Isaiah 24 - Introduction

The previous chapters, from the thirteenth to the twenty-third inclusive, have been occupied mainly in describing the destruction of nations that were hostile to the Jews, or great and distressing calamities that would come ripen them. The prophet had thus successively depicted the calamities that would come upon Babylon, Damascus, Moab, Nubia, Egypt, Dumah, and Tyre. In Isaiah 22, he had, however, described the calamities which would come upon Judea and Jerusalem by the invasion of Sennacherib.

In this chapter, the prophet returns to the calamities which would come upon the people of God themselves. This chapter, and the three following, to the end of the twenty-seventh, seem to have been uttered about the same time, and perhaps may be regarded as constituting one vision, or prophecy. So Noyes, Lowth, and Rosenmuller, regard it. If these chapters be included in the prophecy, then it consists

(1) of a description of calamities in Isaiah 24.

(2) of a song of praise expressive of deliverance from those calamities, and of the consequent spread of the true religion, in Isaiah 25:1;

(3) of a song of praise suitable to celebrate the triumphs of the true religion in Isaiah 26; and

(4) of the effect of tiffs deliverance in purifying the Jews in Isaiah 27:1.

When the prophecy was uttered is wholly unknown. In regard to the events to which it relates, there has been a great diversity of opinion, and scarcely are any two interpreters agreed. Grotius regards it as relating to the carrying away of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser. Hensler supposes that it refers to the invasion of Sennacherib. Vitringa supposes that it relates to the times of the Maccabees, and to the trials and I persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes. Noyes regards it as descriptive of the destruction of the land by Nebuchadnezzar, and of the return of the Jews from exile. Calvin considers the account in these four chapters as a summing up, or recapitulation of what the prophet had said in the previous prophecies respecting Babylon, Moab, Egypt, etc.; and then of the prosperity, and of the spread of the true religion which would succeed these general and far-spread devastations.

Subsequently to each of these predictions respecting calamity, the prophet had foretold prosperity and the advance of truth; and he supposes that this is a mere condensing or summing up of what he had said more at length in the preceding chapters. Lowth supposes that it may have a reference to all the great desolations of the country by Shalmaneser, by Nebuchadnezzar, and by the Romans, especially to that of the Romans, to which some parts of it, he says, seem to be especially applicable. It is certain that the prophet employs general terms; and as he gives no certain indications of the time, or the circumstances under which it was delivered, it is exceedingly difficult to determine either. The general drift of the prophecy is, however, plain. It is a prediction of prosperity, and of the prevalence of true religion after a series of oppressive judgments should have come upon the land. It is designed, therefore, to be consolatory to the Jews under impending calamities, and to convey the assurance that though they would be oppressed, yet their sufferings would be succeeded by occasions of gratitude and joy. In this respect, it accords with the general strain of the prophecies of Isaiah, that the people of God would. be protected; that their name and nation should not be wholly obliterated; and that the darkest seasons of trial would be succeeded by deliverance and joy.

On the whole, it seems to me, that the prophecy relates to the calamities that would come upon the nation by the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, and the carrying away to Babylon, and the subsequent deliverance from the oppressive bondage, and the joy consequent on that. According to this interpretation, the twenty-fourth chapter is occupied mainly with the description of the calamities that would come upon the land by the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar; the twenty-fifth describes the deliverance from that oppressive bondage, and the re-establishment of the true religion on Mount Zion, with a rapid glance at the ultimate prevalence of religion trader the Messiah, suggested by the deliverance from the Babylonian bondage; the twentysixth chapter is a song expressive of joy at this signal deliverance - in language, in the main, so general that it is as applicable to the redemption under the Messiah as to the deliverance from Babylon; and the twenty-seventh chapter is descriptive of the effect of this captivity and subsequent deliverance in purifying Jacob Isaiah 27:6, and recovering the nation to righteousness.

The twenty-fourth chapter is composed of three parts.

1.Isaiah 24:1 contains a description of the calamities that would come upon the whole land, amounting to far-spread and wide desolation - with a graphic description of the effects of it on the inhabitants Isaiah 24:2, on the land Isaiah 24:3, on the wine, the amusements, the song, etc. Isaiah 24:7, causing all gaiety and prosperity to come to an end.

2.Isaiah 24:13 contains a statement by the prophet that a few would be left in the land amidst the general desolation, and that they would be filled with joy that they had escaped. From their retreats and refuges, their fastnesses and places of security, they would lift up the song of praise that they had been preserved.

3.Isaiah 24:18 contains a further description of augmented judgment that would come upon the land - a more severe and lengthened calamity stretching over the country, agitating it like an earthquake. Yet there is even here Isaiah 24:22, an indication that there would be deliverance, and that the Lord of hosts would reign on Mount Zion - a description which is extended through the next chapter, and which constitutes the scope and substance of that chapter.

In the division of the prophecy into chapters, that chapter should have been connected with this as a part of the same prophecy, and a continuance of the same subject. Indeed, but for the length of the prophecy, these four chapters should have been thrown into one, or if the prophecy had been broken up into chapters, important aids would have been rendered to a correct understanding of it had there been some indication in the margin that they constituted one prophecy or vision.