Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare [that] I will render double unto thee;
Ver. 12. Turn ye to the strong hold] i.e. To Christ, the Rock of Ages, Isaiah 26:4; the hope of Israel, Jeremiah 17:13; the expectation of all the ends of the earth, Luke 2:25; Luke 2:38. Or to the promise, that strong tower, whereunto the righteous run and are safe; that are Christi munitissima, the strongest defence of Christ, as Cyril here saith, strong hold of Christ. "Thou art my shield," saith David, "I trust in thy word," Psalms 119:114. And again, "Remember thy word to thy servant, wherein thou hast caused me to trust," Psalms 119:49. When young Joash was sought for to the shambles by his murderous grandmother, Athaliah, he was hidden in the house of the Lord for six years. But whence was this safety? Even from the faithful promise of God, 2 Chronicles 23:3 "Behold, the king's son must reign, as the Lord had said of the sons of David," that he should never want a man to reign after him. Hence, Psalms 91:4, his faithfulness and his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Under this shield, and within this strong hold of the promises God had made them in the foregoing verses, these prisoners of hope, these heirs of the promises, were to shroud and secure themselves amidst those dangers and distresses as encompassed them on every side. And that they might know that "the needy should not always be forgotten, the expectation of the poor should not perish for ever," Psalms 9:18, here is precious promise of present comfort.
Even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee] Though you be now at never so great an under, yet I do make an open promise unto you, verbis non solum disertis sed et exertis, I do assure you, in the word of truth, that I will render unto thee, thou poor soul, that liest panting under the present pressure, double, that is, life and liberty, saith Theodoret; grace and glory, saith Lyra. Or double to what thou hopest; I will be better to thee than thy hopes, saith Jerome; or double, that is, multiplied mercy; but especially Christ, who is called "the gift of God," by an excellence, John 4:10 "the benefit," 1 Timothy 6:2, that which shall abundantly countervail all crosses and miseries, Mark 10:30. Job had all double to him. Valentinian had the empire, Queen Elizabeth the crown. God will be to his Hannahs better than ten children.