e have to supply: will be His appearance in its
loveliness and saving importance. The morning elsewhere also,
especially in the Psalms (compare remarks on Ps. lix. 17; Song of Sol.
iii. 1), is used as the emblem of salvation. The condition of men
before the appearance of the Ruler among them, is, in its destitution,
like dark night.--The _brightness_ is that of the Ruler, as the
spiritual Sun, the Sun of Salvation. (Compare Mal. iii. 20 [iv. 2],
where righteousness is represented as the sun rising to those who fear
God.) The _rain_--the warm, mild rain, not the winter's rain which, in
the Song of Sol. ii. 11, and elsewhere, occurs as an emblem of
affliction and judgment--is the emblem of blessing (compare Is. xliv.
3, where "rain" is explained by "blessing"). The _grass_, which springs
up out of the earth by means of sunshine and rain, is emblematical of
the fruits and effects of salvation. [Pg 157] (Compare Is. xlv. 8,
where, in consequence of the rain of salvation pouring down from the
skies, the earth brings forth salvation and righteousness.) The passage
in Ps. lxxii. 6 is parallel, where Solomon says of his Antitype, "He
shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers watering the
earth." The figure of the rain making fresh grass to spring up is there
likewise employed to designate the blessings of the Messianic time.

Ver. 5. "_For is not thus my house with God? For He has made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and kept; for all my
salvation, and all pleasure,--should He not make it to grow?_"

The special revelation which David received at the close of his life
(compare the remarks on [Hebrew: naM] in ver. 1) is here connected with
the fundamental promise in 2 Sam. vii., which was thereby anew
confirmed to him. Those who, like _De Wette_ and _Thenius_, mistake
the correct sense of vers. 3 and 4, are not a little perplexed by
the "_for_" at the beginning of this verse, and attempt in vain
to account for it.--_Thus_, _i.e._, as it had been told in what
precedes.--[Hebrew: ervkh], "prepared," "ordered," forms the contrast
to what is only half finished, indefinite, depending upon circumstances
and conditions, admitting of provisions and exceptions. The extent to
which all interposing obstacles were excluded, or rather, had been
considered and calculated upon beforehand, appears especially from 2
Sam. vii. 14, 15, according to which, even the most fatal of all
interpositions--the aposta