Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.
Ver. 21. Fear not, O land] O red earth, or O tilled land, that hast lain bedridden, as it were under the heavy curse of God, ever since the fall of Adam; and wast never beautiful on cheerful since that time, Genesis 3:17. Thou that hast lately been under that great and very terrible day of the Lord, Joel 2:11, who hath made bloody wales upon thy back, and laid thee as a desolate wilderness, Joel 2:3, to thy great grief and terror, cheer up now, and fear not thine inhabitants are penitents, and repentance hath turned their crosses into comforts as scarlet pulls out the teeth of a serpent; as wine draweth a nourishing virtue from the flesh of vipers, as the philosopher's stone, they say, turns all into gold. See 1 Peter 1:7. God will turn all thy sadness into gladness: neither shalt thou any more lie to those that manure thee (as the Scripture phrase is, Hab 3:17), that is, disappoint and frustrate their expectation; but "thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee," Deuteronomy 33:29. Spem mentita seges (Virg.). Victum seges aegra negabat (Horat.).
For the Lord will do great things] Magnificentius aget Deus; far greater things God will do for thee than the locust hath done against thee: so that thou shalt gain by thy losses and say, Periissem nisi periissem, I had been undone if I had not been undone. Wherefore be glad and rejoice with inward and outward joy. And because fear is a passion opposite to joy (for "fear hath torment," 1 John 4:18. and that was a rare mixture in those good women that returned from our Saviour's sepulchre "with fear and great joy," Mat 28:8 see Psa 2:11), therefore, "Fear not, O land," quit thine heart of that cowardly passion, and be as merry as mirth can make thee; for the Lord hath done great things for thee, whereof thou hast good cause to be glad. Faith in God's power quelleth and killeth distrustful fears: filling the heart with unspeakable joys "and full of glory," 1 Peter 1:8 .