity, is put in contrast
with the simple principle of all true wisdom-submission
and obedience to God, who knows all things, and who
governs all things, because “God shall bring every work
into judgment.”
e only rule of life
If we remember that this book gives us the experience
of man, and the reasonings of man, on all that happens
under the sun, there is no diculty in those passages that
have the semblance of<P231> indelity. e experience of
man is necessarily indel. He confesses his ignorance; for
beyond that which is seen, experience can know nothing.
But the solution of all moral problems is above and beyond
that which is seen. e Book of Ecclesiastes makes this
manifest. e only rule of life then is to fear the God who
disposes of our life, who judges every action all the days
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of the life of our vanity. ere is no question, in this book,
of grace or of redemption, but only of the experience of
this present life, and of that which God has said with
respect to it-namely, His law, His commandments, and the
consequent judgment-that which is decreed to man.
A Jew under the law might say these things, after having
had the experience of all that God could give man to favor
him in this position, and in view of the judgment of God
that is connected with it.
e dierence between Proverbs and Ecclesiastes
In Proverbs we have practical moral guidance through
the world; in Ecclesiastes the result of all eorts of man’s
will to nd happiness, with all means at his disposal. But
in the whole inquiry in Ecclesiastes there is no covenant
relationship, no revelation. It is man with his natural
faculties, and such as he is, conscious indeed he has to say
to God, but seeking by his own thoughts where happiness
is to be found. Only that conscience has its part in the
matter, and the fear of God is owned at the end. It is God
owned indeed, but man in the world with full experience
of all in it.<P232>
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e Song of Songs
e aections of the remnant to the King and those
of the assembly
is book takes up the Jew, or at least the remnant, in
quite another aspect. It tells of the aections that the King
can create in their heart, and by which He draws them to
Himself. However strong these aections may be, they are
not developed according to the position in which Christian
aections, properly so called, are formed. ey dier in
this respect. ey do not possess the profound repose and
sweetness of an aection that ows from a relationship
already formed, known, and fully appreciated, the bonds of
which are formed and recognized, that counts upon the full
and constant acknowledgment of the relationship, and that
each party enjoys, as a certain thing, in the heart of the other.
e desire of one who loves, and is seeking the aections of
the beloved object, is not the sweet, entire, and established
aection of the wife, with whom marriage has formed an
indissoluble union. To the former the relationship is only
in desire, the consequence of the state of heart; to the latter
the state of heart is the consequence of the relationship.
Now, although the marriage of the Lamb is not yet come,
nevertheless, on account of the revelation which has been
made to us, and of the accomplishment of our salvation,
this latter character of aection is that which is proper to
the assembly. Praise and glory be to God for it! We know
whom we have believed. e strength and energy of desire
is, however, still maintained, because glory and the marriage
of the Lamb are yet future. What a position is that of the
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assembly! e entire condence of the relationship on the
one hand, the ardent expectation of the betrothed of the
Lord on the other, whose love, however, is well-known; an
expectation that is linked with the glory in which He will
come to receive her to Himself, to be forever with Him.
is is not the position of the Jew. e point for him is
to know<P233> that his Beloved is his. at is the question.
at there is a principle in common is true. Christ loves
His assembly, He loves His earthly people, He loves the
soul that He draws to Himself. So that there is a moral
application to ourselves which is very precious. Nevertheless
it is important that we distinguish and do not apply to the
assembly that which relates to Israel. Otherwise we shall
not have the right character of aection, and shall fail in
that which is due to Christ.
Christ for the remnant and the remnant for Christ
e Song of Songs gives then the reestablishment of
the relations between Christ and the remnant, in order
that by exercise of heart-necessary on account of their
position-they may be conrmed in the assurance of His
love, and in the knowledge that all is of grace, and a grace
that can never fail. en is He fully known as Solomon.
His heart becomes like the chariot of His willing people
(Ammi-nadib), which carries Him away.
Chapter 8:1 aords us a passage which may serve to
express the state of mind treated in the book. “Oh that thou
wert as my brother … when I should nd thee without, I
would kiss thee.” Nevertheless, the Spirit of God desiring
to assure the heart of the remnant of the Saviour’s love, we
see that the expression of the heart’s desire to possess its
Beloved does not cease until it has gained its object. e
heart assures itself according to the operation of the Spirit
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of prophecy; for in fact Christ is for the remnant, and the
remnant is for Him. e whole is based on this. But the
heart needs to be reassured, as in a similar case we observe
in other passages.
Having thus given the general idea, we shall point
out some features that are developed in the course of this
book, and that possess a moral import of great interest to
ourselves.
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Assurance of the full enjoyment of blessing
Chapter 1 presents in the most clear and simple manner
the assurance of the full enjoyment of blessing; but still,
though aection be there, all is more characterized by desire
than by peace. And after this we nd exercises of heart, that
lead to a full <P234>understanding of the Beloved One’s
aection. ere is progress in this intelligence, and that in
spite of the faults and slothfulness of heart, which give a
fresh value to the aection that is in exercise. is mode
of instruction is found in the Psalms, in which the rst
verses frequently give the thesis and the result, which is
reached through circumstances that are afterwards detailed.
Besides the peacefulness of the aection which subsists
in a known relation, there is another sign of an aection
in exercise when the relation is not formally established.
e heart is occupied with the qualities, with the features,
of the Beloved One. When, on the contrary, the object is
possessed, it is with that object itself the heart is occupied.
No doubt the qualities are a source of happiness; but while
the position gives the enjoyment of these, it is the person
who manifests them that is thought of. e grace, the
kindness, or similar qualities, may attract the heart, and it
is occupied with them. But, the relationship once formed,
it is the person we think of, whose qualities are now, so to
say, our own.
e qualities of the Beloved in perfect grace
e loved one speaks much here of the qualities of
her Beloved; she loves to speak of them, and to others. It
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may be said that the Beloved does so yet more, although
He knows the relation in which He stands to her. is
is true; but, as she is not yet in it, He is fain to reassure
her with respect to her value in His eyes. He therefore
speaks constantly of it to herself. Moreover, this is suitable
to the position of man and of woman, and so much the
more as it is really Christ Himself in question. Christ, in a
certain sense, suces to Himself. He needs not to go and
talk to others of that which is in His heart. His love is a
love of grace. But it is innitely precious to us-when, in
our utter unworthiness, we might doubt the possibility of
His aection, even because it is so inestimable-and very
aecting, as well as precious, to see Him manifesting His
sense of her value, that her beauty is perfect in His eyes,
that He has observed all her features, that one look has
ravished His heart, that His dove, His undeled, is the only
one, that there is no spot in her. ere is perfect grace in
this reassuring testimony on the Bridegroom’s part. It is
the chief subject of His discourse. It is that which her heart
needed.<P235>
e exercises of the bride’s heart
ere is much more variety in the exercises of her heart;
there are even failures and sorrows arising from her faults.
ere is also an evident progress in her assurance. e song
commences with the bride’s declaration that her heart
needs this testimony. She acknowledges that she is black,
because of the scorching rays of the sun of aiction. She
seeks shelter in the presence of her Beloved, who makes
His ock to rest at noon. She would belong to Him only.
She fears now to wander among the shepherds of Israel.
But if the Spirit of the Lord reminds her of those former
testimonies of the law and the prophets, her heart is
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not silent, and the heart of the Beloved overows in the
testimony of her value in His eyes. e suitability of all this
to the remnant in the last days is evident. e rest of the
chapter contains testimonies of aection, which present
the idea that is the thesis of the book.
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e awakening of aections and condence in the
remnant
e rst six verses (omitting the second) of chapter 2
appear to me to be the voice of the bride. ey have been
dierently understood, but (I think) wrongly. Observe here
that Christ is the apple tree. is will help us afterwards.
Moreover the bride speaks of herself. In theory she
apprehends her relationship, and speaks chiey of herself;
but there is real aection. e Bridegroom will not allow
her to be disturbed1 when she rests with full condence
in His love. His own voice, the only one to which she now
hearkens, shall waken her. He Himself tells her to arise, that
the winter is past-the time of mourning and sorrow. He
desires also to hear her voice. us her heart is reassured:
her Beloved is hers. How truly all this gives the awakening
of divine aections and condence in the remnant which
had so long learned what it was to have Jehovah’s face
hidden, and how fully the inextinguishable love of Him
who wept over Jerusalem is in the blessedest way in
exercise to awaken this condence and assure the heart of
the aicted people! It is to me singularly beautiful, not
instruction as to circumstances nor in <P236>connection
with responsibility, but grace-Christ’s (Jehovah’s) own
relationship with Israel.
(1. Read, “Till she please.”)
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Song of Solomon 3
e bride alone and in darkness; the Beloved sought
for
In chapter 3 we have another attitude, another state
of heart. She is alone and in darkness. She seeks her
Beloved, but nds Him not. ere is aection, but no joy.
She questions the watchmen in Jerusalem who go about
the city. As soon as she passes from them, she nds Him.
Again He will have her rest in His love. But all this is only
prophetically and in testimony, for the comfort of those
who have not yet found Him, by showing them what
He is for them. e Spirit of prophecy then exhibits the
Bridegroom coming up out of the wilderness with His
bride, where (like Moses) He had been with her in spirit.
e chapter conrms the application to Israel. In her
solitary state she seeks the Messiah, and, after inquiring
of those who watched, soon found Him her soul loved,
and brought Him into the place of Israel, for to Israel the
Son was born,1 though in a new relationship. ere He
maintains her rest, and there, the other side of the picture,
the true Solomon comes up out of the wilderness, crowned
now in the day of His espousals, and in the day of the
gladness of His heart, by the Israel that had rejected Him.
(1. So Naomi, and Revelation 12.)
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Song of Solomon 4
e Bridegroom declares all that the bride is in His
sight
And now, chapter 4, He declares all that she is in His
sight, although she has been in the lion’s den. From thence
He calls her, all fair and without spot in His eyes; His
heart expressing His delight in her. It is, I judge, a ne
moral perfectness of thought that the bride never speaks
of the Bridegroom’s perfections to Himself as if she was
to approve Him; she speaks of Him fully as expressive of
her own feelings and to others, but not to Him. He speaks
freely and fully of her to herself as assuring her of His
delight in<P237> her. When we think of Christ and our
relation with Him, this is beautifully appropriate.
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Song of Solomon 5
e reassured heart exhibiting slothfulness is
disciplined
Chapter 5 gives us another experience. Intimacy
was formed through the testimony of the Bridegroom’s
aection. e reassured heart, certain of His love, exhibits
its slothfulness. Alas, what hearts are ours! We turn again to
ourselves as soon as we are comforted by the testimony of
the Lord’s love. e Bridegroom’s sensitive and righteous
heart acts upon her word, and He retires from one who
does not listen to His voice. She arises to learn her own
folly, and the just delicacy, with respect to herself, of His
ways whom she had slighted. How often, alas! do we act in
the same manner with regard to the voice of His Spirit and
the manifestations of His love! What a dreadful loss, but,
through grace, what a lesson! She is chastised by those who
watch for the peace of Jerusalem. What had she to do in the
streets at night, she whom the Bridegroom had sought at
home? And now her very aection exposes her to reproof,
the expression of its energy placing her in a position that
proved she had slighted her Beloved. If we are not in the
peaceful enjoyment of the love of Christ, where He meets
with us in grace, the very strength of our aection and our
self-condemnation causes us to exhibit this aection out of
its place, in a certain sense, and bring us into connection
with those who judge our position. It was right discipline for
a watchman to use towards a woman who was wandering
without, whatever might be the cause. Testimonies of her
aection to her Beloved at home, the love of her own heart,
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do not concern the watchman. Aection may exist; but he
has to do with order and a becoming walk. Nevertheless
her aection was real and led to an ardent expression of
all that her Beloved was to her-an expression addressed to
others, who ought to understand her; not to the watchman,
but to her own companions. But if sloth had prevented
her receiving Him in the visitations of His love, her heart,
now disciplined by the watchman and turned again to her
Beloved, overowing with His praises, being taught of
God, knows where to nd Him.<P238>
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Song of Solomon 6-7
e recognition that we “are not our own”
And this experience makes her understand through
grace another aspect of her relationship, proving a real
progress in the intelligence of grace and condition of heart.
It is no longer the desire that seeks possession of the object
for herself, it is the consciousness that she belongs to Him.
“I am my Beloved’s.” is is a very important progress.
e soul that seeks salvation, that seeks to satisfy newly-
awakened aections, exclaims, as soon as it is assured of
it, “My Beloved is mine.” When there has been a deeper
experience of self, it recognizes itself as being His. us,
with respect to ourselves, it is not, “We have found him of
whom … the prophets did write”; but, “We are not our own,
for we are bought with a price.” To belong in this manner
to Christ, no longer thinking of self, is the happiness of the
soul. It is not that we lose the sense of the blessedness of
possessing the Saviour, but the other thought, the thought
of being His, occupies the rst place.
e consciousness of the remnant of what the bride is
to the Beloved
Again the Beloved testies to the preciousness of
the bride in His eyes. But here also there is a dierence.
Before, when speaking of her, He added to the gentleness
and beauty of her aspect all the graces which were seen in
her, the honey that owed from her lips, the pleasant fruits
that were found in her, the sweet odors which He called
on the breath of the Spirit to bring forth. He does not
now repeat these things. He speaks of that which she is
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for Him. Having described her personal beauty, His heart
dwells on what she is for Himself. “My dove, my undeled,
is but one.” His aection can see no other: none can be
compared with her. ere are many others, but they are not
the one whom He loves. e person of the Lord lls the
heart that has been brought back to Him. e look and
the graces of the bride are the subject of the Bridegroom’s
testimony. Moreover for Him there is no one but her, the
only one of her mother. us will it be with the remnant
of Israel in the last days, even as in spirit it is now with us.
e reception of Christ and His union with this
remnant at Jerusalem are represented in a very striking
manner in that<P239> which follows. It is no longer the
Beloved coming up out of the wilderness-where He had
associated His people with Himself-in glory and in love. It
is the bride, fair as the moon and radiant with glory, who
appears on the scene, like an army with banners displayed.
e Beloved had come down to look upon the ripening
fruits of the valley, and to see if His vine ourished. Before
He is aware, His love makes Him like the chariots of His
willing people. (Compare Psalm 110:3.) He leads them in
glory and triumph. He had sought the fruits of grace among
them; but, having come down for this, He exalts them in
glory. It is only when His people are fully established in
grace that everything in them will be beauty and perfection,
and that they will recognize that they belong entirely to
Christ, and at the same time that they will entirely possess
His aection.
is last thought is the rest of their heart. is is thus
expressed in the third formulary of the experience of this
divine song, if I may coldly so speak, and which gives the
full happiness of the bride, “I am my Beloved’s, and his
Song of Solomon 6-7
429
desire is toward me”- the consciousness of belonging to
Christ and that His aections rest on us-the consciousness
that we are the objects of His own aections and delight.
is is most deep and perfect joy.
e reader will do well to weigh these three expressions
of satisfaction of heart: the possessing Christ; our belonging
to Him; and this last, with the unspeakable knowledge that
His heart’s delight is in us, however much-and it is surely
then it will be felt-all is grace.
But (to return to the text) they can now go forth with
Him to enjoy all the blessings of the earth in the certainty
and the communion of His love. What fruits of gratitude,
what peculiar feelings, will be those which the people of
Israel have kept for the Lord alone, which they could never
have for any other, and which, after all, none but themselves
could have towards the Lord, viewed as come on earth.
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72893
Song of Solomon 8
e prophetic announcement of the full heart-
satisfaction of the remnant
Chapter 8 stands by itself, and appears to me to
recapitulate the<P240> principles of the whole book. It
returns to the foundation of that which gave rise to all
these exercises. e full satisfaction of all the desires of the
remnant is prophetically announced, and the path of their
aections is marked out. But this picture is drawn for the
encouragement of those who are not yet enjoying it, and
expresses the desire for its accomplishment (giving thus
the sanction of God to the ardent desire of the remnant
to possess Christ, and to have full liberty of communion
with Him). e reply teaches, with a clearness that is very
precious, the manner of its accomplishment. e ardent
aection of the loved one is manifested, and the Beloved
desires that she may rest in His love, and enjoy it as long
as she will without being disturbed. Afterwards she comes
up out of the wilderness, leaning upon Him. And where
did the Lord awaken her from her sleep? Under an apple
tree. (See chapter 2:3.) From Christ alone she derives her
life. us only can Israel give birth to this living remnant,
which, at Jerusalem, shall become the earthly bride of the
great King, which desires to be, and shall be, as a seal upon
His heart, according to the power of a love that is strong as
death-that spares nothing, and yields nothing.
e “little sister” appears to me to be Ephraim, which
has never had the same development that Judah received
through the manifestation of Christ, and through all that
Song of Solomon 8
431
took place after the captivity of the ten tribes. For all the
moral aections of Judah were formed on their relationship
to Christ, on His rejection, and on the sentiments which
this produced when the Spirit caused it to be felt (Isa. 50-
53). Ephraim has gone through none of this, but will enter
into the enjoyment of its results. Judah, when perfected,
will enjoy the full favor of the Messiah; their aections
having been formed for Him by all the exercises of heart
which they have had with respect to Him.
Christ, in His Solomon character, the glorious King,
the Son of David, and after the order of Melchisedec, has
a vineyard as Lord of the nations or multitudes. He has
entrusted it to others, who are to make Him a suitable
return. e vineyard of the bride was at her own disposal,
but all its proceeds shall be for Solomon; and there shall be
a portion for those that kept its fruits-a touching expression
of her relationship to the King. She will have all to be His;
and then there are others who shall prot by it also.
e last two verses express the bride’s desire that the
Bridegroom may come without delay.<P241>
e subject of the book: the heart’s aections
It is to be observed, that there is no question in this book
of the purication of the conscience. at question is not
touched upon. But it speaks of those aections of the heart
which cannot be too ardent when the Lord is their object.
Consequently the faults, that manifest forgetfulness of
Him and of His grace, serve only to produce such exercises
of heart with respect to Him as recall all the attractions of
His Person, and the consciousness of belonging entirely
to Him-exercises that form the heart to a much deeper
appreciation of Himself, because guilt before a judge is not
the question, but a fault of the heart towards a friend-a
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fault which, meeting with a love too strong to be turned
away from its object, only deepens her own aection, and
innitely exalts in her eyes the aection of her Beloved
(thus forming her heart, by inward exercise, to the
appreciation of His love, and to the capability of loving
and estimating all that He is). It is all-important to form
our heart in this portion of the Christian life. It is thus that
Christ is truly known; for, with respect to divine persons,
he who loves not knows not. e heart indeed is imperfect;
it cannot love as it ought; and therefore all these exercises
are necessary. I do not say that faults are necessary. But,
as has been said, it is love that causes the fault to be felt
when it exists, and the strength of the love that exposes to
the watchman’s blows, whose business it is, not to measure
love, but to maintain moral order. He takes away the evil-
sad and painful discipline, which proves that, even while
loving much, there was not love enough; or, at least, that
this love was deposited in a weak vessel which, if listened
to, is a traitor to itself.
e moral application of the book to the church
I have said that in its interpretation this book does
not apply to the assembly. Nevertheless I have spoken
of ourselves and of our hearts, and with reason; because,
although the interpretation of the book presents Israel
as its object, it is the heart and the feelings that are in
question; so that morally it can be applied to us. But, then,
the modication already noticed must be introduced. We
have the full knowledge of accomplished redemption, we
know that we are sitting in the heavenly places in Christ.
Our conscience is forever purged. God will remember our
sins and our<P242> iniquities no more. But the eect of
this work is, that we are entirely His, according to the love
Song of Solomon 8
433
that is shown in the sacrice that accomplished it. Morally
therefore Christ is the all of our souls. It is evident that, if
He loved us, if He gave Himself for us, when in us there was
no good thing, it is in having absolutely done with ourselves
that we have life, happiness, and the knowledge of God. It
is in Him alone that we nd the source, the strength, and
the perfection of this. Now, as to justication, this truth
makes our position perfect. In us there is no good thing.
We are accepted in the Beloved-perfectly accepted in His
acceptance, our sins being entirely put away by His death.
But, then, as to life, Jesus becomes the one object, the all of
our souls. In Him alone the heart nds that which can be
its object-in Him who has so loved us and given Himself
for us-in Him who is entire perfection for the heart. As
to conscience, the question is settled in peace through His
blood: we are righteous in Him before God, while exercised
daily on that ground. But the heart needs to love such an
object, and in principle will have none but Him, in whom
all grace, devotedness to us, and every grace, according to
God’s own heart, is found. It is here that the Christian is in
unison with the Song of Songs.
e assembly-loved, redeemed, and belonging to Him-
having by the Spirit understood His perfections, having
known Him in the work of His love, does not yet possess
Him as she knows Him. She sighs for the day when she
will see Him as He is. Meanwhile He manifests Himself to
her, awakens her aections, and seeks to possess her love,
by testifying all His delight in her. She learns also that
which is in herself-that slothfulness of heart which loses
opportunities of communion with Him. But this teaches
her to judge all that in herself which weakens the eect
on her heart of the perfections of her Beloved. us she is
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morally prepared, and has capacity for the full enjoyment
of communion with Him: when she shall see Him as He
is, she will be like Him. It is not the eort to obtain Him;
but we seek to apprehend that for which we have been
apprehended by Christ. We have an object that we do not
yet fully possess, which alone can satisfy all our desires-an
object whose aection we need to realize in our hearts-
an end which He in grace pursues, by the testimony of
His perfect love towards us, thereby cultivating our love
to Him, comforting us even by the sense of our weakness,
and by the rev<P243>elation of His own perfection, and
thus showing us all that in our own hearts prevents our
enjoying it. He delivers us from it, in that we discover it in
the presence of His love.
e love of Christ learned and known makes us know
Him Himself
It is not my object to trace here in detail the working
of these aections in the heart, because I am interpreting
and not exhorting. But it was necessary to speak a little on
the subject, that the book may be understood. Moreover, it
is impossible to exaggerate the importance of cultivating
these holy aections which attach us to Christ, and cause
us to know His love, and to know Himself. For, I repeat,
when God is in question, and His dealings with respect to
us, he who loves not knows not.
Only remark with what earnestness, with what
tenderness, He tells His loved one of all her preciousness in
His sight, and of the perfection which He beholds in her.
If Jesus sees perfection in us, we need nothing more. He
reassures her heart by speaking to her of this, when she had
been justly rebuked and disciplined by the watchmen, and
her heart compelled to seek relief by declaring to others, to
Song of Solomon 8
435
her friends, all that He was to her. He reproaches her with
nothing, but makes her feel that she is perfect in His eyes.
Practically, what deep perfection of love was in that
look which the Lord gave Peter when he had denied
Him! What a moment was that when, without reproach,
although instructing him, He testied His condence in
Peter by committing to him, who had thus denied Him,
the sheep and the lambs so dear to His heart, for whom He
had just given His life!
Now this love of Christ’s, in its superiority to evil-a
superiority that proves it divine-reproduces itself as a new
creation in the heart of everyone who receives its testimony,
uniting him to the Lord who has so loved him.
Is the Lord anything else than this for us? No, my
brethren, we learn His love; we learn in these exercises of
heart to know Him Himself.<P244>
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72894
Introduction to the Prophets
Prophecy: its application and scope
We enter, now, dear reader, on the eld of prophecy;
a vast and important one, whether in view of the moral
instruction that it contains, or on account of the great events
that are announced in it, or through its development of
God’s government, and, by this means, its revelation of that
which He Himself is in His ways with men. Jehovah and
His dealings, and the Messiah, shine through the whole.
Israel always forms the inner circle, or chief platform, on
which these dealings are developed, and with which the
Messiah is immediately in relation. Outside of, and behind
this, the nations are gathered, instruments and objects
of the judgments of God, and nally, the subjects of His
universal government made subject to the Messiah, who
however will assert His especial claim to Israel as His own
people.
e church and the place of the individual Christian
in regard to prophecy
It is evident that the assembly and the Christian’s
individual place is outside this whole scene. In it there is
neither Jew nor Gentile; in it the Father knows the objects
of His eternal election, as His beloved children; and Christ,
gloried on high, knows it as His body and His bride.
Prophecy treats of the earth, and of the government of
God. For after personal salvation is settled, there are two
great subjects in Scripture, the government of this world,
and the sovereign grace which has taken poor sinners
and put them into the same place as God’s own Son as
Introduction to the Prophets
437
the exalted man, and as adopted into sonship-the divine
glory, and that in Christ, being of course the center of all.
If we measure things not by our importance, but by the
importance of the manifestation of God, whatever develops
His ways as unfolded in His government will<P245> have
much importance in our eyes. ere can be no doubt that
the assembly, and the individual Christian, are a still more
elevated subject, because God has there displayed the
whole secret of His eternal love, and deepest present divine
aections. But if we remember that it is not only the sphere
of action that is in question, but He who acts therein, the
dealings of God with Israel and the earth will then assume
their true importance in our eyes. And these are the subjects
of prophecy. For the others we must specially look to Paul
and John.
e twofold division of prophecy; the reason for this
distinction
is portion of the Word is divided into two parts.
e prophecies that refer to Israel during the time that
Israel is owned of God, and consequently that concern
the future glory also, form one part. e other consists of
those prophecies which make known that which happens
during God’s rejection of His people, but which make it
known in view of the nal blessing of this very people. is
distinction ows from the fact that the throne of God,
sitting between the cherubim, has been taken away from
Jerusalem, and the dominion of the earth committed to the
Gentiles. e period of this dominion is called “the times
of the Gentiles.” e former class of prophecies applies
to that which precedes and that which is subsequent to
this period. e latter refers to this period itself. ere is
a moment of transition, during which the restoration of
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the people is in question, when the end of the times of
the Gentiles draws near-a moment especially in view in
those prophecies which relate to this period, and to which
the Psalms, as we have seen, largely apply, connecting it
with the rst coming of the Lord and His rejection by
the Jews. As He says, “Ye shall not see me henceforth
till ye say, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the
Lord.” But the general history of the period itself is given
in diverse forms. e interval between the return from
the Babylonish captivity and the coming of Jesus has a
special character. For the Gentiles had the dominion; and
nevertheless Judah was at Jerusalem expecting the Messiah.
God favored His people with the testimony of prophets,
who addressed themselves especially to this state of things,
namely, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. eir prophecies
have consequently an especial character,<P246> suited to
the position in which the people are then found and to
God’s ways towards them.
ere is another prophet who holds a peculiar place,
that is, Jonah. His was the last testimony addressed
immediately to the Gentiles, to show that God still bore
them in mind, and governed all things supremely, although
He had already called Israel to be a separate people unto
Himself.1
(1. e character of this prophet in other respects will
be considered hereafter.)
Christ the center of all prophecies
Christ is the center of all these prophecies, whatever
their character may be. It is the Spirit of Christ that speaks
in them.
e striking dierence between the two classes of
prophecies
Introduction to the Prophets
439
One of the two divisions I have mentioned is of much
greater extent than the other. Daniel alone in the Old
Testament gives us the detail of “the times of the Gentiles,”
with the exception of some particular revelations in
Zechariah. ere is a very striking dierence between the
two classes of prophecies. at which belongs to the time
when Israel is acknowledged is addressed to the people, to
their conscience and to their heart. at which gives the
history of “the times of the Gentiles,” while it is a revelation
for the people, is not addressed to them. In the books of the
three prophets who prophesied after the captivity, neither
Israel nor Judah is ever called the people of God, except in
promises for the future, when the Messiah will reestablish
blessing.
Symbols and gures in prophecy
ere is yet another principle, simple but important to
our understanding of the prophets. Whatever gures the
Spirit of God may use in depicting the ways of God or
those of the enemy, the subject of the prophecy is never
a gure. I am not speaking of those prophecies in which
all is symbol; this remark could not be applied to them.
Moreover a symbol is not the same thing as a gure. It is
a collection of the moral or historical qualities, or of both,
which belong to the prophetic object, in order to present
God’s idea of that object. Certain elements which compose
this symbol may<P247> be gures; but the symbol itself,
correctly speaking, is not a gure, but a striking whole,
made up of the qualities that morally compose the thing
described. Accordingly nothing is more instructive than a
well-understood symbol. It is the perfect idea which God
gives us of the way in which He looks upon the object
represented by the symbol-His view of its moral character.
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Let us now consider the writings of the prophets.<P248>
Isaiah
441
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Isaiah
e whole circle of God’s thoughts as to Israel given
by Isaiah
Isaiah takes the rst place; and in fact he is the most
complete of all the prophets, and perhaps the most rich.
e whole circle of God’s thoughts with respect to Israel is
more given here. Other prophets are occupied with certain
portions only of the history of this people.
e moral bearing of the book
We will give here the division of this book into subjects.
ere is in the beginning an appearance of confusion;
nevertheless it helps to explain the moral bearing of the
book.
And here what a scene presents itself to our view!-
sorrowful in one aspect, yet at the same time lovely and
glorious, like the rst glimmerings of dawn after a long
and cold night of darkness, telling of the bright day which
soon will rise over a scene, the beauties of which are faintly
perceived, mingled with the darkness that still obscures
them-a scene that shall be vivied by the sun that will
soon enlighten it. One rejoices in this partial light: it tells
of the goodness, the energy, and the intentions of that
God who has created all things for the accomplishment
of His purposes of grace and glory. But one longs for the
manifestation of the fullness of this accomplishment, when
all will repose in the eects of this goodness.
e two characters of prophecy
Such is prophecy. It is sorrowful, because it unveils the
sin, the ungrateful folly, of God’s people. But it reveals the
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heart of One who is unwearied in love, who loves this people,
who seeks their good, although He feels their sin according
to His love. It is the heart of God that speaks. ese two
characters of prophecy throw light upon the twofold end it
has in view, and help us to understand its<P249> bearing.
First of all, it addresses itself to the actual state of the people,
and shows them their sin; it always therefore supposes the
people to be in a fallen condition. When they peacefully
enjoy the blessings of God, there is no need of displaying
their condition to them. But, in the second place, during the
period in which the people are still acknowledged it speaks
of present restoration on their repentance, to encourage
them to return to Jehovah; and it proclaims deliverance.
And in this, the law and so the blessings connected with
it, have their place as that to which they should return.
Of this the last prophetic word from God (Mal. 4) is an
expressive instance. But God well knew the hearts of
His people, and that they would not yield to His call. To
sustain the faith of the remnant, faithful amid this unbelief,
and for the instruction of His people at all times, He adds
promises which will assuredly be fullled by the coming of
Messiah. ese promises are sometimes connected with the
circumstances of a near and partial deliverance, sometimes
with the consummation of the people’s iniquity in the
rejection of Christ come in humiliation. It is important to
be able to distinguish between that part of a passage which
refers to those circumstances which were near at hand, and
that which speaks of full deliverance shown in perspective
through those circumstances. is is the dicult part of
the interpretation of prophecy.
e use of gures in prophecy
Isaiah
443
I would add that, although the subject of prophecy is
not a gure, yet gures are not only largely used, but they
are often intermingled with literal expressions; so that in
explaining the prophetic books one cannot make an exact
rule to distinguish between gure and letter. e aid of
the Holy Spirit is necessary, as is always the case in the
study of the sacred Word, to nd the true sense of the
passage. What I have said is equally applicable to other
parts of Scripture, and in the most solemn circumstances.
Psalm 22, for instance, is a continual mixture of gures,
which represent the moral character of certain facts, with
other facts recited in the simplicity of the letter. ere is
no diculty in understanding it. “Dogs have compassed
me; the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me, they
pierced my hands and my feet.” e word dogs gives the
character of those present. is way of speaking is found
in all languages. For instance, it would be said, “He drew
a<P250> ne picture of virtue.” Drew a picture is a gure. I
say this in order that a diculty may not be made of that
which belongs to the nature of human language.
e contents and divisions of the book
I come now to the contents of this important book
of prophecy. It is thus divided: e rst four chapters
are apart, forming a kind of introduction. e fth also
in itself stands alone. It judges the people in view of the
care that God has bestowed upon them. But we shall nd
this judgment resumed in detail in verse 8 of chapter 9.
In chapter 6 we have the judgment of the people in view
of the Messiah’s coming glory; consequently there is a
remnant acknowledged.1Chapter 7 formally introduces
the Messiah, Immanuel, the Son of David, and the
judgment upon the house of David after the esh; so that
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there is an assured hope in sovereign grace, but at the same
time judgment upon the last human support of the people.
In chapter 8 we have the desolating Assyrian who overruns
the land, but also Immanuel (previously announced in
chapter 7) who nally brings his schemes to nought.
Meantime there is a remnant, separate from the people,
and attached to this Immanuel;2 and the circumstances of
anguish through which the apostate people must pass are
alluded to, which terminate in the full blessing owing from
Immanuel’s presence. is closes with verse 7 of chapter
9; so that we have here in fact the whole history of the
Jews in relationship with Christ. In verse 8 of chapter 9 the
Spirit resumes the general national history from chapter
5, interrupted by this essential episode of the introduction
of Immanuel. He resumes it from the time then present,
pointing out the dierent judgments of Jehovah, until He
introduces the last instrument of these judgments-the
Assyrian, the rod of Jehovah. And here the immediate
deliverance is presented as an encouragement to faith, and
as preguring the nal destruction of the power that will be
the rod of<P251> Jehovah in the last days. Jehovah, having
smitten the desolator, presents (ch. 11) the Ospring of
David, at rst in His intrinsic moral character, and then in
the results of His reign as to full blessing, and the presence
of Jehovah established again in Zion in the midst of Israel.
us the whole history of the people is given us in its
grand features, until their establishment in blessing as the
people of God, having Jehovah in their midst. Only that it
is to be remarked that nothing is given of Antichrist, nor
of the power of the beast, nor of the time of tribulation as
such, because that is the period during which the Jews are
not owned, though they be dealt with, while our prophecy
Isaiah
445
speaks of the time when they are owned. It is stated in
general terms that God would hide His face from the
house of Jacob, and the righteous in spirit wait for Him.
(1. Note here, the two great dealings of God with the
conscience to convict it of sin exemplied in these two
chapters. First, the state of blessing in which God had rst
set the person judged, and his departure from it (so man
in his innocence); and second, the meeting of the Lord in
glory. Are we in a state to do so?)
(2. is is largely brought out in the Gospel of Matthew.
e passage itself is quoted in Hebrews 2. What is spoken
of in Isaiah 8:13-18 is in fact the gospel history breaking
in upon the scene. Peter quotes verse 14; Paul (Rom. 9),
the stumbling-stone; Matthew quotes chapter 9:1-2 for
Christ’s apparition in Galilee.)
From chapter 13 to the end of chapter 27 we nd the
judgment of the Gentiles; whether Babylon or the other
nations, especially of those which were at all times in
relationship with Israel; the position of Israel, not only in
the midst of them, but of all the nations in the last days
(this is chapter 18); and, nally, the judgment of the whole
world (ch. 24), and the full millennial blessing of Israel (ch.
25-27). From chapters 28-35 we have the detail of all that
happens to the Jews in the last days. Each revelation closes
with a testimony to the glory of God in Israel.
In chapters 36-39 the Spirit relates the history of a part
of Hezekiah’s reign. It contains three principal subjects:
the resurrection of the Son of David as from death; the
destruction of the Assyrian, without his having been able
to attack Jerusalem; and the captivity in Babylon. ese are
the three grand foundations of the whole history and state
of the Jews in the last days.
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From chapter 40 to the end is a very distinct part of
the prophecy, in which God reveals the consolation of His
people and their moral relations with Himself, and the
double ground of His controversy with them, whether in
view of the position in which He has placed the nation
as His elect servant-the witness of Jehovah the one true
God, in the presence of the Gentiles, and their idolatrous
failure-or in respect to their rejection of Christ the only
true elect Servant1 who has fullled His will. is gives
<P252>occasion to the revelation of a remnant who
hearken to this true Servant, as well as to the history of
the circumstances that this remnant pass through, and
therefore at the same time to that of the people’s condition
in the last days, ending with the manifestation of Jehovah
in judgment. e position of Israel with respect to the
idolatrous nations gives occasion also to the introduction
of Babylon, of its destruction, and the deliverance of
captive Judah by Cyrus. is idolatry is one of the subjects
on which Jehovah pleads with His people. e other and
yet graver subject is that of the rejection of Christ. For
more detail we must wait till these chapters come under
examination.
(1. is term “servant” is a kind of key to this whole
prophecy: rst Israel, then in chapter 49 the Lord takes
Israel’s place, and at the end the remnant. But of this more
hereafter.)
e condition of those to whom prophecy is addressed;
the use of miracles
Prophecy supposes that the people of God are in a bad
condition, even when they are still acknowledged, and
prophecy addressed to them. ere is no need of addressing
powerful testimony to a people who are walking happily
Isaiah
447
in the ways of the Lord, nor of sustaining the faith of a
tried remnant by hopes founded on the unchangeable
faithfulness and the purposes of God, when all are enjoying
in perfect peace the fruits of His present goodness-
attached, as a consequence, to the faithfulness of the people.
e proof of this simple and easily understood principle
is found in each of the prophets. It does not appear that
the prophets, whose prophecies we possess in the inspired
volume, wrought any miracles.1 For the law was then in
force, its authority outwardly acknowledged; there was
nothing to establish; and Jehovah’s authority was the basis
of the public system of religion in the land according to the
institutions appointed by Himself in connection with the
temple. It was on practical duty that the prophets insisted.
In the midst of the ten apostate tribes Elijah and Elisha
wrought miracles to reestablish the authority of Jehovah.
Such is the faithfulness of Jehovah, and His patience
towards His people. A new object of faith requires miracles.
at which is founded on the already acknowledged Word,
and which does not demand the<P253> reception of it as
a new object, requires none, whatever the increase of light
or claim on conscience may be. e Word commends itself
to the conscience in those who are taught of God; and if
there are new revelations, they are to the comfort of those
who have received the practical testimony, and have thus
recognized the authority of one who speaks on the part of
God.
(1. e dial of Ahaz in this prophet may be thought an
exception, but Ahaz was really departed from God. It is
also noteworthy that the apostles never wrought miracles
for their own comfort. Trophimus have I left at Miletus
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sick. Epaphroditus “was sick nigh unto death: but God had
mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also.”)
We will now examine the contents of the prophecy
itself in a more detailed way.
Isaiah 1
449
72896
Isaiah 1
Blessing proposed consequent upon repentance
Isaiah 1 begins with a testimony to the sad condition
of the people. ey were all wounds and corruption. It was
useless to chastise them anymore. eir ceremonies were
an abomination to Jehovah. He desired righteousness.
Nevertheless the people are called to repentance, and are
assured that blessing should follow repentance. Such is the
position which prophecy gives them. But God knew the
people who, with their princes, were wicked and corrupt;
and God declares what will take place. He will execute
judgment and thus cleanse the people and reestablish
blessing. e two great principles are thus laid down:
blessing proposed consequent upon repentance; but in fact
it will be blessing brought in by judgment.
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72897
Isaiah 2-4
Zion, the center of blessing; the necessity for
God’s judgment; His way into Zion’s blessing
us reestablished, Zion, the mountain of Jehovah, will
be the center of blessing and peace to all the nations (ch. 2:1-
4). is puts the invitation to the people into the prophet’s
mouth to come and walk in the light of Jehovah. Why has
He forsaken His people? Because they have learned the
ways of the heathen. Well, the day of Jehovah shall be upon
all the glory of man, and upon all his idols. ey may cease
from man, for God’s own people on the earth, the place of
His rest, shall be judged and smitten by their God (ch. 3-4).
But in that day shall the Branch of Jehovah be glorious,
and<P254> the earth shall be blessed. He who smites
binds up the wounds by introducing the Messiah, and by
Him blessing the earth. e remnant will be holy when
the cleansing of Jerusalem shall have been accomplished
by the judgment and the re of Jehovah. Jerusalem shall be
protected and gloried by the manifestation of Jehovah’s
presence, like the tabernacle in the wilderness. Such is
the form in which the introduction to this prophecy is
presented with much force and clearness.
Isaiah 5
451
72898
Isaiah 5
e vine and its wild grapes; judgment for breaking
God’s law and despising His Word
After this the Spirit of God begins to plead with the
people, taking two distinct grounds-namely, that which
God had done for His people, and the coming of Jehovah
in the Person of Christ in glory. Had the people made a
suitable return to the care which Jehovah had lavished
upon them? Were they in a condition to receive Jehovah
in their midst? Chapter 5 takes up the rst question,
which addresses itself to the responsibility of the people,
in view of the care and the government of God. What
could He have done for His vine that He had not done?
It has produced Him but wild grapes. He makes known
the consequences of this according to His righteous
government. His hedge, the protection with which He had
surrounded it, shall be taken away, and it shall be left a prey
to the ravages of the heathen. God, in pleading with Israel,
shows them their sins in detail. en His hand is stretched
forth against His people, and terrible judgments fall upon
them. Nevertheless, “His anger is not turned away, but his
hand is stretched out still.” He will bring mighty strangers
against them, whose progress nothing can arrest, who will
carry the people into captivity. ere shall be sorrow and
mourning in the land, and the light of their heavens shall be
darkened. In the rst instance this will be Nebuchadnezzar,
and even Sennacherib; but still more fully will it be the
nations that come against Jerusalem in the last days, and
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capture it, after having overrun and invaded all the land.
We shall have the details of this farther on.<P255>
Isaiah 6
453
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Isaiah 6
Judgment of Israel in view of Messiah’s coming glory;
a remnant preserved
But it was in the counsels of God that His presence
should be established in glory in the midst of His people,
and this will be accomplished in Christ at the end of the age.
Hence the testimony of the progress of the judgments is
interrupted after the rst general statement, and in chapter
6 the prophet sees this glory. Yet its rst eect is judicial,
and operates to blind and condemn them. e previous
judgment (ch. 5) had been in respect of the breaking of the
law and the despising of the word of the Holy One of Israel.
But with enmity against Christ and His rejection comes
judicial blindness and the separation of a remnant. at it
is the glory of Christ is taught us in chapter 12 of John’s
Gospel. e prophet feels at once the incompatibility of
the people’s condition with the manifestation of this glory.
Unclean lips cannot celebrate it. But a live coal from the
altar cleanses his own lips, and he consecrates himself to
Jehovah’s message; and to that which concerns the glory
of Christ. e heart of the people is made fat until there is
entire desolation. Nevertheless there shall be a remnant, a
holy seed, which shall be like the sap of a tree that has lost
its leaves.1
(1. A more exact translation throws much light on this
prophecy. “Nevertheless there shall still be in it a tenth, and
it shall return and shall be to be consumed, as the oak and
the teil tree, which being cut down have still the trunk [or,
the rooted stump]; thus the holy seed shall be their stock”
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(ch. 1:9). at is, the remnant itself will undergo judgment
and consumption at the time of their return; but there shall
be a holy seed, from which life will spring as from a tree
cut down.)
e two aspects of God’s judgment in chapters 5-6
We have then in these last chapters the judgment of the
people under two aspects: rst, that of God’s government
(in this point of view the people, being altogether guilty,
are given up to the Gentiles); secondly, in view of the
glory of Jehovah’s presence at His coming according to
His purposes of grace (for this the people were unt). But
here, as the purposes of God were in question, there is a
remnant according to election in whom the glory shall
be reestablished. is distinction must be made when
the government of God and His outward dealings are in
question.<P256>
In chapter 5, which speaks of the former character of
judgment, there is no remnant. It is simply the public and
complete judgment of the nation; for as to this all rested
on their responsibility. In the Gospels this is looking for
fruit; Christ might dig about it and dung it, but this was
looking for fruit. Hence it is cursed and never to bear fruit.
at is Israel (man) under the rst covenant. In chapter 6
God acts within, in His own relationship with the people.
Hence we nd a remnant and the assured reestablishment
of the people; for the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance. Here also we nd Christ. God could not cast
o His people forever, and the prophetic faith is found
which says, How long? as elsewhere it is said, ere is none
to say, How long? For when the Son of Man comes, shall
He nd faith on earth?
Isaiah 7:1 to 9:7
455
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Isaiah 7:1 to 9:7
e gift of Immanuel, the virgin’s Son; the Assyrian’s
desolation of the land
But this requires further development; and it is given
in a remarkable manner in the next prophecy, comprised
in chapter 7 to the end of verse 7 of chapter 9. Certain
promises were attached to the family of David, in which-
as we saw when examining the Books of Samuel-God
had renewed the hopes of Israel, when the links between
Himself and the people were broken by the taking of
the ark, and He had forsaken His place at Shiloh. Now
the house of David, the last sustainment of the people
in responsibility, has also failed in faithfulness. Ahaz has
forsaken Jehovah, and set up the altar of a strange god
in the temple of Jehovah. In chapter 7 the Spirit of God
directs the prophet to the king, and addresses him. Isaiah
was to go and meet him, with Shear-jashub his son-a
symbolical child whose name signies, “e remnant shall
return.” But the Lord seeks rst, as He did with respect to
the people in chapter 1, to encourage this branch of David
to act in faith, and thus to glorify God. He announces to
the king that the designs of Rezin and Pekah shall come to
nought, and even proposes to him to ask a sign. But Ahaz
is too far from the Lord to avail himself of this, though
he replies with forms of piety. And again, as He had done
with respect to the people, Jehovah declares that which
shall happen to the family of David, and to the<P257>
people under their rule. e two points of this prophetic
announcement are-the gift of Immanuel, the virgin’s son;
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and the complete desolation of the land by the Assyrian.
ese indeed are the keys to the whole prophecy of Isaiah.
Nevertheless there shall be a remnant. Verse 16 refers to
Shear-jashub; but this prophecy goes farther. In chapter
8 the second prophetic child announces by his name the
approaching appearance of this enemy and his ravages; and
then, since the people despised the promises made to the
family of David and rejoiced in the esh, Jehovah would
take the thing in hand. Consequently we have the whole
sequel of the people’s history, of the directions given to
the remnant, and of God’s intervention in power for the
establishment of full blessing in the Person of the Messiah.
God’s intervention in power; full blessing in the
Person of Immanuel
In chapter 7, where the responsibility of the family of
David is the subject, Immanuel is promised as a sign; but
the success of the Assyrian is complete without any reverse.
Immanuel once brought in, all is changed; the land is His.
e Assyrian reaches even to the neck, because the waters
of Shiloah had been despised. But Immanuel secured all.
us the prophetic Spirit passes on to the events of the last
days, of which Sennacherib was but a type. He exhibits all
the designs and confederacies of the nations brought to
nought because of Immanuel-God (is) with us. It is the
complete deliverance of Israel in the last days (ch. 8:5-10).
And as to the remnant, what course are they to follow (ch.
8:11 and following)? ey are not to be troubled by the fear
of the people, nor to join them in their confederacies, but
to sanctify Jehovah of hosts Himself, and give Him all His
true importance in their hearts. He will be their sanctuary
in the day of their trouble.
e rejected Christ and the remnant
Isaiah 7:1 to 9:7
457
But who then is this Immanuel, this Jehovah of hosts?
We well know. is brings in then the whole history of the
rejection of Christ, and the position of the remnant and
of the nation in consequence, and of the nal intervention
of the power of God. e passage is too clear to need
much explanation. I will point out its<P258> principal
subjects. Christ becomes personally a stumbling-stone.1
In consequence of this the testimony of God is deposited
exclusively in the hands and the hearts of His disciples,
God’s elect remnant. He hides His face from Jacob; but,
according to the Spirit of prophecy, this remnant waits for
Him and seeks Him. Meanwhile Christ and the children
whom Jehovah has given Him are for signs to the two
houses of Israel. (Compare Romans 11:1-8.) ose (the
nation) who reject the stone are in rebellion and anguish
in Immanuel’s land; they are given up to desolation.
Nevertheless this distress is not like the former ravages of
the Assyrian, because the Messiah, having appeared, has
taken in hand the cause of His people, according to the
counsels of God. e Spirit of prophecy passes at once, as
is constantly the case, from His appearance as light, to the
results of the deliverance which He will accomplish in the
last days (from verses 2-3, chapter 9). For the church was
a mystery hid in God, and not the subject of prophecy or
promise. e yoke of the Assyrian being broken, all the
brightness of the glory of the divine Person of the Messiah
shines out in the blessing of His people.
(1. e beginning of verse 17 is the passage quoted in
Hebrews 2, along with verse 18, to prove the humanity of
the Lord and His connection with the remnant.)
Messiah and the Assyrian: the basis of all prophecy as
to Israel
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ese two subjects, the Messiah and the Assyrian, form
the basis of all the prophecy that speaks of Israel, when
this people are the recognized object of God’s dealings. It
may be noticed that the Assyrian appears here twice-the
second time in connection with a gathering together of the
nations. e rst time, chapter 7, he is Jehovah’s instrument
for the chastisement of Israel, and he does his own will
without any question of his being broken. e second time,
chapter 8, he lls the land; but the assembly of the nations
gathered together against Israel is broken and brought
to nothing. is expectation of Jehovah’s intervention
(without sharing the fears of the world in the last days,
or seeking that strength which the world thinks to nd in
confederation, but, on the contrary, resting absolutely on
Jehovah alone) contains in principle a valuable instruction
for the present day.<P259>
Isaiah 9:8 to 12
459
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Isaiah 9:8 to 12
Israel’s chastisement by the Assyrian rod; the
destruction of the rod
In chapter 9:8 the Spirit, having given the great leading
facts as to Messiah, Immanuel, resumes the general history
of Israel without any special introduction of the Messiah
till towards the end. is prophecy closes with chapter 12.
Although the pride of Ephraim is mentioned, yet Jacob
or Israel is looked at as a whole. e dierent phases of
chastisement or of distress are in verses 8-12, 13-17, 18-21,
and chapter 10:1-4. e Assyrian then reappears, as being
properly the rod of Jehovah; and it is announced, that when
God shall have accomplished all that He had determined
with respect to Zion (an accomplishment not here
revealed), He will break the rod that He has used, and then
the remnant shall seek Jehovah, and shall “stay upon” Him.
is is the nal act of the great drama of God’s dealings
with respect to Israel. ere is a consumption decreed of
God for the land. But when at length the Assyrian lifts
up his hand, Jehovah comes in and smites him. And the
indignation of Jehovah, and His anger against Israel, which
till now had never been turned away, will come to an end
in the destruction of this rod that magnied itself against
the Lord who used it. Verse 25 is in contrast with chapter
9:12,17,21, and chapter 10:4. Sennacherib was a type of
this. But it is a prophecy of the destruction of the Assyrian
in the last days, when the indignation against Israel shall
cease.
Messiah and His reign of millennial blessing
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Consequently we have, in chapters 11-12, the Messiah
and His reign, the source of the millennial blessing of
the people of God. e rst verses of chapter 11 give His
character; afterwards it is the eect of His reign.
Isaiah 13-14
461
72902
Isaiah 13-14
e judgment of the Gentiles, the whole world, and
Israel’s full blessing described in chapters 13-27
With chapter 12 one division of the whole book closes.
at which commences with chapter 13 continues to
the end of<P260> chapter 27, which describes the same
millennial condition, but in a more extended sphere,
because the world-of which these latter chapters speak-is
brought in; while chapters 5-12 were in especial connection
with Israel.
e present gap of time from Messiah’s rejection not
taken into account in Israel’s history
e chapters we are now considering connect events
that were then at hand with the end of the age. It is only
by thoroughly apprehending this that we can understand
them. e reason of this is simple: the nations are looked
at in reference to Israel. But time is not reckoned, with
respect to Israel, from the Babylonish captivity until the
last days. e introduction of the Messiah as a stone of
stumbling, with which the special epoch of seventy weeks
is noticed in Daniel, has been already considered. But this
passage in the prophet of the times of the Gentiles shows
only more distinctly that time is not reckoned afterwards
to the close. Seventy weeks go to the full restoration of
Israel. e immense gap, which has now lasted more than
1800 years, is in no way taken into account.1
(1.e seventy weeks, or 490 years, include the great
gap which has already lasted more than 1800 years-these
coming in between the end of the 483rd and the end of the
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490th-only that Christians know that half the 70th week
was really fullled in Christ’s ministry; therefore we get a
half week in Daniel 7 and in the Revelation. )
e destruction of Babylon and Assyria in the last
days
In the eyes of the prophet, Babylon, or more correctly
its head, besides the idolatrous corruption, represents the
imperial throne of the world in contrast with the throne
of God at Jerusalem.1<P261> Babylon will be overthrown,
and God will again bless Israel. is will be the judgment
of this present age-of the world. It is represented here in
that destruction of Babylon which was at hand. But this
judgment will not be completed until, the times of the
Gentiles being ended, Israel shall be delivered. e character
of the king of Babylon is described here in very remarkable
language (ch. 14:12-13). It is the spirit of Babylon, and
still more especially in its last representative at the close,
to which this prophecy in its full accomplishment refers.
It was so even in Nebuchadnezzar himself-nay, even
when they built the tower of Babel. e destruction of the
Assyrian then takes place in the earth;2 and, although the
house of David had had its scepter broken, Philistia shall
be judged and subdued, and Jehovah will found Zion, and
the poor of His people will trust in Him. is destruction
of Babylon, and of the Assyrian after Babylon, necessary
to the understanding of the whole scene, is a kind of scene
apart, complete in chapters 13-14.
(1. Besides the fact of the captivity of God’s people,
Babylon has a very important position with respect to
God’s dealings. Until Nebuchadnezzar received power,
the government of God, while centered in Israel (with
respect to whom He had set the bounds of the peoples),
Isaiah 13-14
463
took cognizance of the nations as dispersed at Babel. He
allowed them indeed to follow their own ways; but before
Him every nation had an individual existence. e throne
once taken from Jerusalem, from whence God governed
the world with a view to His chosen people, the world is
given up to the dominion of a single throne, which stands
therefore before God as holding the scepter of it. ree
other powers followed in succession, the last of which
was in existence when Christ came, but the time of its
judgment was not yet come. ese four empires form the
times of the Gentiles. God will resume His government,
and again judge the nations in view of Israel; and Babylon,
or the one universal empire, will be set aside in its rebel and
apostate condition. But, while it lasts, the empire has its
own peculiar and absolute position before God. Jerusalem,
punished for its idolatry by the Babylonish captivity
(subjection to idols) and the transfer of the throne from
Jerusalem to the Gentiles, is so far owned in the remnant
under the Gentiles that God in the prophetic books takes
account of it, though not as then His people, till the second
grand sin was perpetrated, the rejection of Christ. But this
even was in the prophet when they were in captivity. Still
they were partially preserved to present Christ the Lord
to them, after that set aside till sovereign grace comes on
them in the last week, for faith the latter half. Time begins
to count again when that is come.
(2. A proof that the prophecy relates to the last days, for
of old the Assyrian fell before Babylon, being conquered
by it. It is to be remarked that the Assyrian, not the beast
nor Antichrist, is the subject of this prophecy. Under
the Assyrian Judah was not “Loammi,” nor is he in this
prophecy. In Babylon Judah was captive, and “Lo-ammi”
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written on the people. Hence we must not look for the
beast. e Assyrian is the main enemy here.)
But in Israel’s territory, or in connection with this
people, some nations still remain; and God must dispose
of these in order that Israel may enjoy the full blessing
and the result of the promises. Babylon, being an immense
system, which takes the place of the throne of David, is
seen as a whole. e nations, whose judgments are here
related (although there is allusion to events nearer the
time of the prophecy), are looked at as in the last days,
when God resumes His throne of judgment in order to
reestablish His people. us Nebuchadnezzar had taken
Tyre and subdued Egypt. e Assyrian had overthrown
Damascus and led Ephraim captive. And these were events
comparatively near at hand. But, as<P262> a whole, the
events spoken of here are owned in the last days. Even in the
preceding chapter the destruction of the Assyrian is placed
after the fall of the king of Babylon. Yet historically the
Assyrian had been subdued by Babylon; and the overthrow
of Sennacherib had taken place many years before that
epoch. But prophecy always looks to the accomplishment
of God’s purposes. Here there are generally no details with
respect to the instruments employed by God. ey are
found elsewhere.
Isaiah 15-18
465
72903
Isaiah 15-18
e judgment of Moab; the last invasion of Israel
predicted
In chapters 15-16 Moab is judged. ey are warned
that the throne of David shall be established, and the
oppressor consumed out of the land. In chapter 17 we
have the invasion of armies from the north, the assembled
nations. Damascus is overthrown. Israel shall be but as a
few berries on the outmost branches. Nevertheless they
shall look to their Maker, and the gathered nations shall
perish before the manifested power of God. e outline of
this last invasion of Israel gives rise to a brief but very clear
prophecy of their condition in the last days, and which is
contained in chapter 18. ey shall be restored by means
of some powerful nation, outside the limits1 of their then
national relationships; but Jehovah stands apart from His
own relationship with them, though ordering all things.
en, when Israel shall begin to bud as a vine in the land,
they shall be given up as a prey to the nations. Nevertheless
in that time they shall be brought as an oering to Jehovah,
and shall themselves bring an oering too.
(1. e rivers of Cush, Nile and Euphrates.)
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72904
Isaiah 19-23
Jehovah’s dealings with the nations; Israel delivered
In chapters 19-20 Egypt shall be smitten in that day;
but Jehovah will heal it. Egypt, Assyria, and Israel shall
together be blessed of Jehovah. Chapter 20 teaches us
that it will be Assyria that leads Egypt captive. (Compare
Daniel 11 at the end.) It will<P263> be observed here, that,
in general, from chapters 13-17 there is deliverance. e
scepter of the wicked is broken (ch. 14:5). e throne of
David will be established in mercy (ch. 16:5). e Assyrian
is destroyed-the Philistines subdued-Zion founded by
Jehovah-Damascus reduced. e latter event introduces
the evils of the last days. Only, as we have remarked, the
gathering of the nations is for their destruction (Mic. 4:11-
13). Chapter 18, resuming the subject of chapter 17, shows
us Israel as they are to be in their land in the last days-
oppressed by the Gentiles, but in result brought back to
God.
e overowing scourge; universal overthrow
e chapters following chapter 18 do not, like the
previous ones, tell of Israel’s deliverance, but of the invasion
and overrunning of the nations before mentioned-the
overowing scourge. Egypt is overrun as well as Ethiopia,
in which Israel had trusted. Babylon is overcome - Dumah
and Kedar destroyed - Jerusalem is ravaged - Tyre falls.
In short it is a universal overthrow, the central scene of
which is the land of Canaan, but in which the whole world
is included (ch. 24:4). Even the powers of heaven are
overturned, as well as the kings of the earth upon the earth,
Isaiah 19-23
467
giving place to the establishment of Zion, the mountain of
Jehovah, as the center of power and blessing, the power of
the serpent, the dragon that is in the sea, being annihilated.
e future fall of Babylon and Jerusalem
After this outline attention must be given to some
details. It will be observed that Babylon and Jerusalem fall
(ch. 21-22), one after the other, Jerusalem the last. Now it
is quite evident that this connection of events is yet future.
at which is said of Babylon and Jerusalem may have
found its occasion in the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, and
partly in the condition of Jerusalem when threatened by
Sennacherib. But there was neither the connection nor the
order of events noted in this prophecy. But Babylon is named
in a manner that gives no clue whatever to its condition.
e “desert of the sea” is a singular term to describe a city.
But a dreadful invasion is before the prophet’s eyes, and
Babylon falls. It comes like a whirlwind of the south, and
the power of Babylon is at an end-we are not told in what
manner.<P264>
Jerusalem, the valley of vision, is ravaged. e Persians
and the Medes, who were the invaders of the preceding
chapter, reappear here as attacking Jerusalem. ere is no
ghting outside; but, the city being taken, its inhabitants are
bound or slain within it. Besides the prophetic revelations,
this chapter contains also moral instruction of the deepest
importance. In the rst place all the wisdom of man is
insucient to ward o evil, if not accompanied by the power
of God. When the city of God is in question, this wisdom,
exercised in forgetfulness of the God who built and founded
the city of His holiness, is an unpardonable sin (ch. 22:11).
Again, that which is related here was, historically speaking,
done by Hezekiah, of whom it is said he prospered in all
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his works. Outward blessing attended his labors; but, at the
same time, the condition of the people, even with respect
to these labors, was such that God could not pardon it.
is is often the case: outward faith in doing the work of
God, blessed by Him; corruption as to state of heart in the
thing, which God will assuredly judge, and forgetfulness
of God Himself and of their belonging to Him. is is
when the people of God lean upon human means. We
see also here one who held a settled oce, according to
man, in the government of the house of David, set aside
with shame, and one chosen of God taking his place, all
glory being given to him (a remarkable preguration of
the setting aside of the false Christ, and the establishment
of the true, in the last days). is prophecy gives room to
suppose that the nations will attack Jerusalem when the
Babylon of history is a desert. at which is Babylon in
those days shall fall. Nevertheless Jerusalem, the object of
the prophecies, shall be taken, its government changed; the
usurper must yield his place to the chosen One of God.
e burden of Tyre shows us all the pride of human
glory stained, and all the honorable of the earth brought
into contempt. e occasion is the capture of Tyre by
Nebuchadnezzar, but the prophecy goes farther-even to
the days when her merchandise shall be holiness to Jehovah
(ch. 23).<P265>
Isaiah 24
469
72905
Isaiah 24
e judicial overthrow of the power of wickedness in
the heavenlies and of earthly kings upon earth
Chapter 24 sets before us the overturning of everything
in the earth. e land of Israel is rst in view. But there
all the elements of all the systems of this world will be
gathered together and judged. We have already remarked
that this extends to the judicial overthrow of the power of
wickedness in the heavenlies, as well as of the kings of the
earth upon the earth: the succeeding chapters show us with
what intent. Without it the evil would not be set aside and
put a stop to. Hence when Christ rides into Jerusalem in
Luke it is said, “Peace in heaven.” For till the power of evil
is set aside thus, any blessing established on the earth is
soon corrupted and fades.
Before examining them, let us retrace the objects of the
judgments we have spoken of; let us retrace them in their
moral order. We have Babylon, the power of organized
corruption, where the people of God are captive; the
public open enemy of God and His people-the Assyrian;
the inward enemy-the Philistine; then Moab, the pride
of man. Damascus is that which has been the enemy of
God’s people, but allied with the apostate part of that
people against the faithful part. From all these the people
are delivered. Afterwards we nd, under judgment, Egypt,
or the world in its state of nature, the wisdom of which
is lost in confusion; Babylon, now desert in the midst of
the nations; Dumah, the liberty, the independence, of man;
Jerusalem, the professing people; Tyre, the glory of the
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world; and, nally, all that is on the earth, and, to sum up
all power, spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places, and
the kings of the earth upon the earth.
