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Isaiah Глава 4
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简体中文
Английский оригинал
In this chapter we have, I. A threatening of the paucity and scarceness of man (Isa 4:1), which might fitly enough have been added to the close of the foregoing chapter, to which it has a plain reference. II. A promise of the restoration of Jerusalem's peace and purity, righteousness and safety, in the days of the Messiah, Isa 4:2-6. Thus, in wrath, mercy is remembered, and gospel grace is a sovereign relief, in reference to the terrors of the law and the desolations made by sin.
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Humiliation of the Daughters of Zion (758 BC)
简体中文
锡安女子的降卑（公元前758年）
¹ 在那日，七个女人必拉住一个男人，说：「我们吃自己的食物，穿自己的衣服；但求你许我们归你名下，好除掉我们的羞辱。」
前文曾警告（赛 3:25）说，勇士必在阵上仆倒在刀下，又警告这是对那些喜爱浮华、放荡不羁之妇人的刑罚。此处我们看见那场男人大屠杀的后果：1. 虽然护理如此智慧地安排，使平均年景之下——世上出生的男女数目大致相等；然而因战争所造成的毁坏，七个男人中难得剩下一个活着。正如妇人——因她首先犯罪——有产子之死这一妇女特有的死亡，与之相抵，男人也有其特有的死亡，就是沙场高地上的刀剑之死，这也许比产床吞灭的人更多。此处预言男人必被大批剪除，以致七个女人对应一个男人。2. 因男人稀缺，婚姻虽仍当维持，以补充人口、保存人类在地上不绝，但其通常的方式却要全然改变——本来通常是男人向女人求爱，如今却是女人拉住男人；她们愚蠢地害怕（如罗得的女儿看见所多玛的毁灭，或许以为那毁灭比实际更广时所作的）不久就不再有男人剩下了（创 19:31）；本来女人天性不愿与人分享丈夫，如今七个竟要同心合意作一个男人的妻子；本来按律法，丈夫有义务为妻子提供衣食（出 21:10），这对许多人来说本是反对多妻最有力的理由，这些妇人却情愿自己养活自己；她们要吃自己劳碌得来的饼，穿自己亲手做的衣裳，她们所追求的男人在他们身上毫无花费——她们只求被称为他的妻子，好除掉独身之人的羞辱。她们不惜任何条件都要作妻子，无论条件多么不合理；或许更是因为在这些动荡时日，能有一位丈夫作保护者，对她们是一种恩慈。保罗则相反，认为在患难之时独身更好（林前 7:26）。但愿此处这话不是部分作为对锡安女子的责备而引入——尽管她们身处降卑的护理之中（赛 3:18），她们仍未谦卑；她们非但不为所受的骄傲和虚浮悔改——神正为此与他们相争——她们全部的心思只是要得着丈夫——那女性最大的美——端庄——已被遗忘；在她们看来，淫乱的羞辱比童贞的羞辱还不如，这是美德无可挽回的荒废的可悲征兆。
Английский оригинал
Humiliation of the Daughters of Zion (758 BC)
¹ And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
It was threatened (Isa 3:25) that the mighty men should fall by the sword in war, and it was threatened as a punishment to the women that affected gaiety and a loose sort of conversation. Now here we have the effect and consequence of that great slaughter of men, 1. That though Providence has so wisely ordered that, communibus annis—on an average of years, there is nearly an equal number of males and females born into the world, yet, through the devastations made by war, there should scarcely be one man in seven left alive. As there are deaths attending the bringing forth of children, which are peculiar to the woman, who was first in transgression, so, to balance that, there are deaths peculiar to men, those by the sword in the high places of the field, which perhaps devour more than child-bed does. Here it is foretold that such multitudes of men should be cut off that there should be seven women to one man. 2. That by reason of the scarcity of men, though marriage should be kept up for the raising of recruits and the preserving of the race of mankind upon earth, yet the usual method of it should be quite altered,—that, whereas men ordinarily make their court to the women, the women should now take hold of the men, foolishly fearing (as Lot's daughters did, when they saw the ruin of Sodom and perhaps thought it reached further than it did) that in a little time there would be none left (Ge 19:31),—that whereas women naturally hate to come in sharers with others, seven should now, by consent, become the wives of one man,—and that whereas by the law the husband was obliged to provide food and raiment for his wife (Ex 21:10), which with many would be the most powerful argument against multiplying wives, these women will be bound to support themselves; they will eat bread of their own earning, and wear apparel of their own working, and the man they court shall be at no expense upon them, only they desire to be called his wives, to take away the reproach of a single life. They are willing to be wives upon any terms, though ever so unreasonable; and perhaps the rather because in these troublesome times it would be a kindness to them to have a husband for their protector. Paul, on the contrary, thinks the single state preferable in a time of distress, 1Co 7:26. It were well if this were not introduced here partly as a reflection upon the daughters of Zion, that, notwithstanding the humbling providences they were under (Isa 3:18), they remained unhumbled, and, instead of repenting of their pride and vanity, when God was contending with them for them, all their care was to get husbands—that modesty, which is the greatest beauty of the fair sex, was forgotten, and with them the reproach of vice was nothing to the reproach of virginity, a sad symptom of the irrecoverable desolations of virtue.
