And I will cut off the cities, &c.— See Hosea 1; Hosea 7. Bishop Sherlock is of opinion, that the present passage is to the same import with that in Hosea; and that the meaning is, their salvation should be so perfect and complete, that they should want neither forces nor strong holds; for God would be to them instead of armies and fortified towns. See Sherlock on Prophesy, Dissert. 4: p. 382.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have here,
1. Troublous times prophesied against the Jews. See the Annotations.
2. The Messiah is promised, the grand support of his true spiritual Israel in every time of their distress: the hopes of his appearing may well keep them from sinking into despair, and engage them to wait patiently for him. But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings-forth have been from of old, from everlasting. St. Matthew has left us no doubt concerning whom these words are spoken: they relate to Christ, and of him the ancient Jewish interpreters understood them. [1.] They fix the place of his nativity at Beth-lehem. [2.] They describe the office of the Messiah to be a ruler in Israel; not indeed over Israel after the flesh, but over his spiritual subjects, the children of Abraham by faith. [3.] They assert his eternal Godhead: from everlasting are his goings-forth. Though, as man, he came forth from the lineage of David, and out of the city of Beth-lehem, as God he is from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning of days or end of life.
3. Before his appearing in the flesh the Jews shall go through much tribulation. Therefore, or notwithstanding, will he give them up, for a while, to be harassed by their enemies, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth; which may be referred to the blessed virgin the mother of Christ, of whom the long-expected Saviour, in the fulness of time, should be born for the consolation of Israel. But others refer these words to Christ's rejection of the Jewish nation for a while, for their unbelief, until the church, the spiritual Zion, has brought forth the fulness of the Gentiles: then the remnant of his brethren, the Jewish people, shall return unto the children of Israel, and be admitted into the gospel church. Or this may comprehend the Gentiles also, whom Christ is not ashamed to call his brethren, Hebrews 2:11 who with the Jews will become at last one fold under one shepherd. But see the critical notes for other interpretations.
4. The people of Christ shall then be safe and happy under his blessed government. He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, clothed with divine power, able to protect the sheep of his pasture, and watching over them with kind solicitude, providing for their wants, and ministering to them out of his fulness; in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, being himself, in his nature and perfections, very God; and also, as Mediator, invested with a delegated power over all in heaven and earth; and therefore they shall abide, or they shall sit under his shadow, quiet and safe from fear of evil: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth, when, his Gospel being spread abroad, all flesh shall see his glory, and the nations be gathered unto him. And this man shall be the peace: man is not in the original: this shall be the peace; this Messiah, who by the blood of his cross shall make peace with God on the behalf of perishing sinners, and by his grace shall preserve his faithful people from all the enemies of his souls; when the Assyrian shall come into our land; as he delivered them from Sennacherib's invasion, so will he still protect those who cast all their confidence on him from the power of the wicked: and when he shall tread in our palaces, and seems ready to swallow up the people of God, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men: the Lord, their protector, has instruments ready to employ in the service of his believing people, and for the destruction of their enemies: and they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances therof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. And this destruction of these inveterate enemies of the church of old seems to prefigure the conquests of the Gospel, before which Satan and the powers of darkness fell as lightning from heaven; and may be considered as having respect also to the final destruction of Christ's enemies, when the Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan powers, which last now possesses these countries, shall be entirely destroyed. Note; (1.) Christ's believing people need not fear, though surrounded with enemies, or assaulted by temptations; he will be their peace when the Assyrian cometh into the land. (2.) All the church's foes shall shortly be made her footstool; a little faith and patience will issue in eternal triumphs for the faithful saints of God.
2nd, A glorious remnant of Jacob, penitently returning to the true Messiah, and embracing him by faith and constant love, shall be saved; blessed themselves, and a blessing unto others. And this remnant may be understood, either of those who were the first preachers of the Gospel, whose word distilled as the dew, and who vanquished the superstition and idolatry of the Gentile world; or of the faithful people of God in general, who are at present but a remnant, compared with the unregenerate throughout the world.
1. They shall be as the dew in the midst of many people, numerous as dew-drops, of heavenly extraction, fruitful in good works, and blessings to all around them; as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men; and so free and bounteous are the gifts of God's grace, preventing our desires, and above all our deserts.
2. They shall be as a lion among the beasts of the forest, so courageous and strong; and before them their enemies shall be as a flock of helpless sheep, unable to make the least resistance, and shall fall an easy prey. Thus shall it be at the last with all who persist in their enmity against Christ and his church: they shall perish together.
3. They shall cease from all human confidences, nor any longer need them, when all their foes are fallen. Their horses and chariots for war shall be destroyed, as useless, and the fortifications of their cities, and their strongholds be demolished: and a mercy it is when these vain confidences are taken from us, which were a temptation to us to trust on them more than in God. Their witchcrafts and unlawful arts of divination shall be cut off, and never more regarded. Every monument of idolatry shall be utterly abolished, their images and groves cast down; and the cities where idolatry prevailed, or the temples large as cities, dedicated to their idols, destroyed; or, as in the margin of our English bibles, thy enemies, both within and without.
4. Vengeance shall then light on every disobedient sinner, such as they have not heard, so terrible; or which have not heard, refused to receive the Lord Christ, and disregarded his salvation; for which judgment shall come upon them to the uttermost.