Isaiah 25-26
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Isaiah 25-26
God’s intervention celebrated in song
Chapters 25-26 take the form of a song, in which the
eect of God’s intervention is celebrated. Let us observe
its principal subjects. God is faithful. He accomplishes
His purposes. He has brought the city of human pride to
nought through His power. All the strong organization of
man’s pride is destroyed. God has been<P266> the strength
of the poor among His people in the day of their distress,
and the power of the enemy has been brought low. He will
execute justice in Zion for all people. He will take away
the veil that is upon their heart. e resurrection of the
faithful will have taken place. I say “the faithful,” for it is
death swallowed up in victory. Moreover, 1Corinthians
15 applies it thus. e rebuke of His people (Israel) shall
be entirely taken away. e remnant (vss. 9-12) celebrate
their deliverance; they had waited for God, and the power
of Jehovah shall be displayed on their behalf. Moab, their
haughty neighbor, shall be subdued.1
(1. Note, you have here all the results then of this
judgment of God and what is connected with it. e saints
are raised, the power of evil cast down from the heavens,
the rebuke of Israel taken away, and the veil of the covering
taken o the face of all peoples.)
e praise of the remnant
In chapter 26 the remnant sing in praise of the character
of this deliverance. ey have a strong city, but its bulwarks
are the salvation of God. e strength of man has no place
here; it is the foot of the poor that treads down the lofty
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city. It is the judgment that the righteous God executes
Himself. e remnant had waited for Him in the way of
His judgments. e long-suering of grace was in vain; it
is only when the judgments of God are in the earth1 that
the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Even
when the hand of Jehovah was lifted up to strike, they did
not see. But they shall see, in spite of themselves, and they
shall be ashamed. e re of Jehovah’s jealousy shall devour
them; they shall not rise. But Israel shall be raised, as from
the dead, by the power of Jehovah.<P267>
(1. I apprehend “the earth” is a more contracted sphere
than “the world,” the distinction especially lying in this,
that it is the sphere in which the revealed ways and
government of God have been brought before men. When
this has been the case with the whole world, it becomes the
earth. e word “earth” is used for the land of Israel and for
the earth in the sense explained, and for the whole earth
as a scene ordered of God. Hence, when the scene with
which God has already dealt is judged, then it is that the
wide world at large will learn righteousness; not, though it
ought to have been carried there, while the present system
of grace prevails.)
Isaiah 27
473
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Isaiah 27
Jehovah’s care over His people when He executes
vengeance
Finally, Jehovah invites His people to hide themselves a
little moment, while He comes out of His place to execute
vengeance (ch. 27). e power of Satan in this world and
among men shall be destroyed, Israel preserved and watered
as the vine of Jehovah. He had smitten Israel, but only in
measure. Nevertheless the people shall be fully judged; and
then Jehovah will gather His dispersed, one by one.
In the succeeding chapters we have the details of
that which will happen to Israel in their own land, when
invaded by the Gentiles in the last days, of which we have
had but the general picture and results. We shall nd a
complete and glorious deliverance of the remnant amid the
most terrible judgments.
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72908
Isaiah 28
Details of Israel’s invasion in the last days; the scourge
from the north at Jerusalem
Chapter 28 sets before us the rst elements of these
nal scenes in the history of this wonderful people. e
scourge comes from the north. Ephraim is invaded as by
an overowing torrent, by a tempest of hail that smites and
destroys; he is trodden under foot. But in that day Jehovah
shall be for a crown of glory to the residue of His people.
e people, morally besotted, do not hear. And this is
the judicial sentence of Jehovah who turns to Jerusalem
in pronouncing it. ere they had made a covenant with
death and the powers of darkness,1 that they might
escape the overowing torrent. But the covenant shall be
disannulled, the scourge shall overtake them; they shall be
trodden down, and smitten by this terrible rod. We have
then this revelation, that when Ephraim shall be invaded
by this terrible scourge, the princes of Jerusalem will seek to
preserve themselves from it by making a covenant<P268>
with the power of evil. But it shall come to nought. e
waters shall overow and sweep away the refuge of lies.
Jerusalem, as well as Ephraim, undergoes the consequences
of the assault of the enemy. But the Messiah is the elect
cornerstone, the sure foundation for the remnant; he that
believes in Him shall not be confounded. us Ephraim
is invaded and Jerusalem taken. ere is a consumption
determined2 by Jehovah upon the whole earth.
(1. ey insolently say they have made a covenant with
the power of evil, so that, when the scourge came, it would
Isaiah 28
475
not come nigh them. Impossible to conceive a more open
deance of God and His judgments. Historically they will
have done it in uniting with the man of sin, the Antichrist,
whose coming is after the power of Satan; but here it is
said in deance of God.)
(2. is expression is used elsewhere also, as in Daniel,
as a kind of technical formula for the Lord’s dealings in
the last day-the nishing of the work and cutting it short
in righteousness. He judges completely, lls it up, but cuts
it short for the sparing of the remnant, the elect.)
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72909
Isaiah 29
e second attack; Jehovah’s deliverance
Jerusalem is reduced to the last extremity. But this time
Jehovah appears for her deliverance, and the multitude of
her enemies disappear as a dream of the night. Everything
is dark and gloomy as to the people; all is morally
overturned, and soon God will overturn everything by His
power, and change the forest into Carmel (that is, a fruitful
eld). Henceforth Jacob shall no more be weak and feeble.
e meek shall be blessed, the deaf shall hear the word.
e terrible one and the blasphemer shall be consumed
before Jehovah. ere are two parts then in this history,
two attacks. e rst succeeds against Ephraim and against
Jerusalem. e second does not succeed. Jerusalem is
brought very low, but Jehovah appears and she is delivered.
e spirit of scorn and unbelief was marked in chapter 28;
the spirit of blindness in chapter 29.
Isaiah 30
477
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Isaiah 30
Unbelief and trust in man; their result; God’s perfect
grace
e eect of this unbelief is manifested in chapter
30. e people put their trust in man, according to the
wisdom of man. ey look to Egypt for help, but in vain.
is contempt of Jehovah, accompanied by an absolute
refusal to hearken to His Word, which called on the people
to trust quietly in Him, added yet more to<P269> their
iniquity. God allows the evil, therefore, to go on to the full;
but it is in order to give then free course to His grace. Verse
18 is a marvellous testimony to the ways of Jehovah. He
allowed the chastisement to be fully accomplished, that
nothing might be left for Him but perfect grace. Grace and
glory will abound, when Jehovah shall bind up the breach
of His people and heal their wound. At the end of the
chapter we have the intervention of Jehovah against this
last instrument of His chastisements-the rod of chapter 10.
e Assyrian is destroyed, and in the place where the rod
should fall on him, there shall be only songs of triumph.
But Tophet, the re of Jehovah, was prepared for another
also-“for the king.” He who shall have assumed that title in
Israel shall be consumed also by the indignation of Jehovah.
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72911
Isaiah 31
e true means of deliverance
e folly of trusting in an arm of esh is again
pointed out, but only while dwelling on the true means of
deliverance. Jehovah at Jerusalem would be in the midst
of the nations as a lion among the shepherds, and would
defend Jerusalem as birds hovering over it. His presence
should overthrow the Assyrian, and cause him to ee; for
the re of Jehovah shall be in Zion, and His furnace in
Jerusalem.
Isaiah 32
479
72912
Isaiah 32
Messiah shall reign in righteousness; full earthly
peace
en, in chapter 32, the Messiah should reign in
righteousness and set everything morally in order. Zion
would in fact be a wilderness until the Spirit was poured
out from on high, and then it should become a Carmel;
and that which before had passed for a Carmel should be
counted comparatively but a wilderness. Righteousness
should be established everywhere, and peace, the fruit of
righteousness, when the hail should come down upon the
lofty ones who bear no fruit; and the city, the organization
of human pride, should be utterly abased. e last verse
appears to me to speak of the blessedness of full earthly
peace.<P270>
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72913
Isaiah 33-34
e last two great acts of judgment
Chapters 33-34 announce the last two great acts of
judgment. At the moment when God establishes Himself
in Zion, and lls it with righteousness, a nal and powerful
enemy (whom I believe to be the same as the Gog of
Ezekiel), who had come up to spoil the land, appears on the
scene. But there are those who wait upon Jehovah, and He
arises, and the enemy is put to ight. ey gather the spoil
of those who thought to despoil Israel. In verses 14-15, the
faithful remnant are distinguished. e Messiah appears
in His beauty; and, all being at peace after the destruction
of this enemy, the most distant parts of the land are open
to the inhabitants of Zion, which is established in safety
forever.
Chapter 34 reveals the terrible judgments which will
fall upon the other nations in Edom (compare chapter
63).1 Here it is those who have oppressed Zion, and the
vengeance that God takes on oppressors. Idumea is itself
the particular object of this; but all the enemies of Israel,
who were associated with Edom, the armies of the nations
assembled against Jerusalem, will perish by the judgment
of Jehovah in the land of Edom.
(1. Compare also Psalm 83 and Obadiah.)
Isaiah 35
481
72914
Isaiah 35
e blessing that succeeds the judgment
Chapter 35 gives a picture of the blessing that succeeds
the judgment, the blessing even of the wilderness, which
depends on that of Israel. e redeemed of Jehovah shall
go up with joy in full security to Zion, and all mourning
shall pass away forever.
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72915
Isaiah 36-39
Sennacherib’s invasion; Hezekiah’s sickness unto
death; the Babylonian captivity
Chapters 36-39 relate the history of the invasion of
Sennacherib, its result, and the sickness unto death of
Hezekiah, which<P271> preceded it: an instruction for
the remnant as to the manner in which the Lord should
be waited on (this deliverance being, as to the substance
of it, a gure of that which will take place with respect to
the Assyrian in the last days). e sickness of Hezekiah
furnishes us with a type of the Son of David as raised from
the dead-the power of Christ, which shall be perfected in
a nation raised also-morally-from the dead, all their sins
being pardoned. It is the outward and inward deliverance
of Israel: resurrection (as to its practical power); and
deliverance from the Assyrian. Meanwhile, as a present
thing, the captivity in Babylon is announced.
e second part of Isaiah; Israel’s moral history
Previously to this, we have rather had the outward
history of Israel; but now we have their moral or inward
history, in their place of testimony against idolatry, and
in their relationship with Christ, and the separation of a
remnant.1
(1. See the note further on in page 273.)
Isaiah 40
483
72916
Isaiah 40
Comfort beginning with the knowledge of utter
helplessness; God’s omnipotence in grace
e rst part of that which might be called the second
book of Isaiah extends from chapter 40 to the end of
chapter 48. e Messiah is, comparatively speaking, but
little introduced here. It is rather the great question between
Jehovah and idols, answered rst by the success of Cyrus
and the capture of Babylon. For, though their glory cannot
be separated, there is Jehovah and His anointed. is is
evidently connected in grace with the deliverance of Israel,
God’s witness on the earth, unworthy, as the nation was,
to be so. At the same time these ways of God showed that
there was no peace at all for the wicked in Israel. e great
truth is repeated twice over, being applied to the two great
controversies which God had with Israel. We will point
out some details to make all this evident. e rst eight
verses of chapter 40 express in a very remarkable manner
the principles on which God acts: the grace owing from
His own heart, when His <P272>chastisements had been
fully inicted. God would comfort His people; and He
speaks to the heart of Jerusalem, by telling her that her
warfare is accomplished. e herald proclaims the coming
of Jehovah. And here it is the fact, as deliverance: His
rejection is not mentioned. It is spoken of later in chapters
51 and
53. But with respect to the people, what must the prophet
say? “All esh is grass.” If all esh is to see the glory of
Jehovah, if He pleads in vengeance with all esh, this
is where the testimony must begin. All esh is grass:
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Jehovah blows upon it. Is it thus with the Gentiles
only? No; “the people is grass.” Comfort must begin
with this. e grass withers; who, then, can be trusted
in? God has spoken. “e word of our God [says the
faith of the remnant-says the Spirit of prophecy] shall
stand forever.” en comes the prophetic testimony
to the blessedness of ransomed Zion, who proclaims
to the cities of Judah the presence of Jehovah-the
Saviour, whose tender care is then described in a
touching manner. e glory of His divine majesty is
contrasted with idols to verse 26. He then challenges
Israel for their unbelief. He who is Jehovah faints
not, neither is weary. e depths of His wisdom are
unsearchable; but they that wait on Him renew their
strength, and shall not grow weary.
Isaiah 41-43
485
72917
Isaiah 41-43
Cyrus raised up to overthrow idolatry; Israel the elect
servant of God
Chapter 41 begins the historical details which prove
this. Who raised up Cyrus to overthrow idolatry? But in
the midst of the havoc he made of it, Israel is the elect
servant of God, the seed of Abraham.1 (is title of
“servant” is a key to the rest of the book.) He is not to
fear: God will uphold him; and they that strive with him
shall perish. God will hearken to His poor, and minister
to their need. e besotted idolaters of the nations know
nothing of what God is about to do in judgment and for
the deliverance of His people.<P273>
(1. It will be remarked that, though there is the fullest
discovery of Israel’s sin, yet these chapters are the expression
of grace and sovereign goodness, and a remnant preserved;
not the responsibility of the nation and judgment.)
e true Servant amid the people’s disobedience
But although Cyrus is Jehovah’s instrument for inicting
judgment and for delivering His people, this is but a
passing and partial thing. Above all this there is a servant
of God, His elect, who will appear in humility and without
pretension, but who shall not fail nor be discouraged, till
He have set judgment in the earth; and the isles of the
Gentiles shall receive His law (ch. 42). is testimony was
needful, and secures the blessing of Israel by the unfailing
purpose and grace of God; but nothing more is said of the
Messiah in this part of the prophecy. e result of bringing
in the work of the Messiah is the glory of Jehovah, who
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alone in fact shall be gloried, and that unto the ends of
the earth. In the manifestation of this glory He who had
for a long time held His peace, will deliver His blind and
deaf people Israel, who had not understood His ways. He
will magnify His law. But why then are the people robbed
and spoiled? Jehovah had given them up because of their
disobedience.
Deliverance and pardon for God’s own glory
But now He delivers and saves them (ch. 43). He
created them for His glory. e blind have eyes; the deaf,
ears; they are witnesses that Jehovah alone is God. e
judgments on Babylon- the commencement and the gure
of the nal judgments1-prove this. Jehovah had formed
this people for Himself, and the people had grown weary
of their God; and, as it were, had made Him to serve with
their sins. But now He pardons it all for His own glory.
Glorious and striking testimony of Him who, in grace to
the sinner when the sin becomes unbearable, puts away
the sin instead of the sinner! is is what God has done
through Christ.
(1. at is, earthly judgments.)
Isaiah 44-45
487
72918
Isaiah 44-45
Encouragement and promise; the folly of idolatry
when the God of grace is their Redeemer
Chapter 44. Jehovah now reasons with His people
whom He had formed from the womb, encourages them,
promises them His Spirit. eir children shall spring up
as willows by the <P274>water-courses. ey shall be
witnesses for Him, Jehovah, the King of Israel, and their
Redeemer. He shows Israel the folly of idolatry, reminds
him that he is Jehovah’s servant, and that He will not
forget them, and assures them of the entire pardon of all
their sins: even Jehovah, who is the disposer of all things,
and who calls Cyrus by name to rebuild Jerusalem.
Chapter 45 enlarges upon the same subjects, dwelling
on the deliverance of Israel as an everlasting deliverance,
the result of which shall never be overthrown.
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72919
Isaiah 46-48
God’s pleading against idolatry; sovereign redemption
in spite of wickedness and obstinacy
In chapters 46-47, the application is made to Babylon
and to her idols, but still as pleading for Israel as beloved of
God; for governmental judgment is always the deliverance
of the beloved righteous. Babylon with all her pride and all
her idols must come down and sit in the dust. In chapter 48
Jehovah at length pleads with Israel. He species Israel, the
name of relationship with Himself Jehovah, which those
He is pleading with bear and claim, while noting that they
were descended from Judah-in a word, the Jews, who had
the place of Israel and called upon the name of the God of
Israel; but He declares their wickedness and obstinacy. He
had told them many things long before, and they made new
revelations to them, that they might know that Jehovah
is God. But they hearkened not; they did not understand.
Nevertheless for the glory of His name Jehovah would not
cut them o; but would rene them as silver. He reminds
them in an aecting manner of the blessing they would have
enjoyed had they kept His commandments. Nevertheless it
is even now declared unto them that Jehovah has redeemed
His people. But as for the wicked, there is no peace unto
them. is continual pleading against idolatry, while giving
instruction for that day, seems to prove that, up to the end,
the question of Israel’s either testifying against idolatry or
being deled with it themselves will have a principal place.
For the government of the world is a primary question.
e god of this world governs by means of idols; Jehovah
Isaiah 46-48
489
by His own name. Israel ought to have been the witness of
this. ey will be <P275>unfaithful to it in the last days.
is is the reason why there is so much testimony here on
the subject.
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72920
Isaiah 49
Messiah the true Servant; God’s glorious answer to
His rejection
e Messiah is brought in, for it is He who delivers.
But it is a question apart, so to say. e subject of Christ,
and of the people’s guilt with respect to Him, begins with
chapter 49, which, with the following to the end of chapter
57, forms a whole; and, if one may venture to say so, Christ
takes the place of Israel as the true servant of God. As He
declared, “I am the true vine.”1is makes an apparent
diculty, but gives the true sense of chapter 49. Israel is
the vessel of the glory of God on the earth, and the Spirit
of prophecy in Israel calls on the isles of the Gentiles to
hearken, as being thus chosen of Jehovah. “ou art my
servant, O Israel, in whom I will be gloried” (vs. 3). en
Christ, by this same prophetic Spirit, says, “en have I
labored in vain.” For we know that Israel rejected Him.
Verse 5 is the answer. He shall be glorious. It would be a
light thing to restore the remnant of Israel. He shall be
the salvation of Jehovah unto the ends of the earth. Here
we nd a principle that is applicable to the work of Christ,
even in the days of the gospel. But for the fulllment of the
counsels of God the succeeding verses carry us on to the
millennium. Verse 7, Christ is exalted. Verse 8, He is given
for a covenant of the people (Israel) to secure the blessing
of the land, of Canaan, and the long desolate inheritance,
and then the deliverance of the captives. At length God
has comforted His people. Zion, apparently forsaken, must
confess that Jehovah’s faithfulness is greater than that of a
Isaiah 49
491
mother to her sucking child. Her destroyers are gone, her
children ock in crowds to her and replenish her waste
places, which regorge with an unlooked-for multitude
before the eyes of the astonished mother, longtime desolate.
Kings shall be her nursing fathers, and shall bow down to
her. And although she has been the captive of the mighty,
she shall be delivered, and her <P276>oppressors trodden
under foot. And all esh shall know that Jehovah is her
Saviour. is is the result in grace of the introduction of
the true Servant.
(1. So, I doubt not, in Matthew, “I have called my
Son out of Egypt.” Christ replaces the rst Adam before
God, though blessing in that new position many of His
children. He takes the place of Israel also, though blessing
the remnant and making it the nation.)
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72921
Isaiah 50
e Person and rst coming of the Lord; Christ’s
suerings from man
Chapter 50 enters into the detail of the judgment
which God brings upon Israel, and the true cause of their
rejection.1 Nothing can be more touching, more wonderful,
than the manner in which the Person and the rst coming
of the Lord are presented in this remarkable chapter, which
requires not interpretation but devout study. Jehovah, who
disposes of the heavens and the earth at His pleasure,
has learned how to speak a word in season to the weary
and heavy laden, taking the place Himself of lowliness
and humiliation. Men-sad and dreadful truth!-seized the
opportunity to insult and put Him to shame. ey would
none of Him. e heart pauses before such a truth, and
judges itself. But soon also, thank God, it melts before that
love which took occasion to introduce man into God’s own
perfection (and that of man in the divine counsels) and to
adapt itself, at the same time, to all his need-to make him
feel that it had experienced all his misery. But, whatever
the sorrows and trials attendant on such a service, the Man,
Christ, trusted in God throughout, and turned not away
back.
(1. It is aecting to remark how in both pleadings, as
to idolatry, and as to the rejection of Christ, the love and
faithfulness of Jehovah and its consequences are introduced
before the pleadings of the Spirit of God with the people
for their failure in these very points; the resulting blessing
before the human evil, God before man. It was so in the
Isaiah 50
493
counsels of God before the world: the full declaration of
the blessing comes afterwards.)
Israel’s rejection; the remnant who hearken to God’s
true Servant
Here then is prophetically the cause of Israel’s, or more
specically Judah’s, rejection; when Jehovah came, there
was no man. But, at the same time, with the help of the
New Testament, we nd the Christian’s place in the most
clear and striking manner. It is the place of Christ Himself.
at which Christ says here the<P277> Apostle adopts,
and puts it into the mouth of the believer1 (Rom. 8:33-
34). He is identied with Jesus in His position before God.
God (thus judges faith) acknowledges Him whom the
people have rejected, and by so doing have, as it were, forced
God to give them a bill of divorcement. Next, this is what
distinguishes the remnant-a new and important principle-
they hearken to the voice of the servant, the Messiah, to
the prophetic word. We have seen the church hidden in the
Person of Christ Himself; here it is the faithful remnant of
Israel in the latter day that are specied (vs. 10). e rest
who seek resources in themselves, in man and in esh, shall
lie down in sorrow.
(1. ese verses in Romans 8 should be divided thus:
“It is God that justieth; who is he that condemneth? It is
Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again,” etc.; “who
shall separate us from the love of Christ?” In His love He
has gone through everything that could make us imagine
it possible. ey have become the proofs of His love.
Moreover it is the love of God; creation cannot separate us
from His.
I add a brief synoptical view of all these chapters, to
aid in seizing them as a whole. Chapters 40-48 treat the
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question of idolatry between God and Israel; chapters 49-
57 that of Christ. Chapter 49 gives an orderly view of the
purposes and ways of God as to Israel and the Messiah.
God will be gloried in Israel (vss. 1-3). en Christ has
labored in vain; yet His work is with God. First, He will be
gloried in the eyes of Jehovah. Second, It is a light thing,
the restoration of the preserved of Israel. He is salvation to
the ends of the earth. ird, Heard in an acceptable time,
He is set as a covenant of the people. Zion is restored. In
chapter 50 Israel is divorced, because when Jehovah came,
there was no man. He had come as man in humiliation in
order to perfect sympathy with man in sorrow. Given up to
shame, God justies Him (vss. 5-9). is, that is, Christ’s
justication, is the church’s, as we have seen; in verses 10-
11 we have the Jewish remnant of the church. Chapter
50 gives us Christ’s suerings from man; in chapter 53 it
is atonement. Chapter 49 gives the glory resulting from
Christ’s taking the place of Israel, the fruit of His labor;
chapter 50, the consequence of His rejection by Israel, yet
in grace as to the yet unrevealed church and the remnant
which is positively spoken of; chapter 49 has more to do
with the government of God.)
Isaiah 51-52
495
72922
Isaiah 51-52
e remnant encouraged and acknowledged as
Jehovah’s nation; God’s salvation manifested to all the
earth
e application is found in chapter 51 and chapter 52
to the end of verse 12, and that to the remnant of Israel. In
verse 13 a fresh division of the prophecy begins. e remnant
in the last days are exhorted to have condence. ose who
follow after righteousness are a little ock; but God had
called Abraham alone, and had blessed and increased him;
He can do the same for the remnant.<P278> Compare
Ezekiel 33:24, where we see in what manner carnal
condence, walking in unrighteousness, can imitate, to its
own ruin, divine faith. Jehovah will comfort Zion. Verse 4
is the second exhortation. e remnant are acknowledged
as Jehovah’s nation. His righteousness was near; salvation
and deliverance were already gone forth from Him, and
should be forever. In verse 7 there is a further step. ey are
a people who know righteousness, who have the law in their
heart; they are not to fear men who should be devoured
by the judgments of God. But His righteousness and His
salvation should be everlasting. e remnant, thus set in
their place, are revealed by the Spirit of prophecy as owned
of Jehovah. e same Spirit speaks by the mouth of the
remnant (vs. 9), to implore His intervention in power,
and to claim the perfect loving-kindness of Jehovah, and
the assured salvation of His redeemed ones, as well as the
reestablishment of Zion in everlasting joy. e remnant thus
encouraged, the Spirit turns to Zion, and even as “Awake!
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awake!” had been addressed to the arm of Jehovah, so is it
now to Zion herself, oppressed and trodden under foot of
strangers. As if to say it was Zion that had need to awake,
not the Lord, for the salvation was there. e cup shall now
be given to those that aicted her again. “Awake! awake!”
is once more addressed to her, that she may stand up and
clothe herself in strength and glory. For Jehovah has made
bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the
ends of the earth shall see the salvation of Israel’s God.
is threefold repetition of “hearken” (vss. 1,4,7), followed
by the threefold repetition, “Awake! awake!” is extremely
beautiful. Verses 11-12 of chapter 52 show that in those
days Israel will be captive among apostate Gentiles, as in
the days of Babylon. Verse 13 is closely connected with
that which precedes. It is Christ’s position in those times of
glory and of deliverance wrought by Jehovah. Nevertheless
it may be considered separately, and as beginning a new
subject, because it forms a whole with respect to the Lord
Jesus Himself. Christ shall be very highly exalted in those
days. But what had His position been? On this subject the
Spirit of prophecy enlarges. e kings shall be astonished
at His glory-His whose visage had been so marred, more
than any man.<P279>
Isaiah 53
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72923
Isaiah 53
e aiction of the day of atonement; Christ’s work;
the confession of the escaped remnant
Israel’s unbelief is declared. e structure of this most
interesting chapter is as follows. As we have seen, in the
Psalms and elsewhere, the full repentance of Israel comes
after their deliverance. at is, when (as judged of Jehovah)
their chastening is over, the glorious manifestation of
Christ as their deliverer produces the deep sense of
their sin in having rejected Him. is is Psalm 130. It is
the aiction of the day of atonement. is chapter 53
expresses it. After verse 1 the Spirit speaks by the mouth
of the escaped remnant of Israel. ey confess their sin in
having despised Him. Nevertheless there is faith now in
the ecacy of His work (vs. 5). Verse 1 shows that the
testimony of Christ, addressed to faith, had been rejected.
ey believe when they see Him. I need not comment on
this chapter, which is engraved on every true Christian’s
heart. We, by the work of the Holy Spirit sent down from
heaven, have anticipated, and more than anticipated, their
faith in the value of that work which is here spoken of; and
their sin, which, as far as the nation was concerned in it,
they here acknowledge. ey had esteemed Him smitten,
rejected of God, but the meaning of this is now seen. In
verse 11, it is my belief that the two parts of Christ’s work
are distinguished. By His knowledge He shall bring many
to righteousness, or instruct many in righteousness, and
He shall bear their iniquities.
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72924
Isaiah 54
e result of confession and Christ owned
Chapter 54 gives the result of these events to Jerusalem
in those days. Jerusalem is looked at as barren and desolate,
after having rejected Him who came to be her husband;
but now, through that grace which has made Jehovah to be
her righteousness, she is called to enlarge the place of her
tent, and spread forth the curtains of her habitation. at
grace indeed reckons all gathered during her desolation as
her children. Christ being owned as the son born to her,
all came in under Him. (See Psalm<P280> 87:5-6.) For a
little while God has treated her as a rejected wife, but has
now comforted her with everlasting mercies.
Isaiah 55-57
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72925
Isaiah 55-57
Full, free grace and blessing; the moral instruction
necessary
Chapters 55-57 are exhortations given in view of these
things. Chapter 55 is full free grace, which consequently
embraces the Gentiles. For this reason it can be applied as
a principle to the gospel. Its accomplishment will be in the
time of blessings to the earth through the Lord’s presence.
Chapter 56 gives the moral character that is necessary to
enjoy the blessing, which is no longer according to the
narrow legal principles of former days. His house shall in
fact be a house of prayer for all those whose hearts are truly
turned unto the God of Israel; and they shall be joyful in it.
Chapter 57 denounces (we may say, on the same principle)
those even in Israel who morally walk contrary to the will
of God. e righteous might perish. But it would only be
taking them from the evil to come. But whether it were
Israel or not, there would be no peace for the wicked. ese
three chapters then give the moral instruction that belongs
to those days. e faithful shall be blessed, and the meek,
be they who they may; the wicked shall be judged, whether
of Israel or not. is closes, as I have said, with chapter 57
the second subdivision of this part of the prophecy.
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72926
Isaiah 58-59
Present sin and hypocrisy denounced
But these moral considerations rouse the indignation
of the Spirit at the condition of Israel in the days of the
prophecy-their sin and their hypocrisy in pretending to
serve Jehovah; and in chapters 58-59 He denounces their
trust in outward forms, and places blessing on condition
of obedience. It was not that the arm of Jehovah was
shortened, or His ear grown heavy; but the iniquity of the
people hindered blessing and would bring judgment upon
them. Yet, when all had failed and there was no one to
maintain<P281> righteousness, Jehovah Himself would
intervene in His sovereignty and might. He would crush
His enemies and judge the isles; so that His name should be
feared throughout the whole earth. e Redeemer should
come to Zion and to those that turn from transgression in
Jacob. Blessing should then be permanent, and the presence
of the Holy Spirit abide with the seed of Jacob forever.
Isaiah 60
501
72927
Isaiah 60
Jerusalem’s future righteous condition and glory
Chapter 60 gives us the condition and the glory of
Jerusalem in that time of blessing: all of the people thus
spared would be righteous.
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72928
Isaiah 61-62
e full grace of the Person of the Redeemer
Chapter 61. As chapters 50-53 presented Christ in
His suerings, chapter 61 exhibits Him in the full grace
of His Person concerned in the blessing of Israel. e
three preceding chapters had revealed the judgment and
the intervention of Jehovah, at the same time pointing
out the Redeemer. We have seen the same principle in the
structure of the prophecy from chapter 40 to the end of
chapter 48, as in the last series. en in chapter 49 the
Messiah is specially introduced. So He is here from the
beginning of chapter 61 to verse 6 of chapter 63. But there
is a progress necessarily accompanying the introduction, in
the last series of chapters, of the Person of Christ as the
principal subject of Jehovah’s pleadings. We see that it is
Jehovah Himself who is Christ, and Christ who is Jehovah.
“Wherefore, when I came,” is the inquiry, “was there no
man?” Hence also there is the dierence between the moral
sins of Israel against Jehovah, and the rejection of Himself
in the Person of the Messiah, which we have seen so clearly
pointed out in chapter 50. So also with respect to the
repentance of the Jews. In the former chapters the law is
written in their hearts; they turn away from iniquity; they
trust in Jehovah; they hearken to the Spirit of prophecy, to
the servant of Jehovah; they are delivered. But when they
shall see their Redeemer in glory,<P282> then it is that the
true repentance, the deep aiction, shall take place at the
sight of Him whom they have despised and rejected, and
who in His grace has borne their iniquities.
Isaiah 61-62
503
Chapters 61-62 appear to me too plain to need much
remark. e manner in which the Lord stopped in the
middle of verse 2 (ch. 61) will be observed, the time for the
fulllment of the last part of the verse not being yet come.
But He could set before them that which applied to His
own Person in grace.
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72929
Isaiah 63
Jehovah’s judgment and its result
Chapter 63:1-6. We nd again here the terrible
judgment of chapter 34 executed by Jehovah (or rather
having been already executed, for He returns from it). e
result is the peace and blessing which we have just seen
described in chapter 62.
e plea of the aicted trusting remnant
From verse 7 of chapter 63 we have the reasoning of the
Spirit of prophecy in the mouth of the remnant, or perhaps
that of the prophet, putting himself in that position. And
in chapters 65-66, we nd Jehovah’s answer. Nothing can
be more aecting than the way in which the Spirit lends
Himself to the expression of all the feelings of a faithful
Israelite’s heart; or rather in which He gives a form to
the sentiments of an aicted but trusting heart, recalling
past kindnesses, overwhelmed by the present distress,
acknowledging the hard-heartedness and rebellion of which
they had been guilty, but appealing to the unchangeable
faithfulness of God’s love against the judicial blinding
and hardening which the people are under. If Abraham
acknowledged them not, God was their Father. Where
was His strength, His tenderness, His mercies? Were they
restrained? Faith recognizes through all things the link
between the people and God; it acknowledges that God
prepares for those that wait on Him things beyond man’s
conception1-that He meets those who walk uprightly;
and it confesses<P283> that the state of Israel is quite
dierent-that they are sinners not even seeking His face.
Isaiah 63
505
But the aiction of His people, the disastrous condition
into which sin had brought them, is to faith a plea with
God. Whatever had happened, the people were to faith
as the clay, and Jehovah the potter. ey were His people;
their cities, the cities of Jehovah. e house in which their
fathers had worshipped was burned up, and all was laid
waste.
(1. e dierence between this and gospel knowledge as
made by Paul (1Cor. 2) is striking, often quoted for just the
contrary. ese things, he says, have not entered into man’s
heart, but God has revealed them unto us (Christians) by
His Spirit; so at the end of the chapter, “But we have the
mind of Christ.”)
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72930
Isaiah 64-65
God’s answer; the full revelation of His dealings in
grace; the millennium
e next two chapters give us a full revelation of the
dealings of God in answer to this appeal. First of all, God,
through His grace, had been sought after by others. He
had made Himself known to those who were not called
by His name. e innite and sovereign grace of God
had sought out the poor Gentiles. At the same time,
with innite patience, He had stretched forth His hands
to a people who would not have Him-to a people who
provoked Him continually in the grossest manner. And
now He declares His mind. e people that forsook Him
shall be judged; He will number them with the sword; they
shall bow down to the slaughter. But there shall be an elect
remnant in grace-the servants of Jehovah, who shall be
spared and blessed (vss. 11-12,8-9,13,15). Jehovah would
then introduce an entirely new order of things, in which
the truth of His promises should be acknowledged, and the
former things should be quite forgotten-new heavens and
a new earth, not as yet with respect to the physical change,
but the moral order of which should be entirely new. It
should not be only a new order of things on the earth,
which the power of evil in the heavens might spoil, as in
former days; the state of the heavens themselves should be
new. We learn elsewhere that Satan will have been cast out,
and his power there gone forever.1 Indeed, this would have
been the occasion of the last terrible trials in Jerusalem.
But now Jerusalem should be blessed in the earth, and her
Isaiah 64-65
507
people should enjoy the gifts of Jehovah in as long a life
as that of men before the ood. A man of a hundred years
old<P284> should be a child; and if anyone should die at
that age, he must be looked upon as cut o by the curse of
God. God would always grant the prayers of His people.
Peace should be established, and there should be no evil in
all His holy mountain. is is the millennial state of the
Jews.
(1. Hence, when the Lord enters into Jerusalem as
Jehovah Messiah, it is said (Luke 19:38), “Peace in heaven.”)
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72931
Isaiah 66
e millennium introduced by the judgments of the
God of glory
Chapter 66 speaks of the judgment that introduces
it, and consequently gives us more historical details. e
temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem (vs. 6), but Jehovah does
not own it, man alone being concerned in its building;
neither does He acknowledge the sacrices oered in it.
He looks to the meek and contrite spirit. ere were some
who mocked at the hopes of these, and said mockingly,
“Let Jehovah display his glory”; but He will appear to their
confusion, and for the blessing of those who waited for
Him. Zion shall suddenly be as the mother of a people,
blessed in Jehovah and comforted. e remnant is thus
distinguished in these two chapters in the most explicit
manner.
e use of the word “servant” in Isaiah
Let us retrace here the use of the word servant. First of
all it was Israel; then Christ Himself, the only true servant
amid this people; afterwards the remnant who hearkened
to His words as the Servant, or Spirit of prophecy. For the
Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. e latter are
called servants here: they shall be comforted in Jerusalem,
as one whom his mother comforts; and the hand of Jehovah
shall be known toward His servants, and His indignation
toward His enemies. For He shall come and execute
judgment against all esh. Salvation has been made known
to all esh. And now Jehovah shall plead in judgment with
all esh. e unbelieving and idolatrous Israelites shall be
Isaiah 66
509
there, confounded with the nations, all of whom God will
assemble, who shall come and see His glory. He will execute
judgment on the multitude by re and by His sword. But
there shall be some who through grace will escape. God
will send these to the distant nations who have never seen
His glory nor heard His fame. ere is<P285> no question
here of the election by grace for heaven. ey will declare
(not that grace, but) the glory which they have seen; and
the nations will bring back the dispersed of Israel, as an
oering to Jehovah in His holy mountain. And the seed
of Jacob, and the priests whom Jehovah shall choose, shall
be as the new heavens and the new earth before Jehovah,
and all esh shall come to worship before Him. ose who
have been the objects of Jehovah’s judgments, who have
transgressed against Him, especially it seems to me the
apostate Jews, shall be an abiding testimony of Jehovah’s
terrible judgment. For if the full blessing of His presence
shall shine upon His people, it is the principle of judgment
that brought it in and that maintains it.
God’s patience with sin; its eventual judgment
ere remains a general remark to be made here. e
sinful condition thus judged existed in the days of the
prophet. e patience of God bore with it, but the principle
that brought in judgment was there (witness chapter 6).
Until the rejection of Christ, and in a certain sense until
the reception of Antichrist coming in his own name, the
evil is not fully consummated, nor the nal judgment
executed. But already in Ahaz the occasion had been given
for pronouncing it. us, the occasion being in this manner
given, the whole condition of Israel, the grace that received
the Gentiles, the nothingness of forms and ceremonies-
in a word, all the great moral principles of truth are laid
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down in this part of the prophecy; and we see Stephen,
Paul, the Lord Himself, making use of passages that speak
of these principles, applying them to the times in which
they lived: the Lord, to the hardened state of the people;
Stephen, to the unprotableness of an already judged
system; Paul, to the Jews’ state of condemnation, and to
the manifestation of grace to the Gentiles. What remains
is the accomplishment of the great result, in which these
things shall be demonstrated to the world by the judgment
and the sovereign blessing of God.
e Lord’s rst coming in humiliation as clearly
revealed as His second coming in glory
As to the coming of Jesus in humiliation, we have seen
it as clearly revealed as His coming in glory. In short, all
the ways of<P286> God in the government of His people,
with respect to their conduct under the law, to the promises
made to the house of David, and at last to their treatment
of Christ-Jehovah in humiliation among His people-the
government, I repeat, and the ways of God towards Israel
in all these respects, are developed in the clearest and most
wonderful manner in the course of this prophecy.
But the judgment pronounced now by the prophet the
patience of God suspended nearly 800 years. It was only
accomplished when they rejected Christ.<P287>
Jeremiah
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72932
Jeremiah
e spirit of the book
e Book of the Prophet Jeremiah has a dierent
character from that of Isaiah. It does not contain the same
development of the counsels of God respecting this earth
that Isaiah does. It is true, that we are told many things in
it concerning the nations; but it is principally composed of
testimony addressed immediately to the conscience of the
people, on the subject of their moral condition at the time
the prophet speaks, and with an eye to the judgment with
which they were threatened. Judah had forsaken Jehovah;
for their repentance under Josiah was but a fair appearance,
and under the kings that succeeded him their degradation
was complete. e prophet’s heart was overwhelmed with
grief, because of his love for the people; at the same time
that he was lled with a deep sense of their relationship with
the Lord. e sense of this produced a continual conict
in his soul between the thought of the value of the people
as the people of God, and a holy jealousy for the glory
of God and His rights over His people-rights which they
were trampling under foot. is was an incurable wound
to his heart. He had pleaded for the people, he had stood
in the breach for them before Jehovah; but he saw that it
was all in vain: the people rejected God and the testimony
that He sent them. God Himself would no longer hearken
to prayer made for Israel. Jeremiah prophesies under this
impression: a sorrowful task, indeed, and one which made
the prophet truly a man of sorrow. And although he could
always say that, if the people repented, they would be
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received in grace, he well knew that the people had even
no thought of repenting. Two things sustained him in this
painful service (for what could be more painful than to
announce judgment for their iniquities, to a people beloved
of God?): rst of all, the energy of the Spirit of God,
which lled his heart and compelled him to announce
the<P288> judgment of God, in spite of contradiction
and persecution; and then the revelation of the people’s
nal blessing according to the unchangeable counsels of
God. After this brief notice of the spirit of the Book of
Jeremiah, the proofs and details of which we shall nd in
going through his prophecies, let us now examine these in
succession.
e order of the prophecies in the Septuagint and
Hebrew Bible
It is well-known that the order of the prophecies in
the Septuagint is dierent from that in the Hebrew Bible.
But I see no reason for not receiving the latter. ere is no
doubt that it does not preserve the chronological order. e
names of the kings1 in the successive chapters clearly prove
this. But it appears to me that, where there is chronological
confusion, the subjects are classed, and that according to
the mind of the Spirit.
(1. In chapter 27 “Jehoiakim” should be “Zedekiah.”
(See verse 12 and chapter 28:1.))
e general contents of the book
e rst twenty-four chapters have rather a dierent
character from those that follow. To the end of chapter
24 it is a reasoning, a moral pleading with the people. In
chapter 25 there is a formal prophecy of judgment on divers
nations by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. And afterwards
Jeremiah
513
we nd prophecies much more distinct from each other,
and connected with historical details.
Chapters 30-33 contain promises of assured blessing
for the last days. From chapter 39 it is the history of that
which followed the taking of Jerusalem, and the judgment
of Egypt and Babylon.
e dierent prophecies
We will now state the dierent distinct prophecies;
chapter 1, chapters 2-6, chapters 7-10, chapters 11-13,
chapters 14-15, chapters 16-17, chapters 18-20, chapters
21-24, chapter 25, chapter 26, chapter 27 (verse 1, read
“Zedekiah” instead of “Jehoiakim”), chapter 28, chapter 29,
chapters 30-31, chapter 32, chapter 33 (this last, however,
is connected with the preceding one), chapter 34, chapter
35, chapter 36, chapters 37-38, chapter 39, chapters 40
-44, chapter 45, chapter 46, chapter 47, chapter 48,<P289>
chapter 49:1-6, 7-22, 23-27, 28, 29, 30-33, 34-39, and
chapters 50-51. Chapter 52 is not written by Jeremiah.
e prophet’s expression of the anguish of the
remnant
ere can be nothing more striking in the way of deep
aiction than that of the prophet. He is distressed; his
heart is broken. One sees too that God has made choice of
a naturally feeble heart, easily cast down and discouraged
(even while lling it with His own strength), in order
that the anguish, the complaints, the distress of soul, the
indignation of a weak heart that resents oppression while
unable to throw it o or overcome it, being all poured out
before Him, should bear testimony against the people
whose inveterate wickedness called for His vengeance. e
aiction of Christ, whose Spirit wrought that of Jeremiah,
was innitely deeper; but His perfect communion with
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His Father caused all the anguish, that in Jeremiah’s case
broke out into complaints, to be in secret between Jesus
and His Father. It is very rarely expressed in the Gospels.
He is entirely for others in grace.1 In the Psalms we see
more of His feelings. In Jeremiah’s case, it was proper that
the anguish of the faithful remnant should be expressed
before God. e absolute perfection of the Lord Jesus,
and the calmness which, through the presence of God,
accompanies His perfection in all His ways, allowed of
no complaint, whatever might be the inward anguish of
His heart. He thanks in the same hour that He can justly
upbraid. Sympathy for others became the position of Jesus.
We see that our precious Lord never failed in this.
(1. Compare Matthew 26 where this is brought out in
the most striking way. It is very precious to see both this
perfect result in Christ and at the same time all that He
felt in His heart as man, both as sensible to circumstances
without and so deeply exercised within. Perfect exercises
within produce perfect quietness in walk without, for in
both God is fully brought in. If we avoid the full dealing
with the matter with God, the heart cannot act for Him as
if all were disposed of: and that is peace in action. Yet how
precious to see the reality of Christ’s human nature in all
the intimate exercises of His spirit.)
But it was equally becoming that the outpouring of
heart of the faithful, who needed this sympathy, should be
expressed by the Holy Spirit. It is not that there was no
weakness in the heart that poured itself out; but if the Spirit
lays it open, it is evident that He must express it as it is;
otherwise it were useless and false. Consequently Jeremiah
enters much more personally into his <P290>prophecies
than any other prophet.1 He represents the people in their
Jeremiah
515
true position before God-such as God could recognize, as
being before Him in this character-in order to see whether,
receiving from God that which applied to this position,
and expressing the sentiments inspired by such a position,
it was possible to reach the conscience and win the heart
of the people; always remembering that these sentiments
were expressed according to the Spirit, and accompanied by
the most direct and positive prophecies of that which God
would bring upon the people. It is to be observed also, that
a great part of that which was written was not addressed in
the rst instance to the people, but to God. is position
of Jeremiah’s, as the representative before God of the true
interests of the people, or of the remnant, causes him to be
looked at sometimes as though he were Jerusalem itself,
and, at other times, as a remnant separated from it and set
apart for God.
(1. ere is something analogous in Jonah. But there
the circumstances of the prophet are an episode, and are
not connected with the testimony he bore, unless by the
single principle of grace.)
e period of Jeremiah’s prophecies
But these points will be better understood by examining
the passages which bring them into notice. e period
during which Jeremiah prophesied was of considerable
length, and embraced the whole time of Israel’s decline,
from the year after that in which Josiah began to cleanse
Jerusalem and all the land, until the nal destruction of
Jerusalem by the army of the Chaldeans; and even a little
while after in Egypt, a period of more than forty years-a
period throughout of distress and anguish. For although
Josiah was a godly king, the reformation of the people was
only an outward one, as we shall see. So that the anguish
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of one who saw with God was so much the greater on
account of this appearance of piety. “And Jehovah was
not turned away from his erce anger, because of the sins
of Manasseh.” Nevertheless the prophet distinguishes
between the two periods, that is, the reign of Josiah, and
that of his successors.
Excepting in chapters 21-24 there are no dates for the rst
twenty-four chapters. It is probable that they were mostly
given under Josiah’s reign. ey contain moral arguments,
the expression of the prophet’s sorrow of heart, and solemn
warnings of the<P291> coming invasion from the north.
e four chapters I have specied have no chronological
order, and are probably composed of prophecies given
at dierent periods. ey contain the judgment of the
dierent branches of the house of David successively, as
well as that of the false prophets who deceived the people.
ey end by declaring the fate of the captives in Babylon,
and of those that remained with Zedekiah in Jerusalem-
the two very dierent from each other.
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72933
Jeremiah 1
e appointment of Jeremiah to the prophet’s oce
In chapter 1 the prophet is established in his oce, to
which he had been appointed by Jehovah, even before his
birth, that he should carry His word unto the nations. But
Jeremiah’s fears are immediately manifested. e Lord
encourages him by the assurance of His presence. He puts
His words into his mouth, and appoints him as prophet
over the nations to root out and to plant. Two visions are
shown him, which contain the summary of the prophetic
charge communicated to him, and announce that Jerusalem
shall soon be stricken by the kingdoms of the north. Under
these circumstances Jeremiah is set before a rebellious
people, who will strive against him. Nevertheless he must
declare everything; and as the Lord had before encouraged
the prophet, He now adds to the encouragement, in order
to enforce it, a threat in case of disobedience; namely, that,
if through fear he drew back from his commission, the Lord
would become a greater cause of fear, and would break him
to pieces before those of whom he was afraid. But if he
fullled his appointed task, Jehovah would be with him.
Verses 6-8 and 17-18 show the great fearfulness of the
prophet’s spirit, which needed to be thus strengthened by
Jehovah.
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72934
Jeremiah 2
Jehovah’s touching appeal to Jerusalem; the people’s
responsibility
Chapter 2 contains a most touching appeal to the people
at Jerusalem. It requires no explanation, but deserves the
heart’s <P292>serious attention. It testies in the most
striking manner to the kindness and tender love of the
Lord. Only that we have here only the comparison of what
they had originally been as planted by the Lord, and His
ways of love, not any reference to the coming of the Lord.
Christ is not in view nor the counsels of God as in Isaiah,
though we shall nd it further on; but their responsibility
under God’s touching ways of grace with them is much
more fully brought out, and nal blessing is spoken of in
the following chapter.
Jeremiah 3
519
72935
Jeremiah 3
Israel’s restoration by sovereign goodness
Chapter 3 has the same character; indeed it is the
continuation of the same address; but it contains details of
Israel’s and Judah’s behavior, and proclaims the restoration
of Israel by sovereign goodness, and the blessing of the
last days on their return to God. Remark only that, before
the pleading with Israel for their folly, what the Lord rst
notices is that there was no seeking Himself, no longing
after Him: no people nor priests said, “Where is Jehovah?”
For judgment being executed on Israel, God can allow His
heart to ow out in the testimony of grace. is necessarily
gives a place also to Judah, as the two are to be united. e
end of the chapter enlarges, in a very aecting manner, on
the spirit that grace will produce in Israel when they are
brought back, and on the manner in which the Lord will
receive them. In verses 23-25 the prophet confesses the
people’s condition at the time in which he spoke. It is in
this chapter that we have the solemn revelation, that as
far as the people were concerned, the reformation under
Josiah was but hypocrisy. ese two chapters form a kind
of general introduction, showing the ways and judgment
of Israel and Judah, and their restoration by grace. e
rst chapter had been the appointment of Jeremiah to the
prophet’s oce.
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72936
Jeremiah 4-6
Repentance called for; the certain judgment of God
Chapter 4 resumes the subject of chapters 2-3, and,
applying it at that time to the people, tells them that, if
they return, it must<P293> be unto the Lord Himself-
that neither forms nor half-measures would be of any use.
After verse 4 the prophet announces the certain judgment
of God, which should come from the north, and fall upon
Jerusalem in destruction.
Universal sin; Jeremiah’s position
In chapter 5 the sin and iniquity are shown to be
universal: rich and poor, all are alike. And, “Shall not I
visit for these things? saith Jehovah.” Nevertheless He
will not destroy entirely. e source of evil, or, at least, that
which maintains it, is pointed out. e prophets prophesy
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means. Chapter
6 continues the testimony, but gives also the position of
Jeremiah in the midst of all this evil. In verses 11-26 the
judgment is plainly announced. e conduct of the false
prophets is again marked. In both these chapters the coming
of Nebuchadnezzar in judgment is evidently declared.
Jeremiah 7-9
521
72937
Jeremiah 7-9
e temple a witness against iniquity; the prophet’s
grief; God’s righteous judgments
Chapter 7 begins a new prophecy, contemplating
especially the temple, which, instead of being a protection
(as the people, without conscience, would have it), was
become a further demonstration of their iniquity. ey were
to remember Shiloh; for the house of God should likewise
be overthrown. Judah should be cast o, as Ephraim had
been, and God would hear no intercession for His people.
He required obedience and not sacrice, and if the people
came into His house while they were practicing idolatry,
they did but dele it. But Israel had less understanding
than the birds of the heaven, which at least knew their
appointed times, while Israel knew not the judgment of
Jehovah (ch. 8).
From verse 18 to verse 2 of chapter 9 the prophet lays
open the depth of his grief. From verse 3 of chapter 9 he
proclaims judgment-a judgment which shall also visit the
nations around. And in view of these judgments he exhorts
every man not to glory in man, but in the knowledge of
Jehovah (vss. 23-24).<P294>
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72938
Jeremiah 10
e idols and vanities of the nations contrasted with
Jehovah
In chapter 10 the idols and the vanities of the nations
are put in contrast with Jehovah. In verses 19-25 we have
the aiction of the prophet, speaking of the desolation
of Jerusalem as though he were himself the desolate city,
and praying to God that His dealings might be only
chastisement, and not excision. e reader will do well to
observe that the repetition of God’s pleadings with Israel
(although these pleadings, while varied in their character,
need little remark to make them understood) is the most
touching proof of the kindness of God, who multiplies
His appeals to a rebellious and perverse people, “rising up
early,” as He expresses it, to protest unto them.
Jeremiah 11-12
523
72939
Jeremiah 11-12
Israel addressed as responsible; Jeremiah in the place
of the faithful remnant pleads with God for them
Chapter 11 suggests some observations. God addresses
Himself again to Israel on the ground of their responsibility,
reminding them of the call to obedience, which had been
addressed to them ever since their coming out of Egypt.
God was about to bring on the people the evil with which
He had threatened them. Jeremiah is not to intercede for
them. Nevertheless He still calls Israel His “beloved”;
but, being corrupted, what had she to do in His house?
Whatever she might have been to Him, judgment was
coming. At the end of the chapter Jeremiah takes the
place of the faithful remnant who have the testimony of
God. His position continually reminds us of the Psalms.
We see the working of the Spirit of Christ often clearly
expressed, but sometimes, it appears to me, in expressions
more mingled with Jeremiah’s personal position, and
thereby less deep and less akin to the sentiments of Christ,
although the same in principle with the Psalms. Jeremiah,
on account of his faithfulness and his testimony, was
exposed to the machinations of the wicked. Jehovah reveals
these things to him; and, according to the righteousness
which characterizes the condition of the remnant, he
calls for the vengeance of<P295> God.1is will be the
means of deliverance for the remnant, He announces the
judgment of these wicked men by the word of Jehovah. In
Psalm 83 the same principles will be found, and the same
wickedness in God’s enemies; only there, these enemies are
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Gentiles, and the range of thought is wider. Israel and the
knowledge of Jehovah are the object of the prayer in that
psalm. Compare also chapter 9 and Psalm 64. Here there
is more intercession on Jeremiah’s part; the psalm speaks
of judgment. Compare also Psalm 69:6-7 and Jeremiah
15:15. e words of the psalm being from the mouth of
Christ Himself, the request is for others and innitely
more touching. is comparison of passages will help in
understanding the relationship between the position of
Jeremiah and that of the remnant described in the Psalms.
We may also compare Psalm 73 with the beginning of
chapter 12. is last chapter forms a part of the same
prophecy as the preceding one. Jeremiah pleads with God
on the subject of these judgments, but in a humble and
submissive manner, which God accepts by making him feel
(a painful necessity) the evil of the people more deeply.
At the same time He sustains the prophet’s faith by the
personal interest He manifests in him. God makes him
understand that He has forsaken His inheritance: the state
of things was therefore no longer to be wondered at. At
the same time He reveals His purposes of blessing to His
people, and even to the nations among whom they will
be dispersed,2 if these nations would learn the ways of
Jehovah.<P296>
(1. Righteousness characterizes the saint as well as love,
and has its place where there are adversaries to that love
and to the blessing of the loved people. It is the Spirit
of prophecy, not the gospel, no doubt because prophecy
is connected with the government of God, not with His
present dealings in sovereign grace. Hence in the Revelation
vengeance is called for by the saints.)
Jeremiah 11-12
525
(2. We see at the same time the unchangeable love of
God for His people, and the bond of His faithfulness which
cannot be broken. He calls the nations, that surround the
inheritance He had given to His people, His neighbors. We
see also the setting aside of all that national system of which
He had made Israel the center, and which falls when Israel,
the keystone of the arch, is taken away (vs. 14). Afterwards,
these nations are reestablished, as well as Israel, and blessed
if they acknowledge the God of Israel. e Lord Christ will
reunite the two things-the universal headship of man, and
the union of nations round Israel as a center-in His Person.
He will be the one Man to whom the whole dominion is
given; and Israel, as well as the various nations with their
kings, shall be reestablished, each in his own land and his
own heritage (as before the time of Nebuchadnezzar), with
the exception of Edom, Damascus, Hazor, and Babylon
herself; that is to say, those nations which occupy Israel’s
territory, and Babylon which had absorbed and taken the
place of all the others, and which must disappear by the
judgment of God to give them their place again. (Compare
chapter 46 and the following chapters.))
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72940
Jeremiah 13
e call to repentance because of coming judgment;
the prophet’s grief
Chapter 13, bringing to mind how God had bound
Israel to His heart, announces the terrible judgment with
which the people shall, as it were, be drunken; and, on the
ground of this judgment, calls them to repentance. He
relates their hopeless evil, and the unfeigned grief of the
prophet at their obstinacy. Compare Luke
19:41. is zeal for Jehovah’s glory against the evil and
the people who dishonored Him, and touching aection to
them as Jehovah’s people, is everywhere a striking mark of
the working of the Spirit of Christ. Compare Moses (Ex.
32:27-28,31 and sequel); so Paul (Rom. 9; 1ess. 2:15-
16): only here, under grace, there is no call for judgment; so
even Christ Himself. (Compare Matthew 23:31-37.)
Jeremiah 14
527
72941
Jeremiah 14
e famine; Jeremiah’s intercession
Chapter 14 refers to a famine which took place in the
land. e desolation of Jerusalem by the sword and by
famine is again declared. But observe here the touching
intercession of verses 7-9; and again in verses 17-22, the
deep aiction of the Spirit of Christ which expresses itself
in the prophet’s mouth. “For in all their aiction he was
aicted.” Observe also another element of their condition,
pointed out by the Apostle Peter, and by the Lord Himself,
with reference to the last days-namely, false prophets.
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72942
Jeremiah 15
God’s answer in judgment on the nation
e beginning of chapter 15 is an answer to the close
of chapter 14; but the instruction and the principles it
contains are very remarkable. Jehovah declares that if
Moses and Samuel<P297> (whose love for Israel, and
faith in intercession for them, were unequalled among all
the servants of God who had stood before Him on their
behalf)-if these two beloved leaders of the people were
there, yet God would not accept Israel. Who should have
pity on them? Jehovah Himself forsakes them. From verse
20 we nd the true position of the remnant in such a case:
a most touching instruction for ourselves!
Jeremiah’s sorrow; the separated position of the
faithful remnant
Poor Jeremiah complains of his lot, among a people
whose sorrows he bore on his heart, while at the same
time enduring their causeless hatred. We see in verses
11-13, that he represents the people before God, but yet
that the faithful remnant are separated from the mass of
the wicked. From verse 15 they present themselves in this
separated position to God, bearing at the same time all the
pain of the nation’s wound, even while asking vengeance
on the wicked, the adversaries of the truth. In reply, precise
directions are given for the walk of one who is faithful in
such a position. e Word of God, eaten and digested in
the heart, is the source of this position (vs. 16).
Instead of sharing the spirit of the enemies and the
mockers, who rejoiced in the abominable and hypocritical
Jeremiah 15
529
state of those who bore the name of God’s people, the
eect of the Word in the heart was no doubt to separate
from this condition of the people, but to isolate the
godly one, as though he were himself the object of God’s
indignation, as being himself the people. e Word, which
revealed the relationship between God and the people, and
showed them their privileges and their duties, caused the
faithful to judge the state of the people, and to feel all the
consequences of this state as the judgment of Jehovah-a
judgment so much the more terrible to his heart from his
feeling how close a band of aection and blessing from
God was the normal condition of the people. “ou hast
lled me with indignation” (vss. 17-18) is the prophet’s
language.
God’s open door; His recognition of individual faith
In verses 19-21 the precise instructions of God with
respect to this condition are given. God also addresses
Jeremiah as though<P298> he were the people whom he
thus represented in spirit before Him, and, at the same
time, according to his individual faith. He says, rst of all,
“If thou return, then I will bring thee again, and thou shalt
stand before me.” is open door-open till man shuts it-is
always in the ways of God, although He well knows that
man will not prot by it.
Taking account of all that is good
Is this all that is to be done while it is called today and
the door is open, to call on the rebellious people to return?
No: there is something else for the faithful to do: and this is
the second leading principle: “If thou separate the precious
from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth.” In the midst of
the ruin caused by the rebellion of God’s people, this is the
especial work of one who is faithful, who is imbued with
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the Word. e desire of his soul being the reproduction
of this Word, and of the aections of God revealed in it,
can he reject the people in a mass as wicked? at cannot
be. Can he accept them in a condition of rebellion, which
is so much the worse because they belong to God? is
he cannot do either. He must learn to do that which God
does-take account of all that is good, and, if it is too late to
preserve everything, never condemn that which is of God.
e penetrating eye of God never loses sight of this. e
aections of the prophet are xed upon it also.
Separating the precious from the vile
But God has His own thoughts, and He acts according
to His own will; He lays hold of that which is precious,
owns it, and separates it from that which is vile. is is
not precisely the judgment of God respecting evil; but
when the judgment is imminent on account of the evil,
the energy of the Spirit and the power of the Word lead
us to attach ourselves to the good, to discern it, to separate
it from the evil, before the judgment comes. If Satan can,
he will mingle them together. ose who know how to
separate them shall be as the mouth of God. God will
do it in judgment by smiting the evil: in the faithful the
Spirit of God does it by separating the precious from the
vile.<P299>
Refusal to return to the unfaithful obligatory
e third principle is, that, when once separated from
the path of the rebellious by this spiritual intelligence, there
must not be a moment’s thought of returning to them. “Let
them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them.”
Finally, in this position, Jehovah will make the faithful like
a wall of brass. e rebels, who boast of being called the
people of God, ght against His faithful servant, but shall
Jeremiah 15
531
not prevail, because Jehovah is with him. Deliverance is
promised to Jeremiah.
All this, while having its immediate application to the
prophet, is most valuable instruction for us in the principle
which it contains, to direct us in similar times. Patience is
required, but the path is clearly marked out. ere is always
an open door on God’s part; the separation of the precious
from the vile makes us like the mouth of God; a positive
refusal, when thus placed, to return to the unfaithful: such
are the principles that God has here established. e Word
received in the heart is their source. At the same time the
eect is very far from contempt of the fallen people; on the
contrary, the heart of the faithful takes upon itself all the
grief of the position in which the people of God, or those
who publicly stand as such, are found.
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72943
Jeremiah 16
Jeremiah to avoid family relationships with the people
to show what God would do
In chapter 16 Jehovah teaches Jeremiah to avoid all
family relationships with this people, and to cease from all
testimonies of interest in what was going on among them.
For He Himself had entirely broken o with them, and
would cause all His testimonies to cease among them, and
would drive them out of the land. But, after all, through the
greatness of the evil which He would bring upon them, He
would cause their deliverance out of Egypt to be forgotten
in their yet greater deliverance from this evil. For at length
God will pardon and comfort His people. But before this
He will recompense their iniquity. Afterwards the Gentiles
themselves shall come and acknowledge the true God, the
God of Israel.<P300>
Jeremiah 17
533
72944
Jeremiah 17
Trust in man or in God; the door of repentance
opened
e great thing, amid all that was going on, was to
trust in Jehovah. He who, failing in this, made esh his
arm, should not see when good came. Meantime the re
of God’s anger was kindled and should not be quenched.
How could a wicked and deceitful heart be trusted? e
Lord searches it, to give everyone according to his ways.
e prophet, in the name of the people, casts himself
upon Jehovah; and, on account of the wickedness of the
adversaries who mocked at God’s testimonies, he appeals
to God. He had not desired the woeful day which He
announced; neither was it by his own choice that he forsook
the peaceful duties he owed the people to follow God in
this testimony. He entreats God, whose terrible judgments
were to scatter the people, not to be a terror unto him. God
was all his hope in the day of evil. What a picture of the
condition of the remnant in the last days; and, at all times,
of the portion of one who is faithful, when the people of
God will not hearken to his testimony! Nevertheless, it
being still called Today, God in His long-suering opens
the door of repentance to the people and to their king, if
they have ears to hear.
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72945
Jeremiah 18
e potter’s vessel; a solemn warning of judgment
In chapter 18 this principle is fully demonstrated before
the people (vss. 1-10). But the people in despair as to God,
in the midst of their boldness in evil and in contempt
of His marvellous patience, give themselves up to the
iniquity by which Satan deprives them of their hope in
God. God announces His judgment by the prophet, whose
testimony provokes the expression of the condence felt by
a hardened conscience in the certainty and immutability
of its privileges, and of the blessings attached to the
ordinances with which God had endowed His people,
and to which He had outwardly attached these blessings,
which maintained their relationship with Him. What
a dreadful picture of blindness! Ecclesiastical inuence
is always greatest at the moment when the conscience is
hardened against the testimony of God; because<P301>
unbelief, which trembles after all, shelters itself behind
the presumed stability of that which God had set up, and
makes a wall of its apostate forms against the God whom
they hide, attributing to these ordinances the stability
of God Himself. Conscience says too much to allow the
unbeliever any hope of standing well with God, even when
God opens His heart to him. “ere is no hope,” he says;
“I will continue to do evil; moreover, the law shall not
perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise; nor,” he
adds (the false prophets having the ear of the people), “the
word from the prophet.” e warning which this chapter
contains appears to me very solemn. I can scarcely imagine
Jeremiah 18
535
a more terrible picture of the professing people’s condition.
e prophet asks for judgment upon them. is is in the
spirit of the remnant trodden down by the wickedness of
the Lord’s enemies.
