Chapter 7:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jonah Nahum
Micah 7
Complete Concise
In this chapter, I. The prophet, in the name of the church,
sadly laments the woeful decay of religion in the age wherein he lived, and the
deluge of impiety and immorality which overwhelmed the nation, which levelled
the differences, and bore down the fences, of all that is just and sacred (v.
1-6). II. The prophet, for the sake of the church, prescribes comforts, which
may be of use at such a time, and gives counsel what to do. 1. They must have an
eye to God (v. 7). 2. They must courageously bear up against the insolences of
the enemy (v. 8-10). 3. They must patiently lie down under the rebukes of
their God (v. 9). 4. They must expect no other than that the trouble would
continue long, and must endeavour to make the best of it (v. 11-13). 5. They
must encourage themselves with God's promises, in answer to the prophet's
prayers (v. 14, 15). 6. They must foresee the fall of their enemies, that now
triumphed over them (v. 16, 17). 7. They must themselves triumph in the mercy
and grace of God, and his faithfulness to his covenant (v. 18-20), and with
that comfortable word the prophecy concludes.
Verses 1-6
This is such a description of bad times as, some think, could
scarcely agree to the times of Hezekiah, when this prophet prophesied; and
therefore they rather take it as a prediction of what should be in the reign of
Manasseh. But we may rather suppose it to be in the reign of Ahaz (and in that
reign he prophesied, ch. 1:1) or in the beginning of Hezekiah's time, before
the reformation he was instrumental in; nay, in the best of his days, and when
he had done his best to purge out corruptions, still there was much amiss. The
prophet cries out,
Woe is me! He bemoans himself that his lot was cast in
such a degenerate age, and thinks it his great unhappiness that he lived among a
people that were ripening apace for a ruin which many a good man would
unavoidably be involved in. Thus David cries out,
Woe is me that I sojourn in
Mesech! He laments, 1. That there were so few good people to be found, even
among those that were God's people; and this was their reproach:
The good
man has perished out of the earth, or
out of the land, the land of
Canaan; it was a
good land, and
a land of uprightness (Isa.
26:10), but there were few good men in it, none upright among them, v. 2. The
good
man is a
godly man and a
merciful man; the word signifies
both. Those are completely good men that are devout towards God and
compassionate and beneficent towards men, that love mercy and walk with God.
"These have perished; those few honest men that some time ago enriched and
adorned our country are now dead and gone, and there are none risen up
in
their stead that tread in their steps; honesty is banished, and there is no
such thing as a good man to be met with. Those that were of religious education
have degenerated, and become as bad as the worst;
the godly man ceases,"
Ps. 12:1. This is illustrated by a comparison (v. 1): they were
as when they
have gathered the summer fruits; it was as hard a thing to find a good man
as to find any of the summer-fruits (which were the choicest and best, and
therefore must carefully be gathered in) when the harvest is over. The prophet
is ready to say, as Elijah in his time (1 Ki. 19:10),
I, even I only, am
left. Good men, who used to hang in clusters, are now as the
grape-gleanings
of the vintage, here and there a berry, Isa. 17:6. You can find no societies
of them as bunches of grapes, but those that are are single persons:
There is
no cluster to eat; and the best and fullest grapes are those that grow in
large clusters. Some think that this intimates not only that good people were
few, but that those few who remained, who went for good people, were good for
little, like the small withered grapes, the refuse that were left behind, not
only by the gatherer, but by the gleaner. When the prophet observed this
universal degeneracy it made him
desire the first-ripe fruit; he wished
to see such worthy good men as were in the former ages, were the ornaments of
the primitive times, and as far excelled the best of all the present age as the
first and full-ripe fruits do those of the latter growth, that never come to
maturity. When we read and hear of the wisdom and zeal, the strictness and
conscientiousness, the devotion and charity, of the professors of religion in
former ages, and see the reverse of this in those of the present age, we cannot
but sit down, and wish, with a sigh,
O for primitive Christianity again!
Where are the plainness and integrity of those that went before us? Where are
the Israelites indeed, without guile? Our souls desire them, but in vain. The
golden age is gone, and past recall; we must make the best of what is, for we
are not likely to see such times as have been. 2. That there were so many wicked
mischievous people among them, not only none that did any good, but multitudes
that did all the hurt they could:
"They all lie in wait for blood,
and
hunt every man his brother. To get wealth to themselves, they care
not what wrong, what hurt, they do to their neighbours and nearest relations.
They act as if mankind were in a state of war, and force were the only right.
