INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 29 This chapter contains a prophecy concerning the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem by the Romans; the character and condition of the people of the Jews, previous to it; the calling of the Gentiles, by the preaching of the Gospel; the ruin of antichrist, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE TO ARIEL, TO ARIEL, THE CITY [WHERE] DAVID DWELT,.... Many Jewish writers by "Ariel" understand the altar of burnt offerings; and so the Targum, "woe, altar, altar, which was built in the city where David dwelt;'' and so it is called in Ezekiel 43:15 it signifies "the lion of God"; and the rea... [ Continue Reading ]
YET I WILL DISTRESS ARIEL,.... Or "straiten" it, by causing it to be besieged; and this he would do, notwithstanding their yearly sacrifices, and their observance of their solemn feasts, and other ceremonies of the law, in which they placed their confidence, and neglected weightier matters: AND THE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL CAMP AGAINST THEE ROUND ABOUT,.... Or as a "ball" or "globe" o; a camp all around; the Lord is said to do that which the enemy should do, because it was by his will, and according to his order, and which he would succeed and prosper, and therefore the prophecy of it is the more terrible;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT BE BROUGHT DOWN,.... To the ground, and laid level with it, even the city of Jerusalem, as it was by the Romans; and as it was predicted by Christ it would, Luke 19:44 though some understand this of the humbling of the inhabitants of it, by the appearance of Sennacherib's army before... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, THE MULTITUDE OF THY STRANGERS SHALL BE LIKE SMALL DUST,.... Or "of those that fan thee" q, as the Vulgate Latin Version; and so the Targum, "of those that scatter thee;'' or of thine enemies, as others; meaning the Romans, who were a strange people to them, who got the dominion over the... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT BE VISITED OF THE LORD OF HOSTS WITH THUNDER, AND WITH EARTHQUAKE, AND GREAT NOISE,.... That is, not the multitude of strangers and terrible ones, unless they could be understood of the wicked among the Jews; but thou Ariel, or Jerusalem, shalt be punished by the Lord of hosts; for this v... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MULTITUDE OF ALL THE NATIONS THAT FIGHT AGAINST ARIEL,.... The Roman army, which consisted of men of all nations, that fought against Jerusalem; the city in which was the altar, as the Targum paraphrases it: EVEN ALL THAT FIGHT AGAINST HER, AND HER MUNITION, AND THAT DISTRESS HER; that besi... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL BE EVEN AS WHEN A HUNGRY [MAN] DREAMETH, AND, BEHOLD, HE EATETH,.... That is, he dreams of food, and imagines it before him, and that he is really eating it: BUT HE AWAKETH, AND HIS SOUL IS EMPTY; his stomach is empty when he awakes, and he finds he has not ate anything at all: OR AS WHEN... [ Continue Reading ]
STAY YOURSELVES, AND WONDER,.... Stop a while, pause a little, consider within yourselves the case and circumstances of these people, and wonder at their stupidity. Kimchi thinks these words were spoken in the times of Ahaz, with respect to the men of Judah; and so Aben Ezra says, they are directed... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD HATH POURED OUT UPON YOU A SPIRIT OF DEEP SLEEP,.... Gave them up to a stupid frame of spirit; to a reprobate mind, a mind void of judgment and sense; to judicial blindness and hardness of heart: this was remarkably fulfilled in the Jews, in the times of Christ and his apostles, who cho... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE VISION OF ALL IS BECOME UNTO YOU AS THE WORDS OF A BOOK THAT IS SEALED,.... The prophecies of all the prophets contained in the Scriptures; or all the prophecies in the book of Isaiah, concerning the Messiah, were no more seen, known, and understood, both by the priests and the people, than... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE BOOK IS DELIVERED TO HIM THAT IS NOT LEARNED,.... Or that knows not a book or letters, as before, and so consequently cannot read, having never been put to school, or learned to read: SAYING, READ THIS, I PRAY THEE; or "now" w, at once, immediately: AND HE SAITH, I AM NOT LEARNED; he does... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE THE LORD SAID,.... Concerning the hypocritical people of the Jews in Christ's time, as the words are applied by our Lord himself, Matthew 15:7: FORASMUCH AS THIS PEOPLE DRAW NEAR TO [ME] WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND WITH THEIR LIPS DO HONOUR ME; Kimchi observes, there is a double reading of the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, BEHOLD, I WILL PROCEED TO DO A MARVELLOUS WORK AMONG THIS PEOPLE,.... Because of their hypocrisy and formality, their regard to men, their doctrines and commandments, and not to the will and word of God, therefore he determines "to deal marvellously with this people": [EVEN] A MARVELLOUS... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO THEM,.... Or, "O ye", THAT SEEK DEEP TO HIDE THEIR COUNSEL FROM THE LORD; which they consulted against Christ, to take away his life, to persecute his apostles, and hinder the spread of his Gospel; which though they consulted in private, and formed deep schemes, imagining they were not obs... [ Continue Reading ]
SURELY YOUR TURNING OF THINGS UPSIDE DOWN,.... Revolving things in their minds, throwing them into different shapes, forming various schemes, and inverting the order of things by their deep counsels, and seeking to hide things from the Lord: or, "O the perverseness of you" z; in imagining and saying... [ Continue Reading ]
[IS] IT NOT YET A VERY LITTLE WHILE,.... In a short space of time, in a few years, what follows would come to pass; when there would be a strange change and alteration made in the world, and by which it would appear, that the Lord not only knows, but foreknows, all things: AND LEBANON SHALL BE TURN... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THAT DAY SHALL THE DEAF HEAR THE WORDS OF THE BOOK,.... That is, in the Gospel day, or times of the Gospel dispensation, when that should be preached to the Gentiles; who before were deaf, but now should be made to hear, and be willing to hear, and hear so as to understand the doctrines conta... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MEEK ALSO SHALL INCREASE [THEIR] JOY IN THE LORD,.... The "meek", lowly, and humble, are such who are made sensible of sin, and become humble under a sense of it; who see the insufficiency of their own righteousness, and submit to the righteousness of Christ; who attribute all they have, and are... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE TERRIBLE ONE IS BROUGHT TO NOUGHT,.... Who before was so to the people of God; meaning not Sennacherib king of Assyria, but some formidable enemy or enemies under the Gospel dispensation; as the Scribes and Pharisees, and the Jewish sanhedrim; who were "violent" c, as it may be rendered, vio... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT MAKE A MAN AN OFFENDER FOR A WORD,.... Inadvertently spoken, unwarily dropped, without any bad design or ill meaning; or for a word misplaced or misconstrued; or for preaching and professing the word of God, the Gospel of salvation, and adhering to it; which is the true character of the persecu... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD, WHO REDEEMED ABRAHAM,.... That brought him from Ur of the Chaldees; that freed him from idolatry, and from a vain conversation before conversion, and delivered him from many evils and dangers afterwards; and saved him with an everlasting salvation, through the Messiah,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN HE SEETH HIS CHILDREN, THE WORK OF MY HANDS, IN THE MIDST OF HIM,.... That is, it will be a pleasure to the church of God, signified by Jacob, when they shall observe a great number of Jacob's posterity, or of the Jews, born again, become the "children" of the church, born in her, and nurse... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ALSO THAT ERRED IN SPIRIT,.... In judgment, and in spiritual things; as the Jews have done, ever since the Messiah's coming, being given up to a spirit of error, as the Targum, on Isaiah 29:10 calls it; they have erred concerning the Scriptures, and the prophecies of them; concerning the Messi... [ Continue Reading ]