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72946
Jeremiah 19-20
Judgment announced; the priest’s opposition and
Jeremiah’s suerings
Chapters 19-20 show us the judgment of Jerusalem
announced in terms that require little explanation; and we
have in chapter 20 a sample of the opposition of the priests,
and of Jeremiah’s suerings. But this does not prevent
Jeremiah’s denouncing the priest himself, and repeating
that which he had said of Jerusalem. Nevertheless we see
the eect of these suerings on his heart. He was compelled,
as it were, by the Lord to bear this testimony. He has not
(and it is the same with the remnant) the willing spirit
that rejoices in tribulation by the power of the Holy Spirit.
He was the subject of constant mockery. ey watched
for his halting, so that he would gladly have been silent;
but the word of Jehovah was like re in his bones. Alas!
we understand all this-the deep iniquity of the men who
are called the people of God; the way in which the feeble
heart recoils before this iniquity, that has neither heart nor
conscience; and how on these occasions the Word is too
strong in us to be shut up in our heart. Nevertheless with
all this fear he had also the consciousness that Jehovah
was with him, and he again asks for vengeance (which,
in fact, is deliverance, and the only deliverance of those
who have the testimony of Christ in such a position). is
<P302>deliverance is celebrated in verse 13; but in verses
14-18, we see to what a point personal grief may drive
those who are subjected to such a trial as this.
Jeremiah 19-20
537
See the same thing in Job-a picture of the same
condition, that is to say, of a soul tried by all the malice of
Satan, without the full knowledge of grace, in the sense of
its own nothingness, and in the forgetfulness of self. is
will be precisely the state of the remnant in the last days.
Christ is the model of perfection in what answered to these
circumstances of trial, the reality of which He thoroughly
experienced and felt, when He had yet to undergo for
others what laid the foundation of grace for them.
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72947
Jeremiah 21-23
God’s righteous answer to Zedekiah; the Shepherd
after His own heart
On the occasion of Zedekiah’s request to Jeremiah to
know if the Lord would interfere in favor of the people
against Nebuchadnezzar, the Spirit of God has brought
the testimonies together that were given with respect to
all the members of David’s family who presided, so to say,
at the ruin of Jerusalem-Jehoahaz (ch. 22:10), Jehoiakim
(vss. 13-19), Jeconiah (vss. 20-30). e judgment of
Zedekiah had been pronounced (ch. 21); and after having
declared, as we have seen, that the door was always open to
repentance, and that blessing always attended a godly walk
(ch. 21:12; 22:1-5), judgment is again pronounced, and a
sentence from God upon the dierent kings. Finally (ch.
23) the expression of Jehovah’s indignation against these
evil pastors gives rise to the declaration that He will raise
up a Shepherd after His own heart, namely, the true Son of
David, the Messiah. e just indignation and the judgment
of God are expressed in the strongest terms.
Jeremiah 24
539
72948
Jeremiah 24
e good and bad gs; God’s judgment of man’s
unfaithfulness; His faithfulness to His promises
Two things attract our attention in chapter 24. First,
<P303>submission to the judgment of God when He
executes it is the proof of intelligence in His Word-of real
spirituality. Want of faith leans, not on the stability of the
promises, but, under pretext of the promises, on that of the
ordinances and of the men who enjoy them. ose who submit
to this judgment of God upon the unfaithfulness of man (a
judgment which leads to the enjoyment of these promises,
and operates to the setting aside of ordinances, the stability
of which God had not guaranteed; but in connection with
which man would, if faithful, have enjoyed the promises)-
those, I repeat, who submit to this judgment, shall enjoy
the full and entire eect of these promises, to which it is
impossible that God should be unfaithful. e second thing
to be remarked is that, when God would encourage the
faith of those who submit to His judgment (being led by
this submission to a holy conviction that man has deserved
it), God stops at nothing short of the full and entire
accomplishment of the promises, which depend on His
faithfulness, whatever may have been the unfaithfulness of
man-an accomplishment which can and shall be enjoyed
solely by means of a work of God in man, that will bring
him into a condition suitable to this accomplishment.
(See verses 6-7.) e position of the people at the time of
Jeremiah’s prophecies furnished an evident opportunity for
the development of these two principles; for the people and
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the house of David had entirely failed in their faithfulness
to God. It is very aicting, and very humbling, when we
are obliged to confess that God’s enemies are in the right.
e only comfort is that God is in the right (Ezek. 14:22-
23), and that in the end He cannot fail to accomplish His
gracious promises.
Jeremiah 25
541
72949
Jeremiah 25
Universal judgment beginning with Jerusalem; the
earth given into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand
Chapter 25 closes, so to say, this part of the prophecy
with a general summary of God’s judgments on the earth,
giving it into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. e immediate
application to events already accomplished does not oer
much diculty; but we shall nd a good deal, if we would
bring in also an allusion to the last days. Israel, to whom
the door had always been held<P304> open, is rst judged.
e chapter begins by announcing the judgment of God
upon Jerusalem, because she had refused to hear the call
to repentance which had been addressed to her during
twenty-three years. And here let us notice the hardness of
the people’s heart, stubborn in evil, and refusing to bow the
neck to God’s testimony, in spite of all the pains God took,
if we may so speak, to warn them. And indeed it is His
own language: “Jehovah hath sent unto you all his servants
the prophets, rising early and sending them, but ye have
not hearkened.” (See 2Chronicles 36:15.) Jehovah had
always set before the people a full and abiding blessing, if
they repented; but they would not. e prophet announces
that Jehovah will bring all the families of the north under
Nebuchadnezzar, against Jerusalem, and against the
adjoining nations, all of whom should assuredly drink the
cup of judgment that the Lord had mingled for them.
Jerusalem shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years; and
after that the king of Babylon himself should be judged and
punished, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah against all
Darby Synopsis
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the nations. For, having begun with Jerusalem, it should
be a universal judgment. at which should immediately
happen was the judgment of the nations around Palestine,
and afterwards that of Babylon, which was the instrument
of their judgment. But the fact that the city called by the
name of Jehovah was to be laid waste implied the judgment
of all the nations. Consequently, in the symbolical action
of the prophecy, all the nations connected with Israel, all
those of the world as then known, are forced to drink
the cup. But this is expressed in terms that include the
nations of the whole earth. e historical application of
verse 26 does not go farther than that which happened
by means of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Sheshach, who
should drink subsequently to the others. But a principle
of universal judgment is comprised in this. e universal
evil is developed (vss. 29-38). e only question that can
be raised is whether, in this ulterior destruction of all the
kingdoms of the earth, the expression “King of Sheshach”
has any application to one who shall possess the same
territory, or if it is merely Nebuchadnezzar. I doubt its
going farther.1e <P305>picture of universal judgment
ends the rst division of the prophecy. at which follows
gives details and particular cases.2
(1. In either case the judgment does not appear to me to
go farther than the oppression of the nations by the king
of the Gentiles, who is raised up in place of the throne of
God in Jerusalem, and his own destruction at the end of
his wicked career.)
(2. e destruction of Babylon had a peculiar importance;
rst, because it was substituted by God Himself in place of
His throne at Jerusalem; secondly, because it was the only
Gentile power directly set up by Him, though all power
Jeremiah 25
543
be from Him. e others replaced Babylon providentially.
Hence, at the destruction of Babylon, Jerusalem is restored
(however partially it shows the principle), and the power
which judges Babylon is the setter up of God’s people
again in the holy city. Babylon-its setting up, its rule, and
its destruction-involved the whole of the direct dealings of
God with the Gentiles, and with His people in power. All
the rest came in merely as a prolonging by the by.)
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72950
Jeremiah 26
Renewed calls to repentance; the long-suering of
God
Chapter 26 begins this series of details with a prophecy
of the commencement of Jehoiakim’s reign. e people are
warned, as being already in sin, that if they repent, they shall
escape. We have constantly seen this character attached to
the prophecies of Jeremiah, as though God said, “Today, if
ye will hear my voice.” Circumstances rendered this appeal
urgent, for in fact, if Israel did not repent, the house of
Jehovah was to be like Shiloh. We nd that of which God
had warned the prophet. ey strive against him; but, as
Jehovah had promised, they gain no advantage over him.
We see that it is the ecclesiastical party that excite the
people against the testimony which God bears to them by
the mouth of the prophet. But God turns the heart of the
princes and of the people towards him. ere were some
also who regarded the ways of Jehovah. eir intelligence
did not go far, but suciently so for deliverance; they feared
God. We may remark here, that conscience laid hold of the
Word of God in its immediate application. No doubt the
evil would go on increasing, and, when ripe, the judgment
would be accomplished (for God does not strike before
iniquity has come to its height), and then the prophecy
would be fullled. But conscience, under the inuence of
the Word, takes knowledge of principles which are judged
by it, even when all is not yet ripe for judgment; and as
yet consequently the judgment is not executed (vss. 18-
19).<P306>
Jeremiah 27-28
545
72951
Jeremiah 27-28
Refusal of submission to the Gentile head appointed
by God is rebellion against God Himself
Chapters 27-28 go together. eir chief subject is
the submission to the head of the Gentiles, which God
requires of the Jews. But before dwelling on this, I would
call attention to the care which God bestows on His
people, warning them again at each new phase of their
career towards judgment. We remember that Zedekiah
brought down this judgment by rebelling against the king
of Babylon. At the beginning of his reign the Lord sent
His word by Jeremiah to warn all the kings around, as well
as Zedekiah, that they must submit. If they submitted, they
should dwell in their land in peace; if not, they should be
driven out and perish.
Let us now observe the place which, as Creator of the
earth, of man and beast, God gives to the king of Babylon.
God has given the nations, and even the beasts of the eld,
into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar for a certain time. God
establishes the central and universal power, and the nation
that refuses to submit to it would be in rebellion against
Himself, and should be consumed. Compare Daniel 2:38,
which adds the fowls of the heaven to his dominion. All on
earth was subjected to this king of the earth-the imperial
head taken from among the Gentiles. It was a government
appointed of God, who had forsaken Jerusalem, and
would no longer protect her unless she submitted to this
government. It appears that the kings of the surrounding
countries were plotting with Zedekiah to throw o the
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yoke of the king of Babylon, and that the mission of their
ambassadors was the occasion on which this prophecy was
given, God declaring that He would have all submit to this
yoke, for it was He Himself that imposed it.
Man under a new trial; his failure
is fact-that God has committed power in this world
to a man-is very remarkable. In the case of Israel man had
been tried on the ground of obedience to God, and had not
been able to possess the blessing that should have resulted
from it. Now God abandons this direct government of the
world (while still the sovereign Lord above); and, casting
o Israel whom He had chosen out from the nations,
grouping the latter around the elect people<P307> and His
own throne in Israel, He subjects the world to one head,
and committing power unto man, He places him under a
new trial, to prove whether he will own the God who gave
him power, and make those happy who are subjected to
him, when he can do whatever he will in this world.
I do not enter here into the details of the history of this
trial: they belong to the Book of Daniel. We know that
man failed in it. Senseless and presumptuous, he ravaged
the world and oppressed the people of God, trod down His
sanctuary, and prepared for himself a judgment so much
the more terrible that Satan will induce him to resist it,
and will aid him in his rebellion. Nebuchadnezzar alone
answers in all points to that which we have just said. He
is the head of gold. God had committed immediately to
him the government of the world. Cyrus had personally
a more peculiar place, and one more honorable in some
respects. But as an empire, the Persians only took the place
of one that already existed; and the sources and character
Jeremiah 27-28
547
of power continually deteriorated, in proportion as their
distance from God and His gift increased.
False prophets and teachers; God’s testimony to the
true prophet
False prophets as well as false teachers oppose the truth
in this very point on which God tries His people. ey
can use all other parts of truth in order to deceive, and
appear to have increased faith in them. It is manifest that
the secret of the Lord is never with them. But whatever
appearances may be, they neither stop nor turn away God
from the path He takes. Yet the true prophet’s position is
a painful one. He may seem for the time to be reduced to
silence; for the popular falsehood possesses the hearts of
the people. Jeremiah had to go away. Nevertheless in the
combat between truth and error God often intervenes by a
striking testimony, and so it was here. e function of the
prophet, with respect to the government of the world and
of the people’s walk, is always a testimony to the judgment
which hangs over unfaithfulness.<P308>
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72952
Jeremiah 29
Coming deliverance; God’s own thoughts of grace
On the other hand the prophet comforts those who, by
the judgment of God, were subjected to the yoke which He
had imposed upon them. e Jews in Babylon should dwell
in peace, quietly seeking the welfare of the city in which
they were captives. e time of deliverance should come.
e spirit of rebellion should be punished. Finally, having
insisted on the people’s submission to the judgment, God
reveals His own thoughts of grace. is submission was
necessary, because of Israel’s sin; for God must maintain
His own character, and not identify Himself with the ways
of a rebellious people. But He must needs manifest Himself
as He is in His grace. e execution of the judgment, and
Israel’s ruined condition, brought the truth and beauty of
the grace of God into yet greater prominence.
Jeremiah 30
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72953
Jeremiah 30
e day of Jacob’s trouble; promised deliverance
in their extremity and sure judgment on the wicked
Some details of the circumstances that accompany its
exercise deserve our attention, as well as the character
which God displays in it, and the extent of its eects. In
chapter 30 God commands Jeremiah to write in a book all
the words of the judgment which he had heard, for God
would restore the people. Now this deliverance found Israel
at the height of the distress. is is the rst thing presented
to the prophet. No day could be compared to this day of
Jacob’s trouble. It is the day spoken of in Matthew 24 and
Mark 13. But in this extremity God comes to the help of
His people, who shall be delivered. And now, God having
executed His judgment and acted according to His own
counsels in grace, this deliverance shall in consequence be
full and complete. Israel shall serve Jehovah their God and
David their king. e ruin (vs. 12) was complete, incurable:
no remedy could heal it. It is God who had smitten His
people for the multitude of their sins. Nevertheless He was
with them to save them; and consequently all the nations
who had availed themselves of God’s anger to devour Israel
should be themselves devoured. Zion should be rebuilt on
her own<P309> foundation, joy and peace should be in
her dwellings, the governors of the people should be of
her children. Israel should be the people of Jehovah, and
Jehovah should be their God. Finally a principle which we
have seen clearly explained is here announced, namely, that
judgment should fall upon the wicked; that this judgment
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went forth to smite the people of God rst, because they
were wicked and must bear the consequence. But wherever
the wicked might be, this judgment should reach them.
Wheresoever the carcass might be, there should the eagles
be gathered together.
Jeremiah 31-32
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Jeremiah 31-32
Israel’s restoration and blessing; enjoyment of
complete deliverance
Chapter 31. But it would not be Judah only, to whom
the prophecies of Jeremiah were addressed, that should be
restored-all the families of Israel should enjoy this blessing.
Jehovah should be their God, they should be His people.
A few words will suce to x the reader’s attention on
this beautiful prophecy. All the tribes are there, but all in
renewed relationship with Zion. It is a deliverance wrought
by the Lord, and it is therefore complete. Its enjoyment is
not hindered by weakness. It is a deliverance that melts
the heart and produces tears and supplications, but which
removes all cause for tears, excepting grace. ey shall
sorrow no more; their soul shall be as a watered garden; they
shall be satised with goodness from Jehovah. Ephraim
has repented, and God will cause him to feel that He has
never forgotten him. e Lord has always remembered
His erring child; Judah shall be the habitation of justice
and the mountain of holiness. is shall be through a new
covenant-not that which was made when they came out of
Egypt. e law shall be written in their heart; they shall all
know Jehovah; and none of their sins shall be remembered
anymore. If God should overthrow the ordinances of
creation, then, says He, shall Israel be cast o for all that
they have done. Finally the Lord declares in detail the
restoration of Jerusalem.
I would add that in verse 22 I see only weakness. Israel,
feeble as a woman, shall possess and overcome all strength-
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seeing that strength manifests itself in that which is very
weakness.<P310>
e purchase of the eld as proof of the people’s sure
return according to God’s counsels of grace
ese two chapters give in general the prophetic
testimony to Israel’s restoration. Chapter 32 applies it
to the circumstances of the Jews besieged in Jerusalem;
taking occasion, from the ruin that evidently threatened
them by the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, to announce the
infallible counsels of God in grace towards them. Jeremiah
had declared that the city should be taken, and Zedekiah
led captive, but Jehovah had caused him to buy a eld, in
proof that the people should assuredly return. He points
out the iniquity of the people and of the city from the
beginning; but now that, in despair through sin, their ruin
appeared to them inevitable, Jehovah declares not only a
return from captivity, but the full ecacy of His grace. He
would give oneness of heart to the people, that they may
serve Him forever. eir relationship to God as His people
should be fully established according to the power of an
everlasting covenant. Jehovah will rejoice in doing them
good. He would plant them in the land with His whole
heart, and His whole soul. It was He who had brought all
this evil in judgment, and it was He who would bring all
the good which He had promised.
Jeremiah 33
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72955
Jeremiah 33
e King-Priest, the Son of David, in whom Jehovah’s
covenant will be fullled
Chapter 33 repeats with ample and rich abundance the
testimony to these blessings, and dwells particularly on
the presence of the Messiah; it announces that the branch
of righteousness shall grow up unto David, executing
judgment and righteousness in the land. Judah shall be
saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. Her name shall
be “Jehovah our Righteousness.” David shall never want
a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel (not
merely Judah), nor the tribe of Levi a priest. e Lord’s
covenant with the heavens and the earth shall fail, before
this covenant with David shall be broken. However deeply
sunk in despair the people might be, the Lord would
never cast o Jacob, or His servant David, but would cause
their captivity to return and would have mercy on them.
e reader will remark how complete this revelation of
deliverance is in its objects: rst Judah, who was<P311>
then particularly in question, then all Israel, then the land,
then Messiah and the priesthood. Although, as a comfort
to those in Babylon, the captive Jews are encouraged with a
sure hope on their repentance (ch. 29); yet in general Judah
is joined with Israel in the same deliverance. It is looked
at as a whole. Indeed, after chapter 29 save chapter 31:23-
24, where Ephraim had been already distinguished, and
chapter 33:7,10,16, in present grace because of the siege,
Israel is always put before Judah when both are named, and
God glories in the name of the God of Israel.
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We do not get in Jeremiah the rejection of Messiah.
His subject is present sins, and future purposes in which
Messiah comes in. With this chapter the second part of
the book closes, that is, the revelation of the full eect of
God’s grace towards ruined Israel, a result which should be
according to His purposes of love, and perfect according to
His counsels.
Jeremiah 34
555
72956
Jeremiah 34
Renewed iniquity and certain ruin
On the occasion of renewed iniquity the prophet
announces the certain ruin of the people. Nevertheless
Zedekiah, though carried captive to Babylon, should
die there in peace.1 In the succeeding chapters we have
some details of the obstinate rebellion which led to the
destruction of Jerusalem and of all Judah.
(1. God’s ways in this are remarkable. He had broken
the oath of Jehovah, and he is judged as profane. It was
mainly through the inuence of others (for he was disposed
to listen to Jeremiah), and therefore mercy is extended to
him.)
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72957
Jeremiah 35
e obedience of the Rechabites contrasted with
Israel’s disobedience
e obedience of the Rechabites is set forth in order
to show out more clearly the sin of Judah-disobedient in
spite of the remonstrances and the patience of God. God
does not forget the obedience that glories His name. e
family of the Rechabites shall never fail.<P312>
Jeremiah 36
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Jeremiah 36
God’s call and testimony despised; the inevitable
result
Chapter 36 furnishes us with another example of the
obstinacy with which the kings of Judah despised the
call and the testimony of God. Jeremiah was shut up; but
God can never fail in means to address His testimony to
man, whatever eorts they may make to escape it. Baruch
is employed to write the prophecies of Jeremiah, and to
read them, rst to the people, then to the princes, and at
last to the king himself. But the latter, hardened in his evil
ways, destroys the roll. Jeremiah, by God’s direction, causes
the same words to be written again; and others also, for
he neglects no means to reach and lay hold afresh of the
people’s conscience. But all was useless.
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72959
Jeremiah 37-38
Zedekiah’s weakness; God’s perfect ways in sparing
the righteous
Chapter 37 gives us Zedekiah in the same state of
disobedience. A show of religion is kept up, and, having
a moment of respite which excites some hope, the king
seeks an answer from the Lord by His prophet. But the
favorable circumstances, through which it might appear
that the wicked may escape from judgment, do not
alter the certainty of the Word. Jeremiah sought to avail
himself of the opportunity to avoid the judgment which
was coming upon the rebellious city; but this only serves
to manifest the hatred of the heart to God’s testimony;
and the princes of the people-accusing Jeremiah of
favoring the enemy, because he proclaimed the judgment
that should fall on the people by their means-put him in
prison. Zedekiah manifests some conscience by releasing
him.1 In general there is more conscience in Zedekiah
personally than in some others of the last kings of Judah.
(See verse 21, chapter 21 and chapter 38:10,14,16.) On
this account, perhaps, were those few words of favor and
mercy addressed to him in chapter 34:5. But he was too
weak to allow his conscience to lead him in the path of
obedience. (Compare chapter<P313> 38:2-12.) is last
chapter gives us the history of his weakness. Nevertheless
in the midst of all this scene of misery and iniquity we
nd some rare examples of righteous men; and, however
terrible His judgment may be, God remembers them; for
His judgment is terrible because He is righteous. Ebed-
Jeremiah 37-38
559
melech, who delivered Jeremiah, is spared. Baruch also
preserves his life; and even Zedekiah, as we have seen, is
comforted by some words of encouragement, although
he must undergo the consequences of his faults. e ways
of God are always perfect, and if His judgments are like
an overwhelming torrent as to man, still everything, even
to the smallest detail, is directed by His hand; and the
righteous are spared. e prison even becomes a place of
safety for Jeremiah, and Jehovah deigns not only to spare
Ebed-melech, but to send him a direct testimony of His
favor by the mouth of Jeremiah, that he may understand
the goodness of God in whom he had trusted.
(1. See preceding note.)
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72960
Jeremiah 39-44
Zedekiah carried to Babylon; useless endeavor to
escape judgment
After this, chapter 39 and the following chapters give
us the history of the confusion and iniquity that reigned
among the remnant who were not carried captive to
Babylon, in order that they should be scattered, and
that all should fully bear the judgment which God
had pronounced. Nevertheless, if at this last hour this
remnant had submitted to the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar,
peace should have reigned in the land, and these few that
remained should have possessed it. But some revolt, and
the others fear the consequences of their folly. ere is no
idea of trusting in Jehovah. ey consult Jeremiah, but
refuse to obey the word of the Lord from his mouth. ey
take refuge in Egypt to escape Nebuchadnezzar, but only
to fall under the sword which would have spared them in
Judea, had they remained there in subjection to the king. In
Egypt they give themselves up to idolatry, that the wrath of
God might come upon them to the end. Nevertheless God
would spare even a little remnant of these, but Pharaoh-
hophra, in whom they trusted, should be given up into the
hands of Nebuchadnezzar, as Zedekiah had been.<P314>
Jeremiah 45-51
561
72961
Jeremiah 45-51
Encouragement to individual faithfulness; prophecies
of judgment against the Gentiles and Babylon itself
Chapter 45 gives us the prophecy with respect to Baruch,
already mentioned. Chapter 46 and following chapters
contain the prophecies against the Gentiles around Judea,
and against Babylon herself. We shall nd these special
elements in the prophecies that refer to the nations-the
judgments are not those of the last days, as in Isaiah, but
(according to the general character of the book) refer to the
destruction of the dierent nations, in order to make way
for the dominion of one sole empire. It is thus that, in the
case of Judea, the judgment is even now executed.
God’s ways in government with the nations and His
people
But there is a dierence with respect to the restoration
of those nations in the last days. Egypt, Elam, Moab,
Ammon, are restored in the last days; Edom, Damascus,
Philistia, Hazor, are not. e reason of this is easily seen.
Egypt and Elam form no part of the land of Israel. God
in His goodness will have compassion on those countries;
they shall be inhabited and blessed under His government.
When the people of Israel entered Canaan, Ammon and
Moab were to be spared. ey were not Canaanites under
the curse; and however deplorable their origin might be yet,
being related to the family of Israel, their land was preserved
to them, although to the tenth generation they could not
be admitted into the congregation of Israel (Deut. 23:3).
And when God shall put an end to the dominion given to
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Nebuchadnezzar, and to the empire of the Gentiles, these
nations shall again enter into the countries that were allotted
them. But, although Edom had been spared, and were even
to be received among Israel in their third generation, yet
as their hatred to Israel had been unbounded, they should
be totally destroyed in the judgment of that day. Compare
Obadiah throughout, especially in verse 18. eir land
should form a part of Israel’s territory, and was, in fact,
a part of it, although they themselves were spared at the
beginning as the brethren of Israel, but only, alas! to abuse
this favor; so that the judgment would be more terrible
upon them than upon the rest. Damascus, Hazor, and
Philistia were a part of the land<P315> of Israel, properly
so called. ese nations disappear as distinct nations, as
to their territory. At the close of the judgment on Egypt,
God sends words of encouragement to Israel. Israel had
leaned on Pharaoh when Nebuchadnezzar had attacked
Jerusalem. e Egyptian power appeared to be the only
one capable of balancing that of Babylon. But God had
ordained the fall of Egypt, who would willingly have taken
the chief place. is was, however, appointed for Babylon.
e country from which they were brought out (the world,
considered as man in his natural independent character,
organizing in his own strength) would like to prevail over
idolatrous corruption and Babylonish principles; but these
were to be in force until the time appointed by God, when
God will judge them. Now Israel having leaned upon
Egypt, would apparently fall with Egypt; but God watched
over them, and they were to return from their captivity and
dwell in peace. e ways of God in government are well
worthy of attention here. God would judge the nations; He
would chastise Israel in measure. His people should not be
Jeremiah 45-51
563
condemned with the world. Grace abused brings down the
most terrible judgments; thus it was with Edom.
e destruction of Babylon
Babylon yet remains. But, in Jeremiah, all the judgments
are contemplated in connection with the setting aside of
the independent nations, and the establishment of the one
empire of the Gentiles-the chief subject of this prophecy;
consequently the prophet is specially occupied with the
historical fate of the empire, as established by God in
the prophet’s own days. It is Babylon and the land of the
Chaldeans which are the subject of his prophecy. It is the
judgment of this empire, to avenge the oppression of Israel
by Nebuchadnezzar, who had broken his bones (ch. 50:17).
Nevertheless, the deliverance of Israel, at the time of the
destruction of Babylon, is given as a pledge and foretaste of
their complete and nal deliverance (ch. 50:4-19,20,34; see
also ch. 51:19-21). For the destruction of Babylon was the
judgment of that which God had Himself established as
the Gentile empire. is is the reason why, even historically,
her judgment was accompanied by the deliverance of Israel
and the destruction of idolatry, by a man raised up to execute
the righteousness of God. It has not been at all the<P316>
same thing with the other empires, although, no doubt,
they were also set up by the providence of God. But in their
case it was not the immediate establishment of the empire
on God’s part, placing man in it under responsibility. Man,
thus placed, had completely failed. He has tyrannized
over God’s people, established a compulsory idolatry, and
corrupted the world by its means. Looked at as having the
dominion of the world, which had been committed to him,
he has been judged, and Babylon is fallen. It is important
thoroughly to apprehend this truth with respect to this rst
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empire. In principle the deliverance of Israel results from it,
whatever the subsequent dealings of God may have been.
See also the character of this judgment, chapter 50:28,33-
34. e next chapter furnishes us also with important
principles in connection with this destruction of Babylon.
God’s unchangeable faithfulness to Israel
Chapter 51:6 reveals the unchangeable faithfulness
of God to Israel, in spite of the people’s sins. It was the
time of the Lord’s vengeance. When the time that God
indicated should have arrived- a time to be known only
by those whose spiritual discernment would enable them
to apply the prophecy, the elements of which were given
clearly enough in these two chapters (especially in the
assaults of the nations), then those who had ears to hear
were to leave the city. Moreover the fall of Babylon was a
judgment pronounced upon idolatry. e portion of Jacob-
Jehovah-might chastise His people, but He was not like
the vanities of the Gentiles. After having chastised them,
He would bring forth His righteousness in contrast with
the Gentiles, who oppressed them, and would, nally, use
them as His weapons of war. From verse 25 we see that it is
the Babylon of those days which is in question. From verse
29 the historical circumstances that are related give us a
very especial proof of this.
Jeremiah 52
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72962
Jeremiah 52
Events relative to the destruction of Jerusalem and
the temple
e last chapter forms no part of the Book of Jeremiah,
properly so called. We nd in it events relative to the
destruction of Jeru<P317>salem and of the temple. After
the remarks we have made, that which is said in it of
Babylon will be easily understood.
e place of the rst empire in man’s hand to exercise
God’s
government on earth; the patience of God’s love and
interest
I recapitulate here the principles of this book on account
of their importance. e empire of Babylon, in consequence
of the unfaithfulness of the house of David, was established
by God Himself, and entrusted with the government of
the world. But Babylon not only oppressed Israel, but set
up idolatry, and corrupted the world. He who should have
been a worshipper of the true God, and an instrument of
His power, established, as far as he could, the inuence of
the enemy. God has judged him. e empire which God
Himself established has been entirely overthrown. is
judgment was executed against the pride of man, and
against idolatry. At the same time it was the deliverance of
Israel. is last consideration gave rise to a declaration on
God’s part of what Israel was to Him, and what it shall be
in the last days. But the subject treated of is the Babylon
of that day. Since then God has permitted other powers
to exist, governing the world with universal dominion,
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until the nal accomplishment of all His purposes. ese
empires have subsisted according to His will, have been
raised up or cast down as He saw good. But neither of
them has held precisely the same place as Babylon. None of
them have been formally established in the place of Israel,
nor has the destruction of any of them been the occasion
of Israel’s restoration. e word of prophecy assures us that
at the end of the days, the judgment of the last empire will
have this eect. e judgment of Babylon has, in a manner,
foreshadowed it; as its moral character commenced the sad
history of these monarchies, and served as a model to them
in many respects as to the evil that should be developed
until the end. But to understand the fundamental principles
of this history, and the dealings of God, the place which
this rst empire held in these dealings must be clearly and
distinctly kept in mind. Besides the immense fact of the
substitution of empire in man’s hand, for the immediate
exercise of God’s government on the earth, the diligent
testimony which God sent, and the warnings to king after
king, to people and to priests, is very striking in this book,
the patience of God’s love and interest.<P318>
e Lamentations of Jeremiah
567
72963
e Lamentations of Jeremiah
e character of the book: God’s interest in His
people’s aictions
e Lamentations of Jeremiah-a touching expression
of the interest which God feels in the aictions which His
people undergo on account of their sins-will not require
much explanation as to the general meaning of the book.
A few remarks may be useful, to show the true character
of this book, and its connection with the dealings of God,
as revealed to us elsewhere. e rst interesting point-to
which I have already alluded-is that the aiction of His
people does not escape the eye of God. He is aicted
in their aiction: His Spirit takes knowledge of it; and,
acting in the heart of those whose mouth He uses, gives
expression to the feelings He has produced there. us
Christ wept over the hardheartedness of Jerusalem, and
invited its inhabitants to do so likewise. And here also His
Spirit not only reproves and reveals things to come; He
gives a form to the grief of those who love what God loves,
and furnishes the expression of it Himself.
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72964
Lamentations 1
Sore aiction; confession of sin and of Jehovah’s
righteous judgment
ere is nothing more aecting than the sentiments
produced in the heart by the conviction that the subject
of aiction is beloved of God, that He loves that which
He is obliged to smite, and is obliged to smite that which
He loves. e prophet, while laying open the aiction of
Jerusalem, acknowledges that the sin of the people had
caused it. Could that diminish the sorrow of his heart?
If on the one hand it was a consolation, on the other it
humbled<P319> and made him hide his face. e pride
of the enemy, and their joy in seeing the aiction of the
beloved of God, give occasion to sue for compassion on
behalf of the aicted, and judgment on the malice of the
enemy. At the end of chapter 1, after full confession that it
was Judah’s sin that had brought the evil upon them, and
that Jehovah was righteous, the people call on the eye of
Jehovah to look on their sorrow, and judge those by whose
wickedness they were punished.
Lamentations 2
569
72965
Lamentations 2
e touching appeal to Jehovah; the desolation of
Jerusalem His work
e second chapter is a very deep and touching appeal.
e desolation of Jerusalem is looked at as Jehovah’s own
work, on what was His own, and not as that of the enemy.
Never had there been such sorrow. Not only had He
polluted the kingdom and its princes, and had been as an
enemy against Jerusalem, and all that was goodly in it, but
He had cast down His altar, abhorred His sanctuary. He no
longer respected what He had Himself set up. Only we must
remember that it was when the relationships of Jehovah
with His people depended, however long God’s patience,
on the faithfulness of the people’s obedience to Jehovah,
on the old covenant. But this consideration gives room
for appealing to Himself. Still it is a solemn thing when
Jehovah is forced to reject that which He acknowledges
to be His own. But it must be so if the association of His
name is only a means of falsifying the testimony of what
He is (vss. 6-7). And this brings before us the amazingly
important principle contained in the ministry of Jeremiah,
not merely the substitution of Babylon and the Gentile
empire for Jerusalem and God’s government in Israel, but
the setting this last aside in itself, the ground of God’s
relationship with man where it subsisted, as that which
could not subsist when put to the test.<P320>
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72966
Lamentations 3
e Spirit of Christ in the remnant, suering for the
testimony and for its rejection
In chapter 3 we nd the language of faith, of sorrowing
faith, of the Spirit of Christ in the remnant, on the
occasion of the judgment of Jerusalem in which God had
dwelt. Before, the prophet (or the Spirit of Christ in him)
spoke in the name of Jerusalem, deploring her suerings
and confessing her sin, while appealing to Jehovah against
her enemies, relating what He had done in forsaking His
sanctuary, and (from verse 11 of chapter 2) expressing
the depth of her aiction at the sight of the evil. But
in chapter 3 he places himself in the midst of the evil to
express the sentiments of the Spirit of Christ; not, it is
true, in an absolute manner, according to the perfection of
Christ Himself, but as acting in the heart of the prophet (as
is generally the case in Jeremiah), expressing his personal
distress-a distress produced by the Spirit, but clothed in
the feelings of the prophet’s own heart-to bring out that
which practically was going on in the heart of a faithful
Israelite, the reality of that which was most elevated in that
day of anguish and aiction, in which alas! there was no
more hope from the people’s side than from that of the
enemies who attacked them, and in which the heart of
the faithful suered without hope of remedy, yet much
more on account of a people who hearkened not to the
voice of Jehovah; than on account of enemies raised up
in judgment. What has Christ not suered! at which
His Spirit produces in the midst of human weakness, He
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571
has Himself undergone and felt in its full extent; only that
He was perfect in all that His heart went through in His
aiction.
In chapter 3 the prophet expresses then in his own
person, by the Spirit of Christ, all that he felt as sharing
the aiction of Israel, and being at the same time the
object of their enmity-a position remarkably analogous to
that of Christ. What suering can be like that of one who
shares the suering of God’s people without being able
to turn away the evil, because they refuse to hear God’s
message-like that of one who bears this aiction on his
heart with the feeling that, if this foolish people would but
have hearkened, the wrath of God should have been turned
away? It was the lamentation of Christ Himself, “Oh, if
thou hadst known,” etc. In<P321> the main Jeremiah
partook of the same feelings. But we see him more as
being of the people, and participating in his own person
in the consequences of the evil, seeing himself under these
consequences with the people, because they had rejected his
testimony. is may be said of the Lord at the close of His
life, or on the cross. But we see that this sentiment, a little
known in the case of Job, takes here the form of a personal
prayer, complaining of personal suering. Jeremiah suers
for the testimony, and for the rejection of the testimony.
e rst nineteen verses of chapter 3 contain the expression
of this state. It is altogether the spirit of the remnant; and,
with the exception of the sentiment I have just mentioned,
it is that expressed in many of the Psalms. Into it all indeed,
if we go on to the cross,1Christ Himself entered.
(1. I add, “if we go on to the cross,” because, though
Christ may have felt much of it in His sorrow as He
approached the cross, there are expressions which apply to
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Him only as suering there. e direct proper application
is to the remnant, as is the case with the Psalms, and to
Jeremiah in particular.)
Turning in faith to the One who smites
e prophet speaks as having borne in his own heart
the deep grief of that which Jehovah had brought upon
Jerusalem; but feeling it as one who knew God to be his
God, so that he could experience what it was to be the
object of the wrath of God. He suered with Jerusalem,
and he suered for Jerusalem. But the truth of this relation
with Jehovah, while making him feel the aiction more
deeply, sustained him also (vs. 22). He begins to feel that,
after all, it is better to have to do with Jehovah, although, in
another point of view, this made it all the more painful. He
feels that it is good to be aicted, and to wait upon Jehovah
who smites: for He will not cast o forever. He does not
aict willingly, but from necessity. Why complain of the
chastening of sin? It were better to turn unto Jehovah.1 He
encourages Israel to do so, and while <P322>remembering
the aiction of his weeping people, faith is in exercise
until Jehovah shall interpose. It is well that an aiction
like this should be felt; the only harm is when it is allowed
to weaken condence in the Lord.
(1. We have here a principle of the deepest interest,
and most instructive. I will follow it out with a little more
detail. e principles are in the text. Jehovah smiting His
own altar and all the holy things, having been set up by
Himself in the midst of His people as marking them as
His and the formal link with them as their God, their
destruction which broke that formal link, as far as God’s
own ordinances went, put an end to the connection; and
this, as one of that people and living in that bond, had been
Lamentations 3
573
the deepest distress to the truehearted Jeremiah; but while
this, because they were of God, pressed upon his heart, it
led him, when he had got to the depth of the feeling, to
the Jehovah whose ordinances they were; Jehovah known
in his heart takes then the place of the ordinances which
bound the people to Him, and his soul is drawn out in
condence to Him who was within and beyond all those
links. He feels and speaks from the place of aiction,
but his soul is humbled in him when personally thus in
intercourse with Jehovah, and so has hope. And this is a
sure and immovable anchor of faith when God our Father
is truly known. (See verses 22-26.) He is brought quite
low and subdued in spirit, but Jehovah is before his soul
and known, though he must wait for Him (vss. 27-30), but
Jehovah rises up before him. He does not aict willingly;
and now he turns in greater calmness of spirit to try his
own ways (vss. 39-42). Yet he looks fully at all the sorrow
(vss. 42-49). But now Jehovah is in his heart, and the “till”
(vs. 50), the full assurance of which ows from His very
nature, for personally, when at the lowest, he had called
and Jehovah had drawn near to him, and pleaded the
cause of his soul, and he looks for Jehovah’s judgment on
his relentless and causeless enemies. No doubt the call for
judgment is characteristic of Jehovah’s relationship with
Israel. Still, there will be such on all the open enemies of
the Lord.)
Having been succored himself, the prophet can assure
others of God’s kindness
e prophet calls to mind the aiction of Jerusalem,
and, remembering the way which he had been succored
himself, he makes use of the kindness he had experienced
to conrm his assurance that God would show the same
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kindness to the people. But with respect to the proud and
careless who reject the truth, their enmity against God,
manifesting itself in their enmity against those who were
the bearers of His word, he asks for the judgment of God
upon them.1us relieved in spirit, and his heart lled
with the sentiment that, since the evil came from Jehovah,
that which gave so much depth to the sorrow was also a
comfort to the heart, he can return to the aiction itself,
measuring its whole extent, which the anguish of his soul
prevented his apprehending till he had been able to arrive
at its true source. Now he can enter into details, although
with deep grief, yet with more calmness because His heart
is with God. e sense of trouble and distress at the thought
of God’s judgment falling on those whom He loves is not
sinful, although in Jeremiah’s case his heart sometimes
failed him.<P323>
(1. In all this the spirit of these passages is wonderfully
in accordance with that of the Psalms, as indeed is very
natural. e way in which Christ entered into it is spoken
of in what is said on the Book of Psalms. Christ passed, in
grace, through all exercises as to it in perfectness-Jeremiah
and the remnant, that they might be perfected in their own
state and feeling as to it. See what follows in the text.)
Christ’s profound distress at God’s judgment
It is right to be troubled, and, as it were, overwhelmed,
at God’s breaking, not perhaps the relationship, but His
present connection with that which was the object of His
favor, that which bore the name and the testimony of God.
Christ felt this for Himself, though in Him distress went
much farther: “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall
I say? Father, save me from this hour.” Only in Christ
all is perfect; and if He feels in perfection the profound
Lamentations 3
575
distress of the object of God’s love becoming the object of
His judgment, a feeling of unparalleled grief, seeing it at
the same time according to the perfection of God’s ways,
He can say, “For this cause came I unto this hour; Father,
glorify thy name!” He was Himself the necessary object
of all God’s aection, and consequently (if the judgment
was to glorify God) the object also of a perfect judgment,
that is, of a complete forsaking on God’s part. at which
is dreadful in this thought is, that the change of relative
position was absolute and perfect in His case according
to the very perfection of the relationship. He suered the
forsaking of God, instead of enjoying innite favor which
He knew.
e dierence between the place of Jeremiah and that
of the perfect Man-Christ
ere was something similar in the case of Jerusalem; and
Jeremiah, feeling by the Spirit of Christ the preciousness
of this relationship, and entering into it as sharing it, he
suers with that which was thus judged of God. Only,
although moved by the Spirit of Christ, he must nd the
equilibrium of his thoughts, he must seek Jehovah to bring
Him into the aiction, amid all his personal grief, and the
true but human workings of a heart that was shaken and
cast down by the circumstances. He attached himself to
Jerusalem, as resting on her position before God, and not
solely and absolutely for God, and as God Himself, as did
our blessed Lord. ere was an object between his soul and
God (an object beloved also by God), and it was not loved
absolutely in God, and with the aection of God, and hence
the aiction had to reach this object, he being in it and of
it, reach his heart in this place- and then God draws it to
Himself, so that he may look at all from Jehovah’s view of
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it. But Christ was Himself absolutely in the place, for God’s
glory and the salvation of others. e judged thing<P324>
from which He was innitely far, even as man, he was to
be before God. Ever perfect, He learned to the absolute
fullness what it was to be thus before God, and gloried
God there. But this, though we know it true, none can
fathom. ere was in Jeremiah the right foundation and he
nds Jehovah, rst of all in spite of the aiction, but soon
in the aiction itself, and he recovers himself immediately,
not from the aiction, but in the aiction, by the power of
God. Christ can say, “How often would I have gathered,”
etc. is was the aection of God. Jeremiah confesses sin,
and ought to confess it, as himself in the place, though a
testimony of God in it. But this thought changes so far the
character of the feeling. (See chapter 1:19-20.)
Christ sought for nothing as a resource, as if self were
concerned in it. His aiction was unmixed and absolute
to Himself alone, more profound (for who could share it?)
but perfect as being His alone. us, in John 12, when it
is Himself personally (for this Gospel sets the old vine
aside as rejected), He cannot desire that the hour of God’s
forsaking should come; He ought to fear and be troubled,
and He was therefore heard. But it is between God and
Himself alone. No other thought comes in between-it is
wholly with God. Alas! had it been possible, all was lost.
But no; it is the absolute submission of the perfect man,
who seeks (and seeks nothing else) that the name of God
may be gloried according to God’s perfection; that at all
cost to Himself God’s name may be gloried. Not now
as God, who must necessarily maintain its glory, but as
one who submits to everything, who sacrices Himself, in
order that God may glorify His name. For this cause He
Lamentations 3
577
has been supremely gloried as man-a glorious mystery,
in which the glory of God will shine forth throughout
eternity.
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72967
Lamentations 4
Jeremiah can measure the aiction since Jehovah is
there
Jeremiah, having now found Jehovah in the aiction,
tranquilly measures its whole extent. But this is itself a
consolation. For after all Jehovah who changes not is there
to comfort the heart. is is chapter 4. He calls the whole
to mind, and contrasts that which Jerusalem was, when
under the blessing of <P325>Jehovah, with that which His
anger has produced. It is no longer only the overwhelming
circumstances of the present scene, but what it was before
God. e Nazarites pass before his thoughts; that which
Jerusalem, as the city of the great King, had been even in
the eyes of her enemies; the anointed of Jehovah, under
whose shadow the people might have lived (as we have
already seen), although the Gentiles ruled-the anointed of
Jehovah had been taken in their pits, like the prey of the
hunter. But the aicted spirit of God’s servant, who bears
the burden of His people, can now estimate not only the
aiction that overwhelms them, but the position of the
enemies of Jerusalem, and that of the beloved city. Nay,
he who would have one run to and fro through the streets
of Jerusalem to nd a just one, now sees the enemies have
slain the just in her midst. (See verse 13 and Jeremiah 5:1.)
e cup of God’s wrath shall pass through unto Edom,
who was rejoicing in the ruin of the city of Jehovah; and as
to Zion, she has doubtless drunk this cup to the dregs; but
if she has done so, it was in order that she might drink of it
no more. e punishment of her iniquity is accomplished,
Lamentations 4
579
she shall no more be carried into captivity. All was nished
for her: she had drunk the cup which she confessed she
had deserved. (See chapter 4:11 and 1:18-20.) But the sin
of haughty Edom should be laid bare. God would visit her
iniquity.
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72968
Lamentations 5
e whole aiction presented to God to call His
compassionate attention to His people
e prophet can now present the whole aiction of the
people to God, as an object of compassion and mercy. is
is an onward step in the path of these deep exercises of
heart. He is at peace with God; he is in His presence; it
is no longer a heart struggling with inward misery. All is
confessed before Jehovah who is faithful to His people, so
that he can call on God to consider the aiction in order
that He may remember His suering people according to
the greatness of His compassions. For Jehovah changes not
(ch. 5:19-21). e sense of the aiction remains in full, but
God is brought in, and everything having been recalled and
judged before Him, all that had happened being cleared up
to the heart, <P326>Jeremiah can rest in the proper and
eternal relations between God and His beloved people:
and, shutting himself into his direct relations with his
God, he avails himself of His goodness, as being in those
relations, to nd in the aection of the beloved people an
opportunity for calling His attention to them. is is the
true position of faith-that which it attains as the result of
its exercises before God at the sight of the aiction of His
people (an aiction so much the deeper from its being
caused by sin).
e unique and remarkable character of the book
is Book of Lamentations is remarkable because we
see in it the expression of the thoughts of the Spirit of God,
that is, those produced in persons under His inuence,
Lamentations 5
581
the vessels of His testimony, when God was forced to set
aside that which He had established in the world as His
own. ere is nothing similar in the whole circle of the
revelations and of the aections of God. He says himself,
How could He treat them as Admah and Zeboim? Christ
went through it in its fullest extent. But He went through
it in His own perfection with God. He acted thus with
regard to Jerusalem, and wept over it. But here man is
found to have lost the hope of God’s interposing on His
people’s behalf. God would not abandon a man who was
one of this people, who loved them, who understood that
God loved them, that they were the object of His aection.
He was one of them. How could he bear the idea that God
had cast them o ? No doubt God would reestablish them.
But in the place where God had set them, all hope was
lost forever. In the Lord’s own presence it is never lost. It
is in view of this that all these exercises of heart are gone
through, until the heart can fully enter into the mind and
aections of God Himself. Indeed this is always true.
e Spirit of God showing His ways and what passes
through the heart where God’s judgment is felt
e Spirit gives us here a picture of all these exercises.
How gracious! To see the Spirit of God enter into all
these details, not only of the ways of God, but of that also
which passes through a heart in which the judgment of
God is felt by grace, until all is set right in the presence
of God Himself. Inspiration gives us, not only the perfect
thoughts of God, and Christ the perfection of man<P327>
before God, but also all the exercises produced in our poor
hearts, when the perfect Spirit acts in them, so far as these
thoughts, all mingled as they are, refer in the main to God,
or are produced by Him. So truly cares He for us! He
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hearkens to our sighs, although much of imperfection and
of that which belongs to our own heart is mixed with them.
It is this that we see in the Book of Lamentations, in the
Psalms, and elsewhere, and abundantly, though in another
manner, in the New Testament.<P328>
Ezekiel
583
72969
Ezekiel
e viewpoint of the prophet-in captivity
In the prophecy of Ezekiel we have left the touching
ground we were on in Jeremiah. He was within with the
judgment hanging over the guilty city, and under the
oppressive sense of the evil which brought on the ruin,
bearing a testimony which, as to apparent result, was of
no avail, though it maintained, in personal sorrow of heart
according to human measure, the glory of God.
Ezekiel had been carried into captivity with the king
Jehoiachin; at least, he was one of those made captive at
that time, and he habitually dates his prophecies from
that period-an important thing to remark that we may
understand the revelations made to him. For himself there
is no more question either of dates or of kings, of Judah
or of Israel. e people of God are in captivity among the
Gentiles. Israel is looked at as a whole; the interests of
the whole nation are before the eye of the prophet. At the
same time the capture of Jerusalem under Zedekiah had
not yet taken place. is occasions the revelation of that
king’s iniquity, the measure of which was lled up by his
rebellion. For Nebuchadnezzar attached value to the oath
made in the name of Jehovah. He counted upon the respect
due to that name, and Zedekiah had not respected it.
e general contents of the book
e rst twenty-three chapters contain testimonies
from God against Israel in general, and against Jerusalem
in particular. After that the surrounding nations are judged;
and then, beginning with chapter 33, the prophet resumes
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the subject of Israel, announcing their restoration as well
as their judgment. Finally from chapter 40 to the end we
have the description of the temple and of the division of
the land.<P329>
Ezekiel 1
585
72970
Ezekiel 1
e date of the beginning of the book
In chapter 1 we nd a date which refers to the year of
Josiah’s passover, but with what intent I do not know. It
has been thought that the thirty years relate to the jubilee.
On this point I cannot speak with condence. But other
circumstances are very important.
e universal sovereign throne of God seen outside
Jerusalem
e throne of God is not seen in Jerusalem, but
unconnected with this city, and outside. It is the universal
sovereign throne of God. God judges the city itself
from this throne. e prophecy commences with the
description of the throne. We have the attributes of God
as the supporters of His throne, under the likeness of the
four categories of created beings on earth, the four being
united in one, at least the four heads of these categories.
ese symbols are nearly the same as those used by the
pagan inventors of idolatry to represent their gods. Formal
idolatry began with a gurative personication of the
attributes of God. ese attributes became their gods, men
being impelled to worship them by demons who governed
them by this means, so that it was these demons whom
men worshipped-a worship that soon degenerated so far
that they set up gods wherever there was anything to desire
or to fear, or that answered to the lusts which inspired
these desires or these fears (sentiments which the demon
cultivated also, in order to appropriate to himself the
worship due to God alone). Now these attributes belonged
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to the only God, the Creator, and the head of all creation;
but, whatever their power and glory might be in action,
they were but the supporters of the throne on which the
God of truth is seated.1 Whatever <P330>instruments He
may employ, it is the mighty energy of God that manifests
itself. Intelligence, strength, stability, and swiftness in
judgment, and, withal, the movement of the whole course
of earthly events, depended on the throne. is living
energy animated the whole. e cherubic supporters
of the throne, full of eyes themselves, moved by it; the
wheels of God’s government moved by the same spirit,
and went straight forward. All was subservient to the will
and purpose of Him who sat on the throne judging right.
Majesty, government, and providence, united to form the
throne of His glory. But all the instruments of His glory
were below the rmament; He whom they gloried was
above. It is He whom the heathen knew not.
(1. Wise indels, always set in their conceptions because
they know not God, have seen in the winged human-headed
bulls and lions of Nineveh the origin of Ezekiel’s vision.
ey betray themselves. ey do not see or know Him who
sat above them. I do not doubt a moment that these images
represented the same thing essentially as the cherubim; but
these poor pagans, misled by Satan, like these indels in
their wisdom, worshipped what was below the rmament.
In Ezekiel’s vision they were merely symbolic attributes,
and He who was worshipped was above the rmament. It
is just the dierence in this respect between idolatry and
the revelation of God.)
God’s throne outside His people, among the Gentiles
is throne of the supreme and sovereign Lord God is
seen in Chaldea1-in the place where the prophet then was-
Ezekiel 1
587
among the Gentiles. It is no longer seen at Jerusalem in
connection with the land; nor have we any law embodied,
so to speak, in the throne, according to which an immediate
government was exercised. Consequently the voice of God
speaks to Ezekiel as to a “son of man”- a title that suited
the testimony of a God who spoke outside of His people,
as being no longer in their midst, but on the contrary
was judging them from the throne of His sovereignty. It
is Christ’s own title, looked at as rejected and outside of
Israel, although He never ceases to think of the blessing
of the people in grace. is puts the prophet in connection
with the position of Christ Himself. He would not, thus
rejected, allow His disciples to announce Him as the Christ
(Luke 9), for the Son of Man was to suer.2
(1. I mean merely in the limits of the empire of the
Chaldeans. It was by the river Chebar, which was more to
the northwest.)
(2. is distinction is always carefully maintained, based
on Psalms 2 and 8. (Compare Nathanael, John 1.))
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72971
Ezekiel 2
Ezekiel sent to a rebellious people with God’s message
In testimony and example, as to his prophetic relation,
the same thing happens in Ezekiel’s case. God is rejected;
His prophet takes this place, with the throne, to judge the
whole nation, and especially Jerusalem, announcing at the
same time (to faith) their reestablishment in grace. He is
sent from Jehovah to a rebellious people, to say, Jehovah
has spoken, whether they would hear or not. e judgment
would make it known that a prophet had been among
them. His rst testimony is composed of lamentations,
and mourning, and woe; nevertheless the communication
of the Word of God is always full of sweetness, looked at
as a revelation from Him, and as taking place between God
and man (ch. 2).
Some important principles in the relations of God with
Israel are developed in chapter 3.
Ezekiel’s testimony compared with that of Jeremiah
But we have yet to notice a feature that characterizes the
Book of Ezekiel, comparing it with that of Jeremiah. e
latter addresses himself immediately to his contemporaries
(that is to say, to the people of God) in a testimony
which, making its way through the bruised and wounded
heart of the prophet, exhibits the marvellous patience of
God, who, up to the last moment, invites His people to
repentance. It is not thus with Ezekiel. He announces
that which necessitates the judgment. He is sent indeed
to Israel, but to Israel in a hardened condition. His mouth
is shut as to the people; he is not to rebuke them. He may
Ezekiel 2
589
communicate to them certain declarations of Jehovah at
a suitable time, when Jehovah opens his mouth to make
them understand that there is a prophet among them; but
he does not address himself directly and morally to the
people, as being still the object of God’s dealings. Jehovah
reveals to him the iniquities that oblige Him to cast o His
people, and no longer to act towards them on principles
of government established by Himself, as with a people
whom He acknowledged. It is, on God’s part, a setting
forth of Israel’s conduct as the occasion of the rupture of
His relations with them. At the same time certain new
principles of conduct are revealed. I speak of that part
of the prophecy which relates to Israel; for there are also
sundry judgments upon the Gentiles, and a description of
the future state of the land, as well as of the temple-a state
which the prophet was to communicate to Israel in case
they should repent.<P332>
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72972
Ezekiel 3
e remnant distinguished; individuals warned
e Lord testies that Israel is even more hardened
than any of the heathen nations. e people are “impudent
and hardhearted.” It needed that Ezekiel should have his
forehead made as hard as adamant to speak to them the
word which he had to declare, saying, “Whether they
will hear, or whether they will forbear.” e prophet is
carried away by the power of the Spirit into the midst
of the captives at Tel-abib. Although the house of Israel
was hardened, God distinguished a remnant; and in this
manner. e prophet was to warn individuals: it was to this
work he was appointed. If his word was received, he who
hearkened should be spared. Ezekiel should be responsible
for the fulllment of this duty: but each one should bear
the consequences of his own conduct, after he had heard
the word. us the people are no longer judged as a whole,
as was the case when all depended on the public conduct
of the nation or of the king. Israel had revolted, but still
he that hearkened to the word should live. God was acting
in accordance with His long-suering grace. e prophet
again sees the glory of Jehovah by himself, and the Spirit
announces to him that he is not to go out among the
people, but that he shall be a prisoner in his house, and that
God will make his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth;
for they were a rebellious people, and, as a people, the
warning was not to be given them. God, when He pleased,
would open the mouth of the prophet, and he should speak
peremptorily to the people, declaring the word of Jehovah.
Ezekiel 3
591
Let him hear that would, Jehovah would no longer plead
in love, as He had done.
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72973
Ezekiel 4
e siege of Jerusalem; the dates of the years of
iniquity leading to Israel’s judgment
Besides the general judgment that God pronounced
upon the condition of Israel, Jerusalem-on whom lay all the
iniquity of the people now come to its height-appears before
God whom she had despised. e prophet, in representing
the siege of Jerusalem, was also to point out the years of
iniquity that had led to this<P333> judgment: for Israel in
general, 390; for Judah, 40. It is certain that these dates do
not refer to the duration of the kingdom of Israel apart from
Judah, nor to that of Judah, because the kingdom of Israel
only lasted about 254 years, while that of Judah continued
about 134 years after the fall of Samaria. It would appear
that the longer period mentioned is reckoned from the
separation of the ten tribes under Rehoboam, counting
the years as those of Israel, because from that moment
Israel had a separate existence, and comprised the great
body of the nation; while Judah was everything during the
reign of Solomon, which lasted forty years. After his reign
Judah would be comprised in the general name of Israel
according to Ezekiel’s usual habit, although on certain
occasions he distinguishes them on account of the position
of Zedekiah and of God’s future dealings. e reason for
using this name of Israel for the whole is plain enough,
namely, that the captivity had placed the whole nation in
the same condition and under one common judgment, and
Israel was the name of the whole people. e entire nation
was now set aside, and a Gentile kingdom established.
Ezekiel 4
593
Judah is sometimes distinguished because there was still
a remnant at Jerusalem-judged indeed yet more severely
than the mass, but which nevertheless existed, and which
will have distinct circumstances in their history until the
last days. e same thing happens in the New Testament.
In the language of the apostles the twelve tribes are
blended. Nevertheless, as a matter of history, the Jews-that
is to say, those of Judah- are always distinct. In the main,
Ezekiel prophesied under the same circumstances. Hence,
in part, as we have said, his title of “son of man,” given also
to Daniel, as well as that of “man greatly beloved.” e man
of power was Nebuchadnezzar. But he who represented
the race before God was an Ezekiel, as the man of desire
was a Daniel, a man beloved of God.
With respect to the date, it is certain that the 390
years are almost exactly the time of Israel’s duration
from the death of Solomon to the destruction of the
temple. Some persons have wished to reckon the forty
years of Judah from Josiah’s passover down to the same
period, supposing that the destruction of the temple by
Nebuchadnezzar took place four or ve years after the
captivity of Zedekiah; but this was not the case-it was a
month later in the same year. Jehoiachin was carried into
captivity in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2Kings
24:12). Zedekiah reigned eleven<P334> years (Jer. 52:1).
In the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzar-adan
burned the house of Jehovah, and, reading from verse 6, we
see that it was a month after in the same year. In taking the
forty years of Judah to be the reign of Solomon, it would be
saying that Israel had done nothing but sin ever since the
establishment of the kingdom, for it was only in the days
of Solomon that there was a peaceful reign. David founded
Darby Synopsis
594
the kingdom. e responsibility of his family began with
Solomon (2Sam. 7).
Ezekiel 5-6
595
72974
Ezekiel 5-6
Israel reminded of God’s just judgments on Jerusalem;
a small remnant spared
In the revelation given to Ezekiel Jerusalem is taken,
and its population almost entirely destroyed. e dispersed
remnant are pursued by the sword, and a portion only of
this remnant is spared. ere would be some even of this
portion cast into the re.1 And this re should reach to
the whole house of Israel. at is to say, the judgment that
should fall upon the remnant who do not perish in the city
should represent the position of all Israel. It is thus that
the prophet is constantly led to speak of the whole nation.
For, as long as there was a remnant at Jerusalem, the nation
had a place on the earth. But when the iniquitous rebellion
of Zedekiah had led to the destruction of Jerusalem, this
was no longer the case. But this judgment of Jerusalem
contains very important elements for the understanding of
all this part of the history of the people and of the dealings
of God, “is is Jerusalem, saith the Lord Jehovah; I have
set it in the midst of the nations and countries round about
her.” And instead of being a testimony in the midst of the
nations, so that the house of Jehovah should have attracted
them, or at least have placed them under responsibility by a
true testimony to God who dwelt there-instead of this, her
inhabitants had even gone beyond the idolatrous nations in
wickedness. erefore God would execute judgments upon
her in the sight of all the nations-a just retribution for her
sins. She should also be laid waste and made a reproach
among the nations round about<P335> her; and (ch. 6) the
Darby Synopsis
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judgment should not be conned to Jerusalem, it should
be executed on all the high places on all the mountains
of Israel. Every city should be desolate, all their idols
destroyed, and the people scattered. ey should know
that the Lord had not threatened them in vain with His
judgments. e re should reach those that were afar o as
well as those that were in the land; and the land should be
laid waste, and the worshippers of idols slain around their
infamous gods. Nevertheless God would remember mercy
in the midst of judgment; He would spare a little remnant
of those who were scattered, and those who should escape
should loathe themselves for the abominations they had
committed. us Jerusalem was judged as well as the
mountains of Israel, which were but too notorious for their
idols and their high places.
(1. It is thus that I understand this passage. We should
imagine, from our translation, that it was some of the hairs
that were cast into the re. But in the Hebrew the pronoun
is in the singular, and it is masculine as well as feminine.)
Ezekiel 7
597
72975
Ezekiel 7
Solemn judgment pronounced on the whole land;
Israel no longer a nation
Finally (ch. 7), the whole land of Israel is under the
sentence of God, “the four corners of the land.” ose
who escape the general judgment mourn alone upon the
mountains, having forsaken all in despair-having no power
for resistance. e worst of the heathen should possess the
land. And the ornament of the majesty of Jehovah, which
He had established in glory, having been profaned by
their abominations, should be given up into the hands of
strangers to be profaned by them. e secret place of His
holiness should be polluted. Mischief should come upon
mischief, and there should be no remedy. Jehovah would
judge the people according to their deserts.
Solemn judgment was thus pronounced on the whole
nation. All is desolate, and with respect to the relations
of Israel with God- whether on the part of the people
themselves, or by means of the house of David which was
responsible for the maintenance of these relations-all was
nally lost. Grace may act; but the people and the house
of David had totally failed. e name of God had been
blasphemed through His people, instead of being gloried.
e execution of judgment is now the only testimony
rendered to Him. e judgment is complete, it has fallen
on the four corners of the land, and Israel is no longer a
nation. What a solemn<P336> thought it is, that judgment
should be the only testimony that can be given to God!
Darby Synopsis
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Chapter 7 closes this rst prophecy, which is one of vast
importance, as declaring the judgment to be fully executed
upon the people of God on earth.
Ezekiel 8
599
72976
Ezekiel 8
e period before the destruction of the temple; the
iniquity and hypocrisy of the Jews
Chapter 8 begins a new prophecy, which comprises
several distinct revelations, and extends to the close of
chapter 19 (from the eighth to the end of the eleventh
being connected). Judah still existed at Jerusalem, although
many of them had already been carried into captivity with
Jehoiakim. It was not till ve years later that the temple
was destroyed. It is the state of things at Jerusalem which
is judged in these chapters. e elders of Judah presented
themselves before the prophet, and Jehovah took this
opportunity to show him all the enormities that would
bring down judgment on the people. In the prophecy of
the preceding year God, by the mouth of the prophet, had
threatened Israel with the giving up of His sanctuary to
the profane (ch. 7:20-22). Here Jehovah exhibits in detail
the cause of this judgment. e glory of Jehovah appeared
to the prophet, and he was taken in the visions of God
to Jerusalem, and there in the courts and the chambers,
and in the gates, he was shown every form of hateful and
deling idolatry practiced in Jehovah’s own house by the
elders and others of Israel. If we compare the history of
Jeremiah, and the outward profession that was made-the
pretension that the law should not perish from the priest,
we shall understand the excessive iniquity of the Jews and
their hypocrisy.
