bunches of camels, to a people [that] shall not profit [them ;] the Israelites will send their wealth on asses and camels, as a subsidy, 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 8 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, Prophesy 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.

18

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 you, 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 ; ar 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 30 the defeat of the Assyrians by Hezekiah's reformation. And [though] the LORD give you the bread of adversity, and the water 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 bence. 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.

27

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 escape, 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.†

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ger.

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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 des liverance.

valley.

Thereabouts the Assyrians were probably destroyed and their carcasses burned in that

every sinful method to help ourselves, and seeking direction and help from the Lord of hosts. Thus will our strength be increased, our peace rendered secure, and we shall never be ashamed of our hope.

2. God's holiness is the great terror of sinners. The thought is too weighty, and the expression too serious, for men that choose to go on in their sin; for, if he be a holy Being, he must hate and punish those that are unholy. Hence they love those ministers that prophesy smooth things, that deal in generals, and give their But those that show them the evil of consciences no alarm. sin, preach searching sermons, and reprove their vices, they dislike. Yet faithful ministers must and will tell sinners, whether they like it or not, that God is an holy Being, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. It is better that they should be roused and displeased, than that they should be condemned for impenitence, and their ministers for unfaithfulness.

3. See what a blessing the means of grace are, and how highly they should be valued. God promises his people that though they should be afflicted, reduced to famine and straits, yet they should have their teachers continued; and those who know the value of the word, its instructions, warnings, and counsels, will look upon this as a great favour, sufficient to sweeten the bread of adversity; though it is to be feared that many had rather be without teachers and means of grace, than lose their substance, or be in straits. It is a blessing to have faithful friends, to admonish us, a tender conscience, that will check us when doing evil, and the spirit of God, to impress the warnings of the word and the convictions of conscience. We are all in danger of mistaking our way; of turning to the right hand or to the left; of going into one error or another; let us therefore reverence the word of God, esteem his faithful ministers in love, and attend to that friendly admonition, from whomsoever it comes, This is the way, walk ye in it.

4. With what joy should we celebrate our spiritual deliverances ! The Israelites went with gladness and songs to celebrate their resene from the Assyrians; and have we not much greater reason, with gladness of heart, to celebrate in the house of the Lord our deliverance from Satan, sin, and death; those enemies of our souls and their eternal welfare? Let us rejoice in it, and give God the glory of it; but rejoice with trembling, lest our enemies should gain the dominion over us, and drive us down to hell; of which Tophet was but a faint image, though our Lord chooses by it to describe the horrors of the infernal world, even that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

CHAP. XXXI, XXXII.

This prophecy is a continuance of the former. The first part of the thirty second chapter seems to refer to the beginning of Hezekiah's reign; from the ninth to the fifteenth verse, to the troubles in the middle of it; and the conclusion, to the prosperity of the latter end.

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O to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because [they are] many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seck the 2 LORD! Yet he also [is] wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evil doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity: a severe irony; as if he had said, You boast of the wisdom of your politics, but God has some wisdom, and is as able to help as they, therefore to show your folly he will punish you for your evil doings, and the 3 Egyptians your helpers for their iniquity. Now the Egyptians [are] men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit; they have no more strength and swiftness than common creatures, and are liable to be frighted, wounded, and destroyed: when the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail 4 together; but God is a surer defence. For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, [he] will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof; all the noise of the Assyrian army is no more to him than a parcel of shepherds shouting against a lion, whom they dare not go near, he minds it not, neither 5 looses his prey, nor carries it off with greater speed. As birds flying speedily to their nests to secure their young, or to drive away an enemy, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver [it; and] passing over he will preserve [it.] It is the same word as is used for passing over the Israelites' houses in Egypt, and has reference to their former deliverance; Jerusalem shall first be reformed, and then saved.

6

Turn ye unto [him from] whom the children of Israel have 7 deeply revolted. For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you [for] a sin; though they were the work of your own hands, the materials valuable, and you had worshipped them, yet being the occasion of sin you shall cast them away.

Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man, who smites openly; and the sword, not of a mean man, who smites secretly, shall devour him but he shall flee from the sword of the angel, and his young men, or chcice ones, shall be 9 discomfited. And he, that is, the king, shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign,