Isaiah 24 commentary

All whose treasures and happiness are laid up on earth, will soon be brought to want and misery. It is good to apply to ourselves what the Scripture says of the vanity and vexation of spirit which attend all things here below. Sin has turned the earth upside down; the earth is become quite different to man, from what it was when God first made it to be his habitation. It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves with it, and lay it in their bosoms. The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears; the children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble, See the power of God's curse, how it makes all empty, and lays waste all ranks and conditions. Sin brings these calamities upon the earth; it is polluted by the sins of men, therefore it is made desolate by God's judgments. Carnal joy will soon be at end, and the end of it is heaviness. God has many ways to imbitter wine and strong drink to those who love them; distemper of body, anguish of mind, and the ruin of the estate, will make strong drink bitter, and the delights of sense tasteless. Let men learn to mourn for sin, and rejoice in God; then no man, no event, can take their joy from them.

There shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. These few are dispersed; like the gleanings of the olive tree, hid under the leaves. The Lord knows those that are his; the world does not. When the mirth of carnal worldlings ceases, the joy of the saints is as lively as ever, because the covenant of grace, the fountain of their comforts, and the foundation of their hopes, never fails. Those who rejoice in the Lord can rejoice in tribulation, and by faith may triumph when all about them are in tears. They encourage their fellow-sufferers to do likewise, even those who are in the furnace of affliction. Or, in the valleys, low, dark, miry places. In every fire, even the hottest, in every place, even the remotest, let us keep up our good thoughts of God. If none of these trials move us, then we glorify the Lord in the fires.

Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in the earth as in a palace, as in a castle; but it shall be removed like a cottage, like a lodge put up for the night. It shall fall and not rise again; but there shall be new heavens and a new earth, in which shall dwell nothing but righteousness. Sin is a burden to the whole creation; it is a heavy burden, under which it groans now, and will sink at last. The high ones, that are puffed up with their grandeur, that think themselves out of the reach of danger, God will visit for their pride and cruelty. Let us judge nothing before the time, though some shall be visited. None in this world should be secure, though their condition be ever so prosperous; nor need any despair, though their condition be ever so deplorable. God will be glorified in all this. But the mystery of Providence is not yet finished. The ruin of the Redeemer's enemies must make way for his kingdom, and then the Sun of Righteousness will appear in full glory. Happy are those who take warning by the sentence against others; every impenitent sinner will sink under his transgression, and rise no more, while believers enjoy everlasting bliss.

1. Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty. This prophecy, so far as I can judge, is the conclusion of all the descriptions that have been given from the thirteenth chapter downwards, in which Isaiah foretold destruction not only to the Jews and to Israel, but to the Moabites, Assyrians, Egyptians, and other nations. In short, having, as it were, surveyed all the countries which were near the Jews and known to them, he gives a brief summary of the whole. Some view this as referring to Israel, and others to the Jews, and think that their destruction is foretold; but as he mentions the world, I can view it in no other light than as a comprehensive statement of all that he formerly said about each of them, and at different times. Nor is this view contradicted by the fact that he immediately mentions the priest, which might lead us to believe that these things relate to none but the people of God; for although he speaks of all the nations, yet because the Jews always hold the highest rank, Isaiah must have had them especially in his eye, for he was appointed to them. It may be said to have been accidental that he mentions other nations; and therefore we ought not to wonder if, after having made reference to them, he speaks particularly about his own people in a single word.

Others suppose that he means “the whole world,” but think that he refers to the last day, which I consider to be an excessively forced interpretation; for, after having threatened the Jews and other nations, the Prophet afterwards adds a consolation, that the Lord will one day raise up his Church and make her more flourishing; which certainly cannot apply to the last judgment. But by the term the earth, I do not think that the Prophet means the whole world, but the countries well known to the Jews; just as in the present day, when we speak of what happens in the world, we almost never go beyond Europe, or think of what is passing in India; for this may be said to be our world. Thus, Isaiah speaks of “the earth” known to himself and to all whom he addressed, and of the people who inhabited the neighboring countries. In short, we may limit the term “World” to the Egyptians, Assyrians, Moabites, Tyrians, and such like; as if he had said, “Hitherto I have spoken of various calamities, which threatened many nations, and still in part threaten some of them; but I may sum up all by saying, ‘The Lord will overturn and strip the face of the earth of all its ornaments.’”

