John Gill Commentary Isaiah 32

Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness Not Hezekiah, as the Jewish writers; at least only as a type, as some writers interpret it; rather Christ himself, who is "King" not only of the whole world, and of the kings of it in general, but in particular is King of saints; and who "reigns" now in and over his church and people, being set as King by his Father over his holy hill of Zion, and, being exalted at his right hand, is made and declared Lord and Christ; and where he does and will reign until all enemies are put under his feet, and before long will reign gloriously before his ancients in Jerusalem, (Isaiah 24:23) and his reign is "in righteousness"; in a righteous manner, according to the rules of justice and equity: all his laws are just; his ways and methods of administration are right; his sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness: righteousness is the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

and princes shall rule in judgment : the ministers of the Gospel, pastors of churches, who are set over them in the Lord, and have the rule over them; and who rule well, and in judgment, when they rule according to the word of God; when they preach the Gospel, and administer ordinances, and do all the business of Christ's house, according to the instructions, laws, and rules he has given.

And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a
covert from the tempest
Or, "that man"; the King Messiah before mentioned; who had agreed to become man, was promised and prophesiedof as such, had often appeared in a human form, was to be incarnate, and now is; though he is not a mere man;were he, he could not be what is here said of him, "as a hiding place, and covert from the wind and tempest",of his Father's wrath, raised by sin; and which all men are deserving of, and on whom it must fall, unlesssecured from it by Christ; who has bore it in the room and stead of his people, has turned it away, anddelivered them from it, and all the effects of it, so that nothing of it comes upon them; he has endured thewhole force of the storm himself; and his righteousness, blood, sacrifice, and intercession, screen hispeople from it: he also hides and covers them from Satan's temptations, the blast of the terrible ones, whichis as a storm against the wall, so as they shall not be destroyed by them; by praying for them, succouring ofthem, supplying them with his grace, and delivering from them in his own time: likewise he protects them fromthe rage and fury of their persecuting enemies, when they come like a "whirlwind" to "scatter" them; theyhave rest in him, when troubled by men; and security by him, when these winds and waves beat upon them; andwhen they are tossed with the tempests of afflictions of various kinds, he bears them up under them, andcarries them through them, and delivers out of them, and brings them at last safe to glory:

as rivers of water in a dry place ;
which are very delightful, refreshing, and fructifying. This denotes the abundance of grace in Christ, andthe freeness of it, which flows from the boundless ocean of divine love, and which greatly comforts andrefreshes the souls of the Lord's people in this dry and barren land, and makes them cheerful and fruitful,revives their spirits, makes glad their hearts, and causes them to go on their way rejoicing:

as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land :
to travellers in it, who passing through a desert in hot countries and sultry climates, are glad when theyfind a rock which casts a shade, under which their can sit a while, sheltered from the scorching sun. Such aweary land is this world to the saints, who are wearied with sins, their own and others, with Satan'stemptations, with afflictions and troubles of various sorts; Christ is the "Rock" that is higher than they,to whom they are directed and led when their hearts are overwhelmed within them; on whom not only their soulsare built, and their feet are set, and he is a shelter to them; but he casts a shadow, which is very revivingand refreshing, and that is the shadow of his word and ordinances, under which they sit with delight andpleasure, and which makes their travelling through this wilderness comfortable.

And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim Not of the seers and prophets, or ministers of the word only, but of the righteous in general, as the Targum; even all such as are illuminated by the Spirit of God, who shall have a clear discerning of Gospel truths, behold with open face, with eyes unveiled, the glory of them, and of Christ in them, and not have their eyes covered, or such a dim obscure knowledge of them as under the law; and not only the watchmen shall see, eye to eye, all truths clearly and distinctly, but even all, from the least to the greatest, shall know the Lord, and the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of him, as the waters cover the sea.

It is a prophecy of the great increase of spiritual light in the times of the Messiah:

and the ears of them that hear shall hearken: very diligently and attentively to the word preached, and receive and embrace the doctrines of the Gospel, and submit to, and obey, the ordinances of it.

The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge
Such who have been hasty and precipitant, as the word ^F3 signifies; who have not given themselves time to consider what they have read or heard, or has been proposed unto them, and have hastily received every thing that has been suggested to them, especially by carnal sense and reason, shall now sit down, and coolly consider things, and so gain an understanding of divine and spiritual knowledge, of the knowledge of Christ, of his person, offices, grace, righteousness, and salvation; an experimental knowledge and understanding of these things, heart and not head knowledge:

and the tongue of the stammerer shall be ready to speak plainly ;
or, "shall make haste to speak neatly" ^F4 ; elegantly and politely; such who hesitated in their speech, and spoke in a blundering manner, and scarcely intelligibly, especially when they spoke of divine and spiritual things, yet now, without the least hesitation, in the freest and most ready manner, with all plainness and propriety shall talk of these things, to the great delight, satisfaction, and use of those that hear them: this was true of the apostles of Christ, those babes and sucklings, out of whose mouth God ordained praise, and who were most of them Galilaeans, very illiterate and unpolished, and yet these, especially when they had the gift of tongues, spoke the great things of God very readily, and in good language; and also is true of other ministers of the word, raised up among the barbarous nations of the world.

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (Myrhmn) "inconsideratorum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "praecipatorum", Montanus.
• F4: (twxu rbdl rhmt) "festinabit loqui nitida", Pagninus; "polite", Munster; "diserte", Calvin; "loqui venusta", Cocceius.

The vile person shall be no more called liberal
Or "Nabal" (a fool) "shall no more be called Nadib" ^F5 (a prince); or have this name put upon him,or be advanced to honour and dignity, or be flattered with such a title, so unbecoming him. The sense seemsto be, that, in Gospel times, such who are fools as to the knowledge of spiritual things, that have nospiritual and experimental knowledge of the truths of the Gospel, but are quite ignorant of them, shall notbe made princes, or spiritual rulers, and governors in the house of God; nor the churl said [tobe] bountiful ;
or called a lord, as Jarchi interprets the word; which, he says, is used of such an one, because all men lookto him, and respect him ^F6 ; but now a covetous and tenacious man, that withholds more than ismeet, that keeps, all he has to himself, without communicating to others, and scarcely allows himself thenecessaries of life, being so sordidly avaricious, such an one shall not be a pastor, or ruler, in the churchof God; such were the Scribes and Pharisees among the Jews in Christ's time, and therefore rejected, (Matthew 23:14) (Luke 16:14Luke 16:15) folly and covetousness are both bad things in a minister of theword, and greatly disqualify a man for that work and office:

or else the sense of the whole is, that thereshould be such a discerning of men in Gospel times, and such faithfulness used towards them, that a wickedman should not be taken for a good man, nor in a flattering way be called one; but the precious and the vileshould be distinguished, and called by their right names. The Targum is,``the wicked man shall be no morecalled just, and they that transgress his word shall not be called mighty.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: (bydn lbnl dwe arqy al) "Nabal non vocabiturNadib", Gataker.
• F6: Kimchi makes it to be the same with (Nrtw) , a"prodigal person"; and so Ben Melech; but Elias, in his Tishbi, p. 93, 95. says there is a differencebetween them; (Nrtw) , he says, is one that squanders his money in eatingand drinking, and the like, which is a bad custom; but (ewv) is anhonourable person, who gives his money to good purposes, and more than is meet, which is a good custom;and he is more praiseworthy than the liberal man.