Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath
shined.
] Or "shall shine" F16; the past for the future, as Kimchi
observes; or "the perfection of the beauty of God hath shined out
of Zion" F17; that is, Christ; he is the
perfection of beauty; he is fairer than the children of men; he
is more glorious than the angels in heaven: as Mediator, he is
full of grace and truth, which makes him very lovely and amiable
to his people: he is the express image of his Father's person;
and the glory of all the divine perfections is conspicuous in his
work of salvation, as well as in himself: now as he was to come
out of Zion, ( Psalms 14:7 ) ; that
is, not from the fort of Zion, or city of Jerusalem; for he was
to be born at Bethlehem; only he was to be of the Jews, and
spring from them; so he shone out, or his appearance and
manifestation in Israel was like the rising sun; see ( Malachi 4:2 ) (
Luke 1:78
Luke 1:79 ) ;
and the love and kindness of God in the mission and gift of him
appeared and shone out in like manner, ( Titus 3:4 ) ; or else the
Gospel may be meant, which has a beauty in it: it is a glorious
Gospel, and holds forth the beauty and glory of Christ. All truth
is lovely and amiable, especially evangelical truth: it has a
divine beauty on it; it comes from God, and bears his impress;
yea, it is a perfection of beauty: it contains a perfect plan of
truth, and is able to make the man of God perfect; and this was
to come out of Zion, ( Isaiah 2:3 ) ; and which
great light first arose in Judea, and from thence shone out in
the Gentile world, like the sun in all its lustre and glory, (
Titus 2:11 ) ;
or, according to our version, "God hath shined out of Zion";
which, as Ben Melech on the text observes, is the perfection of
beauty; see ( Lamentations
2:15 ) ; by which is meant the church under the Gospel
dispensation, ( Hebrews
12:22 ) ; which, as in Gospel order, is exceeding beautiful;
and as its members are adorned with the graces of the Spirit, by
which they are all glorious within; and especially as they are
clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and so are perfectly
comely through the comeliness he hath put upon them and here it
is that Christ, who is the great God, and our Saviour, shines
forth upon his people, grants his gracious presence, and
manifests himself in his ordinances, to their great joy and
pleasure.