Month: July 2021

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

You will say in that day:

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,

for though you were angry with me,

your anger turned away,

that you might comfort me.” ISA 12:1

Rashi

You will say when you see the nations being sentenced to disgrace and abhorrence.

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me and you exiled me, and my exile atoned for me, and now, amends have been made for my iniquity. Your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Jonathan renders: I will confess before you, O Lord, that I sinned before you, and, therefore, you were angry with me, and were it not for your mercy, I would not be worthy to have your anger turn away and comfort me, and behold, your anger has turned away from me.

TRUST WORTHY God’s Remnant: God is our ultimate deliverer and comforter

In the end, we will see that all things come together for God’s greater purposes, which transcend our lifetime and our own problems. Isaiah’s prophecy assured the Israelites that he would leave a remnant and they would ultimately thank the Lord for turning away his anger and giving them comfort. As we undergo challenges in life, we can thank God for his sovereignty and love that molds our character and draws us close, put our trust in him, and be assured of his deliverance and comfort. How have you experienced the comfort of God even as you go through challenges?

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. MAT 5:4

5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 2CO 1:3-5

1 To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.

2 God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

3 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

4 though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

5 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

6 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

7 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

8 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

9 Come, behold the works of the Lord,

how he has brought desolations on the earth.

10 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the chariots with fire.

John Gill

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth—As at the birth of Christ, the Prince of Peace, in the times of Augustus Caesar, when there was a general peace in the world, though it did not last long; and in the times of Constantine, signified by silence in heaven for half an hour (Rev 8:1); when for a while there was a cessation from wars and persecution; and as will be in the latter day, and which is here chiefly designed; when nations shall learn war no more, and Christ’s kingdom will take place; of which and its peace there shall be no end (Psa 72:7; Isa 2:4; 9:5-6). The consideration of which may serve to relieve distressed minds under terrible apprehensions of present troubles and public calamities;

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire—Or “carts” or “wagons,” in which, as Aben Ezra observes, arms and provision were carried for the use of soldiers; the Targum renders it “round shields”: and the destroying of all these military weapons and carriages is a token of peace, and of war’s being caused to cease, there being no more use for them; with this compare Eze 39:8-9. It was usual to burn the arms of enemies taken in war.

11 “Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

12 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. PSA 46:1-12

50 This is my comfort in my affliction,

that your promise gives me life.

9 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

and at night his song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

Rashi

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love—May the light of the redemption come, and may the Lord command his steadfast love to us.

And at night—In the darkness of the exile and the troubles.

His song is with me—Heb. שירה. May his resting place be in our midst. שּׁירה is an expression of camping, as we translate (2Sa 17:26): “And Israel encamped,” וּשְּׁרָא. I learned this from the Great Masorah, which associates this word with (1Ki 5:12): “And his songs (שירו) were 1,005,” in the “aleph-beth” of two words with different meanings (homonyms). This taught me that this is not an expression of song, but the Midrash Aggadah does interpret it as an expression of song, interpreting in this manner: Israel says to the Holy One, blessed be he: “We remember what you did for us in Egypt. You commanded us one commandment by day on the eve of the Passover, and we observed it, and at night, you redeemed us and we sang a hymn before you. But now we keep many commandments, yet you do not redeem us. Because of this, I will say to God, my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me?’ ”

12 Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God. PSA 42:9, 12

76 Let your steadfast love comfort me

according to your promise to your servant. PSA 119:50, 76

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. JOH 14:16-17

John Gill

Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive—These words explain who is meant by the Helper, “even the Spirit of truth”; the true Spirit of God, the dictator of the Scriptures of truth, who leads men into the truths of the gospel, confirms them in them, and gives boldness and freedom to own, and confess them before men:

Whom the world cannot receive—The men of the world, who are as they came into the world, carnal and natural men, can neither receive the Spirit nor the things of the Spirit, the truths and doctrines of the gospel; they can neither receive them into their understandings, nor into their affections; and indeed, because they cannot understand them, therefore they do not love them, but despise and hate them:

Because it neither sees him nor knows him—The world, and the men of it, can neither see him with their bodily eyes, because he is a “spirit”; nor know him with their understandings, because he is the “Spirit of truth,” which they are ignorant of, for want of a spiritual discerning.

