Isaiah 26:1-19. The Nation's Prayer for a more complete Salvation (1) Isaiah 26:1. The nation praises God for the strength and safety of Jerusalem, henceforth to be the dwelling place of a righteous, truth-keeping people (1, 2); for the steadfast faith which is now rewarded with peace (3, 4), and f... [ Continue Reading ]
_salvation will_God _appoint … bulwarks_ Two interpretations are possible: (_a_) "Salvation will He appoint in place of walls and moat" (see below), implying that Jerusalem has no material defences, but only the supernatural protection ("salvation") assured by Jehovah (as Psalms 125:2; Zechariah 2:4... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses might almost have been written for a dedication of the fortifications of Jerusalem. Cf. Psalms 48:12 f.... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. Psalms 118:19-20; Revelation 22:14. "Truth" here means "troth," fidelity (Deuteronomy 32:20).... [ Continue Reading ]
A stricter rendering might be: A STEADFAST DISPOSITION THOU GUARDEST IN CONSTANT PEACE (lit. "peace, peace"), FOR IT IS TRUSTFUL TOWARDS THEE (see R.V. marg.). The word for "disposition" is elsewhere translated "imagination" (e.g. Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21). Literally it means a "thing formed" (as i... [ Continue Reading ]
_for in the Lord JEHOVAH_is _everlasting strength_ Render: FOR YAH YAHVEH (see on Isaiah 12:2) IS AN EVERLASTING ROCK (lit. "a Rock of Ages"). The preposition _IN_ may be omitted in English (_Bêth essentiae_).... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah has proved himself to be a Rock by the destruction of "the lofty city"; see on ch. Isaiah 25:2. The principal pause in Isaiah 26:5 should be after the word "city.... [ Continue Reading ]
The _poor_and _needy_are the Jews, as in ch. Isaiah 25:4. The oppressed triumph over their oppressors. But that they are actually the instruments of Jehovah's vengeance on the "lofty city" is not necessarily implied.... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse should probably be read: THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS STRAIGHTNESS; THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS THOU DIRECTEST STRAIGHT. The "way" of the righteous is here not his inward life-purpose, but his outward lot. _dost weigh_ lit. "levellest"; as in Proverbs 4:26; Proverbs 5:6; Proverbs 5:21 (R.V.).... [ Continue Reading ]
That the way of the righteous is made straight by Jehovah, is a fundamental principle of religion (Proverbs 3:6; Proverbs 15:19, &c.), but the principle is upheld only by Jehovah moving in His own way of judgment; therefore the "righteous nation" has waited impatiently for His judicial interposition... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea_, in _the way … for thee_ i.e. have stood by the way along which we expected and desired Jehovah to appear in judgment. The rest of the verse should be translated as in R.V., TO THY NAME AND TO THY MEMORIAL IS THE DESIRE OF [OUR] SOUL (or, as Cheyne, "heartfelt desire"). "Name" and "memorial" a... [ Continue Reading ]
The first half of the verse completes the thought of Isaiah 26:8; the second is linked to Isaiah 26:10. The speaker is the individualised community. _will I seek thee early_ Rather, I SEEK THEE EARNESTLY. 9 B, 10. The motive of this eager longing for judgment is the conviction that only by this me... [ Continue Reading ]
_the wicked_probably includes both the heathen and the apostate Israelite. _the land of uprightness_is the Holy Land; even there, surrounded by the institutions of a pure religion, the wicked outrages the dictates of morality, having no eyes for the majesty of Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
To the eye of faith the lifting up of Jehovah's hand has been manifest in the recent history of Israel, but, as in Isaiah's time, there are some who "regard not the work of Jehovah nor see the operation of his hands" (ch. Isaiah 5:12); and for them further judgments are necessary. The first part of... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou wilt ordain_ or "mayest thou ordain." _peace for us_ cf. Isaiah 26:3. _for thou also hast wrought_ Better: FOR EVEN OUR WHOLE WORK THOU HAST WROUGHT FOR US; all that we have achieved inadequate though it be (see Isaiah 26:17) has been due to thy working for us. A similar thought underlies the... [ Continue Reading ]
other _lords besides thee_ That the reference is to foreign despotisms, and not as some have thought to false gods, may be regarded as certain. The rule of the heathen over the people of God was an invasion of Jehovah's sovereignty, it was inconsistent with the ideal of the Theocracy, and hindered t... [ Continue Reading ]
The long heathen domination is now a thing of the past; the oppressors have gone to the realm of shades, and shall trouble the world no more.... [ Continue Reading ]
Render: THE DEAD SHALL NOT LIVE, THE SHADES (_Rěphâ" îm_, as in Isaiah 14:9) SHALL NOT RISE, &c. In the form of a general proposition the writer expresses Israel's sense of security with regard to those "other lords" who have now vanished from the earth. The idea is probably suggested by ch. Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast increased the nation_ Probably an allusion to ch. Isaiah 9:3. There is no justification for taking the perfects here as prophetic perfects, or for understanding them in a precative sense. A real increase of the nation and its territory is regarded as already effected; this is one of the s... [ Continue Reading ]
_in trouble_("distress" or "straits," as ch. Isaiah 25:4) _have they visited thee_ i.e. sought after thee. The verb might also mean "missed thee" felt their need of thee. This was no doubt a spiritual gain, but the author's complaint is that so little outward benefit has accrued from the nation's di... [ Continue Reading ]
The poet plunges abruptly into a train of reflection on the depressing side of the nation's experience.... [ Continue Reading ]
The agony of the crisis is compared to the pangs of a woman in travail, a common figure, Hosea 13:13; Micah 4:10, &c. _in thy sight_ Or, BECAUSE OF THEE Thy chastening hand.... [ Continue Reading ]
Retaining the figure the prophet dwells on the abortive issue of the nation's prayers and sufferings. In the last clause he seems even to give the figure a closer application. For that sentence is no doubt to be read as in R.V. marg., NEITHER HAVE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD BEEN BORN; i.e. the mother-... [ Continue Reading ]
The answer to these utterances of disappointed hopes is the promise of the Resurrection. The speaker throughout is the community, and the words are addressed to God, with the exception of an apostrophe to the buried Israelites in the middle of the verse. There is indeed no decisive argument against... [ Continue Reading ]
_enter … and shut thy doors about thee_ Matthew 6:6. There is nothing, however, to suggest that the words here are a summons to secret prayer. _until the indignation be overpast_ Job 14:13; Daniel 11:36.... [ Continue Reading ]
The storm of judgment is about to burst on the world, but it will be of short duration; let the people seclude themselves in the privacy of their chambers and wait for a glorious salvation (cf. Zephaniah 2:3; Daniel 12:13).... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Lord_ IS COMING FORTH (fut. instans) _out of his place_ i.e. heaven. Cf. Micah 1:3. _the earth also … blood_ Uncovered blood cries for vengeance (Genesis 4:11; Ezekiel 24:7-8); and the earth, by drinking in innocent blood, seems to conspire with the murderer, by concealing his guilt. Comp. Job... [ Continue Reading ]