ISAIAH 32 COMMENTARY EDITED BY GLENN PEASE The Kingdom of Righteousness 1 See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. 1.BARNES, “Behold, a king - That is, Hezekiah. That it refers to him is apparent from the connection. The reign of Ahaz had been one of oppression and idolatry. This was to be succeeded by the reign of one under whom the rights of the people would be secured, and under whom there would be a state of general prosperity. This may have been uttered while Ahaz was on the throne, or it may have been when Hezekiah began to reign. Perhaps the latter is the more probable, as Ahaz might not have tolerated anything that would have looked like a reflection on his own reign; nor, perhaps, while he was on the throne would Isaiah have given a description that would have been a contrast between his reign and that of his successor. Shall reign in righteousness - That is, a righteous king shall reign; or his administration shall be one of justice, and strongly in contrast with that of his predecessor. This was certainly the general characteristic of the reign of Hezekiah. And princes shall rule - Hebrew, ‘For princes, or, ‘as to princes’ ( לשׂריםl e s'arıym). Lowth proposes to read this without the ל(l), as the ancient versions do. But it is not necessary to change the text. It may be rendered, ‘As to princes, they shall rule’ (compare Psa_16:3). The ‘princes’ here denote the various officers of government, or those to whom the administration was confided. In judgment - That this is a just description of the reign of Hezekiah is apparent from the history, see 2Ki_18:3-6 : ‘He removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut down the grove. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him, for he clave unto the Lord, and departed not from following him.’ 2. CLARKE, “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness - If King Hezekiah were a type of Christ, then this prophecy may refer to his time; but otherwise it seems to have Hezekiah
1. ISAIAH 32 COMMENTARY EDITED BY GLENN PEASE The Kingdom of
Righteousness 1 See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers
will rule with justice. 1.BARNES, Behold, a king - That is,
Hezekiah. That it refers to him is apparent from the connection.
The reign of Ahaz had been one of oppression and idolatry. This was
to be succeeded by the reign of one under whom the rights of the
people would be secured, and under whom there would be a state of
general prosperity. This may have been uttered while Ahaz was on
the throne, or it may have been when Hezekiah began to reign.
Perhaps the latter is the more probable, as Ahaz might not have
tolerated anything that would have looked like a reflection on his
own reign; nor, perhaps, while he was on the throne would Isaiah
have given a description that would have been a contrast between
his reign and that of his successor. Shall reign in righteousness -
That is, a righteous king shall reign; or his administration shall
be one of justice, and strongly in contrast with that of his
predecessor. This was certainly the general characteristic of the
reign of Hezekiah. And princes shall rule - Hebrew, For princes,
or, as to princes ( le s'ar ym). Lowth proposes to read this
without the (l), as the ancient versions do. But it is not
necessary to change the text. It may be rendered, As to princes,
they shall rule (compare Psa_16:3). The princes here denote the
various officers of government, or those to whom the administration
was confided. In judgment - That this is a just description of the
reign of Hezekiah is apparent from the history, see 2Ki_18:3-6 : He
removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut down the
grove. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was
none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were
before him, for he clave unto the Lord, and departed not from
following him. 2. CLARKE, Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness - If King Hezekiah were a type of Christ, then this
prophecy may refer to his time; but otherwise it seems to have
Hezekiah
2. primarily in view. It is evident, however, that in the
fullest sense these words cannot be applied to any man; God alone
can do all that is promised here. And princes - ve-sarim, without
lamed, to; so the ancient Versions. An ancient MS. has vesaraiv,
and his princes. 3. GILL, Behold, a King shall reign in
righteousness,.... Not Hezekiah, as the Jewish writers; at least
only as a type, as some writers interpret it; rather Christ
himself, who is "King" not only of the whole world, and of the
kings of it in general, but in particular is King of saints; and
who "reigns" now in and over his church and people, being set as
King by his Father over his holy hill of Zion, and, being exalted
at his right hand, is made and declared Lord and Christ; and where
he does and will reign until all enemies are put under his feet,
and ere long will reign gloriously before his ancients in
Jerusalem, Isa_24:23 and his reign is "in righteousness"; in a
righteous manner, according to the rules of justice and equity: all
his laws are just; his ways and methods of administration are
right; his sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness: righteousness is
the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins:
and princes shall rule in judgment: the ministers of the Gospel,
pastors of churches, who are set over them in the Lord, and have
the rule over them; and who rule well, and in judgment, when they
rule according to the word of God; when they preach the Gospel, and
administer ordinances, and do all the business of Christ's house,
according to the instructions, laws, and rules he has given. 4.
HENRY, We have here the description of a flourishing kingdom.
Blessed art thou, O land! when it is thus with thee, when kings,
princes, and people, are in their places such as they should be. It
may be taken as a directory both to magistrates and subjects, what
both ought to do, or as a panegyric to Hezekiah, who ruled well and
saw something of the happy effects of his good government, and it
was designed to make the people sensible how happy they were under
his administration and how careful they should be to improve the
advantages of it, and withal to direct them to look for the kingdom
of Christ, and the times of reformation which that kingdom should
introduce. It is here promised and prescribed, for the comfort of
the church, I. That magistrates should do their duty in their
places, and the powers answer the great ends for which they were
ordained of God, Isa_32:1, Isa_32:2. 1. There shall be a king and
princes that shall reign and rule; for it cannot go well when there
is no king in Israel. The princes must have a king, a monarch over
them as supreme, in whom they may unite; and the king must have
princes under him as officers, by whom he may act, 1Pe_2:13,
1Pe_2:14. They both shall know their place and fill it up. The king
shall reign, and yet, without any diminution to his just
prerogative, the princes shall rule in a lower sphere, and all for
the public good 5. JAMISON, Isa_32:1-20. Messiahs kingdom;
Desolations, to be succeeded by lasting peace, the Spirit having
been poured out. The times of purity and happiness which shall
follow the defeat of the enemies of Jehovahs people (Isa_32:1-8).
The period of wrath before that happy state (Isa_32:9-14). The
assurance of the final prosperity of the Church is repeated
(Isa_32:15-20).
3. king not Hezekiah, who was already on the throne, whereas a
future time is contemplated. If he be meant at all, it can only be
as a type of Messiah the King, to whom alone the language is fully
applicable (Hos_3:5; Zec_9:9; see on Isa_11:3-5). The kingdom shall
be transferred from the world kings, who have exercised their power
against God, instead of for God, to the rightful King of kings
(Eze_21:27; Dan_7:13, Dan_7:14). princes subordinate; referring to
all in authority under Christ in the coming kingdom on earth, for
example, the apostles, etc. (Luk_22:30; 1Co_6:2; 2Ti_2:12;
Rev_2:26, Rev_2:27; Rev_3:21). 6. K&D, For Judah, sifted,
delivered, and purified, there now begins a new ear. Righteous
government, as a blessing for the people, is the first beneficent
fruit. Behold, the king will reign according to righteousness; and
the princes, according to right will they command. And every one
will be like a shelter from the wind, and a covert from the storm;
like water-brooks in a dry place, like the shadow of a gigantic
rock in a languishing land. The kingdom of Asshur is for ever
destroyed; but the kingdom of Judah rises out of the state of
confusion into which it has fallen through its God - forgetting
policy and disregard of justice. King and princes now rule
according to the standards that have been divinely appointed and
revealed. The Lamed in ule sa rm (and the princes) is that of
reference (quod attinet ad, as in Psa_16:3 and Ecc_9:4), the
exponent of the usual casus abs. (Ges. 146, 2); and the two other
Lameds are equivalent to , secundum (as in Jer_30:11). The figures
in Isa_32:2 are the same as in Isa_25:4. The rock of Asshur (i.e.,
Sennacherib) has departed, and the princes of Asshur have deserted
their standards, merely to save themselves. The king and princes of
Judah are now the defence of their nation, and overshadow it like
colossal walls of rock. This is the first fruit of the blessing. 7.
PULPIT, Strict justice a characteristic of Messiah's kingdom.
Whatever may be said, and said with truth, of the Divine mercy,
still there is no quality more characteristic of God's rule over
man than his justice. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right?" (Gen_18:25); "God is a righteous Judge" (Psa_7:11); "He
shall judge the world in righteousness, and minister judgment to
the people in uprightness (Psa_9:8). If this were not so, the whole
foundations of morality would fall. And Messiah's rule was to be
like God'swas, in very truth, to be God's. It had, therefore, to be
strictly just. What is most wonderful in that marvelous scheme of
salvation, which infinite wisdom conceived and decreed from
everlasting, is that in it a way was contrived whereby "mercy and
truth' might "meet together," and "righteousness and peace kiss
each other" (Psa_85:10). Attributes of God, seemingly
contradictory, obtained a wondrous reconciliation by means of the
sacrifice of Christ, which, though its whole import may transcend
our faculties, was beyond all doubt an integer in the equation
wherein mercy and truth met together, and reconcilement was made
between "the wrath of man" and "the righteousness of God." The
justice of Messiah's kingdom was shown I. IN CHRIST'S SEVERE
CONDEMNATION OF EVERY FORM OF MORAL EVIL. "Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites!" (Mat_23:13); "Depart from me, ye that
work iniquity" (Mat_7:23); "Every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment"
(Mat_12:36); "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts and these
defile a man" (Mat_15:19, Mat_15:20).
