The Glory of the New Jerusalem At length the dark clouds of sin and impending judgement roll away before the prophet's vision, and in three magnificent Chapter s (60 62) he hails the rising sun of Jerusalem's prosperity. Ch. 60, a prophecy complete in itself, is a continuous apostrophe to the ideal... [ Continue Reading ]
_for thy light is come_ Cf. ch. Isaiah 58:8; Isaiah 58:10; Isaiah 59:9. It is the light of the promised salvation, so long looked for in vain. The perfect tenses are used from the ideal standpoint of the future.... [ Continue Reading ]
The image in these strikingly beautiful verses is that of a city glittering in the first rays of the morning sun. Zion is no doubt addressed in the feminine gender, but the personification is much less complete than in ch. Isaiah 49:18 ff., Isaiah 51:17 ff., Isaiah 52:1 ff., Isaiah 54:1 ff. The name... [ Continue Reading ]
While Zion is thus illuminated by the presence of Jehovah the heathen world still lies in darkness. Jerusalem is the one point of light on the earth's surface, to which the nations and their kings are attracted. For _people_read with R.V. PEOPLES. _but the Lord &c._ Better: BUT UPON THEE (emphatic)... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the Gentiles_ AND NATIONS (R.V.).... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall be nursed at_thy _side_ Rather, SHALL BE NURSED ON THE SIDE, i.e. carried on the hip, the Eastern mode of carrying young children. Cf. ch. Isaiah 66:12; Isaiah 49:22. The idea, therefore, is the same as in ch. Isaiah 49:22 f.; the nurses who bring back the children representing the heathen na... [ Continue Reading ]
In this and the two following strophes two things are closely associated: the restoration of Zion's banished children, and the influx of wealth from all parts of the world. The first half of Isaiah 60:4 is repeated literally from ch. Isaiah 49:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and flow_together] See ch. Isaiah 2:2. But the right translation is that of R.V. AND BE LIGHTENED (cf. Psalms 34:5). The two verbs are identical in form but belong to distinct roots. _thine heart shall fear_ Lit., SHALL THROB, obviously from joy, as in Jeremiah 33:9. These are perhaps the only two... [ Continue Reading ]
A _multitude of camels_ Cf. Ezekiel 26:10; Job 22:11. The word for "multitude" is used of Jehu's small escort in 2 Kings 9:17. Perhaps "train of camels." _dromedaries_ properly "young camels." The word does not occur in the O.T. elsewhere; amongst the Arabs it denotes, according to some of the nat... [ Continue Reading ]
The promise of Isaiah 60:5 is expanded in two pictures, seen from Jerusalem's commanding position between the desert and the sea. The first is a procession of camels and flocks representing the tribute of the East.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Kedar_(see on ch. Isaiah 21:16) … _Nebajoth_ Cf. Genesis 25:13 &c. The identification of the latter tribe with the Nabatæans of the classical writers is disputed by some eminent authorities, but it is at least a significant circumstance that "Nabataei et Cedrei" are bracketed together by Pliny, as... [ Continue Reading ]
_as doves to their windows_ Genesis 8:9. The point of comparison is rather the swiftness of the flight, than the whiteness of the wings and sails.... [ Continue Reading ]
From the East the prophet turns to the West, and describes the ships of the Mediterranean "like white doves upon the wing" converging on Jerusalem. These also bring from afar the exiled sons of Zion, as well as rich treasures from the nations.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely the isles shall wait for me_ ch. Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 51:5. Duhm proposes to read "For to me shall the seafarers be gathered" (substituting ציים [see on ch. Isaiah 23:13] for איים, and slightly changing the verb). Some such sense would better explain the word "first" in the following line. _... [ Continue Reading ]
_the sons of strangers_ STRANGERS (R.V.), as in ch. Isaiah 56:3; although the reference here is not to individual proselytes, but to foreigners in general. It is not even certain that the verse implies a willing cooperation of heathen converted to the religion of Israel, although this is to be presu... [ Continue Reading ]
For _Therefore_read AND (R.V. "also"). _the_ RICHES _of_ NATIONS] as Isaiah 60:5. _and_that _their kings_may be _brought_ R.V. AND THEIR KINGS LED WITH THEM; a circumstantial clause. Some commentators would change the passive participle into an active: "their kings being the leaders." The alterati... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. Zechariah 14:17-18. The verse is objected to by Duhm and Cheyne on account of its prosaic character and unrhythmical structure, and also because it violates the strophic arrangement which these writers find in the chapter. It certainly seems to intrude awkwardly between Isaiah 60:11 and Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
Forest trees from Lebanon shall be brought for the adornment of the Temple. It is difficult to say whether the reference be to building materials for the sacred edifice, or to ornamental trees planted in the Temple-courts. The former view, though less poetic, is more probable; and it is certainly un... [ Continue Reading ]
The homage done to Zion by her former oppressors is probably to be regarded as the consequence of the new glory which accrues to the Sanctuary (Isaiah 60:13). _The sons also … feet_ The LXX. reads simply: "And there shall come crouching unto thee the sons of thine afflicters and despisers." The wor... [ Continue Reading ]
INSTEAD OF THY BEING _forsaken and hated_ Cf. ch. Isaiah 49:14; Isaiah 49:21; Isaiah 54:6; Isaiah 54:11. _so that no man went through thee_ WITH NONE PASSING BY (or through).... [ Continue Reading ]
Instead of being shunned and hated by all nations, Zion shall become the joy of the whole earth, her wants being abundantly supplied from the best that the nations can bestow.... [ Continue Reading ]
For the figure in the first half of the verse, cf. ch. Isaiah 49:23; the second half is repeated from Isaiah 49:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For brass … gold &c._ Cf. ch. Isaiah 9:10; 1 Kings 10:21; 1 Kings 10:27, and the opposite experience, 1 Kings 14:26 f. _I will also make, &c._ Render: AND I WILL APPOINT PEACE AS THY GOVERNMENT, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS AS THY RULER. The word for _officers_is an abstract noun (like "management" or "magist... [ Continue Reading ]
The inner order and security of the commonwealth shall correspond to its material splendour, a double contrast to its present (or past) condition.... [ Continue Reading ]
_wasting nor destruction_ ch. Isaiah 59:7; Isaiah 51:19. _thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, &c._ This rendering is decidedly preferable to that of most recent commentators: "thou shalt call Salvation thy walls, &c." Moreover the _rule_in such cases (although Isaiah 60:17 furnishes an exception)... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy glory_ THY BEAUTY; Isaiah 60:7; Isaiah 9:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. Revelation 21:23: "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof"; and Isaiah 22:5. It is not implied that the sun and moon shall cease to exist; all that is said is that the new Jerusalem shall... [ Continue Reading ]
_the days of thy mourning_ Cf. ch. Isaiah 57:18; Isaiah 61:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
The community, composed exclusively of righteous persons, shall possess the land for ever; and Jehovah shall be glorified in them. _inherit_ Better: POSSESS. _the branch of my planting_ i.e. "which I have planted." Cf. ch. Isaiah 61:3. The word for _branch_denotes strictly a "shoot"; so also in ch... [ Continue Reading ]
_A little one … a small one_ Better perhaps: THE LEAST … THE SMALLEST. The word for "thousand" (_"éleph_) means also a larger or smaller group of families, "clan" or TRIBE. This is doubtless the sense in which it is employed here: comp. the parallel "nation" in the next line. _will hasten it in his... [ Continue Reading ]