And maketh it bare. “And maketh it waste.” — Eng. Ver.

FT379 “The haughty people of the earth. (Heb. the height of the people.)” — Eng. Ver.

FT380 “The earth also is defiled.” — Eng. Ver. “The earth is even polluted.” — Stock. “And the land has been profaned.” — Alexander

FT381 “On account of the sin of perjury is the earth consumed.” — Jarchi. “אלה (ālāh) does not here mean false swearing, as explained in the Targum, and by Jarchi, and Kimchi, but the curse of God attending the violation of his law.” — Alexander

FT382 “אשם (āshăm) is taken by some of the early writers in the sense of being desolate. Its true sense is that of being recognised as guilty, and treated accordingly. It therefore suggests the ideas both of guilt and punishment.” — Alexander

FT383 “The city of confusion.” — Eng. Ver.

FT384 “In the fires, (or, valleys.)” — Eng. Ver.

FT385 “The uttermost part. (Heb. wing.)” — Eng. Ver. The Septuagint translates it literally, ἀπὸ τῶν πτερύγων τὢς γὢς, “from the wings of the earth” — Ed

FT386 There is a considerable diversity of opinion about the application of the term righteous in this passage. Many commentators agree with Calvin in thinking that God is here called righteous. Bishop Stock has slightly modified this view by applying the designation to the Messiah. “By the righteous,” says he, “is probably meant one person the Messiah, (see Acts 7:52, 22:14,) whose kingdom the Prophet beholds in vision, and joins in the chorus of joy at its approach; a joy, however, which is presently interrupted by a reflection on the wickedness of the greater part of his countrymen at that time, who should reject the Lord that bought them. Therefore he saith, Woe is me! destruction shall overtake the inhabitants of the land.” Instead of “Glory to the righteous,” the Septuagint renders it, ἐλπὶς τῶ εὐσεβεῖ, “hope to the godly man.” Professor Alexander’s rendering is, “Praise to the righteous;” and he remarks, צדיק (tzăddīk) is not an epithet of God (Henderson) or Cyrus (Hendewerk), but of righteous men in general.” — Ed

FT387 “My leanness. (Heb. leanness to me, or, my secret to me.)” — Eng. Ver.

FT388 “Nous n’avons raison aucune d’accuser celuy qui nous frappe;” — “We have no reason to blame him who strikes us.”

FT389 “Interpreters have commonly assumed that ‘the host of the high place’ is the same with the ‘host of heaven,’ and must therefore mean either stars (Jerome), or angels (Aben Ezra), or both (Gesenius). Grotius understands by it the images of the heavenly bodies worshipped in Assyria. Gesenius finds here an allusion to the punishment of fallen angels, and then makes this a proof of recent origin, because the Jewish demonology was later than the time of Isaiah. It may be doubted whether there is any reference to the hosts of heaven at all.” — Alexander

FT390 “The Lord shall punish (Heb. visit upon) the host of the high ones.” — Eng. Ver.

FT391 “Des enfans de Dieu;” — “Of the children of God.”

FT392 “And before his ancients gloriously; (or, there shall be glory before his ancients.)” — Eng. Ver. “Before his ancients shall he be glorified.” — Lowth. “And before his elders shall there be glory.” — Alexander Some translate בלקה, (bōlĕkāch,) he uncovereth the earth, that the enemies may have free entrance into it. But I choose rather to translate it, “he maketh bare the earth,” because the earth is said to be “covered,” when it is inhabited by a great multitude of men, and when it abounds in fruits and flocks; and it is said to be “uncovered” or “laid bare,” when it is deprived of its inhabitants, and when its covering is taken away from it, as if one were stripped of his raiment and ornaments. Now, this must have happened not only to the Jews, but to the Assyrians, Egyptians, and other nations, which he had mentioned; and therefore to all of them together he threatens their ruin.