They are as beasts of prey to their neighbours, for
they all lie in wait for
blood as lions for their prey; they thirst after it, make nothing of taking
away any man's life or livelihood to serve a turn for themselves, and lie in
wait for an opportunity to do it. Their neighbours are as beasts of prey to
them, for they
hunt every man his brother with a net; they persecute them
as noxious creatures, fit to be taken and destroyed, though they are innocent
excellent ones." We say of him that is outlawed,
Caput gerit lupinumHe
is to be hunted as a wolf. "Or they hunt them as men do the game, to
feast upon it; they have a thousand cursed arts of ensnaring men to their ruin,
so that they may but get by it. Thus
they do mischief with both hands
earnestly; their hearts desire it, their heads contrive it, and then
both
hands are ready to put it in execution." Note, The more eager and
intent men are upon any sinful pursuit, and the more pains they take in it, the
more provoking it is. 3. That the magistrates, who by their office ought to have
been the patrons and protectors of right, were the practicers and promoters of
wrong:
That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, to excite and
animate themselves in it,
the prince asketh, and the judge asketh, for a
reward, for a bribe, with which they well be hired to exert all their power
for the supporting and carrying on of any wicked design
with both hands. They
do evil with both hands well (so some read it); they do evil with a great
deal of art and dexterity; they praise themselves for doing it so well. Others
read it thus:
To do evil they have both hands (they catch at an
opportunity of doing mischief),
but to do good the prince and the judge ask
for a reward; if they do any good offices they are mercenary in them, and
must be paid for them. The great man, who has wealth and power to do good, is
not ashamed to utter his mischievous desire in conjunction with the prince and
the judge, who are ready to support him and stand by him in it.
So they wrap
it up; they perplex the matter, involve it, and make it intricate (so some
understand it), that they may lose equity in a mist, and so make the cause turn
which way they please. It is ill with a people when their princes, and judges,
and great men are in a confederacy to pervert justice. And it is a sad character
that is given of them (v. 4), that
the best of them is as a brier, and the
most upright is sharper than a thorn-hedge; it is a dangerous thing to have
any thing to do with them;
he that touches them must be fenced with iron
(2 Sa. 23:6,7), he shall be sure to be scratched, to have his clothes torn, and
his eyes almost pulled out. And, if this be the character of the best and most
upright, what are the worst? And, when things have come to this pass,
the day
of thy watchmen comes, that is, as it follows,
the day of thy visitation,
when God will reckon with thee for all this wickedness, which is called
the
day of the watchmen, because their prophets, whom God set as watchmen over
them, had often warned them of that day. When all flesh have corrupted their
way, even the best and the most upright, what can be expected but a day of
visitation, a deluge of judgments, as that which drowned the old world when
the
earth was filled with violence? 4. That there was no faith in man; people
had grown so universally treacherous that one knew not whom to repose any
confidence in, v. 5. "Those that have any sense of honour, or spark of
virtue, remaining in them, have a firm regard to the laws of friendship; they
would not discover what passed in private conversation, nor divulge secrets, to
the prejudice of a friend. But those things are now made a jest of; you will not
meet with a friend that you dare trust, whose word you dare take, or who will
have any tenderness or concern for you; so that wise men shall give it and take
it for a rule,
trust you not in a friend, for you will find him false,
you can trust him no further than you can see him; and even him that passes for
an honest man you will find to be so only with good looking to. Nay, as for him
that undertakes to be
your guide, to lead you into any business which he
professes to understand better than you, you cannot
put a confidence in
him, for he will be sure to mislead you if he can get any thing by it."
Some by a guide understand a husband, who is called
the guide of thy youth;
and that agrees well enough with what follows,
"Keep the doors of thy
lips from her that lieth in thy bosom, from thy own wife; take heed what
thou sayest before her, lest she betray thee, as Delilah did Samson, lest she be
the
bird of the air that
carries the voice of that which thou
sayest
in thy bed-chamber," Eccl. 10:20. It is an evil time indeed
when the prudent are obliged even thus far to keep silence. 5. That children
were abusive to their parents, and men had no comfort, no satisfaction, in their
own families and their nearest relations, v. 6. The times are bad indeed when
the
son dishonours his father, gives him bad language, exposes him, threatens
him, and studies to do him a mischief,
when the daughter rises up in
rebellion against her own mother, having no sense of duty, or natural affection;
and no marvel that then the
daughter-in-law quarrels with her
mother-in-law,
and is vexatious to her. Either they cannot agree about their property and
interest, or their humours and passions clash, or from a spirit of bigotry and
persecution,
the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the
father the child, Mt. 10:4; Lu. 21:16. It is sad when a man's betrayers
and worst enemies are the men of his own house, his own children and servants,
that should be his guard and his best friends. Note, The contempt and violation
of the laws of domestic duties are a sad symptom of a universal corruption of
manners. Those are never likely to come to good that are undutiful to their
parents, and study to be provoking to them and cross them.
