If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:
Ver. 23. If there be a messenger with him] An angel, say some; but one man may be an angel to another, as Bradford was to Dr Taylor, martyr, who usually called him, That angel of God, John Bradford. If some prophet or teacher sent of God see Judges 2:1 Malachi 3:1,18 : 1Ki 1:20 to the sick man, who seeth his face as the face of an angel, and receiveth him as an angel, yea, as Christ himself, Galatians 4:14, in whose stead he is, 2 Corinthians 5:20, bringing the embassy of reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5:20, than which what can be more acceptable?
An interpreter] sc. Of God's holy will, who may assure the sick party that it is God who visiteth him in very faithfulness, that he may be true to his soul; that he doth it in mercy and in measure, not to ruin him, but to reduce him by repentance from dead works, and by faith in Christ Jesus, &c., who may also set him in a course, and pray for him, as James 5:16. Dr Ussher tells us (Serm. on Eph 4:13), that even in the times of Popery, among our forefathers, the ordinary instruction appointed to be given to men upon their death beds was, that they should look to come to glory, not by their own merits, but by the virtue and merit of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ; that they should place their whole confidence in his death only, and in no other thing; and that they should interpose his death between God and their sins, between them and God's anger. This was right, and, considering the times, admirable. This was better than that blasphemous direction they give elsewhere to dying men to say, Coniunge Domine, &c., Conjoin, O Lord, mine obedience to all those things which Christ suffered for me.
One among a thousand] Unus e millibus, not Unus e similibus, as the Vulgate Latin hath it by a gross mistake, such as that translation hath many. One among a thousand he is said to be, for the scarcity of such as can time a word, comfort the afflicted conscience, and speak to the heart of a poor distressed creature, who laboureth under the sense of sin and fear of wrath. O quam hoc non est omnium, This very few can skill of. Luther, who was excellent at it himself, telleth us, that it is a work every whit as hard as to raise the dead to life again. Go ye rather to them that sell, said the wise to the foolish virgins, and those are rare; sc. such faithful and wise distributers of God's grace, as having the tongue of the learned, Isaiah 50:4, and being instructed for that purpose to the kingdom of heaven, can comfort the feeble minded, shore up and support the weak, &c. Such a choice man is worth his weight in gold; and oh, how beautiful are his feet, angelic his face!
To declare unto man his uprightness] Or, his righteousness, that is, either the righteousness of Christ, who is his peace; or his, that is, the righteousness of his own experience, how he hath been raised and received to mercy. Or, his, to clear up to him his spiritual estate, and show his evangelical righteousness, consisting more in purpose than in practice; in confession of our imperfection, than in any perfection we can attain unto. It is not so much our inherent righteousness, in regard of the worth, dignity, and excellence of it, much less purity and perfection in it, but as it is a fruit of God's love and token of his favour, a sign of our adoption and justification, and a pledge of our glorification, that yieldeth comfort. And this it will do when skilfully made out to a poor soul by a godly minister, and set on by the hand of that Holy Spirit, whereby the saints are sealed to the day of redemption, Ephesians 4:30; Ephesians 1:13 .