4. Christ made no compromise with sin. In his most signal act
of mercy his words were, "Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no
more" (Joh_8:11). II. IN THE STRICT DISCIPLINE AT FIRST ESTABLISHED
IN HIS CHURCH. "Purge out the old leaven" (1Co_5:7); "Put away from
among yourselves that wicked person" (1Co_5:13); "Now I have
written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a
brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer,
or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat"
(1Co_5:11). The apostles "delivered to Satan' those who sinned
grievously (1Co_5:5; 1Ti_1:20)cut them off from the communion of
the faithful (Gal_5:12), and only restored them after confession
and penance. "The princes ruled in judgment" (Isa_32:1). III. IN
THE SOLEMN DECLARATIONS MADE OF A FINAL JUDGMENT ACCORDING TO
WORKS. "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the
books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book
of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up
the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them: and they were judged every man according to
their works" (Rev_20:12, Rev_20:13; comp. Mat_7:23; Mat_12:37;
Mat_13:39-43; Mat_25:31-46, etc.). 8. CALVIN, 1.Behold, a King
shall reign. He means that God will still be gracious to his
Church, so as to restore her entirely; and the best method of
restoring her is, when good government is maintained, and when the
whole administration of it is conducted with propriety, and with
good order. This prediction undoubtedly relates to Hezekiah and his
reign, under which the Church was reformed and restored to its
former splendor; for formerly it was in a wretched and ruinous
condition. Ahaz, who was a wicked and disgraceful hypocrite, had
corrupted everything according to his own wicked dispositions, and
had overturned the whole condition of civil government and of
religion. (2Kg_16:2.) He therefore promises another king, namely,
Hezekiah, whose power and righteousness shall restore the state of
affairs which is thus wretched and desperate. In a word, he
presents to us in this passage a lively picture of the prosperous
condition of the Church; and as this cannot be attained without
Christ, this description undoubtedly refers to Christ, of whom
Hezekiah was a type, and whose kingdom he foreshadowed. In
righteousness and judgment. Here he follows the ordinary usage of
Scripture, which employs those expressions to denote good
government; for by righteousness is meant equity and good
government, and by judgment is meant that part of equity which
upholds good men, and defends them from the assaults of the wicked.
It is undoubtedly true that the duty of a good prince embraces a
wider extent than and judgment; for his great aim ought to be to
defend the honor of God and religion. But the ordinary usage of
Scripture is, to describe the whole observation of the law by the
works of the second table; for, if we refrain from acts of
injustice, if we aid, as far as lies in our power, those who are
oppressed by others, and, in a word, if we maintain brotherly
kindness, we give evidence of the fear of God, from which such
fruits spring and grow. From a part, therefore, the Prophet has
described the whole. And princes shall rule. It is not without good
reason that he likewise mentions nobles; (328) for it would not be
enough to be a good prince, if he were not supported by upright
ministers and counselors. Frequently has the condition of the
people, under good princes, been very bad; as we read of Nerva,
(329) under whose reign every kind of conduct was tolerated, so
that many persons were far less favourably situated under his reign
than under Nero; for the carelessness and indolence of a single
individual gave freedom of action to many wicked men. It is
therefore necessary that a king shall have good governors, who
shall supply the place of eyes and hands, and aid him in the
righteous exercise of his authority. If this be not
5. the case, a good king cannot advance a step without being
more or less retarded by other men; and unless rulers move with a
harmony resembling that which we find in musical instruments, the
government of a state cannot be carried on with advantage. On this
subject, men ought to listen to the advice of Jethro, Moses
father-in-law, to unite with him men fearing God, men of truth, and
hating covetousness, and to appoint such men to be rulers of
thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of
tens. (Exo_18:21.) But at the present day, those who aid, or pander
to their lusts, and who favor and flatter them, are promoted by
kings to honors and high rank, which are bestowed on them as the
just reward of their flattery or base servility. Nor ought we to
wonder if we see, almost throughout the whole world, states thrown
into confusion, ranks overturned, and all good government despised
and set aside; for this is the just punishment of our iniquities,
and we deserve to have such governors, since we do not allow God to
rule over us. How shall this extraordinary kindness of God be
enjoyed by men who are openly rebellious and profane, or by wicked
hypocrites who cast God behind them, and cannot bear the yoke of
Christ, through whom this prosperity and restoration of a declining
Church is promised? (328) In our Author version, from which the
heading of this paragraph is taken, he makes use of the word
principes , which commonly means but sometimes also (as in the
phrases, facile princeps, femina princeps, denotes persons of high
rank, or those who in any respect are highly distinguished. But
here he employs the word proceres , and he does so evidently for
the purpose of removing ambiguity, and of stating clearly that view
which is contained in the conclusion of this sentence. Ed. FT585
The singular mildness of the Roman Emperor Nerva, which made him
personally beloved, was carried to such an excess as to impair the
efficiency of his government, and compelled him to resign the
throne to the able and excellent Trajan. On the other hand, Nero,
whose name cannot be mentioned without awakening the remberance of
his monstrous cruelty, held the reins with a firmer hand, and
prevented the repetition of many disorders which had been committed
under the reign of his amiable predecessor Nerva. Ed FT586 Duquel
il soit le chef. FT587 heart also of the rash. (Heb. hasty.)
Eng.Ver. heart also of the hasty. Stock FT588 This observation is
founded on the Hebrew word , (nimharim,) which our Author
translates Fools, and which literally means Hasty. Ed FT589 The
allusion would be better brought out by rendering it, fool will
speak folly. Ed FT590 , a more extensive term than the English word
literally denotes and is frequently employed by our Author to
express that kind of feeling which every man ought to cherish
towards his fellow-men. Ed FT591 Quelque trahison; treachery. FT592
when the needy speaketh right; or, he speaketh against the poor in
judgment. Eng. Ver.
6. FT593 provinces that dwell at ease. Jarchi FT594 cities that
dwell carelessly. Jarchi. In this, as well as in the former case,
he refers to Jonathan Targum. Ed FT595 days and years; (Heb. days
above a year.) Eng. Ver. a year and more. Alexander. after a year;
Heb. days upon a year: that is, the time will soon come after the
expiration of one year, when ye shall be troubled with a dearth.
Stock FT596 may be better translated, striking your breasts,
because of the pleasant fields and fruitful vines, which should be
destroyed by the Assyrians. It was a common gesture used on all
mournful occasions, to strike the breasts; though others think
teats may be taken metaphorically for the pleasant fields and
fruitful vine by which they subsisted, as infants by the mother
paps. Samuel White FT597 all that desolation shall be on all joyful
houses. Jarchi FT598 the wilderness become a fruitful field. Such
is the Author own translation of the clause, which corresponds to
our authorized version. Ed FT599 See our Author Commentary on that
passage. Ed FT600 the city shall be low in a low place; or, the
city shall be utterly abased. Eng. Ver. FT601 by the Forest
understand Nineveh, some Babylon, some Jerusalem, and some the
Assyrian army; but Gataker, and Vatablus before him, think the
words may be rendered, he shall hail with hail on the forest, and
cities shall be built in low places; as if he had said, God shall
preserve the fruits of the earth from the injuries of unseasonable
weather, and, when he sends a storm of hail, cause it to fall on
the woods and deserts; and he shall give them so great security,
that for the future they shall build their cities in low grounds,
to shew that they are under no apprehension of being overrun any
more by an enemy. White FT602 ye who shall enjoy as great fertility
as if all your lands lay on the side of a running stream. Your corn
shall grow so thick and fast that ye shall be forced to let your
cattle crop the luxuriant ears; a practice still in use among our
husbandmen. White (329) Bogus footnote 2 Each one will be like a
shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm,
7. like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a
great rock in a thirsty land. 1.BARNES, And a man - That is,
evidently, the man referred to in the previous verse, to wit,
Hezekiah. Shall be as an hiding-place from the wind - A place where
one may take refuge from a violent wind and tempest (see the note
at Isa_25:4). A covert - A place of shelter and security. Wind and
tempest are emblematic of calamity and oppression; and the sense
is, that Hezekiah would be the protector of his people, and would
save them from the calamities to which they had been subjected in
former reigns. As rivers of water - This figure is often used in
Isaiah (see Isa_35:6-7; and the notes at Isa_41:18). It means that
the blessings of such a reign would be as grateful and refreshing
as gushing fountains and running streams were to a thirsty
traveler. Here it refers to the benefits that would be conferred by
the reign of Hezekiah - a reign which, compared with that of his
father, would be like a refreshing fountain to a weary pilgrim in a
pathless desert. As the shadow of a great rock - In a burning
desert of sand nothing is more grateful than the cooling shade of a
far-projecting rock. It not only excludes the rays of the sun, but
it has itself a refreshing coolness that is most grateful to a
weary traveler. The same figure is often used by the classic
writers (see Virgil, Georg. iii, 145; Hesiod, ii. 106). In a weary
land - A land where there is fatigue and weariness. Probably here
it is used to denote a land destitute of trees, and groves, and
pleasant abodes; a land where one expects weariness and fatigue
without any refreshment and shelter. The following description from
Campbells Travels in Africa will explain this: Well does the
traveler remember a day in the wilds of Africa, where the country
was chiefly covered with burning sand; when, scorched with the
powerful rays of an almost vertical sun, the thermometer in the
shade standing at 100 degrees (Fahrenheit). He remembers long
looking hither and thither for something that would afford
protection from the almost insupportable heat, and where the least
motion of air felt like a flame coming against the face. At length
he espied a huge loose rock leaning against the front of a small
cliff which faced the sun. At once he fled for refuge underneath
its inviting shade. The coolness emitted from this rocky canopy he
found exquisitely exhilarating. The wild beasts of the deserts were
all fled to their dens, and the feathered songsters were all
roosting among the thickest foliage they could find of the
evergreen trees. The whole creation around seemed to groan, as if
their vigor had been entirely exhausted. A small river was
providentially at hand, to the side of which, after a while, he
ventured, and sipped a little of its cooling water, which tasted
better than the best Burgundy, or the finest old hock in the world.
