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| 1 Wo, spoiler! and thou not spoiled, And treacherous! and they dealt not treacherously with thee, When thou dost finish, O spoiler, thou art spoiled, When thou dost finish dealing treacherously, They deal treacherously with thee. |
Thee that spoilest – We will know who is meant when the time of trouble is fully on, or nearly over. R2488:5
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| 2 O Jehovah, favour us, for thee we have waited, Be their arm, in the mornings, Yea, our salvation in time of adversity. |
Be gracious unto us – The saints in the time of trouble. A338; R1470:5
Be thou their arm – The helper of all truth seekers, even though not overcomers. R1470:5
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| 3 From the voice of a multitude fled have peoples, From thine exaltation scattered have been nations. |
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| 4 And gathered hath been your spoil, A gathering of the caterpillar, As a running to and fro of locusts is he running on it. |
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| 5 Set on high is Jehovah, for He is dwelling on high, He filled Zion [with] judgment and righteousness, |
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| 6 And hath been the stedfastness of thy times, The strength of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge, Fear of Jehovah it [is] His treasure. |
Fear of the LORD – Reverence. R1470:5
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| 7 Lo, 'Their Ariel,' they have cried without, Messengers of peace do weep bitterly. |
Shall cry without – Shall become discouraged and weep, powerless to stem the tide of anarchy. R1470:5
Verses 7 to 14 give a vivid description of the awful time of trouble. R5735:4
Ambassadors of peace – Those who are crying "Peace, peace" and predicting a Millennium of peace by arbitration. R1470:5
Shall weep bitterly – When the time of trouble brings their hopes to naught. R1470:5
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| 8 Desolated have been highways, Ceased hath he who passeth along the path, He hath broken covenant, He hath despised enemies, He hath not esteemed a man. |
The highways – Of commerce. R1470:6
The wayfaring man – The traveler. R1470:6
Broken the covenant – Contracts cease to be of value. R1470:6
Despised the cities – Which, because depending on commerce, will become very undesirable places. R1470:6
Regardeth no man – Principles of honor and manhood will no longer be regarded or trusted. R1470:6
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| 9 Mourned, languished hath the land, Confounded hath been Lebanon, Withered hath been Sharon as a wilderness, And shaking are Bashan and Carmel. |
The earth – Society in general. R1470:6
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| 10 Now, do I arise, saith Jehovah, Now I am exalted, now I am lifted up. |
Lift up myself – The appointed time to overthrow the present order of things and establish the Kingdom of God having come. R1874:2
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| 11 Ye conceive chaff, ye bear stubble, Your spirit! fire devoureth you. |
Ye – The "sinners in Zion." (Verse 14) R1874:3
Bring forth stubble – When you draw the worldly into the nominal church. R1874:3
Your breath – False doctrines of belief and policy. R1874:3
As fire – Shall set her on fire. R1470:6
Shall devour you – Lead to fearful trouble and destruction. R1874:3
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| 12 And peoples have been [as] burnings of lime, Thorns, as sweepings, with fire they burn. |
The people – Assembled as a religious union. R1874:3
Burnings of lime – An organization of such heterogeneous elements must, of necessity, be self-destructive. R1874:3
Like staking lime; the heat will be intensified as the water of truth is cast on, until the hardness of heart is all dissolved, bringing them into complete harmony with the laws of the Millennial Kingdom. R1470:6
As thorns – The coming religious union will be a union of thorns; each party will be a thorn in the flesh of the other. R1874:3; D552, D267
Cut up – Made ready. R1874:3
Burned in the fire – Consumed; have their opportunities for doing evil destroyed. R1470:6
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| 13 Hear, ye far off, that which I have done, And know, ye near ones, My might. |
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| 14 Afraid in Zion have been sinners, Seized hath trembling the profane: Who doth dwell for us consuming fire, Who doth dwell for us burnings of the age |
The sinners in Zion – In nominal spiritual Zion. D23
Who have forgotten, or failed to keep, their covenant with the Lord. C304
Wilfully blind leaders and their wilfully blind followers who love and prefer error. R1874:5
Are afraid – Of the clouds of the time of trouble. C304
The hypocrites – Those of the clergy who offer their own false reasonings along the lines of Evolution as superior to the Word of God. R1874:6
They are seized with the fear of sectarian fences, gates and bars; wild lest their hypocrisy be revealed. CR351:2; HG557:6
Who among us – A class who will not be consumed. R1470:6
