Isaiah · Chapter 29

V. 1. The city-The royal city, and seat of David and his posterity. Set them-Go on in killing sacrifices from time to time, one year after another, whereby you think to appease me, but all shall be in vain.

Verse 1. Ariel] That Jerusalem is here called by this name is very certain: but the reason of this name, and the meaning of it as applied to Jerusalem, is very obscure and doubtful. Some, with the Chaldee, suppose it to be taken from the hearth of the great altar of burnt-offerings, which Ezekiel plainly calls by the same name, and that Jerusalem is here considered as the seat of the fire of God, la rwa ur el which should issue from thence to consume his enemies: compare Isaiah 31:9. Some, according to the common derivation of the word, la yra ari el, the lion of God, or the strong lion, suppose it to signify the strength of the place, by which it was enabled to resist and overcome all its enemies. Tinev de fasi thn polin outwv eirhsqai, epei, dia qeou, leontov dikhn esparatte touv antairontav. Procop. in loc. There are other explanations of this name given: but none that seems to be perfectly satisfactory.—Lowth. From Ezekiel 43:15, we learn that Ari-el was the name of the altar of burnt-offerings, put here for the city itself in which that altar was. In the second verse it is said, I will distress Ari-el, and it shall be unto me as Ari-el. The first Ari-el here seems to mean Jerusalem, which should be distressed by the Assyrians: the second Ari-el seems to mean the altar of burnt-offerings. But why is it said, “Ari-el shall be unto me as Ari-el?” As the altar of burnt-offerings was surrounded daily by the victims which were offered: so the walls of Jerusalem shall be surrounded by the dead bodies of those who had rebelled against the Lord, and who should be victims to his justice. The translation of Bishop Lowth appears to embrace both meanings: “I will bring distress upon Ari-el; and it shall be to me as the hearth of the great altar.”

Add ye year to year] Ironically. Go on year after year, keep your solemn feasts; yet know, that God will punish you for your hypocritical worship, consisting of mere form destitute of true piety. Probably delivered at the time of some great feast, when they were thus employed.

Verse 1. Wo to Ariel — This word signifies a strong lion, or the lion of God, and is used concerning lion-like men, as it is rendered 1 Chronicles 11:22; and of God’s altar, as it is translated Ezekiel 43:15, 16; which seems to be thus called, because it devoured and consumed the sacrifices put upon it, as greedily and as irresistibly as the lion doth his prey. “That Jerusalem is here called by this name,” says Bishop Lowth, “is very certain; but the reason of this name, and the meaning of it, as applied to Jerusalem, are very obscure and doubtful. Some, with the Chaldee, suppose it to be taken from the hearth of the great altar of burnt-offerings, which Ezekiel plainly calls by the same name; and that Jerusalem is here considered as the seat of the fire of God, la rwa, which should issue from thence to consume his enemies: compare Isaiah 31:9. Some, according to the common derivation of the word, suppose that it is called the lion of God, or the strong lion, on account of the strength of the place, by which it was enabled to resist and overcome all its enemies. There are other explanations of this name given, but none that seems to be perfectly satisfactory.” The city where David dwelt — The royal city, and seat of David and his posterity, which is probably here mentioned, because this was the ground of their confidence, and also to intimate that their relation to David, and their supposed interest in the promises made to him and to his seed, should not secure them from the destruction here threatened. Add ye year to year, &c. — The prophet speaks ironically: Go on year after year, and kill sacrifices at the appointed times, whereby you think to appease me; but all shall be in vain. For know, that God will punish you for your hypocritical worship, consisting of mere form, destitute of true piety. As the latter clause, wpqny µygj, is literally, Let the feasts go round, it is probable this discourse was delivered at the time of some great feast.

Verse 1. Woe to Ariel, the lion of God, or the strong lion, for El is often rendered strong or rock, as in Psalm 42:9. “God my rock.” The city of Jerusalem was that strong rock, or strong lion. The Chaldaic, for reasons unknown to us, reads the altar; which would more closely touch the nation, as the altar was the sinner’s hope. In Ezekiel’s vision of the new temple, the great brazen altar is called the lion: Isaiah 43:15. lyara h m w ve-mi-ha-ariel, “and from the lion of God,” designating the cross, where the lion of the tribe of Judah prevailed, and put his enemies under his feet. It has been generally understood, that Isaiah delivered this prophecy about two years before the invasion of Sennacherib. Perhaps he had Jacob’s prophecy in his eye, who said, Judah is a lion’s whelp; he coucheth like a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? Genesis 49:9.

1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel — Referring to Jerusalem, of course, but may mean, “Lion of God,” (1 Chronicles 11:22,) or God’s champion, (2 Samuel xxiii, 20;) or, it may mean, “Altar-fire-hearth;” (Ezekiel 43:15, 16,) a tropical name, as Bochart supposes, (Hierozoicon,) because the altar devours sacrifices as the lion devours its prey. Gesenius finds the meaning of “fire-hearth” in the Arabic cognate word for lion. Delitzsch decides for this meaning, and the Chaldee paraphrase renders the repeated word, “O altar! altar!” Jerusalem is the place where altar fires are ceaselessly burning, and a woe is pronounced upon her, at least for a period. Add ye year to year — One year to another; that is, go on heartlessly in your yearly sacrifices if ye will. Such dead formality is cause sufficient for a fearful visitation.

Verse 2. There shall be heaviness and sorrow— “There shall be continual mourning and sorrow”] Instead of your present joy and festivity. And it shall be unto me as Ariel— “And it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar.”] That is, it shall be the seat of the fire of God; which shall issue from thence to consume his enemies. See note on Isaiah 29:1. Or, perhaps, all on flame; as it was when taken by the Chaldeans; or covered with carcasses and blood, as when taken by the Romans: an intimation of which more distant events, though not immediate subjects of the prophecy, may perhaps be given in this obscure passage.

Verse 2. Yet will I distress Ariel — Notwithstanding all your sacrifices, by bringing and strengthening her enemies against her. And there shall be heaviness and sorrow — Instead of your present joy and festivity. And it shall be to me as Ariel — That is, either, 1st, I will treat her like a strong and fierce lion, which the people, among whom it is, endeavour by nets and pits, and divers other ways, to take and destroy. Or, 2d, I will make Ariel the city like Ariel the altar, filling it with sacrifices, even of men, whom I will slay in my anger; which act of God is called his sacrifice, Ezekiel 39:17-19. Agreeably to this latter interpretation, Bishop Lowth renders the clause, It shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar: that is, as he explains it, “all on flame; as it was when taken by the Chaldeans; or covered with carcasses and blood, as when taken by the Romans: an intimation of which more distant events, though not immediate subjects of the prophecy, may perhaps be given in this obscure passage.”

2, 3. Years may roll on, and sacrificial routine may be continued, but not long hence this shall be interrupted. I will distress Ariel — Jerusalem shall be severely besieged. Heaviness and sorrow — Appalling affliction shall befall her. The expression is as if the prophet had vision of all the siege troubles of Jewish history concentrated in one view, from Sennacherib to Titus, so far as the intensity of the distress is considered. The sieges, however, of which we have here a prophetic forecast, included, probably, only those experienced prior to the fall of Judea and the captivity. I will camp — Will bring to pass that an army shall, etc. With a mount — An elevation on which to erect battering rams, and on which to place marksmen to shoot their arrows into the city. Raise forts — Walls, citadels, towers.

Verse 3. And I will camp against thee round about— “And I will encamp against thee like David”] For rwdk caddur, some kind of military engine, dwdk kedavid, like David, is the reading of the Septuagint, two MSS. of Kennicott’s, if not two more: but though Bishop Lowth adopts this reading, I think it harsh and unnecessary.

Forts— “Towers”] For trxm metsuroth, read twdxm metsudoth: so the Septuagint and five MSS. of Dr. Kennicott’s, one of them ancient, and four of Deuteronomy Rossi’s.

