he destruction of Jerusalem. (1-21) The proclamation of
Cyrus. (22,23)
Verses 1-21: The ruin of Judah and Jerusalem came on by degrees. The
methods God takes to call back sinners by his word, by
ministers, by conscience, by providences, are all instances of
his compassion toward them, and his unwillingness that any
should perish. See here what woful havoc sin makes, and, as we
value the comfort and continuance of our earthly blessings, let
us keep that worm from the root of them. They had many times
ploughed and sowed their land in the seventh year, when it
should have rested, and now it lay unploughed and unsown for ten
times seven years. God will be no loser in his glory at last, by
the disobedience of men. If they refused to let the land rest,
God would make it rest. What place, O God, shall thy justice
spare, if Jerusalem has perished? If that delight of thine were
cut off for wickedness, let us not be high-minded, but fear.
Verse 22,23: God had promised the restoring of the captives, and the
rebuilding of Jerusalem, at the end of seventy years; and that
time to favour Zion, that set time, came at last. Though God's
church be cast down, it is not cast off; though his people be
corrected, they are not abandoned; though thrown into the
furnace, they are not lost there, nor left there any longer than
till the dross be separated. Though God contend long, he will
not contend always. Before we close the books of the Chronicles,
which contain a faithful register of events, think what
desolation sin introduced into the world, nay, even into the
church of God. Let us tremble at what is here recorded, while in
the character of some few gracious souls, we discover that the
Lord left not himself without witness. And when we have looked
at this faithful portrait of man by nature, let us contrast with
it that same nature, when recovered by Almighty grace, through
the justifying and soul-adorning righteousness of Christ our
Saviour.
he destruction of Jerusalem. (1-21) The proclamation of
Cyrus. (22,23)