XXX. (1) WOE TO THE REBELLIOUS CHILDREN... — The interjection perhaps expresses sorrow rather than indignation, _Alas, for ..._! as in Isaiah 1:4. The prophet hears that the intrigues of the palace have at last issued in favour of an alliance with Egypt, and that an embassy has been already sent.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO STRENGTHEN THEMSELVES IN THE STRENGTH OF PHARAOH. — Literally, _the fortress of Pharaoh,_ used as the symbol of his kingdom: This, then, was the course into which even Hezekiah had been led or driven, and it had been done without consulting Isaiah as the recognised prophet of Jehovah. For the “sh... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS PRINCES WERE AT ZOAN... — Better, _are, in_ the vivid use of the historic present of prophecy. Zoan, the Tanis of the Greeks, was one of the oldest of Egyptian cities. Hanes, identified with the Greek _Heracleopolis,_ as lying in the delta of the Nile, would be among the first Egyptian cities wh... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE ALL ASHAMED... — Better, _are:_ historic present, as before. The prophet paints the dreary disappointment of the embassy. They found Egypt at once weak and false, without the will or power to help them. So Rabshakeh compares that power to a “broken reed,” which does but pierce the hand of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BURDEN OF THE BEASTS OF THE SOUTH. — It has been conjectured that this, which reads like the heading of a new section, was first placed in the margin by a transcriber, as suggested by the mention of the lions, the vipers, the camels, and the asses, and then found its way into the text (Cheyne).... [ Continue Reading ]
CONCERNING THIS. — Better, _it,_ or _her — i.e.,_ Egypt. THEIR STRENGTH IS TO SIT STILL. — The Authorised version fairly gives the meaning: “Their boasted strength will be found absolute inaction.” but the words, as Isaiah wrote or spoke them, had a more epigrammatic point — “Rahab, they are sitting... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW GO, WRITE IT BEFORE THEM IN A TABLE. — We have before seen this in one of Isaiah’s methods for giving special emphasis to his teaching (Isaiah 8:1). The word, we may believe, passed into the act in the presence of his astonished hearers. In some way or other he feels sure that what he is about t... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THIS IS A REBELLIOUS PEOPLE. — The words that follow were those which were thus written on the tablet. The people did not know the law of the Lord, the eternal law of right, themselves. They wished the seers, like Isaiah, to be as blind as themselves, and would fain have made the prophets tune... [ Continue Reading ]
CAUSE THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL TO CEASE FROM BEFORE US. — It would seem as if the iterated utterance of this Divine name by Isaiah caused a bitterness of irritation which was not roused by the more familiar “Lord,” or even by “Jehovah.” It made men feel that they stood face to face with an infinite ho... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE YE DESPISE THIS WORD — i.e., the message which Isaiah had delivered against the alliance with Egypt. We note how the prophet enforces it, as coming from that very Holy One of Israel of whom they were tired of hearing.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS A BREACH READY TO FALL. — The ill-built, half-decayed houses of Jerusalem may have furnished the outward imagery of the parable. First comes the threatening bulge, then the crack, and then the crash. That was to _be_ the outcome of the plans they were building up on the unsound foundation of corr... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE BREAKING OF THE POTTERS’ VESSEL... Psalms 2:9 had given currency to the figure. In Jeremiah 18:4; Jeremiah 19:10, it passes into a parable of action. The schemes of the intriguers were to be not crushed only but pulverised.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN RETURNING AND REST... — The words describe a process of conversion, but the nature of that conversion is determined by the context. In this case it was the turning from the trust in man, with all its restless excitement, to a trust in God, full of calmness and of peace.... [ Continue Reading ]
WE WILL FLEE UPON HORSES. — These were expected as the Egyptian contingent of the forces of Judah. With them and the prestige attaching to their fame, the generals and statesmen reckoned on being able to resist Assyria. Isaiah, with his keen insight into the present temper of Egypt, tells them that... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE THOUSAND SHALL FLEE AT THE REBUKE OF ONE. — The hyperbole is natural and common enough (Deuteronomy 32:30; Joshua 23:10; Leviticus 26:8); but the fact that the inscription of King Piankhi Mer. Amon., translated in _Records of the Past, ii._ 84, gives it in the self-same words (“many shall turn t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEREFORE... — The words seem to embody the thought that “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” Precisely because of this isolated misery Jehovah was “waiting,” _i.e., longing,_ with an eager expectation, to come to the rescue. AND THEREFORE WILL HE BE EXALTED. — A very slight alteration gives... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL DWELL IN ZION AT JERUSALEM. — The two words are, of course, practically synonymous; but the prophet dwells with a patriot’s affection on both the names which were dear to him. The words admit of being taken as a vocative, “_Yea, O people that dwellest.” _... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BREAD OF ADVERSITY. — Better, _bread in small quantity, and water in scant measure._ The words seem to imply an allusion to the scant rations of a siege such as Jerusalem was to endure from the Assyrian armies. For this there should be the compensation that the true “teachers” of the people, Isa... [ Continue Reading ]
THINE EARS SHALL HEAR A WORD BEHIND THEE. — The voice of the human teacher on whom the people looked as they listened would find an echo in that inner voice telling them which was the true way, when they were tempted to turn to the right hand or the left.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL DEFILE ALSO... — The first effect of the turning of the people was to be the putting away of what had been their besetting sin. The “graven” image possibly refers to the “carved” wooden figure which was afterwards overlaid with silver and gold. (Comp. Isaiah 40:19.) These, which had been wo... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHALL HE GIVE THE RAIN... — Following in the steps of Joel (Joel 2:21), the prophet draws a picture of the outward plenty that should follow on the renewal of the nation’s inner life.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OXEN LIKEWISE AND THE YOUNG ASSES... — It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to remind the reader that the verb “ear” means “plough.” CLEAN PROVENDER. — Literally, _salted._ The epithet describes what in modern phrase would be the favourite “mash” of the highest class of cattle-feeding, corn mixed w... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE SHALL BE UPON EVERY HIGH MOUNTAIN... — The picture of a golden age is continued. The mountains and hills, often so dry and barren, should flow down with rivers of waters, and irrigate the valleys. And this should coincide with the day of a “great slaughter,” perhaps of the enemies of Israel, p... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LIGHT OF THE MOON SHALL BE... — The vision of the future expands, ascending from the new earth to the new heaven. With the passionate joy in light which sees in it, in proportion to its intensity, the symbol of the Divine glory, Isaiah beholds a world in which sun and moon shall shine with a bri... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE NAME OF THE LORD COMETH FROM FAR... — The use of “the Name of Jehovah” for Jehovah Himself is noticeable as an anticipation of the later use of the _memra_ (_sc.,_ “word”) in the Targumim (or paraphrases) of the sacred writings, and of the _logos_ of St. John, a distinct, though not defi... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BREATH, AS AN OVERFLOWING STREAM. — Water supplies its symbolism, as well as fire. The wrath of the judge sweeps onward like an autumn torrent, threatening to engulf all that stand in its way. TO SIFT THE NATIONS WITH THE SIEVE OF VANITY. — Better, _the winnowing fan of nothingness._ Sifting is... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL HAVE A SONG... — The “holy solemnity,” or feast, was probably the Feast of Tabernacles, the feast of in-gathering, of all the festivals of the Jewish year the most abounding in its joy. In later times, and probably, therefore, in earlier, it had a night-ritual of special solemnity, the cour... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SHALL CAUSE HIS GLORIOUS VOICE... — The peace and joy at home are contrasted with the judgments that fall on the enemies of Israel. They are exposed to the full thunderstorm of the wrath of Jehovah. “Hailstones and coals of fire” were the natural symbols of His anger.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THE ASSYRIAN BE BEATEN DOWN, WHICH SMOTE WITH A ROD. — Better, _and He_ (Jehovah) _shall smite with the rod._ Asshur appears as the foremost and most dreaded enemy of Judah. The prediction points to the destruction of the armies of Sennacherib.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN EVERY PLACE WHERE THE GROUNDED staff ... — It is not clear what meaning the English was intended to convey. Better, _Wherever shall pass the destined rod_ (literally, _the rod of foundation_)_ which the Lord causes to fall upon him._ IT SHALL BE WITH TABRETS AND HARPS... — _i.e.,_ at every st... [ Continue Reading ]
TOPHET IS ORDAINED OF OLD. — Literally, _the Tophet, or place of burning,_ with perhaps the secondary sense of “a place of loathing.” Tophet was the name given to the Valley of Hinnom, outside Jerusalem, where, within the memory of living men, Ahaz had made his son to pass through the fire to Moloch... [ Continue Reading ]