And with chains." Verse 13. "Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold;" in which there is an evident reference to the people's hands being delivered from the pots in Egypt. Ps. lxxxi. 6, and the context, makes this evident. And the drift and design of the psalm shows this to be a promise of the Messiah's redemption. God's dividing the Red sea and the Jordan, and leading the people through them, are often spoken of as resemblances of what God shall accomplish for his people in the days of the Messiah. Isai. xi. 11. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people that shall be left-from Egypt." Ver. 15, 16." And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and cause men to go over dry shod. there shall be an high way for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel, in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." Isai. xliii. 2, 3. "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee-for I-gave Egypt for thy ransom ;" ver. 16, 17, 18, 19. "Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember not former things-Behold, I will do a new thing." Chap. xxvii. 12. "And it shall come to pass at that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river under the stream of Egypt," (or the Lord shall strike off, or smite away both the channel of the river and the stream of Egypt,) " and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel." Chap. li. 10, 11. "Art not thou it which hath dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over? Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion," &c. Ver. 15. "But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea," &c. Chap. lxiii. 11, 12, 13. " Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? That led them by the right hand of Moses, with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name? That led them through the deep as an horse in the wilderness ?" Psa. lxviii. 22. "I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea." Zech. x. 10, 11. "I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt and he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up, and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away." The destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, is spoken of as a resemblance of the destruction of the enemies of God's people by the Messiah. Isai. xliii. 16, 17. "Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise." And particularly Pharaoh's destruction in the Red sea, is spoken of as a type of the Messiah's bruising the head of the old serpent or dragon. Isai. li. 9, 10. "Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O arm of the Lord. Art not thou it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon? Art not thou it which hath dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion," &c. Pharaoh is called leviathan and the dragon in Psalm lxxiv. 13, 14, as the devil is in a like destruction in the Messiah's time, Isai. xxvii. 1. That Pharaoh is intended in those forementioned places by the dragon and leviathan, is very manifest from Ezek. xxix. 3, and xxxii. 2. The joy and songs of the children of Israel at their redemption out of Egypt, and their great deliverance from the Egyptians at the Red sea, are spoken of as a resemblance of the joy God's people shall have in the redemption of the Messiah. Hos. ii. 15. "And she shall sing there as in the days of her youth; and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." The Spirit of God seems to have reference to the manner of his leading and guarding the people when they went up out of Egypt, in going before them to lead them, and behind to keep the Egyptians from hurting them; and to compare what he would do in the Messiah's days thereto. Isai. lii. 12. "For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; the God of Israel will be your rereward;" the God of Israel, that God that thus led Israel out of Egypt, when he entered into covenant with them, and became the God of that people. Here see Pool's Synopsis on Exod. xii. 14. God's leading the people through the wilderness, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be accomplished towards God's people in the Messiah's times. Isaiah Ixiii. 13. "That led them through the deep as an horse in the wilderness." Psalm lxviii. 8. " O God, when thou wentest before thy people; when thou didst march through the wilderness ;" compared with the rest of the psalm. Hos. ii. 14, 15. "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her, and she shall sing as in the days of her youth; as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.” Ezek. xx. 34— 37. "And I will bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out," (plainly alluding to God's manner of redeeming the people out of Egypt.) "And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face; like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and will bring you into the bond of the covenant." Where we may also observe that God's speaking with the people face to face, and entering into covenant with them, and making them his covenant people when he brought them out of Egypt, is spoken of as a resemblance of God's revealing himself to his people in the days of the Messiah, and bringing them into a covenant relation to himself by him. God's appearing with the children of Israel in a pillar of cloud and fire, is spoken of as a resemblance of what God would do for his people in the days of the Messiah. Isai. iv. "And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Sion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flame of fire by night. For upon all the glory shall be a defence." The quaking of the earth and of mount Sinai, at the time of the giving of the law, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the Messiah's days. Ps. lxviii. 8. "The earth shook-even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel." So the great effect of God's presence on the mountains, and especially mount Sinai's being all enkindled by so great and dreadful a fire, is plainly spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the days of the Messiah. Isai. lxiv. 1—4. “Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth-When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou comest down; the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard," &c. So the rain that descended on the people, at the time of the thunder and lightning at mount Sinai, or at the time of the great hailstones that God sent on the Amorites, Psalm lxviii. 