For they shall be as the stones of a crown— Or rather, as consecrated stones. Both single stones, and heaps of stones set up by way of memorial, are frequently spoken of; and these might well be called נזר עבני abnei nezer, as being separated, set apart, or consecrated to a particular use. Thus we read that Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon it. Genesis 28:18. And twelve such stones were pitched in memory of the passage through Jordan. Joshua 5:15.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, When God comes with blessings to his people, he will execute vengeance on their enemies.
1. The neighbouring nations, who had been such oppressors of Israel, shall be punished.
[1.] Syria and Damascus come first under judgment; on them shall rest the wrath of God, a burden intolerable; and this on account of their ill usage of God's believing people (for such he had among the Jews) whose eyes, as the eyes of one man, are, or will be, toward the Lord, crying for help. Hamath, which borders thereby, shall meet the same fate. Some apply the words to a quite different sense, and suppose that they speak not wrath but mercy: that the word of the Lord is his Gospel, which shall rest in Damascus; and many of the inhabitants, as the Israel of God, shall look towards the Lord; and this was fulfilled, when St. Paul was, near Damascus, brought to the knowledge of Jesus, and immediately preached him in the synagogues. See the critical notes.
[2.] Tyre and Zidon, though supported by every human advantage, very wise, very strongly fortified, and very rich, shall fall; God will cast her out, destroy her power in the sea where she reigned queen of the ocean, and she shall be devoured with fire. Note; There is neither counsel nor might against the Lord.
[3.] The cities of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron, shall be terrified at their neighbours' ruin, ashamed of the confidence that they reposed in Tyre; the king of Gaza shall perish; Ashkelon shall become desolate and uninhabited, and a bastard or stranger shall dwell in Ashdod; which was fulfilled when Alexander destroyed all these places, and took the inhabitants prisoners; and afterwards the Jews, under the Maccabees, subdued great part of these countries.
2. A remnant of these will yield to the power of divine grace. Their bloody enmity against God's people, and their abominable idolatries, shall then be removed; but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, returning to him in true repentance, and converted by the preaching of the Gospel; and he shall be as a governor in Judah, dear to God, and honourable as the chiefs of Judah; and Ekron as a Jebusite, or inhabitant of Jebus, that is Jerusalem; the middle wall of partition being broken down, and no difference any longer subsisting between Jew and Gentile, both alike admitted into the church, and heirs together of the grace of life.
3. God's care over his believing people will eminently appear. I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth, which literally refers to the protection that God gave them against the army of the Greeks under Alexander, who, amidst his other ravages, favoured the Jews. And spiritually it speaks God's watchfulness over his faithful ones, who, amidst all the legions of hell, and the powers of earth combined against them, are preserved; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more, which cannot be fully understood of the Jewish people, since many enemies afterwards oppressed them; but is gloriously verified respecting the faithful Israel of God; who, being justified from all things by the blood and intercession of Jesus, are delivered from condemnation and the yoke of bondage: for now have I seen with mine eyes, which expresses his watchfulness over his believing people who cleave to him, and his delight in them; so that they are safe from all the powers of evil.
2nd, The former part of this chapter directed us to the salvation of the great Redeemer; in the latter part he appears in great humility, yet bringing joy to all his saints.
1. The adored Messiah appears; and the prophet cries, Behold him, that the eye of faith might be directed forward to that blessed time, which was now fast approaching: thy king cometh unto thee, the long-expected Son of David, to sit on his Father's throne; he is just, in himself perfectly righteous, and administering the kingdom of his grace with the highest justice; and having salvation, the author and finisher of it, procuring it by the infinite merit of his blood, and ascending to his throne to apply it to his faithful people's hearts, and make them partakers of his divine nature; lowly, humbling himself for our sakes to the form of a servant, and to the death of a slave; or poor and afflicted, as he appeared during all the days of his sojourning here below; and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass, or even upon a colt, for thus our Lord made his entry into Jerusalem, Matthew 21:4-5 amid the Hosannahs of the multitude.
2. He will erect a glorious kingdom in the world, not by weapons of war, or outward force; but by the preaching of his Gospel, bowing the hearts of men to submit to his easy yoke; and under his government they shall be safe, nor need the chariot, horse, or battle-bow to defend them. And the heathen shall share the blessings of his government; for to them he shall speak peace, sending to them his Gospel of peace, and causing them to enjoy in their souls the peace of God which passeth all understanding, and making them men of peace and quiet in the land; and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth, reaching in process of time from pole to pole, especially in the last days, when all nations shall hear his Gospel, and become obedient to the faith.