Verses 3, 4. And I will camp against thee, &c. — That is, by those enemies whom I will assist and enable to take and destroy thee. The prophet may here refer to different sieges of Jerusalem, that of Sennacherib, that of the Chaldeans, or even to that of the Romans. Thou shalt be brought down — thy speech shall be low — Thou, who now speakest so loftily, shalt be humbled, and in a submissive manner, and with a low voice, shalt beg the favour of thine enemies. As of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground — “That the souls of the dead uttered a feeble, stridulous sound, very different from the natural human voice, was a popular notion among the heathen, as well as among the Jews. This appears from several passages of their poets, Homer, Virgil, Horace. The pretenders to the art of necromancy, who were chiefly women, had an art of speaking with a reigned voice, so as to deceive those who applied to them, by making them believe that it was the voice of the ghost. They had a way of uttering sounds, as if they were formed, not by the organs of speech, but deep in the chest, or in the belly, and were thence called eggastrimuqoi, ventriloqui. They could make the voice seem to come from beneath the ground, from a distant part, in another direction, and not from themselves, the better to impose upon those who consulted them. From these arts of the necromancers, the popular notion seems to have arisen that the ghost’s voice was a weak, stridulous, almost an inarticulate sort of sound, very different from the speech of the living.” — Bishop Lowth.

2, 3. Years may roll on, and sacrificial routine may be continued, but not long hence this shall be interrupted. I will distress Ariel — Jerusalem shall be severely besieged. Heaviness and sorrow — Appalling affliction shall befall her. The expression is as if the prophet had vision of all the siege troubles of Jewish history concentrated in one view, from Sennacherib to Titus, so far as the intensity of the distress is considered. The sieges, however, of which we have here a prophetic forecast, included, probably, only those experienced prior to the fall of Judea and the captivity. I will camp — Will bring to pass that an army shall, etc. With a mount — An elevation on which to erect battering rams, and on which to place marksmen to shoot their arrows into the city. Raise forts — Walls, citadels, towers.

V. 4. And thou-Thou who now speakest so loftily, shall be humbled, and with a low voice, beg the favour of thine enemies. As one-Who, that they might possess the people with a kind of reverence and horror, used to deliver their answers with a low voice, from some cave under the ground.

Verse 4. And thy speech shall be low out of the dust— “And from out of the dust thou shalt utter a feeble speech”] That the souls of the dead uttered a feeble stridulous sound, very different from the natural human voice, was a popular notion among the heathens as well as among the Jews. This appears from several passages of their poets; Homer, Virgil, Horace. The pretenders to the art of necromancy, who were chiefly women, had an art of speaking with a feigned voice, so as to deceive those who applied to them, by making them believe that it was the voice of the ghost. They had a way of uttering sounds, as if they were formed, not by the organs of speech, but deep in the chest, or in the belly; and were thence called eggastrimuqoi, ventriloqui: they could make the voice seem to come from beneath the ground, from a distant part, in another direction, and not from themselves; the better to impose upon those who consulted them. Exepithdev to genov touto ton amudron hcon epithdeuontai, ina dia thn asafeian thv fwnhv ton tou yeudouv

apodidraskwsin elegcon. Psellus Deuteronomy Dæmonibus, apud Bochart, i. p. 731. “These people studiously acquire, and affect on purpose, this sort of obscure sound; that by the uncertainty of the voice they may the better escape being detected in the cheat.” From these arts of the necromancers the popular notion seems to have arisen, that the ghost’s voice was a weak, stridulous, almost inarticulate sort of sound, very different from the speech of the living.

Verses 3, 4. And I will camp against thee, &c. — That is, by those enemies whom I will assist and enable to take and destroy thee. The prophet may here refer to different sieges of Jerusalem, that of Sennacherib, that of the Chaldeans, or even to that of the Romans. Thou shalt be brought down — thy speech shall be low — Thou, who now speakest so loftily, shalt be humbled, and in a submissive manner, and with a low voice, shalt beg the favour of thine enemies. As of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground — “That the souls of the dead uttered a feeble, stridulous sound, very different from the natural human voice, was a popular notion among the heathen, as well as among the Jews. This appears from several passages of their poets, Homer, Virgil, Horace. The pretenders to the art of necromancy, who were chiefly women, had an art of speaking with a reigned voice, so as to deceive those who applied to them, by making them believe that it was the voice of the ghost. They had a way of uttering sounds, as if they were formed, not by the organs of speech, but deep in the chest, or in the belly, and were thence called eggastrimuqoi, ventriloqui. They could make the voice seem to come from beneath the ground, from a distant part, in another direction, and not from themselves, the better to impose upon those who consulted them. From these arts of the necromancers, the popular notion seems to have arisen that the ghost’s voice was a weak, stridulous, almost an inarticulate sort of sound, very different from the speech of the living.” — Bishop Lowth.

Ver. 4. Thy speech shall be low. The invasion would check the high glee of the city; they would mutter half words, like the witches, and like the pythonesses of the heathen. Those are characters of which the prophets speak with the utmost contempt; they often hid themselves, afraid to have their persons seen, or their voices known. See Exodus 22:18. Leviticus 19:31. A just but mortifying comparison. In the temple of Delphos, the pythonesses spake from a vault under ground: nothing was seen, but the voice was heard.

4. Shall be brought down — Jerusalem, accustomed to feel secure from its strength, is personified as lying flat to the ground, like a man prostrate. Thy speech shall be low — Its utmost humility is meant, reduced by starvation till so weak as to speak only in low whispers, or with low undertone, like ventriloquists who feign to speak with the dead. The whole city is in this condition, unable to speak above a breath.

V. 5. Strangers-Whom thou hast hired to assist thee, as indeed they did, when the Chaldeans came against them. Terrible ones-Thy great commanders, and stout soldiers. It-This destruction of thy strangers, and terrible ones shall come to pass.

Verse 5. The multitude of thy strangers— “The multitude of the proud”] For Ëyrz zarayich, thy strangers, read זדים zedim, the proud, according to the Septuagint; parallel to and synonymous with µyxyr[ aritsim, the terrible, in the next line: the r resh was at first d daleth in a MS. See Clarke’s note on “Isaiah 25:2”.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh verses contain an admirable description of the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, with a beautiful variety of the most expressive and sublime images: perhaps more adapted to show the greatness, the suddenness, and horror of the event, than the means and manner by which it was effected. Compare Isaiah 30:30-33.

Verses 5-7. Moreover — Or, rather, But, the multitude of thy strangers — Of the strangers that encamp and fight against thee; shall be like small dust — Dispersed by the least breath of air; and the multitude of the terrible ones — Of the Assyrian army, terrible for courage and ferocity; shall be as the chaff that passeth away — Which is quickly carried away by the wind. Yea, at an instant, suddenly — This dissipation and destruction of thine enemies shall be as instantaneous as it is unexpected. Bishop Lowth, who considers these verses as containing “an admirable description of the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, with a beautiful variety of the most expressive and sublime images, adapted to show the greatness, the suddenness, and horror of the event,” gives us the following elegant and striking translation of them, which will give the reader a more just and enlarged view of their meaning, than any note wherewith we might attempt to explain it:

But the multitude of the proud shall be like the small dust; And like the flitting chaff, the multitude of the terrible: Yea, the effect shall be momentary, in an instant.

From Jehovah there shall be a sudden visitation,

With thunder, and earthquake, and a mighty voice;

With storm, and tempest, and flame of devouring fire.

And like as a dream, a vision of the night,

So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, that fight against Ariel; And all their armies, and their towers, and those that distress her. The reader will observe, that this view of the passage has the sanction of the Vulgate version, and is approved by Prebendary Lowth, Vitringa, Dr. Waterland, Henry, and several others. Some, however, think that these verses should be connected with the preceding, and that the prophet continues in them to describe the judgment to be inflicted on Jerusalem.

Ver. 5. The multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust. Habakkuk 1:5. The Assyrian army estimated at seven hundred thousand, of which number Palmyra furnished a quota of eighty thousand. But a small proportion of those men ever returned to their own homes.

5-8. Now there is promise. At the close of verse 2 it is stated that Jerusalem shall become God’s altar-fire-hearth — indeed, the burning place of wrath upon her enemies. These verses expand this meaning. Thy strangers — Foreign invaders. Small dust — Suddenly the fierce besiegers shall become as dust, or like chaff blown away. Thou — The enemy. Shall be visited — Physical agencies shall be employed for a sudden annihilating stroke. The distresses of “Ariel” will pass away as in a moment. The suddenness will make the events seem as a dream to both the besiegers and the besieged. The besieger believed the prize of Jerusalem’s wealth was his; as he was passing his hand to grasp it, it evaded his touch as a flash. The besieged awoke in like manner to find the distress of dreaded capture wholly gone, and himself a free man again. There is scarcely so vivid a picture, in so small a compass, in all literature. It is the experience of nightmare that is given.