Darby Synopsis
600
72977
Ezekiel 9
e glory of Jehovah visiting the temple and
manifesting the heinous sins there
e glory of Jehovah visits the temple. He takes His place
on the side that looked towards the city and, after having
shown the<P337> prophet the heinous sins committed
there, He gives command to execute the deserved
vengeance, but to spare the remnant who mourned over
all these abominations. at which declares morally the
state of heart of the wicked, and which made them give the
loose rein to their iniquity, is that the absence of Jehovah’s
intervention on account of their sins, had so acted on their
belief as to make them say, “Jehovah hath forsaken the
earth and Jehovah seeth not.” is was obduracy of heart.
Ezekiel 10
601
72978
Ezekiel 10
Jehovah’s personal intervention to show the evil,
mark the mourners and direct the judgment
In chapter 10 the whole city is given up to be consumed.
e glory of Jehovah presides over the judgment and
commands it. He stands upon the threshold of His house
which He lls with His glory in judgment, as He had
formerly done in blessing. e throne of Jehovah was apart.
We have a renewed description of all its parts. Jehovah left
His throne and stood on the threshold of the house. is
is an interesting element of this judgment. e cherubim
and the terrible wheels instinct with living energy and full
of eyes could have accomplished all. But Jehovah leads the
prophet to take personal cognizance of the various and
abominable sins and idolatries by which they profaned His
sanctuary. No doubt His providential government wrought
in power to carry out His judgment, but it was the Jehovah
of the deled house who stood personally on its threshold
to direct the judgment of the city, and personally have a
mark put on the godly and secure them in the hastening
judgment (ch. 9:3-4, following, and from beginning of ch.
8). is personal intervention of Jehovah, both to show the
evil well-known to Him, to mark and spare the mourners,
and to direct the judgment, is full of interest.
Darby Synopsis
602
72979
Ezekiel 11
e leaders of iniquity judged; the remnant
distinguished and blessed; the glory of Jehovah forsakes
the city
In chapter 11 God judges the leaders of iniquity, who
comforted<P338> themselves in the thought that the
city was impregnable.1ey should be brought out from
the midst thereof and be judged in the border of Israel.
One of these wicked men dies in the presence of the
prophet, which brings out the sorrow of his heart and his
intercession for Israel. In reply, God distinguishes those in
Jerusalem from the captives. As to the latter, God had been
a sanctuary to them wherever they were. He would restore
them, and give them back the land. He would purify them,
and give them a new heart. ey should be His people,
and He would be their God. But as for those who walked
after their abominations, their ways should be visited upon
them in judgment. e remnant are always distinguished,
and individual conduct is the condition of blessing, save
that they, the faithful, are established as the people of God
at the end.
(1. Jeremiah’s exhortations will be remembered-to
submit themselves to Nebuchadnezzar, and even to quit
the city and go forth unto him.)
e glory of Jehovah then forsakes the city and stands
upon the Mount of Olives, from which Jesus ascended, and
to which He will again descend for Israel’s glory. is part
of the prophecy ends here.
Ezekiel 12
603
72980
Ezekiel 12
e ight, capture and blindness of Zedekiah
predicted
Chapter 12 announces the ight and the capture of
Zedekiah, who would be carried to Babylon though he
would not see it. All the force of Judah would be dispersed,
and the land laid desolate; a small remnant of captives
would declare among the heathen the abominations which
had brought the judgment; and the judgment was soon to
come, for God’s patience with His people had led to the
unbelieving comment that God would not interfere, but
now the eect of His words would not be delayed.
Darby Synopsis
604
72981
Ezekiel 13-14
e false prophets and people punished together
Chapter 13 judges the prophets who deceived the people
in Jerusalem by their pretended visions of peace.<P339>
In chapter 14 the elders of Israel come and sit before
the prophet. Here God sets distinctly before Israel the
new principles on which He would govern them. ese
elders had put their abominations before their eyes. God
Himself will judge them according to their transgressions.
As a nation they were all alike. Jehovah could only say to
them, “Repent ye.” e prophets and the people should be
punished together. Even if the most excellent of the earth
should be found in a land which Jehovah judged, they would
not hinder the execution of the judgment, they would only
save their own lives by their righteousness. God did not
own a nation (the only one He had He had now rejected);
He did, the individually righteous. (Compare Genesis 18.)
Now God was bringing all His judgments upon Jerusalem.
Nevertheless, a remnant should be spared; and the proofs
they would give of the abominations committed in the city
would comfort the prophet with respect to the judgments
accomplished on it. And so it is: the judgment of God, who
gives His people up to their enemies, is a burden to the
heart of one who loves the people; but when the manner in
which the name of God had been dishonored is seen, the
necessity of the judgment is understood and felt.
Ezekiel 15
605
72982
Ezekiel 15
e only end of a fruitless vine
Chapter 15 shows that the vine-utterly useless if it
bore no fruit-was t only for fuel, and to be consumed.
us should it be with the inhabitants of Jerusalem-a
striking picture of this destruction, and of the condition of
Jerusalem, which was worth nothing more.
Darby Synopsis
606
72983
Ezekiel 16
Jerusalem justly condemned and humbled by Samaria
and Sodom; Jehovah’s sovereign grace
In reading chapter 16 it must be remembered that
Jerusalem is the subject, and not Israel. Moreover, the
subject treated of is not redemption, but God’s dealings.
He had caused to live, He had cleansed, ornamented, and
anointed, that which was in misery and devoid of beauty.
But Jerusalem has used all that Jehovah<P340> had given
her in the service of her idols, and also to purchase the
succor and the favor of the Egyptians and the Assyrians.
She has had no idea of independence and of standing
alone, leaning on Jehovah. She should be judged as an
adulterous woman. Jehovah would bring against her those
whom she had sought. Nevertheless, lled with pride,
she would hear nothing of Samaria or of Sodom-names
which Jehovah now uses to humble her. She was even more
worthless than those whom she must own for her sisters, in
spite of her pride. Jerusalem being thus justly condemned
and humbled, God will yet act in full grace towards her,
and will reestablish her, remembering His love and His
covenant. She will never be restored on the former ground,
any more than Samaria or Sodom; and the grace that
will be exercised towards her shall suce to bring them
back also, namely, the sovereign grace of redemption and
pardon, which is by no means the covenant of Jerusalem
under the law. With Jerusalem Jehovah will also establish a
special covenant, and her two sisters shall be given her for
daughters. Her mouth shall be shut at the thought of all
Ezekiel 16
607
the grace of God who shall have pardoned her. e fty-
fth verse is absolute and perpetual. e promise, in verse
60, is on entirely new ground. Samaria, Sodom, Jerusalem,
go together in judgment; but sovereign grace has its own
way and time, and thus all three might be and would be
restored, but Jehovah would establish His covenant with
Jerusalem. e free unconditional covenant of promise
would be made good to Jerusalem (ch. 16:8).
Darby Synopsis
608
72984
Ezekiel 17
Zedekiah’s judgment for despising the oath taken in
Jehovah’s name
Chapter 17 presents the judgment of Zedekiah for
despising the oath that Nebuchadnezzar made him take in
the name of Jehovah. Israel not having been able to stand in
integrity before God, Jehovah had committed the kingdom
to the head of the Gentiles, whom He had raised up. is
was His determinate purpose; but He had disposed the
heart of Nebuchadnezzar to respect the name of Jehovah,
and Judah might still have remained the center of religious
blessing, and the lamp of David might still have given light
there, although the royalty had been subjected to the head
of the<P341> Gentiles, until the time should come for the
result of the judgment and dealings of God. e covenant
between Nebuchadnezzar and Zedekiah was made on
this ground, and the name of Jehovah was brought in to
conrm it. It was not the Gentile who broke the covenant.
Zedekiah added to his other sins that of rendering
impossible the existence of a people and a kingdom that
belonged to God. e name of Jehovah was more despised
and trampled under foot by him than by the Gentile king.
He intrigues with Egypt to escape from the dominion of
Nebuchadnezzar, whom God Himself, in judgment, had
set up as supreme. is lled up the measure of iniquity,
and brought on the nal judgment. But it left room for the
sovereignty of God, who would bring down the high tree
and exalt the low tree, who would dry up the green tree
and make the dry tree to ourish. His grace would take
Ezekiel 17
609
the little forgotten branch of the house of David and raise
it up in Israel upon the mountain of His power, where He
would cause it to become a goodly cedar, bearing fruit, and
sheltering all that would seek the protection of its shadow.
All the powers of the earth should know the word and the
works of Jehovah.
Darby Synopsis
610
72985
Ezekiel 18
Each one judged according to his own ways
Chapter 18 contains an important principle of the
dealings of God, unfolded at that period. God would judge
the individual according to his own conduct; the wicked
nation was judged as such. Neither was it, in fact, judged
for the iniquity of the fathers. e present iniquities of the
people made the judgment which their fathers had merited
suitable to their own actions. But now, with respect to His
land of Israel, the principle of government laid down in
Exodus 34:7 was set aside, and souls belonging, as they
did individually, to Jehovah, would individually bear
the judgment of their own sins. God would pardon the
repenting sinner. For He has no pleasure in the sinner’s
death. e government of Israel on earth is still the subject.
Everyone shall be judged according to his ways.1
(1. It is important to remark that it is temporal
judgment in death which is spoken of here. e question
treated of is the allegation of Israel that they, according
to the principle laid down in Exodus, were suering for
their fathers’ sins. e prophet declares that this principle
is not that on which God will act with them, that the soul
or life of everyone belonged to God, one as another, and
that in judgment He would deal with each for his own
sins, not the son for the father’s; and then proceeds to lay
down the principles on which He would deal in mercy and
judgment; but the judgments are temporal judgments, and
the death physical death in this world. If the wicked turned
from his ways, he would live and not die-not be cut o for
Ezekiel 18
611
the sins he repented of; so of the wicked, he shall surely die,
his blood shall be upon him. So the soul that sins, it shall
die. It is not the father, nor the son because of a father’s
sins; the soul or person himself that sins shall die, each for
his own. e emphasis is on “it.” )
<P342>
Darby Synopsis
612
72986
Ezekiel 19
e complete decay of David’s house
Chapter 19 describes the captivity of Jehoiakim,
afterwards that of Jeconiah, and nally the complete decay
of the house of David.
Ezekiel 20-21
613
72987
Ezekiel 20-21
e people’s sin and idolatry retraced; God’s judgment
Chapter 20 begins a new prophecy, which, with its
subdivisions, continues to the end of chapter 23. It will
have been remarked that the general divisions are made by
years. Chapter 20 is important. e preceding chapters had
spoken of the sin of Jerusalem. Here the Spirit retraces the
sin, and especially the idolatry of Israel (that is to say, of the
people, as a people) from the time of their sojourn in Egypt.
en already they had begun with their idolatry. For His
own name’s sake God had brought them up from thence,
and given them His statutes and His sabbaths-the latter
too in token of the covenant between God and the people.
But Israel had rebelled against God in the wilderness,
and even then He had thought to destroy them. But He
spared them, warning at the same time their children also,
who nevertheless followed their fathers’ ways. Still, for His
name’s sake, God withdrew His hand on account of the
heathen in whose sight He had brought the people up from
Egypt. But in the wilderness He had already warned them
that He would scatter them among the nations (Lev. 26;
Deut. 32); and as they had polluted the sabbaths of Jehovah
and gone after the idols of their fathers, they should be
polluted in their own gifts, and be slaves to the idols they
had loved, that they might be made desolate by the Lord.
For, having been brought<P343> into the promised land,
they had forsaken Jehovah for the high places. He would
no longer be enquired of by them, but would rule over them
with fury and with an outstretched arm. He had already
Darby Synopsis
614
in the wilderness threatened the people with dispersion
among the heathen; and now, having brought them into
the land for the glory of His great name, Israel had only
dishonored Him. He, therefore, executes the judgment
with which He had threatened them. Israel, always ready
to forsake Jehovah, would have proted by this to become
like the heathen. But God comes in at the end in His own
ways. He keeps the people separate in spite of themselves,
and He will gather them out from among the nations and
bring them into the wilderness, as when He led them out
of Egypt, and there He will cut o the rebels, sparing a
remnant, who alone shall enter the land. For it is there that
Jehovah shall be worshipped by His people, when He shall
have gathered them out from all the countries where they
have been scattered, and Jehovah Himself shall be sanctied
in Israel before the heathen. Israel shall know that He is
Jehovah, when He shall have accomplished all these things
according to His promises. ey shall loathe themselves,
and shall understand that Jehovah has wrought for the
glory of His name, and not according to their wicked ways.
is is the general judgment of the nation, and in fact of
the ten tribes as distinct from Judah. ey, as a body, were
not guilty of the rejection of the blessed Lord. ey had
been long scattered for their rebellion against Jehovah. ey
will be brought back, but passed as a ock under the rod
of the covenant, the rebels purged out, and only the spared
remnant enter the land. ey will not thus be in the special
tribulation of the last half week, nor under Antichrist. ey
are dealt with in the national government of God. Judah
will of course be in verse 40, but the object is to show it
is not simply Judah, the Jews as we say. Israel in the land,
the whole people will enjoy the blessings once promised.
Ezekiel 20-21
615
But this brings out some important principles. ough
the original promises are referred to and exist for the full
blessing, yet the dealings of Jehovah begin with the land
of Egypt. Next there is an accumulation of sin. e Lord’s
sparing mercy, when it only made them go on in greater
oblivion of His goodness, only aggravated and accumulated
the evil, as the Lord speaks, from Abel to Zacharias. us
the people are judged in view of their conduct,<P344> from
the time of their departure from Egypt; their idolatrous
spirit was manifested even in Egypt itself. (Compare Amos
5:25-26 and Acts 7.) Jehovah had indeed spared the people
for the glory of His name, but the sin was still there. Israel
as a nation is therefore scattered, and then placed anew
under the rod of the covenant, and God distinguishes
the remnant, and acts for the sure accomplishment in
sovereign grace of that of which the people were incapable
as placed under their own responsibility. Israel, as a whole,
as a nation, is distinguished from Judah, which continues
in a particular position. With regard to the nation, as such,
the rebels are cut o and do not enter the land. In the land
two-thirds are cut o at the end (Zech. 13:8-9). But in this
latter case, it is the Jews who were guilty of the rejection
and death of Jesus who are judged. Here it is the dealings
of God with the nation-guilty from the time of Egypt;
there it is the chastisement of the enemies and murderers
of Christ. Grace is shown in both cases to the remnant.
e beginning of “the times of the Gentiles”
From verse 45 it is another prophecy, which contains
the application of the threats in the preceding prophecy
to the circumstances through which it will be fullled, by
the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, as unfolded in chapter 21.
Jehovah had unsheathed and sharpened His sword to return
Darby Synopsis
616
it no more to its sheath: it was prepared for the slaughter. e
prophet sees Nebuchadnezzar at the head of the two roads
to Jerusalem and to Ammon. Jerusalem would treat that
which he was doing as a false divination, but she would be
overtaken by the judgment of Jehovah. eir conduct had
brought their whole sinful course to mind, and the profane
Zedekiah (who had lled up the iniquity by despising the
oath which he had taken in Jehovah’s name) should come
to his end when the iniquity was judged; for he had lled
up its measure. Moreover, it was now a denitive judgment,
and not a chastisement which would allow the unsheathed
sword to return to its scabbard, as for His name’s sake they
had been so often spared as we have seen rehearsed in the
chapter. In fact it was a revolution in God’s ways, a taking
His throne from the earth and the beginning of the times
of the Gentiles. Jehovah overturned everything until He
should come, to whom in right it all belonged,<P345> and
to whom the kingdom should be given; that is to say, until
Christ. Ammon likewise should be destroyed.
Government entrusted to the Gentiles; Israel proved
radically evil
e more these prophecies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah are
considered, the more striking do they appear. First of all,
they establish the very important fact with respect to the
government of the world, namely, that the throne of God
has been removed from the earth, and the government of
the world entrusted to man under the form of an empire
among the Gentiles. In the second place, the veil is also
withdrawn as to the government of God in Israel. is test,
to which man had been subjected, in order to see if he were
capable of being blessed, has only proved the entire vanity
of his nature, his rebellion, the folly of his will, so that he is
Ezekiel 20-21
617
radically evil. Even from Egypt, it was a spirit of rebellion,
idolatry, and unbelief, which preferred anything in the
world, an idol, or the Assyrian, to Jehovah the true God.
Constant in their sin, neither deliverance nor judgment,
neither blessing nor experience of their folly, changed the
heart of the people or the propensity of their nature. e
idolatry that began in Egypt, and their contempt of the
word of Jehovah, were not altered by their enjoyment of the
promises, but characterized this people until their rejection
of Jehovah. But on God’s part we see a patience that
never belies itself, the most tender care, the most touching
appeals, everything that could tend to bring their hearts
back to Jehovah; interventions in grace, to lift them out of
their misery, and bless them when in a state of faithfulness
produced by this grace, through the means of such or such
a king; rising up early to send them prophets, until there
was no remedy. But they gave themselves up to evil; and, as
shown by Ezekiel and Stephen, the Spirit of God returns
to the rst manifestations of their heart, of which all that
followed was but the proof and the expression. And the
judgment is executed on account of that which the people
have been from the beginning.
Sovereign grace reigning in righteousness
After the full manifestation of that which the people
were, God changes His plan of government, and reserves
for sovereign grace the reestablishment of Israel according
to His promises, which He<P346> would fulll by His
means who could maintain blessing by His power, and
govern the people in peace.
It is not uninteresting to recall, that that sovereign grace,
which blesses Israel at last and after all, when responsible
human nature has been fully tried, is-though we come
Darby Synopsis
618
to it, where real, through denite conviction of our sins
and sinfulness-as to God’s ways, the starting point of our
path and what belongs to us. Hence the necessity of a new
nature, and God’s love in giving His Son, are the opening
of all to us. e cross for both secures the righteousness
through which grace reigns.
Ezekiel 22-23
619
72988
Ezekiel 22-23
Jerusalem’s sin recapitulated; God’s judgment
justied
Chapter 22 recapitulates the sin of Jerusalem, of her
prophets, her priests, and her princes. e eye of God
sought for someone to stand in the gap before Him, and
found none. His indignation should consume them. What
force the prophecies give to those words of the Lord, “How
often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen gathers
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
In chapter 23 Jehovah justies Himself for judging
Jerusalem by the iniquity and unfaithfulness of her walk.
Her whoredom with the Gentiles brought her early course
to mind. e same conduct showed the same nature. She
has ended as she began, because at heart she was the same.
Samaria’s lot should be hers. e latter is called a tent or
tabernacle, and Jerusalem, “My tabernacle in her.”
Darby Synopsis
620
72989
Ezekiel 24
e beginning of the siege of Jerusalem; Ezekiel
forbidden to mourn at the loss of his wife
In chapter 24 denitive judgment is pronounced
against Jerusalem, who was not even ashamed of her sins.
e day that Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem, the
wife of the prophet dies; and, although she was the dearest
object of his aections, Ezekiel was not to mourn. Under
the gure of his wife’s death he is instructed to refrain
his heart before the judgment of Jehovah. e<P347>
judgment once executed, the mouth of the prophet would
be opened, and the word of Jehovah openly addressed to
the remnant, so that Jehovah should be known to them.
Jerusalem should be set as a caldron on the re to melt and
consume the whole. God had purged her, but she was not
purged; and now He causes His fury to rest upon her.
Ezekiel 25
621
72990
Ezekiel 25
Judgment pronounced on denite nations rejoicing
at Jerusalem’s destruction
Chapter 25 has an especial character. e nations
that surrounded and that were within the territory of
Israel rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem, and of
the sanctuary. erefore God would execute judgment
upon them. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines
are the objects of this prophecy. e testimony of God
against Edom is yet more developed in Obadiah. us,
by the judgment that should fall upon them, should these
nations know that, although Jerusalem had not been a
faithful witness, Jehovah alone is God. Chapters 24-25
go together. Chapter 25 anticipates (although the date is
similar) the events which gave rise to the manifestations of
hatred that are the occasion of the judgments pronounced.
But the spirit had shown itself in these tribes or nations
from the commencement of the desolations of Judah
and Jerusalem. eir introduction here is easily to be
understood, for these nations were to share the same fate,
and are included in this judgment, because they are all upon
Israel’s territory. Another remarkable element (found also
in other prophecies on Edom, and giving a wider meaning
to the one we are considering) is, that it declares that the
judgment which shall fall on Edom in the end shall be
executed by the hand of Israel. Compare Obadiah 17-18
with verse 14 of this chapter.
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Ezekiel 26-28
Tyre judged as representing the world and its riches
Although in a certain sense upon Israel’s territory,
Tyre has another character, and is the subject of a separate
prophecy<P348> (ch. 26-28), because it represents the
world and its riches, in contrast with Israel as the people of
God; and rejoices, not like the others from personal hatred,
but because (having opposite interests) the destruction of
that which restrained its career gave free course to its natural
selshness. It is worthy of remark in these prophecies, how
God lays open all the thoughts of man with respect to His
people and that which they have been towards Him.
Tyre’s ill-will to God’s people and city judged
In chapter 27, Tyre is judged for its ill-will to the people
and the city of God. It is overthrown as a worldly system,
and all that formed its glory disappears before the breath
of Jehovah.
e prince and king of Tyre judged for their pride
In chapter 28 it is the prince and the king of Tyre that
are judged for their pride. Verses 1-10 set before us the
prince of this world’s glory as a man, exalting himself and
seeking to present himself as a god, having acquired riches
and glory by his wisdom. Verses 11-19, while continuing
to speak of Tyre, go, I think, much farther, and disclose,
though darkly, the fall and the ways of Satan, become
through our sin the prince and god of this world. e
prince of Tyre represents Tyre and the spirit of Tyre. e
verses which follow (vss. 11-19) are much more personal.
I do not doubt that, historically, Tyre itself is referred to;
Ezekiel 26-28
623
verses 16-19 prove it. But, I repeat, the mind of the Spirit
goes much farther. e world and its kings are presented as
the garden of Jehovah on account of the advantages they
enjoy. (e outward government of God is in question,
which till then had recognized the dierent nations around
Israel.) is however applies more especially to Tyre, which
was situated in the territory of Israel, in Emmanuel’s land,
and which, in the person of Hiram, had been allied with
Solomon, and had even helped to build the temple. Its guilt
was proportionate. It is the world in relation with God;
and if the prince of Tyre represents this state of things as
being the world, and a world that has been highly exalted
in its capabilities by this position-an exaltation of which
it boasts in deifying itself, the king represents the position
itself in which, under this aspect, the world has been
placed, and the forsaking of which gives it the character
of apostasy. It is this character which gives occasion for
the declaration<P349> of the enemy’s apostasy contained
in these verses. He had been where the plants of God
ourished,1 he had been covered with precious stones
(that is to say, with all the variety of beauty and perfection,
in which the light of God is reected and transformed
when manifested in, and with respect to, creation). Here
the varied reection of these perfections had been in the
creature: a creature was the means of their manifestation. It
was not light, properly so called. (God is light; Christ is the
light here below, and so far as He lives in us, we are light
in Him.) It was the eect of light acting in the creature,
like a sunbeam in a prism. It is a development of its beauty,
which is not its essential perfection, but which proceeds
from it.
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(1. We may see, chapter 31:8-9,16, that this is a
description of the kings of the earth, at least before
Nebuchadnezzar, who rst substituted one sole dominion
given by God, for the many kings of the nations recognized
by God as the result of Babel, and in the center of which
His people were placed, to make the government of God
known through their means.
e special relation of Tyre with Israel added something
to the position of the merchant city, and gave room also for
the use made here of the history of its king as a type or
gure of the prince of this world.)
e characteristics of the king of Tyre; his fall
e following are the features of the king of Tyre’s
character, or
that of the enemy of God, the prince of this world.
He is the anointed cherub-he is covered with precious
stones-he has been in Eden the paradise of God, upon the
mountain of God-he walked in the midst of the stones of
re-he was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in
him. He is cast out of the mountain of God on account of
his iniquities; his heart was lifted up because of his beauty,
and he corrupted himself. Farther, we nd that which,
as to the creature, is most exalted; he acts in the judicial
government of God according to the intelligence of God
(this is the character of the anointed cherub). He is clothed
with the moral beauty that variously reects the character
of God as light.1 He is recognized among the plants of
God, in which God displayed His wisdom and His power
in creation, according to His<P350> good pleasure, as
Creator. He had been there also where the authority of
God was exercised-on the mountain of God. He walked
where the moral perfections of God were displayed in their
Ezekiel 26-28
625
glory, a glory before which evil could not stand- “the stones
of re.” His ways had been perfect. But all these advantages
were the occasion of his fall, and characterized it. For the
privileges we enjoy always characterize our fall. Whence
have we fallen? is the question; for it is the having failed
there, when we possessed it, that degrades our condition.
Moreover it is not an outward temptation, as in man’s case-a
circumstance which did not indeed take away man’s guilt,
but which modied its character. “y heart was lifted up
because of thy beauty.” He exalted himself against God,
and he was cast out as profane from the mountain of God.
His spirit, independent in security, was humbled when he
was cast to the ground. His nakedness is manifested to all;
his folly shall in the end be apparent to all.
1. Observe that this takes place in the creature. In the
case of Aaron, the type of Christ as priest, it exists
in the absolute perfection of grace, which presents
us to God according to His perfection in the light. It
is afterwards seen in the glory as the foundation of
the city, the bride, the Lamb’s wife, in the Revelation.
at is, these stones present the fruit of perfect light-
what God is in His nature shining in and through
the creature, in creation, grace, and glory.
e judgment of Zidon; Israel’s safety
e judgment of Zidon is added. And then, all hope
having been taken from Israel, when the judgment of the
nations is accomplished, God gathers them and causes
them to dwell in their land in peace forever.
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Ezekiel 29-32
e judgment of Egypt and the fall of Assyria
Chapters 29-32 contain the judgment of Egypt. Egypt
sought, in the self-will of man, to take the place which
God had in fact given to Nebuchadnezzar. All must
submit. e mighty empire of Asshur had already fallen.
Pharaoh, whatever his pretensions and his ambition
might be, was no better. We see this judgment of the
Assyrian, the chief of all the nations as to his power, in
chapter 31:10-11; where the “mighty one of the heathen”
is distinctly brought out-falling before this decree of God.
Pharaoh would be consoled by seeing all the great ones of
the earth overthrown like himself. Already fallen like the
uncircumcised (that is, like people who were not owned of
God, nor consequently upheld by Him), all must give place
to this new power in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. at
which characterized Egypt was the pride of nature,<P351>
which would follow its own will, and owned no God (ch.
29:9). Such a principle shall no longer be the condence
of God’s people (vs. 16). Egypt should have her place, but
should no longer rule. e judgment of Egypt should be
the occasion of Israel’s blessing. is reaches to the end.
In the destruction of the Assyrian, God had shown that
He would not allow a nation to exalt itself in this manner.
e will of man in Pharaoh did not alter His judgment.
In Nebuchadnezzar, as we have seen, a new principle was
introduced by God Himself into the world.
Observe that in chapter 32:27 Meshech and Tubal are
distinguished from the rest of the nations.
Ezekiel 29-32
627
e importance and extent of the prophecy as to
Egypt
is prophecy concerning Egypt has particular
importance. It is composed of three distinct prophecies.
e rst (ch. 29-30) is subdivided; the second, chapter 31;
the third, chapter 32. But this last extends to the end of
chapter 39, and embraces several subjects in connection
with the fate of Israel in the last days. Observe that chapter
29:17-31 is a prophecy of a very dierent date, introduced
here on account of its relation to that which precedes it
in the same chapter. Chapter 30:20-26 is also a distinct
prophecy as to its date.
e judgments summarized; their result in Israel’s
reestablishment
Until chapter 25 we principally found moral arguments
with respect to the state of Israel; from thence to the end of
chapter 32 it is rather the execution of the judgment. But
the prophecy that announces this execution is remarkable
in more than one respect. Nebuchadnezzar is looked at
as executing the judgment of God, whose servant he is
for the purpose of doing so on Jerusalem, now become
preeminently the seat of iniquity although the sanctuary of
God. At the same time God sets His land free, by these very
judgments from all the nations that wrongfully possessed
it. He brings to nought the haughty power of man in which
Israel had trusted, that is, Egypt, which shall never rise
again as a ruling nation. But it was the day of all nations.
e result of these judgments, whether on rebellious
Jerusalem or on the nations, should be at the same time
the reestablishment of Israel according to<P352> promise
and by the power of God in grace. e snares which had
led them into evil were taken away. (See chapter 26:16-21
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and 27:34-36.) us, although these events have had their
historical accomplishment by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,
the ways of God in view of the reestablishment of Israel
have been manifested, as far as regards the judgments to be
executed- judgment, through which all the nations, as well
as Israel, who was their center, disappear from the scene as
nations. e Spirit, while recounting the execution of the
judgments that were to fall on Asshur, Elam, and Meshech,
gives details of those that had invaded the land or been
snares to Israel. So that the prophetic recital of these very
judgments contains in itself the assured hope granted to
Israel by the ecacious grace of the Lord. I cannot doubt
that all this prophecy of judgment relates-in a perspective
brought nigh by the energy of the Spirit-to the events of
the last days, which will be the complete fulllment of
these purposes and intentions of God.
In chapter 30:3, we see that it is universal.1
(1. It will be remembered that with Nebuchadnezzar
God set aside the order He had previously established in
the world, revealed in Deuteronomy 32 (namely, of nations
and peoples arranged around Israel as a center). He owns
Israel no longer as His people. is order then falls of
itself, and Babel of old, the place of dispersion, becomes
the center of one absorbing empire. In connection with the
fact that Israel is no longer owned as a people, being judged
as such, God addresses Himself to individual conscience in
the midst of the nation. But this was the judgment of the
nations, and the call of a remnant. And this is why the
prophecy reaches in its full bearing to the nal judgment
of the earth, when that judgment and call are to be fully
accomplished. God consequently Himself delivers and
saves His people, judging between sheep and sheep, and
Ezekiel 29-32
629
executing wrath against all those who have trodden them
under foot. e judgment of the one absorbing empire does
not form part of the prophecies of Ezekiel (this is found in
Daniel), save so far as every oppressor and evil shepherd is
judged (ch. 34). e connection of this empire with Israel
in the last days will not be immediate. It will politically
favor the Jews who do not own the Lord. What I here
notice forms the key of the prophecy. Ezekiel speaks from
the midst of Israel captive, and does not occupy himself
with Judah, owned by itself in the land under the power of
the Gentiles.)
I have already quoted the passages which show that for
Israel it is the deliverance from their former snares. e
pretensions of man are overthrown (ch. 29:3-9), the spirit
of dominion (ch.
31:10-14). e nothingness of the glory of man is
shown at the end of chapter 31, and of each judgment of
chapter 32. We have already seen that the fate of Meshech
is mentioned separately, perhaps in view of that which
will happen to it in the last days, and which is announced
farther on (ch. 39:5).<P353>
e object of Jehovah’s judgments
It is important to remark one point in this series of
prophecies, which commences with the judgment of
Jerusalem, the center of the former system of nations. ey
are executed with the object of making them all know
Jehovah: only in Israel’s case there is, besides this, the
understanding and the special verication of prophecy. See
chapter 24:24-27, Israel; chapter 25:5,7,11, Ammon and
Moab; verses 15-17, especial vengeance on the Philistines;
chapter 26, Tyre; chapter 28:22, Zidon; chapter 29:19,
Egypt; as also chapter 30:26; 32:15. With respect to
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Edom (ch. 25:14), it is only said that Edom shall know the
vengeance of Jehovah by means of Israel-a further proof
that in certain respects this prophecy extends to the last
days. ese prophecies, then, furnish us in general with
the manifestation of Jehovah’s power, so as to make Him
known to all by the judgments which He executed; already
partially realized in the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar, but
to be fully accomplished by and by in favor of Israel.
It will be remarked that, in verse 12 of chapter 35 when
Edom is again judged, it is only said, “ou shalt know
that I Jehovah have heard all thy blasphemies.” But in
verses 4 and 9, it is said of Edom, “ou shalt know,” or
“Ye shall know that I am Jehovah.” So that this knowledge
of Jehovah is by the judgment itself, not by any resulting
spiritual knowledge of Him; for, when all the earth shall
rejoice, Edom shall be made desolate. It will be through
judgment that all the nations shall know that Jehovah is
God. But when the judgment has been executed and all
the earth shall rejoice in blessing, Edom will have only
judgment. Compare Obadiah. Edom undergoes judgment
by means of the mighty among the nations, but Israel
himself shall strike the nal blow. We may see the two
means of making Jehovah known in the case of Israel (ch.
24:24-27; 28:26; 34:27; 36:11). In the other cases it is by
judgment.
Commercial glory and governmental pride of power
absolutely judged
We have yet to observe that in the case of Tyre,
commercial glory, and in the case of Egypt, governmental
pride founded on power, are absolutely judged, cast down
and destroyed without remedy (ch. 26:21; 27:36; 31:18).
Compare chapter 32:32. is has<P354> been literally
Ezekiel 29-32
631
fullled with respect to the continental Tyre, and the
Egypt of the Pharaohs. We have seen a total destruction
of Edom announced by Jehovah. at which characterized
Edom was its implacable hatred to the people of God.
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Ezekiel 33
An entirely new principle established: individual
condition before God
In chapter 33, in view of these judgments, which put
His people on entirely new ground (for they were judged
as Lo-ammi, with the nations, and this is why the prophecy
can look on to the last days, although the judgments had
been but partial)-in view then of these judgments, God
establishes an entirely new principle, namely, individual
conduct as the ground of the dealings of God, in contrast
with the consequences of national sin (vss. 10-11). us the
door was still fully open to individual repentance founded on
a testimony that applied individually, whatever the national
judgment might be. e end to which the judgment applies
is in contrast with the eect to be produced by it on the
individual, and that in order to conrm the principle. Faith
would not be shown now by reckoning on the promises
to Israel, or on the intervention of God in behalf of His
people as in possession of His promises, for the people
were judged; and the very thing that would have been faith,
had it been the time of the promises, and that hereafter
also will be faith, is but hardness of heart in the time of
judgment (vs. 24). Compare Isaiah 51:2, a passage often
entirely misapplied. e little remnant in the latter days
may trust in a God who had called out one man alone and
had multiplied him; but such a thought on the part of the
people, when God was cutting o the multitude of them
because of their iniquities, would only cause the judgment
to be more keenly felt. In this way of judgment on the
Ezekiel 33
633
iniquities of which they had been nationally guilty (and
not by a blessing which presumption would snatch from
God), they should know that Jehovah was God.<P355>
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Ezekiel 34
Israel’s leaders; the evil shepherds and God’s true and
only Shepherd
e end of Jeremiah has given us an account of the
fulllment of Ezekiel’s words; but all these judgments give
room for the intervention of God in behalf of His people
by means of sovereign grace accomplished in the Messiah.
Still the evil lay in the shepherds, that is, in the kings and
princes of Israel, who were not true shepherds (indeed
there were none true); and the ock, diseased, scattered,
aicted, and ill-treated, were a prey to their enemies. e
shepherds devoured them, and neither protected nor cared
for them. But Jehovah now points it out in order to say that
He Himself would seek out His poor sheep, and would
judge between sheep and sheep, and would deliver them
from the mouth of those that devoured them,1 and that
He would feed them upon the mountains of Israel, and in
fat pastures. He would raise up the true and only shepherd,
David (that is, the well-beloved Messiah). Jehovah should
be their God, and His servant David their prince. e
covenant of peace should be reestablished; full and secure
blessing should be the abiding portion of the people of
God, the house of Israel. ere should be no more famine
in their land, and the nations should no more devour them.
Observe here the way in which Jehovah Himself delivers
His sheep, without calling Himself their shepherd, and
then raises up a plant of renown, the true David, as their
shepherd.<P356>
Ezekiel 34
635
(1. e thirty-third chapter having stated the great
principles of God’s dealings in the last days, namely,
individual condition before God, chapter 34 exhibits
the conduct of their leaders: Jehovah judges the latter as
having misled and oppressed His people; He discerns
Himself “between cattle and cattle.” en in chapter 35
Edom is judged. (Compare Isaiah 34.) Here, in general, it
is the eect, relating to all Israel (“these two countries”). In
chapter 36 is the moral renewing of all Israel, that they may
judge their ways; in chapter 37, the restoration of the people,
as quickened by God in national resurrection; and at last
(ch. 38-39) the judgment of the enemies of the people thus
restored in peace, or rather, of the enemy (that is, Gog). All
these things are connected with the relationship between
Jehovah and His people. Although He gives David as king,
yet the Messiah is not named as having had relations with
the people; for in fact this was only true of Judah. It is a
general picture of the last days in their great results and
their events, everything having its place in reference to all
Israel, without giving a history of details.)
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Ezekiel 35
God’s condemnation of Edom
In chapter 35 God decides the controversy between
Edom and Israel, and condemns Mount Seir to perpetual
desolation, because of the inveterate hatred of that people
to Israel; and instead of delivering up Israel to Edom in the
day that He chastises His people, it is Edom that shall bear
the punishment of this hatred, when the whole earth shall
rejoice. When God chastises His people, the world thinks
to possess everything; whereas that chastisement is but the
precursor of the world’s judgment.
Ezekiel 36
637
72996
Ezekiel 36
God will sanctify His great name before the heathen
by His sanctifying grace to His people
Chapter 36 continues the same subject with reference to
the blessing of Israel. e nations insulted Israel as a land
whose ancient high places were their prey, and-as the spies
had said-a land that devoured its inhabitants. God takes
occasion from this to show that He favors His people, and
Jehovah declares that He will restore peace and prosperity
to the land and take away their reproach. Israel had deled
the land and profaned the name of Jehovah, and Jehovah
had scattered them among the heathen. And even in
this His name would be profaned through their vileness,
because the heathen would say, “ese are the people of
Jehovah, and are gone forth out of his land.” But Jehovah
would intervene and sanctify His great name before the
heathen, by bringing His people back from among them,
and cleansing them from all their lthiness; taking away
the hardness of their hearts, giving them His Spirit, causing
them to walk in His statutes, planting them in the land
which He had given to their fathers, owning them as His
people, and being Himself their God. e reproach that
the land devoured its inhabitants would then be evidently
without foundation. God would multiply earthly blessings
to His people. Jehovah’s work should be evident to all
men.<P357>
e necessity for new birth should not have surprised
Nicodemus
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It is principally to this passage (although not exclusively)
that the Lord Jesus alludes in John 3, telling Nicodemus
that He had spoken of earthly things, and that, as a master
of Israel, he ought to have understood that this renewing
of heart was necessary to the blessing of Israel in the earth.
e truth of this, with regard to a Jew, ought not to surprise
him, since it was a work of sovereignty in whomsoever
should be born of God; and if Nicodemus did not
understand the declaration of the prophets, with respect to
the necessity of being born again for Israel’s enjoyment of
earthly things, how could he understand if Jesus spoke to
him of heavenly things, for the introduction of which the
death of the Son of Man, His rejection by the Jews, was
absolutely necessary?
Israel as a nation responsible to Jehovah; the rst
coming of Christ and His rejection not mentioned here
We may remark that this prophet speaks of the dealings
of God with respect to Israel as a nation responsible to
Jehovah, and never says anything of the rst coming of
Christ or of Israel’s responsibility with regard to Him.
is took place under the dominion of the Gentiles. Here
Nebuchadnezzar is but a rod in the hand of Jehovah,
and the times of the Gentiles are not considered. is is
the reason why we nd the judgment of the nations by
Nebuchadnezzar connected with the events of the last
days. e rejection of Christ by the Jews is therefore not
mentioned here. It is Israel before Jehovah. is remark is
important in order to understand Ezekiel. (See preceding
note.)
Ezekiel 37
639
72997
Ezekiel 37
e dry bones; Israel gathered by the power of God
Chapter 37 reveals the denitive blessing of the people
as a fact, without entering into any details of the events
that terminate in this blessing. e dry bones of Israel, of
the nation as a whole, are gathered together by the power
of God. God accomplishes this work by His Spirit, but by
His Spirit acting in power on His people to produce certain
eects rather than in giving spiritual life (al<P358>though
it is not to be doubted that those who are blessed among
the Jews will be spiritually quickened). e result of
this intervention of God is that the dispersed of Israel,
hitherto divided into two peoples, are gathered together
in the earth, reunited under one Head, as one nation. It
is the resurrection of the nation, which was really dead
and buried. But God opens their graves, and places them
again in their land restored to life as a nation. e fact of
their division before this operation of God is recognized.
But the result of the operation is Israel in their unity as
a people. One king should reign over them. is, under
God’s hand, is the result of all their iniquity, and of the
devices of the enemies who had carried them into captivity.
David (that is, Christ) should be their king. ey should
be thoroughly cleansed by God Himself. ey should walk
in His statutes and His judgments, and dwell forever in
their land. e sanctuary of God should be in their midst
forevermore; His tabernacle, His dwell-ing-place, should
be among them, He their God and they His people. e
heathen should know that Jehovah sanctied Israel, when
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His sanctuary should be there forever. It is the full national
blessing of Israel from the Lord Jehovah.
Ezekiel 38-39
641
72998
Ezekiel 38-39
Gog’s assault on the land and its result
Chapter 38. Gog, not fearing Jehovah, seeks to take
possession of the land. He has no thought that Jehovah is
there. His pride blinds him.
Ezekiel’s subject: Jehovah’s judgments on the earth
It is very important to remark that Ezekiel speaks neither
of the rst nor the second coming of Christ, nor of the
circumstances of the Jews in connection with the empire
of the Gentiles. e latter only appear as instruments
performing the will of God. e prophet brings Jehovah
and Israel into the scene. He presents Christ indeed, but as
being there already and in the character of David. Jehovah
raises up for them a plant of renown. His coming is not
the question. e judgments of Jehovah upon the earth make
Him known to the nations and to Israel (to the latter His
blessings also). e nations learn through these, a point of
capital<P359> importance in God’s ways, that Israel went
into captivity because of their sins, and not because their
God was like the idols of the heathen. But in all the ways of
God thus presented, not only is the coming of Christ not
mentioned, but it has even no place. It belongs to another
series of thoughts and revelations of the Spirit of God-
another order of events.
e connection of chapters 36-39
It is well also to observe that chapters 36-37, and the
two following ones taken together, are not consecutive;
but each of the rst two by itself, and the last two, taken
together as a whole, treat of distinct subjects, each subject
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being complete, and presenting the introduction of Israel’s
blessing in connection with the subject treated, and closing
with the assurance that it will be nal and perpetual. e
subject of all these prophecies is the land, and the blessings
of God upon the land of Israel. is land, which belonged
to Jehovah, He would not have deled. He drives out
Israel from it in judgment; and when He has cleansed the
people, He makes the nations, as well as Israel, understand
His ways in this respect. He acts in full grace towards His
people. He makes it known that they are His people, that
He will be sanctied, and that He is sanctied, in their
midst.
God’s nal judgment on Gog
I think, then, that Gog is the end of all the dealings of
God with respect to Israel, and that God brings up this
haughty power in order to manifest on earth, by a nal
judgment, His dealings with Israel and with the Gentiles,
and to plant His blessing, His sanctuary, and His glory in
the midst of Israel (none of the people being henceforth
left in exile afar from their land).
e manifestation of God’s government on earth
Besides the numerous verses in which it is said, “And
they shall know that I am Jehovah,” the following passages
may be referred to, which will show the leading thought
in those declarations and judgments of God, namely,
the manifestation of His government on the earth-a
government making manifest the true character of God
in His rule, and securing its demonstration in the world,
in spite of the unfaithfulness of His people; and that, in
grace as<P360> well as in holiness, chapters 36:19-23,36;
39:7,23-24,28. With respect to Israel, see chapter 34:30; to
the enemy, chapters 35:12 and 37:28.
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643
e only subject of the book
at which I have just said of Gog supposes that all
the events which relate to the coming of the Son of Man
are omitted in the writings of this prophet-which I believe
to be the case. e book treats only of the governmental
ways of God on the earth, of Jehovah in Israel. e power
designated by “Gog” is that of the north, outside of the
territory of the beasts in Daniel. I doubt not that the
right translation would be “Prince of Rosh, Meshech, and
Tubal,” as learned men have remarked. Cush and Phut
were on the Euphrates, as well as on the Nile. Persia is
known. Togarmah is the northeast of Asia Minor. e
audaciousness of this king causes the wrath of Jehovah to
break forth.
Jesus suering and reigning as David before ruling as
Solomon
I will add, in order to facilitate the establishment of the
connection of this with other passages, that I doubt not
Jesus will reign in the character of David before assuming
that of Solomon. He suered as David, driven away by
the jealousy of Saul. e remnant will pass through this
in principle. is is the key to the Book of Psalms. He will
reign as David, Israel being blessed and accepted, but all
their enemies not yet destroyed. And, nally, He will reign
as Solomon, that is to say, as Prince of peace. Many passages,
such as Micah 5, several chapters in Zechariah, Jeremiah
51:20-21, Ezekiel 25:14, speak of this time, in which Israel,
already reconciled and acknowledged and at peace within,
shall be the instrument for executing Jehovah’s judgments
without. (Compare Isaiah 11:10-14.)
God making Himself known in Israel: a characteristic
of Ezekiel’s prophecies
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All, then, that relates to the destruction of the empires
which are the subject of Daniel’s prophecies has no place
in the prophecies of Ezekiel; nor that which takes place
in order to put Israel again in relation with God; nor
the consequences to the Jews of<P361> their rejection
of Christ. ese subjects will be found elsewhere, as in
Daniel, Zechariah, and more generally in Isaiah. Here God
makes Himself known in Israel. Gog, the prince of Rosh,
Meshech, and Tubal, falls upon the mountains of Israel,
and Jehovah makes Himself known in the eyes of many
nations (ch. 38:21-23). e judgment shall reach the land of
Gog, and the isles (ch. 39:6). e name of Jehovah shall be
known in Israel, and the heathen shall know that Jehovah,
the Holy One, is in Israel (vs. 7). And, the glory of Jehovah
being thus manifested in the midst of the nations, Israel
from this day forth shall know that it is Jehovah Himself
who is their God, and the nations shall know that it was
the iniquity of Israel that brought judgment upon them,
and not that Jehovah had failed either in power or in the
stability of His counsels (vss. 22-24). In a word, Jehovah
and His government should be fully known in Israel,
and by means of this people in the world; and from that
time God would no more hide His face from them. His
Spirit should be poured out upon His people. Verses 25-
29 recapitulate the dealings of God towards them for the
establishment of His government, and to make Himself
known among them.
Ezekiel 40-43
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Ezekiel 40-43
God’s sanctuary in the midst of His people
reestablished in holiness
e remaining part of the prophecy is the establishment
of His sanctuary in the midst of His people. e reader will
perceive that we nd in these last chapters a revelation of
the same kind as that given to Moses for the tabernacle,
and to David for the temple- only that in this case the
details are preserved in the writings given to the people
by inspiration, as a testimony for the time to come, and to
conscience in all times. God takes an interest in His people.
He will reestablish His sanctuary among men. Meantime
the testimony of this has been given to the people to bring
them under the responsibility which this goodwill of God
towards them involved. For the prophet was commanded
to tell the house of Israel all that he had seen; and he did so.
When the dimensions of the dierent parts of the house
have been given, the glory of Jehovah lls the house, in
the vision, as happened historically at the dedication of the
tabernacle and of the temple.<P362>
Chapter 43:7 proclaims that the house, which is the
throne and the footstool of Jehovah, should no more be
deled by profane things. e prophet was then to declare
that, if Israel renounced their unfaithfulness, Jehovah
would return to dwell there. us the people are placed
at all times under this responsibility. e prophet was to
show the house to Israel that they might repent; and, if
they repented, he was to explain it to them in detail. And it
is this which takes place at the end. e ordinances of the
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house were to be shown them, if they humbled themselves;
and in view of this the prophet announces all that was to be
done for the cleansing and the consecration of the altar, in
order that the regular service might be performed.
Ezekiel 44
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Ezekiel 44
Jehovah’s return to His house; the throne of God on
earth; a Prince raised up
Chapter 44 makes known the fact that Jehovah is
returned to His house, and the memorial of His having
done so is preserved in that the door by which He entered
is to remain forever shut. e Prince alone (for God will
raise up a Prince in Israel) is to enter through it-to sit
before Jehovah. We have seen that this prophet always
contemplates Israel on their own ground, as an earthly
people in relation with the throne of God on the earth.
(Compare Zechariah 12:7-8,10.) Finally God maintains
the holiness of His house against all strangers, and even
against the Levites who had forsaken it. e family of
Zadok is established in the priesthood, and directions are
given to keep it from all profanation.
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73001
Ezekiel 45-46
e apportionment of the land; provision for the
oerings
Chapter 45. e portion of the priests in the land is
assigned them-close to that of the sanctuary. e portion
of the Levites was to adjoin that of the priests, and then
came the possession of the city and its suburbs. at which
remained of the breadth of the land was for the Prince
and for the inheritance of His children, in order that the
people should no longer be oppressed. All the rest<P363>
of the land was for the people. Provision is also made for
the daily oerings, and for those of the Sabbath. e other
appointed oerings were to be made by the Prince.
e perfect character of worship in the millennial day
Some details require one or two remarks. e cleansing
of the sanctuary commences the year. It is no longer an
atonement at the end of seven months to take away the
delements that have been accumulating. e year opens
with an already accomplished cleansing. Afterwards, in
order that all may have communion with the suerings
of the Paschal Lamb, an oering is made on the seventh
day of the month for everyone that errs, and everyone
that is simple (vs. 20). During the feast they oered seven
bullocks instead of two. e character of worship will
be perfect. e sense of Christ’s acceptance as the burnt
oering will be perfect in that day. e feast of Pentecost
is omitted-a circumstance of great signicance, for this
feast characterizes our present position. Not that the Spirit
will not be given in the world to come, when Christ shall
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649
establish His kingdom. But this gift is not that which,
connecting us with a heavenly Christ and the Father in
Christ’s absence, characterizes that period as it does the
present time. For Christ will be present.
e position of Israel; the worship of the Prince and
people
We have observed that the prophet sees everything in a
point of view connected with Israel. us the remembrance
of redemption, the passover, the basis of all, and the
enjoyment of rest celebrated at the feast of the tabernacles,
will characterize the position of Israel before God. e two
feasts are celebrated in the recognition of the full value of
the burnt oering presented to God. Another circumstance
which distinguishes the worship of this millennial day is,
that the two feasts which are types of that period are marked
out in the worship-the Sabbath, and the new moon, rest
and reestablishment, Israel appearing anew in the world.
e inner gate on the side of the east was open on that
day, and the Prince worshipped at the very threshold of
the gate and the people before the gate (ch. 46). e other
days it was shut. ey stood thus before Jehovah in the
consciousness of the rest which God had given to Israel
and of His grace in again manifest<P364>ing His people
in the light. Nevertheless it still remains true that neither
the people nor the Prince entered within. ose who are
the most blessed on the earth in that day of blessing will
never have that access into God’s presence which we have,
by the Spirit, through the veil. Pentecost belongs to, and
links itself with, the rending of the veil; and gives us to
walk in all liberty in the light, as God Himself is in the
light, having entered into the holy place by the new and
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living way which He has consecrated for us, through the
veil, that is to say, His esh.
e Prince entered by the outer door on the side of
the east, and he went out by the same door. In the solemn
feasts, the people went in by the north gate and came out
by the south gate, and the Prince in their midst. When he
went in alone, as a voluntary worshipper, he entered and
retired again by the eastern gate. ese ordinances, while
giving remarkable honor to the Prince, in connection
with the glory of God, who gave him his place among the
people, equally secured that which follows (vss. 16-18) of
the brotherly and benevolent relations between him and
the people of God, and took away all opportunities of
oppression.
Ezekiel 47-48
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Ezekiel 47-48
e life-giving waters from the sanctuary
e last two chapters do not require any lengthened
remarks. e waters that issue from the sanctuary represent
the life-giving power that proceeds from the throne of God,
owing through His temple, and healing the Dead Sea, the
abiding token of judgment. e waters abound in sh, the
trees that grow beside them are lled with fruit, the marshes
alone remain under the curse-they are “given to salt.” e
blessing of that day is real and abundant, but not complete.
e land is divided between the tribes in a new manner,
by straight lines drawn from east to west. e portion for
the sanctuary and for the city, or the 25,000 square reeds,
are situated next to the seventh tribe, beginning from the
north. e name of the city thenceforth shall be “Jehovah is
there.” Compare, for the waters that ow from the temple,
Joel 3:18 and Zechariah 14:8-passages that refer to the
same period.<P365>
e main features of chapters 47-48
It appears that the two places pointed out to the
shermen as a boundary were the two extremities of the
Dead Sea. (We may compare Genesis 14:7, 2Chronicles
20:2 and Isaiah 15:8.) e main features in the whole
passage are the reestablishment of Israel, but on new
grounds and blessing, analogous to that of paradise (an
image borrowed from this prophecy in the Apocalypse);1
but, after all, with the reserve that this blessing did not
absolutely remove all evil, as will be the case in the eternal
ages.
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(1. When I say “borrowed,” it is not that the Spirit of
God has not given us an original image in the Apocalypse:
one has but to read it to be convinced of the contrary.
But Old Testament imagery is constantly employed in
the descriptions there given-only in such a manner as to
apply it to heavenly things, a circumstance that makes it
much easier to understand the book by helping us to enter
into its real character through its analogy with the Old
Testament.)
Millennial blessing not that of eternal ages; the name
of the city
ere is a powerful and abiding source of blessing
which greatly surmounts the evil, and almost eaces it;
nevertheless it is not entirely taken away. Still the name of
the city, of the seat of power, that which characterizes it, is
“Jehovah is there”-Jehovah, that great King, the Creator of
all things, and the Head of His people Israel.<P366>
Daniel
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Daniel
e connection of the Book of Ezekiel with that of
Daniel
In the Book of Ezekiel we have seen the government
of God on earth fully developed in connection with Israel;
whether in condemning the sin which occasioned the
judgment of that people, or in their restoration under the
authority of Christ, the Branch that should spring from
the house of David, and who, in the book of that prophet,
bears even the name of David, as the true “beloved”
of God, the description of the temple, with its whole
organization, being given at the end. In this development
we have found Nebuchadnezzar, the head of the Gentiles,
introduced as Jehovah’s servant (ch. 29:20; 30:24) for the
judgment of sinful Israel, who were rebellious and even
apostate, worshipping false gods. God had made Israel
the center of a system of nations, peoples, and languages,
that had arisen in consequence of the judgment on Babel,
and existed before God independently of each other. e
nation of Israel was doubtless very distinct from all that
surrounded it, whether as a people to whom the true God
was known, or as having in their midst the temple and
the throne of God; but, whatever the contrast might be
between the condition of Israel as a nation, and that of the
other nations, still Israel formed a part of that system of
nations before God (Deut. 32:8).
Absolute and universal dominion given to
Nebuchadnezzar; a remnant of Israel and the royal seed
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In executing the judgment of God on Israel
Nebuchadnezzar set aside this whole system at once, and
took its place in the absolute and universal dominion which
he had received from God. It is of this order of things
and of its consequences-of this dominion of the head of
the Gentiles, and of the Gentile kings, in the successive
phases that characterized their history-that the Book of
Daniel treats, bringing into notice a remnant of Israel,
in the<P367> midst of this system, and subject to this
dominion. e king of Judah having been given up into the
hands of the head of the Gentiles, the royal seed is found
in the same position. e remnant becomes the especial
object of the thoughts of God revealed by His Spirit in
this book.
e Spirit of prophecy and God’s faithfulness
Besides the testimony rendered to Jehovah by the fact
of the faithfulness of the remnant in the midst of the
idolatrous Gentiles, two important things characterize
their history as developed in this book. e rst is that the
Spirit of prophecy and of understanding in the ways of
God is found in this remnant. We have seen this raised up
in Samuel, when all Israel had failed, and subsist through
their whole history under the shadow of royalty. e Spirit
of prophecy now again becomes the link of the people with
God, and the only resting-place for their faith, amid the ruin
which the just judgment of God had brought upon them.
e second circumstance that characterizes the dealings
of God with regard to this remnant is, that, preserved by
God through all the misfortunes into which the sins of the
people had cast them, this remnant will assuredly share the
portion which God bestows on His people according to
His government and according to the faithfulness of His
Daniel
655
promises. We nd these in the rst and last chapters of the
book we are considering.
e two great divisions of Daniel
is book is divided into two parts, which are easily
distinguished. e rst ends with chapter 6, and the second
with the close of the book, the rst and last chapters having
nevertheless a separate character, as an introduction and a
conclusion, respectively making known the position of the
remnant, to whom, as we have said, the testimony of God
was conded at the beginning and at the end.
Division 1: Gentile dominion animated by pride;
idolatry and blasphemy ended by judgment
e two great divisions have also a distinct character.
e rst sets before us the picture of the dominion of
the Gentiles, and the dierent positions it would assume
before God according to the<P368> human pride which
would be its animating principle. is picture contains
historical features which plainly indicate the spirit that
will animate the ruling power in its dierent phases; and
then the judgment of God. is division is not composed
of direct revelations to Daniel, except for the purpose of
recalling Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. It is the heads of the
Gentiles that are presented. It is the external and general
history of the monarchies that were to succeed each
other, or the dierent and successive features that would
characterize them, and their nal judgment, and the
substitution of the kingdom of Christ; and especially, the
course and judgment of the one which God had Himself
established, and which represents all the others, as being
invested with this character of divine appointment. e
others did but inherit providentially the throne which God
had committed to the rst. It was a question between God
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and Israel that gave this monarchy its supremacy. It is the
spirit of presumptuous idolatry, and of blasphemy against
the God of Israel that leads to its destruction. Chapter 6
does not give the iniquity of the king, except as submitting
to the inuence of others. It is the princes of the people
who will have none but the king acknowledged as God,
and who undergo the same punishment that they sought
to inict on those who were faithful to the Lord.
Division 2: e character of the Gentile heads; their
conduct towards God’s people; establishment of a divine
kingdom
e second part of the book, which consists of
communications made by God to Daniel himself, exhibits
the character of the heads of the Gentiles in relation to
the earth, and their conduct towards those who shall
acknowledge God; and at last the establishment of the
divine kingdom in the Person of the Son of Man- a kingdom
possessed by the saints. e details of God’s dealings with
His people at the end are given in the last chapter. We may
also remark that chapter 7 gives essentially the history of
the western power, chapter 8 that of the eastern-the two
horns. Chapter 9, although especially regarding Jerusalem
and the people-the moral center of these questions, is
connected on that very account with the western power
that invaded them. From chapter 10 to the end of chapter
11 we are again in the east, clos<P369>ing in with the
judgment of the nations there, and the establishment of
the remnant of Israel in blessing.
Let us now examine these chapters consecutively.
Daniel 1
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Daniel 1
e faithful remnant in captivity; “the secret of the
Lord” there
Chapter 1 sets before us the royalty of Judah, formerly
established by God over His people in the person of David,
falling under the power of Nebuchadnezzar; and the king,
Jehovah’s anointed, given up by Jehovah into the hands of
the head of the Gentiles, on whom God now bestowed
dominion. at which was announced by Isaiah (ch. 39:7)
falls upon the children of the royal seed; but God watches
over them and brings them into favor with those that kept
them. is was especially the case with respect to Daniel.
e two characteristics of the faithful remnant in captivity
are prominently marked in this chapter: rst, faithful to the
will of God, although at a distance from His temple, they
do not dele themselves among the Gentiles; secondly,
their prayer being granted, understanding is given them,
as we see in chapter 2 in Daniel’s case, even the knowledge
of that which God alone can reveal, as well as His purpose
in that revelation. ey alone possess this understanding,
a token of divine favor and the fruit of their faithfulness
through grace. is is the case with Daniel in particular,
whose faith and earnest delity marks out the path of
faith for his companions. is did not interfere with their
subjection to the Gentiles, whose power was the ordinance
of God for the time being. But this is a most important
element: the place of true knowledge, of intelligence of the
divine mind, what is called the secret of the Lord, in the
days of Babylonish corruption and power, is the thorough
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keeping oneself undeled by the smallest contact with
what it gives, with the meat with which it would feed us.
Daniel 2
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Daniel 2
e position of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel
On the other hand, we see in the second chapter the
mighty king<P370> of the Gentiles made the depositary
of the history of the Gentiles, and of God’s entire plan, as
the recipient of these divine communications; yet in such a
manner as to exhibit Daniel, the captive child of Israel, the
faithful one who kept himself separate in Babylon as the
one whom the Lord acknowledged, and who enjoyed His
favor. But the details of this chapter, as a general picture of
Gentile power, beginning with the dominion bestowed on
Nebuchadnezzar, must be considered more attentively.
e four Gentile kingdoms seen as a whole in the
great image; its judgment by another power; a kingdom
never to be overthrown
We may rst observe that the Gentile kingdoms are
seen as a whole. It is neither historical succession nor moral
features with respect to God and man, but the kingdoms all
together forming, as it were, a personage before God, the
man of the earth in the eye of God-glorious and terrible
in his public splendor in the eyes of men. Four imperial
powers were to succeed each other, as the great head of
which God had set up Nebuchadnezzar himself. ere
should be in certain respects a progressive deterioration;
and at length the God of heaven would raise up another
power that would execute judgment on that which still
existed, and cause the image to disappear from o the
earth, setting up in its place a kingdom that should never
be overthrown. In the progressive decline in principle and
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character of imperial power there would be no diminution
of material strength. Iron, that breaks in pieces and crushes
all things, characterizes the fourth power. e peculiar
excellency of the head of gold appears to me to consist
in its having received authority immediately from God
Himself. In fact the absolute authority of the rst power
was founded on the gift of the God of heaven; the others
succeeded by providential principles. But God, known as
supreme, bestowing authority on the head, replacing His
own authority on the earth by that of the head of the
Gentiles, was not the immediate source of authority to the
others. Babylon was the authority established of God. And
therefore we found in Ezekiel (and the same thing is seen
elsewhere) that the judgment of Babylon is connected with
the restoration of Israel and of the throne of God.<P371>
God’s sovereignty as God of heaven
Observe, nevertheless, that God does not here present
Himself as God of earth, but of heaven. In Israel He was
God of the earth. He will be so again at the restitution of
all things. Here He acts in sovereignty as God of heaven,
setting up man, in a certain sense, in His place on the earth.
