Isaiah 37:28, 29 But I know your stayed, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me.… He used Assyria, but he holds Assyria in with bit and bridle. The horse may plunge, and rear, and trample, and seem to be beyond all restraint; but God never looses the rein, and draws it in when he pleases. The figures used are even more striking. He puts "a hook in the nose," which Michaelis explains in this way: "The Orientals make use of a contrivance for curbing their work-beasts, which is not adopted among us. They bore the nose through both sides, and put a ring through it, to which they fasten two cords. When a beast becomes unruly, they have only to draw the cord on one side, which, by stopping his breath, punishes him so effectually that, after a few repetitions, he fails not to become quite tractable, whenever he begins to feel it. To this contrivance the Arabian poets often allude." It illustrates two points. I. THE ANXIETIES WE SUFFER WHEN WE FIX OUR GAZE ON SECOND CAUSES. II. THE RESTFULNESS WE GAIN WHEN WE LOOK, BEHIND AND WITHIN, TO THE GREAT, OVERRULING FIRST CAUSE. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.WEB: But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. |
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