Thy people shall be willing in the day of that
power.
&c.] Or, in the day of thine army F19. When
thou musterest thy forces, sendest forth thy generals, the
apostles and ministers of the word, in the first times of the
Gospel; when Christ went forth working with them, and their
ministry was attended with signs, and miracles, and gifts of the
Holy Ghost; and which was a day of great power indeed, when
wonderful things were wrought; the god of this world was cast
out, the Heathen oracles ceased, their idols were abolished, and
their temples desolate; and Christianity prevailed everywhere. Or
this may respect the whole Gospel dispensation, the day of
salvation, which now is and will be as long as the world is; and
the doctrine of it is daily the power and wisdom of God to them
that are saved. Or rather this signifies the set time of love and
life to every particular soul at conversion; which is a day for
light, and a day of power; when the exceeding greatness of the
power of God is put forth in the regeneration of them: and the
people that were given to Christ by his Father, in the covenant
of grace, and who, while in a state of nature, are rebellious and
unwilling, are made willing to be saved by Christ, and him only;
to serve him in every religious duty and ordinance; to part with
their sins and sinful companions, and with their own
righteousness; to suffer the loss of all things for him; to deny
themselves, and take up the cross and follow him: and when they
become freewill offerings to him, as the word F20
signifies; not only willingly offer up their spiritual sacrifices
of prayer and praise, but themselves, souls and bodies, to him;
as well as enter volunteers F21 into his service, and
cheerfully fight his battles, under him, the Captain of their
salvation; being assured of victory, and certain of the crown of
life and glory, when they have fought the good fight, and
finished their course. The allusion seems to be to an army of
volunteers, such as described by Cicero F23, who
willingly offered themselves through their ardour for liberty.
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the
morning:
this does not design the place where these willing subjects of
Christ should appear; either in Zion, beautiful for situation; or
in Jerusalem, the holy city, compact together; or in the temple,
the sanctuary, in which strength and beauty are said to be; or in
the church, the perfection of beauty: but the habit or dress in
which they should appear, even in the beautiful garment of
Christ's righteousness and holiness; the robe of righteousness,
and garments of salvation; the best robe, the wedding garment;
gold of Ophir, raiment of needlework; and which is upon all them
that believe: as also the several beautiful graces of the Spirit;
the beauty of internal holiness, by which saints are all glorious
within; and holiness is the beauty and glory of God himself, of
angels and glorified saints. This, though imperfect now, is the
new man put on as a garment; and is true holiness, and very
ornamental. The phrase, "from the womb of the morning", either
stands in connection with "the beauties of holiness"; and the
sense is, that as soon as the morning of the Gospel dispensation
dawns, these people should be born again, be illuminated, and
appear holy and righteous: or, "from the womb, from the morning
F24", shall they be "in the beauties of
holiness"; that is, as soon as they are born again, and as soon
as the morning of spiritual light and grace breaks in upon them,
and they are made light in the Lord, they shall be clad with
these beautiful garments of holiness and righteousness; so, "from
the womb", signifies literally as soon as men are born; see (
Psalms 58:3 )
( Isaiah
48:8 ) ( Hosea 9:11 ) or else
with the latter clause, "thou hast the dew of thy youth": and so
are rendered, "more than the womb of the morning", i.e. than the
dew that is from the womb of the morning, is to thee the dew of
thy youth; that is, more than the dew of the morning are thy
converts; the morning is the parent of the dew, ( Job 38:28 ) , but the
former sense is best; for this last clause is a remember or
proposition of itself,
thou hast the dew of that youth;
which expresses the open property Christ has in his people, when
made willing; and when they appear in the beauty of holiness, as
soon as they are born of the Spirit, and the true light of grace
shines in them; then those who were secretly his, even while
unwilling, manifestly appear to belong unto him: so young lambs,
just weaned, are in Homer F25 called (ersai) , "dews"; and it is remarkable
that the Hebrew words for "dew" and "a lamb" are near in sound.
Young converts are Christ's lambs; they are Christ's youth, and
the dew of it; they are regenerated by the grace of God,
comparable to dew, of which they are begotten to a lively hope of
heaven; and which, distilling upon them, makes them fruitful in
good works; and who for their numbers, and which I take to be the
thing chiefly designed by this figure, are like to the drops of
the dew; which in great profusion is spread over trees, herbs,
and plants, where it hangs in drops innumerable: and such a
multitude of converts is here promised to Christ, and which he
had in the first times of the Gospel, both in Judea, when three
thousand persons were converted under one sermon; and especially
in the Gentile world, where the savour of his knowledge was
diffused in every place; and as will be in the latter day, when a
nation shall be born at once, and the fulness of the Gentiles be
brought in. The sense given of these words, as formed upon the
Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, respecting the generation
of Christ's human or divine nature, is without any foundation in
the original text.