Dear friends, many and great have been the breaches that the Lord hath made upon your persons, upon your near and dear relations, and upon your sweetest comforts and contentments. There is not one of you but may truly say with Job, "He breaketh me with breach upon breach," Job 16:14. God hath chastised you all round with various rods; and oh that the Lord would help you all to "hear the rod, and him who hath appointed it," Mic 6:9.
Now that you may give me leave a little to open and apply to your particulars, that
Mic 6:9, "The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall hear thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it."
The matter that I shall offer to your consideration from this scripture, will be not only of special concernment to yourselves, but also of high concernment to all sorts and ranks of men and women, in this sad day, when the sword devours on the one hand, and the pestilence rageth on the other hand.
"The Lord's voice crieth unto the city." Tremellius turns it thus,
"The voice of the Lord doth preach unto this city, for what the matter is, thy name seeth: hear ye the rod," etc. This city, viz., Jerusalem, and so consequently to all the Israelites; for in this city all offices and duties of godliness and humanity were more religiously performed, or to be performed, than in any other place, because of the presence and majesty of God that was amongst them. "But thy Majesty seeth what wickedness is practised amongst them," as is evident in the verses following.
"Crieth." The word is from kara, which signifies,
First, "To cry aloud," or "to make a noise," Isa 58:1; "cry aloud" there is kara. The word signifies, to cry so loud as that all may hear that have ears to hear.
Secondly, The word signifies, "openly to proclaim, preach, or publish a thing." Exod 33:19, "I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee." Here is the word kara.
Thirdly, The word signifies, "to cry out." Gen 39:15, "I lifted up my voice and cried." Here is kara. The Hebrew word NAP hath nine other significations in Scripture, but because they are not pertinent to what is in my eye, I shall pass them by at this time.
"And the man of wisdom shall see thy name." Vethushiia properly signifies essence; and, therefore, according to the Hebrew, the words should be read thus, "And the man of essence shall see thy name," etc., that is, he that is a man indeed, he that is not a sot, a stock, a stone. Most men are men of folly, and so not worthy of the name of men; but as for such as are truly wise, they "shall see thy name." There is a great measure of spiritual art, of holy and heavenly wisdom required, both to enable a man to hear the voice of the rod and to understand the language of the rod. This wisdom is too high for a fool, Prov 24:7.
"Shall see thy name." Now the Hebrew word here used (m#, may be better derived from fare, which signifies to fear, than from raah, that signifies to see, and so the words will run smoothly thus, "The man of wisdom, or of essence, shall fear thy name," considering that, it is majesty itself that crieth, and that he is immediately to deal with God himself, and not with a poor, weak, mortal worm.
"Hear ye the rod." The word hear is from (m# shamang, which signifies,
First, "To mark, observe, and attend to what is said." Gen 29:33, "The Lord hath heard that I was hated;" that is, "he hath marked it, he hath observed it." So here, Oh mark the rod! Oh observe the rod! Oh attend to what is spoken by the rod!
Secondly, The word signifies, "to understand what is spoken;" so Gen 42:23, "They knew not that Joseph understood them." In the Hebrew it is, "that Joseph heard them." Now to hear the rod, is to understand what is spoken to us by the rod.
Thirdly, The word signifies, "to believe a thing reported to be true;" so Exod 6:9, "They hearkened not unto Moses," that is, "they did not believe the report that Moses made." "Hear the rod," that is, "believe the report the rod makes." The rod reports, that of all evils sin is the greatest evil; and that of all bitters, sin is the greatest bitter. Oh believe the report of the rod! The rod reports, that God is angry, that God is displeased. Oh believe its report! The rod reports the creatures. [Thomas Brooks]
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