You know him—As a spirit of illumination, regeneration, and conversion:

For he dwells with you—He is an inhabitant in your hearts, he has taken up his residence in you as his temples:

And will be in you—As a Helper, when I am gone from you; and as a Spirit of truth to guide you into all truth, to stand by you, and assist you in preaching it, and to enable you to bear a faithful and glorious testimony for it.

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. HEB 4:14-16

. . . and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.” LEV 16:2

John Gill

And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother”—Who was the high priest; and what is here said to him was binding on all high priests in succession from him:

Not to come at any time into the Holy Place—Or “holiness,” which was holiness itself, or the Most Holy Place, as distinguished from that which was sometimes called the Holy Place, where stood the incense altar, the showbread table, and the lampstand, into which Aaron went every day, morning and evening, to do the service there enjoined him; but into the holy of holies here described, as appears by the after description of it, he might not go at all times, or every day, or when he pleased, only once a year, on the Day of Atonement; though, according to the Jewish writers, he went in four times on that day, first to offer incense, a second time to sprinkle the blood of the bullock, a third time to sprinkle the blood of the goat, and a fourth time to fetch out the censer; and if he entered a fifth time, he was worthy of death. Some have observed, that this respected Aaron only, and not Moses; that though Aaron might not go in when he pleased, and only at a time fixed, yet Moses might at any time, and consult the Lord upon the mercy seat, see Exo 25:22. Pausanias makes mention of several heathen temples which were opened but once a year, as the temples of Hades Dindymene, and Eurymone, and particularly the temple of Minerva, into which only a priest entered once a year; which perhaps was in imitation of the Jewish high priest:

Inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark—This is a description of the Holy Place, into which the high priest might not go at any time, or at pleasure; it was inside the veil that divided between the Holy Place, and the Most Holy, where stood the mercy seat, which was a lid or covering to the ark, at the two ends of which were the cherubim, the seat of the divine Majesty; which was a type of heaven for its holiness, being the habitation of the holy God, Father, Son, and Spirit, and of holy angels, and holy men, and where only holy services are performed; and for its invisibility, where dwells the invisible God, where Christ in our nature is at present unseen by us, and the glories of which are not as yet to be beheld; only faith, hope, and love, enter inside the veil, and have to do with unseen objects there; and also for what are in it, as the ark and mercy seat, types of Christ, through whom mercy is communicated in a way of justice, he being the propitiation and the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness. And this caution was given to Aaron,

So that he may not die—By appearing in the presence of God without his leave and order:

For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat—This one would think should be a reason why he should not die, when he came into the Most Holy Place, because there was the mercy seat, and Jehovah on it: and besides the cloud of incense on it, he went in with, for so many understand by the cloud, the cloud of incense: thus Aben Ezra says, the sense is, that he should not enter but with incense, which would make a cloud, and so the glory not be seen, lest he should die: and Jarchi observes, that the Midrash, or the more mystical and subtle sense is, he shall not go in but with the cloud of incense on the Day of Atonement; but the more simple meaning, or plain sense of the words is, as the same writer notes, that whereas he did continually appear there in the pillar of cloud; and because his glorious Majesty is revealed there, he is cautioned not to use himself to go in, i.e. at any time; with which agrees the Targum of Jonathan,

“for in my cloud the glory of my divine Majesty, shall be revealed over the mercy seat.”

And this being the case, such a glory being there, though wrapped up in a cloud and thick darkness, it was dangerous to enter but by divine order.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” REV 21:3-4

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness . . . PSA 45:7

John Gill

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever—This verse and Psa 45:8 are cited in Heb 1:8-9; and applied to the Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity; and therefore are not an apostrophe to the Father, as some have said; nor will they bear to be rendered, “your throne is the throne of God,” or “your throne is God”; or be supplied thus, “God shall establish your throne.” But they are spoken of the Son of God, who is truly and properly God, the true God and eternal life; as appears by the names by which he is called, as Jehovah, and the like; by his having all divine perfections in him; by the works which he has wrought, and by the worship which is given to him; and to whom dominion is ascribed, of which the throne is an emblem (Gen 41:40). And this his government is either general, over angels, good and bad, and over men, even wicked men, and over the greatest among men, the kings of the earth; or special, over his own church and people, and which is exercised by his Spirit and grace in them; by his word and ordinances among them; and which will be in a glorious manner in the latter day; and in heaven, though not in the same manner as now, and that to all eternity: for to this government duration for ever and ever is attributed; Christ will have no successor, he will die no more; nor can his government be subverted or taken out of his hands, or he be removed from his throne by any of his enemies, or by all of them; and though his kingdom will be delivered up to the Father, it will not cease, it is an everlasting one;

The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness—Meaning either the gospel, which is the golden scepter of mercy and grace, stretched out and held forth for the encouragement of sensible sinners; and is a scepter of righteousness, as it directs to the righteousness of Christ for justification, and encourages works of righteousness to be done by men: or rather the righteous administration of Christ’s government is meant, the scepter being an emblem of dominion and government (Gen 49:10; Num 24:17).