(See verses 37-38.) Although more limited, it is a dominion
characterized by the same features as that of Adam. It
diers in that men are placed under his power; it is more
limited, for the sea is not included in his sovereignty, but
it reaches to every place where the beasts of the eld and
the fowls of the heaven exist. Human strength is found at
the end of its history; but the subsisting power is much
more remote from the ancient relationship of God with
the world.
e mixture of iron and potter’s clay and God’s
indestructible kingdom
Daniel 2
661
e mixture of iron and of potter’s clay is a change
wrought in the primitive character of the imperial Roman
power-another element is introduced into it; the character
remains in part, but another element is added. e
energetic will of man is not there in an absolute manner. It
is the introduction into the imperial Roman power of an
element distinct from that which constituted its imperial
strength, namely, the will of man devoid of conscience-
military and popular power concentrated in one individual
without conscience. ere are two causes here of weakness-
division and the want of coherence between the elements.
e kingdom (vs. 41) shall be divided, and (vs. 42) it shall
be partly strong and partly brittle. e “seed of men” is, I
think, something outside of that which characterizes the
proper strength of the kingdom. But these two elements
will never combine. It appears to me that the Barbaric or
Teutonic element is probably here pointed out as added
to that which originally constituted the Roman empire.
e fact of a subdivision is seen in verse 43. It is then
announced that, in the days of these last kings, He who
rules from heaven will set up a kingdom that cannot be
shaken, and that shall never pass into other hands. is is
properly the only kingdom that, on God’s part, takes the
place of the kingdom of Babylon. e God of heaven had
established Nebuchadnezzar in his kingdom, and had given
him power, and strength, and glory, making all men subject
to him.<P372> Doubtless the three others had followed,
according to the will of Him who orders all things. But it is
only with respect to the kingdom of verse 44, that it is once
more said, “e God of heaven shall set up a kingdom.”
e character, and some leading features in the history, of
the last four of the kingdoms are given. Nothing but the
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existence of the two preceding ones is stated, except the
inferiority of the latter of the two to the rst. So that the
Spirit of God gives us the divine establishment of the rst,
the character of the fourth, and the divine establishment of
the fth or nal kingdom.
e kingdom of Christ destroying the last form of
power and lling the whole earth
We will now observe the manner in which this last
kingdom is established; and we see that it is accomplished
by means of a judicial and destructive act which reduces the
image to powder, bringing about its complete dissolution,
so that no traces of it are left (vss. 34-35). e instrument
of this destruction was not formed by the wisdom or the
schemes of man. It is “cut out without hands.” It does not
act by a moral inuence that changes the character of the
object on which it acts. It destroys that object by force. It
is God who establishes it and gives it that force. e stone
does not gradually increase in size to displace the image.
Before it extends itself, it destroys the image. When it
has become great- it is not merely a right given by God
over men, it lls the whole earth-it is the exalted seat of a
universal authority. It is on the last form of power, exhibited
in the image, that the stone falls with destructive force-
when the empire is divided and is partly strong and partly
weak on account of the elements of which its members are
composed. We may observe, that it is not God destroying
the image in another way to establish the kingdom. e
kingdom which He is establishing smites the feet of the
image as its rst act. It is the outward and general history
of that which, by God’s appointment, took the place of
His throne and His government in Jerusalem, and which
had gradually degenerated in its public character with
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respect to God, and which at length comes to its end by
the judgment executed by the kingdom established of God
without human agency. e kingdom of Christ, which falls
on the last form of the monarchy formerly established by
God, destroys the whole form of its existence, and itself
lls the world.<P373>
e four monarchies named
I have nothing particular to say on the four monarchies.
We nd Babylon, Persia, and Greece named in the book,
as being already known to the Jews, and the Romans
introduced by the name which their territory bore, the
coasts of Chittim; so that I receive, without further question,
the four great empires ordinarily recognized by everyone as
pointed out in this prophecy. It does not appear to me that
these prophecies leave room for any doubt on the subject.
e eect of God’s communications on
Nebuchadnezzar
e eect of the communication, which proves that
God is with the remnant who alone understand His
mind, is that the haughty Gentile acknowledges the God
of Israel as supreme in heaven and on earth. at which
characterizes the remnant here is that God reveals to them
His mind.
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Daniel 3
Babylon’s characteristics: idolatrous unity in religion
and the pride of human power
After this general picture, we have, historically, the
characteristic features of these empires, marking the
condition into which they fall, through their departure
from God-primarily and principally Babylon.
In chapter 3 we have the rst characteristic feature of
man invested with imperial power, but whose heart is afar
from God-a distance augmented by the very possession of
power. He will have a god of his own, a god dependent
on the will of man; and, in this case, dependent on the
depositary of the imperial power. is is man’s wisdom.
e religious instincts of men are gratied in connection
with the supreme power; and the inuences of religion
are exercised in binding all the members of the empire in
one blended mass around the head, by the strongest bond,
without any appearance of authority. For the religious wants
of man are thus connected with his own will; and his will
is unconsciously subject to the center of power. Otherwise
religion, the most powerful motive of the heart, becomes a
dissolvent in the empire. But the will<P374> of man cannot
make a true god; and consequently Nebuchadnezzar,
although he had confessed that there was none like the God
of the Jews, forsakes Him and makes a god for himself. e
Gentile government rejects God, the source of its power;
and the true God is only acknowledged by a faithful and
suering remnant. e empire is idolatrous.
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665
Faithfulness and obedience to God in Shadrach,
Meshach and Abed-nego
is is the rst great feature that characterizes the
dominion of Babylon. But the faithfulness that opposes
this wise system which binds the most powerful motive of
the whole people to the will of their head, uniting them in
worship around that which he presents to them-faithfulness
like this touches the mainspring of the whole movement.
e idol is not God at all; and, however powerful man
may be, he cannot create a god. e man of faith, subject
indeed to the king, as we have seen, because appointed of
God, is not subject to the false god which the king sets up,
denying the true God who gave him his authority, and who
is still acknowledged by the man of faith. But power is in
the king’s hands; and he will have it known that his will is
supreme.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego are cast into the
ery furnace. But it is in the suerings of His people that
God in the end appears as God. He allows their faithfulness
to be tried in the place where evil exists, that they may be
with Him in the enjoyment of happiness in the place where
His character and His power are fully manifested, whether
on this earth, or in a yet more excellent manner in heaven.
e king’s deance and rage; God’s power and
faithfulness; His interest in His servants’ delity
We may observe that faith and obedience are as
absolute as the will of the king. Nothing can be ner and
more calm than the answer of the three believers. God
is able to deliver, and He will deliver, but, happen what
may, they will not forsake Him. e king in his fury dees
God. “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my
hands?” God allows him to take his own way. e eect of
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his headlong rage is that the instruments of his vengeance
are destroyed by the erce ames prepared for the faithful
Hebrews.<P375> e latter are cast into the furnace, and
(outwardly) the king’s will is accomplished. But this is only
to manifest more brightly the power and the faithfulness of
God, who comes, even into the midst of the re, to prove
the interest He takes in the delity of His servants. e
eect, to them, of the re is that their bands are consumed,
and that they have His presence whose form is like the
Son of God, even in the eyes of the king who denied His
almighty power. e result is a decree forbidding the whole
world to speak against the God of the Jews, the glory of
that weak and captive people.
Remark here that the remnant are characterized by their
faithfulness and obedience. ey manifest their faithfulness
by refusing to have any god but their own God: no
concession-it would be to deny Him. For, to acknowledge
the true God, He alone must be acknowledged. Truth is
but the full revelation of Him and can only recognize itself.
To put itself on a level with falsehood would be saying it
was not truth.
e remnant marked by separation from delement,
understanding God’s mind, and faithfulness to Him
We nd three principles marked out with respect to
the remnant. ey do not dele themselves by partaking
of that which the world bestows-the king’s meat. ey
have understanding in the mind and revelations of God.
ey are faithful in refusing absolutely to acknowledge
any god but their own, who is the true God. e rst
principle is common to them all. e second is the Spirit
of prophecy, of which Daniel is here the vessel. e third
is the portion of every believer, although there may be no
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Spirit of prophecy. e nearer we are to the power of the
world, the more likelihood there is of suering if we are
faithful. It must be observed that all this is connected with
the position and the principles of the Jews.
Gentile recognition of God and the eect of the
remnant’s deliverance
Remark also that the Gentile will and power recognize
God in two ways, and by dierent means; both being
the privileges granted to the remnant. e rst of these
privileges is having the mind of Jehovah, the revelation of
His thoughts and counsels.<P376> is leads the Gentile
to own the God of Daniel as God of gods and Lord of
kings. at is His position in respect of all that was exalted
above the earth. He was supreme in heaven and earth. e
second is that He interests Himself in the poor remnant
of His people, and has power to deliver them in the
tribulation into which rebellious and idolatrous (and thus
apostate) power has thrown them. e result here is that
He is acknowledged, and His faithful ones are delivered
and exalted. e rst is more general and Gentile-the
Gentiles’ own recognition of God; the second, the eect of
deliverance for this Jewish remnant.
e establishment of idolatrous unity in religion, and
the pride of human power, are the characteristics here
given of Babylon. is folly, which does not know God,
lls the whole course of time allotted to this power-“seven
times.” At the end the Gentile owns for himself and praises
and blesses the Most High. is chapter then gives the
Gentile power’s own relationship with God, not merely
his connection with the God and people of the Jews.
Hence the title of God, in chapter 4, is the Most High
that rules in the kingdom of men; in chapter 3 it was “our
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God” for the heart of the faithful remnant, and “the God
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego,” for the world that
saw the deliverance.
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73007
Daniel 4
Human pride and God’s judgment
In chapter 4 we see the manifestation of human pride;
the king glories in the work of his hands, as though he
had created his own greatness. is pride brings judgment.
Power is reduced to the condition of the beasts that know
not God, and are devoid of man’s understanding. e only
true privilege of man, that which ennobles him, is that
he can look up to God and acknowledge Him. Without
this he looks downward; he cannot suce to himself;
he is degraded. Dependence is his glory, for it sets him
before God, gives him to know God; and his mind,
associated with God, receives from Him its measure and
its knowledge. Pride and independence separate man
from God; he becomes a beast, devoid of real intelligence.
Now this condition depicts that of the kingdoms of
which the prophet speaks (looked at as a whole before
God, and represented by the head established by God,
Nebuchadnezzar).<P377> Seven times, or seven years,
pass over the head of Nebuchadnezzar deprived of his
reason. He had exalted himself; he had been humbled. e
times of the Gentiles are characterized by the absence of
all such understanding as would put governmental power
in connection with God. To make idols, to build Babylon,
and not to know God; such were the moral characteristics
of a power that God had established in place of His own
throne at Jerusalem. Such is the moral capacity of man in
possession of that power which has been committed to
him.1
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(1. David’s throne had been characterized by power in
obedience, the king having to write out a copy of the law
and observe it; Nebuchadnezzar’s throne is one of absolute
power, man supreme in the exercise of his own will-the
twofold way of testing man in the place of authority.)
Nebuchadnezzar’s deliverance and testimony to the
Most High God
But the scene closes with testimony to the glory of the
Most High God, the King of heaven. Nebuchadnezzar
recognizes His majesty and blesses Him, now that His
judgment is removed. He acknowledges Him as Him who
lives forever, who abases and exalts whom He will, doing
according to His will in heaven and on earth, all men being
but vanity before His power and majesty. Here it is not the
deliverance of the faithful which produces its eect, but the
judgment that fell on the Gentiles themselves, who, after
the judgment, are delivered, and understanding given them
with respect to Jehovah; and that in connection with the
testimony committed to the Jews by the Spirit of prophecy
which God had bestowed on the remnant. e king lifts
up his eyes to heaven, instead of being only a beast that
looks down upon the earth. He becomes intelligent and
submissive, and joyfully blesses the Most High God.
e signicance of the title “Most High”
We may remark this title of “Most High.” It is the name
given to Jehovah in the interview between Melchisedec
and Abraham, in which is added thereto, “Possessor
of heaven and earth.” is is, in fact, the character that
God will assume when He shall gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which
are on earth; and Christ shall be the true Melchisedec.
e<P378> Gentiles shall be fully subjected to God. is
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will be the time of “the restitution of all things” spoken of
by the prophets.
e symbol of “a great tree”
ere are yet some detailed observations to be made.
It is judgment, followed by deliverance, which produces
this result. We may notice the force of this symbol of a
great tree. It is a mighty one of the earth, capable of taking
others under its protection. In this case it was one in the
highest position possible for man. e fowls of the heaven
had their habitation in it; that is to say, that all classes of
persons sought shelter and protection in it. We learn also
that God takes knowledge of the principles that guide the
governments of the earth, considered as the depositaries of
the power which they hold from God. Although it is not
(as in Israel) His throne on the earth, God watches over all,
and judges that to which He has committed authority. He
does not rule immediately; but He holds responsible him
to whom He has entrusted the rule, in order that he might
own the authority of God as supreme in this world.
e application of the term “watcher”
With respect to the term “watcher,” I do not think
that intelligence as to who it was that brought the decree
of judgment goes beyond Nebuchadnezzar’s religious
condition. Daniel ascribes it immediately to the Most
High. at angels may be its intelligent instruments, and
that its administration may be in some sort committed
to them, presents no diculty; and the Epistle to the
Hebrews, as well as other scriptures, teaches us that angels
are thus employed. e world to come will not be thus
subjected to them.
We see, in verse 27, that Daniel sets his responsibility
before Nebuchadnezzar, exhorting him to alter his conduct.
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Nebuchadnezzar’s acknowledgment of God as “King
of heaven”
We may also remark here, that it is the “King of heaven”
whom Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges. is was necessarily
His place. e God of the earth had His throne at Jerusalem.
But then Nebuchadnezzar would have had no place there.
We never nd the<P379> throne at Jerusalem in Daniel,
either morally or prophetically. His prophecies always stop
short of that. He is a captive among the Gentiles, faithful
to God there, and taught of Him. But God cannot be
to him the God of the earth.1 It is the God of heaven,
ruling everywhere and over all things, doing according to
His will in heaven and on earth; but not yet reigning over
the earth as the king of the earth. On the contrary, He
had just renounced this; and had committed the power to
Nebuchadnezzar, while He withdrew from the presence of
His earthly people’s iniquity to shut Himself up in His
supreme and immutable power; the results of which would
not be shown till afterwards, but according to which He
even then governed, although hidden from the eyes of men.
(1. e seed of David will not be in captivity at Babylon
when God takes His place as the God of the earth.)
e reader may perhaps expect more detail. It will
be found in the communications made immediately to
Daniel. But those who have laid hold of the principles
we have been establishing (and the great object of these
chapters is to present them) will possess elements of the
greatest importance for understanding all the prophecies
of this book; and without these principles the meaning of
its revelations will never be clearly apprehended. It must
be remembered that we are on the ground here of the Jews
in captivity among the Gentiles, understanding God’s
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dealings with them, and His judgment of their condition
while the power had been left in their hands.
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73008
Daniel 5
Belshazzar’s feast; presumptuous idolatry and
blasphemy; immediate judgment announced
In chapter 5 the iniquity of the head of the Gentiles
with respect to the God of Israel reaches the highest point,
and assumes that character of insolence and contempt
which is but the eort of weakness to conceal itself. In the
midst of the orgies of a great feast to his lords and courtiers
Belshazzar causes the vessels of the temple of God, which
Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem, to be
brought, that he and his guests might drink therein; and
he praises the gods of gold and of silver and of stone.
e madness of the king puts the question between the
false<P380> gods and Jehovah the God of Israel. Jehovah
decides the question that very night by the destruction
of the king and of all his glory. e warning which God
gives him is interpreted by Daniel. But, although subject to
the king, Daniel does not treat him with the same respect
that he had for Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar had taken the
place of an insolent enemy to Jehovah, and Daniel answers
him according to God’s revelations of his doom, and to
the ostentatious manifestation which the king made of his
iniquity, magnifying his own gods and insulting Jehovah.
Accordingly the warning was no longer remedial and left
no room for repentance. It announced judgment; and the
very annunciation suced to destroy all the insolence of
the impious king. For he had neglected the warning given
him by the history of Nebuchadnezzar. is narrative gives
us the last character of the iniquity of the sovereign power
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of the Gentiles, in opposition to the God of Israel, and the
judgment which falls in consequence upon the monarchy
of which Babylon was the head, and to which Babylon had
given its own character. For, whatever may have been the
long-suering of God, and His dealings in other respects
towards the monarchy of the Gentiles, as the power to
which He committed authority in the world, all was already
lost for these empires, even in the days of Babylon.
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73009
Daniel 6
Daniel’s destruction sought; the exaltation of man to
shut out God
Another form of iniquity appears besides that of
Babylon (ch. 6). Cyrus, personally, had better thoughts;
and God, from whom they came, made use of him for the
temporary reestablishment of His people, in order that the
Messiah should come and present Himself to them-the
last trial of His beloved people. It is not Cyrus, therefore,
whom we nd here the instrument of the iniquity which
sought to destroy Daniel-of that human will which can
never endure faithfulness to God. Here it is not idolatry,
nor is it insult oered to Jehovah, but the exaltation of man
himself, who would shut out all idea of God, who would
have no God. is is one of the features that characterize
the depths of the human heart.<P381>
Man’s gods help him satisfy his passions and desires;
his pride cannot endure a rivalship
Man in general is well pleased with a god who will help
him to satisfy his passions and his desires-a god who suits
his purpose for the unity of his empire and the consolidation
of his power. e religious part of man’s nature is satised
with gods of this kind, and worships them willingly,
though he who establishes them imperially may do it only
politically. Poor world! e true God suits neither their
conscience nor their lusts. e enemy of our souls is well
pleased to cultivate in this manner the religiousness of our
nature. False religion sets up gods that correspond to the
desires of the natural heart, whatever they may be; but
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which never call into communion and never act upon the
conscience. ey may impose ceremonies and observances,
for these suit man; but they can never bring an awakened
conscience into relationship with themselves. at which
man fears, and that which man desires, is the sphere of
their inuence. ey produce nothing in the heart beyond
the action of natural joys and fears.
But, on the other hand, the pride of man sometimes
assumes a character that changes everything in this respect.
Man will himself be God and act according to his own will,
and shut out a rival-ship which his pride cannot endure.
A superiority which cannot be disputed, if God exists, is
insupportable to one who would stand alone. God must
be got rid of. e enemies of the faithful avail themselves
of this disposition. Cruelty is less inventive, save that its
subtlety is shown in this, that, in attering the higher
power, it does not appear to blame any except those who
disobey and despise his word.
Daniel’s preservation and Darius’ acknowledgment
of the living God
e contest being with God Himself, the question with
men is decided with more carelessness and less passion as
to them. Passion allies itself less with the pride than with
the will of man. Man, whatever his position, is the slave of
those who pay him the tribute of their attery. Self-will is
more its own master. In this case, deceived by his vanity,
the king nds himself bound by laws, apparently instituted
to guard his subjects from his caprices, under color of
attributing the character of immutability to his will<P382>
and to his wisdom-a character that belongs to God alone.
Daniel is cast into the lions’ den. God preserves him. He
will do the same for the remnant of Israel at the end of the
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age. e judgment, which the enemies of Israel sought to
bring upon those who were faithful among that people, is
executed upon themselves. But the eect of this judgment
extends farther than in the former cases. Nebuchadnezzar
forbade any evil being spoken of the God of Israel, and
he extolled the King of heaven by whom he had been
humbled. But Darius commands that in every place the
God of Daniel and of Israel should be acknowledged,
the only living God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and
who had indeed delivered the man that trusted in Him.
Historically it appears that Darius had some feelings of
respect for God and for Daniel’s piety. It was not his God,
but the God of Daniel: still he honors Him, and even calls
Him the living God.
e characteristics of the great empires; the causes of
their judgment
us we see that idolatry, impiety, the pride that exalts
itself above everything, are the characteristics of the great
empires which Daniel sets before us, and the causes of
their judgment. e judgment results in owning the God
of the Jews as the living and delivering God and the Most
High that rules in the kingdom of men. e same features
will be found in the last days. is terminates the rst part
of the book.
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73010
Daniel 7
e prophetic history of the last form of the Gentile
empire; the four beasts from the sea
We come now to the communications made to Daniel
himself, which contain not merely general principles, but
details relative to God’s people, and the Gentiles who
oppressed them-historical details, though given beforehand
prophetically.
e chief object of chapter 7 is the history of the
fourth beast, or the last form of the Gentile empire, which
commenced at Babylon-the great western power, in which
was to be developed all that man in possession of power
would become with respect to God and to the faithful. And
with that its relation with the<P383> saints is given in the
interpretation. But the introduction of this western beast is
briey given. Four beasts come up from the sea, that is to
say, from the waves of human population. ese powers are
not looked at here as established by God, but in their purely
historical character. We have seen the empire established
immediately by God in the person of Nebuchadnezzar. But
here-although every existing power is established by God-
they are seen in their historical aspect. e beasts come
up out of the sea. e prophet rst sees them all at once
arising out of the agitation of the nations. is part of the
vision contains characteristic features, but gives no date.
1. Babylon
In verse 4 we have Babylon in power and then abased
and subdued. e body of a lion with eagle’s wings; that
which, humanly speaking, was most noble and energetic
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in strength-that which hovered over the nations with
the highest and most rapid ight- characterized this rst
energy of the human mind, when the will of God had
committed to it the empire of the world. is place it loses.
2. Medo-Persia
e second beast devoured much, but had neither the
energy nor the rapid ight of the rst; it appropriated other
kingdoms to itself rather than created an empire; twofold in
its strength at rst, it raised itself up more on one side than
on the other. It is ferocious, but comparatively unwieldy; it
is the Medo-Persian empire.
3. e empire founded by Alexander
is chapter says but little of the third; lightness and
activity characterize it, and dominion was given to it. It is
the empire founded by Alexander.
e fourth is the subject of a separate vision.
e division and arrangement of chapter 7
It will be well to remark, in passing, that the chapter is
divided into three visions, followed by the interpretation
given to the prophet. e rst vision comprises the four
beasts seen together, and the character of the rst three
slightly sketched. e second<P384> vision contains that
of the fourth beast with much more detail. e third vision
presents the appearing of one like the Son of Man before
the Ancient of Days. ey commence respectively at the
rst, seventh, and thirteenth verses; the interpretation
occupies the remainder of the chapter from verse 15.
4. e fourth beast; its distinctive character; its “little
horn”
e features of the fourth beast are clearly drawn. It
is strong exceedingly; it devours and breaks in pieces,
and tramples the residue under foot. It has not the same
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character as the preceding monarchies. It has ten horns;
that is to say, its strength was to be divided into ten distinct
powers. Strength and rapacity, which spare and respect
nothing, appropriating everything, or trampling it under
foot without regard to conscience; such are morally the
characteristics of the fourth beast. Its division into ten
kingdoms distinguishes it as to its form. e uniform
simplicity of the other empires will be lacking to it. But
this is not all. Another very distinctive and special element
attracted the particular attention of the prophet. While
considering the horns, he saw another little horn come up
among them: three of the rst fell before it; it possessed the
penetration and intelligence of man; its pretensions were
very great. Such was its character. A power rises among the
ten by which three of them are overthrown. is power is
clear-sighted and penetrating in its intelligence. It not only
possesses strength, but it has thoughts and plans besides
those of ambition and government. It is a beast that works
morally, that occupies itself with knowledge, and sets
itself up with pretensions full of pride and daring. It has
a character of intelligence, moral and systematic (in evil),
and not merely the strength of a conqueror. is horn has
the eyes of a man.
e Ancient of Days; the session of judgment
Afterwards the thrones are set,1 and the Ancient
of Days sits. It is a session of judgment, the throne of
Jehovah’s judgment; it is not said where, but its eect is on
earth. e words of the little horn are the occasion of the
execution of judgment. It is executed on the beast, which
is destroyed, and its body given to the ames. With respect
to the other beasts, their dominion had been taken<P385>
away, but their lives prolonged; the fourth loses its life with
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its dominion. e scene of judgment forms a part of the
vision of the fourth beast, and especially relates to it.
(1. is translation is almost universally considered to
be correct.)
e earthly kingdom given to Christ
In verse 13 there is another vision. One like the Son
of Man is brought to the Ancient of Days, and receives
the kingdom and universal dominion-the rule of Jehovah
entrusted to man in the Person of Christ, and substituted
for the kingdom of the beast. Observe that this is not the
execution of the judgment that had been spoken of, but
the reception of the earthly kingdom; for, in all this, the
government of the earth is the subject.
e interpretation of Daniel’s vision; its two great
facts
ere are two parts in the interpretation. Verses 17-18
are general; and then, with reference to the fourth beast
(vss. 19-28), there is more of detail. e general part
declares that these four beasts are four kings, or kingdoms,
that shall arise out of the earth: but that the saints of the
high places shall take the kingdom, and possess it forever.
ese are the two great facts brought out in this history:
the earthly empire, and that of the saints of the high
places (the rst being composed of four kingdoms). We
are then given some details with respect to the fourth of
these. It will be noticed here, that, in the interpretation,
an element of the highest interest is added, which was not
in the vision to which the interpretation belongs; namely,
that which relates to the saints. In communicating to the
prophet the meaning of the vision, God could not omit
them. Verse 18 already presents them in contrast with the
empires of the earth. ese empires were seen to arise in
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the vision according to their public or external character.
Here the Spirit of God tells of that which made their
conduct a subject of interest even to the heart of God, who
would testify this interest to the prophet. e saints are
immediately brought into view, but in a suering condition
(vs. 21).
is is the rst characteristic of the little horn, when his
actions are in question.<P386>
e power of the little horn ended by the coming of
the Ancient of Days
But verses 21-22 demand a few more remarks. e
little horn not only makes war with the saints, but prevails
against them up to a certain time (that is, until the coming
of the Ancient of Days). Something more denite is given
here than the fact that God will judge the audacity of
man. We are no longer occupied with the public history
and with general principles, but with explanations for the
saints in the person of the prophet. It is the coming of the
Ancient of Days that puts an end to the power of the little
horn over the saints.
e saints on earth and the saints “of the high places”
Other important events are the result of this great
change, of this intervention of God: rst, judgment is given
to the saints of the high places; and, second, the saints
take the kingdom. Observe here the especial title, “Of
the high places.” e little horn persecutes the saints on
earth, and prevails against them until the Ancient of Days
comes. But it is only to the saints of the high places that
judgment is given. “Know ye not,” says the Apostle, “that
the saints shall judge the world?” Nevertheless we must not
go beyond that which is here written. It is not said, “To
the assembly”-an idea not found in these passages. It is
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the saints who are linked with the Most High1 God in
heaven, while the earth is in the hands of those who do
not acknowledge Him, and while His government is not
exercised to preserve them from suering, and from the
malice of the wicked. is applies in principle to all times
since the fall, until the Ancient of Days comes. But there is
a period especially characterized by this spirit of rebellion,
namely, that of the power of the little horn. ere is another
class of persons spoken of farther on-the people of the saints
of the high places. “e kingdom is given to them.” But in
this case the Spirit does not say, “e judgment.”
(1. ere are four names of relationship which God has
taken with men: Almighty (Gen. 17) with the patriarchs;
Jehovah with Israel (Ex. 6); Father, with Christians (John
17); and Most High, in the millennium (Gen. 14) and here
in Daniel. Compare Psalm 90. e name of Father makes a
dierence in the whole position, associating us with Christ,
the Son in whom He is revealed. John’s Gospel specially
brings out this.)
us, in verse 22, when the kingdom is mentioned,
it is not said,<P387> “e saints of the high places,” but
simply, “e saints possessed the kingdom.” We have thus
the power of the little horn exercised against the saints,
and prevailing against them, put an end to by the Ancient
of Days, the earth being the scene of that which is taking
place. is event is accompanied by two other events,
which result from it, and which change the whole aspect
of the world. Judgment is given to the heavenly saints,
and the kingdom is given to the saints. e rst of these
two events is conned to the heavenly saints. e second
is more general, the saints on earth sharing it according
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to their condition, without excluding the saints in heaven
according to their condition.
e general character of the fourth beast; its ten
kingdoms; the “little horn” the oppressor of the Jews
In verse 23 begin the historical details of the little horn.
e general character of the fourth beast is set forth. It
devours, treads down, and subjugates everything. It is not
only a consolidated empire, of such or such an extent; it
ravages the whole earth as by right. ere are, then, ten
kingdoms arising in the bosom of the empire, and dividing
its power. is is its outward and general character. But
when the ten are already existing, another power arises of a
dierent character from the ten, three of which it subdues.
Now this horn speaks against the Most High-magnies
itself in words against Him. In its malice it destroys the
saints who are united in heart to the God of heaven; and
confess His name and His authority on the earth. It seeks
to change the religious feasts and the laws; and they are
given into its hand for three years and a half. In this last
circumstance we nd pretty clearly the oppressor of the
Jews. eir whole system is given into his hands. ese
three characteristics are suciently plain and distinct: he
speaks against the Most High; he persecutes those who
own God in heaven, and whose hearts turn there (compare
Psalm 11:4); and he does away with all public evidences of
the earthly religion.
e forms of the Jewish religion given up, but not the
saints
It will be remarked that there is no question at all here
of the assembly, except in such general terms as must apply
to any saints whatever on the earth who looked up higher.
It is well also<P388> to observe, that it is not the saints (as
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has been thought) who are given into the hand of the little
horn, but the forms of the Jewish religion. God may will
and permit, for the good of the saints, that there should
be persecution; but He never gives up His saints to their
enemies. He could not do it. He cannot leave and forsake
His own. In a word, whatever may be the general principles
capable of application during the course of the ages, this
prophecy, as an especial and denite revelation, refers, like
the whole book, to the earth, of which the assembly is not,
and to the Jews, with respect to whom God exercises His
government on the earth.
e three characteristics of the little horn; his
dominion destroyed
is, understood, throws light on the three characteristics
of the little horn. He rebels against the Most High. He
speaks great words against God, and against all the saints
who, rising in spirit above the earth, acknowledge the
Most High God in heaven, and expect deliverance at His
hand; whose hearts take refuge in Him, when the earth
is given up, as it were, into the hands of the wicked. All
those who thus maintain a true testimony against the man
who arrogates to himself every prerogative on earth, and
will have nothing to do with heaven, are persecuted by
him. At length, the Jews having reestablished their regular
feasts and ordinances, his tyranny, which allows no power
but his own, destroys all traces of these ordinances; which,
however vain, as restored in unbelief, were nevertheless
a testimony to the existence of a God of the earth. But
the judgment sits to take cognizance of all this pride. e
dominion of the little horn is consumed and destroyed. We
may notice here that it is in fact the little horn that in the
end wields the supreme power. It is his dominion which
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is destroyed. Afterwards the kingdom and the dominion
under the whole heaven is given to “the people of the saints
of the high places.” It appears to me that the meaning of
this expression, remarkable as it is, is yet suciently plain.
e Most High reigns, but He reigns in connection with
the system which makes it manifest that “the heavens rule”
(as it is said on this subject in the case of Nebuchadnezzar).
e man of the earth would reign, and he dees heaven;
and, withdrawing the earth from the government of
Him who<P389> dwells in heaven, he would possess it
independently of God. But the judgment proves his folly,
and the Most High reigns forevermore. e saints who
have acknowledged Him are given the judgment and the
glory, and the people who belong to them on the earth
have the supremacy and reign. ese are the Jews. But,
denitely, it is God who reigns.
“e heavenly places”
ere are two words translated “Most High,” the one
singular and the other plural. e latter signies “the high
(places).” I do not doubt that this word gave rise to the
expression “heavenly places” in the Epistle to the Ephesians,
which however, goes much farther in the revelation there
made. For here government only is the subject, and in the
Ephesians it is the things that belong to the heavenly
places, or that are in them. is distinction enables us to
understand the dierence between the assembly, or even
Christians, and the saints of the high places in Daniel 7.
With respect to the Christians, it is those who enjoy-in spirit
at least-the blessings of the heavenly places, sitting there in
Christ, and wrestling against the spiritual wickedness that
is there. Here, on the contrary, it is the government which
belongs of right to the heavens and to Him that reigns
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there which is to be recognized, in the presence of a power
that denies and sets itself up against this, choosing to own
no other power than itself on the earth. e meaning of
the prophecy is plain and easily understood. To recognize
the right of government in the heavenly places, and to be
sitting there in the enjoyment of the blessings proper to
them, are two very dierent things. Everything has its own
place in the mind of God, where perfect order reigns.
Summary of the interpretation given in chapter 7:17-
27
In sum we have, besides the power of the four beasts in
general, the western power divided among ten, and at last the
empire in the hands of the little horn, which subdues three
of the ten horns, and sets itself up against God in heaven,
persecutes and prevails against the saints, destroying by its
persecutions those who identify themselves with the God
of heaven, abolishing all the Jewish ordinances, and nally
is itself destroyed. is abolition of the Jewish system
continues for three years and a half, or 1260 days;<P390>
which period of time belongs only to this last point. All the
others are characteristic and not chronological.
e government of the earth, formerly given to man in
the person of Nebuchadnezzar, is not again established-
as it had been at Jerusalem-in a merely earthly throne.
During the interval, in the presence of the rebellion of
the earthly power against the Most High, the saints have
assumed a character which is the result of their looking to
heaven and to Him who reigns there (God, with respect to
His government of the earth, having taken the name of the
God of heaven)-a very intelligible position, seeing that He
had forsaken Jerusalem.
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It is the saints of the high places who will take the
kingdom; but after the judgment of the rebellious horn,
the earthly people possess the dominion under the whole
heaven, in dependence on those who are seated in heaven.
ree clear, important elements in God’s dealings;
the character of Him who receives the kingdom
So that we have three clear and important elements in
the dealings of God. First, the earthly throne at Jerusalem
is forsaken; the Gentile throne established by the authority
of God, the God of heaven; the rebellion of this Gentile
power against Him that had given it authority. Secondly,
the saints are distinguished by their acknowledgment of
that God whom the earthly power denied; they are of the
heavens, where God had now His place and His throne,
being no longer on earth at Jerusalem. irdly, we have,
then, judgment executed on the rebellious power; judgment
given to these saints of the high places; the earthly
people established in the kingdom under the heavens,
in connection with them. is was the dominion of the
God of heaven which should not pass away. In connection
with this is the character given to Him that preeminently
receives the kingdom. It is not now the Messiah, owned
as king in Zion, but ONE in the form of the Son of Man;
a title of far greater and more wide signicance. It is the
change from Psalm 2 to Psalm 8.1 Nor this only; for, when
the events are accomplished, we nd that it is the Ancient
of Days Himself who comes and puts an end to the power
which aicted the saints-that Christ (as the Psalms so
largely show and the gospels too) is Jehovah.<P391>
(1. Brought about by the rejection of the Messiah.)
We have here the great picture of man’s government-
coming into all its characteristic development at the end-
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and its setting aside by the government of God, which
establishes the faithful in authority, and, above all, the Son
of Man Himself, and His people on the earth.
e heavenly saints and the spared remnant on earth
e saints of the high places would be thus those who,
when the assembly, not noticed here, is gone, look up and
own power there, and, if put to death by power in rebellion,
have their place above. We nd them again in Revelation,
specially in chapter 20, and there two classes. e people of
the saints are the spared remnant on earth.
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73011
Daniel 8
e empires of Persia and Greece
Chapter 8 gives details of that which takes place from
another side of Judea, with reference to the Jews. e
two empires of Persia and Greece, or of the East, which
succeeded that of Babylon under which the prophecy was
given, are only introduced to point out the countries in
which these events are to take place, and to bring them
before us in their historical order. e Persian empire
is overthrown by the king of Greece, whose empire is
afterwards divided into four kingdoms, from one of which
a power arises that forms the main subject of the prophecy.
e time to which the prophecy refers
In the interpretation, we nd the positive declaration
that the events here related happen “in the last end of the
indignation.” Now it is the indignation against Israel that is
here meant (ch. 11:36). is time of indignation is spoken
of in Isaiah 10:25: it ends with the destruction of the
Assyrian, who (vs. 5) is its principal instrument. All these
passages show us, especially in studying their context, that
it will be in the last days that the events of these prophecies
will be fullled. It will be “the time of Jacob’s trouble, but
he shall be delivered out of it.” e Lord Himself alludes
to this period (Matt. 24) calling His disciples’ attention to
that which Daniel says respecting it. Compare Daniel 12:1-
11<P392> with the Lord’s words. It appears to me that the
prophecy in our chapter does not relate so absolutely to
the last days as the interpretation does.1e thing spoken
of in the prophecy is not the last end of the indignation;
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but the fact that a little horn arises out of one of the four
kingdoms, which had succeeded Alexander. Nevertheless,
the grand object of the Spirit is to reveal that which will
happen at the time of the end (vs. 17).
(1. is appears to me to be the case, because events
that took place under the successors of Seleucus, the rst
king of the north, have served as a type, or partial and
anticipative fulllment, of that which will happen in the
last days. In chapter 11 and here, there is a description of,
or a strong allusion to, that which Antiochus Epiphanes
did. e eleventh chapter relates it, I think, historically. e
object of God in the prophecy is found in the events of the
last days; and this is all that is given in the interpretation.
It is well to observe, that no interpretation of a parable
or obscure prophecy, either in the Old or New Testament,
is simply an interpretation. It adds that which reveals by the
result the meaning of the ways of God, or facts described
in what is obscure, either by outward judgments which
justify the spiritual judgment of His people when faith
only would discern God’s mind, or by some new features
that give the true import of the events for the saints. Actual
judgment makes openly plain what spiritual judgment alone
discerned before, and thus is an interpretation. But other
circumstances may be added in order to show the mind of
God in the matter. In a word, it is God who communicates
to His people that which gives its true value to that which
precedes, or who directs them in their thoughts as to what
has been said, by the revelation of His judgments. It is this
which practically conrms them in His thoughts.)
e principal features of “the little horn” of chapter 8
Let us examine the principal features of the little horn.
e power designated by “the little horn” enlarges its
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territory towards the east, and towards the pleasant land, or
ornament [of the earth], that is to say, as it appears to me,
towards Jerusalem or Zion. is horn exalts itself against
the host of heaven, and casts down some of the host and of
the stars to the ground, and tramples on them.
“e host of heaven and the stars”
Who are the persons intended by this expression, “e
host of heaven and the stars”? Let us remember, that it is
the Jewish system that is before us. When once we have got
hold of this, the application of the passage is not dicult.
e expression applies to those who, professedly at least,
surround the throne of God, and particularly those who
shine eminent among them. It is not the faithful who look
towards heaven, of which chapter 7 speaks. To<P393> be
the host of heaven describes a position and not a moral
state. (Compare verse 24.) But this passage assumes
that the Jews are again in this position before God, even
although it would be but for judgment. at is to say,
they are again under the eye of God as in relation with
Him, as an object about which He concerns Himself, as a
people still responsible for their former relationship with
Him, although the Gentile power still exists. Now, if their
condition does not answer to the position they reassume in
His presence, they are, by the very fact of this position, the
object of God’s judgments.
Observe here, moreover, that transgression is the thing
spoken of, and not the abomination which someone sets
up, and which makes desolate; and in the interpretation
also, the transgression is come to its height.
e horn opposing Christ as the Prince of Israel
is horn is, then, the instrument of chastisement on the
Jews, who have returned-as to profession-into relationship
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with Jehovah, and into their land, assuming the character
of His people, yet carrying transgression against Him to
the highest point. e horn completely destroys some
of them. But this is not all; he (for the word is no longer
it, in agreement with the word horn-perhaps changed
to designate the king in person) magnies himself even
against the Prince of the host. He carries his pretensions
so far as to oppose himself to Him, to set himself against
Christ in His character of Prince of Israel, against the Judge
who comes, the Head of Israel, who is Jehovah Himself;
for it is the Ancient of Days who comes. Here, however, all
is looked at in a Jewish aspect. He is the Prince of Israel.
We see that it is Jehovah, because it is His sacrice that
is taken away-His sanctuary that is cast down; but He is
presented as the Prince of the host.1e daily sacrice
is<P394> taken away from Him, not “by him.”2 e
Jewish worship rendered to Jehovah is suppressed, His
sanctuary cast down, and a time of distress appointed for
the daily sacrice (it is thus that I understand the verse),
on account of transgression; and the little horn3 (for here
the it, agreeing with horn, is again used) casts down the
truth, practices and prospers. e duration of the whole
vision, with especial reference to the transgression which
occasions it, and, it may be, comprising also the duration
of the transgression that maketh desolate; in a word, the
whole scene of transgression, and consequent desolation
(the sanctuary and the host being trodden under foot),
continues for 2300 evenings and mornings.
(1. I have questioned a little whether the host of heaven
may not mean the powers of the earth (the Jews only
taking their place in it because they ought to be under the
government of God, and are so to the Spirit of prophecy).
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I do not reject this idea; but it appears certain that the
Spirit has the Jews especially in view. (See verse 13.) Verse
24 might lead us to believe that He destroys others beside
the Jews. Christ, exalted to the right hand of God, is the
head of all power. But He is especially the head of the
Jews. If any would even apply the title “Prince of princes”
to this supremacy, the analogy of the word would justify
the application. e connection between the host and the
sanctuary in verse 13, appears to me to show, that the Spirit
had those Jews especially in view who surround the place
of the throne of Jehovah.)
(2. ere is no doubt that the text says, that the sacrice
is taken away from the Prince of the host. e question still
remains, By whom? e Keri (which is generally, I believe,
the best authority when there are variations in the Hebrew)
reads, “Was taken from him,” without saying by whom; the
Ketib, “He took away from him,” which ascribes it to the
little horn.)
(3. In the Hebrew there is a dierence of gender. He who
magnies himself (vs. 11) is masculine; while at the end of
verse 12, the word, “It cast down,” is feminine, agreeing
with horn, which in Hebrew is a feminine noun.)
e time of the prophetic fulllment; the subtle king,
his course and his end
In verse 19 we see that the interpretation relates to the time
of the end-a very important notice for the understanding of
the passage.1 And this is what shall happen in the last end
of the indignation (upon Israel) when the transgression of
the Jews is at its height. A king of erce countenance, who
understands dark sentences, shall arise; a kind of teacher
or rabbi, but proud, and audacious in appearance. He will
be mighty, but not by his own power. He will make great
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havoc, will prosper and practice, destroying the mighty, or
a great multitude of persons, and especially “the people of
the holy ones,” that is, the Jews (ch. 7:27). He is subtle,
and his craftiness is successful. He will magnify himself
in his heart, and will destroy many by means of a false
and irreligious security. At length he will stand up against
the Prince of princes. He will then<P395> be destroyed
without human intervention. at is to say, that at the time
of the end, when the purposes of God will be unfolded,
when His indignation against Israel draws to an end, the
transgression of this people being already at its height, a
king shall arise in one part of the former Grecian empire,
whose power will be characterized by its increase towards
the east and south, and towards Jerusalem; that is, it will be
established in the present Turkey in Asia-Jerusalem being
the point it aims at. is power will cause much destruction,
and its strength will be great; yet, properly speaking, it will
not be its own strength. e king will be dependent on
some other power. He will also destroy the Jewish people.
But there is something more than destructive power; there
is a character of wisdom resembling that of Solomon in
some respects. He is very subtle, and succeeds in destroying
the Jews, by lulling them into a security in which they
forget Jehovah. We see him then occupying himself about
the Jews, not only as a conqueror, but as a teacher, by craft
and by a deceptive peace. At length he stands up against
Christ in His character of the Prince of princes or kings
of the earth, that is, in His character of earthly supremacy.
He is destroyed by divine power, without the hand of man.
(1. e vision speaks particularly of the Seleucidæ, or
Asiatic successors of Alexander; and their acts, I doubt not,
particularly those of Antiochus Epiphanes, are referred to
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in the vision, though verse 11 and the rst half of 12, as
noticed, are distinct. us the 2300 evenings and mornings
are not necessarily applicable to anything beyond the
acts of the Seleucidæ, and verse 26 conrms this. e
interpretation (vss. 23-25) applies only to the latter days.
e sanctuary is not spoken of, but the destroying the
“people of the saints” (the Jews), and standing up against
the Prince of princes. In verse 26 read, “And thou shut up
the vision,” not, “Wherefore.”)
“e little horn” of chapter 8, ruling in the east,
distinct from that of chapter 7, from the west
is king is distinct from the little horn of chapter
7, who rules the great western beast. He is a king of the
east, who arises, not from the Roman empire, but from
the former Grecian empire established in Syria, and the
adjacent countries, who derives his strength from elsewhere,
and not from his own resources. He will interfere (in his
own way) with the religious aairs of the Jews; but it seems
to me that that which is said of him is more characteristic
of the desolator, whom God allows the enemy to raise up
on account of the transgressions of His people, than of
the one who makes a covenant with them for a time, in
order to ruin and drag them afterwards into the depths
of apostasy. It is one who will oppress them, having his
seat of action in the east, as the little horn of chapter 7
rules in the west.1e desolation is brought before<P396>
us on the occasion of this little horn. Verse 112 is a kind
of parenthesis which relates entirely to the prince of the
host; and the two last things it mentions (namely, that the
sacrice is taken away from Him and His sanctuary cast
down) are introduced in connection with the Prince of the
host, as a part of the desolation of Israel, to complete its
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description, without, as it appears to me, pointing out who
it is that does these things. ey are not spoken of in the
king’s own history, at the end of the chapter. ey form a
part of the desolation of the days alluded to in verse 11.
(1. Chapter 7 gives the power or horn of the west;
chapter 8, that of the east; chapter 9 gives the state of
Jerusalem under the power of the west; chapters 10-11, the
state under the powers of the east, including the willful
king.)
(2. e rst half of the twelfth verse, closing with the
word “transgression,” forms indeed part of this parenthesis.
e 2300 days refer thus to the historical times. All we
have of them, in the interpretation which unfolds what is
yet to come, is that the vision is true. e parenthesis is
from “Yea” (vs. 11) to “transgression” in verse 12, connected
with “he,” not with “it.”)
Daniel 9
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73012
Daniel 9
Daniel’s confession, intercession and plea; God’s
answer
Chapter 9 gives us a vision concerning the people
and the holy city, consequent on Daniel’s confession and
intercession. It is, as has been remarked, in connection with
the oppression of the western power. Indeed, the details
relate to oppression. e prophet had understood (not by
a direct revelation, but by the study of Jeremiah’s prophecy,
by the use of those ordinary means that are within the
reach of the spiritual man) that the captivity, the duration
of which Jeremiah had announced, was near its end. e
eect on Daniel’s mind (true sign of a prophet of God) was
to produce an ardent intercession on behalf of the desolate
sanctuary, and the city which Jehovah loved. He pours out
his heart in confession before God, acknowledging the
sin of the people and of their kings, the hardness of their
hearts, and the righteousness of God in bringing evil upon
them. He pleads the mercies of God, and demands favor
for Jehovah’s own sake. e prophecy is God’s answer to
his prayer. Seventy weeks are determined upon the people
of Daniel and upon his holy city. Jehovah does not yet
acknowledge them denitely for His own; but He accepts
the intercession of the prophet, as He had formerly done
that of Moses, by saying to Daniel, “y people and thy
city.” Daniel stands in the place of mediator. He has the
mind of God-His words; and thus he can<P397> intercede.
(Compare, on this deeply interesting point, Genesis 20:7,
Jeremiah 27:18 and John 15:7.)
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God’s revelation; His seventy weeks upon the people
and the holy city; reestablishment in grace
At the end of these seventy weeks, separated from
among the ages, the time should come, decreed of God,
to nish the transgression, to seal up, that is, to make an
end of sin, and to put it away; to pardon iniquity and bring
in everlasting righteousness; to seal up [all] vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the holy of holies: this, observe,
with respect to the people of Israel and to the city. It is
the entire reestablishment of the people, and of the city, in
grace.
e three parts of the seventy weeks
is period of seventy weeks is divided into three parts-
seven, sixty-two, and one. During the rst part, or the seven
weeks, the desolate city and its overthrown walls would be
rebuilt in troublous times, or in the strait of times. After
sixty-two weeks, that is, after sixty-nine altogether, the
Messiah should be cut o, and should have nothing (this
is the true sense of the words). He to whom the kingdom
and the glory belonged, instead of receiving them, should
be cut o and have nothing. But after this event the city
and the sanctuary, which had been rebuilt, should be
destroyed, and the end should be like a desolating ood;
and there should be an ordinance, or determinate decree,
of desolation until the end of the war. is is, in general,
the complete history of the desolations. Sixty-nine weeks
have been accomplished-after that, the Messiah is cut o;
but the precise moment at which this takes place is not
indicated. e course of the seventy weeks is thus entirely
interrupted. e cutting o of the Messiah was not the
moment of the reestablishment of the people and of the
city.
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701
e result is plainly announced-a period of desolation
until the end: its duration is not given. We shall nd in
chapter 11 the same manner of treating an analogous
period. e people of a prince who was yet to come should
destroy the city.
e seventieth week; its last half
After this, the Spirit of God takes up the seventieth week,
the details of which were not yet unfolded. e prince that
shall come<P398> conrms a covenant with the mass of
the Jews. (e form of the word many1 indicates the mass
of the people.) is is the rst thing that characterizes the
week; the Jews form an alliance with the head, at that day,
of the people who had formerly overthrown their city and
their sanctuary. ey form an alliance with the head of the
Roman Empire. is refers to the week as a whole. But, the
half of the week spent,2 things assume another aspect. is
head causes the sacrice and the oblation to cease; and on
account of the protection of idols, there is a desolator; and
until the consummation that is determined,3 there shall be
poured [judgment] upon the desolate.<P399>
1. (1. e word “many” has an article prexed to it in the
Hebrew. e same thing is the case in other parts of
Daniel, to which we shall draw the reader’s attention,
and which clearly prove that the mass of the people
are in question-“the many.” e same form of phrase
is found in Greek.)
2. (2. We may observe that the Lord only speaks
expressly of the last half-week, of the time of
tribulation which follows the setting up of the idol
that makes desolate in the holy place. Some have
thought that there would be only this half-week to
come, Christ having been cut o in the midst of the
week. Others have thought that the seventieth week
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had entirely elapsed before the Lord’s death, but that
it is not reckoned, Jesus having been rejected, and
that this week is found again at the time of the Jews’
connection with the wicked one. What the passage
tells us is this: rst, the prince, the head that is of the
Roman empire, in the latter days makes a covenant
referring to one whole week; on the other hand, the
Lord speaks of the last half of the week as being to
take place immediately before His coming, as the
time of unequalled tribulation that precedes it. If this
were all, the foregoing history of the prince to come,
who makes a covenant, would fall into the general
history of the state of things. e question whether
one or two half-weeks remain to be fullled, and in
what way, during the manifestation of the power
of evil, I reserve (as to its full development) for the
Book of Revelation; remarking only that Messiah is
cut o after the end of 69 weeks. We know from the
New Testament that His ministry lasted just half the
week. Of this clearly the prince or Jew, with whom
he makes alliance, would make no account. e
interpretation of this passage is clear; the covenant
for a week with the prince to come, as if 69 weeks
alone were run out, Messiah and His cutting o
being ignored, and a half-week of utter oppression
because of idols, till the consummation decreed.)
3. (3. is is an expression constantly used for the last
judgments that shall fall upon the Jews. (See Isaiah
10:22 and 28:22.) e second verse of this last
chapter compares the desolator to a ood, as in verse
26 of the chapter we are considering. e attentive
reader will observe that these passages refer also to
the events of the last days. Remark also the covenant
in Isaiah 28:15.
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Some doubts might be thrown upon the translation,
“e desolate”; some render it, “e desolator,” and, “Until
the destruction that is decreed there shall be poured
[judgment] upon the desolator,” or rather, “Until the
destruction decreed shall be poured upon the desolator.”
To anyone that is not very familiar with the word, this
seems to end the sentence better; but it appears to me that
those who are conversant with the whole contents of the
Bible and with its phraseology will allow that the reading I
have given is its truer meaning. e import of the prophecy
is the same in either case. e one translation says that
the desolation shall continue until the end of judgment,
foreordained by God; the other, that it shall not cease until
the destruction of the desolator, which comes to the same
thing. e translation I have given appears to me more
exact, more in accordance with the Word. Our English
translation reads “desolate,” giving “desolator” in the
margin. But the word has not the same form as that which
is translated “desolator” in other places where the meaning
is certain. e previous clause I have rendered, “On account
of the protection of idols.” e word is literally “wing”-
upon, or on the account of, the wing of abominations. And
we know that the word wing is habitually employed for
protection.)
e seventy weeks as a brief history of the period to
elapse until judgment upon the Jews was past
at which is here announced, then, is, that seventy
weeks are set apart for the history of the city and people of
Daniel. During these seventy weeks, God is in relationship
with Israel;1 nevertheless, not immediately so, but in
connection with the faith of the believing remnant, of a
Daniel, of an intercession which, linking, itself with the
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existence of a remnant, serves as a bond between God and the
people: an intercession without which the people would be
rejected. It is the same principle as that which governed the
relations between God and the people by means of Moses,
after the golden calf-the people being called the people of
Daniel, as formerly the people of Moses. is position is
remarkable, as taking place after the establishment of the
authority of the Gentiles. e Jews are at Jerusalem, but
the Gentiles reign, although<P400> the empire of Babylon
is overthrown. In this anomalous position prophetic faith
seeks the complete reestablishment of the city, the seat of
government of God and of His people. It is to this that the
answer of God refers. A brief but complete history is given
of the period which should elapse until the judgment upon
the Jews was accomplished and past.
(1. e power of the Gentiles existing at the same
time. We know from Scripture that the restoration of
Jerusalem took place under the reign of the Gentiles, as
well as the whole course of the sixty-nine weeks which
have assuredly passed away. e seventy have all the same
character in this respect. It is only at the end of the seventy
that pardon is granted. Whoever may be the instrument
of establishing the covenant, the fourth beast will be at
that time the ruling power of the Gentiles, to whom God
has committed authority. It is very important, if we would
understand the seventy weeks, to remark this state of
things-the Jews restored, the city rebuilt, but the Gentiles
still occupying the throne of the world. e seventy weeks
have their course only under these conditions. It must be
well understood that it is the people of Daniel who are
meant, and his city, which are to be reestablished in their
former favor with God. e long-suering of God still now
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705
waits. e Gentile power has already failed in faithfulness;
Babylon has been overthrown; by means of intercession,
the Jews provisionally restored, and the temple rebuilt. e
seventy weeks had very nearly elapsed when Christ came.
If the Jews, and Jerusalem in that her day, had repented,
all was ready for her reestablishment in glory. Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob could have been raised up, as Lazarus had
been. But she knew not the day of her visitation, and the
fullling of the seventy weeks, as well as the blessing that
should follow, had necessarily to be postponed. rough
grace we know that God had yet more excellent thoughts
and purposes, and that man’s state was such that this could
not have been, as the event proved. Accordingly all is here
announced beforehand. (Compare Isaiah 49:4-6.))
e Messiah to be cut o; the consequences
A new element of great importance is also introduced:
the Messiah should be cut o. He would have nothing of
that which in right belonged to Him. e consequence
of this would be the destruction of the city and of the
sanctuary, desolation and war. It would be the prince of
another empire, not yet in existence, who should thus
destroy the city and the sanctuary. e relations between
God and the people were now completely broken o for
the time-even as regarded a believing remnant. e faith of
Daniel was rejected in the Person of Christ as the prophet,
and in the denial of Christ expressed by the declaration
that they would have no king but Caesar; and the people
and the city were given up to desolation.
e seventieth week marked by a covenant between
the Jews and the wicked leader; the compulsory cessation
of their worship; idolatry
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But there remained one week yet unaccomplished with
this faithless and perverse, but yet beloved, race, before their
iniquity should be pardoned, and everlasting righteousness
brought in, and the vision and the prophecy closed by
their fulllment. is week should be distinguished by a
covenant which the prince or leader would make with the
Jewish people (with the exception of the remnant), and
then by the compulsory cessation of their worship through
the intervention of this prince. After that the Jews having
placed themselves under the protection of idols-this
unclean spirit, long driven out of the people, having again
entered into them with seven others worse than himself,
the desolator comes, and the nal judgments are inicted
on the people-terrible judgments; but the extent of which
is denitely xed by God when their measure shall be full.
us we nd a very precise answer is given to the prophet’s
request; an answer which very distinctly unfolds the
consequences of the connection of Daniel’s<P401> people
with the Gentile power. eir position is very clearly set
forth, while the relationship with God, by means of the
prophet’s intercession, still exists.
e time of Messiah’s rejection which led to the Jews’
dispersion and, later, to the great tribulation
e prophecy announces at the same time the general
fact of the people’s desolation after the sixty-ninth week
was past, and (with a seeming lull from the favor of the
beast), on to the end of the seventieth, occasioned by their
rejection of the Messiah, which took place at the very
time when the promise attached to the prophecy should
have been on the point of fulllment; and the rejection of
whom (coming in the name of His Father) has led to the
long dispersion of the Jews, which will continue until the
Daniel 9
707
time of their being gathered, a prey to the iniquity of the
head of the Gentiles; the time, in fact, of their falling into
the hands of the one who should come in his own name-a
sorrowful condition developed during the last week, but to
which God has set a limit; and beyond that, no malice of
the enemy can reach.
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73013
Daniel 10-11
Further revelations to the faithful intercessor
as to the future of his people and the Gentiles
In chapter 10 we return to the East.1Chapters 10-12
form but one prophecy; only chapter 11 closes the history
of the Gentiles, and chapter 12, as we remarked at the
beginning, is occupied with the condition of the remnant
during the last period of the Gentile power, and with their
deliverance (concluding thus the revelation of God’s mind
with respect to the remnant who are preserved in the midst
of the Gentiles).<P402>
(1. It may be remarked that in both cases the revelation
given to Daniel, as to his people, is in reply to his exercises of
heart in intercession or fasting; the revelations in chapters
7 and 8 as to the western or eastern destroying-powers
are not. ey are given when God pleases. ese were in
the time of Belshazzar; the two former, after Babylon was
taken. e Jews were then really in a new position till Christ
was rejected, and then the great forsaking came, when time
does not count till they are in their own land, and God
begins to deal with them again. en, after the display of
their unbelief in receiving the power of evil and in idolatry,
the last grand tribulation comes, and then judgment in the
Person of the Lord from heaven.)
Daniel, ever intent on the welfare of his people, made
supplication (vss. 2-3,12) to God, with a renewed and
a persevering desire to understand His dealings. After
three weeks of fasting and prayer an angel is sent to him,
revealing the opposition of the enemies of God’s glory to
Daniel 10-11
709
the accomplishment of His purposes of favor to His people,
and to the communication of these purposes for their
encouragement. But if faith is exercised, God is faithful;
and the perseverance of Daniel puts him morally in a
condition to appreciate the communications of God, being
a proof of his tness to receive them. e angel informs
him that the vision has reference to the Jews, and that it
belongs to the latter days (ch. 10:14). e strength which
is given him enables him to receive the communication.
e kings of Persia, under whose reign he received the
vision, are enumerated; and the attack on Greece by one
among them is announced. is gives rise to an attack on
Persia by Greece; and the Greek empire is established;
but it is afterwards divided into four parts. Two of these
four monarchies shall be more powerful than the others.
ey are also territorially in relation with the Jews. It is
on the territory of the latter that their wars are carried on.
e history of the kings of these two monarchies, thus in
conict on the territory of Israel, is given with considerable
detail under the names of king of the north and king of the
south. I do not enter into these details.
e history of the kings, the Maccabees and Antiochus
Epiphanes: a type of what shall happen in the last days
e history is carried on until the intervention of the
Romans, the ships from the coast of Chittim,1 and the
attack upon the Jews, and the temple, and the holy covenant.
e king of the north allies himself with the apostate Jews;
he pollutes the sanctuary, and sets up an idol; he takes away
the daily sacrice; he leads the wicked into apostasy (this is
the force of the expression in verse 32). But they who know
God shall be strong, and shall act with energy. ey who
understand, being taught of God, shall instruct the many.
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us far is the succession of the rst kings, and the history
of the Maccabees, and of Antiochus Epiphanes.<P403>
(1. e intervention of these in favor of the young king
of Egypt, whom Antiochus Epiphanes had conquered, led
to his going back and raging against the Jews, profaning
the temple, and forbidding Jewish worship.)
e result, on to the end, is then given in general
terms-the last part of the preceding history being a type
of what shall happen in the last days. e people again fall
for a time under the hands of their enemies. ey shall be
helped a little: some shall cleave to them with atteries. A
few even of those who understand, who might have been
expected to be preserved providentially by God, will also
fall by violence, to try the faith of all, and purge them, until
the time of the end. For this state of things is to continue
until the period appointed by God. It is the condition of
the Jews, especially in those days, that is, of the Seleucidæ
and Lagidæ, kings of north and south, and in general, until
the last days.
e use and meaning of “many” and “the Maschilim”
Some observations on the details may here be of use
to the reader. In chapters 9:27, 11:33, 12:3, the word
translated “many” has the article in Hebrew, and signies
the mass of the people, which makes the force of these
verses much more simple. e reader will also remark, in
contrast with the masses (ch. 11:33), “the Maschilim,” a
word found in the titles of many of the Psalms. ey that
understand, they that are taught of God, shall instruct the
many: there will be the activity of love for the truth in these
times of trial. In chapter 12:3, we have again those that
understand associated with those that instruct the many
in righteousness. Compare chapter 11:33. ey become
Daniel 10-11
711
victims, in verse 35, to violence. is last verse reaches,
as we have seen, to the end of this people’s history, while
under the dominion of the Gentiles. But more positive
details are given with respect to the end.
e self-willed, impious and idolatrous king; his
opponents; his end
e king1 is introduced-the wicked one who will exercise
power in Judea at the end of the age; and will prosper until
the indignation comes to an end-a period of which we
have already spoken. It is a king who acts in the land of
Judea; one of an impious character, and who follows his
own unbridled will, exalting himself above all, forsaking
the religion of his fathers, regarding<P404> neither
Christ nor any God, blaspheming the God of heaven, and
establishing idolatry; but in a way of his own. “He shall
cause them to rule over the many, and shall divide the
land for a reward.” It is rather dicult to say who these
are that he will cause to rule-I apprehend his followers;
but the general character of this self-willed, impious,
and idolatrous king who magnies himself above all, is
suciently plain. We nd, as the chapter goes on, that the
king of the south pushes at him, and the king of the north
comes against him like a whirlwind, overows and passes
over and enters into the land of delight, Judea. But Edom,
Moab, and Ammon escape his power, being reserved (Isa.
11:14) to be subdued by Israel itself. But he stretches out
his hand over the countries and pillages them. Egypt does
not escape, and they who dwell in Africa are at his feet.
But, disturbed by tidings from the north and east, he sets
up his tabernacles between Jerusalem2 and the sea, and
comes to his end, with none to help him. e end of the
king is not given here. It is the end of the king of the north,
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the subject here being the nations and the land of Israel,
and that which shall happen to the people of Daniel in the
last days. In the land there will be the wicked and impious
king, who shall be attacked by the king of the south. e
king of the north then pillages all the countries round, with
the exception of three, and he perishes in the land of Israel.
(1. Compare Isaiah 30:33 (reading “for the king also”)
and 57:9. He has the title of “the king” in the eyes of the
Jews-a title which of right belongs only to Jesus, the true
Messiah and King of Israel.)
(2. is is the regular meaning of the Hebrew. De Wette
so translates it.)
Daniel 12
713
73014
Daniel 12
Israel’s own history; the faithful remnant, their
deliverance and reward
Chapter 12 gives us more of Israel’s own history. In the
midst of all these events Michael, the archangel, stands
up in behalf of the people of Daniel. ere is a time of
trouble, such as never has been nor will be. Nevertheless
the people shall be delivered, that is to say, those who
are written in the book (the remnant belonging to God).
Jeremiah has already spoken to us of this period, and of
the deliverance (ch. 30:7). e Lord speaks of it also in
Matthew 24, drawing the attention of His disciples to
the abomination of desolation here mentioned, showing
clearly that He<P405> speaks of Jerusalem, the Jews, and
the last days, when the Jews shall be delivered. He also
points out the way in which the faithful are to escape, while
the tribulation continues. Taking these passages together
makes it easy to understand them both. e second verse
extends beyond the land of Israel, which had been the scene
of the prophecy until this. But their condition is stated in
a way not to own the countries of their dispersion. Many
of the race of Israel arise from their long abasement, some
to everlasting life, but others to everlasting shame. ey
that understand shall shine as the rmament. ey who
have instructed the many in righteousness shall shine as
the stars. (Compare the host of heaven and stars, chapter
8.) God will clothe with the brightness of His favor those
who will have been faithful during this period of rebellion
and distress.