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The Future Glory of Zion (758 BC)
简体中文
锡安未来的荣耀（公元前758年）
² 到那日，耶和华发生的苗必华美尊荣，地的出产必为幸存的以色列民成为夸耀。
³ 那时，剩在锡安、留在耶路撒冷的，就是一切住耶路撒冷、在生命册上记名的，必称为圣。
⁴ 因为主必用审判的灵和焚烧的灵，将锡安女子的污秽洗去，又将耶路撒冷中杀人的血除净。
⁵ 耶和华必在锡安全山各处、并其会众之上，造云为白日的烟，夜间使有火焰的光辉；因为在一切荣耀之上必有遮蔽。
⁶ 必有亭子，白日可以得荫避暑，也可以作为藏身之处，又作为避狂风暴雨之处。
借前文那些警告的话，耶路撒冷被带入了一个十分可悲的境地：样样都显得凄凉。但此处乌云背后透出了阳光。这些经文中有许多极大、极宝贵的应许，保证我们能在患难中辨出安慰来，并在患难之后将有快乐的日子；这些应许无疑是指着弥赛亚的国度，以及他所要成就的大救赎，并以希西家在亚哈斯之后所行的归正之治使犹大和耶路撒冷复兴、以及百姓从巴比伦被掳归回为预表和影像。这段话对这两件事也许都有所指向，但主要是指着基督。此处应许——这一切患难的结局乃是：
一、神必兴起一根公义的苗，他要结出义的果子（赛4:2）：「到那日」——就是那日，正当耶路撒冷被毁、犹太民族被剪除四散之时，弥赛亚的国度要被建立；那时教会要复兴，虽然人人都以为她要彻底倾覆了。
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基督自己必被高举。他是「耶和华发生的苗」，是「那人苗」——这是先知性的名字之一：「我仆人苗裔」（亚3:8，6:12）、「公义的苗裔」（耶23:5，33:15）、「从耶西的本必发一条，从他根生的枝子」（赛11:1），有人认为他被称为拿撒勒人（太2:23）正是暗指于此。此处他被称为「耶和华发生的苗」，因为他是借神的大能栽植、为神的赞美而发旺的。古亚兰文意译本此处读作：「主的基督，即弥赛亚。」他必成为华美、荣耀与喜乐。(1) 他自己必被升到摆在前面的喜乐，以及他在创世之前与父同有的荣耀之中。他原是人的羞辱，他的面貌比别人憔悴，他的形容比世人枯槁；如今在属天的世界中，他既华美又尊荣，如日头在它的力量之中，为众天使所仰慕敬拜。(2) 他在一切信的人眼中也必华美尊荣，他必在世人中间得着名分，得名超乎万名之上。对于信的人，他是宝贵的，他是尊荣（彼前2:7），是「超乎万人之上」的（歌5:10），全然荣耀。让我们因他是如此而喜乐，也愿他向我们如此。
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他的福音必被接受。福音的果效就是「耶和华发生的苗」所结的果子；福音一切恩典与安慰都从基督而出。但它被称为「地的出产」，因为它是在这世上生长的，也是为现今的状态而设的。基督把自己比作「一粒麦子」，「落在地里死了，就结出许多子粒来」（约12:24）。福音的果效用「地出土产」（诗67:6）来描绘，基督教会的建立就是神「必将她种在地里」（何2:23）。我们可以把这话理解为福音所产生的人和事：它们「必成为夸耀」，向那「以色列逃脱的人」——那从其余的人不信中获救、免于一同灭亡的犹太余数——显得十分相称、十分可悦（罗11:5）。注意，基督若对我们宝贵，他的福音也必宝贵，福音中一切真理与应许也必宝贵——他的教会也必宝贵，凡属教会的也必宝贵。这些才是地的美果，相比之下别的一切不过是杂草。我们若被带到一个地步，看见基督、看见圣洁、看见圣徒——地上的尊贵人——身上超然的华美，这就向我们证明，我们是蒙拣选的余数，与其余称为「以色列」的人有别，是为得救作了记号。作为这有福之日的预表，耶路撒冷在西拿基立入侵之后、在巴比伦被掳之后，必再如枝条发旺，并蒙受地的果子为福。参赛37:31、32：「剩下的必再往下扎根，向上结果。」我们若将「地的出产」理解为今生的美物，便可以看见：这些美物对于蒙拣选的余数有特别的甘甜——他们因有圣约的权利在其中，便得着最舒适的享用。「耶和华发生的苗」若在我们眼中华美尊荣，连「地的出产」也必成为华美可悦，因为那时我们可以把它看作应许的果子（诗37:16；提前4:8）。
二、神必为自己保留圣洁的种类（赛4:3）。当那些在锡安和耶路撒冷有名有位的人大多因自己的不信如枯枝被剪除之时，仍有些人要存留。有些人要留下，在教会性质改变、成为基督教会之时仍紧紧联于教会；因为神不至「完全弃绝他的百姓」（罗11:1）。这里那里还有留下的一个。如今，1. 这是「照着拣选之恩所留的余数」（如使徒所说，罗11:5），就是那些「记在生命册上」的人——在神的旨意和预知中被记号为得生命和拯救的人，「记名归生命」（原文如此）——不可改变地被定为得此福分；因为「我所写的，已经写了」。在那杀戮、死亡之时被保全存活的人，是在神护理的册子上记名归生命的；那些从更大的死亡中被救出来的人，我们岂不更当看为是「记在羔羊生命册上」的吗（启13:8）？「凡预定得永生的人都信了」，以致「灵魂得救」（徒13:48）。注意，一切「记在活人之中」的人，都必发现在活人之中——一个也不失落；因为凡赐给基督的人，他一个也不失落。2. 这是恩典掌权之下的余数；因为凡「记在活人之中」并据此被留下的人，必「称为圣」——必成为圣洁，也必照此被神悦纳。当「人子把一切叫人跌倒的和作恶的，从他国里挑出来」之时，只有圣洁的人才能被留下；凡蒙拣选得救的人，都是蒙拣选成为圣洁的。见帖后2:13；弗1:4。
