The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion
His royal and powerful sceptre, called the sceptre of righteousness, ( Psalms 45:6 ) and is no other than the Gospel, the power of God unto salvation; and which is mighty through him, for the reducing souls to the obedience of Christ; when it comes with power, and works effectually. This was first preached in Zion, or Jerusalem, and went out from thence into all parts of the world; the first ministers of it had their commission there, and were sent from thence to publish it all over the world; see ( Isaiah 2:3 ) ( Luke 24:47 ) ( Acts 1:4 ) ( 8:4 ) , by means of which the kingdom of Christ was set up and spread in the world; with this rod and sceptre in his hand, he went forth with his ministers, conquering and to conquer, ( Revelation 6:2 ) . The Jews F18 own this rod to be a rod in the hand of the Messiah, which they seem to understand literally; and have a fabulous notion of its being the same that Jacob, Judah, Moses, Aaron, David, and so every king of Judah, had, down to the destruction of the temple: the Targum in the king's Bible is,
``the Word of the Lord shall send''
the essential Word.
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies;
or, "thou shalt rule", as the Targum and Arabic version; in the hearts of those who, in their unregenerate state, are enemies: but the arrows of his word being sharp in them, they are brought to submit to him; the everlasting doors are caused to open; he enters in, takes possession of their hearts, and rules there. Or this may be understood of his church in the world, which is his kingdom, and lies surrounded with enemies on all hands; but, in spite of them, and all their opposition, he will support his kingdom and interest.