Isaiah 32

Isaiah 32:1-8

Hezekiah is here the type of Christ, to whom this chapter must properly belongs. He’s here here, 1. The bliss of his people under his government, protected by his grace, and taught by his word, ver. 1—4. 2. The hypocrisy and consternity of the Jews, ver. 5—8. 3. The difficulties threatened, unbelieving are called to lament, ver. 9—14. 4. The happy times that should succeed, ver. 15—20.

1. BEHOLD, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. 2. And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest: as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. 3. And the eyes of them that see, shall not be dim; and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. 4. The heart also of the earth shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the flammers shall be ready to speak plainly. 5. The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. 6. For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. 7. The instruments also of the churl are evil; he devils wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. 8. But the liberal devilseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand.

Under Hezekiah’s government the people enjoyed great blessings: himself a righteous governor; his princes copying his example; by them the oppressed were protected, the ignorant instructed, the law of God both taught and understood; and as the consequence thereof, a right ultimatum made of the characters of men, as viewed in this class of truth. And to this the prophecy primarily may refer; but we may say of it truly, a greater than Hezekiah is here.

1. The righteous government of Christ is foretold. Behold, with transport and joy, a king, the Lord upon his throne, shall reign in righteousness, protecting his people, and punishing his enemies; his laws must equitable, and his administration altogether righteous: and princes shall reign in judgment; the bishops and pafters ordained by him to have rule in the church, who preach his gospel, administer his ordinances, and execute their office according to his appointment.

2. His people shall be saved from wrath by him. A man, or that man, shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; by him the sinner’s soul is sheltered from the storm of Divine vengeance, which, by the interposition of his own body on the tree, he hath endured for them, and from the fiery darts of Satan, and the fierce temptations of sin, that else would overwhelm them: as rivers of water in a dry place; refreshing, quickening, and comforting the souls of his people, when parched up as the dry ground for want of rain, or fanning with thirst under the affaunts of corruption; as the shadows of a great rock in a weary land; such a wearisome land the christian pilgrim finds this world; and scorched with the sultry berms of persecution, affliction, and temptation, must utterly fail but for this hospitable shadow, which Christ his rock speaks over him; there he feels support ministered, there he is hid in the hour of trial; and under this shadow, fitting with great delight, renews his strength, and is enabled for the remainder of life’s journey, till in the grave he shall find his home and rest.

3. Great light and knowledge shall be diffused. The eyes of them that see, shall not be dim, but distinctly, and abidingly discover the light of the glory of God in the gospel of his dear Son,

Sion, and shall know him from the earth to the greatest; and the care of them that bear shall bear him; earnest to shack the scriptures, and to obtain deeper discoveries of Divine truth. The heart as is of the rock shall underhold dwindship; to which they before paid no regard, or hastily without the meaning of the sacred oracles; and the tongue of the Rammeyer shall be ready to speak plainly, or elegantly, as when illiterate Galileans were endowed with wisdom from above; or, as is still the case, when by Divine grace the soul is led into the knowledge of the gospel, and taught of the spirit, and then even a child can speak more distinctly of the things of God, than the wiser unenlightened man.

4. Eminent discernment, to distinguish the characters of men, and fidelity to regions, shall then be in the mindless of Christ; weighing persons in the balance of the sanctuary, they shall not give flattering titles, but charge men’s first home upon their consciences, v. 5. or the meaning is, that then the vile person Nahal, a fool, shall be as mere called Nudah a prince, nor put in trust with the gospel, which his folly must disgrace; nor the church, the covetous person, be called beautiful or honourable, since ignorance in understanding, and covetousness in meaning, would be a scandal to the ministry. For the vile person, or the fool, will speak willing, or folly; advancing doctrines opposite to the oracles of wisdom, forks as the ordinance of human nature, the freedom of man’s will, the merit of works, &c. and his heart will need iniquity, which is the natural trait of false principles; to practise hypocrisy, pretending a regard for the interests of piety and religion, when most effectually lapping the foundations of true holiness, and to utter error against the Lord, denying the Godhead, or detaining the glory of the Redeemer, to make empty the soul of the hungry, by withholding from them the bread of life; and he will cause the drink of the chiefly to fail, by turning them away from the doctrines of the tree, all-sufficient, and forerough grace of God, the fountain of living waters, to the empty and broken cisterns of good relubrious formed in man’s self-sufficient strength. The instruments also of the church are evil; his methods to gratify his covetousness, bring more solicitous about his own gain, than the good of the souls committed to him; he de-wised wicked devious to destroy the poor, or afflicted, with lying words, even when the newly festerly right sleep; if any under soul-concern come to enquire, he gives them bad advice how to get rid of their convictions, and heals the hurt slightly; contriving to prejudice them against those who were able to extricate them from their troubles, in the way of grace and truth. Such is the character of a false and faithless minister; but the liberal daughter liberal things; being possessed of a princely spirit, meet for a ruler in God’s church: fraught with Divine grace, or perhaps enjoying the blessings of providence, he contrives how to be useful, dispensing the doctrines of the gospel zealously; nor for flimsy lucre’s sake, but of a willing mind, and in an example to believers in charity and liberality; and by liberal things he shall stand, or be established; his own spirit strengthened, and a blessing bestowed on his labours.

5. Nish. They share 1 year. 2. Am. vi. 1.