What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.
What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? When messengers come from Philistia to inquire as to the state of Judea, the reply shall be, that the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people (Isaiah 14:30 ; Zephaniah 3:12 ) shall trust in it - (Psalms 87:1; Psalms 87:5; Psalms 102:16.)
Remarks: The coming deliverance of Israel from her oppressor is grounded on God's sovereign choice. "The house of Israel shall" yet "take them" as willing "captives, whose captives they were." "Strangers shall cleave to the" restored "house of Jacob," constrained by love and religious obligations, the most powerful of all ties. How blessed it is when the bond-servant of the world, the flesh, and Satan has become a member of the true Israel, and has, by the Lord's gift of grace, obtained "rest from the fear and hard bondage wherein" heretofore "he was made to serve!" The spiritual Israel, as well as the literal, shall hereafter "take up" a song of triumph over the fallen Babylon, the apostate Church, in the language of the Apocalypse (Revelation 18:20), "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her." Great as is the might of oppressors now, their bodies shall soon lie in the grave powerless to hurt, having, instead of the crimson coverlet, "worms" over them, and the maggots "spread under" them. Once powerful for evil, they shall be among the "goats" set on the left of the Judge, and shall be doomed to eternal separation from the sheep on the right hand. Worldly "pomp," and "the noise" of carnal revelry and music shall soon give place to the disfigurement and the stillness of death. Let us therefore estimate them at their true worthlessness.