rian enemy abroad, is brought to nought, and the scorner, at home, is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity, for opportunities of 21 sin and mischief, are cut off: That make a man an offender for

a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and 22 turn aside the just for a thing of nought. Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face 23 now wax pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel; a new generation of the faithful shall spring up, who shall be in covenant with God, and shall sanctify him, and all good men 24 shall rejoice in the progress of the reformation. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine; those who were formerly prejudiced shall become humble; those who said the word is hard, or the law unreasonable, shall find it otherwise, and be made wise and good by it.

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REFLECTIONS.

ROM this chapter we are taught the vanity and wickedness of hypocritical devotion. The Israelites in their degenerated state went on, year after year, to kill and offer up sacrifices; but all was in vain while they remained impenitent and unreformed. Thus vain will it be for men to go on in a round of religious services, while they do things that are unjust, impure, and sensual. May we guard against that detestable character described in v. 13. To worship God, is to draw nigh to him with an intent to honour him; but if the heart be not engaged, if that be absent, or unaffected, and we follow the precepts and customs of men, and not the rules of scripture, God will be highly displeased. It is no uncommon thing for persons to get a kind of mechanical habit of hearing and praying, without attention or seriousness, till they become quite stupid, and incapable of receiving any religious impression. He that does not grow better by religious services, grows worse, and is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

2. We see the constant dependence of the human mind upon God for all its thoughts and operations. He can easily close men's eyes, and stupify their understandings; can puzzle their politics, and confound their devices. They can no more do what they contrive and intend without him, than the clay can form itself without the potter. He can, on the other hand, enlighten the most stupid, and bring those that have erred to understand doctrine. This therefore should teach us to improve our wisdom and skill for God, and to pray daily to him, that he would enlighten our understandings, and direct our steps.

Those who opposed Hezekiah's reformation, and mocked the prophets, were glad to find any defects and imprudences in good men, that they might wound religion thereby: for this purpose they strained every word, and were especially glad to find any thing amiss in magistrates or ministers. Many of these were perhaps slain by the Assyrians.

3. The great advantages of a meek, teachable disposition of mind are here set forth; particularly, as it will promote our cheerfulness. Those who are meek, poor in spirit, humble and patient, will have joy in the Lord; and that joy will increase as those graces do. But passion, pride, and impatience are the greatest enemies to the soul in which they are indulged, and deprive it of real joy. Let us therefore learn of Christ to be meek and lowly in heart, and in patience to possess our souls; that, whatever our poverty or afflictions may be, we may rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our salvation.

4. We see how odious to men and displeasing to God, the character of censorious and scornful men is. Too many who bear the christian name, resemble the persons here described; they watch for iniquity; take a malignant pleasure in discovering any blemishes in the characters of their neighbours, and reporting them to their disadvantage; they make a man an offender for a word; for a neglected compliment, a dubious expression, or a friendly admonition. They are particularly watchful to reproach a minister for a little impropriety of thought or expression in prayer or preaching; and are upon the watch to ensnare those who are appointed to reprove. However such men may pride themselves in their wit and discernment, and think themselves persons of peculiar sagacity and pene tration, the Lord calls them scorners, and declares that they shall be consumed and cut off. Wherefore, my brethren, let every one of us be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

CHAP. XXX,

The Israelites here, as often before, are reproved for their confidence in Egypt, when the Assyrians came against them.

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O to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit; they seek shelter in Egypt, but not such a one as I have directed them to seek; that they may add sin to sin, 2 by trusting to one alliance after another: That walk, that is, contrive and take pains, to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pha3 raoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the 4 shadow of Egypt [your] confusion. For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes; the ambassadors of Israel met those of Egypt there; they had a congress to settle the 5 terms of the alliance: but They were all ashamed of a people [that] could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but be a shame, and also a reproach, they were so weak or so treacherous. 6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence [come] the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the

