right, tho' the Words perhaps may in general denote Chapter God's Veracity, that he never deceives any. XLV. Ver. 20. Affemble your felves and come: draw near together ye that are efcaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that fet up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot fave.] He calls upon the Nations. which efcap'd the Sword of Cyrus, to leave their Idolatry and turn to the true God, having feen fo illuftrious a Specimen of Omnipotence, how much God was able to do for his People, how little the Idols for thofe that ferv'd them: After this they must be void of all Senfe who make a piece of Wood the object of their Devotion, and put their truft in fuch Gods as have no Power to fave. Ver. 21. Tell ye and bring them near, yea, let them take counfel together who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God elfe befide me, a just God and a favionr, there is none befide me.] Come together the wifeft of you Ídolaters, and confult among your felves, that if one has nothing to fay for the Honour of the Gods he adores, another may, and after mature confideration, tell if ye can which of your Idols foretold this Redemption of the Jews by Cyrus. There is not one among all the Troops of Deities that could foretel fo fignal an Event. I am the only One who gave any notice of it before-hand, therefore there is no God befide me, no one so faithful to his Promife, and fo powerful to fave. Ver. 22. Look unto me, and be ye faved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none elfe.] That is, Therefore ye Inhabitants of the remote corners of the Earth, if ye would be fav'd at any time out of eminent danger, and have one on whom ye may fecurely depend, caft away your Idols, and look unto me for I am God, and there is none has Power befides me. Ver. 23. I have fworn by my felf, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee fhall bow, every tongue fhall fwear.] I am fully determin'd to make my felf worfhipp'd in every Region of the Earth, the Word is gone out of my mouth, and shall not return unfulfill'd like an Ambassador without an Answer to the Mellage he was fent about; therefore it is your wifeft U u Chapter wifeft Courfe to come in willingly unto me, now you fee XLV. before Eyes fo great an inftance of my Power. Ver. 24. Surely, fhall one fay, In the Lord have I righteoufness and strength: even to him fhall men come, and all that are incenfed against him shall be ashamed.] The Words may be render'd thus. Surely fhall they fay of me, in the Lord is Righteoufnefs and Strength, he is juft to his Promises, and able to refcue his Servants out of the greatest danger. They who reflecting on this Deliverance of the Jews, fhall perceive all Power and Faithfulness to be in the true God, fhall voluntarily repair unto him and adjoyn themfelves to his People; but those who ftand out against him, and provoke him thereby to Wrath, shall be confounded. Ver. 25. In the Lord fhall all the feed of Ifrael be justified and shall glory.] All the Children of Ifrael who have been accus'd of Error and Impiety, in worshipping the God of Ifrael, fhall be justified, declar'd to have acted according to the Rules of right Reafon and Wifdom. Gataker thinks their Chaldean Oppreffors pretended they had just Cause to use them roughly, being Captives at their difpofal: But God tells both his People and them, that he would plead the Caufe of his People against them, clear their Innocence, and do them right, not only by refcuing them out of their Hands, but by revenging the Injuries done them. The The ARGUMENT of Chapter XLVI. He foretells the fall of the Babylonian Idols, and defcribes the Perfians returning to their Country loaden with the Spoils of them. In the Perfon of God, ver. 3. He calls on the Jews to give attention to what he fays to them, tells them how indulgent be bad been to them all along, carrying them as it were in his Arms like a tender Parent, which he would still do, and deliver them out of their Calamities: Cautions them against Idolatry from this Confideration, that he had carried them in his Arms; but the Idols of the Heathen were fo far from being able to do any fuch thing for their Worshippers, that they were forc'd to be carried on Their Shoulders, and could not ftir when they had fet them down; bids them remember what he had done for their Forefathers, and what he had promis'd to do for them, and concludes with a pofitive affurance, that he would not delay their Redemption any longer. Verse 1. CHAP. XLVI. Chapter Chapter B5 EL boweth down, Nebo ftoopeth, their idols D were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden, they are a burden to the weary beast. As if he had faid, methinks I fee the Two Celebrated Idols of the Chaldeans, bow down their Heads, and pay Obeifance to their Conquerors; I fee the Perfians carrying the reft away by Loads, the Carriages move but flowly because of the weight of them, and