Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 14:27

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

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Concerning Assyria and Philistia (14:24-32)

In Isaiah’s day the immediate threat came not from Babylon but from Assyria. But Assyria will suffer the same fate as Babylon. It may invade the land of Judah, but in that same land it will be defeated and its power over Judah broken (24-25). The almighty God has determined this, and therefore no one will be able to prevent it (26-27).
Ahaz had always tried to follow a pro-Assyrian policy, in spite of objections from Isaiah. Ahaz’s son and successor, Hezekiah, was firmly opposed to Assyria. The rulers of neighbouring Philistia apparently knew this, for soon after the death of Ahaz they sent representatives to try to persuade Hezekiah to join them in rebelling against Assyria. It seemed a suitable opportunity, as Assyria had just suffered some sort of military setback. Isaiah warns against being foolishly optimistic. Assyria will soon recover and meet any rebellion with a ferocity greater than before, leaving the land desolate (28-31). The answer to give the Philistine messengers is that Judah will not cooperate in the plan but will trust entirely in God (32).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

PROPHECY AGAINST ASSYRIA

Some writers love to refer to this brief paragraph as "a fragment"; but it is no such thing. It is merely the inspired prophet's manner of revealing God's Word to men, "here a little, there a little, line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, line upon line, etc." See the Introduction.

"Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it surely come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: that I will break the Assyrian in my hand, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulder. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand that it stretched out upon all the nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?"

God's promise here that he would "break the Assyrian" came at the very zenith of Assyrian domination; and the complete, astounding fulfillment of it came very swiftly after the promise was revealed, so that the rapid fulfillment became a pledge of the ultimate fulfillment of the promised doom of Babylon. The date usually given for this little prophecy is about 713 B.C.Albert Barnes' Commentary, p. 280 The date of its fulfillment in the destruction of Sennacherib's army was 701 B.C.The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 782.

The common view that this brief paragraph is merely a summary or repetition of the previous prophecies about Assyria is incorrect. "The new thing in the prophecy here is the information that God `hath sworn' to destroy Assyria."The Pulpit Commentary, p. 247. This conforms to the usual pattern observed in Holy Scripture.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

For the Lord of hosts - (see the note at Isaiah 1:9).

Who shall disannul it? - Who has power to defeat his purposes? Difficult as they may be in appearance, and incredible as their fulfillment may seem, yet his purposes are formed in full view of all the circumstances; and there is no power to resist his arm, or to turn him aside from the execution of his designs. By this assurance God designed to comfort his people when they should be in Babylon in a long and dreary captivity (compare Psalms 137:1-9.) And by the same consideration his people may be comforted at all times. His plans shall stand. None can disannul them. No arm has power to resist him. None of the schemes formed against him shall ever prosper. Whatever ills, therefore, may befall his people; however thick, and gloomy, and sad their calamities may be; and however dark his dispensations may appear, yet they may bare the assurance that all his plans are wise, and that they all shall stand. No matter how many, or how mighty may be the foes of the church; no matter how strong their cities, or their ramparts; no matter how numerous their armies, or how self-confident may be their leaders, they have no power to resist God. If their plans are in his way they will be thrown down; if revolutions are necessary among human beings to accomplish His purposes, they will be brought about; if cities and armies need to be destroyed in order that “his” plans may succeed, and his church be safe, they will be demolished, just as the army of Sennacherib was laid pale in death, and as Babylon - the haughtiest of cities - was overthrown. Who can stand against God? and who can resist the execution of his will?

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

27.For the Lord of hosts hath decreed. Isaiah here employs what may be regarded as a concluding exclamation, to confirm more fully the preceding statement. Having said that it is the purpose of the Lord, in order to show that it cannot be broken or made void, (Psalms 33:11,) he puts a question as if about a thing impossible, Who shall disannul his purpose ? or, who shall turn back his hand ? By this exclamation he speaks disdainfully of all the creatures; for as soon as the Lord has decreed, he stretches out his hand, and when his hand is stretched out, the execution of the work must undoubtedly follow. Nor is it only men whom he declares to be incapable, but he also declares everything else to be incapable of preventing the decree of God; at least if there be anything but man and Satan that opposes his will. In short, he intimates that there can be no repentance or change in God, (Numbers 23:19,) but that whatever may happen, even amidst an endless diversity of events, he continues always to be like himself, and that no occurrence can thwart his purpose.

