_A.M. 3264. B.C. 740._ Joy in the midst of affliction, Isaiah 9:1. The birth, person, office, and kingdom of Christ, Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 9:7. Judgments for their pride, Isaiah 9:8. For their impenitency and hypocrisy, Isaiah 9:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nevertheless_, &c. In the Hebrew, this verse is joined to the preceding chapter, as it is also in Bishop Lowth's translation; and if it be considered as connected therewith, and the connecting particle, כי, be translated _for_, (which is its usual meaning,) instead of _nevertheless_, the words may... [ Continue Reading ]
_The people_ Israel and Judah; _that walked_ Or _sat_, as it is in Matthew 4:16; _in darkness_ Both in the darkness of ignorance, and in the darkness of calamity; _have seen a great light_ The prophet speaks of what was future, and would not take place till after seven hundred years, as though it we... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast multiplied the nation_ Thou hast made good thy promise to Abraham, concerning the multiplication of his seed, by adding his spiritual seed unto the carnal, by gathering in the Gentiles to the Jews, and making them both one people in Christ, John 10:16; Ephesians 2:14. For, in the Scriptur... [ Continue Reading ]
_For thou hast broken_, &c. Bishop Lowth translates this verse, _For the yoke of his burden, the staff laid on his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor hast thou broken, as in the day of Midian._ The Jews had been under the yoke repeatedly, to one hostile people or another, and had been sorely oppress... [ Continue Reading ]
_For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise_, &c. With the triumphant exclamations of the conqueror, and the bitter lamentations of the conquered, and the different cries of the same persons, sometimes conquering and sometimes conquered; _and garments rolled in blood_ With great difficul... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_, &c. Having spoken of the glorious light, and joy, and victory of God's people, the prophet now proceeds to show the foundation and cause thereof. And, “though he is everywhere most excellent, he is peculiarly so in this passage, which contains an emphatical description of the person and kingd... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of the increase of his government_, &c. His peaceable and happy government shall be enlarged without end: either without end of duration, _for ever_, as is expressed in a following clause of this verse, or without limitation: his peaceable and happy government shall be extended to all the ends of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord sent a word_, &c. A prophetical and threatening message by me: for now the prophet, having inserted some consolatory passages for the support of God's faithful people, returns to his former work of commination against the rebellious Israelites; _and it lighted_ Hebrew, נפל, _it fell_, that... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the people turneth not_, &c. We have here the second crime of this refractory people, who, impenitent and stupid, regarded not the chastisement of the Lord, nor turned to him at his reproof. Therefore a total subversion of their state and polity is denounced as the severest punishment upon them... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_, &c. “We have here a defence of the divine judgment, taken from the universal corruption of the people, wherein God sets forth the justice of his proceedings, and shows, that not from choice, but from the iniquities of the people, he is compelled to punish. _The leaders of this people_ Their g... [ Continue Reading ]
_For wickedness burneth as fire_, &c. Rageth like a fire, destroying and laying waste the nation. We have here the third great evil, on account of which divine vengeance was about to come upon them; namely, the power of reigning and barefaced impiety; the punishment whereof, denounced in the subsequ... [ Continue Reading ]
_He shall snatch on the right hand_ They shall plunder and devour one another, without ever being satisfied, or ceasing. _They shall eat every man the flesh_, &c. They shall destroy one another by their intestine wars: see Isaiah 49:26. But it was literally fulfilled when they were reduced to that e... [ Continue Reading ]