and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low; 13. And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan. 14. And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up. 15. And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, 16. And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. 17. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 18. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 19. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 20. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles, and to the bats; 21. To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 22. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?
The prophet here goes on to show what desolations would be brought upon their land, when God had forsaken them; which may refer particularly to their destruction by the Chaldeans first, and afterwards by the Romans; or it may have a general respect to the method God takes to awaken and humble proud sinners, and to put them out of conceit with that which they delighted in, and depended on, more than God.
We are here told, that, sooner or later, God will find out a way,
I. To startle and awaken secure sinners, who cry peace to themselves, and bid defiance to God and his judgments; (v. 10.) "Enter into the rock; God will attack you with such terrible judgments, and strike you with such terrible apprehensions of them, that you shall be forced to enter into the rock and hide you in the dust, for fear of the Lord. You shall lose all your courage, and tremble at the shaking of a leaf; your heart shall fail you for fear, (Luke xxi. 26.) and you shall flee when none pursues," Prov. xxviii. 1. To the same purport, v. 19. They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, the darkest, and the deepest, places; they shall call to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and rather crush them than not cover them, Hos. x. 8. It was so particularly at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, (Luke xxiii. 30.) and of the persecuting pagan powers, Rev. vi. 16. And all, for fear of the Lord and of the glory of his majesty, looking upon him then to be a consuming fire, and themselves as stubble before him, when he arises to shake terribly the earth, to shake the wicked out of it, (Job xxxviii. 13.) and to shake all those earthly props and supports which they have buoyed themselves up with, to shake them from under them. Note, 1. With God is terrible majesty, and the glory of it is such as, sooner or later, will oblige us all to flee before him. 2. Those that will not fear God, and flee to him, will be forced to fear him, and flee from him to a refuge of lies. 3. It is folly for those that are pursued by the wrath of God, to think to escape it, and to hide or to shelter themselves from it. 4. The things of the earth are things that will be shaken; they are subject to concussions, and hastening towards a dissolution. 5. The shaking of the earth is, and will be, a terrible thing to those who set their affections wholly on things of the earth. 6. It will be in vain to think of finding refuge in the caves of the earth, when the earth itself is shaken; there will be no shelter then but in God, and in things above.
II. To humble and abase proud sinners, that look big, and think highly of themselves, and scornfully of all about them; (v. 11.) The lofty looks of man shall be humbled; the eyes that aim high, the countenance in which the pride of the heart shows itself, these shall be cast down in shame and despair. And the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, their spirits shall be broken, and they shall be crest-fallen, and those things which they were proud of they shall be ashamed of. It is repeated again, (v. 17.) The loftiness of man shall be bowed down. Note, Pride will, one way or other, have a fall. Men's haughtiness will be brought down, either by the grace of God convincing them of the evil of their pride, and clothing them with humility, or by the providence of God depriving them of all those things they were proud of, and laying them low. Our Saviour often laid it down for a maxim, that he who exalts himself shall be abased; he shall either abase himself in true repentance, or God will abase him, and pour contempt upon him. Now here we are told,
1. Why this shall be done; because the Lord alone will be exalted. Note, Therefore proud men shall be vilified, because the Lord alone will be magnified. It is for the honour of God's power to humble the proud; by this he proves himself to be God, and disproves Job's pretensions to rival with him; (Job xl. 11··14.) Behold every one that is proud, and abase him; then will I also confess unto thee. It is likewise for the honour of his justice; proud men stand in competition with God, who is jealous for his own glory, and will not suffer men either to take that to themselves, or give it to another, which is due to him only; they likewise stand in opposition to God, they resist him, and therefore he resists them; for he will be exalted among the heathen, Ps. xlvi. 10. And there is a day coming in which he alone will be exalted, when he shall have put down all opposing rule, principality, and power, 1 Cor. xv. 24.
2. How this shall be done; by humbling judgments, that shall mortify men, and bring them down; (v. 12.) The day of the Lord of hosts, the day of his wrath and judgment, shall be upon every one that is proud; and therefore he now laughs at their insolence, because he sees that his day is coming; this day, which will be upon them ere they are aware, Ps. xxxvii. 13. This day of the Lord is here said to be upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up. Jerom observes that the cedars are said to praise God, (Ps. cxlviii. 9.) and are trees of the Lord, (Ps. civ. 16.) of his planting; (Isa. xii. 19.) and yet here God's wrath fastens upon the cedars, which denotes (says he) that some of every rank of men, some great men, will be saved, and some perish. It is brought in as an instance of the strength of God's voice, that it breaks the cedars; (Ps. xxix. 5.) and here the day of the Lord is said to be upon the cedars, those of Lebanon, that were the straightest and stateliest; upon the oaks, those of Bashan, that were the strongest and sturdiest; and (v. 14.) upon the natural elevations and fortresses, the high mountains, and the hills that are lifted up, that overtop the valleys, and seem to
Vol. iv.—D