Verses 7-13
The prophet, having sadly complained of the wickedness of the
times he lived in, here fastens upon some considerations for the comfort of
himself and his friends, in reference thereunto. The case is bad, but it is not
desperate.
Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
I. "Though God be now displeased he shall be reconciled to
us, and then all will be well, v. 7, 9. We are now under
the indignation of
the Lord; God is angry with us, and justly, because
we have sinned
against him." Note, It is our sin against God that provokes his
indignation against us; and we must see it, and own it, whenever we are under
divine rebukes, that we may justify God, and may study to answer his end in
afflicting us, by repenting of sin and breaking off from it. Now, at such a
time, 1. We must have recourse to God under our troubles (v. 7):
Therefore I
will look unto the Lord. When a child of God has ever so much occasion to
cry,
Woe is me (as the prophet here, v. 1), yet it may be a comfort to
him that he has a God to look to, a God to come to, to fly to, in whom he may
rejoice and have satisfaction. All may look bright above him when all looks
black and dark about him. The prophet had been complaining that there was no
comfort to be had, no confidence to be put, in friends and relations on earth,
and this drives him to his God:
Therefore I will look unto the Lord. The
less reason we have to delight in any creature the more reason we have to
delight in God. If princes are not to be trusted, we may say,
Happy is the
man that has the God of Jacob for his help, and
happy am I, even in
the midst of my present woes, if he be my help. If men be false, this is our
comfort, that God is faithful; if relations be unkind, he is and will be
gracious. Let us therefore look above and beyond them, and overlook our
disappointment in them, and look unto the Lord. 2. We must submit to the will of
God in our troubles:
"I will bear the indignation of the Lord, will
bear it patiently, without murmuring and repining,
because I have sinned
against him." Note, Those that are truly penitent for sin will see a
great deal of reason to be patient under affliction.
Wherefore should a man
complain for the punishment of his sin? When we complain to God of the
badness of the times we ought to complain against ourselves for the badness of
our own hearts. 3. We must depend upon God to work deliverance for us, and put a
good issue to our troubles in due time; we must not only look to him, but look
for him: "I will
wait for the God of my salvation, and for his
gracious returns to me." In our greatest distresses we shall see no reason
to despair of salvation if by faith we eye God as the
God of our salvation,
who is able to save the weakest upon their humble petition, and willing to save
the worst upon their true repentance. And, if we depend on God as the God of our
salvation, we must wait for him, and for his salvation, in his own way and his
own time. Let us now see what the church is here taught to expect and promise
herself from God, even when things are brought to the last extremity. (1.)
My
God will hear me; if the Lord be our God, he will hear our prayers, and
grant an answer of peace to them. (2.)
"When I fall, and am in
danger of being dashed in pieces by the fall, yet
I shall arise, and
recover myself again.
I fall, but am not
utterly cast down,"
Ps. 37:24. (3.)
"When I sit in darkness, desolate and disconsolate,
melancholy and perplexed, and not knowing what to do, nor which way to look for
relief, yet then
the Lord shall be a light to me, to comfort and revive
me, to instruct and teach me, to direct and guide me, as a light to my eyes, a
light to my feet, a light
in a dark place." (4.)
He will plead my
cause, and execute judgment for me, v. 9. If we heartily espouse the cause
of God, the just but injured cause of religion and virtue, and make it our
cause, we may hope he will own our cause, and plead it. The church's cause,
though it seem for a time to go against her, will at length be pleaded with
jealousy, and judgment not only given against, but executed upon, the enemies of
it. (5.) "He
will bring me forth to the light, make me shine
eminently out of obscurity, and become conspicuous, will make my righteousness
shine evidently from under the dark cloud of calumny, Ps. 37:6; Isa. 58:10. The
morning of comfort shall shine forth out of the long and dark night of trouble."
(6.)
"I shall behold his righteousness; I shall see the equity of
his proceedings concerning me and the performance of his promises to me."