2. And it shall be. By these words he means the utmost desolation, in which there will be no longer any distinction of ranks or any appearance of a commonwealth; for so long as there is a tolerably regular form of government, some distinction continues to be maintained between “the people” and “the priests.” By a figure of speech, in which a part is taken for the whole, (συνεκδοχικῶς,) he mentions one department instead of the whole class, as is frequently done in the Scriptures; though we might take כחנים, (kōchănīm,) to mean those who hold any high rank; for Hebrew writers frequently give this name to princes, and especially to those who are of royal blood; but I have no reluctance to view it as an instance of the figure of speech which I have mentioned.

Since Isaiah reckons this confusion among the curses of God, and declares that, when the distinction of ranks is laid aside, it is a terrible display of the vengeance of God, we ought to conclude, on the other hand, how much God is pleased with regular government and the good order of society, and also how great a privilege it is to have it preserved among us; for when it is taken away, the life of man differs little from the sustenance of cattle and of beasts of prey. We ought therefore not only to acknowledge the dreadful vengeance of God, but also to lay it to the blame of our own sins, whenever he breaks down order and takes away instruction and courts of law; for when these fall, civilisation itself falls along with them. It ought also to be considered that, when the Lord executes his judgments, he spares no rank, not even the most sacred. What was this order of priests, which the Lord had so splendidly adorned, and had determined to consecrate to himself, and of which the people also boasted as if it had been unchangeable and eternal? Yet even the rank of priesthood is involved in the judgment of God, because there is no respect of persons, but, on the contrary, the more highly any have been favored, and the higher the rank to which they have been exalted, the more severely will he punish them, if they shall shew themselves to be ungrateful and abuse his benefits.

As the servant, so his master; as the buyer, so the seller. This statement is to the same effect with what goes before; for these ranks are manifestly lawful, and are not usually set aside, unless when the Lord determines to chastise his people with dreadful vengeance, as we have already said; for in a well-ordered society the distinction between master and servant must be observed. In like manner, no public government can be lasting without the transactions of commerce; and therefore, when the distinction between rich and poor has been taken away, every scheme for gaining a livelihood among men is destroyed. The meaning of the Prophet is, that all civil government will be broken up, because in such calamities, they who were the wealthiest are reduced to the lowest poverty. In short, he describes the most appalling desolation, which will be followed by unwonted change.

3. By emptying shall the earth be emptied. He confirms what he had already said, and declares that those changes will not be accidental, but that they are the work of God. In the first verse, he had expressly stated that God is making preparations for emptying the earth: he now asserts that it will happen, and adds the reason, that God hath purposed and determined to do it.

4. The earth hath lamented. Isaiah proceeds with his subject; for all this tends to explain the desolation of the whole world, that is, of the world which was known to the Jews. According to his custom, he illustrates the judgment of God more clearly by figures, which are fitted to produce an effect on sluggish minds.

The lofty people of the earth. {Bogus footnote} By the “lofty ones” we must understand those eminent persons who held a higher rank than others; for this is more wonderful than if the common people had fallen. Yet if it be thought preferable to explain it as relating peculiarly to the Jews, I have no objection; for although the Assyrians and Egyptians excelled them in wealth and power, still the Jews held the highest rank in this respect, that they had been adopted by God. But I prefer the other exposition, which makes the meaning to be, that the Lord would inflict punishment, not only on common people, but also on those who surpassed others in rank and splendor.

5. And the earth was deceitful. {Bogus footnote} Others render it “defiled” or “polluted,” because כנף (chānăph) means “to be wicked.” Both renderings may be appropriate; but the next verse appears to demand that we explain it to mean false; for he appears to illustrate and exhibit it more fully immediately afterwards, when he says that “the earth has been consumed by a curse.”

Under its inhabitants. Whether תהת (tăhăth) be translated “Under its inhabitants,” or, “On account of its inhabitants,” is of little importance. There is a kind of mutual bargain between the land and the husbandmen, that it gives back with usury what it has received: if it does not, it deceives those who cultivate it. But he assigns a reason, imputing blame to them, that they render it barren by their wickedness. It is owing to our fault that it does not nourish us or bring forth fruit, as God appointed to be done by the regular order of nature; for he wished that it should hold the place of a mother to us, to supply us with food; and if it change its nature and order, or lose its fertility, we ought to attribute it to our sins, since we ourselves have reversed the order which God had appointed; otherwise the earth would never deceive us, but would perform her duty.