7, 8, 9. "O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people; when thou didst march through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens dropped at the presence of God. Thou, O Lord, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst refresh thine inheritance when it was weary." These things do abundantly confirm, that the redemption out of Egypt, and the circumstances and events that attended it, were intended by the great disposer of all things to be types of the redemption of God's people by the Messiah, and of things appertaining to that redemption. It is an argument that the manna that God gave the children of Israel was a type of something spiritual, because it is called the corn of heaven and angels' food. Psal. lxxviii. 24, 25; and Psal. cv. 40. It could be angels' food no otherwise than as representing something spiritual. Now by the way I would remark, that was before made use of as an argument, that the great redemption by the Messiah was very much typified beforehand, is very greatly strengthened by what has been now observed. I mean that argument that lesser redemptions were by God's ordering represented by types, and particularly that the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt was much typified beforehand. Now if this was so, that God was much in typifying this redemption beforehand, which itself was a type of the great redemption by the Messiah; how much more may we suppose this great redemption itself, that is the antitype of that, should be abundantly typified? Will God do much to typify that, which was itself but a shadow of the Messiah's sal vation? And shall he not be much more in prefiguring the very substance-even that great redemption by the Messiah, in comparison of which the former is often in the Old Testament represented as worthy of no remembrance or notice? God's bringing his people into Canaan, to a state of rest and happiness there, is spoken of as a resemblance of what God would do for his people through the Messiah. Jer. xxxi. 2. "Thus saith the Lord, the people that were left of the sword, found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest:" compared with the rest of the chapter and the foregoing chapter. Isai. lxiii. 14. "As the beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest. So didst thou lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name:" together with the context. Psal. Ixviii. 10. "Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor." Ver. 13. "Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove," &c. -together with the context. The manner of God's giving Israel the possession of Canaan, viz. by a glorious conquest of the kings and nations of the land, is spoken of as a resemblance of the manner in which God would bring his people to rest and glory, by the Messiah, after his exaltation, Psa. Ixviii. 11, 12. "The Lord gave the word; great was the company of them that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace; and she that tarried at home divided the spoil." Ver. 14. "When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon," taken with ver. 21, 22, 23. “But God shall wound the head of his enemies-The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan; I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: that thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same." Ver. 30. "Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of bulls," &c.-together with the rest of the psalm. What the people of God should be brought to, in the days of the Messiah, is spoken of as represented by the children of Israel's slaying Achan in Joshua's time. Hos. ii. 15. " And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." What came to pass in the time of Joshua's battle with the five kings of the Amorites, and particularly God's sending down great hail stones upon them, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be in the days of the Messiah. Isai. xxviii. 21. "For the Lord shall rise up in mount Perazim, and his wrath as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act:" together with ver. 2. "Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, shall cast down to the earth with the hand." And chap. xxx. 30. "And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger-with tempest and hailstones." And xxxii. 19. " When it shall hail coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place," (or shall be utterly abased.) And Ezek. xxxviii. 22. "I will rain upon him an overflowing rain, and great hailstones." What God did for Israel in the victory of Deborah and Barak over the Canaanites, is spoken of as a resemblance of what God would do for his people against their enemies in the days of the Messiah; Psal. lxxxiii. 9, 10. "Do unto them as unto Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook of Kison, which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth." For this psalm is prophetical, and these things have respect to the great things God would do against the future enemies of his church. For it does not appear that there was any such confederacy of the nations mentioned against Israel in David's or Asaph's time; and particularly it does not look probable, that there was any such enmity of the inhabitants of Tyre against Israel, as is here spoken of, ver. 7. And it is very probable, that as this psalm is prophetical, so it is prophetical of the Messiah's days; as most of the psalms are. And there is a great agreement between what is here foretold of the destruction of the enemies of the church, and what is foretold of the Messiah's days in many other places. And the last verse, which speaks of God's being made known to all mankind as the only true God, and the God of all the earth, further confirms this. Gideon's victory over the Midianites, is spoken of as a resemblance of what should be accomplished in the Messiah's days. |