But there the glorious LORD [will be] unto us a place of broad rivers [and] streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
Ver. 21. But there the glorious Lord will be.] The Church must needs be invincible, because the glorious Lord is her champion, or "will do gallantly for us," as the words may be rendered. Her name is Jehovahshammah. Eze 48:35 The Lord is there, and how many reckon we him at? He alone is a potent army. Isa 52:12
A place of broad rivers and streams.] Such as Mesopotamia was, or the garden of God. Or, He shall be instead of broad rivers, &c., even a river that shall not be drawn dry or sucked out, as Euphrates was by Cyrus when he took Babylon; a river that shall not fail the dwellers by, as Nile once at least did Egypt, for nine years together -
“ Creditur Aegyptus caruisse iuvantibus arva
Imbribus; atque annis sicca fuisse novem. ”
- Ovid, Art., lib. i.
but shall fill its banks and shores perpetually, and keep a full stock of streams and waters.
Wherein shall go no galley, nor gallant ship,] i.e., None of the enemy's navies shall annoy it. England had the experience of this in that famous 1588, when the seas were turreted with such a navy of ships, as her swelling waves could hardly be seen; and the flags, streamers, and ensigns so spread in the wind, that they seemed to darken even the sun; but the glorious God defeated them.