. LIII. all Eternity; the Pleasure of the Lord hall profper in his Chapter Hands; that is, the great Work of Man's Redemption fhall be accomplish'd by him, that Work which the Lord delights in, who defires not the death of a Sinner. Thus we fee how exactly the Words agree with our Saviour, which Grotius taking Afham in another Senfe, applies thus to Jeremiah; Innocent he was, yet it pleas'd the Lord to bruife him, and put him to Grief; and tho' he suffer'd the Punishment of their Iniquity, yet he fhall fee his Seed, the Children which he fhall beget to the Lord by his Instructions: he shall prolong his Days, that is, live a long time, confidering the difficulties and hard fhips he fhall ftruggle with, and the pleasure of the Lord fhall profper in his hands. This Senfe of Punishment (a) Alham (a) Gouffet. will bear, but I think not in this place, where the Prophet fpeaks of laying down Life, or being an expiatory Sacrifice for Sin, which is the proper Import of the Word. Ver. 11. He shall fee of the travel of his foul, and shall be fatisfied: by his knowledge fhall my righteous fervant juftifie many: for he shall bear their iniquities.] That is, he fhall injoy the fruit of his Labour, ducta Metaphorâ ab Agricolis, fays Capel, who after the toil of Plowing and Sowing is over, wait for a while in hope, and then are pleas'd to fee the teeming Earth adorn'd with the promifing figns of a plentiful Harveft: So fhall our Saviour Chrift be pleas'd to fee fo many thoufands by his Sufferings fav'd, and think them abundantly recompens'd, tho the benefit redound to others; by his knowledge fhall my righteous Servant justify many, that is, by fuch a knowledge of him, as is naturally productive of Faith and Obedience, many shall be juftify'd, acquitted of the Sins they are guilty of, and might juftly be condemn'd for, but fhall be pardon'd in confideration of the Sufferings of my righteous innocent Servant; for he fhall bear their Iniquities, that is, by bearing the punishment of them he fhall quite take away their Guilt; and in this Senfe the Son of God alone can be faid, to bear Mens Iniquities: But as he who perfuades Men to forfake their Sins, may be faid to take them away Metaphorically, in this Senfe, Grotius understands it of the Prophet Jeremiah, and gives the whole Verfe this Gcc 2 turn, Chapter turn. He fhall live a long while to injoy the Fruit of LIII. his Labour, and be fatisfy'd at the fight of it; by that fof. 5. 14. knowledge which he has of God. He fhall juftify many, that is, he hall by his Example and Inftruction prevail on many of the Heathen to turn to the Living God, and take away their Sins by reforming their Manners. Ver. 12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong: because he bath poured out his foul unto death: and he was numbred with the tranfgreffors, and he bare the fin of many, and made interceffion for tranfgreffors.] The Word which we render to divide fignifies to give or beftom, according to which the. Senfe of the Prophet is, I will bestow many upon him, or give him many to be his Subjects; and is equivalent to that of the Pfalmift, I will give him the Heathen for his Inheritance; and the Words fhould be render'd, Therefore I will give him many Nations for his Inheritance; that is, many hall be converted to his Faith, and become his Inheritance or peculiar People. And he shall divide the spoil with the trong, Chrift is defcrib'd in Scripture, fays Capel, as General of the Heavenly Hoft, 'Apxsetny ds This Sundμews to Kueis, therefore the Prophet here fpeaks of him, as triumphing over his Enemies, and dividing the fpoil among thofe valiant followers of him,who diftinguish'd themselves by their bravery in attacking and repelling the Enemy: So that by Natzumim must be understood thofe ftout Soldiers of Chrift, who arm'd with the Weapons of their Spiritual Warfare, not only maintain their own ground, but make Satan retire and flee before them. Therefore he fall divide the fpoil with the strong; that is, therefore God will put it into his Power to recompence his faithful followers, and exalt them to that Place to which his Sufferings exalted him, because he pour'd out his Soul unto Death; and this we find in the New Teftamet, affign'd as the Reason of his Exaltation: Because he humbled himself even to the Death of the Crofs, therefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name above all Names. And he was number'd with the Tranfgreffors. There is no Article in the Original, and therefore it may be omitted in the Tranflation; he was reckon'd among the Tranfgreffors and us'd accordingly, being put to Death in the fame infamous manner as Chapter LIII. as the worst of Criminals us'd to be. And made interceffion for the tranfgreffors; for thofe very Tranfgreffors by whom he was put to Death, as he did on the Cross, and as he does ftill at the right Hand of his Father, for all thofe who have any Intereft in him: A plainer defcription of Chrift it is not poffible for any one to make, who is acquainted with the Hiftory of his Sufferings; yet Grotius gives the following Interpretation of this Verfe, I. will divide him a Portion with many (as the Original Rabbim fignifies, not great as in our Tranflation) that is, the Chaldeans fhall fave the Lives of many Jews, for Jeremiah's fake, He fhall divide the Spoil with the ftrong; and this he actually did, receiving a Prefent of the Spoils of his Brethren, from the Hand of Nebuzaradan, who offer'd to give ferem.. 