If it be objected that God sometimes changed his purpose, as when he spared the Ninevites, (Jonah 1:2,) Abimelech, (Genesis 20:3,) or Pharaoh, (Genesis 12:17,) the answer is easy. When the Lord sent Jonah to the Ninevites, he did not reveal what had been decreed in his secret purpose, but wished to arouse their minds by the preaching of Jonah, that he might have compassion on them. The same thing might be said, when he threatened Abimelech and Pharaoh, because they wished to lay hands on Abraham’s wife; for thus the Lord, by terrifying them, intended to keep them back, that they might not suffer the punishment of their obstinacy.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 14

For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob ( Isaiah 14:1 ).

Again, now he moves out to the end of the Kingdom Age where Israel is restored and exalted among the world.

The people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over the oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou was made to serve. That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers ( Isaiah 14:2-5 ).

Now you remember that in Revelation, the angel in the fourteenth chapter flies through the midst of the heaven saying, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city" ( Revelation 14:8 ), and so forth, and declares the fall of this Babylonian system. "The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers."

He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us ( Isaiah 14:6-8 ).

The trees have an opportunity to grow.

Now we are getting into the area of the beast, the man of sin, the son of perdition, the one who is anointed with Satan's power as he makes reference to

Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Your pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee ( Isaiah 14:9-11 ).

This man that the whole world marvels at, his reception in hell will be an interesting thing. As the kings rise up and say, "Hey, you... "

Now the prophecy lapses from the beast to the power behind the beast, or the antichrist to Satan who gave him the power.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High ( Isaiah 14:12-14 ).

These five "I wills" of Satan. This was the beginning of sin in the universe. This was the beginning of the rebellion against God's government and God's kingdom, and they came with Satan's willing against the will of God.

In Ezekiel we are told concerning Satan that he at one time was an anointed cherub. Cherubim, the B-I-M, or the I-M, is actually a plural suffix in the Hebrew language. So a cherub would be singular. But there are cherubim; there are many of these angelic beings. Satan was one of these exalted angelic beings. Interesting it would seem that the cherubim are there to guard the holiness of God. And perhaps he was the chief over the cherubim. It would seem to indicate that as Ezekiel addresses him in the form of the king of Tyre, "the anointed cherub that covers. Thou has been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, beryl, onyx, sapphire, carbuncle," and so forth. "Thou wast perfect in beauty, perfect in wisdom, perfect in all of your ways until the day that iniquity was found in thee" ( Ezekiel 28:13-15 ). And then he speaks of his fall.

Now Isaiah tells us exactly what the iniquity was. It was his declaring, "I will," in opposition to God's will. And anytime you declare your will in opposition to God's will, that's sin. That's rebellion. Rebellion against God. Sin is the failure to do the will of God, to surrender, to submit to the will of God. "I will ascend into heaven. I will sit also. I will exact my throne above the stars of God." Stars of God being the angels of God. "I'm going to exalt above them. I will sit also on the mount of the congregation on the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights. I will be like the Most High." Interesting. The climactic "I will" of Satan: "I will be like God."

Shakespeare in the one play has someone addressing Cromwell, "Oh, Cromwell, flee ambition. For by this sin the angels fell." I will be like God.

It is interesting when Satan came into the garden to tempt Eve, what was the hook? "God doesn't want you to eat that fruit, for He knows that the day that you eat that fruit, you will be like God. You want to be like God? Eat this fruit." And that was the hook. It was the thing that tripped him up, and so it's the very thing then that he used to trip Eve up--to be like God. "God doesn't want you to eat it. He's afraid you're going to be like Him."

So any of these religions today that make you like God, that put you in a God category, "When you die, you and your wife can be as gods. You go to your own little planet," be careful. That was the hook that got Satan. That was the hook that he used for Eve. These that make a god out of you. "Recognize the god in you." The self-realizations. What is the self-realization concept? "I am God," that's what I need to realize. Isn't that wonderful? Tragic! But so many people are being drawn by this desire to be God. And so the god in me blesses the god in you, the self-realization of who I am. So Satan's fall: "I will be like the Most High."

Now the interesting thing is that God is making us again in His image. When God first created man, He created man in His image and after His likeness. But man through disobedience, in his desire to be like God, fell from that image of God. And "by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; so that death passed unto all men, for all sinned" ( Romans 5:12 ). So if I want to know what God intended when He created man, I can't look around the world and find it. Because in the world that doesn't exist, because I see fallen man. I see man that is filled with greed. I see man that is filled with hatred, with avarice. I see a man who is controlled by his own desires and lust. That isn't the way God intended man to live. That isn't what God intended for man.