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e length of the tribulation
After this one of God’s messengers inquires of the man
clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, how
long it should be to the end of the wonders (that is, of
the tribulation) by the intervention of God in deliverance
for Israel. e answer is, three years and a half, or 1260
days; and that, when God should have put an end to the
dispersion of the holy people, all these things should be
nished. Daniel asks for a fuller revelation with respect to
the end; but the oracle is sealed till the time of the end.
Many shall be tried and puried and made white, but the
wicked shall do wickedly. Alas! this must be expected.
None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall
understand-these “maschilim,” whom the Spirit of God
has mentioned.
Full blessing comes a little later, in which Daniel shall
have his part
Now, from the time that the daily sacrice shall be taken
away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there
shall be 1290 days. But the accomplishment of 1335 1 days
has still to be<P406> waited for; there shall be full blessing
to him that waits and arrives at their fulllment. Daniel
himself shall have his part in this time of glory.
(1. I have thought it possible that this computation may
arise from this. An intercalary month to the 1260 days,
or three years and a half, and then 45 days, if the years
were ecclesiastical years, would bring up to the feast of
tabernacles: but I oer no judgment on it. At any rate, the
statement is clear that then the sanctuary of God will be
cleansed in Jerusalem.)
e scope of Daniel’s prophecy
Daniel 12
715
It is to be observed, that Daniel never describes the
period that succeeds to the times of the Gentiles. He
gives the history of those monarchies, the oppressors and
seducers of the Jews in the latter days, and the deliverance
of the people; but there he stops. He is the prophet of the
times of the Gentiles until the deliverance.
Some striking points in Daniel; the character of the
Roman empire; the “little horn” of chapter 7 and that of
chapter 8; “the king” of chapter 11; the religious power
leading the Jews into apostasy
One thing may here occur to the reader as desirable for
the understanding of the whole, that is, to combine the
agency of those instruments, which the prophecy of Daniel
presents as acting in the land of Israel during the latter
days, and to identify them-if it may be done-with those
that are mentioned in other prophets. But this would be
to make a system of prophecy, and not to explain Daniel.
e Spirit of God has not done so in this prophet, which
is our present subject. I will, therefore, only allude to some
striking points.
Chapter 7 gives the character of the Roman empire,
especially under its last head. It is the close of the history
of the Gentile power. Chapter 8 (although I have often
thought that the king, who is described there, might be
the instrument in Israel of the western empire) gives to the
horn it speaks of a dierent character-as it appears to me, in
carefully weighing the passage-from that which constitutes
the western power,2 whether as a little horn, or exercised
in some local instrument. It is an eastern power arising
out of one of the four kingdoms into which Alexander’s
empire was broken up. His power, however, is derived from
another; it is a separate power acting in Syria. In chapter
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9 we nd the one<P407> who acts among the Jews in
Jerusalem itself, in connection with the Roman empire, be
the instrument employed who he may. It may be “the king”
of chapter 11 who nds himself between the kings of the
south and of the north. But it is very possible that the little
horn of chapter 7 acts itself. Still there is another power
dependent upon it, who acts at least religiously upon the
Jews, and leads them into apostasy-one who comes in his
own name, and does not regard the God of his fathers.
(2. We may compare Psalms 74 and 83, which conrm
the idea that there will be a destruction in Jerusalem,
as well as the compelled cessation of the daily sacrice
accomplished in a religious way by the prince who is to
come, the Roman of chapter 9, who will be among the
Jews, and who had professed himself to be their friend.)
e distinguishing marks of “the King” of chapter 11;
the kings of the south and north
“e king” of chapter 11 is a king in Judea, despising the
religion of his fathers, and acting in that country in a way
morally unbridled, reestablishing idolatry, and dividing the
territory among those in favor. e kings of the south and
north are Egypt and Assyria in the latter days, who attack
the king who has established himself in the Holy Land.
I suppose that “the king” answers to the second beast of
Revelation, though in another aspect, as the rst does to
the little horn of chapter 7.<P408>
e Minor Prophets
717
73015
e Minor Prophets
Introduction
Before entering on the study of the minor prophets, I
will avail myself of the opportunity they aord to make a
few remarks on the prophetic writings in general, pointing
out the subjects of which they treat. We may divide these
books into four principal classes according to the subjects
on which they speak-subjects often connected with their
dates.
e four principal classes of the minor prophets
1. ose which speak of the great crisis of the capture of
Jerusalem, and its consequences. ese are Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Daniel-all the greater prophets excepting
Isaiah. I place the Book of Daniel in this class, though
his chief subject be the consequences under Gentile
rule, till the Lord come; because, in fact, that event
changed the government of the world, setting aside
(in judgment) the elect people; and, while speaking
of the Gentiles, he does so in connection with the
substitution of the Gentile monarchy for that of God
in Israel, and in view of that people’s destiny.
2. ose which speak of the judgment of the Gentiles
as such. ese are Jonah, Nahum, Obadiah.
3. ose which speak of the entire fall of Israel, and
of the destiny that already threatened Judah, such
as Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Micah. ey announced a
penal judgment on the people, while unfolding with
more or less extent the dealings of God in grace at the
end. With the exception of Amos, who prophesied
in the reign of Uzziah, earlier than the other three,
they belong to the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
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Hezekiah (this last king forming an epoch in these
prophecies, the Assyrian having overthrown the
kingdom of Israel during the reign of Hezekiah, and
threatened Jerusalem).<P409>
4. ose which prophesied after the captivity, Haggai,
Zechariah, and Malachi: the rst two for the
encouragement of the people; the last to bear witness
to the failure of the Jews who had returned from
captivity, and to announce the testimony and the
judgment of the last days, which should separate the
remnant from the wicked around them.
e peculiar character of Joel and Habakkuk
I have not spoken of Joel and Habakkuk, because these
two prophets have each a peculiar character, not applying
to the judgment of the Gentiles, like Nahum and Obadiah,
and having no date to indicate a moral import founded on
the condition of Israel. ey both point out, in an especial
manner, the judgments of the last days. Joel speaks of a
particular invasion of the land, and of the judgment of the
nations, which is fullled at the same period, in connection
with the blessing of Israel. e Spirit in Habakkuk, while
availing Himself of the occasion of a particular judgment,
brings out the spiritual aections and the exercises of heart
produced by the sight of the evil, and of the consequent
judgment, and shows the condition of a soul taught of God
in view of these things.
e moral view of the prophetic subjects
We nd thus in the prophets (taking a moral view of
their subjects), rst, the judgment of the people in general,
the house of David being spared for a time, God raising
up Hezekiah; and on this occasion the true Son of David
is announced. is is contained in Hosea, Amos, Isaiah,
and Micah. Secondly the judgment of Jerusalem, and the
e Minor Prophets
719
substitution of the Gentile monarchy, the people of God
being entirely set aside; Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel;
the last discussing all the great principles of relationship
with God, and the destiny of all Israel as a land and nation.
irdly, the judgment of the world-Jonah, Nahum, and
Obadiah. Fourthly, the desolation of the last days, by the
northern army, and the judgment of the nations; followed
by the temporal blessing of Israel, and, in the Spirit, of
all esh. is is Joel. Fifthly, the chastisement of God’s
people by the successful violence of the man to whom God
allows power for this purpose. e spirit of the prophet,
overwhelmed by the evil which he beholds in<P410> the
people, and yet, still more so when they are oppressed by
their haughty enemies, understands that the just shall live
by faith; and that this oppression was needed to chastise
the evil, and to allow the pride of man to reach that height
of iniquity which leads to the judgment that annihilates
his pride forever. is is Habakkuk. e last chapter is the
expression of the sentiments produced by this instruction-
the desires, the recollections, and the condence of faith;
a faith that rests on God Himself, in the midst of all those
exercises of heart to which the history of His people gives
birth in the faithful. Precious consolation, when we think of
all that invests itself with the name of God! We next nd,
sixthly, that which appertains to the special circumstances
of the Jews, who have been brought back to Jerusalem in
view of the coming of Christ, and the consequences of that
coming, as well as of the people’s own responsibility with
respect to the circumstances in which they already stood:
Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Special points revealed in Jonah, Nahum and Obadiah
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ere remain still some details to be pointed out.
Jonah sets before us, in a very striking manner, the patient
goodness of God towards a world of proud and careless
sinners; and that in contrast with the impatience of the
man to whom the oracles of God are committed, to see
them accomplished for his self-satisfaction, even though it
were by the execution of the judgment which grace would
set aside on the humiliation of those who were its objects.
Nahum however, shows us, that this judgment must in
the end be executed, and that a long-suering-the only
result of which is to glorify God-would at length give place
to a judgment that should denitely and forever put an end
to all that exalted itself against God.
Obadiah reveals to us, not this general and public
pride of the world, but the hatred to God’s people which
is especially seen in those who were outwardly connected
with them, and who, according to the esh, claimed a right
to the inheritance of the rstborn.
God’s relationship with the world and His ways with
reference to Christ and with Israel; Jonah and Isaiah
e notice which God gives us in these prophets of His
relationship with the world, and of the manner in which
He looks upon it,<P411> is full of interest. Jonah presents
the force of that expression in Peter, “A faithful Creator.”
In Isaiah we may have remarked the rich development of
the ways of God in reference to Christ, and with Israel; and
the connection of these things, both with each other, and
with the judgment of the world. e purposes of God in
government are largely opened in that book.
e instruction given by Jeremiah, Ezekiel and
Daniel
e Minor Prophets
721
e three other great prophets instruct us in the vast
importance of that crisis in the history of the whole world-
that critical moment when Jehovah ceased to govern it in
the midst of His people, and removed the seat of His power
into the midst of the Gentiles, and placed that power in
the hands of men.
Amos and Hosea on the moral government of God
Amos and Hosea give us some precious light on the
moral government of God; they furnish the reader of the
Bible with striking pictures of the state of things-the facts,
which were the procuring cause of the judgment that God
inicted; not only the facts which resulted from God’s
dealings, but the conduct that gave rise to those dealings
with His people. is exposure of their conduct is full of
humbling interest.
Micah’s theme
Micah (as well as Isaiah), while occupied with these same
subjects, enlarges more on the promises in connection with
Christ, the eect of which would raise up the people from
the condition into which sin, and the judgment of God upon
the sin, had cast them. It may have been already remarked,
that the commencement of Isaiah, while speaking of the
Lord Jesus, is essentially occupied with Judah, Israel, and
the nations; the close of the book especially with Christ,
and the consequences of His rejection by the people.
e three post-captivity prophets
It will have been understood, from what I have already
said on the three prophets who prophesied after the return
from captivity, that they also are occupied with the same
two subjects.<P412>
e Messiah appears in Haggai, and with still more
detail in Zechariah. e condition and the destiny of the
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people are more seen in Malachi-the whole in connection
with the last days.1
(1. I desire to add here, in a note, something more detailed
and precise to that which I said on the subject of prophecy
at the beginning of Isaiah. Prophecy is the intervention of
God’s sovereign grace in testimony, in order to maintain
His relationship with His people when they have failed
in their responsibility to God in the position they held,
so that their relationship with God in this position has
been broken; and before God has established any new
relationship by His own power in grace. e subjects of
prophecy are, consequently, the following:
e dealings of God in government upon the earth,
in the midst of Israel; the moral details of the conduct of
the people which led to their ruin; God’s intervention at
the end in grace by the Messiah to establish His people
in assured blessing by God’s own power, according to His
purpose.
Two things are connected with these leading subjects:
the judgment of the nations, which was necessary for the
establishment of Israel in their own land; and the rejection
of Christ by the Jews at His rst coming into this world.
Finally, Israel had been the center and keystone of
the system that was established after the judgment upon
Noah’s descendants for their pride at Babel. In this system
the throne and temple of God at Jerusalem were: the one,
the seat of divine authority over all nations; and the other,
the place where they should go up to worship Him who
dwelt between the cherubim. Israel having failed in that
obedience which was the condition of their blessing and
the bond of the whole order recognized by God in the
earth, another system of human supremacy is set up in the
e Minor Prophets
723
person of Nebuchadnezzar. Prophecy treats, therefore, of
this unitary system also, and of its relationship with the
people of God on the earth.
Guilty of rebellion against God, and associated with
Israel in the rejection of Christ, and at the close rising in
revolt against Him, this power is associated with the Jews
in the judgment, as being united with them in evil.
What has been here said evidently applies to Old
Testament prophecy with which we are here occupied. But
this raises the question of the dierence of New Testament
prophecy. e assembly is not the scene of the earthly
government of God, but sitting in heavenly places: hence
prophecy cannot be the direct action of the Spirit on its
present state, as it was in Israel. e communications are
direct from the Father and from the Lord according to the
relationship in which it stands to them, just as prophecy
was with the Jews. But the Spirit can look forward in the
assembly to the time when the decay of the outward system
will prepare the way for the introduction of the direct
government of God again in the Person of Christ. is
in general we nd in the Apocalypse, from the beginning
of the assembly’s declension until it is rejected, and then
in the world. Hence we have also the prophecies which
announce the decay and ruin of the assembly after the
departure of the apostles, as in 1Timothy 4:1, 2Timothy
3, and 2essalonians 2. e decay itself is spoken of in
the Epistles of John, Jude, and 2Peter. Another subject
belongs to this and introduces prophecy into the Lord’s
mouth, with which James connects itself, but does not
concern the assembly properly speaking-the connection
of Christ as minister of the circumcision with the Jewish
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724
people, as in Matthew 24 and parallel passages in Mark
and Luke, and even Matthew
10:15 to the end, where the portion of the residue in
their service in Israel is traced on to the Lord’s coming.
So that in the moral ruin of the assembly on earth, and
the history of the residue, we have the connecting links of
these days and Christ’s mission to Israel, with His coming
in the last days. ) <P413>
Hosea
725
73016
Hosea
e time, subject and style of Hosea’s prophecy
e prophet Hosea prophesied during the same period
of time as Isaiah; but he is more occupied with the existing
condition of the people, and especially of Israel, although he
often speaks of Judah likewise. His prophecy is more simple
in its character than that of Isaiah. His style on the contrary,
is extremely energetic, and full of abrupt transitions. e
reign of that king of Israel, which is given as a date to the
prophecy, was outwardly a moment of prosperity to that
portion of the land. e prophecy itself will inform us of
its moral condition. e patience of God bore long with
the rebellion of His people taking pity on their aiction
(see 2Kings 17), even as long as this patience could be a
testimony to the real character of the God who exercised
it, and did not deny holiness and righteousness, nor give
a sanction to sin, so that it was still possible to bless the
people, without sacricing all true testimony (even in the
eyes of the heathen) to what God is-in a word, “Until there
was no remedy.”
e length of Hosea’s witness to Israel
Jeroboam reigned during a period which commenced
some years before the reigns of Uzziah, etc., kings of Judah.
Uzziah began his reign fourteen years before the end of
Jeroboam’s reign. He reigned fty-two years; Jotham
reigned sixteen years; Ahaz, sixteen years; Hezekiah,
twenty-nine years. So that Hosea prophesied over fty
years,1 and perhaps longer; being a witness, during those
long years, to Israel’s rebellion against Jehovah, his heart
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grieved and broken by the iniquity of a people whom he
loved, and whose happiness, as being the people of Jehovah,
he had at heart.<P414>
(1. e reign of Jotham was as to some part, possibly
the most of it, coincident with that of Uzziah, who was put
aside as a leper. )
e twofold division of the prophecy
e prophecy of Hosea is divided into two parts: the
revelation of God’s purposes with respect to Israel; and the
remonstrances which the prophet addresses to the people
in the name of Jehovah.
In this latter part he frequently speaks of Israel as a
whole; frequently also he distinguishes between Israel or
Ephraim and Judah. But I do not see that he addresses
himself directly to Ephraim (that is, to the ten tribes). He
speaks of Ephraim, but not to Ephraim. Moreover, this is
the general character of his prophecy - a kind of prolonged
lamentation, expressing his anguish at the people’s
condition, while unfolding all the dealings of God towards
them, except chapter 14, in which he calls Israel to such a
repentance as shall take place in the last days.
Hosea 1
727
73017
Hosea 1
Hosea’s wife and children-signs of Israel’s rebellion
and God’s judgment
e rst three chapters compose the rst part, or the
revelations of God’s purposes with respect to Israel. From
the outset Israel is treated as being in a state of rebellion
against God. e prophet was to unite himself to a corrupt
woman (a prophetic type, I doubt not), whose conduct
was the expression of that of the people. e son to whom
she gives birth is a sign, by means of the name which the
prophet is to give him, of the judgment of God on the
house of Jehu, and on the kingdom of Israel, which should
cease to exist. In fact, after the extinction of Jehu’s family,
although there were several kings, all was confusion in
the kingdom of Israel-the kingdom was lost. It is evident,
that, although the zeal of Jehu was energetic in extirpating
idolatry, so that in His outward government God could
sanction and reward it (and, as testimony, must needs do
so), yet the motives that governed him were far from pure.
God therefore, while in His public government blessing
Jehu, shows here, where He reveals His thoughts and His
real estimate of the work, that He judges righteously and
ho-lily; and that that which man brings in of ambition, of
cruelty, and even of that false zeal which is but hypocrisy,
concealing the gratication of its own will under the
name of zeal for Jehovah-all, in a word, which is of self,
is not hidden from His eyes, and meets<P415> with its
just reward, and so much the more from its being masked
under the great name of Jehovah.
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Jezreel, formerly a witness of the execution of God’s
judgment on the house of Ahab, should be so now of the
ruin of all Israel.
A daughter is afterwards born to the woman whom
the prophet has taken. God commands the prophet to call
her Lo-ruhamah (that is, “no more mercy”). Not only was
judgment executed upon Israel, but apart from sovereign
grace-the exercise of which was reserved for the last days-
this judgment was nal. ere was no longer any room for
the long-suering of God towards the kingdom of Israel.
Judah should yet be preserved by the power of God.
A second son is named Lo-ammi (that is, “not my
people”), for now Jehovah no more acknowledged the
people to be His. Judah, who for a time maintained this
position, although the ten tribes were lost, has at length
by her unfaithfulness plunged the whole nation under the
terrible judgment of being no longer the people of God,
and Jehovah being no longer their God.
Sovereign grace to Israel and the Gentiles
God, having thus briey but clearly pronounced
the judgment of the people, immediately announces,
with equal clearness, His sovereign grace towards them.
“Nevertheless,” says He, by the mouth of the prophet, “the
number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the
sea, which cannot be numbered.” But this grace opens the
door to others besides the Jews. “In the place where it was
said, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the
sons of the living God.”1e application of this passage
to the Gentiles is stated by the Apostle in Romans 9:24-
26; where he quotes the end of chapter 2 in our prophet,
as expressing grace towards the Jews, and the verse we are
now considering towards the Gentiles: while Peter (1Peter
Hosea 1
729
2:10), who speaks only to converted Jews, quotes the end
of chapter 2 only. ere is no doubt that the Jews will
come in, according to this principle, in the last days; but
the Holy Spirit expresses Himself here-as He has done
in a multitude of passages quoted by the Apostle-so as
to<P416> adapt Himself to the admission of the Gentiles,
when the time, foreseen of God, should come. But here
He goes farther, and announces the return of the children
of Judah and of the ten tribes, reunited, and subject to one
head, in the great day of the seed of God.2 It is said, “ey
shall come up out of the land”; and this has been supposed
to mean their return from a foreign land; but I have an idea
that it is rather that they all come up as one people in their
solemn feasts.
1. We may observe that it is not said, “ey shall be my
people” (an expression less suitable to Gentiles), but,
“e sons of the living God”; which is precisely the
privilege bestowed by grace on those who are brought
to know the Lord since the resurrection of Christ.
(2. is is the meaning of “Jezreel”: or, more exactly,
“God will sow.”)
us the judgment of a corrupt and faithless people,
and grace towards the Gentiles, and afterwards towards
Israel as a nation, are very plainly announced, in words
which, although but few, embrace the whole series of God’s
dealings.
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73018
Hosea 2
e remnant acknowledged in mercy as a people
Chapter 2 introduces some new elements of exceeding
interest; and, at the same time, a magnicent revelation of
the dealings of God in grace, towards Israel. e opening
words of the chapter appear to me to recognize the
principle of a remnant, acknowledged by the heart of God
as a people, and an object of mercy, while the nation, as a
body, is rejected by the Lord. But the thought of Israel’s
restoration, announced in the last verse of chapter 1,
gives the remnant its value and its place, according to the
counsels of God: “God has not cast o his people whom he
foreknew.” Nevertheless, Jehovah says by the Holy Spirit
to the prophet, not, “I have married thy mother, and I will
not put her away,” but, “Say unto your brethren, Ammi [my
people], and to your sisters, Ruhamah [received in mercy]”;
that is to say, to those who, acted upon by the Spirit of God,
really enter in heart into the mind of the prophet-those
who possess the character which made Jesus say, “ese are
my brethren and my sisters.” Such a position, in the eyes
of the prophet, have the people and the beloved of God. It
is thus that Peter applies chapter 2:23 to the remnant, that
Paul reasons in Romans 9, and that the Lord Himself can
take the name of “the true vine.”<P417>
Repentance; Jehovah’s grace
e prophet, then (he alone could do it), was to
acknowledge his brothers and sisters as in relation
with God, according to the whole eect of the promise,
although that eect was not yet accomplished. But, in fact,
Hosea 2
731
with respect to God’s dealings, God had to plead with the
mother-with Israel, looked at as a whole. God could not
own her as married to Him: He would not be her husband.
She must repent, if she would not be punished and made
bare before the world. Neither would Jehovah have pity on
her children, for they were born while she was going after
false gods. Israel ascribed all the blessings that Jehovah
had poured upon her to the favor of false gods. erefore
Jehovah had forcibly turned her back in her path. And since
she knew not that it was Jehovah who lled her with this
abundance, He would take it from her, and leave her naked
and destitute, and visit upon her all the days of Baalim,
during which Israel had served them and had forgotten
Jehovah. But having brought this unfaithful woman into
the wilderness, where she must learn that these false gods
could not enrich her, Jehovah Himself, having allured her
into it, would speak to her heart in grace. ere it should be,
when she had understood where her sin had brought her,
and was alone with Jehovah in the wilderness to which He
had allured her, that He would comfort her, and give her
entrance through grace into the power of those blessings
which He alone could bestow.
e valley of Achor the door of hope; blessing on the
ground of God’s grace and His faithfulness
e circumstance by which God expresses this return to
grace is of touching interest. e valley of Achor should be
her door of hope. ere, where the judgment of God began
to fall on the unfaithful people after their entrance into the
land, when God acted according to the responsibility of
the people-there would He now show that grace abounded
over all their sin. e joy of their rst deliverance and
redemption should be restored to them. It should be a
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recommencement of their history in grace, only it should
be an assured blessing. e principle of the relationship
of Israel with Jehovah should be changed. He would not
be as a Master (Baal) to whom she was responsible, but
as a Husband who had espoused her. e Baalim should
be entirely forgotten. He would<P418> take every kind
of enemy out of their land, whether wild beast or wicked
man, and He would betroth her unto Him in righteousness
and in judgment, in loving-kindness, in mercies, and in
faithfulness. She should know that it was Jehovah. Israel
being thus betrothed in faithfulness to Jehovah, and such
being the assured principles of His relationship with her,
the chain of blessing between Jehovah and His people
on earth should be secured and uninterrupted. Jehovah
should be in connection with the heavens, the heavens
with the earth, the earth should yield her blessings, and
these should meet all the wants of Israel, the seed of God.
And He would sow Israel unto Himself in the earth, and
her name should be Ruhamah (that is, received in mercy
or grace), Ammi (that is, my people); and Israel should say,
“ou art my God.” In a word, there should be an entire
restoration of blessing, but on the ground of grace and of
the faithfulness of God.
Hosea 3
733
73019
Hosea 3
Desolate and helpless, Israel shall later seek
the true royalty originally bestowed-Christ
Chapter 3 reveals another detail of the people’s history
during the time of their rejection, a rejection followed by
their return to God. Israel should remain for a long time
apart to wait for their God. ey should have neither true
God nor false god, neither king, nor priest, nor sacrice;
but afterwards they should return, and should seek Jehovah
their God, and David their king. at is to say, all Israel
should seek the true royalty originally bestowed by God,
of which Christ is the fulllment. ey should bow their
heart before Jehovah and His goodness in the latter days.
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73020
Hosea 4-5
e sins of priest, people and king specied; Judah
warned from Israel’s judgment; their common sin
In chapter 4 we see that the prophet addresses the
whole people together. In verse 15 he distinguishes Judah
from Israel, warning the former not to follow the apostasy
of the latter. He dwells upon the sins (vs. 2) of which the
people were guilty. Israel is rejected<P419> from being
a nation of priests unto Jehovah-a glory which had been
promised them (Ex. 19). is introduces the judgments of
the priests, properly so called, who took pleasure in the
sins of the people, that they might enrich themselves with
their sacrices. e proverb, “Like people, like priest,” was
exemplied in them. Whoredom and wine took all sound
judgment from the heart; and the people of God asked
counsel of their stocks and of their sta, sacriced in the
high places, and committed whoredom there. God would
give them up to the fruits of their iniquity.
It is then that God exhorts Judah not to follow this
course. Nevertheless, the Spirit of the Lord, in unfolding
all the iniquity of Ephraim committed in His sight, shows
that Judah also was guilty before Him (vss. 10,13).
Priests, people, king, all are addressed as objects of
the judgment; all had given themselves up to violence.
Although God had rebuked them, they would not return to
Him. Afterwards they should seek Him and not nd Him.
He would have withdrawn Himself from them. Another
sin is imputed to them both. Ephraim had perceived his
weakness, the consequence of his sin, and Judah his wound;
Hosea 4-5
735
but they had gone too far from Jehovah to have recourse
unto Him; they had sought help from the Assyrian. Could
he deliver the sinful people from the judgment of Jehovah?
Surely not. God would be to them as a lion that rends its
prey; and then He would go and return to His place, until
they should acknowledge their oence. In their aiction
they would diligently seek Him.
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73021
Hosea 6-7
e prophet’s entreaty to return to Jehovah; His
readiness to meet His people
Chapter 6. is calls forth a touching address from the
prophet, in which he entreats the people to return to Jehovah.
Faith has always this resource, because it sees the hand of
God, its God, in the chastisement, and can appeal to the
mercy of a well-known God. In verse 4 the Spirit expresses
the loving-kindness of God towards His rebellious children,
and His readiness to meet the smallest movement in their
heart towards good. erefore had God sent unto them
the testimony of the prophets-an <P420>extraordinary
means, as we have seen, for maintaining in grace the
relationship of the people with God, and that morally
and in reality. In the heart and mind of God it was not
a question of outward forms; the moral relationship with
God had failed. He had raised up prophets, as a means of
relationship with Himself, to bring back the hearts of the
people. But, as Adam1 did in the garden of Eden, they
had broken the covenant on which the enjoyment of the
blessings God had heaped upon them depended. ey had
acted treacherously towards Him. Jehovah their God was
ready to raise them up from their ruin; but if He came in,
His presence brought to light that iniquity which formed a
moral barrier to this restoration. ereupon the heart of the
prophet overows anew in lamentation over their iniquity.
e prophecy of Hosea is important in this respect, that
it furnishes us with the moral picture of the people whom
God has judged, the condition of this people which made
Hosea 6-7
737
the judgment inevitable. ere is nothing more aecting
than this mixture, on God’s part, of reproaches, of loving-
kindness, of appeal, of reference to happier moments. But
all was in vain. He must needs judge, and have recourse
to His sovereign grace, which would bring Israel back to
repentance and to Him.
(1. It should be read, “But they, like Adam, have
transgressed the covenant.” Adam, in Hebrew, is a proper
name and a generic name; but the latter generally with the
article ה (ha; “e Adam”). It is to this passage Paul refers
in Romans 5:14.)
ey encouraged the king and the princes in their
wickedness. Already the fruit of Israel’s iniquity was seen
in the weakness of the people; strangers also devoured
them; yet, for all this they did not return to Jehovah. If at
times, under the sense of their misery, they howled upon
their beds, they did not cry unto God. What a picture of
man under the eect of sin, who will not turn to the Lord!
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73022
Hosea 8
Swift and deserved judgment; unfaithfulness of heart
In chapter 8 it is especially the daring and continual
violation of the law of their God, with which Israel is openly
reproached, and which would bring judgment, with eagle
swiftness, upon them. Observe here, that the devastation
with which Israel is threatened reaches even to the temple
of Jehovah. Israel had forsaken<P421> the Lord to make
altars of their own, and Judah had leaned upon an arm of
esh. We may remark here, that the prophecy presents
Ephraim, as having entirely forsaken God, and as being
plunged in iniquity, and under impending judgment; Judah,
as being yet faithful outwardly, although at heart unfaithful
too. (See chapter 6:11, 8:14 and 11:12.) Judgment should
fall upon them both.
Hosea 9-11
739
73023
Hosea 9-11
e aection and judgment marking Hosea
Chapter 9. We have here that touching mixture of
aection and judgment which we nd again and again
in this prophet. Ephraim should not remain in the land
which was Jehovah’s, for God would not abandon His
rights, whatever might be the iniquity of the people. ey
should go into captivity, and come no more into the house
of Jehovah. e prophet and the spiritual man should no
longer be a link between them and Jehovah. God would
confound them by means of that which should have
enlightened and guided them. e prophet should even be
a snare to their soul, although formerly a watchman from
God. e corruption of Ephraim was as deep as in the days
of Gibeah, the history of which is related at the end of the
Book of Judges; and they should be visited. God had chosen
Israel from among the nations to be His delight, and they
had gone after Baal-peor, even before they came into the
land. If God is long-suering, He yet takes knowledge of
everything. Ephraim should now be a wanderer among the
nations.
Captivity and its place announced; God cannot
forsake His people, however great their sin
At the end of chapter 9 and in chapter 10 the Spirit
reproaches Israel with their altars and their golden calves.
ey should be carried into captivity. Judah should also
bear the yoke. e Assyrian should carry away these
calves in which Israel had trusted. After all (ch. 11) God
still remembers His early love for Jacob; He puts them in
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mind of all His loving-kindness, His goodness, His care
for them. ey should not return to their former condition
in Egypt; Assyria should be the place of their captivity.
But, however great the sin of Israel, the heart of their God
cannot forsake His people: He will not destroy them; He
is God, and not man; and, <P422>nally, He will place the
people, trembling now and submissive, once more in their
dwellings.
Hosea 12
741
73024
Hosea 12
Israel reminded of Jacob’s history and his supplication
e Spirit presents another aspect of the relationship of
Israel with God. He would punish Ephraim, and the sins
of Judah should be remembered. But He reminds them,
that there was a time when Jacob could wrestle with his
God, and make supplication to Him, and prevail; that
afterwards He found him in Bethel, and there God, even
Jehovah, spake to him, and revealed to him His name,
which, in fact, He had not done in Penuel. Take notice
here of the way in which God enters into all the details of
His moral relationship with Israel, in order that the force,
the meaning, and the righteousness of the “Lo-ruhamah,”
which He pronounces on His people, may be understood.
His love for them at rst, His tender care, the manner
in which He had already been requited at Baal-peor, the
horrible iniquity of Gibeah now renewed, their corruption,
their idolatry, their refusal to hearken, all is recounted; and
nally, the way in which Jacob had formerly succeeded
in turning away wrath, and how God had then revealed
Himself to him. Now, the name which He had proclaimed
on that occasion was His memorial forever. Let them then
return unto God, and wait on Him continually. But no;
all is corruption, and Ephraim will not even confess his
sin. He who had brought them up out of Egypt would
make them dwell again in tents without a country. God
had constantly spoken to them by His prophets, but the
iniquity was there. Israel had already been poor-a fugitive
and a wanderer. And God had interposed in sovereignty by
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a messenger of deliverance, when there was no covenant in
force on which the people could reckon to deliver them.
Hosea 13
743
73025
Hosea 13
Necessary, inevitable judgment; God’s own thoughts
of grace
Chapter 13 is the perpetual conict of the aections and
the judgment of God. e thought of their sin calls forth
the <P423>announcement of the necessary and inevitable
judgment.
As soon as the judgment is pronounced, the heart of
God returns to His own thoughts of grace. (See verses
1-4, 7, 9, 12, 14 and the last two of the chapter.) Nothing
can be ner than this intermingling of the moral necessity
for judgment, the just indignation of God at such sin,
pleading to induce Israel to forsake their evil ways and
seek Jehovah, who would assuredly have compassion; then
God’s recurrence to the eternal counsels of His own grace,
to secure unto the people whom He loved that of which
their iniquity deprived them; and, at the same time, the
touching remembrance of former relationship with His
beloved people. What condescension, and what grace,
on the part of their God! Well had Israel deserved the
sentence, “I will no more have mercy,” painful and terrible
as it was, in exact proportion to all that God had shown
Himself to be for Israel. Well can the Lord Jesus say, “How
often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen gathers
her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not.”
e manner also in which God deduces the history of
Israel’s iniquity, ever since they came into the wilderness,
and presents the means they had enjoyed for returning to
Him; the way in which He sets forth His dealings when
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He had to resist the unfaithful Jacob, yet had blessed him
when he wrestled in faith-He who never changes, and who
was still the same for Israel: the whole behavior of Israel
being marked by God, borne in mind, and brought forward
for the instruction of the people, if by any means it might be
possible to spare them: the whole of this picture, in a word,
drawn by God Himself, ministers profound instruction to
us, teaching us to cleave closely to Him who, however great
His patience may be, takes knowledge of all our ways, and
has ordained that we should reap that which we have sown.
e patience of God’s love; the special object of the
prophecy; God’s counsels
Nothing also exhibits more fully the prolonged and
marvellous patience of the love of God. It is the special
object of this prophecy to set forth the moral condition of
the people which led to the sentence of Lo-ruhamah, and
then to that of Lo-ammi, unfolded in the summary of God’s
ways with the people given in chapters 1-3-the relationship
that exists between the moral dealings of<P424> God
and His unchangeable counsels-the connection between
these counsels and the aections according to which God
accomplishes them-the ingratitude of man in his behavior
with respect to these aections-the long-suering which
the love of God causes Him to exercise towards His
ungrateful people-at last, that withdrawal on God’s part
which left His people a prey to their own corruption, and
to the snares of the enemy. e result is, that the condition
of His people obliges God to bring the judgment upon
them which their sin called for, when all the warnings of
God by His messengers had been unavailing. But this gives
place to the accomplishment of the counsels of God, who
brings His people to repentance, after having long given
Hosea 13
745
them up to the fruits of their own doings, and thus enables
them to enjoy the eects of His counsels.
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73026
Hosea 14
Israel’s acknowledgment of iniquity; his refuge; the
joyful consciousness of blessing
It is this last work that we nd in chapter 14 of the
prophet. Israel, returning to Jehovah, acknowledges his
iniquity, and addresses himself to the grace of his God.
us only could he render Him acceptable worship. His
heart, instructed now and cleansed, refuses the help of
Asshur, whom he had sought in his unbelief, when he
rejected his God who searched his ways; he will no longer
lean upon an arm of esh, nor on carnal strength, and he
casts o the false gods to whom he had bowed the knee.
His refuge should be with Him in whom the fatherless
nd mercy. God, therefore, who only waited for the return
of His people (a return which He had wrought in their
hearts by His grace, when the chastisement, necessary to
His moral glory, and to the good of the people, was ended)-
God Himself would heal their backsliding; He would love
them freely. His anger was turned away from His people.
His blessing and grace should be as the dew unto them.
Divine fertility and beauty should again be seen in Israel,
His people.
Verse 8 I would read thus: “Ephraim [shall say], What
have I to do with idols?” Jehovah says, “I have heard him
and observed him.” en Ephraim, “I am like a green r
tree.” And Jehovah an<P425>swers, “From me is thy fruit
found.” ere is repentance, which Jehovah acknowledges;
and the joyful consciousness of blessing, which God causes
to be felt, proceeds from Himself, who both secures and
Hosea 14
747
augments it. e last verse teaches us that which we have
already endeavoured to point out, namely, that this history
makes known the ways of God, which the wise- divinely
taught in heart-will readily understand. “For the ways of
Jehovah are right.” His path of action is straight onwards,
however great His mercy may be. e just, sustained and
helped by the strength of God, can walk there; but the
transgressors, through the very power that is present, shall
fall therein.
ere is indeed no prophet who gives the dealings of
God, as a whole, so completely as Hosea.<P426>
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73027
Joel
e import of the Book of Joel is suciently plain,
although a few passages may be obscure.
Joel 1
749
73028
Joel 1
Famine through an invasion of insects, sent by God
to show the day of Jehovah was at hand
e Spirit of God takes the opportunity aorded by an
unparalleled scarcity, caused by the invasion of innumerable
armies of insects, to rouse the attention of the people with
respect to the day of Jehovah; that great and terrible day
which was to come, and in which His power should be
manifested in judgment-in which He, who had shown
long patience, would at length interpose to vindicate the
glory of His name, and deliver it from the reproach cast
thereon by the sin of His people, and to take vengeance
on all that magnied itself against Him. at which is
here presented to us as the rod of Jehovah is the northern
army-the same that we so often nd in the prophets-the
Assyrian. But, in the end, it is God Himself who, after
having chastised His people by means of this enemy,
intervenes for his destruction, and for the judgment of all
the nations gathered round Jerusalem.
In examining the prophecy, the reader may observe
that it distinguishes between the famine that ushered in
the day of Jehovah, and that day itself. We have only to
compare chapters 1:15 and 2:1,11. e state of famine and
desolation, interpreted by the Spirit of prophecy, calls on
the people to present themselves before Jehovah, because
the day of Jehovah was at hand.<P427>
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73029
Joel 2
Warning of judgment then-present and of the future
Chapter 2:1 sounds the alarm, because the day is near.
e day is then described as the invasion of a people, the
like of whom had never been seen by Israel or the land. It
was, in fact, the army of Jehovah. His power was with it as
His rod. e voice of Jehovah was heard before it; the day
of Jehovah announced itself as there (ch. 2:11). We nd an
instance here of that which is usual in prophetic teaching-
some event which should act on the conscience of the
people, taken up by the Spirit of prophecy, no doubt, to
awaken their conscience at the very time of the event, but far
more with the purpose of using it as a picture of some event
in the last days of much greater moment. e judgment of
God, already deserved by the people, and suspended by His
long-suering over their heads, awaits the hour in which
this long-suering will have no more eect, will become
thenceforward useless, and in which the counsels of His
wisdom shall have arrived at their development. e Spirit
of God warns the people of this judgment: they should
have given heed to it at that very time; but He describes for
future days the instruments of God’s vengeance, when He
shall actually execute the judgment. us chapter 1 of Joel
takes up the ravages of these insects, which, it seems, had
caused a frightful scarcity, to act upon the conscience of the
people at the time of the prophecy; but from the beginning
of chapter 2 the prophecy throws itself into the future, and
introduces a people, who, in their turn, will ravage the land
of Israel in the last days. Yet, at the commencement of the
Joel 2
751
chapter, it is only the alarm that is sounded; but with the
announcement that the day is nigh at hand.
e alarm sounded; the enemy in the land
We are reminded here of the ordinance in Numbers 10,
in verse 9 of which it is commanded to sound an alarm, or
blow loudly with the trumpets, when the enemy should be
in the land, and Jehovah would remember the people. In
verse 7, if the congregation was to be gathered together,
they were to blow the trumpet, but not to sound an alarm.
us, in Joel 2:1, an alarm is sounded in Zion. A great
and strong people, who devour the<P428> earth, are in the
land. ere is but one thing that gives hope (and that one
is in itself the most terrible thing of all)-Jehovah conducts
this devouring people. It is His army. Faith takes hope from
this. He who has recognized the trumpet of God, he who,
awakened by the Spirit of prophecy when it sounded an
alarm, and described this terrible evil beforehand (and it is
the Spirit alone who does so) in its true colors, as Jehovah’s
doing-he, who has understood that it is God’s judgment,
that Jehovah is in it, can come before Jehovah according to
His own ways, and plead with Jehovah according to His
love for His people. is is the true character of faith in all
times. It is the especial position of the remnant in the last
days.
Testimony, warning and a call to repentance precede
judgment; the people gathered to plead with God
e day of Jehovah actually impending, and its true
meaning understood, through the intelligence given by the
Spirit of prophecy, is a call to repentance at the moment
when repentance is necessary, at the moment ordained
of God for His immediate intervention on behalf of
His people. ese are the ways of God. He to whom the
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moment is known acts outwardly to force His people to
take heed; and He acts in testimony to direct their hearts.
It was the same thing in the days of Jesus. e testimony
of God was there before the terrible judgment which soon
fell upon the people. He who had ears to hear proted
by it, and enjoyed the eect of God’s intervention in a
deliverance which He has proered, yet better, though of
another character, than that which Israel shall enjoy in the
last days. “e Lord added daily to the assembly such as
should be saved.”
Verses 12-14 give us the prophet’s testimony, calling
them to repentance, in view of the chastisements that were
hanging over the people. In verse 15 the trumpet is sounded
on God’s part to gather the people together, according to
Numbers 10:7, to plead with Him that He would turn away
His wrath, to address themselves to Him, as One whose
judgments were necessarily directed by Himself. Oh! how
good it is to have to do with God, and to see Him in the
judgment, although He is a consuming re. It was thus
David judged when he had numbered the people.<P429>
Blessing the result of humiliation
e humiliation, we perceive, was to be universal and
complete, for the priests themselves are called to stand
outside the sanctuary, to cry with the people unto Jehovah,
appealing to His faithfulness, that the heathen might
not say, “Where is their God?” as the Jews said to Jesus.
Jehovah would hear His people thus humbled. He would
ll their land with plenty, and they should no longer be
a reproach among the heathen; the northern army, which
had devoured the land like locusts, should be driven out
by the way of the east, judged on account of their pride,
because they magnied themselves to do great things. But
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it should be Jehovah who would do great things, delivering
them thus from all their fears. A full and abundant blessing
should be poured upon the land of Israel; the children
of Zion should rejoice in Jehovah their God; the people
of Jehovah should never again be ashamed. ey should
receive the abundance of all the years which had failed.
ey should know assuredly that Jehovah was among them-
He, Jehovah, their God, and not another; and they should
never be ashamed. e blessing, and He who bestowed the
blessing, should thus secure them from being a reproach
among the nations.
A new thing: God would pour out His Spirit upon all
esh
But this was not all. is was temporal blessing-the
reestablishment of Israel in the blessing of former days,
on the ground of grace, which would prevent their losing
it. But there was a new thing to be bestowed upon them.
God would pour out His Spirit upon all esh. e young
men and the old men of the people should have visions and
dreams-even on the servants and the handmaidens should
this rain from heaven descend. Verse 301 <P430>resumes
the subject in another aspect, and does not follow in direct
succession. Before the great and terrible day of Jehovah
there should be signs and wonders in the heavens, and on
earth the terror of Jehovah should be felt, and whosoever
should call on the name of Jehovah should be saved; for
in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem should be deliverance,
as Jehovah had said, and in the remnant whom Jehovah
should call.
(1. Verses 28-29 are a short independent prophecy,
and so are the verses from 30 to the end of the chapter,
and still more so. Verses 28-29 promise the outpouring
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of the Holy Spirit consequent on the repentance of the
nation, which was also accompanied by temporal blessings.
e repentance is the point of departure for both. So the
partial fulllment of Acts 2 was on those who repented,
though the temporal blessings could not come on the
nation. us, though there was that which was analogous
in the destruction of Jerusalem already accomplished, signs
and wonders will come before the great and notable day of
Jehovah yet to come. e blood of the new covenant was
shed and all things ready; but the nation would not repent
and could not get the blessing. e remnant got the spiritual
part of it with all esh; the Jews will, all, when they say,
“Blessed be he that cometh in the name of Jehovah.” e
Holy Spirit, who foresaw all this, has ordered accordingly
the structure of the prophecy.)
e principal events of the last days: temporal
blessing; the gift of the Holy Spirit; marvellous signs
and free salvation; wrath and deliverance; judgment and
mercy
ese, then, are the principal events of the last days,
briey but clearly set forth: a powerful enemy coming
from the north, as the instrument of Jehovah’s judgment,
ravaging the whole land; judgment upon the people as
an earthly people, according to their former position of
temporal blessing in relationship with God; the people
being called to repentance, by the Spirit of prophecy, in
order that God might turn away this scourge. On their
repentance God would restore temporal blessing, and
drive away the northern army and destroy it. e reproach
that rested on the people because of their sins should
cease forever. A double order of events is then announced,
giving a precise statement with regard to the immediate
Joel 2
755
relationship between God and the people; and that in two
respects. First, the temporal blessing, granted to the people
now restored to the favor of God, should be accompanied
by a gift yet more excellent, and more expressive of His
love. e Holy Spirit should be abundantly poured out; the
most simple and the most humble should partake of it. But,
in the second place,1 before the coming of the great day of
Jehovah, He would send marvellous signs, and whosoever
should call on His name should be saved. It would be the
returning in heart to Jehovah which He would own; for
in that dreadful day of the wrath of God there should be
deliverance in Zion, and in Jerusalem His chosen city. It
is He who intervenes in judgment; He would remember
mercy: there should be<P431> a remnant called by His
grace. e accomplishment of all this is evidently in the
last days, when the mystery of God shall be nished, and
He will manifest His government in righteousness and in
goodness on the earth, though the repentant remnant get
the spiritual blessing in a Christian way, as in like manner
that of the new covenant. e whole tenor of the prophecy,
I think, makes it plain that Joel does not speak of the beast
and Antichrist, but of the powers of the heathen from
outside the apostate system.
(1. is is an entirely distinct prophecy, which goes by
itself, preceding the day of Jehovah, as indeed is clearly
stated, which day ushers in the blessing previously spoken
of. e order in the last days will be repentance, deliverance
by the day of Jehovah, temporal blessing, the Holy Spirit.
Before the day of Jehovah signs will take place. is last
stands therefore necessarily apart, as the calling on the
name of Jehovah of course precedes the deliverance.)
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It will be remembered that it is said in Daniel 9 that
because of the protection of idols there will be a desolator.
Joel thus speaks, not of him who makes a covenant with
Israel, but of this desolator. Hence Jehovah roars out of
Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem. e judgment is
not from heaven against the beast and his armies, but from
Jerusalem against the enemies and desolators of Israel.
e rejection of the Messiah and its results
But there is still something to be pointed out here.
e Spirit of God has taken care entirely to nish His
subject. In verse 27 the deliverance from the northern
army is complete, and temporal blessing is so bestowed
that Israel may enjoy it permanently, under grace. Jehovah
is there, and His people shall never be ashamed. Verses
28-32 are quite apart, and this for very important reasons.
On the repentance of the people the Holy Spirit should
be bestowed; and, before the execution of the judgment,
whosoever called on the name of Jehovah should be saved.
Now the rejection of the Messiah necessarily brought in
judgment on the Jew (although other counsels of God were
to be accomplished with respect to the assembly, outside
the Jewish system); their temple has been given up to the
power of the enemy, who, as the army of Jehovah was to
destroy these murderers, and to burn up their city. e last
days therefore are come, the end of the age, with respect
to the Jews, although it is all to resume its course for a
little season for the denitive judgment, when the counsels
of God with regard to the assembly are fullled. But if
judgment thus hasted, mercy could not delay in coming
and anticipating it. e Holy Spirit was given, according to
this promise, to the remnant who in those days hearkened
to the call of Jehovah, and was poured out upon all esh.
Joel 2
757
Deliverance was found in Zion, although the redeemed
(those who were to be saved) were <P432>translated into
the assembly, the time for resuming the government of
God not being yet come-the time when He to whom it
was given should associate those with Himself who should
have learned to suer with Him, that they might also be
gloried together. en the nal accomplishment of all
this mystery should take place-the great and terrible day of
Jehovah: Christ should take His great power, and should
reign.
What we have been saying will explain the true
importance of the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans, and the place which that destruction holds in the
development of God’s dealings; and the connection, with
respect to His dealings on earth, between this destruction
and that which took place on the day of Pentecost.
God’s counsels of grace towards the Gentiles
ere is yet one thing to be remarked here, namely, that
in view of the counsels of grace towards the Gentiles, the
Spirit of God makes use of language that leaves the door
open to them. e Spirit is poured out “on all esh,” and
“whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be saved.”
e Apostle Paul frequently employs this last expression in
this sense.
e use of the expression “all esh”
It is interesting to recall here the dierent occasions
on which the expression “all esh” is used. It implies, as
to its full accomplishment, the important fact that will
take place at the end of this age, namely, that God will
come out of the narrow circle of Jewish ordinances to act
with regard to all mankind upon the earth. is is already
true morally by means of the gospel. But it will be true as
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to the government of God at the end. Christ, in coming
down to the earth, came into the narrow fold (although
His work, as well as His personal presence, had a much
wider extent), and He led His sheep out of it; and called
other sheep also to form them into one ock, saved, set
free, and nding pasture. e gospel afterwards was sent
out into the whole world, in connection with Jerusalem
or Galilee (I refer to its administration by means of the
twelve),1 and in connection with heaven<P433> by means
of Paul. God will, in fact, deal at length with all esh in His
governmental power.
(1. As to this mission we have only the general statement
of Mark, that they went everywhere (Mark 16:20). In verse
15 they are told to go into all the world. In Matthew 28 they
are told in Galilee to disciple all nations-all the Gentiles-
but this is another mission. As regards the passage in
Mark, the reader will remark that the questioned passage,
from verse 9, begins with Jerusalem and the ascension,
as in Luke; in verse 7, they are told to go into Galilee, as
in Matthew. ese are distinct missions. In point of fact,
wherever they went, the mission to the Gentiles (Gal. 2)
was given up to Paul and Barnabas, who had already been
on it. So far, the Matthew commission dropped. Mark’s is
individual, and a question of salvation; Matthew’s is not.
Luke’s is carried out by the apostles, as the speeches show
throughout the Acts, only the Gentile part was given up
to Paul. )
Isaiah 40:5. “e glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and
all esh shall see it together.” Here the mind of the Spirit
goes forward to the last days when Christ shall be revealed.
But Jehovah, who was to bless, is come, and the divine
testimony in the wilderness has been borne, even as the
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759
blood of the new covenant has been shed, although Israel,
as yet, has not acknowledged it.
Verse 6. “All esh”-even the people-“is as grass.” Israel
has not yet learned this, but the remnant have been blessed.
In Isaiah 66:16, God pleads “by re and by his sword
with all esh.” It is the judgment that extends to all.
Here, in Joel, it is the Spirit poured out upon all esh,
to manifest the presence of God, and the blessing that rests
upon all men, and is no longer conned to the Jews.
We may compare the warning in Zechariah 2:13; the
millennial song of Christ, Psalm 145:21: “Let all esh
bless his holy name forever and ever”; the judgment of the
apostates, Isaiah 66:24: “ey shall be an abhorring unto
all esh.” See also Genesis 6:12.
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73030
Joel 3
Circumstances of the last days detailed; the judgment
of the nations
In chapter 3 the Spirit develops, with more detail, the
circumstances of the last days-those days, in which God
would bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem. is
epoch precedes the time of peace and blessing, in which
the curse shall be entirely taken away. It is the judgment
of the nations, a judgment necessary for the vindication of
the rights of God, with respect to His oppressed people,
and for the manifestation, in the sight of the nations, of
that which He is in His government of the earth. e
ten<P434> tribes are not here in question, nor the general
restoration of Israel. Before the full blessing of His people,
God must resume His immediate government of them,
in the same place where He had given it up, again taking
possession of the seat of that government-a seat which He
had chosen Himself. ere will He plead in His power with
all the nations that dispute His rights, manifesting Himself
in the midst of His people, and acting as dwelling with
them, maintaining their rights as belonging to Himself.
Israel is His inheritance. e word “Jehoshaphat” means
“the judgment, or the scepter, of Jehovah or Jah.” ere,
in judgment, He pleads with the nations for His people,
whom they had scattered; and for His land, which they
had parted.
He recounts all the grievances of His people, as done
to Himself. By their means the same evils should be
Joel 3
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recompensed in judgment upon the nations that inicted
them.
e nations are called upon to prepare for war, they are
all to assemble, they are to wake up, quitting their peaceful
occupations, and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat. ere
Jehovah will sit to judge all the heathen round about.
And if the Gentiles are to awaken all their mighty men
for the day of God, God on His part will cause His mighty
ones to come down (vs. 11).
e execution of God’s judgment of the earth
But, however great the pride of the men of war, it
was, after all, the judgment of God-the sickle of God
reaping the earth. His press should be full, His vats should
overow; for the iniquity was great. In the Apocalypse the
harvest is distinguished from the vintage, the rst being
the judgment that separates the good from the wicked and
vice versa; the second, the execution of vengeance. Here it
appears to me that the two together present the general
idea of the execution of the judgment, although the symbol
of the winepress is the more forcible. What multitudes in
that day should learn the consequences of their contempt
of the word of grace, and of the pride that raised them
up in rebellion against Jehovah of hosts! All governmental
order, its grandeur and its power, should disappear before
the judgment of God.<P435>
Jehovah Himself resuming the reins of government
on earth from Jerusalem
But Jehovah Himself should resume the reins of
government on earth, and cause His voice to be heard from
Jerusalem. e heavens and earth should tremble at His
intervention. But if this intervention was the judgment of
the rebellious, He who intervened, Jehovah, would be the
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hope of His people-Himself the strength of the children
of Israel. And thus should they know Him to be Jehovah
their God; dwelling in Zion, His holy mountain. Jerusalem
should be holy, strangers should no more pass through it,
profaning it as their prey. Nor this alone: but there should be
abundant blessing on the land of His people; wine should
ow down from their mountains, and milk from their hills.
e rivers of Judah should ow with waters, and a fountain
should come forth of the house of Jehovah, and water the
valley of Shittim. (Compare Ezekiel 47 and Zechariah
14:8.) Egypt and Edom should be made desolate; but
Judah and Jerusalem should dwell in everlasting blessing,
for Jehovah should have cleansed them. We perceive that it
is eectual and sovereign grace.
Joel’s prophecy conned to Judah, Jerusalem and
Judea
It will be remarked also, that this prophecy does not go
beyond the blessing of Judah and Jerusalem; that the scene
of the judgment of the nations refers to the judgment
accomplished in the land of Judea, where their armies will
be assembled-accomplished to put Jehovah in possession
of His throne upon earth; or rather, He takes possession
of His throne by the execution of this judgment, and
afterwards He bestows blessing on the people whom, in
grace, He has cleansed. One devastating army is especially
pointed out-that which comes from the north. It appears
also that the desolation of the land, before the intervention
of Jehovah, will be very great, so that the people will be
a reproach among the nations; but woe unto those who
should despise the people of God!
If this army announces the day of Jehovah, Jehovah
Himself will interpose, that it may be in truth His own;
Joel 3
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and, in interposing, He delivers the people whom He
loves.<P436>
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73031
Amos
Of what and to whom Amos’s prophecy speaks; its
style and subjects
e prophecy of Amos is one of those that speak of the
moral condition of the people, and especially of Israel, who,
as we have already seen in the historical books, represents
more particularly the people as such; while Judah was but
as an appanage of the house of David, although containing
always a remnant of the people.
is prophecy, which does not extend so far down in
the history of Israel as that of Hosea, is less fervent than
the latter; sin is not pursued with that consuming re of
jealousy and of moral revenge, which characterizes the
burning and broken style of the prophet Hosea. Nothing,
doubtless, can be more decided against evil than Amos;
but, although very simple, he speaks, as it were, from higher
ground. In Hosea we see the anguish of heart produced
by the Holy Spirit, in a man who could not endure evil
in the people whom he loved as being the people of God;
while in Amos there is more of the calmness of God’s own
judgment. ere is much less detail with respect to sin.
Certain prominent transgressions of a special character are
pointed out, and the most complete and absolute judgment
is proclaimed.
Amos 1-2
765
73032
Amos 1-2
Jehovah pronouncing judgment from the place of His
throne on the nations surrounding His land
In the outset Jehovah, proclaiming His own rights from
the place of His own throne, roars from Zion and utters
His voice from Jerusalem. Afterwards, quite at the end, the
restoration of the house of David and of Israel likewise
is announced. We may remark that, before the judgment
of Israel and Judah is declared,<P437> that also of the
surrounding nations is pronounced; and this, on account of
their hostile and cruel behavior to the people of Israel, and
on account of that also which was essentially cruel in them,
and opposed even to the sentiments of humanity; for God
takes cognizance of all these things.
Syria is to be carried away captive into Assyria. e
means employed for the judgment of the others is not
mentioned. Gaza and the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon,
Moab, pass successively in review; and, nally, Judah and
Israel. God enters into much more detail with respect
to the sins of His people. He had indeed specied that
which characterized each nation judged; but with Israel
He goes into detail. We may here again remark-that which
we have seen elsewhere-that these judgments of Jehovah
fall upon the nations that are established on the territory
promised to Abraham, and belonging, according to this
gift of God, to the people of Israel. God purges His land of
that which deles it, and consequently alas! of Judah and
Israel likewise; but at the same time asserting and retaining
His own rights, which He will exercise in grace on Israel’s
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behalf in the last days. We see here the folly of the hope
entertained by the enemies of the people, in seeking their
ruin with the idea of nding their own advantage in it.
Doubtless God can chastise His people, for He must
make His own character manifest; but the malice of their
enemies brings His judgment upon them also.
e sins of Judah and Israel specied
With respect to Judah, Jehovah especially points
out their contempt of the law and disobedience of His
commandments.
In Israel the sin specied has a character more
independent of the law (the reason of which is easily
understood, if we consider the condition of that people),
and connected with that departure from the fear of God,
which allows man to give way to the selshness of his own
heart, and to oppress those whom God regards. ey sell
the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.
ey care not for the suerings of the poor; but even at the
altar- supposed, at least, to be that of Jehovah-they lie down
upon garments pledged through poverty, and make merry
with the nes inicted for transgressions. Nevertheless God
had brought them up out of Egypt, had destroyed their
enemies to put them in <P438>possession of their lands,
and had given them the tokens of an especial relationship
with Himself, whether by persons set apart for Himself,
or by those whom He had sent as messengers to them;
but they had caused the former to dele themselves, and
had commanded the latter not to prophesy in the name of
Jehovah. e heart of God was crushed, as it were, by their
sins; and His judgment should overtake them. e charge
of despising the poor is often repeated in this prophecy
Amos 1-2
767
(ch. 2:7; 4:1; 5:11; 8:6); and this in special connection with
Israel.
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768
73033
Amos 3
Judah and Israel addressed together as nearest to God
and therefore more responsible
After having specied each one of the nations that
were found on the territory promised to Abraham, God
addresses Judah and Israel together-the whole family
whom He had brought up from Egypt. ese only had
Jehovah known of all the families of the earth; therefore
would He punish them for their iniquities: a solemn but
very simple principle. If we are in the place of testimony-of
testimony to God-it is needful that this testimony should
be in accordance with the heart and the principles of
God-that it should not falsify His character-that our walk
should agree with our position. And the more immediate
this testimony is, the more jealous will God be with respect
to His glory and our faithfulness. Judgment begins at His
house. If there was evil in the city, it was that Jehovah had
interfered in judgment.1 Two cannot walk together except
they are agreed. Two important declarations are attached to
this principle. On the one hand, if God intervene and make
His great and terrible voice to be heard, there is a cause:
on the other hand, God would not act without warning
His people. He would do nothing without revealing it to
His servants the prophets. But the lion had roared: should
they not tremble? Jehovah had spoken; the prophet could
not be silent. is was the condition of Israel. It is this
latter kingdom that, for the moment, the Spirit of God
particularly addresses. ere should be left but a few little
<P439>fragments of them, even like the morsels of a lamb
Amos 3
769
that might be taken out of the lion’s mouth after he had
devoured it. Finally, in speaking here of Israel, Jehovah
species their idolatrous altars, and declares that all the
glory of the people shall perish. We may again remark,
here, the way in which the kingdom of Israel is taken for
the whole people, although Judah is spoken of and judged
in its turn. (See verses 9 and 12-14.)
(1. ough some take it as moral evil which would lead
Jehovah to interfere-then shall Jehovah do nothing.)
With the exception of the rst two chapters, which go
together, each chapter in Amos is a distinct prophecy.
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770
73034
Amos 4
e oppression of the poor and will-worship
Chapter 4 presents the oppression of the poor, and the
worship which the children of Israel rendered at will in the
places they had chosen. God also would act as He saw t.
He had indeed already done so; nevertheless they had not
returned unto Him. He had repeated His chastisements in
the most signicant manner, but in vain. erefore He calls
on Israel to prepare to meet Himself.
Amos 5
771
73035
Amos 5
Real repentance and righteousness called for instead
of religious observance and idolatry
After having deplored the ruin of Israel, He contrasts
the places of their false worship with Jehovah, the Creator,
and exhorts them to come unto Him and live. But Israel
put o the thought of the evil day. Evil had the upper
hand. e wise man kept silence, for it was an evil day.
Nevertheless the Spirit calls to repentance. It might be
that Jehovah would have compassion on the aiction
of Joseph. Yet there were those in the midst of all this
iniquity who professed to desire the day of Jehovah. e
prophet tells them that it should be a day of terror and
of judgment, of darkness and not of light. ey should
fall from one disaster into another. Jehovah took no
pleasure in their oerings and sacrices; He could not
bear with their solemn feasts; He desired judgment and
righteousness. But the people had been the same from the
beginning: it was not Himself that they worshipped in the
wilderness,<P440> but their Moloch and their Remphan,
which they had made to themselves; and they should be
carried away captive, beyond even the land that was now
the object of their dread. is last appeal of the prophet
involves deeply important instruction. e evil principle
which was their ruin had been among them from the
beginning; the interposition of God’s power had checked
it, and had turned aside its eect; but there it was, and with
the decline of faith and godliness, when human interests
no longer restrained it, the same evil had reappeared. e
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772
calves of Dan and Bethel were but a renewal of the calf
they made in the wilderness. e people of Israel showed
themselves in their true character, notwithstanding all the
long-suering of God; and the judgment dates from the
rst act that displayed what they had in their heart. Here
again we see all Israel looked at morally as one, when the
ten tribes are spoken of. But this is made evident in a clear
and striking manner by the whole prophecy.
Amos 6
773
73036
Amos 6
False condence; apparent prosperity and idle ease
Chapter 6 dwells upon the false condence that deceived
the heads of Israel. A similar judgment to that of Calneh
and Hamath might fall upon Israel. eir chief men gave
themselves up to luxury, as though all were prosperity. ey
had no sense of the aiction of Joseph. ey should be
the rst to go into captivity. Jehovah would give up Israel
to desolation. He would abhor the excellency of Jacob, for
they trusted in that which was but van-ity-in their golden
calf. But He whom they despised would raise up an enemy
that should aict them from Hamath to the borders of
Egypt.
Darby Synopsis
774
73037
Amos 7
God’s patience and the prophet’s intercession
had arrested the scourge, but Jehovah would arise to
judgment
God had long waited patiently. More than once He
had been on the point of giving Israel up to judgment.
e intercession of the prophet, that is to say, of the Spirit
of Christ which wrought in the<P441> prophets (an
intercession, indeed, that owed its ecacy to His suerings;
see Psalm 18), had arrested the scourge. But now Jehovah
would arise to judgment, with the measuring-line in His
hand, and nothing should turn Him aside. With the house
of Jehu Israel should fall. In fact this is what took place. It
may be that the preceding judgments apply to the downfall
of the family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat; and to that of
the family of Ahab. Israel had been raised up again after
each of those events, but not so after the house of Jehu had
fallen.
e king’s chapel and court: man’s religion cannot
endure truth’s testimony
A prophecy like this was out of place in the king’s
chapel. A religion, arranged by the policy of man without
the fear of God, cannot endure the testimony of truth.
