_If thou wilt return, O Israel, return unto me_ Israel having promised
repentance in the latter part of the preceding chapter, they are here
directed what sort of a repentance it must be; that it must not be
hypocritical and feigned, but real and hearty; not deferred to another
time, but immediate,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And thou shalt swear_, &c. In taking a solemn oath, thou shalt
appeal, not to dead and vain idols, but to Jehovah, the living and
true God. This is put here for the whole worship of God, acknowledging
and owning God as the only God, which is strongly expressed by this
act: see Isaiah 48:1; Isaiah 6... [ Continue Reading ]
_For thus saith the Lord_ The prophet now addresses himself to the
inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, and exhorts them to repentance and
reformation in metaphorical language. _Break up your fallow ground,_
&c. That is, purge and purify the field of your hearts, by godly
sorrow for your sins, and ha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blow ye the trumpet_ The Lord, being now about to bring enemies upon
them, speaks in martial language, warning them of the nature of their
approaching judgment. It is the beginning of a new discourse, in which
the prophet describes the dreadful preparations of war, such as
_blowing a trumpet, and s... [ Continue Reading ]
_The lion is come up from his thicket_ Nebuchadnezzar, so called from
his fierceness and strength, shall come up from Babylon, where his
chief seat is, as lions are principally among the thickets of the
forests, in coverts. Babylon being remote and little known to the
Jews, they did not expect troub... [ Continue Reading ]
_At that day the heart of the king shall perish_ Both his wisdom and
his courage: despairing of success, he shall have no spirit to do any
thing, and if he had, he would be at a loss what to do; _and the heart
of the princes_ His privy counsellors, who ought to animate and advise
him, shall be as mu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then said I, Ah, Lord God!_ The Hebrew word, _Aha_, is a word
expressive both of admiration and lamentation. _Surely thou hast
greatly deceived this people_ Hast suffered them to be deceived by
their false prophets. These pretenders to prophecy studied only to
speak pleasing things to the people, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_At that time_ When that calamity commences; _shall it be said to this
people and to Jerusalem_ There shall be tidings brought both to the
country and city; _A dry wind of the high places_ “The prophet here
describes the Chaldean army coming up for the destruction of Judea,
under the metaphor of a h... [ Continue Reading ]
_O Jerusalem, wash thy heart_ O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of
Judah, cleanse your inward parts; not your hands only, as hypocrites
do, but your hearts, James 4:8; _from wickedness_ Namely, from _all
filthiness_ of flesh and spirit, 2 Corinthians 7:1. See note on Isaiah
1:16. _That thou maye... [ Continue Reading ]
_Make ye mention to the nations_ Tell the nations that now inhabit the
cities of the ten tribes, that the Chaldean army is approaching, that
they may provide for their own safety. _Behold, publish against
Jerusalem_ Let her be made acquainted with what is coming upon her.
Let her have notice beforeh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy way and thy doings_ Thy manner of life, and particularly thy
idolatries; _have procured these things unto thee_ Have been the
causes of this thy grievous affliction, of bringing such a bitter
enemy against thee, which hath reached unto thy very heart.
“Whatsoever happens to you,” says Jerome on... [ Continue Reading ]
_My bowels_, &c. Or, as Dr. Waterland renders it, _My bowels, my
bowels! I am pained at the centre, or in the midst, of my heart; my
heart is tumultuous within me!_ It is an exclamation of the prophet,
moved beyond measure at the calamities coming on his country, in being
made the seat of war, and u... [ Continue Reading ]
_How long shall I see the standard_, &c. This dreadful war continued a
great while, not in the borders, but in the bowels of the country; for
the people were very obstinate, and would not submit to, but took all
opportunities of rebelling against, the king of Babylon, which did but
lengthen out and... [ Continue Reading ]
_I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void_ “The
images under which the prophet here represents the approaching
desolation, as foreseen by him, are such as are familiar to the Hebrew
poets on the like occasions.” See note on Isaiah 13:10, and Bishop
Lowth, _De Sac. Poesi Hebrews_, Præ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet will I not make a full end_ That is, say some commentators,
neither shall the punishment suffice, nor my anger stop here: but it
rather seems to be a word of comfort, signifying that they should not
be utterly destroyed, but that, in the midst of judgment, God would
remember mercy, and preserve... [ Continue Reading ]
_For this shall the earth mourn_, &c. More expressions to set forth
the dreadfulness of the judgment: he makes the elements to personate
mourners. _And the heavens above be black_ Under sad calamities every
thing looks dismal; even the heavens themselves do not seem to shine
with their usual brightn... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when thou art spoiled_ When this destruction shall come upon
thee, which is very near; _what wilt thou do?_ When thou, O daughter
of Zion, art besieged by the Babylonians, what course wilt thou take?
As if he had said, Thy condition will be desperate. _Though thou
clothest thyself_, &c. The pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I have heard a voice of a woman in travail_ Here Jerusalem is
very pathetically described by the character of a woman under the
pangs of her first child-bearing, when her pains as well as her fears
are usually greatest. Such, saith the prophet, shall be the anguish of
Jerusalem, bewailing the l... [ Continue Reading ]