Thus far extends the promise attached to the woe-text of verses 1-4. As will soon be seen, however, the people of the city of God’s altar-hearth are still stupid and dull.

V. 6. Thou-Thou, O Jerusalem. Fire-With dreadful judgments, which are frequently expressed by these metaphors.

Verses 5-7. Moreover — Or, rather, But, the multitude of thy strangers — Of the strangers that encamp and fight against thee; shall be like small dust — Dispersed by the least breath of air; and the multitude of the terrible ones — Of the Assyrian army, terrible for courage and ferocity; shall be as the chaff that passeth away — Which is quickly carried away by the wind. Yea, at an instant, suddenly — This dissipation and destruction of thine enemies shall be as instantaneous as it is unexpected. Bishop Lowth, who considers these verses as containing “an admirable description of the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, with a beautiful variety of the most expressive and sublime images, adapted to show the greatness, the suddenness, and horror of the event,” gives us the following elegant and striking translation of them, which will give the reader a more just and enlarged view of their meaning, than any note wherewith we might attempt to explain it:

But the multitude of the proud shall be like the small dust; And like the flitting chaff, the multitude of the terrible: Yea, the effect shall be momentary, in an instant.

From Jehovah there shall be a sudden visitation,

With thunder, and earthquake, and a mighty voice;

With storm, and tempest, and flame of devouring fire.

And like as a dream, a vision of the night,

So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, that fight against Ariel; And all their armies, and their towers, and those that distress her. The reader will observe, that this view of the passage has the sanction of the Vulgate version, and is approved by Prebendary Lowth, Vitringa, Dr. Waterland, Henry, and several others. Some, however, think that these verses should be connected with the preceding, and that the prophet continues in them to describe the judgment to be inflicted on Jerusalem.

5-8. Now there is promise. At the close of verse 2 it is stated that Jerusalem shall become God’s altar-fire-hearth — indeed, the burning place of wrath upon her enemies. These verses expand this meaning. Thy strangers — Foreign invaders. Small dust — Suddenly the fierce besiegers shall become as dust, or like chaff blown away. Thou — The enemy. Shall be visited — Physical agencies shall be employed for a sudden annihilating stroke. The distresses of “Ariel” will pass away as in a moment. The suddenness will make the events seem as a dream to both the besiegers and the besieged. The besieger believed the prize of Jerusalem’s wealth was his; as he was passing his hand to grasp it, it evaded his touch as a flash. The besieged awoke in like manner to find the distress of dreaded capture wholly gone, and himself a free man again. There is scarcely so vivid a picture, in so small a compass, in all literature. It is the experience of nightmare that is given.

Thus far extends the promise attached to the woe-text of verses 1-4. As will soon be seen, however, the people of the city of God’s altar-hearth are still stupid and dull.

Verse 7. As a dream] This is the beginning of the comparison, which is pursued and applied in the next verse. Sennacherib and his mighty army are not compared to a dream because of their sudden disappearance; but the disappointment of their eager hopes is compared to what happens to a hungry and thirsty man, when he awakes from a dream in which fancy had presented to him meat and drink in abundance, and finds it nothing but a vain illusion. The comparison is elegant and beautiful in the highest degree, well wrought up, and perfectly suited to the end proposed. The image is extremely natural, but not obvious: it appeals to our inward feelings, not to our outward senses; and is applied to an event in its concomitant circumstances exactly similar, but in its nature totally different. See Deuteronomy S. Pœs. Hebr. Prælect. xii. For beauty and ingenuity it may fairly come in competition with one of the most elegant of Virgil, greatly improved from Homer, Iliad xxii. 199, where he has applied to a different purpose, but not so happily, the same image of the ineffectual working of imagination in a dream:—

Ac veluti in somnis, oculos ubi languida pressit Nocte quies, necquicquam avidos extendere cursus Velle videmur, et in mediis conatibus ægri Succidimus; non lingua valet, non corpore notæ Sufficiunt vires, nec vox, nec verba sequuntur. Æn., xii. 908.

“And as, when slumber seals the closing sight, The sick wild fancy labours in the night; Some dreadful visionary foe we shun

With airy strides, but strive in vain to run; In vain our baffled limbs their powers essay; We faint, we struggle, sink, and fall away; Drain’d of our strength, we neither fight nor fly, And on the tongue the struggling accents die.” PITT.

Lucretius expresses the very same image with Isaiah:— Ut bibere in somnis sitiens quum quærit, et humor Non datur, ardorem in membris qui stinguere possit; Sed laticum simulacra petit, frustraque laborat, In medioque sitit torrenti flumine potans. iv. 1091.

As a thirsty man desires to drink in his sleep, And has no fluid to allay the heat within, But vainly labours to catch the image of rivers, And is parched up while fancying that he is drinking at a full stream.

Bishop Stock’s translation of the prophet’s text is both elegant and just:— “As when a hungry man dreameth; and, lo! he is eating: And he awaketh; and his appetite is unsatisfied. And as a thirsty man dreameth; and, lo! he is drinking: And he awaketh; and, lo! he is faint,

And his appetite craveth.”

Lucretius almost copies the original.

All that fight against her and her munition— “And all their armies and their towers”] For htdxmw hybx tsobeyha umetsodathah, I read, with the Chaldee, µtdxmw µabx tsebaam umetsodatham.

Verses 5-7. Moreover — Or, rather, But, the multitude of thy strangers — Of the strangers that encamp and fight against thee; shall be like small dust — Dispersed by the least breath of air; and the multitude of the terrible ones — Of the Assyrian army, terrible for courage and ferocity; shall be as the chaff that passeth away — Which is quickly carried away by the wind. Yea, at an instant, suddenly — This dissipation and destruction of thine enemies shall be as instantaneous as it is unexpected. Bishop Lowth, who considers these verses as containing “an admirable description of the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, with a beautiful variety of the most expressive and sublime images, adapted to show the greatness, the suddenness, and horror of the event,” gives us the following elegant and striking translation of them, which will give the reader a more just and enlarged view of their meaning, than any note wherewith we might attempt to explain it:

But the multitude of the proud shall be like the small dust; And like the flitting chaff, the multitude of the terrible: Yea, the effect shall be momentary, in an instant.

From Jehovah there shall be a sudden visitation,

With thunder, and earthquake, and a mighty voice;

With storm, and tempest, and flame of devouring fire.

And like as a dream, a vision of the night,

So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, that fight against Ariel; And all their armies, and their towers, and those that distress her. The reader will observe, that this view of the passage has the sanction of the Vulgate version, and is approved by Prebendary Lowth, Vitringa, Dr. Waterland, Henry, and several others. Some, however, think that these verses should be connected with the preceding, and that the prophet continues in them to describe the judgment to be inflicted on Jerusalem.

5-8. Now there is promise. At the close of verse 2 it is stated that Jerusalem shall become God’s altar-fire-hearth — indeed, the burning place of wrath upon her enemies. These verses expand this meaning. Thy strangers — Foreign invaders. Small dust — Suddenly the fierce besiegers shall become as dust, or like chaff blown away. Thou — The enemy. Shall be visited — Physical agencies shall be employed for a sudden annihilating stroke. The distresses of “Ariel” will pass away as in a moment. The suddenness will make the events seem as a dream to both the besiegers and the besieged. The besieger believed the prize of Jerusalem’s wealth was his; as he was passing his hand to grasp it, it evaded his touch as a flash. The besieged awoke in like manner to find the distress of dreaded capture wholly gone, and himself a free man again. There is scarcely so vivid a picture, in so small a compass, in all literature. It is the experience of nightmare that is given.

Thus far extends the promise attached to the woe-text of verses 1-4. As will soon be seen, however, the people of the city of God’s altar-hearth are still stupid and dull.

V. 8. His soul-His appetite or desire is unsatisfied. So-No less unsatisfied and insatiable; they shall be always thirsting after more of your blood.