We see man in his fallen state. But God reached down to touch man in his fallen state, and the purpose of God in working in your life tonight is to restore unto you that which was lost through the fall. God wants to restore you back into His image. And so Paul said, "We, with open face beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed from glory to glory into the same image" ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ). That doesn't mean I'm God. It doesn't mean I'm going to be God. I'm always going to be me. But I will be conformed again by the Spirit of God into the image of Jesus Christ, where love will once again dominate instead of greed or selfishness, and made again into the image of Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of God's work in our lives tonight.

So Satan fell. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?" You said you're going to exalt yourself. You're going to be like God.

Yet you will be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms ( Isaiah 14:15-16 );

Man, when you see Satan down there, you'll say, "Wow, is that the guy that gave me such a bad time? The man that created all of the problems for this universe? The one that started the whole rebellion against God. Is that? Wow, look at him." What a sight that's going to be.

That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities; that opened not the house of his prisoners? [All the kingdoms of the earth, or] all the kings of the nations, even all of them that lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass that is trodden under foot ( Isaiah 14:17-19 ).

The kings are buried in tombs, sepulchers and so forth. But you're going to be cast out of the grave. You're going to be like the coat of a man who has fallen in battle that's just cast aside to be trodden down under the feet.

Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and the remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD ( Isaiah 14:20-22 ).

How many of you have met a Babylonian lately? They don't exist. God cut them off. The name, the son, the nephew, they are no more family, Babylonians.

I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts. The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand ( Isaiah 14:23-24 ):

That is one powerful verse. God said. He's sworn. This is, men take an oath to confirm what they have said as being really true. Well, God who has never spoken anything but truth, when God swears to something, man, how true can you get? How firm can it be? How well can a thing be established? When God has sworn, "Surely as I have thought, it shall come to pass." God's Word shall surely be fulfilled.

When the Lord told Daniel to write these things, He said, "For the prophecy is certain" ( Daniel 2:45 ). It's going to be fulfilled. God declares, "Surely as I have thought, so it's going to be. And as I have purposed, so shall it stand." The purposes of God are set. They cannot be changed. The plan of God will be fulfilled.

That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who can disannul it? his hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? ( Isaiah 14:25-27 )

The tremendous, awesome sovereignty of God.

In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden ( Isaiah 14:28 ).

So now we're moving on into a new area. It is not distinguished by a chapter change, but it is distinguished by the fact that he introduces this new section by, "In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden."

Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent ( Isaiah 14:29 ).

Now he's just spoken of the destruction of Assyria, but don't rejoice because Assyria is broken by Babylon, because now God is going to bring the Babylonians against you.

And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it ( Isaiah 14:30-32 ).

So God is going to found Zion, the ultimate bottom line. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

This section of the oracle particularizes the judgment of Babylon in Isaiah’s day. Here we see the exemplification and validation of God’s universal purpose to judge human hubris that the prophet earlier declared (Isaiah 13:2-16). The particular manifestation of Babylonian pride that threatened Israel when Isaiah wrote was Assyria.

"Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the LORD appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations." [Note: The NET Bible note on 14:24.]

Yahweh of armies proceeded to swear that what He had purposed would happen (cf. Hebrews 6:13-14), namely, the destruction of Assyria (Isaiah 14:24). A stronger assurance is hard to imagine. God would defeat the Assyrians in His land, the Promised Land (cf. Isaiah 37:36-37). He would break the Assyrian yoke off of His people, and thus remove the burden that the Assyrians were to the Israelites (Isaiah 14:25; cf. Isaiah 9:3; Isaiah 10:27). This would be representative of what He would do to the whole world in judging sin and pride in the future (Isaiah 14:26). No one would be able to turn aside His hand stretched out in judgment because He is God Almighty (Isaiah 14:27; cf. Isaiah 13:2).

The near fulfillment came in 701 B.C. when the angel of the Lord slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who had surrounded Jerusalem (Isaiah 37:36-37). Later fulfillments came in 689 B.C., when the Assyrians under Sennacherib sacked Babylon, and in 539 B.C., when Cyrus the Persian destroyed it.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,.... What is before declared, the fall of Babylon, and the destruction of the Assyrian, and everything else that comes to pass in this world; there is nothing comes to pass but he has purposed, and everything he has purposed does come to pass:

and who shall disannul [it]? not the most powerful monarch, or most powerful armies, or the most refined councils of men, or the greatest politicians on earth:

and his hand [is] stretched out, and who shall turn it back? or aside, from giving the blow it is designed to give; no power on earth is equal to it.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      24 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:   25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.   26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.   27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?   28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.   29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.   30 And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.   31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.   32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

