1 Chron. for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it." xxviii. 2. "It was in my heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord." The temple that Solomon built was the rest of the ark, and the rest of the cloud of glory that abode over the ark; which had before that wandered long in the wilderness, and had walked in a tent and in a tabernacle, 2 Sam. vii. 6. But when the temple was built in the place which God chose, then the glory of the Lord had rest, and took up its settled abode there as the place it delighted in; and mount Zion and the temple are in scripture often represented as the dwelling-place and quiet and delightful abode which they long after, and never can be at rest until they come to dwell in, and which shall be their settled dwelling-place. How often does the psalmist, speaking not only in his own name, but the name of the church, express his longings and pantings after God's courts, his amiable tabernacles, his altars, &c., and desire to make this place his rest, as the swallow and sparrow their nest! And how often do the prophets foretell a future redemption of God's people, and their coming from places of captivity and bondage, and from under the hand of their enemies, to dwell in mount Zion, and in God's holy mountain! &c.

But yet sometimes the prophets speak of no temple built by men as God's true rest, but represent heaven as God's true rest. Isai. lxvi. 1. "Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest?" And chap. lvii. 15. "For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place," &c.

The Rest of that Root of Jesse, that should stand for an Ensign, is said to be Glory; so the land of Canaan, Zion, and the temple are said to be the rest of him, who, as an ensign to the people, is represented in the pillar of cloud and fire. The land of Canaan is called the glory of all lands, Ezek. xx. 5. 16, and the glorious land, Dan. xi. 16, and the glorious holy mountain; ver. 45, mount Zion is said to be beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth; and in another place, to be the perfection of beauty. So concerning the temple, it is spoken of as exceedingly magnificent of fame and of glory throughout all lands, 1 Chron. xxii. 5. So in Psalm xxix. 2, as the words might have been (and probably better) translated, it is said, "Worship the Lord in his glorious sanctuary." Ps. xcvi. 6. "Honour and majesty are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." Jer. xvii. 12. "A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." The

temple was truly glorious in Solomon's time, when the people first began fully to enjoy the promised rest in Canaan; David having fully subdued the inhabitants of the land and their enemies round about; and then indeed the land was happy and glorious.

All these things show plainly that here is an allusion to God's salvation of israel of old, when they were brought out of Egypt, and led through the wilderness to Canaan under Christ as their Ensign, manifested by these types and symbols of his presence, Moses's rod, the tabernacle, the ark, and especially the cloud of glory above them; and that the Rod of Jesse here spoken of is that person there exhibited in these types and symbols. And they also manifestly show that the Messiah was to work out another redemption far greater than that of Egypt, of both Jews and Gentiles, and gather them both into one great congregation, and lead them to another and far more glorious rest than that of Canaan, Jerusalem, and the temple, even in their greatest glory in Solomon's time, and a rest which should be his own land, and his own dwelling-place, and temple, where his people should partake with him in his rest, happiness, and glory. And so that, as the apostle says, there remaineth a rest to the people of God, besides that which Joshua brought Israel into; and that heaven is that rest. Some description is given of the comfort and happiness of the rest to which this Ensign guides God's people, in No. 504, on Eph. ii. 7.

[175] Isai. xiii. 20, 21, 22. “It shall never be inhabited. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces." Vide chap. xxxiv. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Babylon represents the whole church or congregation of the wicked; by her being to be destroyed, never to be built or inhabited again, is represented the eternal destruction of the congregation of the wicked; by those doleful creatures here mentioned, as possessing of Babylon, are represented devils which the church of the wicked shall be left to the possession of for ever. Babylon, after its destruction, full of these creatures, represents the church of the wicked in its state of punishment; therefore the apostle John, when speaking of the destruction of mystical Babylon, and alluding to this that is said of old Babylon, says expressly, "She is become the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Rev. xviii. 2.

[87] Isai. xxv. 11. "And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim ;" which was the posture in which Christ was crusified in.

[218] Isai. xxx. 27, to the end, and xxxi. 9. Mr. Bedford supposes (Scripture Chronology, p. 671,) that what is here said respects the time when Rabshakeh came against Jerusalem, and God did so wonderfully appear for the defence of the city, and miraculously slew such a multitude of their enemies in one night. Chap. xxx. 28. It is said that his breath as an overflowing stream should reach to the midst of the neck, i. e. should reduce them to the utmost extremity. This is very agreeable to the manner in which Dr. Prideaux very probably supposes that Rabshakeh's army was destroyed, viz. by God's bringing on them an hot pestilential wind; vide Connect. p. 34, 35; and where it is said here that there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err, this is agreeable to what is said concerning Rabshakeh and his army. chap. xxxvii. 29. It is here said, verse 29, that they should have a song, as in the night, when an holy assembly is kept, and gladness of heart; as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord; to the Mighty One of Israel; and God wrought this great deliverance by slaying Sennacherib's army in the night, as before he had done in Egypt, by slaying the first born in the night, and thereby gave occasion to keep the night of the passover with joy, in a joyful manner, and with songs of praise, which probably was the holy solemnity that the prophet had a special respect to, as Bedford supposes what is said in the 30th verse, together with the 32d, of battles, of shaking, renders it probable that there was an earthquake accompanying that judgment, and also thunder, and lightning, and hail, as was common when God miraculously fought against the enemies of his people, as it was when he fought against Pharaoh and the Egyptians at the Red sea. Ps. lxxvii., at the latter end. "So God fought against the Amorites in Joshua's time, not only with hail, but thunder and lightning." Hab. iii. 11. So God seems to bave fought against Sisera and his host. (See Notes on Judges v. G.) So God fought against the Philistines in Samuel's time. So od seems to have fought sometimes for David, against his enemies, and particularly at Baal-Perazim. Vide Note on Psalm xviii. 7, &c. So Hannah prophesied that God would appear against the enemies of his people. 1 Sam. ii. 10. Thunder, lightning, hail and rain, is God's artillery, that he was wont to make use of when he appeared in battle. Job xxxviii. 22, 23. “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow; or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of