Verse 8. “As when a hungry man dreameth; and, lo! he seemeth to eat; but he awaketh, and his appetite is still unsatisfied: and as a thirsty man, &c. So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, which have set themselves in array against mount Zion.” Thus Bishop Lowth. The Assyrians had swallowed up Jerusalem in their imagination: but God would suddenly disappoint all their hopes, and send them away empty and confounded. For, the reader will observe, “Sennacherib and his mighty army are not here compared to a dream, because of their sudden disappearance; but the disappointment of their eager hopes is compared to what happens to a hungry and thirsty man, when he awakes from a dream, in which fancy had presented to him meat and drink in abundance, and finds it nothing but a vain illusion. The comparison is elegant and beautiful in the highest, degree, well wrought up, and perfectly suited to the end proposed.”

Ver. 8. As when a hungry man dreameth. The Assyrians dreamed of plundering Jerusalem, and were disappointed of the booty, as he who dreams of feasting and awakes hungry.

5-8. Now there is promise. At the close of verse 2 it is stated that Jerusalem shall become God’s altar-fire-hearth — indeed, the burning place of wrath upon her enemies. These verses expand this meaning. Thy strangers — Foreign invaders. Small dust — Suddenly the fierce besiegers shall become as dust, or like chaff blown away. Thou — The enemy. Shall be visited — Physical agencies shall be employed for a sudden annihilating stroke. The distresses of “Ariel” will pass away as in a moment. The suddenness will make the events seem as a dream to both the besiegers and the besieged. The besieger believed the prize of Jerusalem’s wealth was his; as he was passing his hand to grasp it, it evaded his touch as a flash. The besieged awoke in like manner to find the distress of dreaded capture wholly gone, and himself a free man again. There is scarcely so vivid a picture, in so small a compass, in all literature. It is the experience of nightmare that is given.

Thus far extends the promise attached to the woe-text of verses 1-4. As will soon be seen, however, the people of the city of God’s altar-hearth are still stupid and dull.

V. 9. Wonder-At the stupidity of this people. Cry-Cry out again and again through astonishment. They stagger-With giddiness or stupidity, which makes them like drunken men, insensible of their danger.

Verse 9. Stay yourselves, and wonder] whmhmth hithmahmehu, go on what-what-whatting, in a state of mental indetermination, till the overflowing scourge take you away. See Clarke’s note on “Psalm 119:60”.

They are drunken, but not with wine] See Clarke’s note on “Isaiah 51:21”.

Verses 9, 10. Stay yourselves and wonder — The prophet, having described the temporal judgment coming on the Jews, (see the contents of the chapter,) proceeds now to predict the spiritual one, the first gradation of which is contained in these and the two following verses, which both describe the judgment and the consequence of it. It is the same with that predicted Isaiah 6:9-12; and 8:14, 15. On which see the notes. Hebrew, whmtw whmhmth, Pause and be astonished. Stop and consider the stupidity of this people, and you cannot but wonder at it. Cry ye out, and cry — Through amazement and horror. They are drunken, but not with wine — But with stupidity and folly, which makes them, like drunken men, insensible of their danger, and not knowing what to do. For the Lord hath poured out upon you — Hath suffered to come upon you, in a way of righteous judgment, and as a punishment for your loving, darkness rather than light; the spirit of deep sleep — Hardness of heart, and insensibility of your danger and misery. The prophets and your rulers — Your magistrates and ministers, whose blindness and stupidity are a great curse to the people; hath he covered — Permitted to be covered with the veil of ignorance and stupidity; that is, he hath withdrawn his abused light and grace from them, so that they no more see things in a true light than if a thick veil were spread over them. The prophets and seers here mean the same persons.

9-12. Stay… wonder; cry — The original, and our version from it, in this verse are obscure. Credibly the meaning is: “Stare with amazed look at the prophecy just given, if you will. [Isaiah is addressing the nobles and priests and prophets of Jerusalem.] Revel in sensual pleasures if you will. Deeper blindness will be the certain result. Cling still to your policy of rejecting Jehovah’s aid and seeking Egypt’s.” They stagger, etc. — Here the prophet apparently soliloquizes: “Here they stagger and are stupefied by something quite different from the usual wine.” Isaiah 28:7. What this something is he now states to them. Jehovah hath poured… deep sleep, etc. — God creates not moral evil; but when projected from the creature, he causes it to react upon and punish itself. Sin stupefies the moral nature. It works “a deep sleep.” It makes dull, or even blind, the intellectual and the spiritual eye. Since, therefore, ye will blind yourselves to divine prophecy, Jehovah allows you all the results of your wilful blindness. The prophets — They are not God’s prophets. Pretending to be prophets they are not true men. They pander to popular vices for popular favour and applause. Your rulers — Your head men, men who have wickedly attained to leadership, claiming to be seers, that is, statesmen. Hath he covered — Covered as to the eyes. They see not the plain truths of God. (It is the same over again in all ages, down to Christ’s time, down to these times.) God leaves them in their blindness. “Like priest, like people.” The vision of all is become… as… a book that is sealed — Parabolic words, these, which teach that what God reveals avails the people nothing. Prophecy by God’s true men is thrown away through the corrupting influence of such leaders.

V. 10. Dead sleep-Hardness of heart, and insensibleness of your danger. Seers-Your magistrates and ministers. Covered-With the veil of ignorance and stupidity.

Verses 9, 10. Stay yourselves and wonder — The prophet, having described the temporal judgment coming on the Jews, (see the contents of the chapter,) proceeds now to predict the spiritual one, the first gradation of which is contained in these and the two following verses, which both describe the judgment and the consequence of it. It is the same with that predicted Isaiah 6:9-12; and 8:14, 15. On which see the notes. Hebrew, whmtw whmhmth, Pause and be astonished. Stop and consider the stupidity of this people, and you cannot but wonder at it. Cry ye out, and cry — Through amazement and horror. They are drunken, but not with wine — But with stupidity and folly, which makes them, like drunken men, insensible of their danger, and not knowing what to do. For the Lord hath poured out upon you — Hath suffered to come upon you, in a way of righteous judgment, and as a punishment for your loving, darkness rather than light; the spirit of deep sleep — Hardness of heart, and insensibility of your danger and misery. The prophets and your rulers — Your magistrates and ministers, whose blindness and stupidity are a great curse to the people; hath he covered — Permitted to be covered with the veil of ignorance and stupidity; that is, he hath withdrawn his abused light and grace from them, so that they no more see things in a true light than if a thick veil were spread over them. The prophets and seers here mean the same persons.

9-12. Stay… wonder; cry — The original, and our version from it, in this verse are obscure. Credibly the meaning is: “Stare with amazed look at the prophecy just given, if you will. [Isaiah is addressing the nobles and priests and prophets of Jerusalem.] Revel in sensual pleasures if you will. Deeper blindness will be the certain result. Cling still to your policy of rejecting Jehovah’s aid and seeking Egypt’s.” They stagger, etc. — Here the prophet apparently soliloquizes: “Here they stagger and are stupefied by something quite different from the usual wine.” Isaiah 28:7. What this something is he now states to them. Jehovah hath poured… deep sleep, etc. — God creates not moral evil; but when projected from the creature, he causes it to react upon and punish itself. Sin stupefies the moral nature. It works “a deep sleep.” It makes dull, or even blind, the intellectual and the spiritual eye. Since, therefore, ye will blind yourselves to divine prophecy, Jehovah allows you all the results of your wilful blindness. The prophets — They are not God’s prophets. Pretending to be prophets they are not true men. They pander to popular vices for popular favour and applause. Your rulers — Your head men, men who have wickedly attained to leadership, claiming to be seers, that is, statesmen. Hath he covered — Covered as to the eyes. They see not the plain truths of God. (It is the same over again in all ages, down to Christ’s time, down to these times.) God leaves them in their blindness. “Like priest, like people.” The vision of all is become… as… a book that is sealed — Parabolic words, these, which teach that what God reveals avails the people nothing. Prophecy by God’s true men is thrown away through the corrupting influence of such leaders.

Verse 11. I cannot; for it is sealed— “I cannot read it; for it is sealed up.”] An ancient MS. and the Septuagint have preserved a word here, lost out of the text; twrql likroth, (for twarql,) anagnwnai, read it.