II. Though enemies triumph and insult, they shall be silenced
and put to shame, v. 8, 10. Observe here,
1. How proudly the enemies of God's people trample upon them
in their distress. They said,
Where is the Lord their God? As if because
they were afflicted God had forsaken them, and they knew not where to find him
with their prayers, and he knew not how to help them with his favours. This
David's enemies said to him, and it was a sword in his bones, Ps. 42:10, and
see Ps. 115:2. Thus, in reproaching Israel as an abandoned people, they
reflected on the God of Israel as an unkind unfaithful God.
2. How comfortably the people of God by faith bear up themselves
under these insults (v. 8):
"Rejoice not against me, O my enemy! I
am now down, but shall not be always so, and when my God appears for me then
she
that is my enemy shall see it, and be ashamed" (not only being
disappointed in her expectations of the church's utter ruin, but having the
same cup of trembling put into her hand), "then
my eyes shall behold her
in the same deplorable condition that I am now in;
now shall she be trodden
down." Note, The deliverance of the church will be the confusion of her
enemies; and their shame shall be double, when, as they have trampled upon God's
people, so they shall themselves be trampled upon.
III. Though the land continue a great while desolate, yet it
shall at length be replenished again, when the time, even the set time, of its
deliverance comes. 1. Its salvation shall not come
till after it has been
desolate; so the margin reads it, v. 13. God has a controversy with the
land, and it must lie long under his rebukes,
because of those that dwell
therein; it is their iniquity that makes their land desolate (Ps. 107:34);
it is
for the fruit of their doings, their evil doings which they have
been themselves guilty of, and the evil fruit of them, the sins of others, which
they have been accessory to by their bad influence and example. For this they
must expect to smart a great while; for the world shall know that God hates sin
even in his own people. 2. When it does come it shall be a complete salvation;
and it seems to refer to their deliverance out of Babylon by Cyrus, which Isaiah
about this time prophesied of, as a type of our redemption by Christ. (1.)
The
decree shall be far removed. God's decree concerning their captivity, and
Nebuchadnezzar's decree concerning the perpetuity of it, his resolution never
to release them, "these shall be set aside and revoked, and you shall hear
no more of them; they shall no more lie as a yoke upon thy neck." (2.)
Jerusalem and the cities of Judah shall be again reared: Then
thy walls shall
be built, walls for habitation, walls for defence, house-walls, town-walls,
temple-walls; it is in order to these that the decree is repealed, Isa. 44:28.
Though Zion's walls may lie long in ruins, there will come a day when they
shall be repaired. (3.) All that belong to the land of Israel, whithersoever
dispersed, and howsoever distressed, far and wide over the face of the whole
earth, shall come flocking to it again (v. 12):
He shall come even to thee,
having liberty to return and a heart to return, from Assyria, whither the ten
tribes were carried away, though it lay remote, and
from the fortified
cities, and
from the fortress, those strongholds in which they
thought they had them fast; for when God's time comes, though Pharaoh will not
let the people go, God will fetch them out with a high hand. They shall
come from all the remote parts,
from sea to sea and
from mountain to
mountain, not turning back for fear of your discouragements, but they shall
go from strength to strength till they come to Zion. Thus in the great day of
redemption
God will gather his elect from the four winds.
Verses 14-20
Here is, I. The prophet's prayer to God to take care of his
own people, and of their cause and interest, v. 14. When God is about to deliver
his people he stirs up their friends to pray for them, and pours out
a spirit
of grace and supplication, Zec. 12:10. And when we see God coming towards us
in ways of mercy, we must go forth to meet him by prayer. It is a prophetic
prayer, which amounts to a promise of the good prayed for; what God directed his
prophet to ask no doubt he designed to give. Now, 1. The people of Israel are
here called the
flock of God's heritage, for they are the sheep of his
hand, the sheep of his pasture, his little flock in the world; and they are his
heritage, his portion in the world.
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
2. This flock
dwells solitarily in the wood, or
forest, in the midst
of Carmel, a high mountain. Israel was a peculiar people,
that dwelt
alone, and was not reckoned among the nations, like a flock of sheep in a
wood. They were now a desolate people (v. 13), were in the land of their
captivity as sheep in a forest, in danger of being lost and made a prey of to
the beasts of the forest. They are
scattered upon the mountains as sheep
having no shepherd. 3. He prays that God would
feed them there with his
rod, that is, that he would take care of them in their captivity, would
protect them, and provide for them, and do the part of a good shepherd to them:
"Let
thy rod and staff comfort them, even in that darksome valley;
and even there let them want nothing that is good for them. Let them be governed
by thy rod, not the rod of their enemies, for they are thy people." 4. He
prays that God would in due time bring them back to feed in the plains of Bashan
and Gilead, and no longer to be fed in the woods and mountains.