Because they have transgressed the laws. He immediately assigns the reason why the earth is unfaithful, and deceives her inhabitants. It is because those who refuse to honor God their Father and supporter, will justly be deprived of food and nourishment. Here he peculiarly holds up to shame the revolt of his nation, because it was baser and less excusable than all the transgressions of those who had never been taught in the school of God. The word תורה (tōrāh) is applied to “the Law,” because it denotes instruction; but here, in the plural number, תורת (tōrōth,) it denotes all the instruction that is contained in the “Law.” But as the “Law” contains both commandments and promises, he adds two parts for the purpose of explanation.

They have changed the ordinance. The Hebrew word חק (chōk) means “an ordinance,” and on that account some think that it denotes ceremonies, and others that it denotes morals. We may render it “commandments;” and I understand it to mean not only ceremonies, but everything that belongs to the rule of a holy life.

They have broken the everlasting covenant. The third term employed by him is, ברית, (bērīth,) by which he means a covenant and contract. This word is limited to those “contracts” by which the Lord, who adopted his people, promised that he would be their God. (Exodus 19:6; 29:45; Leviticus 26:12.) He therefore charges them with ingratitude, because, when the Lord revealed himself by all these methods, and gave proofs of his love, they were disobedient and rebellious, “transgressed the laws,” and “broke the holy covenant.”

But why does he address himself to the Jews? Because he knew that he had been appointed to be their Prophet, that he might especially give instructions to them. Hence we may infer what is the rule of a holy life. It is contained in that law which we ought to follow if we wish that God should approve of our life; if we turn aside from it, we must be wicked and abandoned. We ought also to remark, that it is the will of God that in his word we should consider not only his commandments and laws, but also his covenant; for the chief part of the word consists of promises, by which he adopts and receives us as his own people. Besides, the Prophet unquestionably intended to use a variety of terms in order to express his meaning more strongly; as if he had said, “There is nothing about us that is sound and pure; everything is polluted and corrupted.”

He calls it “the covenant of eternity,” or “the everlasting covenant,” because it ought to be perpetual and inviolable, and to be in force in every age. It was to be transmitted, in uninterrupted succession, from father to son, that it might never be effaced from the memory of man, but might be kept pure and entire. He therefore represents in strong terms their treachery and wickedness, because they dared to violate that covenant which God had made with them, and to overthrow what the Lord intended to be firm and permanent. This was monstrous; and therefore we ought not to wonder that the earth takes vengeance for this wickedness, and refuses to give food to men.

6. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth. Some render it perjury, {Bogus footnote} but as אלה (ālāh) signifies also a “curse,” I have no doubt that here he employs it to denote a “curse,” and alludes to those curses which Moses in the law threatens against wicked men and transgressors of the law, (Leviticus 26:16; Deuteronomy 28:15.) We know that the earth was cursed on account of the transgression of our first parent, so that it brought forth thorns and thistles instead of fruits. (Genesis 3:17, 18.) The Lord mitigated this curse, so that, although men were ungrateful and unworthy, still it yielded them food. But when we do not cease to sin, and when we add sin to sin, is it not in the highest degree just that the earth should become barren and unfruitful, in order that we may more clearly perceive this curse, and that it may make a deeper impression on our senses?

And its inhabitants are made desolate. I think that אשם (āshăm) here means “to make desolate,” rather than “to forsake;” and this is apparent from the context, on which account I have translated it “are made desolate.” But perhaps it will be thought preferable to take the copulative ו (vau) as signifying because, and then the meaning will be, “The earth accursed by God is burnt up, because its inhabitants have acted wickedly.” {Bogus footnote}

Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The word חרו (charu) may be taken metaphorically, and I prefer this view of it, which makes the meaning to be, that those whom the wrath of God has consumed are burned up; because the destruction is compared to a conflagration. When he adds, “that few will be left,” we learn from it that this prediction cannot be explained as relating to the last day of judgment, and that, on the contrary, the Prophet foretells and confirms those desolations which threatened various nations, and that he does so in order that the godly may fear, and may be led to repentance, and may be prepared for enduring all things.

