For ignorances... That is, for the sins of his people. In the Hebrew, it
is Sigionoth: which some take to signify a musical instrument, or tune;
with which this sublime prayer and canticle was to be sung.
3:2. O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid. O Lord, thy
work, in the midst of the years bring it to life: In the midst of the
years thou shalt make it known: when thou art angry, thou wilt remember
mercy.
Thy hearing, etc... That is, thy oracles, the great and wonderful things
thou hast revealed to me; and I was struck with a reverential fear and
awe.-Ibid. Thy work... The great work of the redemption of man, which
thou wilt bring to life and light in the midst of the years, when our
calamities and miseries shall be at their height.
3:3. God will come from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan:
His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.
God will come from the south, etc... God himself will come to give us
his law, and to conduct us into the true land of promise: as heretofore
he came from the South (in the Hebrew Theman) and from mount Pharan to
give his law to his people in the desert. See Deut. 33.2.
3:4. His brightness shall be as the light: horns are in his hands: There
is his strength hid:
Horns, etc... That is, strength and power, which, by a Hebrew phrase,
are called horns. Or beams of light, which come forth from his hands. Or
it may allude to the cross, in the horns of which the hands of Christ
were fastened, where his strength was hidden, by which he overcame the
world, and drove out death and the devil.
3:5. Death shall go before his face. And the devil shall go forth
before his feet.
Death shall go before his face, etc... Both death and the devil shall be
the executioners of his justice against his enemies: as they were
heretofore against the Egyptians and Chanaanites.
3:6. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld, and melted the
nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces. The hills of
the world were bowed down by the journeys of his eternity.
He beheld, etc... One look of his eye is enough to melt all the nations,
and to reduce them to nothing. For all heaven and earth disappear when
they come before his light. Apoc. 20.11. Ibid. The ancient mountains,
etc... By the mountains and hills are signified the great ones of the
world, that persecute the church, whose power was quickly crushed by the
Almighty.
3:7. I saw the tents of Ethiopia for their iniquity, the curtains of the
land of Madian shall be troubled.
Ethiopia... the land of the Blacks, and Madian, are here taken for the
enemies of God and his people: who shall perish for their iniquity.
3:8. Wast thou angry, O Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath upon the
rivers? or thy indignation in the sea? Who will ride upon thy horses:
and thy chariots are salvation.
With the rivers, etc... He alludes to the wonders wrought heretofore by
the Lord in favour of his people Israel, when the waters of the rivers,
viz., of Arnon and Jordan, and of the Red Sea, retired before their
face: when he came as it were with his horses and chariots to save them
when he took up his bow for their defence, in consequene of the oath he
had made to their tribes: when the mountains trembled, and the deep
stood with its waves raised up in a heap, as with hands lifted up to
heaven: when the sun and the moon stood still at his command, etc., to
comply with his anger, not against the rivers and sea, but against the
enemies of his people. How much more will he do in favour of his Son:
and against the enemies of his church?
3:9. Thou wilt surely take up thy bow: according to the oaths which thou
hast spoken to the tribes. Thou wilt divide the rivers of the earth.
3:10. The mountains saw thee, and were grieved: the great body of waters
passed away. The deep put forth its voice: the deep lifted up its
hands.
3:11. The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation, in the light
of thy arrows, they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering spear.
3:12. In thy anger thou wilt tread the earth under foot: in thy wrath
thou wilt astonish the nations.
3:13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people: for salvation
with thy Christ. Thou struckest the head of the house of the wicked:
thou hast laid bare his foundation even to the neck.
The head of the house of the wicked... Such was Pharao heretofore: such
shall Antichrist be hereafter.
3:14. Thou hast cursed his sceptres, the head of his warriors, them that
came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their joy was like that of him
that devoureth the poor man in secret.
3:15. Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses, in the mud of many
waters.
Thou madest a way in the sea, etc... To deliver thy people from the
Egyptian bondage: and thou shalt work the like wonders in the spiritual
way, to rescue the children of the church from their enemies.
3:16. I have heard and my bowels were troubled: my lips trembled at the
voice. Let rottenness enter into my bones, and swarm under me. That I
may rest in the day of tribulation: that I may go up to our people that
are girded.
I have heard, etc... Viz., the evils that are now coming upon the
Israelites for their sins; and that shall come hereafter upon all
impenitent sinners; and the foresight that I have of these miseries
makes me willing to die, that I may be at rest, before this general
tribulation comes, in which all good things shall be withdrawn from the
wicked. Ibid. That I may go up to our people, etc... That I may join the
happy company in the bosom of Abraham, that are girded, that is,
prepared for their journey, by which they shall attend their Lord, when
he shall ascend into heaven. To which high and happy place, my Jesus,
that is, my Saviour, the great conqueror of death and hell, shall one
day conduct me rejoicing and singing psalms of praise, ver. 18 and 19.
3:17. For the fig tree shall not blossom: and there shall be no spring
in the vines. The labour of the olive tree shall fail: and the fields
shall yield no food: the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there
shall be no herd in the stalls.
3:18. But I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will joy in God my Jesus.
3:19. The Lord God is my strength: and he will make my feet like the
feet of harts: and he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places
singing psalms.