Therefore thus saith the Lord God
This being the case, the following contrast is formed between
those that believed in Christ, and those that rejected him:
behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be
hungry:
which has been verified in a literal sense; for the Christians,
the Lord's righteous servants, as the Targum in the several
clauses calls them, were, as Eusebius F5
relates, by a divine warning, directed to leave Jerusalem, before
the destruction of it; when they removed to a place called Pella,
beyond Jordan, where they had proper accommodations; while the
unbelieving Jews were penned up in the city, and were starved,
and multitudes of them died by famine: and in a figurative sense
they had a famine, not of bread, or of water, but of hearing the
word of the Lord; the Gospel being taken from them, and sent to
another people, who received it, and ate it, and were nourished
by it; which is bread that strengthens, meat that is savoury,
milk that nourishes, honey that is sweet to the taste, delicious
fruit, and all that is wholesome and healthful; Christ in the
word particularly, who is the Lamb of God, the fatted calf, the
hidden manna, the bread of life and spiritual meat, as his flesh
is, is the food which believers eat by faith, and feed upon, and
are nourished with; while others starve, feeding upon ashes and
husks, on that which is not bread. Kimchi interprets this and the
following clauses, figuratively, of the reward of the world to
come, and of the delights and pleasures of the soul, signified by
eating and drinking; and so, he says, their Rabbins interpret it;
see ( Luke
14:15 ) . Behold, my servants shall drink, and ye shall
be thirsty;
which has the same sense as before, the same thing in different
words. Particularly true believers in Christ drink of his blood
by faith, which is drink indeed; and of the grace of Christ,
which is the water of life, of which they may drink freely; and
of the Gospel of Christ, which is as wine and milk, and as cold
water to a thirsty soul; and of the love of Christ, which is
better than wine; and they shall drink of new wine with him in
the kingdom of his Father; while the wicked shall thirst after
their sins and lusts now, and have no satisfaction in them, and
hereafter will want a drop of water to cool their tongues.
Behold, my servants shall rejoice;
in Christ, in his person, grace, and fulness; in his
righteousness and salvation; and in hope of the glory of God by
him: but ye shall be ashamed;
of their vain confidence; of their trust in their own
righteousness, in their temple, and the service of it; in their
troops and numbers, particularly when taken and carried captive;
and more especially this will be their case at the great day of
judgment, when they shall see him whom they have pierced.