Acts 13:34 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Now no more to return to corruption,— As Christ never saw corruption at all, Acts 13:37 the Greek word διαφθορα, corruption, must signify the grave, as שׁהת, sheahet, in the Hebrew, also does; (compare Psalms 94:13 and Lamentations 4:20.) just as the coffin of a man raised from the dead, as soon as he was put into it, might be called his sarcophagus, though his flesh had not been consumed in it. The blessings of the Messiah's reign may be called the sure mercies of David, either as they were promised to that prince,—to which sense the translation of 1729 determines it, by rendering the passage, I will faithfully perform the promise made to David; or, because the name of David is sometimes given to the Messiah himself, as the great heir of David, of whose victories and glories David's were but a faint shadow: and when Isaiah calls them sure mercies, he may probably refer to the last words of David, in which he uses the same expression with regard to them, 2 Samuel 23:5. The propriety of the application here is evident, as it was the resurrection of Christ which rendered the blessings that he promised sure to his faithful people, who, without that, could have had no hope from him, as the apostle argues at large, 1 Corinthians 15:14; 1 Corinthians 15:58. See Isaiah 55:3.