XXVI. (1) IN THAT DAY SHALL THIS SONG BE SUNG... — The prophet appears once more, as in Isaiah 5:1; Isaiah 12:4, in the character of a psalmist, and what he writes is destined for nothing less than the worship of the new city of the heavenly kingdom. SALVATION WILL GOD APPOINT FOR WALLS. — Better,... [ Continue Reading ]
OPEN YE THE GATES... — The cry comes as from the heralds of the king of the heavenly city, proclaiming that the gates are open to those who are worthy to enter into it, _i.e.,_ to the righteous people who alone may dwell in the city of God (Psalms 15:1; Psalms 24:3; Psalms 118:19; Revelation 21:27.)... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU WILT KEEP HIM IN PERFECT PEACE. — The italics show that the English version is made up with several interpolated words. More literally, and more impressively, we read, _Thou establishest a purpose firm; peace, peace, for in Thee is his trust._ Completeness is expressed, as elsewhere, in the for... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IN THE LORD JEHOVAH. — The Hebrew presents, as in Isaiah 12:2, the exceptional combination of the two names Jah (Psalms 68:4) and Jehovah. In the Hebrew for “everlasting strength,” we have, literally, the _Rock of Ages_ of the well-known hymn. We have the same name of Rock applied to express the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LOFTY CITY, HE LAYETH IT LOW... — The “city” is probably the great imperial “city of confusion” that had exalted itself against God and his people. To that city, Moab, in all its pride, was but as a tributary.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN THE FEET OF THE POOR... — The downfall of the haughty city is emphasised by the fact that the instruments of its destruction are to be the very people it had oppressed. The “saints of God” are in this sense to judge the world.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WAY OF THE JUST IS UPRIGHTNESS. — The English version seems somewhat tautologous. Better, _is straight,_ or is _even_ — i.e., leads on without interruption to its appointed end. So, in the second clause, instead of “thou shalt weigh the path,” which conveys a not very intelligible thought, we re... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THY NAME, AND TO THE REMEMBRANCE OF THEE... — The “name” of God is, as always, that which reveals His character and will. Those who have waited for Him in the path of His judgments long for a fuller manifestation of that character. Comp. the prayer, “Father, glorify thy Name,” in John 12:28. In t... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH MY SOUL HAVE I DESIRED THEE IN THE NIGHT... — Soul and spirit are joined together to express the fulness of personality. The “night” is the time of sorrow and expectation, in which the saints of God shall “watch for the morning” of the great day of judgment and deliverance. They welcomed the ju... [ Continue Reading ]
LET FAVOUR BE SHEWED TO THE WICKED... — The thought of Isaiah 26:9 is presented under another aspect. The judgments of God manifested against evil are the only discipline by which the doers of evil can be taught; without the, under a system of mere tolerance and favour, they remain as they are. In t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WILL NOT SEE... — Better, _they did not see,_ or, _they see not,_ so as to bring out the contrast with the clause that follows. When the “arm of Jehovah,” the symbol of His power, was simply lifted up for the protection of His people, the evildoers closed their eyes and would not see it. A time... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU ALSO HAST WROUGHT ALL OUR WORK IN US... — Better, _for us._ The “work” is the great work of salvation and deliverance.... [ Continue Reading ]
OTHER LORDS BESIDE THEE HAVE HAD DO MINION OVER US... — The “other lords” are the conquerors and oppressors by whom Israel had been enslaved; possibly also, the false gods with whom those conquerors identified themselves. BY THEE ONLY WILL WE MAKE MENTION OF THY NAME. — Better, _Through Thee alone... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE DEAD... — We get a more vivid rendering by omitting the words in italics, _Dead, they live not; shadows_ (_Rephaim,_ as in Psalms 88:10), _they rise not._ Those of whom the prophet speaks are the rulers of the great world-empires, who, as in Isaiah 14:9; Ezekiel 32:21, have passed into the... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST INCREASED THE NATION... — The nation is, if we follow this rendering, Israel, whose prosperity the prophet contrasts with the downfall of its oppressors (comp. Isaiah 9:3). The LXX., however, gives, “Add thou evils to all the glorious ones,” as if referring to the “chastening” of exile in... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, IN TROUBLE HAVE THEY VISITED THEE. — Better, _have they missed Thee_ (as in 1 Samuel 20:6; 1 Samuel 25:15), or _sought after Thee,_ or, _remembered Thee._ THEY POURED OUT A PRAYER... — The word for “prayer” is a peculiar one, commonly used, as in Isaiah 3:3; Isaiah 8:19, for the whispered inc... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE AS A WOMAN WITH CHILD. — This, as in Matthew 24:8; John 16:21, comes as the most natural image of longing, painful expectation, followed by great joy.... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE AS IT WERE BROUGHT FORTH WIND. — Left to themselves, the longing expectations of Israel had been frustrated. It was, “as it were” (the words imply the prophet’s consciousness of the boldness of the figure), like a false pregnancy, a disease with no birth as its outcome. NEITHER HAVE THE INHA... [ Continue Reading ]
THY DEAD MEN SHALL LIVE. — Better, _Thy dead shall live; my corpses shall rise._ The words, though they imply a belief more or less distinct in a resurrection, are primarily like the vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1, and like St. Paul’s “life from the dead” in Romans 11:15 (comp. also Hosea 6:2),... [ Continue Reading ]
COME, MY PEOPLE, ENTER THOU INTO THY CHAMBERS. — The vision of the judgments and the glory of the future leads the prophet to his work as a preacher of repentance in the present. His people also need the preparation of silent and solitary prayer (Matthew 6:6; Psalms 27:5; Psalms 31:21). As men seek... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EARTH ALSO SHALL DISCLOSE HER BLOOD. — Literally, _her bloods_ (plural of intensity). The prophet has in his thoughts the reckless destruction of life which characterised the great world-powers of Assyria and Babylon. As in the case of Abel’s blood that cried from the ground (Genesis 4:16), so h... [ Continue Reading ]