Bible Commentaries

Thanksgiving for God's Benefits

v. 1. Lord, Thou art my God, the God of the covenant, the God of salvation, Cf Psa 31:15; Psa 40:6; Psa 143:10. I will exalt Thee, in songs of thanksgiving, I will praise Thy name, as the revelation of His wonderful essence; for Thou hast done wonderful things, Thy counsels of old, those pertaining to the deliverance of His people, are faithfulness and truth; for the Lord has kept, and is keeping, His promises concerning the redemption of mankind.

v. 2. For Thou hast made of a city an heap, laid the wicked world city in ruins, of a defensed city a ruin, as described in the preceding chapter. a palace of strangers to be no city, the fortifications, the citadels being used for the entire city; it shall never be built.

v. 3. Therefore shall the strong people glorify Thee, men of various nations being brought to the knowledge of Jehovah, the city of the terrible nations, despots and tyrants, shall fear Thee, Gentiles everywhere coming to the knowledge of the true God.

v. 4. For Thou hast been a strength to the poor, Mat 5:3, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, so that its fury could do no harm, a shadow from the heat, that of various afflictions caused by tile hostility of men, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall, for thus the furious snorting and raging of the violent enemies appears.

v. 5. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud; the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low, literally, "As the burning of the sun in a dry land Thou didst suppress the raging of tile barbarians, as the burning of the sun by a shadow of a cloud the triumphant song of violent ones must cease"; that is, Just as Jehovah causes the glowing heat of the sun to be cut off by a sheltering bank of clouds, so He is able to quell instantaneously all the raging and the triumph of hosts of enemies.

v. 6. And in this mountain, the spiritual Zion, as the dwelling-place of Jehovah in the midst of His people, shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people, all the inhabitants of the earth being included in His gracious will, a feast of fat things, of the richest foods, a feast of wines on the lees, left on the lees to increase its strength, of fat things full of marrow, rich in strength-building properties, of wines on the lees well refined, properly drawn and filtered. The entire verse, in the Hebrew, is a most poetical and musical song, full of praises for the richness of God's grace in the spiritual food prepared for His children in the Gospel.

v. 7. And He will destroy in this mountain, the habitation of His holy Church, the face of the covering cast over all people and the veil that is spread over all nations, namely, that of their spiritual blindness, brought upon them by their own natural depravity. Cf 2Co 3:15.

v. 8. He will swallow up death in victory, completely abolish it with all its power, 2Ti 1:10; Rev 20:14; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, Rev 21:4; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth, thus removing the cause of all troubles with which men are suffering; for the Lord hath spoken it. In this manner the final victory of the Church is pictured, the happy perfection of all the saints in the glory of heaven. Cf 1Co 15:28-54. After the final victory over death the people of God, delivered from its power, will praise the Lord throughout eternity.

Praise for the Subjection of Moab

v. 9. And it shall be said in that day, namely, the day of final deliverance, at the end of time, Lo, this is our God, He upon whom we can place our confidence in unwavering certainty; we have waited for Him, and He will save us, they depended upon Him to save them and were not disappointed. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation, which the believers will experience and enjoy at that time.

v. 10. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, not only to protect Zion, His Church, but also to effect her revenge, and Moab, representing the sneering enemies of the Church, shall be trodden down under Him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill, to be saturated and rotted by the water of the dung-pit.

v. 11. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, Moab, representing the hostile forces of the world, trying to save himself by a desperate struggle, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his bands to swim, in an unavailing effort. And He, Jehovah, shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands, in spite of all artful attempts of Moab to effect his own deliverance.

v. 12. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls, the strongholds of Moab, shall He bring down, utterly overthrowing them, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust. Thus all the enemies of the Lord will finally be destroyed with the everlasting destruction of the wrath of the just God, while the city of God, the congregation of believers, will triumph with Him in all eternity.