Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour
down
righteousness
Or, "the righteous One", as the Vulgate Latin version; the Lord
our righteousness, Christ the author of righteousness, who was to
bring in an everlasting one; and whose coming was to be, and was,
as the rain, as the former and latter rain to the earth, (
Hosea 6:3 ) ,
and who came from heaven to earth to fulfil all righteousness;
and with him came an abundance of blessings of rich grace, even
all spiritual blessings, peace, pardon, righteousness, salvation,
and eternal life, which were poured down from above upon the sons
of men; thus the Holy Ghost, the spirit of prophecy, proceeds at
once from Cyrus to Christ, from the type to the antitype, from
the temporal redemption of the Jews to the spiritual redemption
of the Lord's people; and these words are to be considered, not
as a petition of the prophet, or of the church, for the coming of
Christ, and salvation by him; but a promise and prophecy of it.
Aben Ezra and Kimchi take them to be an address to the angels of
heaven to assist in the affair of the salvation of Israel; these
did drop down or descend, even a great multitude of them, at the
incarnation of Christ, and published the good tidings of good
things that came by him: let the earth open, and let them
bring forth salvation;
or the "Saviour", as the Vulgate Latin version; Christ the author
of salvation, who was appointed to be the salvation or Saviour of
his people, who came to effect it, and has obtained it; heaven
and earth were both concerned in bringing forth this "fruit" of
righteousness and salvation, as the word F15
rendered "bring forth" signifies; see ( Isaiah 4:2 ) . Christ
was the Lord from heaven, and yet made of a woman in the lowest
parts of the earth: Christ, who is the "truth", sprung "out of
the earth"; and he, who is the author of "righteousness", looked
down from heaven, ( Psalms 85:11
) and it follows: "let righteousness spring up together"; or "bud
forth" F16 as a branch; one of the names of
the Messiah, frequent in prophecy: I the Lord have created
it;
or that, both righteousness and salvation; or Christ as man, the
author of both, whom God appointed, and raised up, and sent to be
the Redeemer and Saviour of his people. The Targum interprets
this of the resurrection of the dead, paraphrasing the whole
thus;
``let the heavens from above minister, and the clouds flow with good; let the earth open, and the dead revive; and let righteousness be revealed together; I the Lord have created them.''