Rashi

Your throne, O God—Your throne, O prince and God, shall exist forever and ever, as the matter that is stated (Exo 7:1): “I have made you a judge to Pharaoh.” And why? Because “a scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness,” that your judgments are true, and you are fit to govern.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

John Gill

He was in the beginning with God—This is a repetition of what is before said, and is made to show the importance of the truths before delivered; namely, the eternity of Christ, his distinct personality, and proper deity; and that the phrase, in the beginning, is to be joined to each of the above sentences; and so proves, not only his eternal existence, but his eternal existence with the Father, and also his eternal deity; and is also made to carry on the thread of the discourse, concerning the Word, and not God the Father; and to express, not only his co-existence in nature, but his co-operation in the works of creation next mentioned.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. JOH 1:1-3, 14

You are the most handsome of the sons of men;

grace is poured upon your lips;

therefore God has blessed you forever. PSA 45:3

John Gill

You are the most handsome of the sons of men—Here begins the psalm, and this is an address to the King Messiah, the subject of it, commending him for his beauty and majesty; which is not to be understood of his divine beauty or his glory, as the only begotten of the Father, in which he is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person; for this admits of no comparison, nor is the beauty of angels and men to be mentioned with it; but of the beauty of his human nature, both in body and soul, which being the immediate produce of the Holy Spirit, and without sin, and full of wisdom, grace, and holiness, must transcend that of any or all the sons of Adam. They are all deformed by sin; and whatever spiritual beauty there is in any of them, they have it from Christ; they are goodly through his majesty the outward beauty of men is vain and deceitful, and soon perishes; but Christ is ever the same, and he esteemed of by all that know him, as exceeding precious, altogether lovely, and transcendently excellent and glorious. The Hebrew word here used is doubled in its radicals, which denotes the exceeding great fairness and beauty of Christ, especially as mediator, and as full of grace and truth. It follows,

Grace is poured upon your lips—By which is meant the matter of his speech, or the gospel preached by him; these words of grace, as Kimchi on the text expresses himself; or gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth (Luk 4:22). The gospel of the grace of God was given him to preach; it was put into his mouth, and that in great abundance; it was given at sundry times and in various manners, and by piecemeal, to the prophets before him; but it was poured into his lips, and he was abundantly qualified for preaching it, by having the Spirit without measure given him; and so was poured out in a graceful manner, with great authority, and as never man before him spoke, in doctrines of grace, gracious invitations, precious promises, excellent prayers, and even words of eternal life; see Son 5:13;

Therefore God has blessed you forever—Or, “because God has blessed you forever”; in his human nature, with the grace of union to the Son of God, and with all the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God; and as mediator, with all spiritual blessings, with grace and glory for his people. Hence all his majesty, grace, and gracefulness.

Rashi

You are the most handsome of the sons of men who engage in the work of transitory life. Why? Because grace is poured upon your lips to instruct according to the halachah. הוּצַק means “poured,” as (Exo 38:27): “to cast (לצקת)”; (Gen 28:18), “and poured (ויצק) oil.”

Therefore . . . blessed you as it is stated (below 29:11): “May the Lord give strength to his people!” And what is their reward? “May the Lord bless his people with peace!”

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel

(which means, God with us). MAT 1:23

5 For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Tractate Derekh Eretz Zuta, Section on Peace 11

R. Joshua said: Great is peace, for the name of the Holy One, blessed be he, is called “peace,” as it is stated, And he called it, The Lord Is Peace (Jdg 6:24). R. Ḥiyya b. Abba said: Hence it can be deduced that a person may not extend a greeting of peace to his fellow in a place of filth, because it is stated, And Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. Now if an altar which does not eat, drink or smell and was erected only to make an atonement for the sins of Israel is called “peace,” he who loves peace and pursues peace, who welcomes people with the greeting of peace and responds with peace, and who maintains peace between Israel and their Father in heaven, how much more so! R. Jose the Galilean said: Even the name of the Messiah is called “peace,” as it is stated, And his name shall be called . . . Prince of Peace.

