And [men] shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
Ver. 11. And men shall dwell in it] Heb. They shall dwell in it, sc. Multitudes of men. The new Jerusalem, the Church, gathered by the preaching of the gospel, shall not be thinly inhabited, as the wilderness of Judaea was; it shall not lie waste for want of people, as divers parts of Turkey do. It shall not need to call in the country, as in Nehemiah's days, to replenish it, Nehemiah 11:7; but it shall be fully thrust as a hive is with bees, where they hang out on heaps through want of room within; or as Jerusalem was wont to be at the three solemn feasts; or, lastly, as the temple was at those feasts where the people were so crowded that they were glad to stand and pray, for kneel or bow they could not. See Isa 51:3 Jer 31:38-40 Obadiah 1:19,20 .
And there shall be no more utter destruction] Heb. Cherem, which the Vulgate interpreted rendereth, Anathema; There shall be no more curse, no execrable or accursed thing; no casting out by excommunication; no cause to do so. See the same Revelation 22:3. No Canaanite in the Lord's house, as Zechariah 14:21. Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no stranger pass through her any more, Joel 3:17, such shall be her sanctity. Others expound it of her safety and security, as in the following words, Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. See the like Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16 "In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, Jehovah Tsidkenu, The Lord our righteousness." A stately name indeed, and that which carries safety in the front of it. In Ezekiel the Church is called Jehovah Shammah The Lord is there; and the Psalmist gives the notation, and this note upon it, "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early" (ανικητος και ακινητος). But the Lord our righteousness is a more august name. It is Christ's own name; and imports that Christ will save his people from their sins (which would lay them naked to the wrath of God and rage of enemies), he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities, and then he need not fear what man can do unto him, Mat 1:21 Psalms 130:8. It was said of Achilles, that he was Styge armatus; but every child of the Church is Coelo, Christo, Deo armatus he hath the peace of God within him and the power of God without him; and, therefore, cannot but be safe as in a tower of brass, or town of war Psalms 90:1 .