      The destruction of Babylon and the Chaldean empire was a thing at a great distance; the empire had not risen to any considerable height when its fall was here foretold: it was almost 200 years from this prediction of Babylon's fall to the accomplishment of it. Now the people to whom Isaiah prophesied might ask, "What is this to us, or what shall we be the better for it, and what assurance shall we have of it?" To both questions he answers in these verses, by a prediction of the ruin both of the Assyrians and of the Philistines, the present enemies that infested them, which they should shortly be eye-witnesses of and have benefit by. These would be a present comfort to them, and a pledge of future deliverance, for the confirming of the faith of their posterity. God is to his people the same to day that he was yesterday and will be hereafter; and he will for ever be the same that he has been and is. Here is,

      I. Assurance given of the destruction of the Assyrians (Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 14:25): I will break the Assyrian in my land. Sennacherib brought a very formidable army into the land of Judah, but there God broke it, broke all his regiments by the sword of a destroying angel. Note, Those who wrongfully invade God's land shall find that it is at their peril: and those who with unhallowed feet trample upon his holy mountains shall themselves there be trodden under foot. God undertakes to do this himself, his people having no might against the great company that came against them: "I will break the Assyrian; let me alone to do it who have angels, hosts of angels, at command." Now the breaking of the power of the Assyrian would be the breaking of the yoke from off the neck of God's people: His burden shall depart from off their shoulders, the burden of quartering that vast army and paying contribution; therefore the Assyrian must be broken, that Judah and Jerusalem may be eased. Let those that make themselves a yoke and a burden to God's people see what they are to expect. Now, 1. This prophecy is here ratified and confirmed by an oath (Isaiah 14:24; Isaiah 14:24): The Lord of hosts hath sworn, that he might show the immutability of his counsel, and that his people may have strong consolation, Hebrews 6:17; Hebrews 6:18. What is here said of this particular intention is true of all God's purposes: As I have thought, so shall it come to pass; for he is in one mind, and who can turn him? Nor is he ever put upon new counsels, or obliged to take new measures, as men often are when things occur which they did not foresee. Let those who are the called according to God's purpose comfort themselves with this, that, as God has purposed, so shall it stand, and on that their stability depends. 2. The breaking of the Assyrian power is made a specimen of what God would do with all the powers of the nations that were engaged against him and his church (Isaiah 14:26; Isaiah 14:26): This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth (the whole world, so the LXX.), all the inhabitants of the earth (so the Chaldee), not only upon the Assyrian empire (which was then reckoned to be in a manner all the world, as afterwards the Roman empire was, Luke 2:1, and with it many nations fell that had dependence upon it), but upon all those states and potentates that should at any time attack his land, his mountains. The fate of the Assyrian shall be theirs; they shall soon find that they meddle to their own hurt. Jerusalem, as it was to the Assyrians, will be to all people a burdensome stone; all that burden themselves with it shall infallibly be cut to pieces by it,Zechariah 12:3; Zechariah 12:6. The same hand of power and justice that is now to be stretched out against the Assyrian for invading the people of God shall be stretched out upon all the nations that do likewise. It is still true, and will ever be so, Cursed is he that curses God's Israel,Numbers 24:9. God will be an enemy to his people's enemies, Exodus 23:22. 3. All the powers on earth are defied to change God's counsel (Isaiah 14:27; Isaiah 14:27): "The Lord of hosts has purposed to break the Assyrian's yoke, and every rod of the wicked laid upon the lot of the righteous; and who shall disannul this purpose? Who can persuade him to recall it, or find out a plea to evade it? His hand is stretched out to execute this purpose; and who has power enough to turn it back or to stay the course of his judgments?"

