_A.M. 3292. B.C. 712._
After having foretold the destruction of the foreign nations, enemies
to Judah, the prophet declares the judgments impending on the Jews
themselves, for their apostacy and wickedness, and the desolation that
should be brought on their whole country. This is the general subjec... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold_, &c. According to Vitringa, the third book of Isaiah's
prophecies begins with this chapter, and extends to the thirty-sixth,
being divided into three discourses; the first comprehending four
Chapter s, the second six, and the third two. The general subject of
the book is the penal judgments... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest_, &c. The
calamity shall be universal, without any respect or distinction of
persons or ranks of men; the priests themselves, having been partakers
of the people's sins, shall also partake with them of their plagues.
_As with the buyer, so wit... [ Continue Reading ]
_The earth_, the land, _mourneth and fadeth away_ Hebrew, אבלה
נבלה, _abelah nabelah, lamenteth, falleth. The world languisheth,_
&c. “The world,” says Bishop Lowth, “is the same with _the
land;_ that is, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; _orbis
Iraeliticus,”_ the Israelitish world. Heathen authors... [ Continue Reading ]
_The earth also_ Rather, _And the land is defiled under the
inhabitants thereof_ By the wickedness of its people. Here we have the
causes of the divine judgment upon the land: _because they have
transgressed the laws_ The laws of God revealed to them, and pressed
upon them in a singular manner; _cha... [ Continue Reading ]
_The new wine mourneth_, &c. In these verses we have a description, in
metaphorical language, of the ruin and desolation brought on a once
flourishing land by a destructive enemy. The wine, figuratively
speaking, mourns, because there are none, or none but enemies to God
and Israel, to drink it. _Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The city_ Jerusalem, and other cities, for the word may be here taken
collectively; _of confusion_ Hebrew, תהו, which signifies _vanity,
emptiness, desolation_, or _confusion._ And the city may be thus
called, either, 1st, In regard of the judgments of God coming upon it,
as if he had termed it a c... [ Continue Reading ]
_When thus it shall be in the midst of the land_, &c. When this
judgment shall be executed, there shall he left a remnant; as there
are some few olives or grapes left after the vintage is over. _They
shall lift up their voice_, &c. The remnant shall sing for the
glorious power and goodness of God ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore glorify ye the Lord_ These seem to be the words of the
prophet directing and exciting God's people to glorify him in their
afflictions, because of that deliverance which he had promised, and
would assuredly grant them; _in the fires_ When you are in the furnace
of affliction. But, as the... [ Continue Reading ]
_From the uttermost part_, &c. From all parts of the earth, or land,
where the Jews are, or shall be, _have we heard songs_ Songs of joy
and praise; _even glory to the righteous_ By _the righteous_, may be
here understood, either, 1st, righteous and holy men, who formerly
were despised, but now shal... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fear, and the pit, and the snare_, &c. Great and various judgments,
some actually inflicted, and others justly feared, as the punishment
of the last-mentioned perfidiousness of the Jews toward God and their
own Messiah. _He that fleeth from the fear_, &c. Upon the report of
some terrible evil comin... [ Continue Reading ]
_The earth is utterly broken down_ This is repeated again, to show the
dreadfulness and certainty of these judgments, and to awaken the
stupid Israelites. _The earth shall reel to and fro_ The people of the
earth, the inhabitants of the land, shall be sorely perplexed and
distressed, not knowing wha... [ Continue Reading ]
_It shall come to pass in that day_ At or soon after the time when God
shall execute the above-mentioned judgment on the apostate Jews; _that
the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones_ The proud and potent
enemies of his people, who possess the high places of the earth; _and
the kings of the e... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then the moon shall be confounded_ The shadowy, typical, temporary,
and imperfect dispensation of Moses, which afforded only a dim and
uncertain light, like that of the moon, shall be eclipsed and vanish;
_and the sun ashamed_ The glory of the civil government, also even of
the kingdom of David its... [ Continue Reading ]