Bethel was the house of the kingdom. e priest reports
it all to the king. Let the prophet go away to Judah. ere
Jehovah was owned, and the truth might be proclaimed;
but this was not the place for such unpalatable truths. e
king was the ruler in all religious matters: man was master.
But Jehovah does not renounce His own rights. Amos was
Amos 7
775
neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. He had not this
function from man, nor from the desire of his own heart.
Jehovah, in His sovereign will, had appointed him, and his
word was the word of Jehovah. e priest, who opposed it,
should suer the consequences of his rashness, and Israel
should surely go into captivity.
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73038
Amos 8
Deserved judgment must come
Chapter 8 renews the declaration, that the end of Israel
was come on account of their iniquity. God would no longer
pass it over. e prophet announces likewise the distress
the people should come into from being deprived of all
guidance from Jehovah. ey who trusted in the vanities
that Israel had set up for themselves should fall, and never
rise again.<P442>
Amos 9
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73039
Amos 9
Exact and discriminative judgment executed by God
Himself
Chapter 9 presents Jehovah Himself as directing the
judgment in such a manner that Israel should in no wise
escape it, God treating them as He would the nations that
were strangers to Him, as the Philistines or the Syrians,
whom, in His providence, He had brought from other
lands. Nevertheless God did not forget Israel. He executed
the judgment Himself, so that, while Israel should be sifted
among all the nations, not one grain should be lost. e
wicked who did not believe in the judgment should be
overtaken by it.
God’s ultimate purposes of grace to David’s seed and
to Gentiles
In that day (that is, in the day of Jehovah’s nal judgment)
He would not raise up the tabernacle of Jeroboams and
of Jehus, although He had given them a place for a time
during His long-suering government; but (fullling His
own purposes of grace) He would raise up the tabernacle
of David His elect, and rebuild it in its glory. He would
raise it entirely from its ruins, that His seed might possess
the remnant of Edom and of all the heathen that are
brought to know the name of Jehovah.1 At that time
Jehovah would also bring Israel back from their captivity,
and reestablish them in full blessing. ey should enjoy the
fruits of their land. Jehovah would plant His people upon
their land, and<P443> they should be no more pulled up. It
was the land which He Himself had given them.
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(1. is passage is quoted by the Apostle James in
Acts 15. Here (in Amos) it is quite clear that it applies
to the last days, and it has sometimes been attempted to
apply it to the same period in Acts also, laying stress on
the words, “After this.” But I am persuaded that those
who do so have not rightly apprehended the meaning of
the Apostle’s argument. He quotes this passage for one
expression alone, without dwelling on the remainder; and
this is the reason, I doubt not, that he is satised with the
translation of the Septuagint. is expression is, “All the
Gentiles upon whom my name is called.” e question
was, whether Gentiles could be received without becoming
Jews. After having armed this principle, he shows that
the prophets agreed with his declaration. He does not speak
at all of the fulllment of the prophecy; he only shows that
the prophets sanction the principle, that Gentiles should
bear the name of Jehovah: “All the Gentiles upon whom
my name is called.” ere would then be such. God knew
all His works from the beginning of the world, whatever
might be the time of their manifestation.)
e ways of God of Israel; their judgment and assured
future restoration- the sure mercies of David
us we nd, in the prophet Amos, the judgment of the
kingdom of Israel; but this judgment applied to the whole
of Israel as
a nation, and their assured restoration, in connection
with the reestablishment of the house of David in the
last days-a reestablishment accomplished by God, which
nothing should again overthrow. He would plant them, and
none should pluck them up: a testimony which assuredly
has never been fullled, and as assuredly will be; Israel shall
be in their own land and never again removed.
Amos 9
779
In general, then, this prophet sets before us, not great
public events in the government of God, but the ways of
God with His people, in view of their moral condition;
the ten tribes, or the kingdom of Israel, being looked at
as representing all Israel as a responsible nation, the link
of their condition at that time with their original position
(when, through the grace and power of Jehovah, they had
come up out of Egypt), being the golden calves of Sinai
and of Bethel.
e prophecy closes, as we have seen, with the
reestablishment in blessing of the whole people, under the
house of David, according to the sovereign grace of God
who changes not. It should be, for the whole nation, the
sure mercies of David.<P444>
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73040
Obadiah
Edom’s perpetual hatred to Jehovah’s people; the
inveterate enemy of Jerusalem
Edom is frequently spoken of in the prophets. is
people, who, as well as Jacob, were descended from Isaac,
had an inveterate hatred to the posterity of the younger
son who were favored as the people of Jehovah. Psalm 137
tells of this hatred in the seventh verse. In Psalm 83 Edom
forms a part of the last confederacy against Jerusalem,
the object of which was to cut o the name of Israel
from the earth. Ezekiel 35 dwells upon this perpetual
hatred, shown from the rst in the refusal to give them a
passage through the land, and upon the desire of Edom
to possess the land of Israel. Our prophet enlarges upon
the details of the manifestation of this hatred, which burst
forth when Jerusalem was taken. It is possible that there
was something of this sort when Jerusalem was taken by
Nebuchadnezzar. Edom is united with Babylon in Psalm
137 as the inveterate enemy of Jerusalem.
eir future attitude and complete destruction; the
armies of the nations to be assembled in Edom’s land
But it is evident that the prophecy extends to other
events. Jerusalem shall again be attacked by these Gentiles,
who seek to satiate their hatred to the city of Jehovah, and
to gratify their ambitious purposes. Edom plays a sorrowful
part on this occasion, and its judgment is proportioned to
its sin. e nation is entirely cut o. When the rest of the
world rejoice, the desolation of Edom shall be complete.
Edom had purposed to take advantage of the attack of the
Obadiah
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nations upon Jerusalem, to possess itself of the land, and
had united with them to take part in the attack, by lying in
wait-as was natural to a people whose habits were those of
the Arab tribes-to cut o the retreat of the fugitives, laying
hands, when possible, on their substance, and giving them
up also to<P445> their enemies. e men of Edom knew
not that the day of Jehovah was upon all the nations, and
that this conduct would but bring down an especial curse
on their own heads. eir judgment is thus described: God
takes away their wisdom, their pride deceives them, their
strength fails them, in order that they may be entirely cut
o. We have seen them joining the last confederacy against
Jerusalem, and taking part in the destruction of that city.
But it appears that their confederates deceive them (vs.
7); and Edom, thus ill-treated by former allies, becomes
“small among the heathen” (vss. 1-2). e nations are the
rst instruments of Jehovah’s vengeance. But another and
yet more terrible event is linked with the name of Edom, or
Idumea, and is the occasion of Jehovah’s judgment falling
upon that people. It is in Edom that the armies of the
nations will be assembled in the last days. We have the
account of this in Isaiah 34 and 63. See Isaiah 34:5-6, the
rest of the chapter displaying the judgment of desolation in
the strongest possible language. Isaiah 63 shows us Jehovah
Himself returning from the judgment, having trodden the
winepress alone. Of the peoples there were none with Him.
Edom’s judgment reserved for Israel as Jehovah’s
instrument
Finally, Israel itself shall be an instrument in the hand
of Jehovah for the judgment of Esau (Obad. 18). e
destruction in Isaiah relates especially to the armies of
the nations, which, in their movements, nd themselves
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assembled in Edom. e part which Israel takes in the
judgment is on the people in general; and, I suppose,
afterwards, when Christ is at their head as the Messiah
(compare verses 17-18); and Isaiah 11:14 appears to
conrm this view of the passage. At all events it takes place
after Israel’s blessing.
Complete destruction predicted by other prophets
at none shall be left of Edom is also declared in
Obadiah 5-6, 9 and 18, and Jeremiah 49:9 and 10-22; and
it will be observed that there is no restoration of a remnant,
as in the case of Elam and others (Jer. 49:39). A part of
the latter prophecy establishes the same facts as that of
Obadiah, in nearly the same words. e same judgment is
pronounced in Ezekiel 35, and in Isaiah 34, already quoted.
We see in these chapters, as well as in<P446> Isaiah 63,
that it is the controversy of Jerusalem, that Jehovah pleads
with Edom (Ezek. 35:12; Isa. 34:8; 63:4). In these passages
Jehovah does not forget His thoughts of love towards Zion
and His people.
e eect of God’s call to repentance, of His
unchangeable faithfulness and unwearying love;
deliverance upon Mount Zion
He closes the prophecy of Obadiah with the testimony
of the eect of His call to repentance, of His unchangeable
faithfulness to His promises and unwearying love. Power
and might against those formidable enemies should be
given to Israel, who should in peace possess the territory
which their enemies had invaded. Deliverance should
be on Mount Zion; from thence Mount Esau should be
judged, and the kingdom should be Jehovah’s.
As corrupt power had been judged in Babylon, so in
Edom hatred to the people of God.<P447>
Jonah
783
73041
Jonah
Jonah’s history a picture of that of the Jews
e prophet Jonah gives us the opportunity of applying
his history to many sentiments that arise in the human
heart in all ages. His personal history-the history of a man
who was upright in the main, but who had not courage to
follow out the will of God boldly-is so intermingled with
his prophecy, as to make this individual application easy
and natural. Nevertheless the history of Jonah is that of
one who bears testimony on the part of God, rather than
that of a believer in his ordinary life. It is the history of
the human heart, when the testimony of God towards the
world has been committed to it, and that of the sovereign
and governmental dealings of God in connection with the
workings of that heart. It is on this account that we nd
in the history of Jonah a picture of the history of the Jews
in this respect, and even in some respects of that of the
Messiah; only that the latter entered into it in grace, and
was always perfect in it. I shall point out the leading features
which the Spirit of God has been pleased to develop in this
narrative, deeply interesting as it is in this aspect.
His prophecy conned to the threat of Nineveh’s
destruction
It is evident that in this prophecy the prophetic events
are but the occasion, and, as it were, the frame of the great
principles that ow from them; or rather the prophetic
event. For the prophecy is conned to the threat of the
destruction of Nineveh in forty days, a threat whose
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accomplishment was averted by the repentance of that city.
Jonah’s history forms the chief portion of the book.<P448>
Jonah 1
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73042
Jonah 1
Called to announce righteous judgment, Jonah
invests himself with the importance of his message
Nineveh-which represents the world in its natural
greatness, full of pride and iniquity, regardless of God and
of His authority- had deserved the righteous judgment of
God. is is the occasion of all the development of God’s
dealings that we nd in this book.
Jonah is called to announce this judgment. e wretched
tendency of the nature of man, to whom the testimony of
God is committed, is to invest himself with the importance
of the message with which he is charged. at God may so
invest him in His grace we see in the history of that grace;
that the man who bears the message should do so is but
pride and vanity. e result with such is, that they cannot
bear with the grace that God exhibits towards others, nor
with any communication of His mind or nature through
any other means than their own, even although it should
be in grace. It is they who must do the thing themselves;
it is they who must have the glory of it; and thus all their
thoughts of God are limited to their own point of view-
to the portion committed to them of God’s message.
Compare that which we have seen in the case of Moses
and of Elijah, those eminent servants of God. e sense of
that supremacy in God which can pardon is too much for
the heart; it cannot be borne. e self-renunciation that
seeks only to do the will of God, be it what it may, leaves
God all His glory; and, if He glories Himself by showing
grace, can bless Him for it most heartily. Without this we
Darby Synopsis
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shall like to wield the sword of His vengeance-a thing
more in harmony, alas! with our natural hearts, and more
adapted to increase our own importance.
Vengeance and grace to the messenger’s natural heart
“Wilt thou that we command re to come down from
heaven, as Elias did?” is the natural expression of the
heart. For vengeance is the manifestation of power. Grace
leaves sinful man to enjoy mercy-will not bring in power,
but spares those against whom power might have been
exercised. On the other hand, it is God alone who can
show grace.
e threat of vengeance is connected in the mind with
the man who has received authority to announce it. e
message and the<P449> messenger are both feared. A
pardoned man is at the time more occupied with his own
joy, and with Him that pardoned, than with the messenger
of pardon. Moreover, when grace is shown, it connects
itself with the alarm inspired by the threatened judgment.
And if the messenger be not himself imbued with the spirit
of love, he feels himself in the presence of a God who is
above his thoughts; and he is afraid of Him, because he
does not know Him. He fears also for his own importance,
if this God should be more gracious than the narrowness
of his heart would desire and the message committed to
him expressed.
Jonah’s displeasure at grace to Gentiles
Such was the case with Jonah, although he feared God.
He ees from the presence of Jehovah, feeling that he
cannot reckon upon Him to satisfy the little exigencies of
his contracted heart. (Compare chapter 1:3 and 4:2.)
God is felt to be above the desires of man’s heart. On
the other hand, the truth of God pleases us when we can
Jonah 1
787
invest ourselves with it for our own importance. us it
was with Israel.
Israel were the depositary of God’s testimony in the
world, and gloried in it as clothing themselves with honor,
and Israel could not bear with the exercise of grace to the
Gentiles. It was by their opposition to this that the Jews
lled up the measure of their iniquity to bring the wrath of
God upon them. (Compare Isaiah
43:10 and 1essalonians 2:16.)
Jonah a type of Israel’s unfaithfulness to render
witness to God
Two principles, then, on which in fact the testimony
of God may be rendered, are unfolded in this prophecy.
First of all, man is called to render this testimony as a mark
of faithfulness to God, for which he is responsible. is is
the position in which we have already seen that Israel was
placed. eir whole history is before us in conrmation of
this thought. Blessed by God with nearness to Himself,
Israel should have been a witness to the whole world of
what the only true God was. But, wholly incapable of
apprehending His grace towards the Gentiles (although
the house of Jehovah was at all times the house of prayer
for all nations), Israel failed even in maintaining their own
faithfulness, and <P450>consequently therefore in that
which was the only means of making the world, as such, to
understand the true character of God. Instead therefore of
being made a blessing to others, they only involved them
in the divine judgments that were to fall upon themselves.
is is the picture which Jonah sets before us in his own
history at his rst receiving the message of God. e same
thing will take place at the end of the age. Israel, unfaithful
to God amid the billows of this world, insensible through
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their blind unbelief to the judgment which is ready to
swallow them up, will drag into the results of their own
sin all the other nations; and then the intervention of God
will bring the latter also to acknowledge His power and
His glory.
ose who truly acknowledge God must own His
glory and grace to others or become unfaithful in their
own walk
Let us here remark, that the principle we are speaking
of is always true. If those to whom God in His grace has
committed a testimony, do not employ this testimony in
behalf of others according to the grace that bestowed it,
they will soon become unfaithful in their own walk before
God. If they truly acknowledged God, they would feel
bound to make known His name, to impart this blessing
to others. If they do not own His glory and His grace, they
will assuredly be unable to maintain their own walk before
Him. God, who is full of grace, being our only strength, it
cannot be otherwise.
e reason for Jonah’s failure
e rst picture, then, that is set before us is that of a
man called to be God’s witness in the midst of a proud
and corrupt world, which follows its own will, without
regarding the authority or the holiness of God. But this
man is not suciently near to God to enter into the spirit
of His holy and loving ways; and therefore, knowing that
He is gracious, shrinks from the task of representing such a
God before the world. To invest himself with God’s name
for his own honor, Jonah, the Jew, would not refuse. But
to bear the burden necessary to the maintenance of the
testimony of such a God, so gracious, so long-suering, as
well as holy, this was too hard a thing for the proud and
Jonah 1
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impatient heart of a man who desired to have his own will
carried out in judgment, if the others would not obey it in
holiness.<P451>
Jonah’s ight was from Jehovah, not from the city’s
opposition; Jonah contrasted with the faithful witness
Observe, that although Jonah ought to have lifted up his
voice against Nineveh, it is from the presence of Jehovah
he ed, not from the carnal opposition of the city. Christ,
our blessed Lord, is the only One who accomplished the
task of which we speak. He is the faithful witness. We may
compare Psalm 40, in which He speaks of the manner
in which He undertook and accomplished it-He who
dwelt in a glory that placed Him so entirely above such a
position, that sovereign grace alone could bring Him down
into it-a glory however which alone made Him capable
of undertaking and accomplishing it, in spite of all the
diculties which the enmity of man put in His way. And
great as His glory was, He accomplished the undertaken
task of service as a duty in the humility of obedience,
and that even unto death. See in Psalm 40:1-2 how far
He went, and how-sheltering Himself from nothing- He
puts His trust in God. He becomes man to accomplish this
task (vss. 6-8). He performs it faithfully (vss. 9-10), not
concealing the truth and righteousness of Jehovah from
the congregation of Israel. In verse 11 and following verses,
under the deep pressure of the position He was in from
man’s iniquity and His taking up the cause of His people,
He commits Himself to the tender mercies of Jehovah,
praying (after having rendered testimony with a perfect
patience) for judgment on His enemies, the enemies
of God’s testimony. For it is the time, under the Jewish
economy, of judgment.
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73043
Jonah 2
e entire rejection of the witness for God’s rst
message
We have seen that the judgments which fall upon
the unfaithful witness, being at length acknowledged by
himself, are the means through which the name of Jehovah
becomes known and worshipped among the Gentiles.
Here begins the second picture of the testimony-the
complete and entire rejection of the witness considered
as the depositary of the rst message. He undergoes the
judgment of God, and is cast out of His presence into the
depths of hades.<P452>
e just lot of unfaithful Israel; the spirit of the
remnant in Jonah’s prayer
is is the just lot of Israel, unfaithful to the testimony
of God, and incapable of rendering it. Christ, in His innite
grace, came down into this place, being rejected because
He was faithful. We most distinctly see the spirit of the
remnant of Israel in Jonah’s prayer. Verses 7-9 of chapter 2
prove it most clearly.
In fact the remnant of Israel, although upright by grace,
are but esh; the testimony is committed to them, and they
fail. e esh being without strength, sentence of death
must pass on all that is of man. He is but vanity; and if he
goes down into death, who can raise him up? Who can
make a dead man the witness of God?
Death and resurrection; Christ, the faithful witness,
is also the rstborn from the dead
Jonah 2
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But, blessed be God! Christ went down into death; and,
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of
the sh, so also the Son of Man went down into the heart
of the earth for the same period of time. But who could
prevent His rising again? It was death here that was without
strength, and not man. Death combated with One who had
the power of life; and whether we consider the power of
God, from whom Christ had merited resurrection, or the
Person of the faithful witness Himself, it was not possible
that He could be holden in the bands of Sheol. He is not
only the faithful witness, but the rstborn from the dead.
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73044
Jonah 3
e second testimony as the risen One; God’s grace
and mercy to Israel and the Gentiles
And now the second testimony begins. All that Israel
could have been, all that belonged to man as responsible
in himself, as far as testimony was concerned, has failed
forever. Christ Himself, the faithful One, has been rejected.
Israel, consequently, as the vessel of God’s testimony in the
esh, is set aside. It is the risen One only, who can now bear
testimony; and, we may add, bear it even to Israel, who is
now become the object of mercy, instead of becoming the
vessel of promise and of testimony. But this makes God
re<P453>turn, so to speak, into His own character of loving-
kindness. If Israel cannot, as a righteous one, be the vessel
of the testimony of righteousness (and even, as a sinner, has
rejected it), God returns to His own gracious character, as a
faithful Creator; from which, moreover, in the depth of His
own being, He never departed, although He put man to
the proof, by bringing him into relationship with Himself,
under every possible advantage, to see whether he could
be a witness of righteousness-of God on the earth. Jonah
knew at heart that there was grace in God. Assuredly he
and his nation had experienced it. But in this case, unless
righteousness were apart from mercy, so that he who stood
as witness of this righteousness might be honored-unless it
were vindictive, so that he as its witness might be exalted-
he would have nothing to do with it. enceforward he
became incapable of it. For, in truth, God was gracious;
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and such a witness of Him as Jonah would have had was
impossible-would not have been true.
It is on this account that grace (that is, the revelation of
grace) is identied with mercy towards the Gentiles. Is He
the God of the Jews only? Nay, verily, but of the Gentiles
also. And the casting-o of the Jews, as Jews, becomes the
reconciling of the world. e same Lord is rich unto all
that call upon Him, that the Gentiles may glorify God for
His mercy.1
(1. Hence, also, we may add, it is connected with
resurrection in its accomplishment. is indeed, has
a deeper cause-the state of man by nature; but this was
brought out, in dispensation, by the failure of the Jews in
connection with Christ after the esh.)
God’s controversy with Jonah; the reason for His
warnings
is is God’s controversy with Jonah at the end. He
would refuse God the right of showing mercy to His
helpless creatures, and insist upon His rigorous execution
of the sentence upon the Gentile world without even
leaving space for repentance. God answers him, not at rst
by unfolding the counsels of His grace, but by appealing to
the rights of His sovereign goodness, to His nature, to His
own character. Nineveh has hearkened to God. Now, if God
threatens, it is in order that man may turn from his iniquity
and be spared. Why else should He warn the sinner? Why
not leave him to ripen unwarned for judgment? But these
are not the ways of God.<P454>
e eect of God’s Word on the Ninevites; confession
of sin and pardon
And we may remark here that, in the case of Nineveh, it is
not faith in Jehovah, as in the case of the terried mariners.
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e eect of the dreadful troubles that will fall upon Israel
in the last days, as judgment upon the unfaithful witness of
Jehovah, will be to make this God of judgment known, and
to cause the great name of Jehovah to be gloried in all the
earth (ch. 1:14,16). With respect to the last days, we have
seen that this is the testimony of all the prophets,1 as well
as that of the Psalms.2
(1. See Isaiah 66, Ezekiel 36:36, 37:28, 39:7,22,
Zechariah 2:11 and chapter 14; and a multitude of other
passages.)
(2. See Psalm 9:15-16, 83:18 and all the psalms at the
end of the book. )
Here it is simply God. e inhabitants of Nineveh
believed God. It is the eect of the Word of God on their
conscience. ey confess, and turn away from their sin.
ey acknowledge the judgment of God to be just and His
Word true; and God pardons them and does not execute
His judgment. Moreover, this is in accordance with His
ways as revealed by Jeremiah.
Jonah 4
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73045
Jonah 4
Jonah’s selshness and care for his reputation as a
prophet
e God of grace has compassion on the works of His
hands, when they humble themselves before Him and
tremble at the hearing of His righteous judgments. But
Jonah, instead of caring for them, thinks only of his own
reputation as a prophet. Wretched heart of man, so unable
to rise up to the goodness of God! If Jonah had been nearer
to God, he would have known that this was truly the God
whom he proclaimed, whom he had learned to love by
knowing Him. He would have been able to say, “Now,
indeed, the Ninevites know the God whose testimony
I gloried in bearing, and they will be happy.” But Jonah
thought only of himself; and the horrid selshness of his
heart hides from him the God of grace, faithful to His love
for His helpless creatures. Chapter 4:2 exhibits the spirit of
Jonah in all its deformity. e grace of God is insupportable
to the pride of man. His justice is<P455> all very well: man
can invest himself with it for his own glory; for man loves
vengeance which is allied with the power that executes it.
God must proclaim His justice. He does not save in sin.
He makes man know his sin, in order to reconcile him to
Himself, in order that his restoration may be real-may be
that of his heart and of his conscience with God. But it is
to make himself known in pardoning him.
God’s grace and compassion of Jonah as on others;
His kindness to those who need it
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But God is above all the wretched evil of man, and He
treats even Jonah with kindness, yet making him feel, at
the same time, that He will not renounce His grace, His
nature, to satisfy the frowardness of man’s heart. He relieves
the suering of Jonah, disappointed at the non-fulllment
of his words; and the selshness of Jonah’s heart delights in
this relief. He almost forgets the vengeance he had desired,
in his satisfaction at being sheltered from the burning heat
of the sun. Having gone out of Nineveh, and seated himself
apart that he might see what would become of this city
whose repentance vexed his evil heart, he rejoiced, in the
midst of his anger, at the gourd which God prepared for
him. But what a testimony to the utter iniquity of the esh!
e repentance of the sinner, his return to God, irritates
the heart. It is really this; for the city is spared on account
of its repentance. Will God smite one who returns to Him
in humiliation for his sins? He who does not know the
heart of man could not understand the application of such
a word as, “Charity . . . rejoiceth not in iniquity.” We see it
here in the case of a prophet. ere is the same thing-having
also the same application, and the same patient grace on
God’s part-in the case of the elder brother in the parable
of the prodigal son. But if man is content with that which
relieves his own distress, and is even angry in his selshness
when that which relieved him is destroyed, shall not God
spare the works of His hand and have compassion on that
which, in His goodness, He has created? Assuredly He
will not listen to the man who would silence His kindness
towards those who need it. Most touching and beautiful
is the last verse of this book, in which God displays this
force, this supreme necessity, of His love; which (although
the threatenings of His justice are heard, and must needs
Jonah 4
797
be heard<P456> and even executed if man continues in
rebellion) abides in the repose of that perfect goodness
which nothing can alter, and which seizes the opportunity
of displaying itself, whenever man allows Him, so to speak,
to bless him-the repose of a perfection that nothing can
escape, that observes everything, in order to act according
to its own undisturbed nature-the repose of God Himself,
essential to His perfection, on which depends all our
blessing and all our peace.
e subject of the book: God’s government of men on
earth; the tender mercies of the Creator God
It is well to remark here, that the subject of this book
is not the judgment of the secrets of all hearts in the great
day, but the government of God with respect to men on
the earth. is is the case, moreover, with all the prophets.
We may observe, also, that God reveals Himself in this
book as God the Creator-Elohim. We know that even the
creatures still groan under the eects of our sin; and they
share also the kindness and the compassions of God. His
tender mercies are over them. Not a sparrow falls to the
ground without Him. e day will come when the curse
shall be removed, and they shall enjoy the liberty of the
glory of the children of God, set free from bondage and
corruption. If God becomes our Father, He takes also the
character of Jehovah, who will judge Israel, and who will
accomplish His promises and His purposes with respect to
them in spite of the whole world. He never ceases to be the
Creator God. He does not lay aside one of His characters
in order to assume another, any more than He confounds
them together; for they reveal His nature, and what He is.
What the existence of the book proves
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It is sweet, after all, to see Jonah’s docility in the end to
the voice of God, manifested by the existence of this book,
in which the Spirit uses him to exhibit what is in the heart
of man, as the vessel of God’s testimony, and (in contrast
with the prophet, who honestly confesses all his faults) the
kindness of God, to which Jonah could not elevate himself,
and to which he could not submit.<P457>
e two ways in which Jonah’s history is used in the
New Testament
We may remark, that the case of Jonah is used in the New
Testament in two ways, which must not be confounded
together: as a testimony in the world, by the Word of
God-a service with which the Lord compares His own:
and afterwards as in the belly of the sh-a circumstance
used by the Lord as a gure of the time during which
He lay in the grave. Jonah, by his preaching, was a sign
to the Ninevites, even as the Lord was to the Jews, harder
of hearing and of heart than those pagans who were afar
from God.
Jonah was also (in that which happened to him in
consequence of his refusal to bear testimony) a type of that
which befell Jesus when He bore the penalty of the people’s
sin, and when, being raised from the dead, He became the
testimony of grace, and at the same time the occasion of
judgment to those who had rejected Him. We have seen
in his history that Jonah is a remarkable moral gure of
Israel-at least of Israel’s conduct.<P458>
Micah
799
73046
Micah
e date and character of Micah’s prophecy
e prophecy of Micah is of the same date, and, up to
a certain point, has the same character as that of Isaiah.
at is to say, it treats especially of the introduction of
the Messiah into the scene of the development of God’s
dealings towards Israel, and even speaks particularly of His
presence in connection with the attack of the Assyrian.
is prophecy has nevertheless its own peculiar character;
it enters, like those of Hosea and Amos, into the moral
condition of the people, and connects the judgment of the
world at large with the condition of the Jews, as we have
had it typically brought before us in Jonah. Samaria also is
in part the subject of this prophecy, so that its application
extends to all Israel.
Darby Synopsis
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73047
Micah 1
Jehovah speaks to the whole earth from His temple
e Lord speaks in this book from His temple, and
addresses all the peoples-the whole earth. at is to say,
He takes His place upon His earthly throne to judge the
whole earth, in testimony against all the nations. But He
comes from on high, coming forth out of His place to tread
upon the high places of the earth. And all that is lifted up
shall be molten under Him, and all that is abased shall
be as wax before the re. And wherefore this intervention
in judgment? Why does He not leave the nations still to
walk in their own ways, afar from Him, in long-suerance
to their folly? It is because His own people, the witness
for His name upon the earth, are in transgression against
Him-have given themselves up to the service of other
gods, or to iniquity. ere is no longer any testimony of
God in the earth, except indeed it be a false testimony;
and God must therefore render it to Himself. All the sins
of the nations then come into remembrance before Him,
and spread them<P459>selves out before eyes that cannot
endure them. He leaves His people to the consequences of
their sin, so that they fall under the power of their enemies,
whose pride on this account rises to such a height that
it brings down the judgment of God, who intervenes to
deliver the remnant whom He loves and to take His place
of righteous Ruler over all the nations.
e Assyrian as the rod of God
We have already seen, more than once, that the Assyrian
plays the principal part in these closing scenes of the ways
Micah 1
801
of God upon the earth. We again nd him here as the rod
of God-a prominent subject in the prophecy of Micah.
e cause of God’s just judgment
Chapter 1:6-8. e iniquity of Samaria, and her graven
images are the cause of the terrible scourge, according to
the just judgment of God; and the waves of this ood reach
even to Judah.
e warning of then-present events of Micah’s time
introduces the judgment of the last days
It will be remarked here, that the events which took
place in the days of the prophet who speaks, having the
same moral character as the denitive judgment of the
last days, are used to introduce the grand action of that
judgment, while also as a warning to the people for the
time then present. We have already seen this, more than
once, in the prophets.
e Assyrian at the gates of Jerusalem
Shalmaneser and Sennacherib are doubtless in view
here; but they are only the occasion of the prophecy, looked
at in its full extent. e Assyrian comes up to the gates of
Jerusalem. His progress is described in verses 11-16, as in
Isaiah, only that the description is more intermingled with
the causes of the judgment upon the dierent cities that he
attacks than it is in Isaiah, who enumerates them rather as
the stages of his march.<P460>
Darby Synopsis
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73048
Micah 2
Violence and shameless oppression:
the moral causes of God’s judgment
In chapter 2 the prophet points out the moral causes of
the judgment of God-violence and shameless oppression.
ey formed plans of violence to gratify their covetousness,
and Jehovah formed also plans of judgment upon them (vss.
1-5). ey refused the word of testimony. It shall be taken
from them accompanied by this terrible judgment, that the
Spirit of error and drunkenness should be prophecy for
them.1ey rose up as an enemy: their wickedness spared
neither women nor children (vss. 8-9). Jehovah calls on
all who have ears to hear, to arise and separate themselves
from all this iniquity. A state of things like this could not be
the rest of God’s people. How could the saints of Jehovah
rest amid pollution (vss. 10-11)? Nevertheless Jehovah in
no wise renounced His settled purpose of blessing with
respect to Israel. He would gather them all together, the
numerous ock of His protection. e breaker, He who
would clear the way and overthrow every obstacle, should
go before them. ey should go forth from the place of
their captivity. eir king should pass on before them, and
Jehovah at their head (vss. 12-13).
(1. Verse 6 is exceedingly obscure. I doubt that the end
of the English is correct. “Take shame” is to be ashamed: יםג
כלמוה has hardly this sense. It is literally, Prophesy (Drop)
not. ey prophesy. ey shall not prophesy to them; it
shall not depart shame (literally shames). at is, I suppose,
Shame shall not depart. Chapter 3:7 explains it perhaps.)
Micah 3
803
73049
Micah 3
e heads and princes of Jacob denounced; God will
not hear nor answer them
e prophet again denounces the heads and princes of
Jacob. ey should cry unto Jehovah. But He would not
hear them. No prophet should enlighten them with the
light of His Word. e seers should be confounded; there
should be no answer from God (vss. 1-7). It was not thus
with the prophet, full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah to
declare unto Jacob his transgression and unto Israel his sin
(vs. 8). is he does by again denouncing the<P461> chiefs
among the people who judged for reward, and the prophets
who divined for money, while they claimed the privilege
of Jehovah’s presence, granted indeed exclusively to this
people. Nothing can be more oensive to Jehovah than
that those who have the name of His people should clothe
themselves with the privilege of His presence, and use
this pretension to honor self and justify evil, or maintain a
divine claim in spite of it.
erefore should Zion be plowed as a eld, and the
mountains, now ornamented with palaces, should be made
like the heights of a forest (vss. 9-12).
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73050
Micah 4
Denunciations and prophecies of judgment
concluded by promise of full reestablishment of glory
and blessing
But again the prophet, in the spirit of Isaiah, concludes
his denunciations of sin, and his prophecies of judgment
and desolation, by announcing the full reestablishment
of blessing and glory in Zion. e Spirit repeats (there
was no room for change) the declaration of the glory of
Zion in the last days, given in Isaiah 2. But, the prophecy
being much less developed, it connects this declaration
immediately with the events of the last days. Israel should
dwell in perfect peace, consequent on God’s rebuking the
strong nations and judging among the peoples (vss. 3-4);
and Jehovah is exalted among them. Each nation, say they,
will boast of its god: but Jehovah is our God forever and
ever. Jehovah is the glory of His people. In that day Jehovah
will accept the remnant of His people; He will assemble
the poor, feeble, halting Jacob, and reunite that which He
had scattered and aicted. It should be the remnant of
His desire; that which He had cast o should be a strong
nation. Jehovah Himself would reign over them in Zion
forever.
A double judgment on Jerusalem; the captivity
announced; deliverance granted; the striking event of
the last days of her history
Nevertheless, though the prophecy be less developed,
the order of the events through which the people had
to pass is brought out only so much the clearer by the
Micah 4
805
shortness of the prophecy,<P462> which is thus a key to
the more lengthened developments of Isaiah. e prophet
announces that “the rst dominion,” the kingdom of David
and Solomon, shall return to Jerusalem: and with this
statement the direct announcement of the millennial state
of blessedness closes. But, meanwhile, the royalty with
which the glory of Jerusalem was connected had to be set
aside (vs. 9): a double judgment on Jerusalem connected
itself with this. e daughter of Jerusalem must go to
Babylon, and there be delivered and redeemed from the
hand of her enemies, by the power of God. She was to be
their captive, far away from Zion. at is, the captivity of
Jerusalem amid the Gentile monarchies is announced. It
was while in this condition deliverance would be granted
to her. But another event was to characterize these last days
of her history. Many nations should be assembled against
her, seeking to profane her and to gaze insultingly upon
her (this is the attack made upon Jerusalem when Jehovah
was dealing with her in her own place); but they who came
up against her knew not the thoughts of Jehovah. He had
gathered them together as sheaves into the threshing-oor.
e daughter of Zion should trample on them and beat
them in pieces, and consecrate their spoils unto Jehovah,
who in that day will magnify His name of the God of the
whole earth. (Compare Isaiah 17:12-14, and Zechariah
14:2, 12:2-3 and Psalm 83.)
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73051
Micah 5
e Messiah and His rejection
But there was something more denite still to be
declared; the principal enemy of the last days was to be
pointed out, and this in special connection with another
and fatal sin of Jerusalem and her people. e Messiah
and His rejection are introduced. e daughter of troops
gathers herself in troops to besiege Jerusalem-the Assyrian
army. (See verse 5.) But here it is quite a dierent thing
from the attack of Sennacherib. Judah had now plunged
much deeper into sin and rebellion. e true Judge of Israel
should be smitten with a rod upon the cheek. e Christ
should be mocked and beaten.<P463>
e birthplace of Christ predicted; the eternal glory
of His Person
Verse 2 describes Him in a striking manner. It was on
this verse that the scribes and chief priests rested, when they
certied Herod that Christ should be born in Bethlehem.
It represents Him as being born at Bethlehem, and at the
same time as eternal, and as the true Ruler in Israel.
e second verse is in parenthesis. It declares the
birthplace, whence He that should rule over Israel for
Jehovah should go forth; and, at the same time, it reveals
the eternal glory of His Person.
e consequences of Messiah’s rejection
Verse 3 is connected with verse 1, and exhibits the
consequences of the sin there pointed out. Israel, and
more especially Judah, is given up, yet only for a season,
the period of which is designated in a remarkable and
Micah 5
807
instructive manner-until she which travails has brought
forth. Israel (exercised, travailing, long preferring to stand
on the footing of Hagar rather than on that of Sarah) must
pass through all the aictions, the anguish, the judgments,
the chastisements of God, necessary to lead her to the
acceptance of the punishment of her iniquity; being at
length by His grace thoroughly convinced of the need of
that grace, and of the mercy of God, and thus brought
into a condition tted to her being the vessel of the
manifestation of that Son who should be born unto her-
the Naomi brought back by grace, to whom (with respect
to His manifestation in this world) the King is reputed to
be born. Compare Isaiah 9, where the idea is developed
in connection with Israel, “To us a Son is born”; and
Revelation 12, where the historical fact, and its connection
with Israel in the last days, are brought together.
e remnant, not members of Christ’s body nor added
to the church, but return to the children of Israel
Another very important element of this last scene of the
present age is pointed out in this verse. Israel is given up to
judgment, forsaken of God, in a certain sense, for having
rejected the Christ, the Lord. But now she who travails has
brought forth. Afterwards (and this is the element I refer
to), the remnant of the brethren of<P464> this rstborn
Son, instead of being added to the church (Acts 2), return
unto the children of Israel. e Christ is not ashamed to
call them His brethren; but at this period they no longer
become members of His body. eir relation is with Israel.
is is the position in which they are placed before God.
e rejected One: the Shepherd of Israel
He, then, who had been rejected becomes the Shepherd
of Israel, and that according to the strength of Jehovah in
Darby Synopsis
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the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God. Israel dwells
in safety, for His King becomes great unto the ends of the
earth. By Him the Assyrian should be overthrown, and
his land laid waste by that Israel whom he had sought to
overthrow.
Israel’s double character as the instrument of
refreshing and the testimony of God’s power
Israel in that day possesses a double character. e
remnant of Jacob is the instrument of refreshing, in the
precious grace that comes from God, and waits not for
the labored and varied eorts of man. ey shall be as
the showers upon the grass, that tarry not for man, nor
wait for the sons of men. But, nevertheless, Israel is also
that which rises up among the nations, as a lion among
the beasts of the eld, from whom none can deliver. ey
are the instruments and testimony of the power of God.
e blessing and the strength of Jehovah is with them. e
prophet declares that all the enemies of Israel shall be cut
o and perish. But Jehovah will at the same time destroy
out of the midst of Israel all their false human strength,
their chariots, their strong cities-all that ministers to the
pride of man and leads him to trust in himself. He will
destroy all their idols; Israel shall no longer worship the
works of their own hands; every trace of idolatry shall be
taken away. At the same time vengeance and wrath, such as
had not been heard of, shall be executed upon the nations.
e two divisions of the prophecy
is division of the prophecy ends here: the rst at
the close of chapter 2: chapter 4:9-13 giving, in general,
the two evils with which judged Jerusalem had to do-
Babylon and the gathering of the nations in the latter
day, and her glorious deliverance; and<P465> chapter 5
Micah 5
809
the connection of Messiah both with the judgment and
with the deliverance from the latter of these evils and
the introduction of the blessing, of which the description
had been given in chapter 4:1-8, as being the purpose of
Jehovah. In that sense, chapter 4:8 closes the second part;
but from thence to the end of chapter 5 are two appendices,
so to speak, which unfold the double evil which comes on
Jerusalem, and the connection of the people with their
deliverers in judgment rst, and then deliverance.
Darby Synopsis
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73052
Micah 6
Jehovah’s controversy and pleadings with His people
After having thus declared the counsels of God in grace,
the Spirit returns to His pleadings with Israel in respect of
their moral condition, calling the whole earth as audience
to hear His controversy; for Jehovah had a controversy
with His people. In a touching appeal to their heart and
conscience He asks what they could have against Him.
He had redeemed them from Egypt, had led them by the
hands of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam; He had refused to
hearken to Balak and Balaam, who had done their utmost
to curse Israel. If they would but consider, they would
know His faithfulness. After this He lays before them, in
detail, the universal wickedness that reigned among them,
contrasting their ceremonies with practical righteousness:
therefore also the judgment must surely fall upon them
(vss. 13-16). Still the man of wisdom would know it as
the discipline of Jehovah, and see Jehovah’s name in it-a
deeply important and also precious principle. ey bore the
reproach of His people.
Micah 7
811
73053
Micah 7
Micah as the intercessor before God
In chapter 7 the prophet takes the place of intercessor
before God, in the name of the people-presenting to Him
at once their deep misery and their iniquities1-speaking
in their name, and<P466> identifying himself with them;
or, more exactly, he takes up the reproach of the city (ch.
6:9), beginning with her grief at the state she is in, but
passing on, as we see often in Jeremiah, to his own distinct
prophetic oce, and so marking out the position of the
remnant; speaking, but with the divine mind, as in the
midst of the people-having their place, but judging their
conduct in it-yet with all the interest attached to the love
God bore them. He seeks anxiously among the people for
something suitable to their title of the people of God; he
nds nothing but fraud and deceit, and lying in wait for
blood, that they might do evil with both hands earnestly.
Still all is said in the way of the city’s confession; so that
out of this she can look, as bowing to God’s hand-to one
who will Himself plead her cause and execute judgment
for her.
(1. is character is one of the most touching features
of the prophetic oce. “If,” said Jeremiah, “he be a prophet,
let him make intercession to Jehovah, that that which is
left may not go to Babylon.” “He is a prophet,” said God to
Abimelech, in speaking of Abraham, “and he will pray for
thee.” In the Psalms also it is written, “ere is no prophet
left-none to say, How long?”-that is to say, none who knew
how to reckon upon the faithfulness of Jehovah their God,
Darby Synopsis
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and, knowing that it was only a chastisement, plead with
Him for His people. (Compare Isaiah 6.) e Spirit of God
declares judgment indeed on God’s part, but, because God
loved the people, becomes a Spirit of intercession in the
prophet for the people. With us the same thing is developed
in a rather dierent, but more blessed and perfect manner.
Intelligence of the will of God enters more into it: “If ye
abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what
ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” And all are prophets
in this (1John 5:16). )
Hatred produced by the preaching of the gospel
We nd here a striking circumstance. e Lord Jesus
declares in the Gospel, that that which the prophet
describes, as the height of iniquity, should be produced
by the preaching of the gospel. Such is the iniquity of the
heart which the light brings into activity, stirring up a
hatred which is only the more exasperated by the nearness
of its object.
e eect produced by the Spirit of Christ in all-
pervading evil
e eect on the prophet of that which he sees around
him (that which the Spirit of Christ produces, where he
acts in view of the all-pervading evil) was that he looked
to Jehovah and waited for the God of his salvation. He
takes the position pointed out as that which Jehovah could
recognize. He accepts the indignation of Jehovah, until
He Himself should plead the cause of His servant. In fact
Jehovah would bring him forth to the light-would show
him<P467> His righteousness. e deliverance should
then be complete; and she who said to Jerusalem, “Where
is thy God?” (the constant cry of the unbeliever, who
rejoices in the chastisement of the people of Christ, as in
Micah 7
813
the suerings of Christ Himself, mistaking these righteous
dealings of a God whom he knows not)-she who rejoiced
in the abasement of those whom Jehovah loved, should be
trodden down as the mire of the streets (vss. 7-10).
Israel regathered, led by Jehovah as a shepherd, and
planted again in their land
From that time they should come from Egypt, from
Assyria, from the seas and the mountains, to the rebuilded
city; but before this the land should be desolate. Nevertheless
Jehovah would lead His people as a shepherd and plant
them again in their land as at rst; and God would show
forth His marvellous works, as when He brought them up
from Egypt; and the nations should be confounded at all
the might of Israel and should be afraid before Jehovah
their God.
e goodness of a pardoning God who delights in
mercy and keeps His promises
e last three verses of the prophecy express the faith
and the sentiments of adoration that ll the prophet’s heart
at the thought of the goodness of God, who pardoned the
iniquities of the people and cast their sins into the depths
of the sea; who delighted in mercy, and who would perform
His promises to Abraham and that which He had sworn
unto the fathers in days of old.
Who was a God like unto Him, who manifested Himself
in His ways of grace towards His beloved people, towards
the feeble remnant despised of all, but whom Jehovah in
His love never forgot, in His faithfulness never forsook, in
spite of all their rebellion?<P468>
Darby Synopsis
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73054
Nahum
A specic form of evil clearly delineated in each of
Israel’s principal enemies, such as Nineveh
If we were to examine closely the dierent characters
of the nations who have been connected with the people
of God, we should perhaps nd in each a specic form
of evil pretty clearly delineated. At all events it is so in
the principal enemies of that people. Egypt, Babylon,
Nineveh, are prominently marked by that which they
morally represent. Egypt is the world in its natural
condition, whence the people have come forth. Babylon
is corruption in the activity of power, by which the people
are enslaved. Nineveh is the haughty glory of the world,
which recognizes nothing but its own importance-the
world, the open enemy of God’s people, simply by its pride.
She shall be judged like all the rest, and disappear forever
under the judgment of the Almighty. Jehovah has given a
commandment against her, that no more of her name be
sown. is judgment is so simple, that the prophecy which
declares it requires very little explanation.
e character of God; the pride of man
It commences with an exhibition of the character of
God, in view of that which He has to bear from the pride
of man. God is jealous, and Jehovah revenges. It is a solemn
thought that, however great His patience, a day is coming
which will prove that He does not bear with evil. Yet it
is a comforting thought; for the vengeance of God is the
deliverance of the world from the oppression and misery
Nahum
815
of the yoke of the enemy and of lust, that it may ourish
under the peaceful eye of its Deliverer.
No doubt, He has long allowed evil to go on. He is not
impatient, as our poor hearts are. He is slow to wrath-a
wrath so much the more terrible that it is the justice of
One who is never impatient.<P469> He is great in power,
and will not at all acquit the guilty.1 Who can stand before
His indignation, or abide the erceness of His anger?
(1. is is ever true, and of immense importance. God
never holds the guilty for innocent. It is contrary to His
nature. It would not be the truth. He may put away sin,
and receive the cleansed sinner; but He cannot act as if it
did not exist when it does, nor be indierent to it while He
remains Himself. He may for good chastise, and to show
His government (that is, deal with sin in this respect); or
He may have it entirely put away and blotted out, according
to the exigencies of His own nature and glory, which is
salvation for us; and both are true. But He cannot leave it
anywhere as not existing or indierent.)
But this is not all: His indignation is not vague and
devastating without distinction when He gives it free
course. He is good; He is a stronghold in the day of trouble.
When the evil and the judgment overow-the evil which
is a judgment, and the judgment before which nothing that
it reaches can stand-He is Himself the sure refuge of all
that trust in Him: He Himself knows all that do so. As
for the glory of the enemy, it shall be destroyed, blotted
out, brought to nothing. Reckless in the midst of their
pleasures, drunken and suspecting nothing, they shall be
devoured as stubble fully dry.
e Assyrian who imagines evil against Jehovah at
rst prosperous; his yoke broken forever
Darby Synopsis
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In chapter 1:11 we nd the one so often mentioned
by the prophets-the Assyrian, who imagines evil against
Jehovah. Verse 12, although obscure, applies, I think,
to Israel. Israel, too, alas! boasting of their security and
strength according to the spirit of the world, will undergo
the invasion, the overowing of the great waters, the scourge
of God. But when this passes through the land (that is, of
Israel), they shall be cut down.1 (Compare Isaiah 28:18-19
and 14:25.) But this scourge completes the judgment of
God; and the deliverance of Israel, the prophet says, should
now be complete and nal. (Compare Isaiah 10:5,24-25.)
e yoke of the Assyrian should be broken forever, and
the proud and hostile power of the world destroyed, as the
anti-Christian corruption and rebellion had already been
judged. e good tidings of full deliverance should be
spread abroad, and Judah should keep her<P470> solemn
feasts in peace.
(1. If not, the thought is, though the Assyrians be
prosperous and safe in full prosperity, yet (as Sennacherib)
when they come into Judah they shall be cut down, and
then (as in Isaiah 10) Israel’s deliverance should be nal.)
God’s partial judgment a forerunner of a future nal
one
I doubt not that the invasion of Sennacherib was the
occasion of this prophecy; but most evidently it goes much
beyond that event, and the judgment is nal. is is another
instance of that which we have so frequently observed in
the prophets-a partial judgment, serving as a warning or an
encouragement to the people of God, while it was only a
forerunner of a future judgment, in which all the dealings
of God would be summed up and manifested.
Nahum
817
e wicked should no more pass through Judah; he
should be utterly cut o.
If Jacob was judged, how much more proud Nineveh;
complete fulllment of judgment when the Assyrian
returns
If God permitted the total devastation and ruin of Jacob,
it was because the time of judgment was come-a judgment
that should not stop there. He began, no doubt, at His own
house, but would He stop there? No. What, then, should
be the end of the enemies of God’s people, if He no longer
endured evil in His own people? Let Nineveh, then, now
defend herself if she could. But no, that den of lions should
be invaded, and the young lions destroyed and unable to
defend themselves. See the same argument at the end of
Isaiah 2 and the commencement of chapter 3. Jacob was
judged; the whole family, as well as Israel, emptied and
ruined; and now it was the turn of the world. However
great the pride of Nineveh, she was no better than others
of whose ruin she was probably herself the instrument
(Assyria and Egypt had long been rivals). e strongholds
of the Assyrians should be like gs that fall with the rst
shaking, and their people without strength should be but
as women. e ruin should be entire. Fire should devour
them. No doubt, this had an historical fulllment in the
fall of Nineveh; but its complete accomplishment will take
place when the Assyrian shall return-I do not say with
respect to this city itself, which has been destroyed, but the
power that will possess the territory and inherit the pride
of the land of Nimrod.<P471>
Darby Synopsis
818
73055
Habakkuk
e ways of God developed in His Word
How diverse and perfect is the development of the ways
of God in His Word! Not only does it contain the great
events that establish the fact of His government, and the
character of that government-not only the proofs of His
delity to His people, and His estimate of the evil that led
to judgment, but also His answer to every feeling caused
by the series of events by which He chastised them, the
relief which He aords to the anguish that must be felt by
one who is faithful, on account of the aiction of God’s
beloved people, together with the protable exercise of
his faith. e perfect ways of God are unfolded on the
one side, and on the other the heart is formed to the
intelligence of those ways, and to the enjoyment of the full
eect of the faithfulness of the God of love; while, during
the expectation of this eect, condence in God Himself
is established, and the links of the heart with God are
abundantly strengthened.
e subject of Habakkuk’s prophecy
It is of the latter part, the development of faith and of
spiritual aections amid the trial, that Habakkuk treats in
his prophecy. It speaks of the exercise of the heart of one
who, full of the Spirit, is attached to the people of God.
Still, it is Israel that is brought before us.
Habakkuk 1
819
73056
Habakkuk 1
e prophet’s complaint of evil
First of all, the prophet complains that the evil which
exists among the people is insupportable. is is the natural
eect of the working of the Spirit of God in a heart jealous
for His glory and detesting evil. e heart of the prophet,
formed in the school of<P472> the law, speaks perhaps of
the evil in the spirit of the law. e Spirit of God does
not bring him out of this position, which was properly
that of a prophet before God, and he judges the evil in a
holy manner, according to a heart that was faithful to the
blessings of Jehovah.
Jehovah’s revelation of His chastisement
ereupon Jehovah reveals to him the terrible judgment
by which He will chastise the people who thus gave
themselves up to evil. He would raise up against them the
Chaldeans, those types of pride and energy, who, successful
in all their enterprises, sought glory only in the opinion
they had of themselves. eir head, forsaking the true God
who had given them their strength, would worship a god
of his own.1
(1. Sad eect of pride, which, unknown to itself, is the
parent of weakness! Man cannot sustain himself; and the
pride which rejects the true God must and does make one
for itself, or adopts what its fathers have made, for pride
cannot stand in the presence of the supreme God. Man
makes a god: this, too, is pride. But he cannot do without
one; and after all, the natural heart is the slave of that which
it cannot do without.)
Darby Synopsis
820
e wicked established in power by Jehovah for
correction
But all this awakens in the prophet a dierent sentiment
from that which he before experienced. Here was his God
denied by the instrument of vengeance, and the beloved
people trodden down by one more wicked than themselves.
But faith knows that its God, the true God, is the one and
only Lord,2 and (already a profound consolation assuring
the heart of salvation) that it is Jehovah who has established
the wicked in power for the correction of His people. But
shall they continue to ll their net with men, as though
they were but sh?
(1. To Habakkuk of course Jehovah; to us the Father is
revealed in the Son, and so one Lord, Jesus Christ.)
Habakkuk 2
821
73057
Habakkuk 2
God’s clear explanation given to comfort His people
ere the prophet stops, that God in His time may
explain this; watches, like a sentinel, to receive the answer
of God to the anxiety of his soul. God, in order to comfort
His prophet and all His<P473> faithful people, commands
him to write the answer so plainly, that he who runs may
read it. He bears in mind the aections of His people; He
appreciates them, for in truth they are given, according to
His own heart, by the Holy Spirit.
God’s answer to faith; sure deliverance; patience to
have her perfect work
He will, even before the deliverance, comfort the heart
that is oppressed by the feelings to which faith itself gives
birth. If faith produces them, the answer to that faith will
not be wanting. Deliverance would not yet come. e
vision was yet for an appointed time, but deliverance on
God’s part would assuredly come. God, who sets value on
faith, would Himself intervene. If deliverance tarried, the
faithful should wait for it. It would surely come and would
not tarry. To the heart of man it tarried. Patience was to
have its perfect work. e patience of God had been long
and perfect. e time of deliverance should not tarry one
moment after the hour appointed by God in His wisdom.
Pride judged; the portion of the just- to live by faith
and trust Jehovah
God had judged the spirit of pride, whose eects had
overwhelmed the heart of the prophet. e oppressor was
not upright, but the portion of the just was to live by faith,
Darby Synopsis
822
and by faith he should live. A deliverance for the people,
which did not, so to say, require this faith, might have been
preferred. But God would have the heart thus exercised.
e righteous must pass through it and learn to trust in
Jehovah, to count on Him in all circumstances, to learn
what He is in Himself (come what may).
e oppressor brought judgment on himself; Jehovah
in His holy temple over all
Nevertheless, although God allowed His people,
on account of their sins, to be crushed by injustice and
oppression, the conduct of the oppressor cried unto heaven,
and brought judgment on his own head. Woe unto him!
For, even apart from God’s relations with His people, it is
He who judges the earth and delivers it from the oppressor
and the wicked. His graven image shall not prot him: what
can the dumb stone do for the man that set it<P474> up?
But Jehovah was in His holy place, in His temple. All the
earth should keep silence before Him. It should be lled
with the knowledge of His glory, as the bed of the sea with
the waters that cover it. e people of the world should
labor as in the re for very vanity, and this from Jehovah;
for He will ll the world with the knowledge of Himself.
Habakkuk 3
823
73058
Habakkuk 3
e solemn presence of God; remembrance of His
power
is answer brings home to the heart of the prophet
the solemn presence of God, and leads him to look for
a revival of God’s working in the midst of the people in
grace, and turns him back to God’s rst favor, and recalls
to the prophet all the glory of Jehovah, when He appeared
for His people at the beginning, when He came out of His
place and overturned every obstacle in order to establish
His people in blessing.
At this remembrance of His power, the prophet
trembles, but in the consciousness that it is the source of
a perfect and assured rest in the day of trouble, when the
destroyer should come up and invade the people.
e blessed result of God’s lessons
He concludes his prophecy with the blessed result of
all these precious lessons, namely, the expression of perfect
condence in Jehovah. He would rejoice and be glad in
Him, if all the blessing should fail. Jehovah Himself was
his strength, his trust, and his support, and He would set
him on the high places of His blessing, giving him, as it
were, hinds’ feet to ascend there by His favor.
ere is nothing ner than this development of the
thoughts of the Spirit of God, the sorrows and anxieties
produced by Him, the answer of God to give understanding
and strengthen faith, in order that the heart may be in full
communion with Himself.
Darby Synopsis
824
It will be remarked here, that it is the idolatrous
oppressor who especially appears, although the rst
invasion is described, for that was the immediate cause
of the prophet’s anguish. e Chaldeans, therefore, are
distinctly named. It is that people, as we know, who reduced
the people of God to captivity.<P475>
Summary of the prophecy
In sum, in this prophet we have (for the comfort of
the faithful heart, which loves God’s people because they
are His, and hence is distressed by the wickedness found
among them, and still more by the judgment which falls
upon them) the answer of God, explaining His ways to
faith, and His sure faithfulness to His promises. He knows
the oppressor, but the just must live by faith.<P476>
Zephaniah
825
73059
Zephaniah
e time and two subjects of the prophecy
Zephaniah sets before us the judgment of the Spirit
of God with respect to the condition of the testimony
rendered to the name of God in this world, at a moment
when there was some outward restoration by means of a
king who feared God.
God has granted this favor more than once to His
people, even as He has endured with long-suering their
rebellion and revolt; and in both cases He would have us see
the true moral condition of that which bore His name-the
judgment which a spiritual heart would form, which His
Spirit formed, with respect to that condition: a judgment
which should be authenticated by that which God would
execute upon His people and upon the Gentiles, when
long-suering should no longer be of any avail.
ese two subjects constitute the two principal divisions
of the prophecy: the announcement of God’s purposes
with respect to the judgment that He would execute, and
the display of that condition which led to the judgment.
is, as always, is accompanied by the revelation of His
counsels in grace, and of the coming of the Messiah, in
order to encourage and sustain the faith of the believing
remnant of His people.
e judgment of the nations involved in that of Israel
Israel having been appointed the witness for God,
when the nations had given themselves up to iniquity
and idolatry, the general judgment of the world could be
delayed, so long as (that testimony being maintained) the
Darby Synopsis
826
true character of God was presented; for God is slow to
anger. Accordingly He raised up prophets, beginning with
Samuel, to remedy the wanderings and unfaithfulness of
His people, when they themselves had failed. So long as
this extraordinary testimony of grace, and the warnings
and chastenings that accompanied it, served to maintain
some glimmerings of<P477> truth and righteousness on
the earth, Jehovah withheld His hand ready to destroy that
which dishonored God and oppressed man. We have seen
elsewhere, in the transfer of sovereignty to the empire of
the Gentiles, the introduction of a new system, as we nd
in the New Testament the establishment of the assembly.
I do not dwell upon it here. As to the government of the
world, in view of the testimony rendered to the name of
Jehovah, when Israel-who maintained this testimony amid
the nations that were apostate and rebellious against God-
had so failed that there was no more remedy, then those
nations also had to undergo the judgment they had long
deserved. ey will bring this judgment upon themselves
by lling up the measure of their iniquity and rebellion
against God, and by manifesting hatred to God’s people,
in the joy with which they come forward to accomplish
the chastisements which that people had deserved: for
God is long-suering unto them also. He even sends the
gospel-whether that of full grace, which we enjoy, or the
announcement of His coming judgments-in order that all
who have ears to hear may escape these judgments. But,
in principle, the denitive failure of Israel’s testimony
left the nations exposed to the judgment their sinful
state deserved, this judgment having been suspended,
because a true testimony was rendered to God. is is the
reason why we have constantly found in the prophets the
Zephaniah
827
denitive judgment of Israel. e establishment of the
Gentile empire, represented by the image and the beasts,
the introduction of Christianity, the apostasy which breaks
out in its bosom, bring in other objects of the judgment of
God, but do not alter the judgment to be executed upon
the nations apart from these objects.
e judgment of the apostasy and the Gentile empire
from heaven; that of the nations from Zion
e judgment of the apostasy and of the Gentile empire
comes immediately from heaven, whence owed the
authority of that empire, and the blessing of those who are
become apostate; and against which they are in rebellion.
e judgment of the nations, as such, has Zion for its
starting-point-Zion, now under the judgment, but then
delivered through the judgment executed upon the beast
that oppressed her. (See Psalm 110.) e events spoken of in
Daniel, the New Testament prophecies, and, in part,<P478>
Zechariah, are omitted by those of the prophets who have for
their subject the proper relations of the earthly people with
God in Zion; and the judgment of Jerusalem and the Jews
is connected in their prophecies with that of the nations-
the judgment of the latter being involved in that of the
people, who no longer rendered any testimony to Jehovah,
but caused His name to be blasphemed. is judgment
commenced, in regard to the Jews, with Nebuchadnezzar
himself. Afterwards, on the decline (at the end of the age)
of the empire which commenced originally with him as
golden head, the nations, resuming their strength, use it
against Israel, then connected with, and subject to, the
apostate empire; a yet more terrible judgment. us all the
nations will be gathered against Jerusalem, and, lling up
both the judgment of the people and their own iniquity,
Darby Synopsis
828
will occasion the intervention of the God of mercy in favor
of His people, according to His promises and purposes of
grace-the deliverance of Israel being accomplished in the
judgment executed upon those who come up against them,
and who, in coming against them, are against Jehovah and
His Christ also. is will be the judgment that shall go
forth from Zion, while the beast will have been destroyed
by Him who came forth out of heaven.
e times in which the prophets wrote
e dates attached to the books of the prophets are
connected with the dierent characters of this series of
events. Isaiah and Micah, as well as Hosea and Amos
(although the latter two less directly), are occupied with
the revelation of the Son of David, the Deliverer and
Defender of His people in Jerusalem. Hezekiah, raised up
after the miserable reign of Ahaz, gave occasion for these
revelations, which taught the faithful (while unveiling the
iniquity and the real condition of the people), that they
must look forward and rest only in God’s thoughts, who
had raised up this pious king for the temporary restoration
of His people, and who would grant them a complete and
eternal deliverance by the true Emmanuel. Isaiah (in the
rst three, as well as in the last, chapters of his prophecy)
dwells on the connection, of which we have spoken, between
the judgment of Israel and that of the nations. Josiah did
not present in the same manner the coming Redeemer.
Spared the sight of the ruin of Jerusalem on account of his
piety,<P479> he falls himself by the hand of strangers. e
glory and peace, the hope of Jerusalem for the time being,
disappear with him, and its judgment succeeds.
e time and circumstances of Zephaniah’s prophecy
Zephaniah
829
Zephaniah prophesied under his reign. e prophet
takes no notice of the temporary piety of the people, who
(see Jeremiah 3) at heart were not changed. He takes
the general ground of Israel’s condition and consequent
judgment, in connection with its eect on the nations. We
have seen that Nebuchadnezzar is the rst who executes
this judgment; although both the judgment and the
prophecy that speaks of it go much farther.
Darby Synopsis
830
73060
Zephaniah 1
e terrors of the great day of the Lord; the whole
land judged
e prophet begins by declaring that the land should
be reduced to complete desolation; afterwards, that Judah,
Jerusalem, their false gods, and their priests, should be
smitten by the hand of Jehovah. e idolaters, those who
mingled the name of Jehovah with that of other gods,
those who had turned back from Jehovah, those who had
not sought Him, each one is called to hold his peace at
the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah
was at hand. He had prepared His sacrice, He had invited
His guests; and in the day of His sacrice, the king, the
prince, and the king’s children should be visited by his
hand. Violence and deceit should receive their just reward.
e day of Jehovah should cause a cry to be heard from
the gates of Jerusalem. He would search Jerusalem as with
candles, and make manifest the folly of those who denied
His intervention either for good or for evil. e prophet
then declares, in general but most forcible terms, the terrors
of the day of Jehovah. e whole land should be devoured
by the re of His jealousy. We have here the whole land-
Jerusalem and Judah-judged in the great day of God. is
division of the prophecy ends here.<P480>
Zephaniah 2
831
73061
Zephaniah 2
e remnant distinguished; called to gather together
and to seek Jehovah
Chapter 2, while revealing the character of the nation,
addresses itself to her, in order that all those at least who
fear Jehovah may be hidden in the day of His anger.
ey are called to gather themselves together, and to
seek Jehovah, before the decree of judgment should have
brought forth, and His erce anger should overtake them.
us the remnant are distinguished; the meek who have
wrought righteousness are called on to seek meekness and
righteousness, in order that they may be hidden, although
the testimony is addressed to the whole nation. For, after all,
God remembered the counsels of His grace. His dealings
in this respect are developed in a remarkable manner in
the rest of the prophecy. e judgment should be upon
the whole territory of Israel, occupied in many parts by
strangers hostile to the people.
e land left free for Israel; the judgment of the
nations
e eect of the consequent desolation should be (for
the gifts and calling of God are without repentance) to
leave the whole land free for the possession of Israel. For
Jehovah would visit them, and would bring again His
captives; and the remnant of His people should possess it.
