And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and
a
covert from the tempest
Or, "that man"; the King Messiah before mentioned; who had agreed
to become man, was promised and prophesied of as such, had often
appeared in a human form, was to be incarnate, and now is; though
he is not a mere man; were he, he could not be what is here said
of him, "as a hiding place, and covert from the wind and
tempest", of his Father's wrath, raised by sin; and which all men
are deserving of, and on whom it must fall, unless secured from
it by Christ; who has bore it in the room and stead of his
people, has turned it away, and delivered them from it, and all
the effects of it, so that nothing of it comes upon them; he has
endured the whole force of the storm himself; and his
righteousness, blood, sacrifice, and intercession, screen his
people from it: he also hides and covers them from Satan's
temptations, the blast of the terrible ones, which is as a storm
against the wall, so as they shall not be destroyed by them; by
praying for them, succouring of them, supplying them with his
grace, and delivering from them in his own time: likewise he
protects them from the rage and fury of their persecuting
enemies, when they come like a "whirlwind" to "scatter" them;
they have rest in him, when troubled by men; and security by him,
when these winds and waves beat upon them; and when they are
tossed with the tempests of afflictions of various kinds, he
bears them up under them, and carries them through them, and
delivers out of them, and brings them at last safe to glory:
as rivers of water in a dry place;
which are very delightful, refreshing, and fructifying. This
denotes the abundance of grace in Christ, and the freeness of it,
which flows from the boundless ocean of divine love, and which
greatly comforts and refreshes the souls of the Lord's people in
this dry and barren land, and makes them cheerful and fruitful,
revives their spirits, makes glad their hearts, and causes them
to go on their way rejoicing: as the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land:
to travellers in it, who passing through a desert in hot
countries and sultry climates, are glad when they find a rock
which casts a shade, under which their can sit a while, sheltered
from the scorching sun. Such a weary land is this world to the
saints, who are wearied with sins, their own and others, with
Satan's temptations, with afflictions and troubles of various
sorts; Christ is the "Rock" that is higher than they, to whom
they are directed and led when their hearts are overwhelmed
within them; on whom not only their souls are built, and their
feet are set, and he is a shelter to them; but he casts a shadow,
which is very reviving and refreshing, and that is the shadow of
his word and ordinances, under which they sit with delight and
pleasure, and which makes their travelling through this
wilderness comfortable.