Verses 11, 12. And the vision of all — Of all your prophets, or every vision; is unto you as the words of a book that is sealed — Which no man can read while it is sealed up, as books then sometimes were, being in the form of rolls. Which men deliver to one that is learned — That understands the language in which the book is written; saying, Read this — he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed — Mere human learning, without supernatural illumination, will not enable any man rightly to understand the word of God, and things divine: see 1 Corinthians 2:11, 14. The book is delivered — Unsealed and opened; to him that is unlearned — and he saith, I cannot read it; for I am unlearned. Thus, neither the learned nor the unlearned among the Jews were any better for the messages which God sent them by his servants the prophets, nor desired to be better.

9-12. Stay… wonder; cry — The original, and our version from it, in this verse are obscure. Credibly the meaning is: “Stare with amazed look at the prophecy just given, if you will. [Isaiah is addressing the nobles and priests and prophets of Jerusalem.] Revel in sensual pleasures if you will. Deeper blindness will be the certain result. Cling still to your policy of rejecting Jehovah’s aid and seeking Egypt’s.” They stagger, etc. — Here the prophet apparently soliloquizes: “Here they stagger and are stupefied by something quite different from the usual wine.” Isaiah 28:7. What this something is he now states to them. Jehovah hath poured… deep sleep, etc. — God creates not moral evil; but when projected from the creature, he causes it to react upon and punish itself. Sin stupefies the moral nature. It works “a deep sleep.” It makes dull, or even blind, the intellectual and the spiritual eye. Since, therefore, ye will blind yourselves to divine prophecy, Jehovah allows you all the results of your wilful blindness. The prophets — They are not God’s prophets. Pretending to be prophets they are not true men. They pander to popular vices for popular favour and applause. Your rulers — Your head men, men who have wickedly attained to leadership, claiming to be seers, that is, statesmen. Hath he covered — Covered as to the eyes. They see not the plain truths of God. (It is the same over again in all ages, down to Christ’s time, down to these times.) God leaves them in their blindness. “Like priest, like people.” The vision of all is become… as… a book that is sealed — Parabolic words, these, which teach that what God reveals avails the people nothing. Prophecy by God’s true men is thrown away through the corrupting influence of such leaders.

V. 12. Of all-Of all, your prophets. As a book-In which no man can read, while it is sealed up, as books then sometimes were, being made in the form of rolls. Delivered-Unsealed and opened.

Verses 11, 12. And the vision of all — Of all your prophets, or every vision; is unto you as the words of a book that is sealed — Which no man can read while it is sealed up, as books then sometimes were, being in the form of rolls. Which men deliver to one that is learned — That understands the language in which the book is written; saying, Read this — he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed — Mere human learning, without supernatural illumination, will not enable any man rightly to understand the word of God, and things divine: see 1 Corinthians 2:11, 14. The book is delivered — Unsealed and opened; to him that is unlearned — and he saith, I cannot read it; for I am unlearned. Thus, neither the learned nor the unlearned among the Jews were any better for the messages which God sent them by his servants the prophets, nor desired to be better.

9-12. Stay… wonder; cry — The original, and our version from it, in this verse are obscure. Credibly the meaning is: “Stare with amazed look at the prophecy just given, if you will. [Isaiah is addressing the nobles and priests and prophets of Jerusalem.] Revel in sensual pleasures if you will. Deeper blindness will be the certain result. Cling still to your policy of rejecting Jehovah’s aid and seeking Egypt’s.” They stagger, etc. — Here the prophet apparently soliloquizes: “Here they stagger and are stupefied by something quite different from the usual wine.” Isaiah 28:7. What this something is he now states to them. Jehovah hath poured… deep sleep, etc. — God creates not moral evil; but when projected from the creature, he causes it to react upon and punish itself. Sin stupefies the moral nature. It works “a deep sleep.” It makes dull, or even blind, the intellectual and the spiritual eye. Since, therefore, ye will blind yourselves to divine prophecy, Jehovah allows you all the results of your wilful blindness. The prophets — They are not God’s prophets. Pretending to be prophets they are not true men. They pander to popular vices for popular favour and applause. Your rulers — Your head men, men who have wickedly attained to leadership, claiming to be seers, that is, statesmen. Hath he covered — Covered as to the eyes. They see not the plain truths of God. (It is the same over again in all ages, down to Christ’s time, down to these times.) God leaves them in their blindness. “Like priest, like people.” The vision of all is become… as… a book that is sealed — Parabolic words, these, which teach that what God reveals avails the people nothing. Prophecy by God’s true men is thrown away through the corrupting influence of such leaders.

V. 13. Draw near-Namely, in acts of worship. With lips-With outward devotions. But-They do not pay me that love, and fear, and obedience, which I require. And-They worship me not in such a manner, as I have prescribed, but according to mens inventions, preferring the devices and traditions of their false prophets, before my institutions.

Verse 13. The Lord— “JEHOVAH”] For ynda Adonai, sixty-three MSS. of Kennicott’s, and many of Deuteronomy Rossi’s, and four editions, read hwhy Yehovah, and five MSS. add hwhy.

Kimchi makes some just observations on this verse. The vision, meaning the Divine revelation of all the prophets, is a book or letter that is sealed-is not easily understood. This is delivered to one that is learned—instructed in the law. Read this; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed; a full proof that he does not wish to know the contents, else he would apply to the prophet to get it explained. See Kimchi on the place.

And their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men— “And vain is their fear of me teaching the commandments of men”] I read for yhtw vattehi, whtw vethohu, with the Septuagint, Matthew 15:9; Mark 8:7; and for hdmlm melummedah, מלמדים melummedim, with the Chaldee.

Verses 13, 14. Forasmuch as this people draw near to me — Namely, in acts of worship; with their mouth — Speaking to me in prayer and praise, and promising and professing to serve me; and with their lips do honour me — With mere outward devotion and bodily worship; but have removed their heart far from me — Do not render me that love and gratitude, that regard and obedience, which I require; and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men — By mere human wisdom, and not by my word and Spirit. They worship and serve me, not in such a manner as I have prescribed, but according to men’s inventions, preferring the devices and traditions of their false prophets before my institutions. Or, their religion is merely of human, not of divine, origin: it is the fruit of corrupt nature, and not of renewing grace. I will proceed to do a marvellous work — A thing that will scarce be believed; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish — Shall disappear and vanish. A veil shall be cast upon the eyes of their minds, and their folly shall be made manifest to all. The most refined arts of their politicians shall not avail their authors, nor be able to preserve them from God’s judgments; and their most wise and learned men shall lose their usual discretion, and be infatuated. This threatening was remarkably fulfilled in the Jews of our Lord’s time, who crucified him out of fear of the Romans, and thereby brought the Romans upon them! And “their learned rabbis, ever since, have minded little else but fabulous stories, and the Cabbalists have vented trifles for profound mysteries.” As, in rejecting Christ and his gospel, they removed their hearts far from God, therefore God justly removed wisdom far from them, and hid from their eyes the things that belonged even to their temporal peace.

13, 14. Thus spiritual teaching is rejected, though formal adherence may be observed. In this way moral blindness is self inflicted. It follows the law which God has established, that, abusing so delicate a thing as conscience, it must be blinded. They keep up the form of sacrifice and worship in Jerusalem, not from heart-assent to it, but because Hezekiah, the truly pious king at this time, has prohibited idol worship absolutely. They see no help against Assyrian invasion but from Egypt. So spiritual a thing as help from Jehovah alone they cannot appreciate. A marvellous work and a wonder — Our Lord quotes these words as applying to the scribes and Pharisees. Matthew 15:7-9. Does Isaiah forecast the times of Christ? Yes, by stating a law of the Spirit and conscience applicable on the same point at all times. Perverting truth is followed by blindness always.