During all this enjoyment, the above apropos text was the
interesting subject of the travelers meditation; though the
allusion as a figure, must fall infinitely short of that which is
meant to be prefigured by it. (The whole of this passage is capable
of beautiful application to the Messiah and his times; while the
language of the second verse cannot be supposed descriptive of any
creature; it is so associated in our minds with the character and
functions of the Divine Redeemer, that we cannot easily acquiesce
in any meaner application. To interpret the sublime imagery of this
verse Isa_32:2 in application to a mere human being, would be quite
repugnant to the spirit of the sacred writers, by whom Yahweh alone
is represented as the source of protection and refreshment to his
people, and all trust in creatures solemnly interdicted
(Henderson).
8. Doubtless, if Hezekiah be at all intended, it is in a
typical or inferior sense only. A greater than Hezekiah is here;
the language and figures used are precisely such as are elsewhere
by the prophet applied to Yahweh Isa_4:6; Isa_25:4; while the
particulars characteristic of the times predicted, are just such as
elsewhere he connects with gospel times (compare Isa_29:18;
Isa_35:5). The things predicted, according to this view, are a
righteous administration under Messiah the prince Isa_32:1;
protection and refreshment to his subjects; protection from the
wrath of God and the temptations of Satan, and the rage of the
world; refreshment by the consolutions and graces of his Spirit,
which are as rivers of water in this dry land Isa_32:2; a desire
for knowledge and such facility in the acquisition of it, that even
persons ordinarily supposed disqualified should both clearly
understand, and easily and accurately express the truth Isa_32:3-4;
a just appreciation of character and estimation of people in
accordance therewith Isa_32:5; and, finally, the prevalence of a
loving, liberal spirit, setting itself to devise and execute plans
of benevolence on a scale hitherto unprecedented Isa_32:8;
Psa_110:3; Act_2:44-45; 2Co_8:1, 2Co_8:4; 2Co_9:2) 2. CLARKE, As
the shadow of a great rock - The shadow of a great projecting rock
is the most refreshing that is possible in a hot country, not only
as most perfectly excluding the rays of the sun, but also as having
in itself a natural coolness, which it reflects and communicates to
every thing about it. Speluncaeque tegant, et saxea procubet umbra.
Virg. Georg. 3:145. Let the cool cave and shady rock protect them.
, , . Hesiod. 2:206. When Sirius rages, and thine aching head,
Parched skin, and feeble knees refreshment need; Then to the rocks
projected shade retire, With Biblin wine recruit thy wasted powers.
3. GILL, And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a
covert from the tempest,.... Or, "that man"; the King Messiah
before mentioned; who had agreed to become man, was promised and
prophesied of as such, had often appeared in a human form, was to
be incarnate, and now is; though he is not a mere man; were he, he
could not be what is here said of him, "as a hiding place, and
covert from the wind and tempest", of his Father's wrath, raised by
sin; and which all men are deserving of, and on whom it must fall,
unless secured from it by Christ; who has bore it in the room and
stead of his people, has turned it away, and delivered them from
it, and all the effects of it, so that nothing of it comes upon
them; he has endured the whole force of the storm himself; and his
righteousness, blood, sacrifice, and
9. intercession, screen his people from it: he also hides and
covers them from Satan's temptations, the blast of the terrible
ones, which is as a storm against the wall, so as they shall not be
destroyed by them; by praying for them, succouring of them,
supplying them with his grace, and delivering from them in his own
time: likewise he protects them from the rage and fury of their
persecuting enemies, when they come like a "whirlwind" to "scatter"
them; they have rest in him, when troubled by men; and security by
him, when these winds and waves beat upon them; and when they are
tossed with the tempests of afflictions of various kinds, he bears
them up under them, and carries them through them, and delivers out
of them, and brings them at last safe to glory: as rivers of water
in a dry place; which are very delightful, refreshing, and
fructifying. This denotes the abundance of grace in Christ, and the
freeness of it, which flows from the boundless ocean of divine
love, and which greatly comforts and refreshes the souls of the
Lord's people in this dry and barren land, and makes them cheerful
and fruitful, revives their spirits, makes glad their hearts, and
causes them to go on their way rejoicing: as the shadow of a great
rock in a weary land: to travellers in it, who passing through a
desert in hot countries and sultry climates, are glad when they
find a rock which casts a shade, under which their can sit a while,
sheltered from the scorching sun. Such a weary land is this world
to the saints, who are wearied with sins, their own and others,
with Satan's temptations, with afflictions and troubles of various
sorts; Christ is the "Rock" that is higher than they, to whom they
are directed and led when their hearts are overwhelmed within them;
on whom not only their souls are built, and their feet are set, and
he is a shelter to them; but he casts a shadow, which is very
reviving and refreshing, and that is the shadow of his word and
ordinances, under which they sit with delight and pleasure, and
which makes their travelling through this wilderness comfortable.
4. HENRY, They shall use their power according to law, and not
against it. They shall reign in righteousness and in judgment, with
wisdom and equity, protecting the good and punishing the bad; and
those kings and princes Christ owns as reigning by him who decree
justice, Pro_8:15. Such a King, such a Prince, Christ himself is;
he reigns by rule, and in righteousness will he judge the world,
Isa_9:7; Isa_11:4. 3. Thus they shall be great blessings to the
people (Isa_32:2): A man, that man, that king that reigns in
righteousness, shall be as a hiding-place. When princes are as they
should be people are as they would be. (1.) They are sheltered and
protected from many mischiefs. This good magistrate is a covert to
the subject from the tempest of injury and violence; he defends the
poor and fatherless, that they be not made a prey of by the mighty.
Whither should oppressed innocency flee, when blasted by reproach
or borne down by violence, but to the magistrate as its
hiding-place? To him it appeals, and by him it is righted. (2.)
They are refreshed and comforted with many blessings. This good
magistrate gives such countenance to those that are poor and in
distress, and such encouragement to every thing that is
praiseworthy, that he is as rivers of water in a dry place, cooling
and cherishing the earth and making it fruitful, and as the shadow
of a great rock, under which a poor traveller may shelter himself
from the scorching heat of the sun in a weary land. It is a great
reviving to a good man, who makes conscience of doing his duty, in
the midst of contempt and contradiction, at length to be backed,
and favoured, and smiled upon in it by a good magistrate. All this,
and much more, the man Christ Jesus is to all the willing faithful
subjects of his kingdom. When the greatest evils befal us, not only
the wind, but the tempest, when storms of guilt and wrath beset us
and beat upon us, they drive us to Christ, and in him we are not
only safe, but satisfied that we are so; in him we find rivers of
water for those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, all the
refreshment and comfort that a needy soul can desire, and the
shadow, not of a tree, which sun
10. or rain may beat through, but of a rock, of a great rock,
which reaches a great way for the shelter of the traveller. Some
observe here that as the covert, and the hiding-place, and the
rock, do themselves receive the battering of the wind and storm, to
save those from it that take shelter in them, so Christ bore the
storm himself to keep it off from us. 5. JAMISON, a man rather, the
man Christ [Lowth]; it is as the Son of man He is to reign, as it
was as Son of man He suffered (Mat_26:64; Joh_5:27; Joh_19:5). Not
as Maurer explains, every one of the princes shall be, etc. rivers
as refreshing as water and the cool shade are to the heated
traveler (Isa_35:6, Isa_35:7; Isa_41:18). 6. Maclaren, THE
HIDING-PLACE We may well say, Of whom speaketh the prophet this?
Here are distinctly attributed to one of ourselves, if we take the
words in their simplicity and fulness, functions and powers which
universal experience has taught us not to look for in humanity. And
there have been a great many attempts-as it seems to me, altogether
futile and baseless ones-to break the force of these words as a
distinct prophecy of Jesus Christ. Surely the language is far too
wide to have application to any real or ideal Jewish monarch,
except one whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom? Surely the
experience of a hundred centuries might teach men that there is one
man, and one alone, who is the refuge from all dangers, the
fruition of all desires, the rest and refreshment in all toils. And
I, for my part, have no hesitation in saying that the only
reference of these words which gives full value to their wealth of
blessing, is to regard them as a prophecy of the man-Christ Jesus;
hiding in whom we are safe, coming to whom we never thirst, guarded
and blest by whom no weariness can befall us, and dwelling in whom
this weary world shall be full of refreshment and peace! I do not
need to point out the exquisite beauty of the imagery or the pathos
and peace that breathe in the majestic rhythm of the words. There
is something more than poetical beauty or rhetorical amplification
of a single thought in those three clauses. The hiding-place and
covert refer to one class of wants; the rivers of water in a dry
place to yet another; and the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land to yet a third. And, though they are tinged and dyed in
Eastern imagery, the realities of life in Western lands, and in all
ages, give them a deeper beauty than that of lovely imagery, and
are the true keys to understanding their meaning. We shall,
perhaps, best grasp the whole depth of that meaning according to
the Messianic reference which we give to the text, if we consider
the sad and solemn conception of mans life that underlies it; the
enigmatical and obstinate hope which it holds out in the teeth of
all experience-A man shall be a refuge; and the solution of the
riddle in the man Christ Jesus. I. First, there underlies this
prophecy a very sad but a very true conception of human life. The
three classes of promises have correlative with them three phases
of mans condition, three diverse aspects of his need and misery.
The covert and the hiding-place imply tempest, storm, and danger;
the river of water implies drought and thirst; the shadow of a
great rock implies lassitude and languor, fatigue and weariness.
