Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
La luna se avergonzará, y el sol se confundirá, cuando el SEÑOR de los ejércitos reinare en el Monte de Sion, y en Jerusalén, y delante de sus ancianos fuere glorioso.
"The figurative language of the prophets is taken from the analogy between the worldnatural and an empire or kingdom considered as a world politic. Accordingly the whole worldnatural, consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people; or so much of it as is considered in prophecy: and the things in that world signify the analogous things in this. For the heavens and the things thereto signify thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; and the earth with the things thereon, the inferior people; and the lowest parts of the earth, called hades or hell, the lowest or most miserable part of them.
Great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, are put for the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract and overthrow them; the creating a new heaven and earth, and the passing away of an old one, or the beginning and end of a world, for the rise and ruin of a body politic signified thereby.
The sun, for the whole species and race of kings, in the kingdoms of the world politic; the moon, for the body of the common people, considered as the king's wife; the stars, for subordinate princes and great men; or for bishops and rulers of the people of God, when the sun is Christ: setting of the sun, moon, and stars. darkening the sun, TURNING the moon into blood and falling of the stars, for the ceasing of a kingdom. " Sir 1. Newton's Observations on the Prophecies, Part I., chap. 2.
These observations are of great consequence and use, in explaining the phraseology of the prophets.
CHAPTER XXV
The short glance which the prophet gave at the promisedrestoration of the people of God and the Messiah's kingdom, in the close of the preceding chapter, makes him break out into a rapturous song of praise in this, where although he alludes to temporal mercies, such as the destruction of the cities which had been at war with Zion, the ruin of Moab, and other signal interpositions of Divine Providence in behalf of the Jews; yet he is evidently impressed with a more lively sense of future and much higher blessings under the Gospel dispensation, in the plenitude of its revelation, of which the temporal deliverances vouchsafed at various tines to the primitive kingdoms of Israel and Judah were the prototypes, 1-5. These blessings are described under the figure of a feast made for all nations, 6; the removing of a veil from their faces, 7; the total extinction of the empire of death by the resurrection from the dead, the exclusion of all sorrow, and the final overthrow of all the enemies of the people of God, 8-12. It does not appear to me that this chapter has any close and particular connection with the chapter immediately preceding, taken separately, and by itself. The subject of that was the desolation of the land of Israel and Judah, by the just judgment of God, for the wickedness and disobedience of the people: which, taken by itself, seems not with any propriety to introduce a hymn of thanksgiving to God for his mercies to his people in delivering them from their enemies. But taking the whole course of prophecies, from the thirteenth to the twenty- fourth chapter inclusive, in which the prophet foretells the destruction of several cities and nations, enemies to the Jews, and of the land of Judah itself, yet with intimations of a remnant to be saved, and a restoration to be at length effected by a glorious establishment of the kingdom of God: with a view to this extensive scene of God's providence in all its parts, and in all its consequences, the prophet may well be supposed to break out into this song of praise; in which his mind seems to be more possessed with the prospect of future mercies than with the recollection of the past. - L.
Is. 24:1-12 All whose treasures and happiness are laid up on earth will soon be brought to want and misery. It is good to apply to ourselves what the Scripture says of the vanity and vexation of spiri which attend all things here below. Sin has turned the earth upsid down; the earth is become quite different to man, from what it was when God first made it to be his habitation. It is, at the best, like flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves with it, and lay it in their bosoms. The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears; the children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble, See the power of God's curse, how is makes all empty, and lays waste all ranks and conditions. Sin bring these calamities upon the earth; it is polluted by the sins of men therefore it is made desolate by God's judgments. Carnaljoy will soo be at end, and the end of it is heaviness. God has many ways to imbitter wine and strong drink to those who love them; distemper of body, anguish of mind, and the ruin of the estate, will make stron drink bitter, and the delights of sense tasteless. Let men learn to mourn for sin, and rejoice in God; then no man, no event, can tak their joy from them.
Is. 24:13-15 There shall be a remnantpreserved from the general ruin and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. These few are dispersed like the gleanings of the olive tree, hid under the leaves. The Lor knows those that are his; the world does not. When the mirth of carna worldlings ceases, the joy of the saints is as lively as ever, becaus the covenant of grace, the fountain of their comforts, and the foundation of their hopes, never fails. Those who rejoice in the Lor can rejoice in tribulation, and by faith may triumph when all abou them are in tears. They encourage their fellow-sufferers to d likewise, even those who are in the furnace of affliction. Or, in the valleys, low, dark, miry places. In every fire, even the hottest, in every place, even the remotest, let us keep up our good thoughts of God. If none of these trials move us, then we glorify the Lord in the fires.
Is. 24:16-23 Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; an the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evilpursuessinners. Unsteady, uncertain ar all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in the earth as in palace, as in a castle; but it shall be removed like a cottage, like lodge put up for the night. It shall fall and not rise again; but ther shall be new heavens and a new earth, in which shall dwell nothing but righteousness. Sin is a burden to the whole creation; it is a heav burden, under which it groans now, and will sink at last. The hig ones, that are puffed up with their grandeur, that think themselves ou of the reach of danger, God will visit for their pride and cruelty. Le us judge nothing before the time, though some shall be visited. None in this world should be secure, though their condition be ever s prosperous; nor need any despair, though their condition be ever s deplorable. God will be glorified in all this. But the mystery of Providence is not yet finished. The ruin of the Redeemer's enemies mus make way for his kingdom, and then the Sun of Righteousness will appea in full glory. Happy are those who take warning by the sentence agains others; every impenitentsinner will sink under his transgression, an rise no more, while believersenjoyeverlasting bliss __________________________________________________________________