7. The wine hath failed. The same subject is continued, and the Prophet threatens chiefly against the Jews the desolation of the land. He gives a long description in order to affect them more deeply, and impress them with a conviction of the judgment of God. Their luxury, intemperance, and feasting, are rapidly surveyed, because amidst so great abundance they proudly disobeyed God. Such ingratitude was not peculiar to the Jews or to that age, but it is universally found that they who enjoy abundance rebel against God, and indulge themselves too freely. On this account the Prophet censures them; as if he had said, “Hitherto you have been plunged in luxuries and pleasures, but the Lord will cause you to lead a very different kind of life.” Isaiah speaks of the future as if it had been present, in order to place it more clearly before their eyes.

9. They shall not drink wine with a song. To drink wine is not in itself evil, because God has appointed it for the use of man; but here the Prophet describes the banquets of drunkards, which were full of licentiousness, songs, and insolence. Again, because they abused their enjoyment of plenty, he threatens them with want, which men almost bring upon themselves, when by their luxury they turn to a bad use the goodness of God.

Strong drink shall be bitter. He adds, that if they drink wine, it will be “bitter” to them; because sorrow commonly deprives men of a relish both for what they eat and for what they drink. The meaning may be thus summed up, “Though they have abundance of wine, yet they will be deprived of the use of it, because they will feel such sorrow as shall take away all relish for it.” “Strong drink shall be bitter;” that is, you shall no longer enjoy those pleasures and delights in which you have hitherto indulged.

10. The city of {Bogus footnote} vanity is broken down. I do not object to viewing this as relating especially to the desolation of Jerusalem. Yet it may be gathered from the context that it applies also to other cities; for shortly afterwards he uses the plural number in summoning the nations to appear before the same tribunal. But as the Prophet had his own countrymen chiefly in view, we may properly consider it to denote Jerusalem, which he calls “the city of vanity,” either because there was no solid virtue in it, or because it was destroyed.

The word תהו (tōhū) may refer either to the destruction itself, or to their crimes, by which they provoked the wrath of God against them. If it be thought better to refer it to their crimes, it will denote “the city of confusion,” in which nothing is regular or properly arranged; and I approve of this interpretation. Yet it may refer to the punishment; for it declares, in my opinion, the cause of the destruction, and gives up the city to ruin, because justice and good government are banished from it.

Every house is shut up. This is a proof of solitude, and the only reason why it is added is, to express the desolation of that city.

11. There is a cry about wine. He means, that there will be a scarcity of wine; for where want or hunger is found, it is accompanied by unceasing complaints, not only in private, but “in the streets” and public places. He therefore points out those doleful sounds and complaints, but, at the same time, reproves their luxury and intemperance, because they were not satisfied with what was necessary, but greedily swallowed wine, and abandoned themselves to every kind of enjoyment. We must supply the contrast. “Hitherto you have had abundance of wine and of food, and you have taken occasion from it to grow insolent against God; and therefore you will justly be deprived of them, and, instead of your wanton indulgence, wailing and lamentations will be heard in the streets.”

All joy is darkened. The metaphor in this second clause deserves attention; for, as we say that joy brightens when it obtains its object, so the Prophet here says, that “joy is darkened,” because sorrow may be said to be a cloud drawn over it. To rejoice is not in itself evil, any more than to drink; and the Prophet does not censure joy simply considered, but excessive and immoderate mirth. When men are merry, they lay no restraint on themselves on account of that dissoluteness or love of disorder (ἀταξίαν) which is natural to them. The Jews, having behaved insolently and lived luxuriously, are deservedly threatened with the vengeance of God, because most justly is joy taken from us when we know not how to make a right use of the Lord’s benefits, or to rejoice in him. It thus becomes necessary that he should take away our pleasures and delights, and compel us to sigh and groan.

12. In the city is left desolation. By an elegant mode of expression he describes the desolation of Jerusalem or of many other cities. The ornament and perfection of cities consists of men; and therefore, when their inhabitants have been removed, cities are said to be deserted. The Prophet says ironically, that “ruin” will be left; but the word שמה (shămmăh) is rendered by others desolation, which amounts to the same thing.