bunches of camels, to a people [that] shall not profit [them ;] the Israelites will send their wealth on asses and camels, as a subs sidy, or to bribe Pharaoh's ministers and courtiers, through that 7 wilderness which lies between them. For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, and published it aloud, that Their strength [is] to sit still, in the use of regular means, and a humble, quiet dependence $ upon God, who alone can help them. Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever; publish it, and let it be recorded, 9 as a warning to future ages: That this [is] a rebellious people, lying children, children [that] will not hear the law of the LORD: 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophe sy not unto us right things; this is the true meaning and intent of what they say, while persecuting and bantering the true prophets and encouraging the false ones, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits; preach only that which may gratify our humours 11 and our lusts: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us; do not stop us in our sinful ways; do not preach up such strictness ; do not mention the Holy One of Israel, (with which the prophets usually introduced their reproofs and warnings ;) we are weary of 12 hearing so much of it. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, whose name you do not like to hear, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to us as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant; your trust in Egypt shall be like a bulging wall, 14 that falls suddenly and unexpectedly. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potter's vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water [withal] out of the pit; there shall not be a piece big enough for any common use; this your confidence in Egypt, and yourselves there15 by, shall be shattered to pieces. For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; in returning to God and your duty, and an humble confidence in his power, providence and promises, ye shall find strength and salva16 tion and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee and, We will ride upon the swift; we will hire horses from Egypt to attack our enemies; 17 therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand [shall flee] at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill; one of your enemies shall chase a thousand, and your whole army shall flee before five, till so few are left that you shall stand alone, like a beacon on the top of a hill.

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And therefore, or nevertheless, will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, will exercise patience toward you, and

therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon yoư, and exalt his power and glory in humbling and reforming you; for the LORD [is] a God of judgment: blessed [are] all they that 19 wait for him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; or the people of Zion shall dwell at Jerusalem; continue there in safety, notwithstanding Sennacherib's attempts; and also afterward return out of Babylon thither again: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee; happy times shall succeed 20 the defeat of the Assyrians by Hezekiah's reformation. And [though] the LORD give you the bread of adversity, and the wa ter of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers; though other afflictions may come, or some be continued, yet the priests shall come again to Jerusalem, (which they could not during the siege) and you shall have prophets and know how to value them: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, the admonitions of some faithful friend, the dictates of conscience, or the influence of the Spirit, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn 22 to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold; you shall be resolved against sin and destroy the most valuable remains of idolatry, the robes and ornaments of your images, and the costly tents that were about them thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth, or polluted garment; thou shalt say unto it, with an holy indignation, 23 Get thee hence. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, or rain in seed time, that thou shalt sow thy ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous; the fruits of the earth shall be brought forth in great abundance : 24 in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear, or till the ground, shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan; there shall be such plenty that the cattle shall eat 25 dressed corn, not corn in the straw. And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers [and] streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall, which the Assyrians had raised against Jerusalem. 26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound; every thing shall put on a more cheerful face than before, when God pardons their sins and removes the punishment of them. Then follows a prophecy of the destruction of the Assyrians.

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Behold, the name of the LORD, which the Assyrians have blasphemed by representing him like the gods of the heathen, cometh from far, burning [with] anger, and the burden [thereof is] heavy! his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a de28 vouring fire: And his breath as an overflowing stream, shall

reach to the midst of the neck, like a great flood which shall destroy the whole army, and reach even to the king, he alone shall escane, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity and [there shall be] a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing [them] to err; their allies shall be dispersed, they shall run upon their 29 own destruction, and all their designs be disappointed. Ye shall have a song, as in the night [when] a holy solemnity is kept; like that in the evening when the solemn feasts begin: and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty one of Israel; referring to the hymns after the passover, when they went up to the house of the Lord, and particularly when they brought the first fruits; so 30 shall you rejoice in the destruction of the Assyrians. And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lightening down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and [with] the flame of a devouring fire, [with] scattering, and tempest, and hailstones; it shall be done immediately by the hand of God, and probably was done in the manner here de31 scribed. For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian 32 be beaten down, [which] smote with a rod. And [in] every place where the grounded staff, or terrible stroke, shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, [it] shall be with tabrets and harps and in battles of shaking will he fight with it; they have been a rod to Israel, but they shall be destroyed with a strong conquering staff, and every place where they fall shall be 33 full of joy and gladness.* For Tophet (a valley near Jerusalem, where they used to offer their children to Molech, and which Hezekiah had lately cleansed) [is] ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; that is, for the glory and strength of the king of Assyria; he hath made [it] deep [and] large: the pile thereof [is] fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.t

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REFLECTIONS.

E see here the vanity and guilt of creature dependence, and the necessity of trusting in God in times of danWhat pains and expense were the Israelites at to engage the assistance of Egypt! but it ended in their shame and disappointment. Thus men try one creature after another, in which they hope to find satisfaction and happiness; but they only add sin to sin, and trouble to trouble. Let us take a wiser course, and make God our refuge; return to him in the way of duty; labour to compose every tumultuous passion and anxious fear; avoiding

Probably they made a procession with musical instruments and songs of praise to the Assyrian camp, as seeing it would enhance the joy and wonder of the people for their de liverance. + Thereabouts the Assyrians were probably destroyed and their carcasses burned in that valley.