The view of life that arises from the combination of these three
bears upon its front the signature of truth in the very fact that
it is a sad view.
11. For, I suppose, notwithstanding all that we may say
concerning the beauty and the blessedness scattered broadcast round
about us; notwithstanding that we believe, and hold as for our
lives the happy faith that all which we behold is full of blessing,
it needs but a very short experience of this life, and but a
superficial examination of our own histories and our own hearts, in
order to come to the conclusion that the world is full of strange
and terrible sadness, that every life has dark tracts and long
stretches of sombre tint, and that no representation is true to
fact which dips its pencil only in light and flings no shadows on
the canvas. There is no depth in a Chinese picture, because there
is no shade. It is the wrinkles and marks of tear and wear that
make the expression in a mans portrait. Lifes sternest painter is
its best. The gloomy thoughts which are charged against Scripture
are the true thoughts about man and the world as man has made it.
Not, indeed, that life needs to be so, but that by reason of our
own evil and departure from God there have come in as a disturbing
element the retributive consequences of our own godlessness, and
these have made danger where else were safety, thirst where else
were rivers of water, and weariness and lassitude where else were
strength and bounding hope. So then, look for a moment at these
three points that come out of my text, in order to lay the
foundation for subsequent considerations. We live a life
defenceless and exposed to many a storm and tempest. I need but
remind you of the adverse circumstances-the wild winds that go
sweeping across the flat level, the biting blasts that come down
from the snow-clad mountains of destiny that lie round the low
plain upon which we live. I need but remind you of the dangers that
are lodged for our spiritual life in the temptations to evil that
are round us. I need but remind you of that creeping and clinging
consciousness of being exposed to a divinely commissioned
retribution and punishment, which perverts the Name that ought to
be the basis of all our blessedness into a Name unwelcome and
terrible, because threatening judgment. I need but remind you how
mens sins have made it needful that when the mighty God, even the
Lord, appears before them, it shall be very tempestuous round about
him. Men fear and ought to fear the blast of the breath of His
nostrils, which must burn up all that is evil. And I need but
remind you of that last wild wind of Death that whirls the
sin-faded leaves into dark corners where they lie and rot. My
brother, you have not lived thus long without learning how
defenceless you are against the storm of adverse circumstances. You
have not lived thus long without learning that though, blessed be
God! there do come in all our lives long periods of halcyon rest,
when birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave, and the
heavens above are clear as sapphire, and the sea around is
transparent as opal-yet the little cloud, no bigger than a mans
hand, may rise on the horizon, and may thicken and blacken and grow
greater and nearer till all the sky is dark, and burst in lightning
and rain and fierceness of wind, till through the torn sail the
wild tempest is streaming, and the white crests of the waves are
like the mane of Deaths pale horse leaping upon the broken ship. We
have all learnt in how profound a sense, by reason of outward
adverse circumstances and inward temptations, by reason of the
fears of a Justice which we know is throned at the centre of the
creation, by reason of a death which to us is a terror, and by
reason of that universal fear of after death the judgment, storm
and tempest swoop upon our paths. God made the sunshine, and we
have made it a storm. God made life blessed and full of safety and
peace, and we have wrenched ourselves from Him and stand
defenceless amidst its dangers. Then, there is another aspect and
conception of life which underlies these words of my text. The
image of the desert was before the prophets rapt vision. He saw the
sand whirled into mad dancing columns before the blast which swept
across the unsheltered flat, with nothing, for a days march, to
check its force. But the wilderness is not only shelterless, it is
waterless too-a place in which wild and ravening thirst finds no
refreshing draughts, and the tongue cleaves to the blackening
gums.
12. Rivers of water in a dry place; and what is the prose fact
of that? That you and I live in the midst of a world which has no
correspondence with, nor power of satisfying, our truest and
deepest selves-that we bear about with us a whole set of longings
and needs and weaknesses and strengths and capacities, all of
which, like the climbing tendrils of some creeping plant, go
feeling and putting out their green fingers to lay hold of some
prop and stay-that man is so made that for his rest and blessedness
he must have an external object round which his spirit may cling,
on which his desires may fasten and rest, by which his heart may be
blessed, which shall be authority for his will, peace for his
fears, sprinkling and cleansing for his conscience, light for his
understanding, shall be in complete correspondence with his inward
nature-be water for his thirst, and bread for his hunger. And as
thus, on the very nature which each of us carries, there is stamped
the signature of dependence, and the necessity of finding an
external object on which to rest; and as, further, men will not be
tutored even by their own miseries or by the voice of their own
wants, and ever confound their wishes with their wants and their
whims with their needs, therefore it comes to pass that the
appetite which was only meant to direct us to God, and to be as a
wholesome hunger in order to secure our partaking with relish and
delight of the divine food that is provided for it, becomes
unsatisfied, a torture, and unslaked, a ravening madness; and mens
needs become mens misery; and mens hunger becomes mens famine; and
mens thirst becomes mens death. We do dwell in a dry land where no
water is. All about us there are these creatures of God, bright and
blessed and beautiful, fit for their functions and meant to
minister to our gladness. They are meant to be held in
subordination. It is not meant that we should find in them the food
for our souls. Wealth and honour and wisdom and love and gratified
ambition and successful purpose, and whatsoever other good things a
man may gather about him and achieve-he may have them all, and yet
in spite of them all there will be a great aching, longing vacuity
in his soul. His true and inmost being will be groping through the
darkness, like a plant growing in a cellar, for the light which
alone can tinge its pale petals and swell its shrivelling blossoms
to ripeness and fruit. A dry place, as well as a dangerous
place-have not you found it so? I believe that every soul of man
has, if he will be honest with himself, and that there is not one
among us who would not, if he were to look into the deepest facts
and real governing experience of his life, confess-I thirst: my
soul thirsteth. And oh, brethren, why not go on with the quotation,
and make that which is else a pain, a condition of blessedness? Why
not recognise the meaning of all this restless disquiet, and say My
soul thirsteth for God, for the living God? And then there is the
other idea also underlying these words, yet another phase of this
sad life of ours-not only danger and drought, but also weariness
and languor. The desert stretches before us again, where there is
no shelter from the blast and no trickling stream amid the
yellowing sand; where the fierce ball above beats down cruelly, and
its hot rays are flung up cruelly into our faces, and the glare
blinds us, and the stifling heat wearies us, and work is a torture
and motion is misery, and we long for nothing so much as to be
quiet and to hide our heads in some shade. I was reading recently
one of our last books of travel in the wilderness of the Exodus, in
which the writer told how, after toiling for hours under a
scorching sun, over the hot, white, marly flat, seeing nothing but
a beetle or two on the way, and finding no shelter anywhere from
the pitiless beating of the sunshine, the weary travellers came at
last to a little Retem bush only a few feet high, and flung
themselves down and tried to hide, at least, their heads, from
those sunbeams like swords, even beneath its ragged shade. And my
text tells of a great rock, with blue dimness in its shadow, with
haply a fern or two in the moist places of its crevices, where
there is rest, and a man can lie down and be cool, while all
outside is burning sun, and burning sand, and dancing mirage.
13. Oh! the weariness felt by us all, of plod, plod, plodding
across the sand! That fatal monotony into which every mans life
stiffens, as far as outward circumstances, outward joys and
pleasures go! the depressing influence of custom which takes the
edge off all gladness and adds a burden to every duty! the
weariness of all that tugging up the hill, of all that collar-work
which we have to do! Who is there that has not his mood, and that
by no means the least worthy and man-like of his moods, wherein he
feels not, perhaps, that all is vanity, but-how infinitely
wearisome it all is. And so every race of man that ever has lived
has managed out of two miseries to make a kind of shadowy gladness;
and, knowing the weariness of life and the blackness of death, has
somewhat lightened the latter by throwing upon it the thought of
the former, and has said, Well, at any rate, if the grave be narrow
and dark, and if outside the warm precincts of the cheerful day
there be that ambiguous night, at least it is the place for sleep;
and, if we cannot be sure of anything more, we shall rest then, at
any rate. So the hope of long disquiet merged in rest becomes
almost bright, and mans weariness finds most pathetic expression in
his thinking of the grave as a bed where he can stretch himself and
be still. Life is hard, life is dry, life is dangerous. II. But
another thought suggested by these words is-The Mysterious Hope
which shines through them. One of ourselves shall deliver us from
all this evil in life. A man shall be a refuge, rivers of water,
the shadow of a great rock. Such an expectation seems to be right
in the teeth of all experience and far too high-pitched ever to be
fulfilled. It appears to demand in him who should bring it to pass
powers which are more than human, and which must in some
inexplicable way be wide as the range of humanity and enduring as
the succession of the ages. It is worth while to realise to
ourselves these two points which seem to make such words as these
of our text a blank impossibility. Experience contradicts them, and
common-sense demands for their fulfilment an apparently impossible
human character. All experience seems to teach-does it not?-that no
human arm or heart can be to another soul what these words promise,
and what we need. And yet the men who have been disappointed and
disenchanted a thousand times do still look among their fellows for
what their fellows, too, are looking for, and none have ever found.
Have we found what we seek among men? Have we ever known amongst
the dearest that we have clung to, one arm that was strong enough
to keep us in all danger? Has there ever been a human love to which
we can run with the security that there is a strong tower where no
evil can touch us? There have been many delights in all our lives
mediated and ministered to us by those that we loved. They have
taught us, and helped us, and strengthened us in a thousand ways.