40. 5. him any part of the Land which he lik'd beft. Because be pour'd out his Soul unto Death, expos'd himself to the Dangers of Death, by boldly reproving the Vices of his Countrymen. And was reckon'd with the tranfgreffors, was ferem. 26. 8. us'd as a Criminal,put in Chains and caft into a Dungeon; He bare the Sins of many, that is, for the Sins of the People he fuffer'd thefe Afflictions, and made interceffion for the tranfgreffors, that is, at the very time when he fuffer'd at the Hands of his Brethren, he never ceas'd to fend up his Prayers to Heaven to implore God's pardon for them. Any one who has any knowledge of the Hebrew ferem. 14.7. Language will at first fight difcover, what violence is offer'd to. the Original Expreffions by this Interpretation of Grotius, and how exactly every Character here agrees with the circumftances of our Saviour's Death and Paffion, in the firft literal allow'd Senfe of the Words. The The ARGUMENT of Chapter LIV. (a) Forerius. Some (a) understand this Chapter of the Church Triumphant (b) San&tius, A Lapide, Munfter, Clarius. Chapter in Heaven, and (b) others of the Church Militant on Earth; but when they come to explain upon what account either of them is calld Barren, or in what Senfe either of them may be faid to be defolate, they give fuch accounts as can never fatisfy any one, who is not ready to swallow every thing without Examination. The Prophet certainly Speaks of Jerufalem in Captivity, of whom in every Chapter but the last he has been speaking from the beginning of the 40th Chapter, and Jonathan in his Paraphrafe has put in the Name of Jerufalem; Whom the Prophet endeavours to comfort under her affliction by affuring her, that the number of her Children should be greater after the time of her Captivity than before, in confidence of which he advises her to make room for them: At the 5th Verfe he calls God her" Husband, and tho' he might feem to have forfaken her, yet ftill he own'd the relation, and would make her amends for the short interval of her affliction, as he calls her 70 Years Captivity, by fhouring down Blessings on her for a longer continuance. Then Verfe 11th he breaks out into a Compasfionate reflection on the greatness of her Sufferings, and promifes to restore her to greater Splendor than ever fhe fhin'd with in the height of her Profperity; and lastly, gives a hint that her malicious Neighbours fhould endeavour to binder .her Reestablishment, but ingages to frustrate all their defigns. Ver. 1. CHAP. LIV. ING, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into finging, and cry aloud, thou that didft not travail with child: for more are the children of the defolate, than the children of the married wife, faith the Lord.] The Senfe of the Prophet wou'd be more easily understood, if the Words were Tranflated a little more loosely. Sing, O Jerufalem, who hast now for a while been in the condition of a barren Woman, break forth into finging, and cry aloud, thou that haft not travail'd with Child, thefe many years; for for more shall be the Children of the defolate, that is, Thou Chapter who art now defolate without Inhabitants, shalt have more LIV. Children than thou hadst when thou waft a married Wife. He fpeaks of the different circumstances of Jerufalem, as if The were a different Perfon in each, a Widow in Captivity, and a Wife in the Time before it, and bids her rejoice, and lift up her Voice and fing, for the Time was coming wherein, tho' at prefent fhe had no Children at all, the Children of her Widowhood fhould be more than ever she had when a Wife; and thus the Chaldee Paraphraft has very well render'd the Words, Lauda Ferufalem que eras quafi mulier fterilis que non peperit, exulta in laude & gaude que eras quafi mulier que non concepit: quoniam plures futuri funt filii Ferufalem deferta quam filii urbis habitabilis, dicit Dominus. Wherein fonathan faithfully gives the meaning of the Words, tho' he does not confine himself to an exact Tranflation Word for Word, which he might with lefs Obfcurity do, because of the Agreement of the Two Languages, than our modern Tranflators, because of the great Difference of the Hebrew and our Languages. Ver. 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them ftretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; fpare not, lengthen thy cords, and ftrengthen thy ftakes.] Having foretold the vaft Encrease of her Inhabitants, he bids her to prepare room for them, by enlarging her Buildings, and extending her Walls to a wider Compafs, under the Similitude of a Tent. Ver. 3. For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy feed fhall inherit the Gentiles, and make the defolate cities to be inhabited.] Thou shalt break forth. The Metaphor feems to be taken from a Storehoufe, wherein fuch abundance of Goods is heap'd up, that the very Walls give way and fall down. Thy feed fhall inherit the Gentiles. He speaks as if all the Captives were to return to Jerufalem firft, and not finding fufficient room there,fhould spread themselves over the defolate Cities of Judea, and inherit the ufurp'd Poffeffions of the Babylonian Gentiles who were left in their room, or else that they fhould enlarge the Bounds of their Dominion, and not be confin'd within the antient Limits of Judea, but conquer fome of the neighbouring Nations, and fettle therein. If there were nothing elfe in this whole Chapter but thefe Two Words, Nirim Neshammoth, |