the Horfes are ready to fink under the burden of them. What we render their Idols were upon the Beafts, is in the Original Word for Word, the Idols were to the Beafts, that is they fell to the share of the Beafts, which were to carry them off, on whofe Baoks while they remain'd they belong'd as it Hea. Pintus. were to them.Es re Ver. 2. They stoop, they bowe down together, they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.] The Original Maffab fignifies a burden, but if we change the Vowel, and read adaffeb, it may be render'd the bearer, though their fimple Adorers efteem'd them as Gods, U u 2 they Em. Sa. Chapter they had no Power to refcue themselves or their bearers, out of the Hands of the Perfians. XLVI. Ver. 3, 4. Hearken unto me, O house of Facob, and all the remnant of the houfe of Ifrael, which are born by me, from the belly, which are carried from the womb. And even to your old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you.] Liften to what I fay, ye poor remains of the Pofterity of Jacob, whom I have upheld and took care of ever fince ye were a People, with a tenderness exceeding that of a Mother, whofe fondness feldom lafts beyond the Years of Child-hood; and decays as their Age increases, whereas my Love has been extended to old. Age, and I have dandled you as it were in my Arms till ye grew old: And tho' I may feem to have taken no care of you ever fince ye were Captives, yet I made you, and will bear you again in my Arms, deliver you out of the Hands of the Enemies, and convey you fafe to your own Country. Ver. 5. To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?] As if he had faid, fince I have been fo kind to your Fathers, and have the fame tender difpofition toward you, have a care you do not make any refemblance of me, by Representation, fince there is nothing which can be made like me, nothing that can be compar'd with me. Ver. 6, 7. They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh filver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the fhoulder, they carry him, and fet him in his place, and he ftandeth; from his place fhall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor fave him out of his trouble.] The Superftitious Idolaters spare no Charges, think nothing can be too coftly to adorn their Idols: They hire the niceft Artificer, and beg him to use the utmost of his Skill in forming it: And when a God is made according to Art, they carry him in folemn Proceffion to the place where he must ftand: Yet to a God thus made, out of their own Materials, by a Mechanic of their own biring to a Statue, which cannot move it felf to or out of its Place, they pay Worship. Ver. 8. Remember this, and fhew your felves men: bring it again to mind, O ye tranfgreffors.] Confider well this fimplicity of Idolaters, who worship what themselves have made instead of that God, who made them; confider it, I fay, and behave your felves like Men, like rational Creatures, that know that a thing which cannot stir or help it felf, can give no assistance to others. Ver. 9. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else, I am God, and there is none like me.] Think of those wonderful Things I did many Ages ago in the Sight of your Forefathers, whereby I gave fufficient Proof of my Divinity. Chapter Ver. 10. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, faying, My counsel fhall ftand, and I will do all my pleafure. ] In the former Verse he afferted his Divinity from the Miracles he wrought in Egypt, he afferts the fame in this from his Knowledge of Futurity, having in the beginning, or first setting up of their State, declar'd what fhould befall them toward the Conclufion of it, referring probably to that famous Pro- Dr. Alix's". phecy of Mofes, Lev. 26. 14, 15, which plainly points at Answer to the Babylonian Captivity. Whifton. Ver. 11. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will alfo bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will alfo do it.] Some by this ravenous Bird understand Chrift, who came Hieron. fwiftly to Man's Salvation from the Eaft; but Judea, where Haymo. he was born, though East to us Europeans, ftood Weft to a great part of the World befides. Cyril thinks the Prophet means Nebuchodonozor, ftil'd by Jeremiah, The great Eagle; Chap. 48. 40. the Chaldee Paraphraft, the Jews themselves; but most agree that Cyrus is here intended, whofe Standard bore an Eagle, Xenoph. as the Hiftorian records, to fay nothing of his Aquiline Cyrop. 1. 7. Nofe taken notice of by Grotius. Ver. 12. Hearken unto me ye ftout-hearted, that are far. from righteoufnefs.] He fpeaks to the unbelieving Captives, who remain'd obftinate, and made a great Difficulty of believing, notwithstanding fo many repeated. Promises.. Ye that are far from righteoufnefs, that is, from Faithfulness. in performing your own Engagement, and for that Reason fufpect the Sincerity of my Intention to deliver you. |