Isaiah 24:16

From the uttermost part of the earth, from all the parts of the earth or land in which the Jews are or shall be, have we heard songs, songs of joy and praise. Even glory to the righteous; or, glory be to the righteous; which may seem to be the matter of the song. By the righteous may be understood either,

1. The generation of righteous and holy men, who formerly were despised, but now upon this eminent deliverance shall be highly honoured; or,

2. The Lord, whom they were exhorted to glorify in the foregoing verse, and who may well be called the righteous one, as he is frequently styled the Holy One, as Hosea 11:9 Habakkuk 3:3, &c.; or,

3. The Messiah, to whom this title of just or righteous is frequently given, as Isaiah 53:11 Jeremiah 23:5 Malachi 9:9, &c. And the believing Jews call him righteous emphatically, partly to intimate that he is the author and procurer of all true righteousness, and partly in opposition to their unbelieving brethren, who rejected and condemned him as a malefactor; all which the prophet foresaw by the Spirit of prophecy. But I said; but in the midst of these joyful tidings I discern something which interrupts my joys, and gives me cause of bitter complaint and lamentation. My leanness, my leanness; I faint and pine away for grief, for the following reason. The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; the Jews, who have been frequently guilty of great perfidiousness towards God, are now acting the same part; which he speaks either,

1. Of those who lived in his time; or rather,

2. Of those who should live when the Messias was upon earth, of whom he foresaw by the Spirit that they would forsake God, and reject their Messiah, and thereby bring utter destruction upon themselves. For even the Hebrew doctors expound this place of the perfidiousness of some Jews in the times of the Messiah. And it is not strange that so sad a sight made the prophet cry out, My leanness, &c. The treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously; he repeats it to show the horridness of the crime, and how deeply he was affected with it.