三、神必归正他的教会，必纠正、修补其中一切错失之处（赛4:4）。那时余数「必称为圣」，是当「主将他们的污秽洗去」之时——把恶人剪除，从他们中间洗净这污秽；把恶事除掉，从他们里面洗净这污秽。他们直到在某种程度上成为圣洁，才被称为圣。福音时代是归正的时代（来9:10），由希西家日子的归正、以及被掳之后的归正所预表——这应许就是指着它们说的。请看：1. 当归正的地方和当归正的人。耶路撒冷虽是圣城，仍需归正；正因是圣城，她的归正必对全国有良好的影响。锡安的女子也当归正，尤其是妇女——先知已在赛3:16责备了她们。她们披戴饰物之时，自以为十分洁净；但因对这些饰物引以为傲，先知称之为她们的「污秽」——因为没有一样罪比骄傲更惹神憎恶。或者，「锡安的女子」可指各乡镇乡村，它们与作为母城的耶路撒冷相连，也需要归正。2. 归正本身。污秽必被洗净；因为恶行就是污秽，尤其是流人血——耶路撒冷因此臭名昭著（王下21:16），而流人血比任何别的罪更玷污那地。注意，一座城的归正，就是那城的洁净。当败坏的风俗时尚被禁止，恶行的公开实行被约束，那原先如同粪堆之处便成为清洁馨香；这不仅关乎它在外人中的名声和信誉，更关乎居民自己的安康与健康。3. 归正的创始者：「主必」作这事。归正之工是神的工；其中若有什么实在的成效，都是他的作为。但他如何作？借着他护理的审判，罪人被毁灭吞灭；但借着他恩典的灵，他们才被归正回转。这工不是倚靠势力，不是倚靠才能，乃是「倚靠万军之耶和华的灵」而成的（亚4:6）——这灵既在当归正的罪人心中运行，也在君王、牧者和其他当归正工具使用的人身上运行。圣灵在此作为：(1) 审判的灵——光照心思，使良知知罪——智慧的灵，引导我们「行事通达」（赛52:13）——善于分辨、加以区分的灵，将宝贵的与下贱的分别出来。(2) 焚烧的灵——使患难更加有力，使人在善工上热心奋发。圣灵如火一般运行（太3:11）。对基督和灵魂的热切之爱，以及对罪的烈焰之忌邪，必使人坚决前行，「除去雅各的不敬虔」。参赛32:15、16。
四、神必保护他的教会，以及一切属他的人（赛4:5、6）；他们既被炼净、归正，就不再暴露无遮，神必格外看顾他们。成圣的人得着坚固的保障；因为神必作他们的引导和保护。
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他们的帐幕必蒙护卫（赛4:5）。(1) 这保护的文书所指：[1] 他们的住处，就是他们安息的帐幕、他们自己的家——他们在其中独自敬拜神，也和家人一同敬拜。那临到「义人住处」的福分，必成为对它的保护（箴3:33）。在「义人的帐幕里」，必有「欢呼拯救的声音」（诗118:15）。注意，神特别留意、看顾他百姓的住处——每一个住处，最简陋的茅舍如同最宏伟的宫殿一样。当「不义从帐棚中远离」之时，「全能者就必作它的保障」（伯22:23、26）。[2] 他们聚集敬拜的会幕——宗教敬拜的聚会之所。这里没有提到圣殿，因为这应许是指着一个日子说的——那时圣殿的石头没有一块留在石头上不被拆毁；但一切基督徒的会众，哪怕只有两三个人奉基督的名聚集，都必蒙天上特别的保护；他们不再被驱散，不再被扰乱，「凡为攻击他们制造的兵器，都必不灵验」。注意，我们若能在公众中自由敬拜神，免受刀剑战争或逼迫之惊扰，就当看为极大的怜悯。(2) 这保护的文书是以比喻写成的：[1] 取自以色列人行经旷野时营中安全的比喻。神要赐给基督教会他看顾的同样确实的证据，虽不像那时那样可以感官察觉。主必再「造云和日间的烟」，使他们免受日头灼热之苦；又使「夜间火焰的光辉」，照亮并温暖那夜里又冷又暗的空气。见出13:21；尼9:19。这云柱火柱曾隔在以色列人和埃及人之间（出14:20）。注意，神迹虽已止息，神对福音教会的看顾，与古时对以色列的看顾并无二致——昨日、今日、直到永远，都是一样。[2] 取自会幕幔子上那层公羊皮和海狗皮外罩的比喻——仿佛锡安山的每一个住处和每一个聚集，都如同那会幕一样为神所宝爱：「在一切荣耀之上必有遮蔽」，保护它免受风雨侵蚀。注意，地上的教会有她的荣耀。福音的真理与典章、圣经与职事，都是教会的荣耀；这一切荣耀之上都有遮蔽，而且永远必有，因为「阴间的权柄不能胜过教会」。神若自己在他中间作荣耀，他自己就必在她四围作火墙，不能穿透，不能攻取。灵魂中的恩典是它的荣耀；有恩典的人「蒙神能力保守」，如同在坚固台之中（彼前1:5）。
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他们的帐幕必成为对他们的护卫（赛4:6）。神的帐幕曾作圣徒的亭子（诗27:5）；但当那帐幕被拆去之时，他们也不至缺乏隐蔽之处：神的大能与良善必成为一切圣徒的帐幕。神自己必作他们的藏身之处（诗32:7）；他们必在他里面得着安息（诗91:9）。他必亲自作他们「像大磐石的影子」（赛32:2），「他的名」必作他们的「坚固台」（箴18:10）。他不仅作白日避暑的荫庇，更作避狂风暴雨的隐蔽。注意，在这世上，我们必须预期天气的变化，以及随之而来的一切不便；在这低处之地，我们必遇见狂风暴雨，另一些时候又会感到日头灼热同样难当；但无论何种天气，神都是他百姓的避难所。
Английский оригинал
The Future Glory of Zion (758 BC)
² In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
³ And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