We have received from them draughts of wisdom, of love, of joy, of
guidance, of impulse, of comfort, which have been, as water in the
desert is, more precious than gold. Our fellow-travellers have
shared their store with us, letting down their pitchers upon their
hand, and giving us drink; but has the draught ever slaked the
thirst? They carry but a pitcher, and a pitcher is not a fountain.
Have there been any in all the round of those that we have loved
and trusted, to whom we have trusted absolutely, without having
been disappointed? They, like us, are hemmed in by human
limitations. They each bear a burdened and thirsty spirit, itself
needing such supplies. And to the truest, happiest, most
soul-sufficing companionship, there comes at last that dread hour
which ends all sweet commerce of giving and receiving, and makes
the rest of life, for some of us, one monotonous ashen-grey
wilderness where no water is. These things make it impossible for
us to find anywhere amongst men our refuge and our fruition. And
yet how strange, how pathetic, is the fact that after all
disappointments, men still obstinately continue to look among their
fellows for guidance and for light, for consolation, for
14. defence, and for strength! After a thousand failures they
still hope. Does not the search at once confess that hitherto they
have not found, else why be seeking still?-and that they yet
believe they will yet find, else why not cease the vain quest? And
surely He who made us, made us not in vain, nor cursed us with
immortal hopes which are only persistent lies. Surely there is some
living Person who will vindicate these unquenchable hopes of
humanity, and receive and requite our love and trust, and satisfy
our longings, and explain the riddle of our lives. If there be not,
nor ever has been, nor ever can be a man who shall satisfy us with
his love, and defend us with his power, and be our all-sufficient
satisfaction and our rest in weariness, then much of mans noblest
nature is a mistake, and many of his purest and profoundest hopes
are an illusion, a mockery, and a snare. The obstinate hope that,
within the limits of humanity, we shall find what we need is a
mystery, except on one hypothesis, that it, too, belongs to the
unconscious prophecies that God has lodged in all mens hearts. Nor
need I remind you, I suppose, how such functions as those of which
my text speaks not only seem to be contradicted by all experience,
but manifestly and obviously to transcend the possibilities of
human nature. A man to defend me; and he himself-does he need no
defence? A man to supply my wants; and is his spirit, then, other
than mine, that it can become the all- sufficient fulness for my
emptiness? He that can do this for one spirit must be greater than
the spirit for which he doeth it. He that can do it for the whole
race of man, through all ages, in all circumstances, down to the
end of time, in every latitude, under every condition of
civilisation- who must he be who, for the whole world, evermore and
always, is their defence, their gladness, their shelter, and their
rest? The function requires a divine power, and the application of
the power requires a human hand. It is not enough that I should be
pointed to a far-off heaven, where there dwells an infinite loving
God-I believe that we need more than that. We need both of the
truths: God is my refuge and my strength, and A man shall be a
hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. III.
That brings me to the last point to be noticed, namely:-The
solution of the mystery in the person of Jesus Christ. That which
seemed impossible is real. The forebodings of humanity have not
fathomed the powers of Divine Love. There is a man, our brother,
bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, who can be to single
souls the adequate object of their perfect trust, the abiding home
of their deepest love, the unfailing supply for their profoundest
wants. There is one man to whom it is wise and blessed to look as
the exclusive source of all our peace, the absolute ruler of all
our lives. There is a man in whom we find all that we have vainly
sought in men. There is a man, who can be to all ages and to the
whole race their refuge, their satisfaction, their rest. It behoved
Him to be made in all points like unto His brethren, that His
succour might be ever near, and His sympathy sure. The man Christ
Jesus who, being man, is God manifest in the flesh, exercises in
one and the same act the offices of divine pity and human
compassion, of divine and human guardianship, of divine and human
love. And so the Word had breath, and wrought With human hands the
creed of creeds In loveliness of perfect deeds, More strong than
all poetic thought. The dreams of weary hearts that have longed for
an impossible perfection are all below the reality. The fact
surpasses all expectation. It is more than all prophecies, it is
more than all hopes, it is more than all praise. It is Gods
unspeakable gift. Well might an angel voice proclaim
15. the mystery of love, Unto you is born a Saviour, which is
Christ the Lord. The ancient promise of our text is history now. A
man has been and is all these things for us. A refuge and a
hiding-place from every storm-adverse circumstances sweep upon us,
and His mighty hand is put down there as a buckler, behind which we
may hide and be safe. Temptations to evil storm upon us, but if we
are enclosed within Him they never touch us. The fears of our own
hearts swirl like a river in flood against the walls of our
fortress home, and we can laugh at them, for it is founded upon a
rock! The day of judgment rises before us solemn and certain, and
we can await it without fear, and approach it with calm joy. I call
upon no mountains and hills to cover me. Rock of ages, cleft for
me, Let me hide myself in Thee. Rivers of water in a dry
place,-hungry and thirsty, my soul fainted within me. I longed for
light, and behold darkness. I longed for help, and there was none
that could come close to my spirit to succour and to give me drink
in the desert. My conscience cried in all its wounds for cleansing
and stanching, and no comforter nor any balm was there. My heart,
weary of limited loves and mortal affections, howsoever sweet and
precious, yearned and bled for one to rest upon all- sufficient and
eternal. I thirsted with a thirst that was more than desire, that
was pain, and was coming to be death, and I heard a voice which
said, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. The shadow
of a great rock in a weary land,-and my heart was weary by reason
of the greatness of the way, and duties and tasks seemed toils and
burdens, and I was ready to say, Wherefore has Thou made me and all
men in vain? Surely all this is vanity and vexation of spirit, and
I heard One that laid His hand upon me and said, Come unto Me, and
I will give thee rest. I come to Thee, O Christ, faint and
perishing, defenceless and needy, with many a sin and many a fear;
to Thee I turn for Thou hast died for me, and for me thou dost
live. Be Thou my shelter and strong tower. Give me to drink of
living water. Let me rest in Thee while in this weary land, and let
Thy sweet love, my Brother and my Lord, be mine all on earth and
the heaven of my heaven! 7. Charles SIMEON, Isa_32:2. A man shall
be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest;
as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in
a weary land. THERE is no greater blessing to a nation than a
well-ordered government. The due administration of justice,
together with the protection of our person and property, afford to
any people a just ground of joy and thankfulness. Such a government
did God promise to the Jews under Hezekiah; but a greater than
Hezekiah is here. Under the figure of an earthly monarch, Christ is
promised; and the text informs us, I. What blessings we enjoy in
and through Christ The metaphors, though four in number, suggest
but two ideas: 1. Security [We have very little conception of winds
and tempests in this climate. But the wind that rent the mountains
before Elijah [Note: 1Ki_19:11.], and the tempest that desolated
the land of Egypt [Note: Exo_9:23-25.], may serve to shew us how
welcome a secure place must be to one who is exposed to such
formidable
16. dangers. Yet no storms on earth can fully paint to us the
dangers to which we are exposed by reason of sin [Note: Psa_11:6.].
But the Lord Jesus Christ affords us perfect security from them
all. In him we have a Goshen where no hail can come, a mountain
which the wind can never affect. The billows, which shall overwhelm
the whole creation besides, shall not be able to destroy us. In
Christ, we have an ark that can never perish.] 2. Comfort [We, in
this quarter of the globe, know as little of excessive drought and
heat, as of overwhelming storms and tempests. But the state of the
Israelites in the wilderness [Note: Exo_17:2-3.], and of Jonah at
Nineveh [Note: Jon_4:8.], may aid our conceptions. How delightful
was the gourd to him, and how reviving to them were the streams
that gushed from the rock! And does not a soul oppressed with sin
or persecution, or fainting with desire after righteousness,
experience as much distress as they? Behold then the preciousness
of Christ! He will be not only as a shade or as water to the weary
and thirsting soul, but as rivers of water that can never be
exhausted, and a shadow of a great rock through which the beams of
the sun can never penetrate. Many can attest his excellency in
these respects. Nor shall any who seek refuge in him be ever
disappointed of their hope.] But as these things are spoken of
Christ as a man, it will be proper to shew, II. How we enjoy them
in him as a man Christ is truly and properly God, but he is God
manifest in the flesh; and it is to him as incarnate that we stand
indebted for these blessings. 1. As man, he died for our sins [To
his atonement we owe all our hopes of salvation. If he had not
expiated our guilt we could never have obtained mercy. If he had
not purchased for us the gift of the Holy Ghost, we never could
have mortified our inward corruptions. But through his death we are
freed from the apprehensions of wrath; and through his Spirit we
are filled with righteousness, and peace, and joy [Note:
Rom_14:17.]. Hence our song will ever be, To him who loved us, and
washed us from our sins in his own blood, be glory and honour
[Note: Rev_1:5.].] 2. As man, he intercedeth for us in heaven [As
our peace was effected by the death of Christ, so is it maintained
by his intercession. Now it is as man that he appears in the
presence of God for us; and liveth on purpose to carry on this part
of his priestly office. By virtue of this, our persons and services
find acceptance with God, pardon is given us for our renewed
transgressions, and strength is imparted to surmount our manifold
temptations. Hence is our salvation justly ascribed, and that in a
very peculiar manner, to his intercession for us [Note:
Heb_7:25.].] 3. As man, he is our Head and Representative [Christ
is the second Adam, the Lord from heaven [Note: 1Co_15:45;
1Co_15:47.]. Our life is now treasured up in him, that it may no
longer be exposed to the assaults of our great adversary [Note:
Col_3:3.]. It has pleased the Father that in him should all fulness
dwell; and that out of his fulness all should receive, who shall
ever be partakers of his grace, or of his glory [Note: Joh_1:16.].
