Commentary upon the Prophecy of Isaiah

Vers. 5. And the Lord shall create upon every^* place of mount Zion, and upon the assemblies thereof, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. 6. And a covering shall be for a shadow in the day for the heat, and a place of refuge, and a covert, for the storm and for the rain.

Vers. 5. And the Lord shall create vpon euery^* place of mount Zion, and vpon the assemblies thereof, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for vpon all the glorie shall be a defence. 6. And a couering shall be for a shadow in the day for the heate, and a place of refuge, and a couert, for the storme and for the raine.

1. *Or, habitation.Or, habi••tion.

Upon every habitation.] As if he should say, There shall not be the least corner in the mountain of Zion, where the grace and favour of God shall not appear. I take habitation and assembly, for one and the same thing. For I take not Assembly for congregation, but for the place where men meet. Now to the end he might describe and set fo•th a full blessing, he alludes to that which Moses recites; namely, that when the Lord would deliver his people from the bondage of Egypt, he sent a pillar of a cloud by day, and a pillar of a fire by night, Exod. 13.21. It is an usual thing with the Prophets, that when they would set forth any excellent benefit, they then call to remembrance this most glorious work of God, to wit, The deliverance out of Egypt. Because then did the Lord wonderfully display the infinite treasures of his grace, to the end he might establish his Church; not omitting in that work any testimony of his bounty and goodness, that the felicity of his chosen people might be famous throughout the whole world. But above all things, this was most memorable, that they should be preserved by day, by the covering of a cloud from the annoyance of too much heat, and that the pillar of fire should go before them in the night, to the end they should not wander or go astray. The sum is this; that when God will gather home his Church from out of Babylon, that the manner of it shall be no less admirable, then that by which the people were in times past delivered out of Egypt. Not that they should be accompanied in the midst of their journey between Babylon and Judea, with the cloud and the pillar of fire, as in the wilderness: but because he showed testimonies of his favour towards them by means no way less excellent then they. As if any should say at this day, The Lord will illuminate us by the light of his holy spirit; he will give cloven tongues, by which his Gospel shall be spread throughout the world: No man would take this literally, as if the Holy Ghost should be sent down from heaven in a visible form: but this miracle should be remembered only, to the end the faithful might learn to rest at this day upon the same power of God in the restoration of the Church, as the Apostles had experience of in their time. And withal, that by this manner of speech the Prophet mentioneth a continual succession of blessing;