Let them feed
in their own country again,
as in the days of old. Some apply this
spiritually, and make it either the prophet's prayer to Christ or his Father's
charge to him, to take care of his church, as the great Shepherd of the sheep,
and to go in and out before them while they are here in this world as in a wood,
that they may find pasture as in Carmel, as in Bashan and Gilead.
II. God's promise, in answer to this prayer; and we may well
take God's promises as real answers to the prayers of faith, and embrace them
accordingly, for with him saying and doing are not two things. The prophet
prayed that God would feed them, and do kind things for them; but God answers
that he
will show them marvellous things (v. 15), will do for them more
than they are able to ask or think, will out-do their hopes and expectations; he
will
show them his marvellous lovingkindness, Ps. 17:7. 1. He will do
that for them which shall be the repetition of the wonders and miracles of
former ages
according to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt.
Their deliverance out of Babylon shall be a work of wonder and grace not
inferior to their deliverance out of Egypt, nay, it shall eclipse the lustre of
that (Jer. 16:14, 15), much more shall the work of redemption by Christ. Note,
God's former favours to his church are patterns of future favours, and shall
again be copied out as there is occasion. 2. He will do that for them which
shall be matter of wonder and amazement to the present age, v. 16, 17. The
nations
about shall take notice of it, and it shall be said
among the heathen,
The Lord has done great things for them, Ps. 126:2. The impression which the
deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon shall make upon the neighbouring nations
shall be very much for the honour both of God and his church. (1.) Those that
had insulted over the people of God in their distress, and gloried that when
they had them down they would keep them down,
shall be confounded, when
they see them thus surprisingly rising up; they shall be
confounded at all
the might with which the captives shall now exert themselves, whom they
thought for ever disabled. They shall now
lay their hands upon their mouths,
as being ashamed of what they have said, and not able to say more, by way of
triumph over Israel. Nay,
their ears shall be deaf too, so much shall
they be ashamed at the wonderful deliverance; they shall stop their ears, as
being not willing to hear any more of God's wonders wrought for that people,
whom they had so despised and insulted over. (2.) Those that had impudently
confronted God himself shall now be struck with a fear of him, and thereby
brought, in profession at least, to submit to him (v. 17):
They shall lick
the dust like a serpent, they shall be so mortified, as if they were
sentenced to the same curse the serpent was laid under (Gen. 3:14),
Upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat. They shall be brought to the
lowest abasements imaginable, and shall be so dispirited that they shall tamely
submit to them.
His enemies shall lick the dust, Ps. 72:9. Nay, they
shall
lick the dust of the church's feet, Isa. 49:23. Proud oppressors
shall now be made sensible how mean, how little, they are, before the great God,
and they shall with trembling and the lowest submission
move out of the holes
into which they had crept (Isa. 2:21),
like worms of the earth as they
are, being ashamed and afraid to
show their heads; so low shall they be
brought, and such abjects shall they be, when they are abased. When God did
wonders for his church
many of the people of the land became Jews,
because
the fear of the Jews, and of their God,
fell upon them,
Esth. 8:17. So it is promised here:
They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,
and shall fear because of thee, O Israel! Forced submissions are often but
feigned submissions; yet they redound to the glory of God and the church, though
not to the benefit of the dissemblers themselves.
III. The prophet's thankful acknowledgment of God's mercy,
in the name of the church, with a believing dependence upon his promise, v. 18-20.