Whether we want wisdom to guide us, righteousness to justify us, or
sanctification to make us holy, we must look for
17. all of it in and through Christ. As in Adam, our first
covenant-head, all died, so in Christ, our new covenant-head, shall
all be made alive [Note:1Co_15:22.].] 4. As man, he shall judge the
world in the last day [All judgment is committed to him because he
is the Son of man [Note: Joh_5:27.]. And what can tend more to our
security and comfort than this? Will He, who shed his blood for us,
give up what he has so dearly purchased? or He who both interceded
for us, and supplied our wants, consign us over to perdition? Will
he not rather bear testimony in opposition to our fierce accuser,
and own the work he had wrought both for us and in us? Doubtless,
if we should feel a degree of security and comfort in having a very
dear friend for our judge on earth, much more may we rejoice in
having for our judge in the last day, him who bought us with his
blood and renewed us by his Spirit.] We do not mean to exclude his
Godhead from this great work of redemption: it is that which gives
efficacy to all which he did and suffered as man. But nevertheless
it is as man, that is, as the God-man, that we feel our relation to
him, and have access unto him as our sympathizing friend. Infer 1.
What objects of pity are they who have no interest in Christ! [They
are exposed to all the wrath of a sin-avenging God: And where,
where will they flee for safety? Where will they even procure a
drop of water in that land of drought and misery, to which they
shall be banished? Alas! there is no protection but in this city of
refuge; there is no water but in this fountain. O that men would
consider what they shall do in the day of their visitation; and
flee for refuge to the hope that is now set before them [Note:
Heb_6:18.]!] 2. How highly privileged are they who believe in
Christ [They are not exempt from occasional distress either of soul
or body, but they have an almighty Friend to whom they can carry
their distress: they go to him when heavy-laden; and find rest unto
their souls. They feel themselves secure in their blood-sprinkled
dwellings. But their privileges will not be fully seen till the
last day. Then how happy in having a covert from the wrath that
overwhelms the ungodly world! Then to have their Saviour both for
their witness and their judge! Let us all cleave to him with full
purpose of heart; and desire to know him more and more as our
friend and our beloved.] 8. PULPIT, What Christ is to his people.
The prophet enumerates (in Isa_32:2) some of the chief relations in
which Messiah, when he came, would stand to his people. All his
announcements are fulfilled in Christ. I. CHRIST IS A HIDING-PLACE
FROM THE WIND. When the winds of affliction blow, when "the blast
of the terrible ones" is upon us, above all, when the breath of the
wrath of God seems to sweep down on us and scorch us up, there is
one Refuge only to which we can fleeone "Hiding-place"Christ. In
the time of natural grief and trouble, he lets us find a Refuge in
him; when our enemies threaten, he "hides us in the secret of his
presence from the pride of man," and "keeps us secretly in a
pavilion from the strife of tongues" (Psa_31:20); when we shrink
from the thought of God's wrath, and the breath which is "like a
stream of brimstone '(Isa_30:33), he offers himself to us as our
Shelter. How many saints have not found
18. comfort, unspeakable comfort, in the blessed words- "Rock
of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee?" II. CHRIST IS A
COVERT FROM THE TEMPEST. Christ not only hides us away from wind
and storm, tempest and evil of all kinds, but is himself our
Coverture. He is "a Tabernacle for a Covert from storm and from
rain" (Isa_4:6). His merits "cover up" our sins, and make atonement
for them. His righteousness is the "white raiment" which clothes
us, so that "the shame of our nakedness doth not appear"
(Rev_3:18). III. CHRIST IS AS RIVERS OF WATER. Rivers give
refreshment. They are the great source of life, fertility, delight,
in a parched and desert land. In the wilderness of this life, in
the dry arid waste which our tired feet have to traverse, any
refreshment that we enjoy comes from Christis Christ. He pours upon
us the refreshing "dew of his blessing." He gives us to drink out
of himself; and then "out of our belly there flow rivers of living
water" (Joh_7:37, Joh_7:38). The water that he imparts to us is "a
well of water springing up into everlasting life '(Joh_4:14). He is
unto us "a place of broad rivers and streams" (Isa_33:21),
refreshing, life-giving, exhaustless. IV. CHRIST IS AS THE SHADOW
OF A GREAT ROCK IN A WEARY LAND. The world is "a weary land." We
are travelers across its waste. A hot sun beats down upon our
heads; a scorching soil is under our feet. But we have a Rock with
us, a Rock which "follows us"and "that Rock is Christ" (1Co_10:4).
In the shadow of that Rock we may at any time, and at all times,
find rest, renovation, refreshment, protection, delight. The
traveler in the desert comes, once and again, upon "a great rock,"
as he plods his weary way over the vast solitude, and rejoices at
the sight, and toils for hours to reach the blessed refuge of its
shade. Our "Rock" is ready to give us shade whenever we pleaseit is
near us constantly; we have but to flee to it, to cling to it, to
remain in its shadow. 9. CALVIN, 2.And that man shall be. How great
is the importance of well-regulated government the Prophet shews
plainly by these words, when he calls that king a hiding-place from
the wind, and a covert from the rain; for mankind can never be so
happy as when every one voluntarily abstains from every kind of
violence and injustice, and when they conduct themselves peaceably
and without restraint. Since, therefore, most men are urged and
driven by their furious passions to acts of injustice, men would be
embroiled in incessant quarreling if a remedy were not provided in
the laws and courts of justice; but as many rulers, by a tyrannical
exercise of power, raise more troubles than they allay, it is not
without good reason that the good king is honored by this peculiar
commendation. If this was said with truth concerning Hezekiah, much
more may it be said concerning Christ, in whom we have our best, or
rather, our only refuge in those storms by which we must be tossed
about as long as we dwell in this world. Whenever, therefore, we
are scorched by oppressive heat, let us learn to retire under his
shadow; whenever we are tossed about by tempests, and think that we
are overwhelmed by the violence of the waves, let us learn to
betake ourselves to him as our safest harbour; he will speedily
bring every storm to a calm, and will completely restore what was
ruined and decayed. 9.PULPIT, The soul's rest.
19. "The shadow of a great rock in a weary land." This is an
Eastern picture. God is described as our Shade. In the glare of a
too-garish day we become endangered; the sun of prosperity smites
us. Sunlight has its penalties as well as its pleasures. So has
success! The human heart cannot bear too much of brightness. We
need shadows for the mind to rest under as well as for the body. I.
A MAN IS HERE DESCRIBED. The God-Man. One who, knowing our
infirmities and temptations, is able to succor them that are
tempted. The true King who is to reign in righteousness is
prophesied of. "A man shall be." Christ has been the Refuge and the
Rest of hearts wearied of the world and scorched with its radiant
beams. We are led to Christ. Not to theological systems; not to
human creeds; but to Christ. The shadow! Yes. Shadow of a cross,
where we may find forgiveness and. peace. Shadow of brotherhood,
where we may find true sympathy in our hours of loneliness and
disappointment. Shadow, where we may recline and rest as the
patriarch did under the oaks of Beersheba, and Moses did under the
mountains of old. And Christ's Divinity is proclaimed in the words,
"a great Rock" High as heaven, having its roots in God's own
eternal years. So great that it offers shelter for all the weary
hearts of men. II. A PILGRIMAGE IS HERE IMPLIED. "A weary land" The
pilgrims are passing on through the scorching heat, the
camel-drivers walking then, as they do now, in the shadow cast by
these "ships of the desert." Before them stretch miles on miles of
burning sand. The blinding sun is above them. With their white
cummerbunds and their light Eastern dress, they ease the
heat-burden all they can. And now the great mountains come in
sight. Some with gentle acclivities and some with sharp-cut rocks
jutting out above the pilgrim-way. What blessed shadows they cast!
Such shady places are our sabbaths and sacraments and sanctuaries,
our holy moments of Divine fellowship, when God comes near and
casts over us the protecting shadow of his gracious presence. III.
WEARINESS IS THE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE WAY, "A weary land." We are
often tired. How many hearts have said, "O God, I am a-weary!" and
then, instead of the sad cry, "O God, that I were dead!" we hear
the voices of spiritual souls crying, "Oh that I knew where I might
find him!" and the blessed answer comesfrom the lips of the
incarnate God himself, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest"weary with the load of sin;
weary with the care and fret of daily life; weary with inward
conflicts; weary with ceaseless watching, for our Arab enemies dash
suddenly by, and point their rifle as they fly. Pain makes us
weary. The loss of dear, true-hearted friends makes us weary.
Doubt, with all our dark mental conflictsdoubt, which is sometimes
the exquisite action of a sincere mind, makes us weary. So we come
to the great Father, and rest in the gracious answer to the cry,
"Lord, show us the Father," in the revelation vouchsafed unto us by
our Divine Lord, who has taught us when we pray to say, "Our
Father," and also has declared, "He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father."W.M.S. HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Isa_32:2 Refuge in Christ
and in one another. In this country we can hardly hope to feel all
the three and beauty of this illustration. To do that we must have
visited tropical regions. There, with the rays of the sun shining
directly down, the heat becomes so intense and intolerable that it
cannot be endured, and often "the shadow of a great rock" means,
not merely refreshment, but salvation. And as with the heat, so
with the stormthe whirlwind, the tempest, the simoom: what
desolations do not these produce? what terrors do they not excite?