V. 14. Hid-Shall disappear and vanish.

Verses 13, 14. Forasmuch as this people draw near to me — Namely, in acts of worship; with their mouth — Speaking to me in prayer and praise, and promising and professing to serve me; and with their lips do honour me — With mere outward devotion and bodily worship; but have removed their heart far from me — Do not render me that love and gratitude, that regard and obedience, which I require; and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men — By mere human wisdom, and not by my word and Spirit. They worship and serve me, not in such a manner as I have prescribed, but according to men’s inventions, preferring the devices and traditions of their false prophets before my institutions. Or, their religion is merely of human, not of divine, origin: it is the fruit of corrupt nature, and not of renewing grace. I will proceed to do a marvellous work — A thing that will scarce be believed; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish — Shall disappear and vanish. A veil shall be cast upon the eyes of their minds, and their folly shall be made manifest to all. The most refined arts of their politicians shall not avail their authors, nor be able to preserve them from God’s judgments; and their most wise and learned men shall lose their usual discretion, and be infatuated. This threatening was remarkably fulfilled in the Jews of our Lord’s time, who crucified him out of fear of the Romans, and thereby brought the Romans upon them! And “their learned rabbis, ever since, have minded little else but fabulous stories, and the Cabbalists have vented trifles for profound mysteries.” As, in rejecting Christ and his gospel, they removed their hearts far from God, therefore God justly removed wisdom far from them, and hid from their eyes the things that belonged even to their temporal peace.

13, 14. Thus spiritual teaching is rejected, though formal adherence may be observed. In this way moral blindness is self inflicted. It follows the law which God has established, that, abusing so delicate a thing as conscience, it must be blinded. They keep up the form of sacrifice and worship in Jerusalem, not from heart-assent to it, but because Hezekiah, the truly pious king at this time, has prohibited idol worship absolutely. They see no help against Assyrian invasion but from Egypt. So spiritual a thing as help from Jehovah alone they cannot appreciate. A marvellous work and a wonder — Our Lord quotes these words as applying to the scribes and Pharisees. Matthew 15:7-9. Does Isaiah forecast the times of Christ? Yes, by stating a law of the Spirit and conscience applicable on the same point at all times. Perverting truth is followed by blindness always.

V. 15. Seek deep-A metaphor from men, who use to dig deep into the earth, that they may hide any thing there. To hide-Vainly imagining, that they can deceive, not only men, but God, by their external professions. Who-Neither God nor man can discover us.

Verses 15, 16. Wo unto them that seek deep — Hebrew, µyqym[mh, that make, or dig deep; a metaphor from persons digging deep into the earth, that they may hide what they wish to keep safe and unknown. To hide their counsel from the Lord — Who vainly imagine that they can conceal their hypocrisy and secret wickedness from him, and can deceive, not only men, but God, by their external professions and services; or, who think they can carry on their projects without the observation or interposition of Providence. And their works are in the dark — Their wicked counsels are contrived, and their idolatry is practised, in secret and dark places, of which see Ezekiel 8:12. And they say, Who seeth us? — Neither God nor man can discover us. Surely your turning of things upside down — “Your giving things unexpected turns, or false appearances, to hide your true designs, shall signify no more toward producing the intended effect, than the clay does without the artificer.” Dr. Waterland renders the verse, “This perverseness of yours is as if the potter were reputed as clay; that the work should say of its maker. He made me not; or the thing framed, say of him that framed it, He hath no understanding.” Bishop Lowth reads the passage in the interrogative form, and thereby gives it still more force: “Perverse as ye are! shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? Shall the work say of the workman, He hath not made me?” &c. “We, and all our works are in the hands of God, as clay in the hands of the potter, to give what form and fashion to them he pleases; and when the finest schemes are laid, he can work things to a quite contrary end.” — Lowth.

15. Seek deep to hide — Irony on the conceit of these leaders, in impiously supposing even God did not see their intent as to Egypt, and the motive of their disloyalty to him. Their absurdity is exposed in the next verse.

V. 16. Surely-All your subtle devices, by which you turn yourselves into all shapes. As clay-It is no more to me, than the clay is to the potter, who can alter and dispose it as he sees fit.

Verses 15, 16. Wo unto them that seek deep — Hebrew, µyqym[mh, that make, or dig deep; a metaphor from persons digging deep into the earth, that they may hide what they wish to keep safe and unknown. To hide their counsel from the Lord — Who vainly imagine that they can conceal their hypocrisy and secret wickedness from him, and can deceive, not only men, but God, by their external professions and services; or, who think they can carry on their projects without the observation or interposition of Providence. And their works are in the dark — Their wicked counsels are contrived, and their idolatry is practised, in secret and dark places, of which see Ezekiel 8:12. And they say, Who seeth us? — Neither God nor man can discover us. Surely your turning of things upside down — “Your giving things unexpected turns, or false appearances, to hide your true designs, shall signify no more toward producing the intended effect, than the clay does without the artificer.” Dr. Waterland renders the verse, “This perverseness of yours is as if the potter were reputed as clay; that the work should say of its maker. He made me not; or the thing framed, say of him that framed it, He hath no understanding.” Bishop Lowth reads the passage in the interrogative form, and thereby gives it still more force: “Perverse as ye are! shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? Shall the work say of the workman, He hath not made me?” &c. “We, and all our works are in the hands of God, as clay in the hands of the potter, to give what form and fashion to them he pleases; and when the finest schemes are laid, he can work things to a quite contrary end.” — Lowth.

Ver. 16. Shall the work say of him that made it, he made me not? Or, how shall the work say of him that made it, he made me not; or how shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, he hath no understanding? Satire is the keenest dart at idols.

16. Your turning… things upside down — Or, “O such perversion!” Fools! to suppose God knows no more than to put your profane, formal pretension of piety on a par with genuine religion; to suppose him easily deluded by you. This means the proverb-like comparison or illustration in frequent use among the Jews. See Isaiah 45:9; 64:8; Jeremiah 18:5, 7; Romans 9:20.

V. 17. As a forest-The forest of Lebanon, which was a barren mountain, shall by God’s providence, become a fruitful and populous place; and these places which are now fruitful and populous, shall then become as barren and desolate, as that forest. This is a prophecy of the rejection of the Jews, and of the calling of the Gentiles.

Verse 17. And Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field— “Ere Lebanon become like Carmel”] A mashal, or proverbial saying, expressing any great revolution of things; and, when respecting two subjects, an entire reciprocal change: explained here by some interpreters, I think with great probability, as having its principal view beyond the revolutions then near at hand, to the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles. The first were the vineyard of God, la כרם kerem El, (if the prophet, who loves an allusion to words of like sounds, may be supposed to have intended one here,) cultivated and watered by him in vain, to be given up, and to become a wilderness: compare Isaiah 5:1-7. The last had been hitherto barren; but were, by the grace of God, to be rendered fruitful. See Matthew 21:43; Romans 11:30, 31. Carmel stands here opposed to Lebanon, and therefore is to be taken as a proper name.

Verse 17. Is it not a very little while, &c. — The following paragraph, to the end of the chapter, relates to the times of the gospel; the prophet foretelling therein, in figurative language, the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles. Lebanon, a barren mountain, a desolate wilderness, here stands for the Gentile world. This was to be turned into a fruitful field — Hebrew, lmrkl, into Carmel, or the vineyard of God, as the word signifies. On the other hand, the fruitful field, what had formerly been the vineyard of God, the Jewish Church, should be esteemed as a forest — See this interpretation confirmed, Isaiah 32:15; and Matthew 15:7, 8.

Ver. 17. Is it not yet a very little while, only a hundred and eighty years, and the fruitful field shall be turned into a desert, by the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar.

17. Is it not a very little while — Equivalent to a declaration that the schemes and plans of Israel should soon come to naught. Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field — Rocky and comparatively barren as was this noted mountain, even it should, metaphorically, soon become as a fruitful field, and in place of its thinly scattered cedars should be a crowded forest. To drop the metaphor, the time was not distant when Israel, now as barren of the products of righteousness as rocky Lebanon was of fruit, should become luxuriant in goodness.

V. 18. Shall see-Being, by God’s grace, brought out of gross, ignorance and wickedness, unto a clear and saving knowledge of the truth.

Verses 18, 19. In that day, &c. — In these two verses we have the first happy consequence of Lebanon’s becoming a fruitful field, “the spiritual blessings of light and understanding in divine things, and of joy and consolation to be diffused among the Gentiles, formerly deaf and blind.” The deaf hear the words of the book — That is, the truths of divine revelation are declared to the heathen, and their ears are opened to hear, and their hearts to understand them. And the eyes of the blind to see — They who had been for ages in a state of the greatest spiritual blindness and darkness, shall be enlightened with the clear and satisfactory knowledge of God and his will. The meek also — Humble and meek believers of the Gentiles, opposed to these proud and scornful Jews, spoken of in the former part of this, and in the foregoing chapter; shall increase their joy in the Lord — Shall greatly rejoice in this, that Jehovah is now their God and portion. And the poor among men — The poor in spirit, or the poor of this world, to whom, especially, the gospel has been and is to be preached, or those whom the Jews viewed as a mean and despicable people; shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel — Whom before they neither knew nor regarded.