And the gate is smitten with desolation. He mentions the gates, because in them the crowded population of the city was seen, for there the people assembled, and there the courts of justice were held. At first, therefore, he mentions the whole city, and next he names one part of it, but for the purpose of setting the matter in a stronger light; for although cities be deprived of their inhabitants, yet some are to be seen in the gates; but if the gates be altogether empty, there must be grievous solitude in the whole city.

13. For it shall be in the midst of the land. As this statement is inserted between the threatenings and the consolation, the Prophet appears to address the chosen people, and not all the nations indiscriminately; if we do not rather say that he describes the dispersion, by which the Jews were divided, as it were, into many nations. But this being a harsh and forced interpretation, I interpret it as simply meaning that some hope is left to the ruined nations, and certainly this prediction applies strictly to the kingdom of Christ; and therefore we need not wonder that some part of the salvation is also promised to the Gentiles.

As the shaking of an olive-tree. The Prophet has elsewhere used the same metaphor, but it was when he spoke of the Church alone. (Isaiah 17:5, 6.) On that occasion he said that some seed of God would be left, that believers might not think that the Church was utterly ruined; for when “the olives are shaken,” still a few olives are left, and some grapes after the vintage; and in like manner, after the terrible destruction which shall fall upon the Church, a small number of the godly will be left. But now he extends the same promise to other parts of the world, as they were to become partakers of the same grace through Christ. Yet there is still a mixture of threatening; as if he had said, that the earth will be deprived of its inhabitants in exactly the same manner as the trees and vines are stripped of their fruits.

14. They shall lift up their voice. He follows out and increases the consolations which he had briefly sketched; for, having formerly (Isaiah 10:19-22) said that, out of that vast multitude, a few drops would be left, which would nevertheless overflow the whole world, in like manner he now says, that the small number of the godly, which shall be left out of an abundant vintage, will nevertheless rejoice and utter a voice so loud that it will be heard in the most distant countries. This was done by the preaching of the gospel; for, as to the condition of Judea, it appeared to be entirely ruined by it: the national government was taken away, and they were broken down by foreign and civil wars in such a manner that they never could rise above them. The rest of the world was dumb in singing the praises of God, and deaf to hear his voice; but as the Jews were the first fruits, I shall willingly admit that they are here placed in the highest rank.

Hence we obtain a remarkable consolation, that the Lord can in a moment restore his Church, and make it most flourishing; or rather, he can, as it were, create it out of nothing; for even out of death, as we have seen, he brings life. Now, this is contrary to nature and to ordinary custom, that so small a number of persons should lift up their voice, and be heard in distant places; for where there are few persons, there is silence, and where there is a crowd, there is commonly a noise. It is therefore a work of God, which goes beyond the course of nature and the ability of men; for otherwise it would appear as if the Prophet uttered what was contradictory, that when the whole of Judea had been laid waste and the world had been emptied, there would be few or almost none left, and yet that their shouting would be heard everywhere. This is in itself incredible, or rather absurd; but, as we have already said, it is an astonishing work of God.

They shall cry aloud from the sea. By those heralds he means not only those who were the descendants of the Jews according to the flesh, but those who were descended from them by faith. The crying aloud denotes not only cheerful voices, expressive of gladness and joy, but likewise confidence; for they will freely and boldly utter with a loud voice the praises of God. He states, at the same time, that it is right that believers should be employed in extolling God’s perfections and not their own claims to approbation. By the sea, he obviously means distant countries, and those which lay beyond the sea and were unknown to the Jews.

15. Wherefore glorify Jehovah in the valleys. {Bogus footnote} God’s benefits ought to excite us to gratitude, and we testify it by singing his praises. “What return shall we make,” as David says, “for all the benefits which he has bestowed on us, but to take the cup of thanksgiving for salvation, and call on the name of the Lord?” The Prophet therefore observes this order; having spoken of the restoration of the Church, he exhorts us to offer the sacrifice of praise.