⁴ When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
⁵ And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
⁶ And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
By the foregoing threatenings Jerusalem is brought into a very deplorable condition: every thing looks melancholy. But here the sun breaks out from behind the cloud. Many exceedingly great and precious promises we have in these verses, giving assurance of comfort which may be discerned through the troubles, and of happy days which shall come after them, and these certainly point at the kingdom of the Messiah, and the great redemption to be wrought out by him, under the figure and type of the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem by the reforming reign of Hezekiah after Ahaz and the return out of their captivity in Babylon; to both these events the passage may have some reference, but chiefly to Christ. It is here promised, as the issue of all these troubles,
I. That God will raise up a righteous branch, which shall produce fruits of righteousness (Isa 4:2): In that day, that same day, at that very time, when Jerusalem shall be destroyed and the Jewish nation extirpated and dispersed, the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up; and then shall be the reviving of the church, when every one shall fear the utter ruin of it.
1. Christ himself shall be exalted. He is the branch of the Lord, the man the branch; it is one of prophetical names, my servant the branch (Zec 3:8,6:12), the branch of righteousness (Jer 23:5,33:15), a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch out of his roots (Isa 11:1), and this, as some think, is alluded to when he is called a Nazarene, Mt 2:23. Here he is called the branch of the Lord, because planted by his power and flourishing to his praise. The ancient Chaldee paraphrase here reads it, The Christ, or Messiah, of the Lord. He shall be the beauty, and glory, and joy. (1.) He shall himself be advanced to the joy set before him and the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. He that was a reproach of men, whose visage was marred more than any man's, is now, in the upper world, beautiful and glorious, as the sun in his strength, admired and adored by angels. (2.) He shall be beautiful and glorious in the esteem of all believers, shall gain an interest in the world, and a name among men above every name. To those that believe he is precious, he is an honour (1Pe 2:7), the fairest of ten thousand (So 5:10), and altogether glorious. Let us rejoice that he is so, and let him be so to us.