Jehovah would judge and famish all the gods of the earth;
and all men should worship Him, everyone from his place,
even all the isles of the nations.
Darby Synopsis
832
Ethiopia, Nineveh, all the mighty ones of the nations,
should fall and be made desolate.
is is the judgment of the nations of which we have
spoken, of which Nebuchadnezzar was the rst instrument,
but which is here introduced in view of the last days, when
the power established by God shall be in its last rebellion
against Him.
Zephaniah 3
833
73062
Zephaniah 3
e remnant exhorted to wait on Jehovah till He rises
up in judgment
Amid this judgment of the nation Jerusalem holds the
chief place. In chapter 3, the Spirit of God, while laying open
the <P481>iniquity which occasioned it, turns towards the
remnant, and exhorts them to wait upon Jehovah, since all
hope was gone. He enlightens them with respect to His
dealings, and reveals to them in what manner these will
result in blessing to Israel.
God had been in the midst of the holy city, now
polluted, but she would not draw near to Him nor obey
Him. Her princes were the violent of the earth, her judges
were rapacious, her prophets vain and treacherous, her
priests polluted the sanctuary. Jehovah was there to show
them their sins and His judgment; but the wicked were
shameless in their iniquity. Doubtless Jehovah had cut
o the nations and made them desolate; but surely Israel,
however chastised, would receive instruction-Jehovah
would not be compelled to cut them o. But they had
diligently corrupted all their doings. Because they would
not hearken to Jehovah, who had shown them such
loving-kindness, who had been so near unto them, Israel,
unnamed, sinks to the level of the nations, who are the
objects of the just judgment of God, and the remnant is
called (vs. 8) to wait upon Jehovah alone, who is about to
execute this judgment, to await the moment (since nothing
touched the hardened hearts of the people) when Jehovah
should rise up to the prey. Until that moment nothing
Darby Synopsis
834
could be done. Israel would not hearken. Judgment did
not belong to the remnant. And this judgment alone could
put an end to their distress. God would assemble all the
nations to pour His erce anger upon them-the solemn
and universal testimony of the prophets. But then would
He turn to them1 a pure language, that they should call
upon the name of Jehovah to serve Him with one consent.
He would also gather together all the dispersed of Israel
from the most distant lands.
(1. is is a very clear testimony, when it is that the
nations of the earth learn righteousness.)
Israel gathered together for blessing; a song of praise
indited and taught to Zion
Jerusalem should no longer remember her shame; her
transgressions should be entirely blotted out. e proud
should be taken away from among her: a humble and
despised people should be in the midst of her, whose refuge
should be Jehovah alone; the little remnant should do no
iniquity, neither should they speak lies. ey should feed
and lie down in safety; none<P482> should make them
afraid. Verses 14-17 contain a song of praise, which the
Spirit indites and teaches to Zion whom He calls on to
sing it with thanksgivings to Jehovah-who has put away
her condemnation forever-who is in the midst of her-
who rejoices in His love towards her. All those who had
grieved for the reproach of Zion, and who had sighed for
her solemn assemblies, should be gathered together; her
enemies should be destroyed, and her children should have
praise and fame in every place where they had been despised
and reproached. Israel should be a subject of praise among
all the nations of the earth.
Zephaniah 3
835
To whom and in what manner Zephaniah’s prophecy
relates
It will be observed that the prophecy of Zephaniah
relates to the nations, and not to the Gentile empire (of
which it says nothing at all); and that the relations of
Israel, of which it speaks, are with Jehovah: their conduct
towards the Messiah is not in view. It is Israel, Jerusalem,
and Jehovah. Christ is only seen in this character. e
special ways of God in the Gentile empire, in the mission
of His Son, and in the state of the Jews, consequent upon
His rejection, are quite left out, in order to dwell only on
the judgment of Israel on account of her relationship with
Jehovah her God. Christ appears only in a very general
manner, and as Jehovah the King (ch. 3:15).
e absolute necessity and practical eect of God’s
judgment of all the nations
e judgment of all the nations and its moral eect,
the absolute necessity of this judgment, since Israel among
whom God dwelt would not hearken, are most plainly
declared; and their object and their practical eect are
pointed out with more precision than perhaps in any other
prophecy, with the clear and distinct statement that it is
when God executes judgment upon the gathered nations
that they will learn the pure language and call on Him. e
address to the remnant, and their character, and Jehovah’s
delight in them, are stated with exquisite beauty.<P483>
Darby Synopsis
836
73063
Haggai
Prophecy after the Babylonian captivity
e last three prophets prophesied after the Babylonish
captivity. God, as we have seen in the books of Ezra and
Nehemiah, brought back a small remnant of His people,
who were reestablished in Jerusalem and in the land; but
the throne of God was not again set up there, neither was
the royalty of the house of David reinstated in its original
authority. e empire of the Gentile head had been in a
certain sense judged as not having fullled its duty to God,
who had given it its authority. But another empire, raised
up among the Gentiles, had taken the place of the rst; and,
while under the overruling hand of God (who disposes of
the hearts of all) favorable to the Jews, still held the people
of God in subjection to its yoke-the yoke of those who were
not in covenant with God, but still aliens to His promises.
God recognized the power of the empire which He had
established. Israel was therefore dependent on the favor of
those who ruled over them because of their sins, and had
to wait upon God to render them favorable, worshipping
Him according to His merciful appointments, until the
Messiah should come, who would be their Redeemer and
Deliverer.
Deprived of almost everything, Israel were not deprived
of the loving-kindness of their God, on which they should
have reckoned, and of which they had received a striking
testimony, in the return of the remnant from the lands in
which they had been captive. If all else were lost, the fear
of God and His law in their hearts remained to them; and
Haggai
837
godliness might now be exercised in the manner which He
had prescribed. (Compare Deuteronomy 30.)
Encouragements to faithfulness and testimony
against unfaithfulness
e three prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi,
set before us the encouragements which God gave the
people, that they might be faithful in their new position;
and the testimony against<P484> their unfaithfulness,
called for by the decay of their piety, and the total want
of reverence for Jehovah into which the people had fallen.
e temple was necessarily the center of this imperfect
and intermediate state of the people. It was there, if God
allowed the reestablishment of their worship, that the
hearts of the people should center. at was the outward
form in which their piety as a people should be expressed.
It was thus that the return of their heart to God should be
manifested. Whatever deciencies there might be in the
restored Levitical service, still it was the house of God, to
which was attached all that could be reestablished, and was
the center of its exercise.
Unbelief and discouragements
But the faith of the Jews was quickly enfeebled, and
they ceased to build. ere were diculties, no doubt. It
was not now as in the days of Solomon, when everything
was at the disposal of the king whose power extended over
all the neighboring countries. But God had shown His
goodness towards His people by inclining the heart of the
king of Persia to favor them; and Israel should have had
condence in the kindness of God, and have expected its
fruits; but full of unbelief, they were speedily discouraged.
God’s dealing before He sent His prophets
Darby Synopsis
838
God chastised His people, but He did so at the tting
time. He employs the means which His sovereign grace
so often used in the history we have been considering. He
raises up a prophet, and even two, to revive their courage
and stimulate them to the work. In the dealings of God, two
things aid in deciding the right time for His intervention,
namely, moral considerations and God’s arrangement of
events. In this case God had suciently chastised His
people, to make manifest His governmental dealings in the
relations of grace, which He now established with them by
means of the prophets; and He had raised up a prince who
was disposed- if the people acted in faith-to acknowledge
the will of God and the decrees of Cyrus.
Having thus prepared all both morally and providentially
(for He makes everything work together for our good),
He sends His prophets to animate their courage and their
faith, so as to lead them to accomplish that which had
always been their duty.<P485>
Real diculty not an obstacle for faith if in the path
of God’s will
ey should always have leaned directly upon God, and
have gone on with the work, unless hindered by force.1
Now, also, they are called to proceed with it, resting on
God, without knowing the king’s mind. eir condence
must be in God Himself. Moreover, without this, there
would have been neither piety nor faith in their labors. e
king’s support had been prepared by God for the moment
in which their faith should have been manifested. In fact,
the diculty did not fail to arise; but, faith being in exercise,
they continued to build in spite of their enemies, being
directed in their reply to these enemies by the wisdom of
God, and the king gives it his sanction. A diculty may be
Haggai
839
a real one, but it is only for the unbelief of hearts that it is an
obstacle, if on the path of God’s will; for faith reckons upon
God, and performs that which He wills, and diculties are
as nothing before Him. Unbelief can always nd excuses,
and excuses too that are apparently well-founded: they
have only this capital defect, that they leave God out.
(1. is actually happened (see Ezra 4:24): but it is
evident that, in consequence of the spirit of unbelief
working in them, its eect was to discourage them entirely,
so that they made no eort to recommence their work,
saying, “e time is not come that Jehovah’s house should
be built.” It was only the testimony of the Spirit by the
prophet that aroused them from their moral torpor.)
Haggai’s subject: the temple of God
e subject of Haggai is the temple. God having brought
back the captives, they immediately seek their own ease
without seeking to rebuild the house of Jehovah. Was it
then a time to rebuild their own? ere was tranquillity
enough for the latter-it required no faith-the world made
no opposition. e prophet exhibits the practical eect of
this, the sensible chastisements of God even as to their
temporal interests. And why these chastisements? ey
neglected God in neglecting His house. In truth, if they
had thought of God, His house would have been their rst
object.
e rst glory of the house; the eect of the people’s
fall and the captivity
e people, moved by the fear of Jehovah, hearkened to
the words of His servant the prophet. But another diculty
stands in<P486> the way of faith; the painful inferiority of
all that can be accomplished by the remnant of His people,
when God brings them back from captivity. ey can do
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nothing in comparison with the former manifestation
of His glory in the midst of His people. e eect of
the people’s fall and of the captivity they had suered is
felt in everything. God cannot identify His glory with
an authority dierent from His own, exercised over His
people (and which must needs be so) as the result of His
righteous judgment, of His government on earth. He may
lift them up-may restore them, because He loves them; but
it is no longer the same thing. He cannot reestablish that
direct connection which brings with it the manifestation
of His power and glory. at relationship had ended in the
judgment. e consciousness of this inferiority tends to
weaken faith.
e grace of God in Israel’s ruin
e grace of God meets this diculty by the testimony
of the prophet. It is a very sorrowful thing to see the ruin of
that which God established in blessing, and the weakness
and imperfection of that which is raised upon those ruins,
although even this is the fruit of His precious grace.
e prophet, without troubling himself as to the
king’s intentions, encourages the people by turning their
thoughts to Jehovah Himself, and showing them that, after
all, Jehovah reigned, cared for them, and would have them
act in view of what He was for them, and seek His glory.
For, weak as they were, He would thus be in relationship
with them.
God Himself with His feeble people in His glory to
ll the house
But the testimony of God graciously takes into account
also, the natural eects of the mean appearance of that
which they could do for Him, for God thinks of everything
that concerns His people. He was as faithfully their God
Haggai
841
now as at the best period of their history. e proof of it
was indeed stronger. He was with them. e word that
went forth from His mouth when He brought them up
from Egypt He would maintain. His Spirit should remain
among them. ey were not to fear. But, while sustaining
the faith of this feeble remnant by His tender mercy,
He goes much<P487> farther. If He could not manifest
Himself among them, on account of their fall and of the
establishment of another order of things, the time would
come for His own intervention by His own power. He
would shake all things, because the creature could not
sustain the weight of His glory, and would establish this
glory by His power, and would ll His earthly dwelling-
place with His glory.
Not only should the earth be shaken-this had often
happened; but the enemy who exercised the power of
darkness had always led men to corrupt everything afresh,
and to degrade all that God had established in blessing.
But now, the heavens and the earth, the sea-authority
on high, and all that was organized below, all established
order, and all that oated unorganized in the world-and
all the nations, should be shaken: and the object of desire
to all nations should come; and the house which they
were now rebuilding with so much trouble, which was so
contemptible in comparison with its former glory, should
be lled with glory by the Lord.
e true glory of the house
e expression which I have rendered by, “e object of
desire shall come,” is very dicult to translate. It appears
to me that, looking at the context, I have given the sense,1
and that the Spirit of God designedly expressed Himself in
vague terms, which, when the mind apprehended the true
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glory of the house, would embrace the Messiah. e object
of the passage is to certify that the house shall be lled
with glory.2 Meanwhile outward glory should be granted
it. e silver and the gold were Jehovah’s. But the nations,
overthrown, oppressed, and oppressing one another, not
knowing where to look for happiness, strength, and peace,
shall nd in that One who alone should establish the glory
of Jehovah and bestow true peace-in a word, shall nd in
Christ alone<P488> blessing and deliverance; and He shall
be the glory of the house which the poor remnant were
building.
(1. Diodati’s Italian version, which is considered very
accurate, agrees with the English. De Wette renders it,
“e precious things.” But it is not what is very generally
used for mere costly things, though the same root. is is
“chemdath,” that “chamudoth.” e diculty is that “shall
come” is in the plural. Perhaps this is De Wette’s motive
for saying “things,” taking “chemdath,” as “vahu” comes rst,
as a description of the things that come. e Italian has
“la scelta verrà,” the chosen object (the choice one) of the
nations shall come.)
(2. If not, and the sense is to be governed by the
following verse, it would refer to the desirable things of the
Gentiles, which would glorify the house; but I prefer what
is in the text.)
e greater latter glory of the house
e latter glory of the house should be even greater
than the former. It is not, “e glory of the latter house”;
the house is always considered as the same house. God will
ll it with more glory at the end than at the beginning,
and the peace of Jehovah Himself shall have its seat there.
is shall be accomplished in the last days. He who shall
Haggai
843
ll it with glory has indeed come; but, even while making
eternal peace for our souls, the world was in such a state
that He was obliged to say to the people, “ink not that
I am come to bring peace, but a sword.” Having shaken
all nations, He will, coming in His glory, set peace in the
earth.1
(1. It is remarkable that in Luke, when Christ rides into
Jerusalem, it is said, “Peace in heaven” (Luke 19:38). For it is
indeed, when Satan is cast down thence after the nal war
with the heavenly powers, that blessing upon earth can be
really established. Up to then it has been always corrupted
and spoiled by the power of evil, or spiritual wickedness
in heavenly places. en that will be forever over. Satan
may come up on earth if permitted, as an adversary, but his
heavenly power as spiritual wickedness is forever over. e
prince of the power of the air is gone, his place was found
no more in heaven.)
e holiness and blessing consequent on the
recognition and realization of God’s presence
Two other prophecies close the Book of Haggai,
relating, like the rest of its contents, to the house. e people,
who neglected Jehovah, had become, as it were, profane.
at which is holy cannot sanctify profane things; but an
unclean thing deles that which is holy; for holiness is
exclusive with respect to evil. e presence of evil destroys
holiness by the very fact of its presence, unless the holiness
be of that nature which, by its own existence, excludes all
that is contrary to it-such as the nature of God. But when
God is admitted and acknowledged, He can bless by the
power of His presence. us, from the day that the people
even sought to recognize and to realize that presence
among them, blessing proceeded from it.<P489>
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All thing to be shaken; the place of the true Seed of
David in that day
e second prophecy returns to the shaking of all things.
In that day, the governor of Judah, the heir of David, should
be as a signet on the hand of Him by whom all things were
shaken.
While encouraging the people at the time of the
prophecy-a time when they so greatly needed it-this
prophecy, in naming Zerubbabel, has Him in view who,
when God will shake the heavens and the earth, shall be
the true seed of David and the heir of his crown according
to God-the Christ of God, the Elect from among the
people.
e judgment of the nations who will come up against
Jerusalem
e judgment mentioned in verse 22 appears to me, not
the judgment of the throne of the beast, but that of the
nations who, at that day, will come up against Jerusalem.
All that sets itself up against the rights of Jehovah
established according to His counsels at Jerusalem (rights
that were identied with the house they were building)
should be overthrown. No doubt this is true, in general,
of the kingdom of the beast: but the conditions of its
existence are quite dierent. God had put Jerusalem under
the power of the head of this empire. e crimes that draw
down judgment upon him, are yet more audacious and
intolerable than those of which the nations are guilty.
e object of Haggai’s prophecy
In sum, the object of this prophecy is to connect blessing
on the earth with the house; and to show that, mean as it
might be, its latter glory should be greater than the former.
God, in establishing all in glory according to the counsels
Haggai
845
of His grace, would introduce something much more
excellent than that which had been committed to man,
and established by his means. is is connected with the
shaking of all things by His mighty hand, and with the
establishment of David’s heir as the object of God’s love,
and the vessel of His power.<P490>
e authority of the Gentile empire acknowledged as
given by God; the dates of the prophecies
It will be observed that the Spirit of God, although
He is present to bless His people, to encourage them, and
to connect them with God in the worship that was to be
oered Him in His house, yet acknowledges the authority
of the Gentile empire. ese prophecies are dated according
to the years of the reign of the Gentile king. It is His will
that the things of God be rendered to God, and the things
of Caesar to him who then held the place of Caesar. It was
God who had placed him there. We shall thus understand
the perfect wisdom of the Lord in His reply (Mark 12:17),
and the way in which the Word is its expression.
Malachi’s pronouncement of judgment on the result
in Israel of God’s grace
Malachi neither places nor establishes anything
as Haggai does, and Zechariah. He only pronounces
judgment upon the result in Israel of that which God had
done in grace, by reestablishing the remnant; showing
how little the worship, by which He had connected Israel
with Himself, had been maintained in such a manner as to
glorify Him.<P491>
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73064
Zechariah
e scope and standpoint of Zechariah
Zechariah is more occupied than either of the other
two post-captivity prophets with the Gentile kingdoms
under whose yoke the Jews were placed, and with the
establishment in its perfection of the glorious system that
was to accompany the presence of the Messiah; and, on
the other hand, with the rejection of that Messiah by the
remnant who had returned from captivity; with the state of
misery and unbelief in which the people would be left, and
by which they would at length be openly characterized;
and, nally, with the last attacks of the enemies of
Jehovah upon Israel, and especially those directed against
Jerusalem. He announces the destruction of these enemies
by the judgment of God, and the glory and holiness of the
people after their deliverance by the arm of Jehovah, who
should thenceforth reign and be gloried in all the earth.
It is the complete history of Israel, and of the Gentiles in
relationship with Israel, from the captivity to the end, as
far as connected with Jerusalem, the restoration of which
especially occupies the prophet. For if the house was the
primary object in Haggai, Jerusalem is the central point
in Zechariah; although in the course of the prophecy
the temple, and still more the Messiah, have the most
prominent place in the scene.
e dates of the post-captivity
e date of Zechariah’s prophecy is nearly the same
as that of the prophecies of Haggai. ere are two in
Zechariah, besides that of the introduction; in Haggai, four.
Zechariah
847
e rst date in Zechariah is only a month or two before
the last two in Haggai, which were given on the same day.
At the date of the second prophecy in Zechariah (ch. 7)
the temple was not nished as a whole, but suciently so
to serve as a place of worship, although the dedication had
not yet been celebrated.<P492>
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73065
Zechariah 1
Exhortation to the people to turn to Jehovah; the
conduct of the Gentiles
e Spirit of God begins with an exhortation, founded
on the proofs that the history of the people supplied of the
manner in which the word of the prophets had taken hold
of them. Jehovah’s displeasure, of which these prophets had
not failed to warn the people, had borne its fruit; but God
was now taking knowledge of the conduct of the Gentiles,
to whom He had committed the place of power, and who,
being at ease themselves, did not care for the misery and
ruin of God’s people.
But Jehovah cares for it. He is sore displeased with the
heathen that are at ease, and very jealous for Jerusalem.
He is returned to Jerusalem with mercies; and prosperity
and abundance shall be the portion of His people. We
may remark here, that the judgment of Babylon, already
accomplished, was in principle the judgment executed on
the oppressor among the Gentiles, the head of the empire-
of the image; and that the promise of blessing extends to
that which shall be the portion of Jerusalem, when the
oppressor shall be nally judged.
One Gentile empire already judged, three then
existing
ree empires were existing in the eye of the Spirit. And
the world was at peace under the authority of the second
of the four, the rst of these three. A horse is the symbol of
divine energy of government in the earth, and here, in the
empires succeeding Nebuchadnezzar. ere are here three,
Zechariah 1
849
besides the one that stands among the myrtle trees. But
they have the character of the providentially administering
spirits of the empires rather than of the empires themselves.
e rst of the three horses is of the same color as that of
the man who stood among the myrtles (perhaps because
Cyrus and the Persians had delivered and favored the
people of God, as the Lord Jesus Himself will do in the
greatness of His power).
Such, then, is the import of the rst part of this
prophecy: the judgment already accomplished displaying
the virtue of Jehovah’s word; God returning to Jerusalem
with mercies and consolation,<P493> moved with jealousy
for her, and sorely displeased with the nations that were at
ease while she was in ruins.
God occupied with the prosperity and blessing of His
chosen city; Judah restored to a position to receive the
Messiah
e vision controlled the whole action of the empires of
the nations, and showed that everything was subject to the
providential government of God, who inquired into all for
His people’s sake; and who, looking on to the end of these
times of the Gentiles, announced that He was occupied
with the prosperity and blessing of His chosen city.
Meanwhile, remark, Judah had been restored provisionally
to the privileges of its own worship, and to a position in
which it might be ready to receive the Messiah for the
accomplishment of the purposes of God.
e empires oppressing Judah and Jerusalem; the
powers and instruments employed to break them in
pieces
e vision at the end of the chapter embraces all the
empires who shall have been in relation with Judah and
Darby Synopsis
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Jerusalem, and have oppressed them, until their nal
deliverance. e horns appear to symbolize powers; and
the carpenters, the instruments employed by God to break
them to pieces. We observe that Israel is included in verse
19, as a part of the whole it appears to me, without entering
into detail. Nineveh having come under the yoke of
Babylon, and Israel being subject, as it was, to the empire,
all is put together.
Zechariah 2
851
73066
Zechariah 2
e reestablishment of Jerusalem and the house;
judgment of what was wicked
From chapter 2 to the end of chapter 6, the Spirit
presents the circumstances, the principles, and the result of
the reestablishment of Jerusalem and of the house; and also
the judgment of that which was wicked and corrupt. Each
chapter has a distinct subject-a vision detached from the
others, while forming a portion of the whole. e present
responsibility, on which the blessing <P494>depended,
and the sovereign grace that would assuredly accomplish
all, are both set before us, each in its place.
Jerusalem’s restoration; the connection between
the return from captivity and the manifestation of the
Messiah
e restoration of Jerusalem is described in chapter 2
in a very remarkable manner, which throws much light on
the connection, already spoken of, between the return from
the Babylonish captivity wrought by Cyrus, the servant,
the righteous man from the east, and the deliverance to be
granted by the manifestation of the Messiah. First of all,
the full and entire restoration of Jerusalem is announced,
Jehovah Himself being her safeguard, and securing
prosperity and peace to her inhabitants, Himself, her glory,
dwelling in the midst of her. We can easily understand what
an encouragement such a promise, and such an interest
on the part of Jehovah in Jerusalem, would be to them in
their then state, even if the accomplishment were not then
brought about.
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e return under Cyrus not the full accomplishment
of God’s purposes
Jehovah calls to the people, and bids them come
forth from the land of the north, an expression used for
Chaldea, for they had been scattered to the four winds. e
Babylonish captivity was the real sentence of Lo-ammi, as
the return thence (Babylon being judged) was the earnest
of a better deliverance from that which, in the last days,
will represent Babylon. Zion is delivered from her captivity
in Babylon. But if, up to a certain point, this took place by
means of Cyrus, it was by no means the full accomplishment
of God’s purposes. ey were continuously, and yet are,
subject to the heathen image and superscription. And, in a
more special manner, the Jews will again be in subjection
to that which bears the character of Babylon, and will be
delivered from it; but it will be in those days when Jehovah
shall manifest Himself in a glory that will admit of no
resistance to His will. After the glory He will send to the
nations that have spoiled Israel. e glory of Jehovah shall
appear, and the enemies of His people shall be judged; for
he who touches Israel, the beloved of Jehovah, shall bring
judgment upon himself in that which is most dear and
precious to him. e judgment of the nations shall justify
the Word of God to His people Israel.<P495>
Future full blessing
e daughter of Zion should sing with joy, for Jehovah
would dwell in the midst of her. Many nations should come
and join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and should be
His people; and He would dwell in the midst of Israel.
And then the word of prophecy (the accomplishment of
which had been so long suspended that it appeared like a
dream of the night) should be justied to Israel by its entire
Zechariah 2
853
fulllment. Jehovah should inherit Judah as His portion in
the holy land, and should again choose Jerusalem. Solemn
period! Let all esh then be silent; for Jehovah has risen
up from His holy habitation to accomplish all the good
pleasure of His will.
We see, that, however great might be the encouragement
for the Jews in that day, the mind of the Spirit goes on to
the end of the age, and to the manifestation of the glory
of Jehovah, and the blessing of Jerusalem and of the whole
earth. e return from Babylon, already accomplished
historically, was still future as the true deliverance of Zion.
All esh should acknowledge the coming of Jehovah. ese
were judgments which should take place after the glory.
Darby Synopsis
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73067
Zechariah 3
e high priest and the new garments wrought of
God; sins removed
But in order that Jerusalem (the center of God’s
dealings in Israel) should be thus reestablished in blessing,
something more than the mere exercise of God’s power was
necessary. e people were guilty and polluted. How could
they be brought into the presence of God, and clothed with
glory, in such a condition? Nevertheless they must be there
in order to be blessed. Moreover this is the history of every
sinner. It is this question, so important, so essential, that is
solved in chapter 3. Joshua, the high priest, who represents
the people (it is not a question here of interceding, but
of answering for them), stands before the presence of
Jehovah-before “the angel of his presence,” that is to say,
before God as He manifested Himself in Israel since the
departure from Horeb. Satan, the adversary to the blessing
of God’s people, stands there to resist him. How is this to be
answered? Joshua could not do it. He<P496> was clothed
in lthy garments. It is Jehovah Himself who, unknown to
them, undertakes the cause of His people (as He did in the
case of Balaam), and employs divine authority against their
adversary. Jehovah had chosen Jerusalem-had plucked the
people as a brand out of the re; and Satan desired to
cast them into it again. e will of Jehovah was to save
them, all guilty and polluted as they were. Nevertheless the
delement existed and was unbearable to God. But God
was acting in grace; and thus acting, since He must needs
remove the sin from before His eyes (for this very reason,
Zechariah 3
855
that it is unbearable to Him), He puts away the sin and
not the sinner. He makes sin to cease from before Him.
He takes it away, and, clothing Joshua with new garments
wrought of God, and according to His perfection, makes
Him a priest before Him. is will be the position of Israel
in righteousness; and in service before God-a nation of
priests, clothed in the righteousness which their God has
given them. We anticipate them in this in a higher and
heavenly way.
Joshua as a type of Christ; the foundation-stone
Verse 7 puts Joshua, as the representative of the people,
under responsibility for the time being. If faithful, he
should have a place in the presence of Jehovah of hosts.
Verse 8 treats him as a type of Christ, having the nation of
priests associated with Himself in the blessing that shall
be accomplished in the last days. e foundation-stone
that was laid before the eyes of Joshua was but a feeble
image of that true stone, the immovable foundation of all
the blessing of Israel, of all the government of God in the
earth. Jehovah Himself stamps it with its true character.
It should represent the thoughts of Jehovah Himself in
His government. It should have, or rather it should be,
the signet of God; and the iniquity of the earth should
be denitively taken away by the absolute, ecacious, and
positive act of God. In this stone shall be seen also the
perfect intelligency of God. e seven eyes shall be there.
e eyes of Jehovah
I would add a few words on this expression. In
2Chronicles 16 we nd the eyes of Jehovah represented
as running to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show
Himself strong in behalf of<P497> those whose heart is
perfect towards Him. is is the faithfulness of God in
Darby Synopsis
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taking cognizance of all things in His ways of government.
In Zechariah, the eyes are found upon the stone that is
laid in Zion. It is there that the seat of that government
is placed which sees everything and everywhere. In verse
10 of the next chapter these eyes, which behold all things,
which run through the whole earth, are said to rejoice when
they see the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel, that is to
say, the house of Jehovah’s habitation entirely nished. In
this case they are not presented as established in the seat of
government upon earth, but in their character of universal
and active oversight, and in this providential activity, never
resting until Jehovah’s counsels of grace towards Jerusalem
are accomplished; and then they shall rejoice. e active
intelligence of providence nds its full delight there in the
accomplishment of the unchangeable purpose of the will
of God. Finally these eyes are again seen in Revelation 5, in
the Lamb exalted to the right hand of God, who is about
to take possession of His inheritance of the earth. Here it
is the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth; for
the government is in the hands of the Lamb, although He
has not yet exercised it in the earth, of which He is about
to be put in possession.
Peace fully established by the Prince of Peace, the
Branch
I return to our chapter. When the seat of Jehovah’s
perfect government shall be set up in Jerusalem, and the
iniquity of the land of Israel shall be taken away, then peace
shall be fully established, and each one shall rejoice in the
peace of his neighbor, and each one be neighbor in heart to
all. It is the Prince of Peace who reigns there.
All this hangs upon the introduction of Christ the
Branch. Here He is not presented as king. It is His Person
Zechariah 3
857
which is introduced, and the eect of His intervention.
Observe that the Word does not say that iniquity is taken
away, until the eect of the work of Christ is applied by
faith in Him, a faith which, with respect to Israel, depends
on sight. eir hearts will have been previously drawn to
Jehovah, as were the remnant by the preaching of John the
Baptist; but the peace that ows from iniquity being taken
away, and the joy of complete deliverance, comes after. ey
will then sing, “Unto us a son is born.”<P498>
Darby Synopsis
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73068
Zechariah 4
e golden candlestick; the perfect light of divine
order on earth and its sustenance; worship in spirit and
in truth
After this Zechariah is, as it were, awakened by God
to see all the perfect order of that which He was going
to establish. Here also the present grace furnishes the
occasion for the revelation of the ulterior purposes of God.
e prophet sees the vessel of the light of God on earth
ordained in all its perfection. e candlestick was one, but
it had seven branches. It was unity in the perfection of
spiritual coordination-perfect unity, perfect development
in that unity. Each thing was in its place as a means, and
the two sources of spiritual grace which fed the light, were
placed one on each side to sustain the light that shone
before Jehovah. ese are, as it appears to me, the royalty
and the priesthood of Christ, which maintain, by power
and spiritual grace, the perfect light of divine order among
the Jews. e work was divine, the pipes were of gold. e
thing ministered was the grace of the Spirit, the oil which
fed the testimony, maintained in this perfect order. But the
Spirit rst places Israel, at the moment of the prophecy,
in a very denite position. It was not yet the time for the
exercise of outward power, or for Jehovah to put forth His
might, and establish His glory and His worship among His
people. It was His Spirit acting in the remnant of Israel, if
they would hearken, to bring them into relationship with
God morally, and in a worship that He would accept, if-
imperfect as it must needs be, since the nation was not
Zechariah 4
859
reestablished by the power of God, but remained still in
bondage-this worship was rendered to God in spirit and in
truth, according to that which He bestowed on the people.
And at the same time, outward providence was exercised
to accomplish all that was necessary for the maintenance
of the relationship with God, and that God’s grace had
established for Israel, after their fall and their deliverance
from Babylon by the providential interposition of God.
e seven eyes which ran to and fro throughout the
earth should see with joy the house in which the restored
remnant would be in relationship with God, completed by
the hands of Zerubbabel.
is clearly denes the position of the people, and the
two orders of things set before us in this prophecy. e
present condition was that of relationship with God,
established in sovereignty by His<P499> Spirit, through
which He could accept their worship, His Spirit being in
the midst of the restored remnant, and providential power
being in exercise to secure blessing, but no immediate
government on God’s part. Government was left in the
hands of the Gentiles.
at which was prophetically in view, was the perfect
order established in Jerusalem as the vessel of divine light
on earth, maintained by the ministry of the two sons of
oil-the royalty and the priesthood-which stood before the
Lord1 of the whole earth. e God of Israel had had His
throne at Jerusalem. e God of heaven had bestowed the
dominion of the whole earth on the head of the Gentiles.
Now the Lord2 of the whole earth would establish earthly
order, according to His will, at Jerusalem; and would there
maintain divine light by a royal priesthood in His presence.
(1. Here, “Adon.”)
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(2. See previous note.)
Zechariah 5
861
73069
Zechariah 5
e ying roll lled with a curse for the wicked in
Israel; their true position
Chapter 5 shows us the other side of the picture, that
is to say, the judgment of the wicked in Israel in the last
days. e prophet sees an immense roll lled with a curse
for the wicked, for those that sin against their neighbor
and against the name of Jehovah, to cut o both them and
their houses.
e people, as a whole also, are then put in their true
position. at which called itself Jerusalem and Israel and
the people of God, belonged in fact to Babylon. God, by
His mighty providence, takes them up and sets them on
their true base; and their house is built in the land of Shinar.
Its Babylonish character is fully evidenced by its position.
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73070
Zechariah 6
Mediate power; God’s government on earth after
Nebuchadnezzar’s failure
In chapter 6 we are shown the government of God in the
four monarchies, but neither as immediate government on
God’s part<P500> nor merely that of human government.
We have seen power committed to man in the person of
Nebuchadnezzar, and that he had failed herein. But it was
not the will of God immediately to resume the reins of
government in the earth, neither to leave the earth to the
wickedness and the will of man without any providential
bridle, without any government. He controls them, not
by acting directly, so as to maintain the testimony of His
character and His ways, but by means of instruments
whom He employs, the result of whose activity is according
to His will. e only wise God can do this, for He knows
all things and directs all things to the accomplishment
of His purposes. is is the reason that we see all sorts
of things morally in disagreement with His ways in
government, which yet succeed: a chaos as to the present,
but the issue of which will furnish a clue, that will make
manifest a wisdom even more profound and admirable
than that which was displayed in His own immediate
government in Israel, perfect as this was in its place. It
is that universal providence, which, in its results, satises
the moral exigencies of the nature of God; while in the
intermediate course of things free scope is left to the active
energies of man’s will.
Zechariah 6
863
is mediate power, exercised by means of instruments
proceeding from the presence of the Most High God, is
employed in connection with His rights over the whole
earth. is is the character of God in the prophecy of
Zechariah. It is the character also of His government for
the time being, that is, during the four empires. When
Christ shall reign, the government will again be immediate
in His Person, and Jerusalem be its center.
I think that the judgment executed upon Babylon
answers to that which is said in verse 8. We know that
Chaldea was always the north country to Israel. e spirits
employed by God have accomplished the will of God there.
e seventh verse appears to indicate the Roman empire,
comprising everything from its rst establishment to the
present time, and its historical character at all times. e
white horses would be the representatives of that which
God has done by means of the Greek empire. e grisled
and bay appear to indicate a mixture of Greek and Roman
power-at least, these horses have a double character, which
becomes afterwards two distinct classes (the last only
having the character of universality, which goes to and fro
throughout all the earth). I doubt not that all these proud
instruments of His <P501>government will be found again
as spheres of judgment in the last days, when God begins
to assert His rights as the God of the whole earth, unless
Babylon geographically may be an exception in virtue of
what is said in verse 8.
e Branch, the true Melchisedec
e full result is given in verses 9-15, in which the
Branch is looked at as born and growing up in the place
of His earthly glory, building the temple of Jehovah,
bearing the glory, ruling upon His throne, a priest upon
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His throne, the true Melchisedec, maintaining for the
earth the enjoyment of perfect peace-the “counsel of peace”
with Jehovah. is counsel of peace is maintained between
Jehovah and the Branch. Compare Psalm 85 and Psalm 87.
erefore should they come from far to build in the temple
of Jehovah; and the testimony of prophecy should be made
good by its fulllment.
Judgment on Babylon; fulllment of promise to the
obedient remnant
Again we see the two elements which link the events
and the dealings of God in the prophet’s day with the
glorious circumstances of the last days. First, the overthrow
of Babylon has already executed the judgment on the rst
oppressors of Jerusalem who led her captive. e whole
system is thus judged in principle; as in the New Testament
it is said of the adversary, “Now is the prince of this
world judged.” And then, the fulllment of the promise
is attached to the obedience of the remnant (vs. 15). is
continues with respect to Israel unto the end. (See Acts
3, and even Hebrews 3-4.) But meantime the fullness of
the Gentiles must come in independently of this on other
grounds. At the end Israel, obedient (that is, in fact, the
remnant)-no longer united to the order of the assembly,
but connected with the promises to Israel in the earth-will
enjoy the fulllment of these promises.
God’s hidden providential government
We may remark that in Zechariah (Babylon being
already judged) we have neither man invested with the
government, nor the moral character of the empires
presented under the form of an image or that of beasts; but
the government of God, hidden,<P502> providential, but
real, in connection with these empires. is is an element
Zechariah 6
865
of much importance, if we would understand the whole
system existing from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and the
return from captivity, until the end, when Christ shall reign
in righteousness. e rst part of the prophecy closes with
the end of chapter 6.
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73071
Zechariah 7-10
Responsibility and blessing; Israel’s past and future
e prophecy, from chapter 7 to the end of the book,
has for its special object the introduction of the Messiah
in Israel, with the consequences of His rejection. e
same principles of responsibility and blessing, which we
have already seen established with respect to the remnant
on their return from Babylon, are found again here. e
prophecy begins by calling to mind the insincerity of their
lamentations and humiliation during the seventy years’
captivity, and the example set them by the hardness of the
people’s heart, before that sorrowful period, which led to
their dispersion among all the nations, the pleasant land
being made desolate. But now Jehovah’s love for Zion, His
chosen city, excited His jealousy and His wrath against
those who oppressed her. He was returned unto Zion, and
she should be blessed as a city of truth, and the mountain
of Jehovah should be His holy mountain. Jerusalem should
be abundantly blessed, her streets full of inhabitants, and
her old men full of days. God would bring back His people
from all the countries in which they had been scattered
and captive. From the day in which His people had turned
to Him and laid the foundation of the temple, blessing
should ow as a river, even as misery and judgment had
done before. e Jews who had returned from Babylon
were placed under conditions of truth and uprightness for
the enjoyment of these blessings (vss. 16-17).
Besides this, Jehovah declares, unconditionally, that
their fast days should be joyful feasts, and that men should
Zechariah 7-10
867
come from all nations to worship Jehovah at Jerusalem,
and should take hold of the skirt of a Jew, knowing that
God was with that people. Here are, then, the moral
consequences of disobedience, already accomplished-
insincerity and hardness of heart pointed out; present
blessing introduced by grace, and bestowed on the people
under<P503> the condition of a godly walk, such fullness
of blessing as the presence of Jehovah in their midst would
involve; and, nally, the purposes of God in grace, which,
depending on Himself, should be never-failing.
God’s purposes of grace and the consequences
But this last thought introduces many consequences
and important events. e rst two consequences are, that
Israel should be put in possession of the whole territory
which God had given them. Enemies from without would
come, but Jehovah Himself would defend His house; and
the result of this direct intervention would be, that no
oppressor should pass through them anymore. Jehovah
Himself had already looked into this matter.
It was a day in which the eyes of all mankind should
be turned towards Jehovah, as well as those of the tribes of
Israel. Compare this part of chapter 9 with Isaiah 17.
e introduction of the Messiah in a twofold aspect
Now this immediate intervention of Jehovah, who
encamps about His house (it is the defence of the city
against the last attack of the Assyrians, which we have found
more than once in the prophets), necessarily introduces
the Messiah, in view of the events of the last days. Verse
9 speaks of this. It presents the Messiah in His personal
character as King Messiah, but in a twofold aspect. And
this is the reason why, in the New Testament, that portion
only is quoted which relates to Jehovah’s rst coming. e
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King of Zion comes unto her. He is just, and brings in
Himself power and salvation. is is the general idea, that
which Zion needed, and which shall be accomplished in
the last days. e Holy Spirit adds to this the personal
character of the Lord, the spirit in which He presented
Himself to Israel-lowly and riding upon an ass. We all
know the fulllment of this at His rst coming.
e eect of Messiah’s presence
e Messiah Himself having been thus presented, the
denitive eect of His presence is announced in that which
follows, as the continuation of verse 8, remembering who
has been introduced. He will put an end to war in Israel,
will establish peace among the nations, and His dominion
shall be unto the ends of the earth (the<P504> land of
Israel being the center of His power). Jehovah, having
delivered the people-that is, the believing remnant, who
shall become the nation-by the blood of the covenant, will
restore them double for all their aiction, and use them
to establish His power over the isles of the Gentiles. e
might of Jehovah should accompany and save them, as
the ock of His people. He would pour out blessing upon
the land at the prayer of the remnant of His people, who
had been wandering like a ock without a shepherd, and
had sought help in vain from their idols. But Jehovah had
now visited His ock, the house of Judah, and out of them
strength should go forth. Judah should be as His goodly
horse in the battle. He would strengthen Judah and save
Ephraim. Jehovah would gather them in such numbers
that there would be no place for them. He would dry up
the sea and the river to make a way for them, and the pride
of their enemies should be brought down. ey should be
Zechariah 7-10
869
strong in Jehovah their God, and walk up and down in His
name.
To the end of chapter 10 it is the general proclamation
of the blessing that should crown Judah and Ephraim,
when, by the favor of Jehovah, they were restored to their
land.
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73072
Zechariah 11
e rejection of Messiah and its consequences
In connection with the judgments that should attend
it, the Spirit enters into more detail with respect to the
rejection of the Messiah, and the particular circumstances
of the last days, in consequence of this rejection. It is the
history of Israel in connection with Christ.
e invasion of Israel by the Gentiles; Jehovah’s care
for His ock
I think that the beginning of chapter 11 speaks of the
invasion of Israel by the Gentiles. e rst three verses
give a picture of the general condition of the land. In
verse 4 Jehovah takes up the case of His devastated ock.
eir Gentile possessors only made a spoil of them. eir
own shepherds pitied them not. Jehovah, while giving
up the nation to the fruit of their iniquity, was moved
with compassion for the poor of the ock, and cares
for the oppressed. It is the spirit of the life of Christ in
Israel.<P505>
e true Shepherd and the Antichrist
e two staves represent His authority, as uniting all
the nations under Him, and binding Judah and Israel
together-the double eect of the presence of Christ. But
the shepherds of Israel are cut o; and Christ, grieved
with the wicked and corrupt people, Himself abhorred by
them, leaves them to themselves and to the consequences
of their behavior. As the result of this, He renounces for
that time the inheritance of the nations, since it is in Israel
that He is to take possession of it. But the poor of the ock
Zechariah 11
871
have recognized in His ways the fulllment of the word
of prophecy: they have not waited for the manifestation
of the Messiah’s public glory in Israel, but have attached
themselves to Him personally, in consequence of the proofs
He gave of His mission from God. It appears to me that
this comprises the apostolic work in Israel, as well as the life
of Christ. e prophecy only speaks of the fact itself. Verses
12-13 relate the price at which the nation estimated their
King and their Saviour. e fulllment of this is known
to all. e prophet here performs the thing prophetically,
marking that so it was to be according to the counsels
of God. We see also that Christ appears here as Jehovah
Himself. e connection between verses 6 and 9 brings out
the same truth. e thoughts of Jehovah with respect to that
which He will do nd their accomplishment in the Person
of Jesus. e union between Judah and Israel, of which
Christ should be the bond, is also deferred. In verses 15-17
the prophet is seen assuming the features of the Antichrist,
to represent him in type (as previously, the actions of Judas),
in order to announce that foolish shepherd who should be
raised up in judgment from God, and who should himself
suer the judgment he deserved. Christ came in the name
of the Father-He was not received. Another should come
in his own name, and him the people would receive.
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73073
Zechariah 12
e events around Jerusalem in the last days
e introduction of Antichrist, a shepherd1 in Israel,
brings in<P506> also the events that crowd around
Jerusalem in the last days. All the nations should be
gathered round Jerusalem, but only to nd it a burdensome
stone that should crush them. God would judge the power
of man, but would raise up His people in sovereign grace.
He would destroy the nations that had come up against
Jerusalem. e deliverance of the people by the power of
Jehovah comes rst. is is sovereign grace to the chief of
sinners-the feeble but beloved Judah, who had added to all
her rebellion against God, the despisal and rejection of her
King and Saviour.
(1. e worthless shepherd (ch. 11:17), I suppose, is the
same. He deserts the Jews, and identies himself with the
Gentile power when the Jewish worship is put down. He is
אליו, a thing of naught.)
e rejected One, the Messiah whom they pierced,
presented to the people as Jehovah their Deliverer
e grace of God takes the lead over all the resources
of man. e audacity of the enemies of God’s people stirs
up His aection, which never diminishes; and thus, by
compelling God to act, this very audacity becomes the
means of proving the faithfulness of His love. Judah, guilty
yet beloved Judah, is delivered-that is to say, the remnant,
to whom the aiction of Israel had been a burden; but the
question of her conduct towards her God still remained.
Nevertheless the grace shown in her deliverance had
Zechariah 12
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wrought upon her heart. e law we know was written in
it, but much more. To be loved by a God against whom
one has so deeply revolted melts the heart. Grace then goes
farther, and presents to the people the Messiah whom they
had pierced. e rejected One is the Jehovah that delivers
them. It is now no longer merely the cry of distress, that has
no refuge but Jehovah. Israel, more strictly Judah, no longer
a prey to the terrible anxiety which her distress occasioned,
is entirely occupied with her sin felt in the presence of a
crucied Saviour. It is no longer a common grief, that of
a nation crushed and trodden down in its most cherished
sentiments. It is now hearts melted by the sense of what
they had been towards One who had given Himself up
for them. Each family, isolated by its personal convictions,
confesses apart the depth of its sin; while no fear of
judgment or punishment comes in to impair the character
and the truth of their sorrow. eir souls are restored
according to the ecacy of the work of Christ. It is this
which denitively brings the people into relationship with
God. We have seen the same moral order in the typical
history of David-rst, the ark on Mount Zion, and then
the threshing-oor of Araunah the Jebusite.<P507>
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73074
Zechariah 13
e cleansing fountain open
In chapter 13 all is cleansed. e fountain is open to
the house of David, whose sin had ruined the people,
without abrogating the rights or weakening the grace of
God; and also to the people of Jerusalem, who were more
than partners in the sins of their rulers. Here it is practical
cleansing with water. Faith in Him whom they had
pierced was already in their hearts. e idols and the false
prophets, the two chief sources of the misery of the Jews,
should be entirely taken away. No one, not even the very
parents of the guilty, would tolerate these abominations
and deceits. Christ is the pattern, and all shall be judged
of by it. Everything takes its moral character according
to the relationship of the redeemed with Him. is gives
occasion to a full historical development of that which
has happened to Him. How He has been pierced, and its
consequences, are detailed with respect to Jerusalem, Israel,
and the world.
Now Christ has been pierced; His Person and
suerings
In verse 5 read, “I am no prophet, but a husbandman; for
man [Adam] has acquired me as a slave from my youth.”
at is to say, Christ takes the humble position of One
devoted to the service of man, in the circumstances into
which Adam was brought by sin (that is, with respect to
His position as a man living in this world).
Verse 6 directs our attention to that which befell Him
among the Jews, where He was wounded and treated
Zechariah 13
875
as a malefactor. e true character of His Person and of
His suerings is then revealed in verse 7. It is the sword
of Jehovah, which awakes against the man who is His
companion, His equal. is verse requires no comment. It
is most interesting to see that, when Christ is looked at in
His humiliation as man, He is treated by the Spirit as the
equal of Jehovah in His rights; and when (Psa. 45:7) He is
seen upon His throne of divine glory, and addressed as God,
those that are His are acknowledged as His companions in
glory, sharing His position.
e result of Christ’s rejection for Israel
e result of this rejection of Christ, the center of the
history of<P508> eternity, of man’s connection with God,
and the revelation of both-for this event is here considered
in connection with the history of Israel-is the scattering
of the sheep who had been gathered around the true
Shepherd. Nevertheless God stretches out His hand over
the little ones. e result for Judah, when the current of their
history shall be resumed in the last days, is that two-thirds
shall be cut o in all the land (compare Ezekiel 20:34-38
with respect to Israel); and the third that is left shall pass
through the re, shall call upon the name of Jehovah, and
shall be heard. Jehovah will abolish the name of Lo-ammi-
not My people-by saying, It is My people; and they shall
say, Jehovah is my God. is is the denite result of His
dealings with His people; and here especially with Judah,
of whom He had said Loammi, and the remnant of whom
He acknowledges as His people.
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73075
Zechariah 14
e nal results before full blessing
Chapter 14 announces the nal events that shall bring
in this result, as chapter 13 had especially detailed that
which regarded Christ. e two subjects of chapter 12 are
thus resumed in detail.
We may remark here, that the eect of the sta being
broken, which united Judah and Israel, is here realized. e
prophet speaks only of Judah, of the people who in the land
were guilty of rejecting the Messiah, and who will suer
the consequence of so doing in the land during the last
days, the mass of them at that time joining themselves to
Antichrist. Jerusalem, as we have said, forms the center of
the prophecy. No prophet could perish outside her borders.
What a terrible thing to be outwardly near God when one
is not so inwardly, and when the heart invests itself with
the name of God as with a cloak of pride-as a buckler, so
that His arrows no longer reach the conscience!
Jerusalem taken; Jehovah’s intervention in the Person
of Christ on the Mount of Olives
Nevertheless, in spite of her pride and her confederacy
with evil, Jerusalem shall be taken in the last days. We have
seen, when studying the other prophets, that this will be the
case; and then afterwards, when again besieged, Jehovah
will intervene for the<P509> destruction of these enemies.
is is very distinctly announced here. e nations shall
be assembled by Jehovah; the city shall be taken and the
houses ried, and half the people led captive. Jehovah
will then come forth against those nations, as we read in
Zechariah 14
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chapter 12. (Compare Isaiah 66 and Micah 4.) He comes
in the Person of Christ to the Mount of Olives, whence
He ascended. e Mount of Olives cleaves in the midst,
forming a great valley, spreading terror among the people
who are there. But if Jehovah identies Himself thus, so
to speak, with the meek and lowly Jesus formerly on the
earth, in order that the identity of the Saviour and Jehovah
should be clearly acknowledged, it is not the less true
that He will come from heaven in all His glory (as He
Himself predicted, as well as the prophets beginning with
Enoch). e heavenly saints will accompany Him in His
public manifestation to the eyes of an astonished world.
Marvellous glory for those that are His, with whom He
will manifest Himself before all the wicked! For here it
is Jehovah’s public coming to the earth, as the righteous
Judge, making war upon all that rebel against Him.
Jehovah’s coming to the earth as the Righteous Judge;
His visible relationship with Judah
I do not see that the last-mentioned event follows that
which precedes it in the chapter. ere is a division in the
middle of verse 5. “And Jehovah my God shall come” begins
a fresh subject, introducing a grand distinct event, which
aects the whole earth in a manner that characterizes its
future existence. e presence of Jehovah upon the Mount
of Olives renews, we may say, His visible relationship
with Judah. is part of the subject closes with the words,
“Uzziah, king of Judah.” at which follows is intimately
connected with the return of Christ to the Jews, in the
very spot from which He left this earth; but it looks at it
from a higher point of view, and takes up the subject of
the relationship of Jehovah with the whole earth, when He
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comes from heaven with the saints. is is another part of
the subject and a very important one.
e day of mingled light and darkness
e meaning of the rather dicult passage that follows
has, I think, been given, as to its general sense, by Martin in
his French<P510> translation. e Hebrew is acknowledged
to be obscure. It may be, perhaps, translated, “ere shall
not be a precious light [which] shall be withdrawn.” It
is “a light of preciousness and denseness”; the last word
may be taken for “shall be withdrawn.” It shall not be a
day of mingled light and darkness, but a day appointed by
Jehovah, a day characterized by His intervention and His
mighty presence, and that could not be characterized by the
ordinary vicissitudes of night and day; but, at the moment
when the total darkness of night might be expected, there
should be light. Living waters should ow from Jerusalem
towards the east and towards the west, into the Dead Sea
and into the Great Sea. e heat of summer should not dry
up their source.
“One Jehovah, and His name one”; universal holiness
Jehovah shall be God over all the earth; there shall
be but one Jehovah, and His name one. It shall be truly
one universal religion, the dominion of the one Jehovah,
the God of the Jews, over all the earth. e land round
Jerusalem shall be entirely peopled, and Jerusalem lifted up
and securely inhabited in her place.
ere shall be no more any destruction of the city which
Jehovah has chosen. A deadly plague shall smite all those
that have fought against her. ey shall mutually destroy
each other. Judah shall also ght against them, and their
riches shall be her prey. e remnant that are spared among
the nations shall come up to Jerusalem, to the feast in which
Zechariah 14
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the entrance of God’s people into their rest is celebrated.
And all shall be holiness; everything in Jerusalem shall be
consecrated to Jehovah.<P511>
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73076
Malachi
The importance of Malachi’s prophecy
The prophecy of Malachi deals with the people brought
back from the capvity of Babylon, and is most important as
showing the moral condion of the people consequent upon
their return. Its last verses evidently close the tesmony of
Jehovah to the people, ll the coming of him who should
prepare the way of Jehovah, in a word, ll John Bapst.
The law and the prophets were unl John, and Malachi is
professedly, and from the nature of his tesmony, the last.
The people’s insensibility to and want of reverence for God
The great moral principle unfolded in the book, is the
insensibility of the people to that which Jehovah was for
them, and to their own iniquity with respect to Jehovah-their
want of reverence for God, their despisal of Jehovah. Alas!
this insensibility had reached such a point that, when the very
acons that proved their contempt were laid before their
consciences, they saw no harm in them. Nevertheless this
did not alter the purposes and counsels of God, although it
brought judgment on those who were guilty of it. (See chapter
1:2,6, 2:14 and 3:7,13.)
The remnant; God’s call to them
Malachi also disnguishes the remnant and that which
characterized them, while proclaiming the punishment of the
wicked, and the call of God to those who had ears to hear
to bring them back to repentance-a ministry which would
restore moral order in the hearts of parents and children-that
relaonship, from the maintenance and exercise of which, all
earthly peaceful order according to God ows; and that order
Malachi
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is what God is considering here.<P512>
Jehovah’s love proved by Israel’s elecon; His purposes
At the commencement of the prophecy Jehovah sets forth
His love to Israel, slighted alas! by an ungrateful people,
yet proved by their elecon from the beginning. Even while
exhibing the sad ingratude of the people, Jehovah adheres
to His own thoughts toward them. He will bless Israel, and He
will judge Edom, in spite of the pride of the laer.
Israel’s indierence and sin; mercy towards the Genles; the
sins of the priests
The sin of Israel, and their oensive indierence in the service
of their God, is shown (vss. 6-10). This gives occasion to
another expression of grace-the revelaon of the name of
Jehovah among all naons. Thus, the elecon of Israel, and
mercy towards the Genles, are established amid, and even
on occasion of, the sin of the restored people. Verses 12-14
also display their oences against Jehovah and their contempt
of His majesty. Chapter 2:1-9 proclaims the fallen condion of
the priests, who ought to have been the faithful depositaries
of the mind and ways of God; verses 10-12, their misconduct
towards their brethren, and their inmate relaonship with
idolaters, are pointed out; verses 13-16, the lightness with
which they were in the habit of divorcing at their pleasure. But
Jehovah was coming.
John the Bapst announced as the Lord’s messenger to
prepare the way for the angel of the covenant to come in
judgment
Here again we nd the Lord’s1 rst coming connected with
the full result of the second. John the Bapst is announced
as His messenger to prepare the way before Him; and then,
the angel of the covenant, whom they so earnestly desired,
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should come; but it would be in judgment, to purge the
people and take away all their dross. Then should their
oering in Jerusalem be acceptable to Jehovah, an oering in
righteousness. But all the evildoers should be judged; for God
was unchangeable, both in righteousness and grace. It was
this which, aer all, secured the existence of Israel, happen
what might. Let Israel then return unto <P513>Jehovah, and
Jehovah would return unto them. But the pride of Israel is
excited by this, and they say, “Wherein shall we return?”
Their sins with respect to the oerings and the ordinances are
then shown. But grace again displays itself in prospect of the
people’s return from their praccal alienaon from God. They
had but to return and prove the goodness of God.
(1. It is, note disnctly, Jehovah’s.)
The remnant known to Jehovah; their fear and remembrance
of Him recorded; the rising of the Sun of Righteousness
In the midst of the pride of the wicked in their apparent
success, the remnant are disnguished as being drawn
together by their common spiritual wants and feelings,
founded on the fear of Jehovah which governed them all.
In their aicon they spake oen one to another of these
things.1 And Jehovah hearkened and heard and wrote it down
in His book. And they shall be His in the day when He makes
up His jewels. Aer this they should discern between the
righteous and the wicked, between those that served God
and those that served Him not. For the day was coming which
should burn as an oven, and the proud and the wicked should
be as stubble. But to those that feared the name of Jehovah,
the Sun of Righteousness should rise. It should be no longer
the sorrowful night of darkness and aicon and of the
enemy’s dominion, but a day which God would cause to shine
by the presence of His Son, by the reign of His beloved One
on the earth. The righteous would have dominion over them
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in the morning, for the me is a me of judgment, and the
wicked would be as ashes under the soles of their feet.
(1. See the lovely picture of this in the rst two chapters of
Luke’s Gospel, before he begins the general subject of it.
Only then the Saviour was rejected, and the remnant passed
into the assembly, the deliverance of Israel being deferred to
the coming of the Lord in power. Here it is looked at as the
remnant in Israel connected with that deliverance.)
Jehovah’s authority and Israel’s conduct as a naon aer the
capvity
It will be remarked here, that all is in connecon with the
authority of Jehovah and His dispensaons towards Israel,
and with the conduct of Israel, as a naon, towards their
God. That which<P514> belongs to the rst coming of Christ,
and its consequences to Israel, is not brought in here. John
the Bapst is presented as the forerunner of Jehovah, who
without doubt is Christ Himself, but who here comes as the
Angel of the covenant, coming suddenly to His temple, and
trying everything in Israel by re and by His judgment, in order
that the oering of Judah may be pleasant to Jehovah as in
the days of old. The transgressions here spoken of are those
of the people brought back from Babylon against Jehovah. The
Genles, and their empire, are not seen here. All takes place
between Israel only and Jehovah, the God of their fathers, as
in former days between the people loved of God and Jehovah
who loved them. A strange god is that which Jehovah will not
endure. It is Levi, with whom His covenant had been; it was
the priests, whose lips should have kept the true knowledge of
Jehovah.
There is even no king here spoken of; except that Jehovah,
whose name is terrible among the heathen, is their king.
Finally the people (Israel) are commanded to return to the law
Darby Synopsis
884
of Moses given at Horeb for all Israel.
Jehovah’s unchangeable love; Israel looked at as awaing
God’s judgment
Thus we have here Jehovah’s unchangeable love for
the people whom He gathered to Himself at Horeb, His
controversy with them on account of their sins, the marking
out of a faithful remnant, and the sending of a messenger
before the execuon of the judgment. Israel is looked at
naonally, in their own relaonship with Jehovah, as returned
from capvity and awaing the judgment of their God, who
sends His messenger to forewarn them.
All was prepared to put the people morally to the proof, with
respect to the accomplishment of this, at the me when John
the Bapst was sent; but Israel had not ears to hear, and all
was lost.
The perfect and enre fulllment will take place at the end,
aer that other glorious work of God with regard to the
assembly shall have been accomplished.
The message sent to Israel aer the Saviour’s death
The long-suering of God towards Israel had been great;
for, when they had rejected His Son, He sent them-through
the intercession of that same well-beloved Saviour on the
cross- the<P515> message by the mouth of Peter, that, if they
repented, the Christ whom they had slain would return. But
their leaders were more than deaf to this grace on the part of
God, and their house sll remains empty and desolate.
Elias and John the Bapst
At the me of the end, Elias-whose mission was to call back
an apostate Israel who had forsaken Jehovah to own Him
in truth, and that, by the sovereign grace of God, although
Malachi
885
in connecon with the law, and that Mount Horeb, whither
he went to lay down the burden of his prophec oce,
when rendered useless by the unbelief of the people-Elias
shall eectually accomplish his mission before the great and
terrible day of Jehovah; in order that the curse of God may
not fall upon the land of His delight in that day when He will
denively execute His judgments. It is on this account that
John the Bapst is spoken of as being Elias, if Israel could
receive it; for he answered to verse 1 of chapter 3, while, at
the same me, he said he was not Elias; for in fact he did not
at all fulll verses 5-6 of chapter 4. (Compare Luke 1:17,76.)
The object of the prophecy; its future applicaon
The prophecy speaks to the conscience of those who lived at
the me it was delivered (ch. 3:10); and passes on-showing
that at the end of those mes Israel would be put on trial
by the mission of grace-to the last days, in which God
would display His unchangeable love for His people, and His
righteous judgment against evil, by separang a remnant
unto Himself for blessing, and by execung judgment on the
rebellious.
The Genles are not menoned, nor even the connecon of
His people with Christ, coming down as man to the earth.
The subject of Haggai’s prophecy
We have thus in these three post-capvity prophets, three
disnct subjects, but which make a whole of the three. In
Haggai it is grace toward the returned remnant, God’s Spirit
sll among them, and in connecon with the house and
worship of Jehovah, the temple. Its laer glory should be
greater than its former. The kingdoms of the heathen should
be cast down, and <P516>Zerubbabel (Christ) as a signet on
Jehovah’s hand. Peace would be given in Jerusalem.
Darby Synopsis
886
Zechariah takes up two points: rst the empires of the
heathen and God’s providenal ways with Israel-the mes
of the Genles-Jerusalem is owned, but judged of God and
stamped as Babylonish in its true character; but at the end the
Branch, the Lord Jesus, sets crowns instead of fasng for the
faithful-Babylon being already judged-and strangers should
come and build in the temple of the Lord.
From chapter 7 to the end, it is the relaon of Israel with
Christ, and His rejecon and its consequences in the last
judgment of Jerusalem; but for all that Jehovah, as we have
oen seen, would judge denively all the naons assembled
against her. The remnant would be brought to repentance,
and Jerusalem be holiness to the Lord, nor should strangers
dele it.
Malachi’s tesmony to the Jews’ moral state, owning those
who feared the Lord; the coming of the Lord in judgment and
deliverance
Finally we have Malachi showing us, the state the Jews
soon got into, slighng all that was agreeable to God, and
indierent and insensible to their violang every righteous
feeling; the praccal separaon of those that feared the Lord,
and the coming of the Lord in judgment and deliverance:
meanwhile their recall to the authority of the law, and the
coming of Elias before the great and terrible day of the Lord,
to turn their hearts in grace into the way of peace.<P517>