18, 19. That day — The period of moral changes to be wrought by Jehovah, mentioned in the preceding verse. The revolution is to be complete. Hinderances to teaching the law, through blind leaders, shall be removed. The moral blindness of verses 11, 12, is here put in antithesis to the docility and consequent joy in God and his Gospel among the Gentile converts, and the people, now blind and deaf so far as the word of Jehovah is concerned, shall be changed into a people with open ears and seeing eyes. Words such as those the prophet in vain now holds forth, shall then be heard with willing distinctness, and their truth be clearly discerned. The poor… rejoice in the Holy One of Israel — Poor men, the pious poor who fear God, and had been subjected to oppression.

V. 19. Meek-The humble and meek believers. Poor-Mean and despicable people, such as the Gentiles were in the opinion of the Jews, and such as the greatest part of the first Christians were.

Verses 18, 19. In that day, &c. — In these two verses we have the first happy consequence of Lebanon’s becoming a fruitful field, “the spiritual blessings of light and understanding in divine things, and of joy and consolation to be diffused among the Gentiles, formerly deaf and blind.” The deaf hear the words of the book — That is, the truths of divine revelation are declared to the heathen, and their ears are opened to hear, and their hearts to understand them. And the eyes of the blind to see — They who had been for ages in a state of the greatest spiritual blindness and darkness, shall be enlightened with the clear and satisfactory knowledge of God and his will. The meek also — Humble and meek believers of the Gentiles, opposed to these proud and scornful Jews, spoken of in the former part of this, and in the foregoing chapter; shall increase their joy in the Lord — Shall greatly rejoice in this, that Jehovah is now their God and portion. And the poor among men — The poor in spirit, or the poor of this world, to whom, especially, the gospel has been and is to be preached, or those whom the Jews viewed as a mean and despicable people; shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel — Whom before they neither knew nor regarded.

18, 19. That day — The period of moral changes to be wrought by Jehovah, mentioned in the preceding verse. The revolution is to be complete. Hinderances to teaching the law, through blind leaders, shall be removed. The moral blindness of verses 11, 12, is here put in antithesis to the docility and consequent joy in God and his Gospel among the Gentile converts, and the people, now blind and deaf so far as the word of Jehovah is concerned, shall be changed into a people with open ears and seeing eyes. Words such as those the prophet in vain now holds forth, shall then be heard with willing distinctness, and their truth be clearly discerned. The poor… rejoice in the Holy One of Israel — Poor men, the pious poor who fear God, and had been subjected to oppression.

V. 20. That watch-That early and diligently apply themselves to the practice of wickedness.

Verses 20, 21. For, &c. — Here we have the second event connected with the calling of the Gentiles, the punishment of the enemies of God and his truth. For the terrible one is brought to naught — The proud and potent enemies of those meek and poor believers, mentioned in the last verse, such as the unbelieving Jews and their rulers, and the heathen potentates, were in the first age of Christianity. And the scorner is consumed — The scornful opposers of God’s word and servants. And all that watch for iniquity — That early and diligently apply themselves to the practice of wickedness. That make a man an offender for a word — That condemn a man, as if he were a great criminal, for a verbal reproof; and lay a snare for him that reproveth — For God’s faithful prophets and ministers, whose office it is to reprove ungodly men; in the gate — Where the people used to assemble, both upon civil and sacred accounts, and where prophets used to deliver their prophecies. And turn aside — From his right; the just — Hebrew, the just, or righteous one, meaning chiefly the prophets and ministers of God, and especially Christ, often called the Just One, both in the Old and New Testaments; for a thing of naught — Not for any great advantage, but for a trifle, which was a great aggravation of their injustice, or, with vanity, as whtk signifies, that is, with vain and frivolous pretences, or without any colour of reason or justice. Vitringa applies all this to those who opposed Christ and his apostles.

Ver. 20. The terrible one is brought to nought. Isaiah well knew that Babylon should be punished for its excessive cruelty towards the nations, How was it possible for Babylon to be happy, when millions of spirits were praying for their blood to be avenged on Babylon. See her fall described in Isaiah 45., and foretold in chap. 13. and 14.

20, 21. For the terrible one — The haughty and overbearing among the worldly Jewish leaders. Watch for iniquity — For opportunities to commit it. That make a man an offender for a word — Hold a man criminal, perhaps, for a reproving word; the prophet, for example, who was faithful to announce the truth front God, or any pious, uninfluential man, whose modest remonstrance they would not endure, and whom they would have condemned in a mock trial at the gate, the place for holding court. Turn aside the just — The man who had a just cause, by a decision that was a mere mockery of justice.

V. 21. That make a man-That condemn a man, as if he was a great criminal. For him-For God’s faithful prophets and ministers. The gate-There the people used to assemble, both upon civil and sacred accounts, and there prophets used to deliver their prophecies. Turn-From his right. The just-The faithful ministers of God. Nought-Not for any great advantage, but for a trifle.

Verse 21. Him that reproveth in the gate— “Him that pleaded in the gate”] “They are heard by the treasurer, master of the horse, and other principal officers of the regency of Algiers, who sit constantly in the gate of the palace for that purpose:” that is, the distribution of justice.—Shaw’s Travels, p. 315, fol. He adds in the note, “That we read of the elders in the gate. Deuteronomy 21:15; 25:7; and, Isaiah 29:21; Amos 5:10, of him that reproveth and rebuketh in the gate. The Ottoman court likewise seems to have been called the Porte, from the distribution of justice and the despatch of public business that is carried on in the gates of it.”

Verses 20, 21. For, &c. — Here we have the second event connected with the calling of the Gentiles, the punishment of the enemies of God and his truth. For the terrible one is brought to naught — The proud and potent enemies of those meek and poor believers, mentioned in the last verse, such as the unbelieving Jews and their rulers, and the heathen potentates, were in the first age of Christianity. And the scorner is consumed — The scornful opposers of God’s word and servants. And all that watch for iniquity — That early and diligently apply themselves to the practice of wickedness. That make a man an offender for a word — That condemn a man, as if he were a great criminal, for a verbal reproof; and lay a snare for him that reproveth — For God’s faithful prophets and ministers, whose office it is to reprove ungodly men; in the gate — Where the people used to assemble, both upon civil and sacred accounts, and where prophets used to deliver their prophecies. And turn aside — From his right; the just — Hebrew, the just, or righteous one, meaning chiefly the prophets and ministers of God, and especially Christ, often called the Just One, both in the Old and New Testaments; for a thing of naught — Not for any great advantage, but for a trifle, which was a great aggravation of their injustice, or, with vanity, as whtk signifies, that is, with vain and frivolous pretences, or without any colour of reason or justice. Vitringa applies all this to those who opposed Christ and his apostles.

20, 21. For the terrible one — The haughty and overbearing among the worldly Jewish leaders. Watch for iniquity — For opportunities to commit it. That make a man an offender for a word — Hold a man criminal, perhaps, for a reproving word; the prophet, for example, who was faithful to announce the truth front God, or any pious, uninfluential man, whose modest remonstrance they would not endure, and whom they would have condemned in a mock trial at the gate, the place for holding court. Turn aside the just — The man who had a just cause, by a decision that was a mere mockery of justice.

V. 22. Redeemed-From manifold dangers, and especially from idolatry. Jacob-The Israelites or posterity of Jacob, who had great cause to be ashamed, for their continued infidelity, shall at last be brought back to the God of their fathers, and to their Messiah. Pale-Through fear of their enemies.

Verse 22. Who redeemed Abraham] As God redeemed Abraham from among idolaters and workers of iniquity, so will he redeem those who hear the words of the Book, and are humbled before him, Isaiah 29:18, 19. Concerning the house of Jacob— “The God of the house of Jacob”] I read la El as a noun, not a preposition: the parallel line favours this sense; and there is no address to the house of Jacob to justify the other. Neither shall his face now wax pale— “His face shall no more be covered with confusion.”] “wrwjy yechoro, Chald. ut o metabalei, Theod. entraphsetai, Syr. wrpjn necaphro, videtur legendum wrpjy yechepheru: hic enim solum legitur verbum, rwj chavar, nec in linguis affinibus habet pudoris significationem.”—SECKER. “Here alone is the verb rwj chavar read; nor has it in the cognate languages the signification of shame.”