2. His gospel shall be embraced. The success of the gospel is the fruit of the branch of the Lord; all the graces and comforts of the gospel spring from Christ. But it is called the fruit of the earth because it sprang up in this world and was calculated for the present state. And Christ compares himself to a grain of wheat, that falls into the ground and dies, and so brings forth much fruit, Joh 12:24. The success of the gospel is represented by the earth's yielding her increase (Ps 67:6), and the planting of the Christian church is God's sowing it to himself in the earth, Ho 2:23. We may understand it of both the persons and the things that are the products of the gospel: they shall be excellent and comely, shall appear very agreeable and be very acceptable to those that have escaped of Israel, to that remnant of the Jews which was saved from perishing with the rest in unbelief, Ro 11:5. Note, If Christ be precious to us, his gospel will be so and all its truths and promises—his church will be so, and all that belong to it. These are the good fruit of the earth, in comparison with which all other things are but weeds. It will be a good evidence to us that we are of the chosen remnant, distinguished from the rest that are called Israel, and marked for salvation, if we are brought to see a transcendent beauty in Christ, and in holiness, and in the saints, the excellent ones of the earth. As a type of this blessed day, Jerusalem, after Sennacherib's invasion and after the captivity in Babylon, should again flourish as a branch, and be blessed with the fruits of the earth. Compare Isa 37:31,32. The remnant shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. And if by the fruit of the earth here we understand the good things of this life, we may observe that these have peculiar sweetness in them to the chosen remnant, who, having a covenant—right to them, have the most comfortable use of them. If the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious in our eyes, even the fruit of the earth also will be excellent and comely, because then we may take it as the fruit of the promise, Ps 37:16, 1Ti 4:8.