How precious in such lands, on such occasions, the hiding-place
from the wind, the covert from the storm! But lifting our thoughts
from the illustration to the thing itself which is pictured here,
to that human heart and life of which all visible nature only
supplies the types and hints, we make no abatement for change of
scene; for the scorching rays of temptation fall as fiercely and
the winds of passion blow as furiously in England as in
20. Judaea, or in Babylon, or in India. Indeed, such are the
confusions and complications of our time, so subtle and so
seductive are the temptations to err from the straight line of
rectitude, that more rather than less is there need for a
hiding-place for the heart, a covert from the storm of sorrow and
of sin. A man shall be for a hiding-place! One man in particular?
or any man at any time in any land? In both senses the words may be
taken. We may consider I. CHRIST THE REFUGE OF THE HUMAN SOUL. 1.
Such he was in the days of his flesh, For his disciples had to
share something of the enmity and opposition he encountered, and
they always found an effectual shield in his protection. As
evangelists they brought their success and their disappointment to
him, that the one might be sanctified and the other be relieved
(Luk_10:17-20). When worsted by the enemy, they felt back on his
power and found defeat swallowed up in victory (Mat_17:14-20). When
imminent danger threatened their lives, they made their appeal to
his all-con-trolling voice (Mat_8:23-27). 2. Such he became, in a
deeper sense, after his ascension. It was expedient that he should
go away. "Before his departure he was with them, afterwards he was
in them." The death and the resurrection of the Lord enlightened
their minds and changed their spirits. Then they went to him as
they never could have done during his presence; they trusted in
him, gave themselves to him, leaned on him, were lost in him, as
they would not have been: he became, in a deeper and fuller sense,
the Hiding-place of their hearts. 3. Such is he now to all
believing hearts. (1) As sinners, burdened with a sense of guilt
and craving mercy and reconciliation, we want some other refuge
than we can find in the best and wisest of mankind; and with what
glad eagerness, with what profound thankfulness, with what
inexpressible relief, do we resort to him, and cry- "Rock of Ages,
cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee!" (2) As the children of
sorrow, we have need of more than human help! There are depths of
disappointment, extremities of loss, intensities of pain and
suffering, wastes of loneliness, gulfs of darkness and woe, for
which human sympathy is entirely inadequate, in which the only
thing we can do is to hasten to that Son of man who is touched most
keenly with the feeling of our trials, and say "Jesus, Lover of my
soul, Let me to thy bosom fly!" II. THE REFUGE WE MAY BE TO ONE
ANOTHER. Any man may be, and every man should seek to be, a
hiding-place, a covert. Oar domestic life shows us how this may be,
and provides the first instance and best picture of human shelter.
Our social life should provide us with many opportunities of
succoring the needy and the tried. Our Church life should do the
same; every Christian Church should be an asylum for the poor, the
weak, the sad, the anxious-minded, the troubled of heart. Who would
not like so to live, with such quick and ready sympathy of spirit,
with such kindliness and hopefulness of word, with such
friendliness of uplifting hand and sustaining arm, that his life
should be suggestive of the words, "A man shall be a
hiding-place?"C. 10. BI 1-8, Asayria and Judah Such (Isa_31:8-9)
will be the ignominious end of the proud battalions of Assyria. For
Judah a happier future immediately begins. There should be no break
between the two chapters. The representation which follows
(Isa_32:1-8) is the positive complement to Isa_31:6
21. f., and is parallel to Isa_30:23-26, completing under its
ethical and spiritual aspects the picture of which the external
material features were there delineated. Society, when the crisis
is past, will be regenerated. Kings and nobles will be the devoted
guardians of justice, and great men will be what their position
demands that they should bethe willing and powerful protectors of
the poor. All classes, in other words, will be pervaded by an
increased sense of public duty. The spiritual and intellectual
blindness (Isa_29:10) will have passed away (Isa_30:3); superficial
and precipitate judgments will be replaced by discrimination
(Isa_30:4 a); hesitancy and vacillation will give way before the
prompt and clear assertion of principle (Isa_30:4 b). The present
confusion of moral distinctions will cease; men and actions will be
called by their right names. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.) A new era
For Judahsifted, rescued, cleanseda new era opens. I. JUST
GOVERNMENT IN BLESSING TO THE PEOPLE is the first good fruit
(Isa_32:1-2). II. The second is AN OPEN UNDERSTANDING AFTER THE
CURSE OF HARDNESS (Isa_32:3-4). III. A third good fruit is CALLING
AND TREATING EVERYONE ACCORDING TO HIS TRUE CHARACTER (Isa_32:5-8).
Nobility of birth and riches will give place to nobility of
disposition, so that the former will not be found, nor find
recognition without the latter. (F. Delitzsch.) A flourishing
kingdom It may be taken as a directory both to magistrates and
subjects, what both ought to do. It is here promised and prescribed
I. THAT MAGISTRATES SHOULD DO THEIR DUTY IN THEIR PLACES, and the
powers answer the great ends for which they were ordained of God
(Isa_32:1-2). 1. There shall be a king and princes that shall reign
and rule; for it cannot go well when there is no king in Israel. 2.
They shall use their power according to law, and not against it. 3.
Thus they shall be great blessings to the people (Isa_32:2). A
manthat man, that king that reigns in righteousnessshall be as a
hiding-place. II. THAT SUBJECTS SHALL DO THEIR DUTY IN THEIR
PLACES. 1. They shall be willing to be taught, and to understand
things aright (Isa_32:3). When this blessed work of reformation is
set on foot, and men do their part towards it, God will not be
wanting to do His. Then the eyes of them that seeof the prophets,
the seersshall not be dim, &c. 2. There shall be a wonderful
change wrought in them by that which is taught them (Isa_32:4). (1)
They shall have a clear head, and be able to discern things that
differ, and distinguish concerning them. (2) They shall have a
ready utterance.
22. 3. The differences between good and evil, virtue and vice,
shall be kept up and no more confounded by those who put darkness
for light, and light, for darkness (Isa_32:5). (Matthew Henry.)
Reformed society Though Isaiah s words are only perfectly
ful-filled in Jesus Christ, it was not concerning Christ that they
were spoken. The prophet is speaking of the religious future and
social progress of his people. He is presenting a picture of
regenerated Judah. He points to the essential elements of all
national stability and greatness. He speaks first of the
righteousness that shall be exalted, and exemplified in the
government of king and rulers; and then he goes on to speak of the
moral conditions of real blessedness and progress, as they shall
appear among the people. Great characters are the outstanding
feature in the reformed society that he anticipates. Through them
the progress of the nation is secured; in them the greatness of the
nation will consist. But great characters can only exercise their
full and proper influence when they move among those who are able
to discern their greatness. Hence Isaiah declares that in that
glorious time for which he confidently looks the moral blindness of
the people, over which he had so often and so deeply mourned, the
moral insensibility dulness, with all the confusion and false
judgment it occasioned, shall have ceased (verse 3). Men shall know
true manhood when they see it, and honour the manhood that they
see. They shall no longer debase the moral currency, and make false
use of terms denoting moral qualities. The great men shall be seen
in all their greatness, and shall raise others to a moral elevation
like their own. They shall protect the weak, and encourage the
faint-hearted; they shall foster the growth of all goodness, and be
an unfailing source of noblest inspiration. As they stand there in
all their moral grandeur, rooted and grounded in the eternal
righteoushess, they are indeedand they are known to beas a hiding-
place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of
water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rook in a weary
land. (E. A. Lawrence.) Isaiahs Utopia The first eight verses of
this chapter are like the sudden opening of a window. The hall
behind you resounds with the clamour of fierce contentions; the
window before you frames in the prospect of a fair country, all
bathed in rosy light, a land of corn and wine and oil, a land of
plenty and peace. Isaiah is not the only politician who has found
relief from the anxieties of a stormy time in a Utopia of his own
imagining. The air was full of the noise of change, the Reformation
was in full career on the Continent, and the ground-swell of the
great movement already trembling on the shores of England, when Sir
Thomas More wrote his description of the ideal state. When, as they
think, everything is going wrong, men often have brightest visions
of what the world would be if everything were going right. Isaiahs
Utopia has three grand characteristics: 1. The triumph of
righteousness in government. His programme for the ruling power is
this: A king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule
in judgment. 2. The new state shall be broad-based, not upon the
peoples will, but upon the peoples character. Men shall not be, as
they have been, weak and unstable, and ungenerous; but, rock-like
and river-like, they shall be strong and bountiful. 3. The ideal
Israel, themselves judged justly, shall be just judges of others.
