Section 536
II. She is said to be "in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs"
Which may be understood, either in allusion to the usual place where the dove makes her nest, which is in the rock[3638] and "in the sides of the hole's mouth," (see Jeremiah 48:28) and Adrichomius[3639] tells us, that there was a stone tower near Jerusalem, southward of the mount of Olives, called Petra Columbarum, "the rock of the doves," where often five thousand doves were kept at one time; and perhaps here maybe an allusion to it: or else, it may be understood of the place where doves are forced to fly, when pursued by the hawk, even into a hollow rock, as described by Homer:[3640] and so may be expressive of the state of the church under persecution, when saints are forced to flee into holes and corners, and cannot openly and publicly, worship God, as they used to do, according to his mind and will; but even then God has his hiding-places for them, where he protects and preserves them until the heat of the persecution is over; for at such a time God will have a church, it shall never be entirely rooted out; neither shall hi people be without his presence, and some visible manifestations of himself unto them; for he has as great a love for them as ever: the church is his dove then, and her countenance is as comely, and her voice as sweet as ever; nor would he have her be disconsolate and disheartened in her present condition. Most of the Jewish writers[3641] refer the words to the condition that the people of Israel were in, when they were pursued by Pharaoh at the Red Sea; which seems, in some measure, to agree with the former sense which has been given. Or else, by the clefts of the rock, may be meant, either, 1. The eternal decree of election, in which, as in an immoveable and inaccessible rock, the church dwelt from all eternity, and will do so unto all eternity; which is the sense that Junius. gives of these words; God's eternal decree of election is as immoveable as a rock; it is a foundation that stands sure, being laid, not upon the conditions of faith and holiness in the creature, but upon the sovereign will and pleasure of that God, who, "will have mercy on whom he will have mercy," and "will be gracious to whom he will be gracious; whose purposes cannot be disannulled, nor his counsel made void, nor he ever be frustrated of his end, for the thoughts of his heart shall stand to all generations; and as the decree of election is immoveable, irrevocable, and cannot be altered, so the doctrine of it will stand, maugre all opposition, and will prove a burdensome stone to all those that set themselves against it. Now in the clefts of this rock, the people of God dwell as in a hidden and secret place before conversion; it being neither known to themselves nor others, that they are the objects of it, until called by divine grace; and here they dwell secure, and are safely preserved, notwithstanding the fill of Adam, and their own actual sins and transgressions, until the grace that is laid up for them is actually bestowed upon them; for every one that dwells here, shall be called and sanctified, and at last eternally glorified; not one shall be lost, nor any one link in the golden chain of salvation ever be broken; of which we have an account in Romans 8:30. "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified: them he also glorified:" moreover, these persons are and ever were the objects of Christ's love, and so they ever shall be; his love was set upon them, and his delights were with them before the world began; these are his doves, and this the place of their habitation. Or else, 2. By this rock may be meant Christ, who frequently bears this character in scripture, and particularly is said (1 Corinthians 10:4) to be that spiritual rock, of which the Jews drank in the wilderness: and by the clefts thereof, may be meant the wounds of Christ,[3642] which were opened for the salvation of sinners, and in which believers dwell by faith; and perhaps to this the allusion is made in Exodus 33:22 where it is said, that God put Moses into the cleft of the rock, and made his glory to pass before him; for the glory of all the divine perfections is no where so manifestly seen as in a crucified Christ. Now saints are the inhabitants of this rock; here Christ's church dwells, and that safely, being built upon a rock, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail; this is her fortress and strong-hold, where she need not be afraid of any enemy whatever, for her place of defense is the munition of rocks; and therefore, whenever under any apprehension of danger, she betakes herself to her stronghold, to Christ, the rock that is higher than she. Moreover, the church being said to dwell here, not only shews the safety of her state, but also her majesty and greatness, and her exaltation above others; see Jeremiah 49:16 for dwelling in a rock, she dwells on high; she is not now in the miry clay, but her feet are set upon a rock and her goings are established; she is not now upon the dunghill, but upon the throne; not in a mean cottage, but in a well-built, strong, and fortified castle. Indeed the other phrase, the secret of the stairs, seems to denote abasement and humiliation; though it may be better understood of Christ; as the former expression seems robe; for Christ is the stairs or ladder which Jacob saw in a vision, which reached from earth to heaven; he being God and man in one person, has, by his, mediation, blood and sacrifice, made peace between God and sinful, man, reconciled those two contending parties, brought heaven and earth as it were together, and filled up that vast distance that there was between them; he is the ladder or those stairs also, on which the angels of God ascended and descended (see Genesis 28:12 compared with John 1:51); he is likewise our way of access to God, by whom, as by steps, we ascend to him, have admittance into his presence, and are indulged with communion with him: now in the secret of these stairs or steps, did the church lie, as the dove is said to do in some hidden place during the winter season; which was the case of Christ's dove here, (see verse 11) for Christ is the "hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest;" and if any thing is particularly intended by the secret of the stairs, Christ's; justifying righteousness seems not unlikely; which is secret and hidden to the men of the world, and is only revealed in the gospel from faith to faith: hither souls betake themselves in times of distress and, by it they are screened and sheltered from sin, law, hell and death; and dwelling here, they are in safety; for "he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." The Ethiopic version renders it, in the shadow of the rock to which Christ is compared (Isaiah 32:2), and so the Septuagint version, in the covering of the rock;[3643] which is the shade of it: which seems to be a better sense than what some Jewish writers[3644] give of the words, who interpret them of the sanctuary or temple, and of the holy of holies, which was in it. But,