AWESOME GOD God Is With Us (July 5) Preparing for the fast

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.