      II. Assurance is likewise given of the destruction of the Philistines and their power. This burden, this prophecy, that lay as a load upon them, to sink their state, came in the year that king Ahaz died, which was the first year of Hezekiah's reign, Isaiah 14:28; Isaiah 14:28. When a good king came in the room of a bad one then this acceptable message was sent among them. When we reform, then, and not till then, we may look for good news from heaven. Now here we have, 1. A rebuke to the Philistines for triumphing in the death of king Uzziah. He had been as a serpent to them (Isaiah 14:29; Isaiah 14:29), had bitten them, had smitten them, had brought them very low, 2 Chronicles 26:6. He warred against the Philistines, broke down their walls, and built cities among them. But when Uzziah died, or rather abdicated, it was told with joy in Gath and published in the streets of Ashkelon. It is inhuman thus to rejoice in our neighbour's fall. But let them not be secure; for though when Uzziah was dead they made reprisals upon Ahaz, and took many of the cities of Judah (2 Chronicles 28:18), yet out of the root of Uzziah should come a cockatrice, a more formidable enemy than Uzziah was, even Hezekiah, the fruit of whose government should be to them a fiery flying serpent, for he should fall upon them with incredible swiftness and fury: we find he did so. 2 Kings 18:8, He smote the Philistines even to Gaza. Note, If God remove one useful instrument in the midst of his usefulness, he can, and will, raise up others to carry on and complete the same work that they were employed in and left unfinished. 2. A prophecy of the destruction of the Philistines by famine and war. (1.) By famine, Isaiah 14:30; Isaiah 14:30. "When the people of God, whom the Philistines has wasted, and distressed, and impoverished, shall enjoy plenty again," and the first-born of their poor shall feed (the poorest among them shall have food convenient), then, as for the Philistines, God will kill their root with famine. That which was their strength, and with which they thought themselves established as the tree is by the root, shall be starved and dried up by degrees, as those die that die by famine; and thus he shall slay the remnant: those that escape from one destruction are but reserved for another; and, when there are but a few left, those few shall at length be cut off, for God will make a full end. (2.) By war. When the needy of God's people shall lie down in safety, not terrified with the alarms of war, but delighting in the songs of peace, then every gate and every city of the Philistines shall be howling and crying (Isaiah 14:31; Isaiah 14:31), and there shall be a total dissolution of their state; for from Judea, which lay north of the Philistines, there shall come a smoke (a vast army raising a great dust, a smoke that shall be the indication of a devouring fire at hand), and none of all that army shall be alone in his appointed times; none shall straggle or be missing when they are to engage; but they shall all be vigorous and unanimous in attacking the common enemy, when the time appointed for the doing of it comes. None of them shall decline the public service, as, in Deborah's time, Reuben abode among the sheepfolds and Asher on the sea-shore, Judges 5:16; Judges 5:17. When God has work to do he will wonderfully endow and dispose men for it.

      III. The good use that should be made of all these events for the encouragement of the people of God (Isaiah 14:32; Isaiah 14:32): What shall one then answer the messengers of the nations?

      1. This implies, (1.) That the great things God does for his people are, and cannot but be, taken notice of by their neighbours; those among the heathen make remarks upon them, Psalms 126:2. (2.) That messengers will be sent to enquire concerning them. Jacob and Israel had long been a people distinguished from all others and dignified with uncommon favours; and therefore some for good-will, others for ill-will, and all for curiosity, are inquisitive concerning them. (3.) That it concerns us always to be ready to give a reason of the hope that we have in the providence of God, as well as in his grace, in answer to every one that asks it, with meekness and fear,1 Peter 3:15. And we need go no further than the sacred truths of God's word for a reason; for God, in all he does, is fulfilling the scripture. (4.) The issue of God's dealings with his people shall be so clearly and manifestly glorious that any one, every one, shall be able to give an account of them to those that enquire concerning them. Now,

      2. The answer which is to be given to the messengers of the nations is, (1.) That God is and will be a faithful friend to his church and people, and will secure and advance their interests. Tell them that the Lord has founded Zion. This gives an account both of the work itself that is done and of the reason of it. What is God doing in the world, and what is he designing in all the revolutions of states and kingdoms, in the ruin of some nations and the rise of others? He is, in all this, founding Zion; he is aiming at the advancement of his church's interests; and what he aims at he will accomplish. The messengers of the nations, when they sent to enquire concerning Hezekiah's successes against the Philistines, expected to learn by what politics, counsels, and arts of war he carried his point; but they are told that these successes were not owing to any thing of that nature, but to the care God took of his church and the interest he had in it. The Lord has founded Zion, and therefore the Philistines must fall. (2.) That his church has and will have a dependence upon him: The poor of his people shall trust in it, his poor people who have lately been brought very low, even the poorest of them; they more than others, for they have nothing else to trust to, Zephaniah 3:12; Zephaniah 3:13. The poor receive the gospel,Matthew 11:5. They shall trust to this, to this great truth, that the Lord has founded Zion; on this they shall build their hopes, and not on an arm of flesh. This ought to give us abundant satisfaction as to public affairs, that however it may go with particular persons, parties, and interests, the church, having God himself for its founder and Christ the rock for its foundation, cannot but stand firm. The poor of his people shall betake themselves to it (so some read it), shall join themselves to his church and embark in its interests; they shall concur with God in his designs to establish his people, and shall wind up all on the same plan, and make all their little concerns and projects bend to that. Those that take God's people for their people must be willing to take their lot with them and cast in their lot among them. Let the messengers of the nations know that the poor Israelites, who trust in God, having, like Zion, their foundation in the holy mountains (Psalms 87:1), are like Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides for ever (Psalms 125:1), and therefore they will not fear what man can do unto them.