4:1 And in that day a seven women shall take hold of one man,
saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel:
only b let us be called by thy name, to take away our c
reproach.
(a) When God will executes this vengeance there will not be
one man found to be the head to many women, and they
contrary to womanly shamefacedness will seek men, and
offer themselves under any condition.
(b) He our husband and let us be called your wives.
(c) For so they thought it to be without a head and husband.
4:2 In that day shall the d branch of the LORD be beautiful
and glorious, and the fruit of the earth [shall be] the
pride and glory of them that have escaped of Israel.
(d) He comforts the Church in this desolation which will
spring up like a bud signifying that God's graces should
be as plentiful toward the faithful as though they
sprang out of the earth, as in (Isa 45:8). Some by
the bud of the Lord mean Christ.
4:3 And it shall come to pass, [that he that is] left in Zion,
and [he that] remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy,
[even] every one that is e written among the living in
Jerusalem:
(e) He alludes to the book of life, of which read
(Ex 32:32) meaning God's secret counsel, in which
his elect are predestinated to life everlasting.
4:4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the
daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the f blood of
Jerusalem from the midst of it by the spirit of g
judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
(f) That is, the cruelty, extortion, malice and all
wickedness.
(g) When things will be addressed that were amiss.
4:5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount
Zion, and upon her assemblies, h a cloud and smoke by day,
and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the
i glory [shall be] a defence.
(h) He alludes to the pillar of the cloud, (Ex 13:21),
meaning that God's favour and protection should appear
in every place.
(i) The faithful are called the glory of God because his
image and tokens of his grace shine in them.
4:6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime
from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert
from storm k and from rain.
(k) God promises to be the defence of his Church against all
troubles and dangers.
