Comentários bíblicos

Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew [their] strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.

Keep silence before me, O islands, — i.e., O islanders (so the Hebrews called all that were beyond sea to them), with whom God, being about to contest, calleth for silence that he may be heard. The people of Rome could hardly digest a Sιωπησατε , or keep silence from their emperor Adrian, as too severe; Dio in Adrian. but when God thundereth it, men wriggle into their holes as so many worms.

And let the people renew their strength. — Come as strong as they can into the court, with their best advocates and arguments, since they are to debate the cause concerning their religion.

Let them come near together in judgment. — This is a wonderful condescension. En in quantum se demittat Deus!

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Who raised up the righteous [man] from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made [him] rule over kings? he gave [them] as the dust to his sword, [and] as driven stubble to his bow.

Who raised up the righteous man from the east? — Who but myself? Which of your idols can boast of such a man as Abraham was, like as I can?

Called him to his foot. — Making him follow his call with a blind obedience, for he winked and put himself into God’s holy hand, to be led at his pleasure. He "knew not whither he went," Hebrews 11:8 nor much cared, so long as he had God by the hand, or might follow him as a guide, step after step.

He gave the nations before him. — Genesis 14:14 . His posterity also prevailed exceedingly. And thus God stoppeth the mouths of those idolaters who insulted over the Israelites, because afflicted and subdued by other nations, as Cicero doth in his oration for Quintus Flaccus, extolling therefore their idols above the true God.

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He pursued them, [and] passed safely; [even] by the way [that] he had not gone with his feet.

He pursued them, and passed in safety. — He got an unbloody victory over the four kings, not losing a man of all those unexpert soldiers. This was a great mercy, if not a miracle. War is usually utrique triste; no matter who wins a sorrow, victory is oft like a golden fishhook, which, lost or broken, cannot be paid for with that it taketh.

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Who hath wrought and done [it], calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I [am] he.

Who hath wrought and done it? — Here the Gentiles should have answered for God, which because they did not, but were senselessly silent, therefore he answereth by a description of himself.

Calling the generations from the beginning. — Giving them their being, and having them at a beck.

I the Lord, the first, and with the last. — πρωτος τε και υστατος, εν τε μεσοι σιν . This was anciently believed concerning God, as Plato De Leg., lib. iv. testifieth. A te principium tibi desinet. Virgil.

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The isles saw [it], and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.

The isles saw it. — The heathens were convinced by the former arguments, yet not converted; they were afraid, and yet they came together to confirm themselves mutually in their abominable idolatries.

Yea, they drew near. — As it were, to justify their idolatries before the Lord. Such is the desperate obstinace of obdurate sinners. Pharaoh menaced Moses, even during that palpable darkness. The Philistines were afraid when they saw the ark of the covenant brought into the field, and yet they encourage one another to fight against Israel. 1 Samuel 4:8-9 The thief on the cross was under the arrest of death, and yet railed. Felix trembled, and yet expected a bribe from St Paul. There is a cold sweat sitteth on all the limbs of Antichrist at this day, and yet they repent not of their idolatries, nor murders, nor sorceries, nor fornication, nor thefts, Revelation 9:20-21 but defend them all they can.

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They helped every one his neighbour; and [every one] said to his brother, Be of good courage.

They helped every one his neighbour. — Thus those desperate idolaters did from the first. Eusebius In Chron. telleth us, that in the seventh year of Abraham, Ninus, the founder of Nineveh, set up an image of his father Belus, which was worshipped after his death. So did other princes, by his example, not moved with God’s mercies showed to Abraham, who worshipped the true God alone, setting up altars to him wherever he came.

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So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, [and] he that smootheth [with] the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It [is] ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, [that] it should not be moved.

So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith. — Because no small gain was brought hereby unto these craftsmen. Acts 19:24-25 The Jewish doctors tell us that Terah, the father of Abraham, was an image maker at Ur of the Chaldees, till God called him thence. Hyperius saith, that all these words are to be taken as pronounced with derision and contempt, that so the vanity of idols may the more plainly be perceived, since they have no more worth than is given them by their worshippers.

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But thou, Israel, [art] my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

But thou, Israel, art my servant. — And it was for thy sake, and for thy settlement, that I have dealt so long with those odious idolaters, whom else I would not once look toward nor commune with, as he said, 2 Kings 3:14 .

The seed of Abraham, my friend. — This style was a higher honour to Abraham than if God had engraven his name in the orbs of heaven. See Trapp on " James 2:23 " Hushai was David’s "friend," and Augustus vouchsafed to give Virgil the name of "Amicus." This was a special favour, but not like that in the text.

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