trouble, against the day of battle and war ?" It is probable that the greater part of them might be slain by such a sudden and extraordinary pestilence while asleep; and God might pursue the rest that awoke and escaped the pestilence with a tempest of thunder, lightning, and hail, until the greater part of them were destroyed. And what is said, ver. 32, seems to be much better translated in the margin, viz.: "In every passing of the rod founded which the Lord shall cause to rest upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps ;" this translation is word for word, as it is in the original, meaning the rod of God's anger on the Assyrian. In the foregoing verse with this, it is foretold that the Assyrian, that beat down others with his rod, should be beaten down in his turn with God's rod; and thus to speak of the rod of God's anger is agreeable to the phraseology of scripture: particularly, to call a judgment that God had appointed, a rod that God had founded or established, and to express his subjecting them to the judgment, by God's causing the rod to rest upon them, and to call the smiting with the rod at each stripe, the passings of the rod. We read of these passings of the rod, chap. xxviii. 18, 19. And when it is said it shall be with tabrets and harps, the meaning is, that when God's people shall behold the punishment which he shall bring upon them, it shall cause joy and songs in them, agreeable to verse 29. They shall, as it were, lift up the voice of music and joy, at every time, as they hear the voice or sound of God's avenging rod on their enemies, which is agreeable to what is said with respect to this very judgment on Rabshakeh's army, chap. xxxvii. 22. And what is said, ver. 33, seems well to agree with the place where this great destruction was, viz.: Tophet, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, which was near Jerusalem, on the south side, whither Rabshakeh came from Lachish, Libnah, and Cush, and where he encamped before he could form the siege of the place, as Bedford observes.

The time when they were thus threatened by Sennacherib and Rabshakeh, was a time when they relied on Egypt for help, as appears by the words of Rabshakeh, chap. xxxvi. 6-9, which agrees with the beginning of the xxxi. chap. ; and what is said in the 4th, 5th, and Sth verses of that chapter, exceedingly agrees with the way in which God did by himself, immediately, without making use of the sword of man, defend and fight for Jerusalem, and what is said in the 9th verse, of the Assyrian's passing over to his strong hold for fear, agrees with what is said, chap. xxxvii. 7. 29. 34.37.

[378] Isai. xxxi. 9. "Saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem :" i. e. There he has his throne of judgment where he sits to judge the nations of the world, to try

men as in a refiner's fire, to prove the righteous and justify them, and to consume the wicked. God in judging is represented in scripture as doing the part of a refiner of metals. Mal. ii. 2, 3. "But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth; for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." The place where the refiner fines metals, is where he has his furnace ; and so the place whence God judges the nations of the world, and executes judgment and justice on the earth, is where he has established his throne, which is in Zon. There God is represented as having his throne, and from thence all his judgments that are executed in the earth are represented as proceeding. So in the 1st chap. of Amos, God's judgments upon Syria, and upon the Philistines, Tyrus and Edom, and upon the Ammorites, are represented as proceeding from God in Zion, and from Jerusalem, as ver. 2. "The Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem;" together with what follows in that chapter. So God is represented as judging all nations from thence in the last chapter of Joel, as ver. 16, 17. "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake."-"So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain." And ver. 21. "For the Lord dwelleth in Zion;" together with the rest of the chapter. So it is said, Ps. lxxvi. 2, 3, "In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." So God is represented as judging the nations of the world out of Zion. Ps. 1. at the beginning. "The mighty God, even the Lord hath spoken, and called the earth, from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people." So Isai. ii. 3, 4. "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people." So here God is represented as judging the Assyrians from mount Zion. He that sits in Zion as a refiner, is represented as bringing their young valiaut men to the furnace there, and melting them in the fire, as in the foregoing verse, his young men shall be for melting, as it is in the Hebrew. So in the xxxiii. chap. he is represented as destroying the enemies of Israel, as one that dwelleth on high, and fills Zion with judgment and righteousness. And as God's judgments on his enemies are represented as coming out of Zion, so is the salvation of his people, as Ps. xiv. 7; liii. 6; xx. 2; cx. 2; cxxviii. 5; cxxxiv. 3. The Assyrians that besieged Jerusalem