3. The great deliverance to be wrought for the church is ascribed to the blood of the covenant, the blood of Jesus, which he shed upon the cross: it is called thy covenant, the church's, which is composed of all the faithful redeemed, because the blessings and benefits of it are hers, through Christ, who is the great Covenant-head to his believing people; and this blood was prefigured in all the sacrifices which the Jews offered of old. By virtue of this, I have sent forth thy prisoners, those who by nature are in a state of guilt and corruption, concluded under sin; but yielding to the calls and power of divine love, are quickened by the Holy Spirit through the infinite merit of the atoning Blood, to come forth out of the pit, wherein is no water; where they must have perished miserably, unless thus relieved. And all who are brought out thence, look back with wonder, love, and praise, when they consider the horrible pit from which the Lord hath drawn them. Therefore,
4. They are commanded to rejoice in the view of all these inestimable blessings; yea, to rejoice greatly, as well it becomes those to do who have seen the King in his beauty, and are made partakers of his great salvation.
3rdly, The promises delivered in this chapter seem not so much to belong to any happy state of the Jewish affairs, as to the times of the Gospel; at least then they shall most eminently receive their accomplishment, and particularly in the final restoration of the Jews.
1. Sinners are invited to turn to the strong-hold Christ Jesus, who alone is able to protect them from the assaults of their spiritual enemies, Satan, sin, and death; to save them from the wrath of God, the curse of a broken law; and to supply all their wants out of his fulness. They are called prisoners of hope; by nature enslaved by corruption, and condemned by guilt; their state in and of themselves desperate, and every effort to escape by the powers of nature fruitless: yet in the Gospel, hope beams into the prison, Jesus hath opened the doors by his blood, having obtained redemption from all sins for all who will repent and believe, having purchased eternal glory for all the faithful, by his grace calling the prisoners forth, and enabling those to arise who turn to him, quitting all other dependencies, and resting their whole salvation on him alone.
2. They are assured of all protection and favour. To-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee, twice as much as they hoped for; comforts far exceeding all their afflictions, and blessings double to any that their fathers had experienced; the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus in heavenly things being unspeakably superior to the greatest temporal prosperity and earthly good things.
3. They shall in these last and glorious days be victorious under the divine guidance over every enemy, and be defended by almighty power, when I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, or filled Ephraim with the bow, strengthened their arms to bend it, and put the mighty weapons into their hands, the spiritual weapons of the Gospel, with which the apostles went forth, shooting the arrows of conviction into the stoutest hearts of sinners, and bringing them to the obedience of Christ; and raised up thy sins, O Zion, against thy sins, O Greece, the wise disputers of this world, for which Greece was famed, as the seat of human literature and science; but all this proud wisdom shall be humbled before the Gospel-word, and the wise (many of them) made willing to become fools that they may be wise; and made thee as the sword of a mighty man, so piercing and sharp is the word of God in the mouths of his ministers, when accompanied by the demonstration of the Spirit. And the Lord shall be seen over them, as when on the day of Pentecost the fiery tongues descended upon the apostles; or in the constant supports of grace and courage he ministered unto them, and still does minister to all his servants, evidently manifesting the divine power which makes their labours effectual; and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning, swift shall his Gospel spread, and fill the world with its light and glory: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, his ministers shall sound a terrible alarm in the ears of impenitent sinners, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south, executing judgment on all who obey not his word; or the trumpet is like the jubilee trumpet, a proclamation of pardon, peace, and liberty; and the whirlwinds, the powerful energy of the word preached, bearing down all opposition before it in the sinner's heart. The Lord of Hosts shall defend them from every foe, and they shall devour, and subdue with sling-stones; though they seem as unequal to contend with their enemies respecting wisdom and power, as David to cope with Goliath; yet like him, these weak things shall confound the mighty, and bring the most self-righteous and stout-hearted sinner to bow in the dust, and accept the grace of the Gospel; they shall drink deep at the fountain of truth, and of the consolations of the Spirit, and make a noise as through wine, full of joy and thankfulness, and songs of praise; and they shall be filled with the love of God, and a sense of the efficacy of the atonement of Jesus, as bowls with the blood of the sacrifice, and as the corners of the altar on which it was sprinkled, as our consciences are with the blood of Christ, sealing our pardon and peace. And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people, either the ministers above spoken of, whom the Lord sends to fight his battles, or rather those who are subdued by the sword of the Spirit, and now numbered with such as bear Christ's easy yoke, and share in the blessings of his people; whom like a shepherd he feeds, watches over, and protects from every evil; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, so precious in God's sight; lifted up as an ensign upon his land, trophies of the victories of Jesus, and, if perseveringly cleaving to him, monuments of his grace for ever and ever.
Some refer these promises to Israel after the flesh, when under the Maccabees they were victorious over Antiochus and their other foes; but the sense given seems far preferable, and affords a nobler view of the prophesy.
4. Genuine believers shall be filled with wonder, love, and praise. For how great is his goodness, in thus loving us, living, dying for us, and bestowing upon us the riches of his grace and the abundance of his blessings; and how great is his beauty! In every true believer's eye he is beyond compare; the chiefest of ten thousand, and altogether lovely: corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids; true believers in Christ Jesus shall be vigorous, active, lively; going forth as refreshed with corn and wine, singing in the good ways of God, and fruitful, as it is by some translated, in every good word and work.