II. That God will reserve to himself a holy seed, Isa 4:3. When the generality of those that have a place and a name in Zion and in Jerusalem shall be cut off as withered branches, by their own unbelief, yet some shall be left. Some shall remain, some shall still cleave to the church, when its property is altered and it has become Christian; for God will not quite cast off his people, Ro 11:1. There is here and there one that is left. Now, 1. This is a remnant according to the election of grace (as the apostle speaks, Ro 11:5), such as are written among the living, marked in the counsel and fore-knowledge of God for life and salvation, written to life (so the word is), designed and determined for it unalterably; for "what I have written I have written." Those that are kept alive in killing dying times were written for life in the book of divine Providence; and shall we not suppose those who are rescued from a greater death to be such as were written in the Lamb's book of life? Re 13:8. As many as were ordained unto eternal life believed to the salvation of the soul, Act 13:48. Note, All that were written among the living shall be found among the living, every one; for of all that were given to Christ he will lose none. 2. It is a remnant under the dominion of grace; for every one that is written among the living, and is accordingly left, shall be called holy, shall be holy, and shall be accepted of God accordingly. Those only that are holy shall be left when the Son of man shall gather out of his kingdom every thing that offends; and all that are chosen to salvation are chosen to sanctification. See 2Th 2:13, Eph 1:4.
III. That God will reform his church and will rectify and amend whatever is amiss in it, Isa 4:4. Then the remnant shall be called holy, when the Lord shall have washed away their filth, washed it from among them by cutting off the wicked persons, washed it from within them by purging out the wicked thing. They shall not be called so till they are in some measure made so. Gospel times are times of reformation (Heb 9:10), typified by the reformation in the days of Hezekiah and that after captivity, to which this promise refers. Observe, 1. The places and persons to be reformed. Jerusalem, though the holy city, needed reformation; and, being the holy city, the reformation of that would have a good influence upon the whole kingdom. The daughters of Zion also must be reformed, the women in a particular manner, whom he had reproved, Isa 3:16. When they were decked in their ornaments they thought themselves wondrously clean; but, being proud of them, the prophet call them their filth, for no sin is more abominable to God than pride. Or by the daughters of Zion may be meant the country towns and villages, which were related to Jerusalem as the mother-city, and which needed reformation. 2. The reformation itself. The filth shall be washed away; for wickedness is filthiness, particularly blood-shed, for which Jerusalem was infamous (2Ki 21:16), and which defiles the land more than any other sin. Note, The reforming of a city is the cleansing of it. When vicious customs and fashions are suppressed, and the open practice of wickedness is restrained, the place is made clean and sweet which before was a dunghill; and this is not only for its credit and reputation among strangers, but for the comfort and health of the inhabitants themselves. 3. The author of the reformation: The Lord shall do it. Reformation-work is God's work; if any thing be done to purpose in it, it is his doing. But how? By the judgment of his providence the sinners were destroyed and consumed; but it is by the Spirit of his grace that they are reformed and converted. This is the work that is done, not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts (Zec 4:6), working both upon the sinners themselves that are to be reformed and upon magistrates, ministers, and others that are to be employed as instruments of reformation. The Spirit herein acts, (1.) As a spirit of judgment, enlightening the mind, convincing the conscience,—as a spirit of wisdom, guiding us to deal prudently, (Isa 52:13),—as a discerning, distinguishing, Spirit, separating between the precious and the vile. (2.) As a Spirit of burning, quickening and invigorating the afflictions, and making men zealously affected in a good work. The Spirit works as fire, Mt 3:11. An ardent love to Christ and souls, and a flaming zeal against sin, will carry men on with resolution in their endeavours to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. See Isa 32:15,16.