Like the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace, coming out of the flames without even the smell of fire upon them. R2087:4*
Everlasting burnings – The trouble which threatens to last until the whole present order of things is consumed. R1875:2, R2087:4*
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| 15 Whoso is walking righteously, And is speaking uprightly, Kicking against gain of oppressions, Shaking his hands from taking hold on a bribe, Stopping his ear from hearing of blood, And shutting his eyes from looking on evil, |
Walketh righteously – Who have no part nor lot with the workers of iniquity. R1875:2
Contrary to the course of this present world. R1875:4
Speaketh uprightly – Bold and fearless presentation of the truth. R1875:4
Gain of oppressions – Refusing to be profited by any unrighteous scheme. R2087:3*
Holding of bribes – Cannot be bribed to do evil. R2087:3*, R1875:5
Hearing of blood – Any scheme that might cost another's life, or wreck him morally, physically or financially. R1471:1, R2087:3*
From seeing evil – From beholding evil approvingly or with quiet acquiescence. R2087:3*
Determined opposition to sin in all its forms and a firm resistance to it. R3114:4
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| 16 He high places doth inhabit, Strongholds of rock [are] his high tower, His bread hath been given, his waters stedfast. |
He shall – The Church of Christ. Q270:T
Dwell on high – Above the fears, unrest and distress which will overwhelm the world. R1875:5
In the place of divine favor. R2087:4*
Munitions of rocks – The Rock of Ages. R1875:5
Bread – The Bread of life, spiritual and physical. R1875:5
"Give us this day our daily bread." (Matt. 6:11) R5202:4
Shall be given him – Whatever we have, we acknowledge our dependence upon the Lord for what he provides for us; and we ask for nothing beyond what he does provide. R5202:5
He who sustained Elijah can equally sustain us. R2326:3
His waters – The water of life, spiritual and physical. R1875:5
Many of nominal Israel are hungry and thirsty. In the meantime the Church of Christ is in the protected place. R5032:1
Shall be sure – The Lord has promised to provide for our temporal wants as well as our eternal welfare, not sumptuously, but nevertheless surely. R1313:1, R1745:2
This may have applied to the Jews at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and others who have put their trust in the Lord. R5031:6; Q269:8
"I shall not want." (Psa. 23:1) R1745:2
Bread, water, plain clothing; but what some fear is the loss of some of the comforts, the luxuries which God has not guaranteed us. R832:5
The saints have little to fear from financial disasters. R2274:5
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| 17 A king in his beauty, see do thine eyes, They see a land afar off. |
Thine eyes shall see – The eyes of faith shall catch the inspiration of the glory to be revealed. R2087:5* C304
The king in his beauty – The beauty of holiness. R2087:6*
Reigning in power and great glory. R2087:5*
A blessed and inspiring promise. R5863:1
The land – Paradise restored. C304
That is very far off – Beyond the vista of a thousand years. C304
Looking through the telescope of God's Word, it is a glorious vision. R2087:4*
"But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off." (2 Pet. 1:9) R2097:6*
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| 18 Thy heart doth meditate terror, Where [is] he who is counting Where [is] he who is weighing Where [is] he who is counting the towers |
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| 19 The strong people thou seest not, A people deeper of lip than to be understood, Of a scorned tongue, there is no understanding. |
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| 20 See Zion, the city of our meetings, Thine eyes see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, A tent not taken down, Not removed are its pins for ever, And none of its cords are broken. |
Shall see Jerusalem – Restored earthly Jerusalem and her priesthood. R35:4*
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| 21 But there mighty [is] Jehovah for us, A place of rivers streams broad of sides, No ship with oars doth go into it, And a mighty ship doth not pass over it. |
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| 22 For Jehovah our judge, Jehovah our lawgiver, Jehovah our king He doth save us. |
The LORD is our king – Our esteem, homage and obedience must be to him whom the Lord has appointed, King Immanuel. R3219:4
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| 23 Left have been thy ropes, They strengthen not rightly their mast, They have not spread out a sail, Then apportioned hath been a prey of much spoil, The lame have taken spoil. |
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| 24 Nor doth an inhabitant say, 'I was sick,' The people that is dwelling in it, is forgiven of iniquity! |
And the inhabitant – Of paradise restored. C304; R1072:6*
Not say, I am sick – The final results at the close of the Millennium. R1073:1
After the Redeemer shall, during the Millennium, have put away sin. R4587:2
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