Isaiah 60:8 Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? The Church, when she uttered these words, appears to have been the subject of three kinds of feeling. I. WONDER. 1. The Church wondered at the number of her converts. 2. The Chaldee has the idea in it of swiftness. "Who are these that fly as swiftly as a cloud?" 3. The Targum has another idea, that of publicity. The cloud flies so that everybody can see it. So do these converts fly openly before the world. 4. There is another idea here, which Dr. Gill gives us in his very valuable commentary. "Who are these that fly as a cloud," for unanimity? Not as clouds, but "as a cloud"; not as two or three bodies, but as one united and compact mass! 5. Again, there is the idea of power. Who is he that shall bridle a cloud and stop it in its march? II. PLEASURE. 1. The Church is exceedingly pleased at the character of those who come to her. "Doves." 2. The Church feels pleasure in their condition: They "fly." 3. The translation of the LXX gives us another idea. "Who are these that fly like doves with their young?" The Church rejoices at the company that the converts bring with them. 4. The Church feels pleasure at the direction in which these doves move. "To their windows." The joy of the Church is that the poor sinner does not fly to man, nor to the law, but to Christ, the dovecot. III. ANXIETY. "All!" says the Church, "it is all very well their flying like a cloud; it is all right their going as doves to their window-s; but who are they?" She anxiously desires to be sure that it is all gold that is put into her treasury. "Who are they?" I address myself to an anxious Church to answer it. 1. They are those that fly. They fly because they cannot stop where they were, and they are flying, somewhere else for refuge. 2. They fly, not on the ground, but like a cloud, up high. They were persons that did not care about the world, but wanted heaven. 3. They were persons driven by the wind, just as the clouds are — who have no power of themselves to move, but have something driving them behind. 4. They are persons who have been regenerated, for they are "doves." They are changed from ravens into doves, from lions into lambs. 5. They are those who have fled to their windows, and found a refuge in Christ. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?WEB: "Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? |
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