I, even I, am he that comforteth you
This is an answer to the prayer of the prophet, or the church by
him, in which the Lord promises not only assistance and help, but
comfort; not only to exert his power and show his great strength
by making bare his arm; but to open his heart, unbosom himself,
and show his great love and strong affection for them; and so
administer divine comforts unto them, giving more than was asked
for: and he promises to do it himself, not by his prophets and
ministers, word and ordinances, though these are the usual means;
but he himself would do it by his Spirit and grace, and the
immediate discoveries of his love; and which he repeats, to show
the certainty of it, as well as to point out to their view the
great Comforter himself; which is an instance of amazing
condescension, and could not fail of exciting admiration and
thankfulness in them; see ( 2
Corinthians 1:3 2
Corinthians 1:4 ) , who art thou, that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die;
a poor faint hearted creature indeed, to be afraid of a frail
mortal dying man; which is the case of every man, even of the
greatest of men, of the kings and princes of the earth, who all
die like other men; the most proud and haughty tyrants, the
fierce and furious persecutors of the people of God. Perhaps the
Roman Pagan persecutors may be had in view, whose edicts were
very terrible to the first Christians, whose persecutions were
very violent and furious, and the tortures and deaths they put
them to were very dreadful; and which put them in great fear
though they had no reason to fear them that could destroy the
body, and do no more; and the rather, since these were mortal
men, and did die, and their persecutions came to an end. Or it
may be, the man of sin, the son of perdition, antichrist, is here
referred to, who in his time has made all to tremble at him, (
Revelation 13:3
Revelation 13:4 ) but
must die, and his power too, and will be destroyed with the
breath of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming; and
therefore his church and people have no reason to be afraid of
him: and of the son of man, which shall be made as
grass;
as weak as that, which cannot stand before the scythe, is cut
down, and tossed about, and trampled upon, and made hay of, and
becomes the food of beasts, ( Psalms 90:5 Psalms 90:6 ) (
103:15 ) ( Isaiah 40:6 ) . Or the
words may be rendered, "and of the son of man, to whom grass
shall be given"; F18 which if understood of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, of whom the people of the Jews
were afraid, and who was a type of antichrist, it was literally
true of him, ( Daniel 4:32 Daniel 4:33 ) .