Verses 22-24. Therefore thus saith the Lord — These verses contain the third consequence of turning Lebanon into a fruitful field; “a wonderful increase of the true seed of Abraham and Jacob disseminated through the whole world, in whom those patriarchs, according to the promises given them by God, might be able to recognise their true image.” Who redeemed Abraham — From manifold dangers, and especially from idolatry, in which his family and ancestors were generally involved; Jacob shall not now be ashamed — The posterity of Jacob, who had great cause to be ashamed for their continued infidelity, for their persecutions of God’s prophets and righteous servants, and for their rejection of their own Messiah, shall, at last, be brought back unto the God of their fathers, and to their own Messiah. Neither shall his face now wax pale — Through fear of their enemies, who from time to time had molested them, for now they shall be delivered from them all, and shall serve God without fear, Luke 1:74. But when he seeth his children — When the believing seed of Jacob shall see those children whom they have begotten to God, by the gospel, even the Gentiles; the work of my hands — The children, not of the flesh, but of the promise, whom I, by my almighty grace, have regenerated; in the midst of him — Incorporated with the Jews, into one and the same body; they shall sanctify my name, &c. — Instead of despising and hating the Gentiles, and envying them the grace of God, they shall praise and glorify God with them, and for them. They also that erred — Those Gentiles who had erred from God’s truth, being led aside by a lying spirit to idolatry, and all manner of impiety; shall come to understanding — Shall come to the knowledge of the truth; and they that murmured, &c. — They that would not receive the doctrine of God, but murmured at his faithful teachers who delivered it; shall learn doctrine — Shall receive God’s truth in the love of it.

22-24. Jehovah, who called Abraham out of heathendom, says, that in consequence of this happy change, which shall take place in the nation when the oppressor shall be removed, and the poor and meek shall rejoice, and the ignorant shall be properly instructed, the holy ancestry of Israel shall no more blush in shame nor wax pale as aforetime on account of the base life of their descendants. But they shall look out of heaven upon the whole body of purified Israel sanctifying the name of Jehovah, who hath wrought in them this great change. They shall see those of formerly erring spirit now learning true wisdom, and the hardened ones accepting sound instruction.

From the foregoing we may fairly infer that the prophet sees just before him in the future, during the improved times of Hezekiah, the beginning of this happy change; and that, with prophetic ken, he leaps on to the better days beyond the captivity, and thence to the glorious period of the Messiah. At least, in other prophetic pieces, such appears to be the law under which the soul of Isaiah was wrought upon.

V. 23. He seeth-When the believing seed of Jacob shall see those children, whom they have begotten to God, by the gospel, even the Gentiles. The work-The children, not of the flesh, but of the promise, whom I, by my almighty grace, have regenerated. In the midst-Incorporated with the Jews, into one and the same body. Shall sanctify-They shall glorify God, with them and for them.

Verse 23. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands— “For when his children shall see the work of my hands”] For wtwarb birotho I read twarb biroth, with the Septuagint and Syriac. ISAIAH

Verses 22-24. Therefore thus saith the Lord — These verses contain the third consequence of turning Lebanon into a fruitful field; “a wonderful increase of the true seed of Abraham and Jacob disseminated through the whole world, in whom those patriarchs, according to the promises given them by God, might be able to recognise their true image.” Who redeemed Abraham — From manifold dangers, and especially from idolatry, in which his family and ancestors were generally involved; Jacob shall not now be ashamed — The posterity of Jacob, who had great cause to be ashamed for their continued infidelity, for their persecutions of God’s prophets and righteous servants, and for their rejection of their own Messiah, shall, at last, be brought back unto the God of their fathers, and to their own Messiah. Neither shall his face now wax pale — Through fear of their enemies, who from time to time had molested them, for now they shall be delivered from them all, and shall serve God without fear, Luke 1:74. But when he seeth his children — When the believing seed of Jacob shall see those children whom they have begotten to God, by the gospel, even the Gentiles; the work of my hands — The children, not of the flesh, but of the promise, whom I, by my almighty grace, have regenerated; in the midst of him — Incorporated with the Jews, into one and the same body; they shall sanctify my name, &c. — Instead of despising and hating the Gentiles, and envying them the grace of God, they shall praise and glorify God with them, and for them. They also that erred — Those Gentiles who had erred from God’s truth, being led aside by a lying spirit to idolatry, and all manner of impiety; shall come to understanding — Shall come to the knowledge of the truth; and they that murmured, &c. — They that would not receive the doctrine of God, but murmured at his faithful teachers who delivered it; shall learn doctrine — Shall receive God’s truth in the love of it.

22-24. Jehovah, who called Abraham out of heathendom, says, that in consequence of this happy change, which shall take place in the nation when the oppressor shall be removed, and the poor and meek shall rejoice, and the ignorant shall be properly instructed, the holy ancestry of Israel shall no more blush in shame nor wax pale as aforetime on account of the base life of their descendants. But they shall look out of heaven upon the whole body of purified Israel sanctifying the name of Jehovah, who hath wrought in them this great change. They shall see those of formerly erring spirit now learning true wisdom, and the hardened ones accepting sound instruction.

From the foregoing we may fairly infer that the prophet sees just before him in the future, during the improved times of Hezekiah, the beginning of this happy change; and that, with prophetic ken, he leaps on to the better days beyond the captivity, and thence to the glorious period of the Messiah. At least, in other prophetic pieces, such appears to be the law under which the soul of Isaiah was wrought upon.

V. 24. That erred-Those Gentiles who erred from God’s truth. Murmured-They that murmured at God’s faithful teachers, shall now receive God’s truth in the love of it.

Verses 22-24. Therefore thus saith the Lord — These verses contain the third consequence of turning Lebanon into a fruitful field; “a wonderful increase of the true seed of Abraham and Jacob disseminated through the whole world, in whom those patriarchs, according to the promises given them by God, might be able to recognise their true image.” Who redeemed Abraham — From manifold dangers, and especially from idolatry, in which his family and ancestors were generally involved; Jacob shall not now be ashamed — The posterity of Jacob, who had great cause to be ashamed for their continued infidelity, for their persecutions of God’s prophets and righteous servants, and for their rejection of their own Messiah, shall, at last, be brought back unto the God of their fathers, and to their own Messiah. Neither shall his face now wax pale — Through fear of their enemies, who from time to time had molested them, for now they shall be delivered from them all, and shall serve God without fear, Luke 1:74. But when he seeth his children — When the believing seed of Jacob shall see those children whom they have begotten to God, by the gospel, even the Gentiles; the work of my hands — The children, not of the flesh, but of the promise, whom I, by my almighty grace, have regenerated; in the midst of him — Incorporated with the Jews, into one and the same body; they shall sanctify my name, &c. — Instead of despising and hating the Gentiles, and envying them the grace of God, they shall praise and glorify God with them, and for them. They also that erred — Those Gentiles who had erred from God’s truth, being led aside by a lying spirit to idolatry, and all manner of impiety; shall come to understanding — Shall come to the knowledge of the truth; and they that murmured, &c. — They that would not receive the doctrine of God, but murmured at his faithful teachers who delivered it; shall learn doctrine — Shall receive God’s truth in the love of it.

22-24. Jehovah, who called Abraham out of heathendom, says, that in consequence of this happy change, which shall take place in the nation when the oppressor shall be removed, and the poor and meek shall rejoice, and the ignorant shall be properly instructed, the holy ancestry of Israel shall no more blush in shame nor wax pale as aforetime on account of the base life of their descendants. But they shall look out of heaven upon the whole body of purified Israel sanctifying the name of Jehovah, who hath wrought in them this great change. They shall see those of formerly erring spirit now learning true wisdom, and the hardened ones accepting sound instruction.

From the foregoing we may fairly infer that the prophet sees just before him in the future, during the improved times of Hezekiah, the beginning of this happy change; and that, with prophetic ken, he leaps on to the better days beyond the captivity, and thence to the glorious period of the Messiah. At least, in other prophetic pieces, such appears to be the law under which the soul of Isaiah was wrought upon.