They shall be able to discriminate character, and to recognise and
honour the truly good. The quack and the dupe, says Carlyle, are
upper and under side of the same substance. So, in the kingdom
of
23. the future, the vile person shall be no more called
liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. There will be no
quacks, because there will be no dupes. Those who are liberal
themselves are not likely to err in what constitutes liberality in
others. (W. B. Dalby.) Isaiah 32:2 A man shall be as an
hiding-place from the wind A hiding-place from the wind In the
East, the following phenomenon is often observed. Where the desert
touches a river, valley, or oasis, the sand is in a continual state
of drift from the wind, and it is this drift which is the real
cause of the barrenness of such portions of the desert, at least,
as abut upon the fertile land. For under the rain, or by the
infiltration of the river, plants often spring up through the sand,
and there is sometimes promise of considerable fertility. It never
lasts. Down comes the periodic drift, and life is stunted or choked
out. But set down a rock on the sand, and see the difference its
presence makes. After a few showers, to the leeward side of this
some blades will spring up; if you have patience, you will see in
time a garden. How has the boulder produced this? Simply by
arresting the drift. Now that is exactly how great men benefit
human life. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) The true shelter/or the
world A Saviour who does not seek first to improve mans condition,
but to improve man. (W. C. E. Newbolt.) A man The prophet here has
no individual specially in his view, but is rather laying down a
general description of the influence of individual character, of
which Christ Jesus was the highest instance. Taken in this sense,
his famous words present us I. WITH A PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. Great
men are not the whole of life, but they are the condition of all
the rest; if it were not for the big men, the little ones could
scarcely live. The first requisites of religion and civilisation
are outstanding characters. II. But in this philosophy of history
there is A GOSPEL. Isaiahs words are not only mans ideal: they are
Gods promise, and that promise has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the most conspicuous examplenone others are near
Himof this personal influence in which Isaiah places all the
shelter and revival of society. This figure of a rock, a rock
resisting drift, gives us some idea, not only of the commanding
influence of Christs person, but of that special office from which
all the glory of His person and of His name arises: that He saves
His people from their sins. For what is sin? Sin is simply the
longest, heaviest drift in human history. The oldest custom of the
race, it is the most powerful habit of the individual. Men have
reared against it government, education, philosophy, system after
system of religion. But sin overwhelmed them all. Only Christ
resisted, and His resistance saves the world. III. In this promise
of a man there is A GREAT DUTY AND IDEAL for every one. If this
prophecy distinctly reaches forward to Jesus Christ as its only
perfect fulfilment, the vagueness
24. of its expression permits of its application to all, and
through Him its fulfilment by all becomes a possibility. 1. We can
be like Christ the Rock in shutting out from our neighbours the
knowledge and infection of sin, in keeping our conversation so
unsuggestive and unprovocative of evil, that, though sin drift upon
us, it shall never drift through us. 2. We may be like Christ the
Rock in shutting out blame from other men; in sheltering them from
the east wind of pitiless prejudice, quarrel, or controversy; in
stopping the unclean and bitter drifts of scandal and gossip. How
many lives have lost their fertility for the want of a little
silence and a little shadow! 3. As there are a number of men and
women who fall in struggling for virtue simply because they never
see it successful in others, and the spectacle of one pure, heroic
character would be their salvation, here is a way in which each
servant of God may be a rock. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.) Humanity
greater than all distinctions of class In the first and second
verses of this chapter we have suggested to us the three great
forms of government or social power, in accordance with which
society has been constructed, and under which men have lived;
namely, the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the democracy. A king
shall reign, princes shall rule, and a man shall be as a
hiding-place. First, there is a throne, then a palace, and then the
common earth. It seems to be a descent from a king to princes, and
from princes to a man; but it is also an ascent, for the man is the
climax rather than the king. The king and the princes disappear in
the man. Humanity or the common nature is greater than all
distinctions of class. A king exists for men, rather than men for a
king; and the salvation of society consists in the elevation of the
common substratum of the race. In this elevation all the three
powers may play a partthe power of the throne, the power of the
nobles, and the power of the people themselves. All these three
forms of government may exist in the same constitution. In the
heavenly, or eternal government, there is a King with different
orders of subjects. But since, in this heavenly kingdom, He who is
King of kings and Lord of lords became a man, and a poor man, that
He might serve all, and lift up all to citizenship in His kingdom,
and to sit even on His throne, the great moral and spiritual law
has been laid down, that every one, from the ruler on the throne to
the humblest subject, rises in moral character and dignity just as
he stoops to the help of others. If it is by the gentleness of God
that we are made great; if He who is over all became servant to
all, we cannot hope to become great on a different principle; that
is, by seeking to be ministered unto rather than to minister. (F.
Ferguson.) Christ the shield of the believer It is probable that
the prophecy had some reference to Hezekiah, who, as the successor
of the iniquitous Ahaz, restored the worship of God, and
re-established the kingdom of Judah. The very striking deliverance
vouchsafed by God to His people, in the reign of this monarch, when
the swarming hosts of the Assyrians fell in one night before the
destroying angel, may justly be considered as having been alluded
to by the prophet in strains which breathe high of the triumphs of
redemption. And when a king is spoken of as reigning in
righteousness, and there is associated with his dominion all the
imagery of prosperity and peace, we may, undoubtedly, find, in the
holy and beneficent rule of Hezekiah, much that answers to the
glowing predictions. But the destruction of the army of the
Assyrians may itself be regarded as a figurative occurrence; and
Hezekiah, like his forefather David, as but a type of the Lord
our
25. Redeemer. There are to be great and fearful judgments ere
Christ shall finally set up His kingdom on earth. We shall consider
the text as containing a descriptionmetaphorical, undoubtedly, but
not the less comforting and instructiveof what the Redeemer is to
the Church. I. The first thing which may justly strike you as
remarkable in this description of Christ, is THE EMPHASIS WHICH
SEEMS LAID ON THE WORD MAN. A man shall be this or that; and Bishop
Lowth renders it the man, as if he were man by distinction from
every otherwhich is undoubtedly St. Pauls statement when he writes
to the Corinthians: The first man is of the earth, earthy; the
second man is the Lord from heaven. It is the human nature of
Christ to which our text gives the prominence; it is this human
nature to which seems ascribed the suitableness of Christs office
prophetically assigned. What our blessed Saviour undertook was the
reconciliation of our offending nature to God; and of this it is
perhaps hardly too much to say that it could not have been effected
by any nature but itself. II. Let us now proceed to consider WITH
WHAT JUSTICE OR PROPRIETY THE SEVERAL ASSERTIONS HERE MADE MAY BE
APPLIED TO OUR SAVIOUR. There are four assertions in the text, four
similes used to represent to us the office of our Redeemer, or the
benefits secured to us through His gracious mediation. These
assertions or similes are not, indeed, all different; on the
contrary, there is great similarity, or even something like
repetition. Thus, a hiding-place from the wind does not materially
differ from a covert from the tempest. The idea is the same; there
is only that variety in the mode of expression which accords with
poetic composition. Neither is the shadow of a great rock in a
weary desert altogether a different image; the idea is still that
which shieldsshelter from the heat, if not from the tempest. It
may, perhaps, be more correct to say that there are two great ideas
embodied in the text, and there are two figures for the
illustration of each. The first idea is that of a refuge in
circumstances of danger; and this is illustrated by a hiding-place
from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. The second idea is
that of refreshment under circumstances of fatigue; and this is
illustrated by rivers of water in a dry place, and the shadow of a
great rock in a weary land. There is one thing, according to the
three illustrations, which should be separately and carefully
considered. The hiding-place, the covert, and the rock, give
shelter and relief, through receiving on themselves that against
which they defend us. It were a dull imagination, nay, it were a
cold heart, which does not instantly recognise the appropriateness
of the figure, as taken in illustration of the Lord our Redeemer.
These Scriptural figures while under one point of view they
represent Christ, under another they represent ourselves. And it is
simply because there is so little feeling of our own actual
condition that there is so little appreciation of the character
under which Christ is described. (H. Melvill, B.D.) Jesus, the
hiding-place There is not a want, not a need, but we find Jesus
enough for it. I. MANS NEED OF A HIDING-PLACE. 1. What a tempest
will sharp afflictions sometimes raise, particularly if one follows
another in quick succession. 2. There are other stormsnational
judgments. 3. What a storm can the Eternal Spirit raise in a mans
own conscience when the poor Christless sinner catches his first
glimpse of God! 4. What a burning wind has oft withered the mere
professor when the Eternal Spirit has in a dying hour forced him to
the fearful review of the past.
26. II. THE GLORIOUS HIDING-PLACE WHICH THE GOSPEL POINTS OUT.
As God-man, who can describe the hiding-place? What a hiding-place
is His Person! What a hiding-place is His intercession! What a
hiding-place is His deep sympathy! What a hiding-place is His
fulness of grace! What a hiding-place, that has all the power,
strength, and merit of Deity in it, and all the tenderness, love,
and sympathy of humanity in it! The great question is, Have we
really entered in? (J. H. Evans, M. A.) A covert the tempest We
cannot easily imagine the fury of whirlwinds in the East. Granite
and iron columns are snapped in two; the largest trees are torn up
by the roots; houses are tossed about like straws, and at sea whole
fleets are cast away. But Eastern storms are most terrible in the
desert. There mountains of sand are lifted up and dashed down,
sometimes burying whole caravans, and even whole armies. Picture a
traveller in such a case. After a strange stillness, he sees a
cloud of sand arising in front of him. At once the sky is darkened,
and earth and heaven seem confounded. The angel of destruction
rides on every blast, and claims the whole desert as his own. The
poor man stands appalled, as if the clay of doom had come. Oh, for
a shelter: it is his one chance for life! Lo! a gigantic rock rears
its head; he runs under it. The storm spends its fury upon the
sheltering rock, not upon the sheltered pilgrim. (J. Wells, M. A.)
Our hiding-place I. IN THE SAVIOUR THERE IS SHELTER FOR OUR SOULS.
What are the storms from which the Saviour shields us? The Bible
speaks most about two: the storm of Gods wrath against sin, and the
storm of lifes trials. II. IN THE SAVIOUR WE HAVE SAFETY. Shelter
and safety are different things, though we may not see the
difference at once. About eighteen hundred years ago there was a
town in the south of Italy, called Pompeii, which owes its fame to
its destruction. It was buried under streams of boiling mud from
Vesuvius, and showers of dust and ashes. Most of the people escaped
by flight. The priests, having no faith in their idols, seized
their treasures and fled. But some poor folks ran to the temples,
hoping that their gods would save them. They found shelter, anda
grave. Since many are more anxious about shelter than real safety,
Christ is at great pains to warn us against a mistake as common as
it is dangerous. You remember Christs story about the two builders;
the one building upon the sand, and the other upon the rock. Very
likely the two houses were equally fair to look upon, and both the
wise man and the fool found shelter enough in sunny weather. But
the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and
beat upon the fools house, and it fell, and great was the fall
thereof. The poor man found shelter-and