IV. That God will protect his church, and all that belong to it (Isa 4:5,6); when they are purified and reformed they shall no longer lie exposed, but God will take a particular care of them. Those that are sanctified are well fortified; for God will be to them a guide and a guard.
1. Their tabernacles shall be defended, Isa 4:5.
(1.) This writ of protection refers to, [1.] Their dwelling places, the tabernacles of their rest, their own houses, where they worship God alone, and with their families. That blessing which is upon the habitation of the just shall be a protection to it, Pr 3:33. In the tabernacles of the righteous shall the voice of rejoicing and salvation be, Ps 118:15. Note, God takes particular cognizance and care of the dwelling-places of his people, of every one of them, the poorest cottage as well as the statliest palace. When iniquity is put far from the tabernacle the Almighty shall be its defence, Job 23:23,26. [2.] Their assemblies or tabernacles of meeting for religious worship. No mention is made of the temple, for the promise points at a time when not one stone of that shall be left upon another; but all the congregations of Christians, though but two or three met together in Christ's name, shall be taken under the special protection of heaven; they shall be no more scattered, no more disturbed, nor shall any weapon formed against them prosper. Note, we ought to reckon it a great mercy if we have liberty to worship God in public, free from the alarms of the sword of war or persecution.
(2.) This writ of protection is drawn up, [1.] In a similitude taken from the safety of the camp of Israel when they marched through the wilderness. God will give to the Christian church as real proofs, though not so sensible, of his care of them, as he then gave to Israel. The Lord will again create a cloud and smoke by day, to screen them from the scorching heat of the sun, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, to enlighten and warm the air, which in the night is cold and dark. See Ex 13:21, Ne 9:19. This pillar of cloud and fire interposed between the Israelites and the Egyptians, Ex 14:20. Note, Though miracles have ceased, yet God is the same to the New-Testament church that he was to Israel of old; the very same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. [2.] In a similitude taken from the outside cover of rams' skins and badgers' skins that was upon the curtains of the tabernacle, as if every dwelling place of Mount Zion and every assembly were as dear to God as that tabernacle was: Upon all the glory shall be a defense, to save it from wind and weather. Note, The church on earth has its glory. Gospel truths and ordinances, the scriptures and the ministry, are the church's glory; and upon all this glory there is a defence, and ever shall be, for the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. If God himself be the glory in the midst of it, he will himself be a wall of fire around about it, impenetrable and impregnable. Grace in the soul is the glory of it, and those that have it are kept by the power of God as in a strong-hold, 1Pe 1:5.
2. Their tabernacle shall be a defence to them, Isa 4:6. God's tabernacle was a pavilion to the saints (Ps 27:5); but, when that is taken down, they shall not want a covert: the divine power and goodness shall be a tabernacle to all the saints. God himself will be their hiding-place (Ps 32:7); they shall be at home in him, Ps 91:9. He will himself be to them as the shadow of a great rock (Isa 32:2) and his name a strong tower, Pr 18:10. He will be not only a shadow from the heat in the daytime, but a covert from storm and rain. Note, In this world we must expect change of weather and all the inconveniences that attend it; we shall meet with storm and rain in this lower region, and at other times the heat of the day no less burdensome; but God is a refuge to his people in all weathers.
本章之中，我们有： I. 一项关于男子稀少匮乏的威胁（赛4:1），将其附于前章之末原也颇为相宜，因它显然与前章相关。 II. 一项应许，论及弥赛亚之日耶路撒冷必恢复的平安与纯洁、公义与安稳，赛4:2-6。 如此，在震怒之中仍记念怜悯，而福音的恩典乃是治本的解救，正针对律法的威吓与罪所造成的荒凉。