Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign [that] shall not be cut off.
Ver. 13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree.] There shall be a blessed change of men and of manners. Those who before were stark naught, or good for naught, yea, vexatious and mischievous, a shall become fruitful and beneficial. The fir tree is good for many uses; the myrtle brings berries of excellent taste, as Pliny tells us. The Chaldee thus paraphraseth here, Just men shall rise up instead of sinners, and such as fear the Lord in the room of the unrighteous. Sed cave ne hic somnies, saith Oecolampadius, but be warned you dream not, as some do, that in this world and before the day of judgment the wicked shall all be rooted out, for there will always be Cains to persecute Abels, &c.
And it shall be to the Lord for a name,] i.e., For an honour: it shall be much for his glory, which is the end that he propoundeth to himself in all that he doeth. And well he may, since - (1.) He is not in danger of doing anything through vain glory; (2.) He hath none higher than himself to whom to have respect.
For an everlasting sign.] In monumentum non momentaneum; Heb., For a sign of perpetuity or eternity.
That shall not be cut off.] Or, That it, the Church, shall not be cut off.
a Spinis paliurus acutis. - Virg. Eclog.