I include the whole under one view, and, besides the general observation to be made upon them as a prophecy, fully accomplished, in after ages, I pray the Reader to make his spiritual reflections upon what is here said, and I venture to believe that he will find a large scope for the most improving application. If the Lord's Israel do forsake the Lord, the Rock of their salvation, the sure consequence is chastisement and disappointment. The Lord withers their gourds, and a worm will grow out of the root of their most pleasant plants. At evening tide they find trouble, and before the morning their comforts are gone. There is nothing for the soul to rest upon, or find joy in, but Jesus; and if we do not make him our chief happiness, it matters not what else we place it in; for all will deceive, and prove a delusion. Precious Lord! how doth every part of thy blessed word manifest the infinite importance of thyself, and thy great salvation!
Isaiah 17:9-14
9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heapb in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitudec of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.