We are here taught,
1. To give to God the glory of his pardoning mercy, v. 18. God
having promised to bring back the captivity of his people, the prophet, on that
occasion, admires pardoning mercy, as that which was at the bottom of it. As it
was their sin that brought them into bondage, so it was God's pardoning their
sin that brought them our of it; Ps. 85:1, 2, and Isa. 33:24; 38:17; 60:1,2. The
pardon of sin is the foundation of all other covenant-mercies, Heb. 8:12. This
the prophet stands amazed at, while the surrounding nations stood amazed only at
those deliverances which were but the fruits of this. Note, (1.) God's people,
who are the
remnant of his heritage, stand charged with many
transgressions; being but a remnant, a very few, one would hope they should all
be very good, but they are not so; God's children have their spots, and often
offend their Father. (2.) The gracious God is ready to pass by and pardon the
iniquity and transgression of his people, upon their repentance and return to
him. God's people are a pardoned people, and to this they owe their all. When
God pardons sin, he passes it by, does not punish it as justly he might, nor
deal with the sinner according to the desert of it. (3.) Though God may for a
time lay his own people under the tokens of his displeasure, yet he will not
retain
his anger for ever, but
though he cause grief he will have compassion;
he is not implacable; yet against those that are not of the remnant of his
heritage, that are unpardoned, he will keep his anger for ever. (4.) The reasons
why God pardons sin, and keeps not his anger for ever, are all taken from within
himself; it is
because he delights in mercy, and the salvation of sinners
is what he has pleasure in, not their death and damnation. (5.) The glory of God
in forgiving sin is, as in other things, matchless, and without compare. There
is
no God like unto him for this; no magistrate, no common person,
forgives as God does. In this his thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours;
in this he is
God, and not man. (6.) All those that have experienced
pardoning mercy cannot but admire that mercy; it is what we have reason to stand
amazed at, if we know what it is. Has God forgiven us our transgressions? We may
well say,
Who is a God like unto thee? Our holy wonder at pardoning mercy
will be a good evidence of our interest in it.
2. To take to ourselves the comfort of that mercy and all the
grace and truth that go along with it. God's people here, as they look back
with thankfulness upon God's pardoning their sins, so they look forward with
assurance upon what he would yet further do for them. His mercy
endures for
ever, and therefore as he has
shown mercy so he will, v. 19, 20. (1.)
He will renew his favours to us:
He will turn again; he will have compassion;
that is, he will again have compassion upon us as formerly he had; his
compassions shall be
new every morning; he seemed to be departing from us
in anger, but he will turn again and pity us. He will turn us to himself, and
then will
turn to us, and have mercy upon us. (2.) He will renew us, to
prepare and qualify us for his favour:
He will subdue our iniquities;
when he takes away the guilt of sin, that it may not damn us, he will break the
power of sin, that it may not have dominion over us, that we may not fear sin,
nor be led captive by it. Sin is an enemy that fights against us, a tyrant that
oppresses us; nothing less than almighty grace can subdue it, so great is its
power in fallen man and so long has it kept possession. But, if God forgive the
sin that has been committed by us, he will subdue the sin that dwells in us, and
in that there is none like him in forgiving; and all those whose sins are
pardoned earnestly desire and hope; to have their corruptions mortified and
their iniquities subdued, and please themselves with the hopes of it. If we be
left to ourselves, our iniquities will be too hard for us; but God's grace, we
trust, shall be sufficient for us to subdue them, so that they shall not rule
us, and then they shall not ruin us. (3.) He will confirm this good work, and
effectually provide that his act of grace shall never be repealed:
Thou wilt
cast all their sins into the depth of the sea, as when he brought them out
of Egypt (to which he has an eye in the promises here, v. 15) he subdued Pharaoh
and the Egyptians, and cast them into the depth of the sea. It intimates that
when God forgives sin he
remembers it no more, and takes care that it
shall never be remembered more against the sinner. Eze. 18:22,
His
transgressions shall not be mentioned unto him; they are
blotted out as a
cloud which never appears more. He casts them into the sea, not near the
shore-side, where they may appear again next low water, but into
the depth of
the sea, never to rise again.
All their sins shall be cast there
without exception, for when God forgives sin he forgives all. (4.) He will
perfect that which concerns us, and with this good work will do all that for us
which our case requires and which he has promised (v. 20):
Then wilt thou
perform thy truth to Jacob and thy mercy to Abraham. It is in pursuance of
the covenant that our sins are pardoned and our lusts mortified; from that
spring all these streams flow, and with these he shall
freely give us all
things. The promise is said to be
mercy to Abraham, because, as made
to him first, it was mere mercy, preventing mercy, considering what state it
found him in. But it was
truth to Jacob, because the faithfulness of God
was engaged to make good to him and his seed, as heirs to Abraham, all that was
graciously promised to Abraham. See here, [1.] With what solemnity the covenant
of grace is ratified to us; it was not only spoken, written, and sealed, but
which is the highest confirmation, it was
sworn to our fathers; nor is it
a modern project, but is confirmed by antiquity too; it was sworn
from the
days of old; it is an ancient charter. [2.] With what satisfaction it may be
applied and relied upon by us; we may say with the highest assurance,
Thou
wilt perform the truth and mercy; not one iota or tittle of it shall fall to
the ground. Faithful is he that has promised, who also will do it.
Chapter 7:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
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