And it shall come to pass in that day
Here begins a prophecy relating to the people of Israel, and concerns things that should befall them after the destruction of the Babylonish monarchy, which after Nebuchadnezzar did not last long; there were but two kings after him mentioned in Scripture, Evilmerodach, and Belshazzar; so that its tall trees, its kings, were very few, so few that a child might count them; and what is after said is for the comfort of that people, and seems to refer to the times of the Gospel, as appears by some words in the context cited by the Apostle Paul: [that] the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house
of Jacob;
who should return from the Babylonish captivity, and be settled in their own land: shall no more again stay upon him that smote them;
either on the kings of Egypt, who were originally their oppressors, and in whom they had been so foolish as to put their trust and confidence, they being but a broken staff and reed, ( Isaiah 30:2 Isaiah 30:3 ) ( 31:1 ) or on the king of Assyria, in the time of Ahaz, who made him pay tribute, and afterwards fought against him: but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth;
that is, upon Christ, the Lord of all, and King of saints; the Lord their righteousness, and from whom they have their holiness: to stay or lean on him is expressive of faith in him, of reliance and dependence on him, and trust in him; which is done in sincerity and uprightness of soul, unfeigned and without dissimulation; not in profession only, but in reality, and as nakedly revealed in the Gospel, without type and figure; for this respects Gospel times, in which the shadows of the law are gone, and Christ, as the object of faith, appears unveiled, being come a High Priest of good things to come. The Targum is they
``shall no more lean on the people whom they served; but they shall lean upon the Word of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth;''that is, on the essential Word, the Messiah: this was the case of a few of them, a remnant according to the election of grace, as the following words show.