6 Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. ISA 9:5-6

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

John Gill

Have this mind among yourselves—The Arabic version renders it, “let that humility be perceived in you.” The apostle proposes Christ as the great pattern and exemplar of humility; and instances in his assumption of human nature, and in his subjection to all that meanness, and death itself, even the death of the cross in it; and which he mentions with this view, to engage the saints to lowliness of mind, in imitation of him; to show forth the same temper and disposition of mind in their practice,

Which also was in Christ Jesus—Or as the Syriac version, “think the same thing as Jesus Christ”; let the same condescending spirit and humble deportment appear in you as in him. This mind, affection, and conduct of Christ, may refer both to his early affection to his people, the love he bore to them from everlasting, the resolution and determination of his mind in consequence of it; and his agreement with his Father to take upon him their nature in the fulness of time, and to do his will, by obeying, suffering, and dying in their room and stead; and also the open exhibition and execution of all this in time, when he appeared in human nature, poor, mean, and abject; condescending to the lowest offices, and behaving in the most meek and humble manner, throughout the whole of his life, to the moment of his death.

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. PHP 2:5-8

. . . his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. DEU 21:23

John Gill

His body shall not remain all night on the tree—Which is to be understood of any and everyone that was hanged, and not of the rebellious son only; of whom Josephus says, that he was to be stoned by the multitude without the city, and having remained a whole day for a spectacle to all, was to be buried at night; and indeed such a person was not to remain hanging on the tree any part of the night, but to be taken down at sun setting; so the Targum of Jonathan,

“you shall bury him at sun setting”;

so says Maimonides, they hang a man near the setting of the sun and loose him immediately, and if he continues they transgress a negative precept, “his body shall not remain” yea, according to him and to the Mishnah, and which agrees with the practice of the Jews to this day, not only those that were put to death by the Sanhedrin, but whoever suffered his dead to remain unburied a night transgressed a negative command, unless he kept him for his honour, to get for him a coffin and shroud:

But you shall bury him in the same day—By all means, if possible; malefactors were not buried in the sepulchre of their fathers, but there were two burying places provided by the Sanhedrin, one for those that were stoned and burnt, and another for those that were killed with the sword and strangled; and even the instruments of their death were to be buried also, as Maimonides relates, the tree on which he is hanged is buried with him, that there may be no remembrance of the evil, and they say, this is the tree on which such an one was hanged; and so the stone with which he is stoned, and the sword with which he is killed, and the napkin with which he is strangled, all are buried in the place where he is put to death, but not in the grave itself:

For a hanged man is cursed by God—Plainly appears to be so, having committed some foul sin which has brought the curse of God upon him, and which being hanged on a tree was a plain proof and declaration of; and therefore having hereby suffered the rigour of the law, the curse of it, his body was ordered to be taken down; for the words are not a reason of his being hanged, but a reason why being hanged, and so openly accursed, he should not remain hanging, but be taken down and buried: the meaning is not, as Onkelos gives it, that

“because he sinned before the Lord he is hanged,”

and particularly was guilty of blasphemy; which is given as the reason of his being hanged, and as the sense of this passage; on the mention of which it is said,

“it is as if he should say, why is he hanged? because he cursed God, and the name of God was found profaned”:

but though this, or any other capital crime, may be allowed to be the reason of the man’s being hanged, and so apparently accursed; yet this is not the reason of his being loosed from thence, but his having bore the curse and satisfied the law: and hence this is applied to Christ by the apostle, in Gal 3:13 showing, that his hanging on the tree was an indication and proof of his being made sin and a curse for his people, or that he bore the curse of the law for their sins, and that the taking of him down from the tree, and burying him, signified the removing the curse from him and his people for whom he suffered; or that thereby he redeemed them from the curse of the law, as the apostle expresses it:

You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance—Which is another reason for taking down the body from the tree and burying it, lest the land of Canaan, which the Lord had given them for an inheritance, and which was typical of the undefiled inheritance (1Pe 1:4), should be polluted, both in a natural sense, through the putrefaction and corruption, and the disagreeable smell of a dead body, and in a ceremonial sense, as every carcass was defiling, if a person but entered where it was; and therefore a dead body was not to be left hanging openly in the air, and rotting there.