By the valleys, he means countries that are hidden and, as it were, separated from others; for those which are surrounded by mountains are separated and disjoined by nature. The consequence is, that the inhabitants of valleys are less civilized, because they have fewer opportunities of conversing with each other. The meaning is the same as if the Prophet had said, that there will not be a corner so obscure or retired that the praises of God shall not be heard in it.

The name of Jehovah the God of Israel. He uses the expression, “the name of the God of Israel,” in order to intimate that all nations will call upon the true God; for, as all nations have a knowledge of God that is natural to them, so all easily turn aside to superstition and false worship. (Romans 1:19.) But here he speaks of spreading the true religion through the whole world; and this makes it still more evident that the prophecy relates to the kingdom of Christ, under which true religion has at length penetrated into foreign and heathen nations.

16. From the uttermost part {Bogus footnote} of the earth. This verse contains two statements which have some appearance of being at variance with each other. It begins with a joyful description of the praises of God, and next passes on to complaints and lamentations, in which he bewails the treachery of transgressors, who overturn religion and godliness. So far as relates to praises, we have said that we can neither praise God nor call upon him, till he reveal himself to us, and give a taste of his goodness, that we may entertain hope and confident expectation of life. Hence those sayings of David,

“In the grave who shall praise thee, O Lord? In death who shall confess to thee?” (Psalm 6:5.)

When we feel nothing but the wrath of God, we are dumb to his praises; and therefore when he says that the praises of God will be heard, he means that the gospel will be spread through the whole world; that men may acknowledge God to be their Father, and may thus break forth into his praise. “From the uttermost part” is a phrase that deserves attention; for at that time the praises of God were confined to Judea, and were not heard at a distance; but afterwards they began to resound everywhere. (Psalm 76:1, 2.)

Glory to the righteous. Some consider this to be spoken by all believers, as if the song were, “God is glorified on account of his righteousness.” Others read the two clauses as one, “We have heard that glory is given to the righteous God.” Those who think that the heralds of God’s praises are called “righteous,” bring out a very good sense, but do not attend to the word “Glory,” or at least are constrained to render the word צבי (tzēbī) joy. {Bogus footnote} He makes use of the preterite, “We have heard,” instead of the future tense; and his reason for doing so is, that he intended to cheer the hearts of the godly by some consolation; “We shall again hear the praises of God;” for this is more than if he had said, “They will be heard.” He speaks also in the first person, in order to include the whole body of the Church, and thus to awaken the attention of the godly.

God is called righteous; and we know that this expression frequently occurs in Scripture, but it belongs to him in a different manner from that in which it belongs to men; for men are called “righteous,” on account of the “righteousness” which has been communicated to them; but God, who is the fountain of righteousness, is called “righteous,” on account of what he performs. (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 7:9; 11:7.) And that is a proof of this congratulation and thanksgiving, because from the communication of this righteousness we obtain salvation and life; and therefore, wherever the righteousness of God is, it must be followed by praises and thanksgivings.

When the Prophet predicted these things, how incredible might they appear to be! for among the Jews alone was the Lord known and praised. (Psalm 76:2.) To them destruction is foretold, and next the publication of the word, and the celebration of the praises of God; but how could these things be done, when the people of God had been destroyed? Hence we may infer that there were few who believed these predictions. But now that those events have taken place, it is our duty to behold with admiration so great a miracle of God, because, when the Jews had been not only broken down, but almost annihilated, still there flashed from them a spark by which the whole world was enlightened, and all who were kindled by it burst forth into a confession of the truth.

My leanness. {Bogus footnote} This passage is explained in various ways; for some translate רזי(rāzī) secret, and others leanness. Those who translate it secret understand the Prophet to mean that a double secret has been revealed to him, because the Lord has determined to reward the good and to punish the wicked; for when men look only at the outward appearance of things, and see that the wicked succeed to their wish, and that the godly are overwhelmed by afflictions, they are distressed, and doubt whether the affairs of men are governed by the hand of God, or all things happen by chance; and Solomon shews that thoughts of this kind are the seed of ungodliness. (Ecclesiastes 8:11.) On this account the Psalmist also says, that he “entered into the sanctuary of God,” that he might examine the subject in another manner than by human reason. (Psalm 73:17.) If we adopt that interpretation, the meaning will be, “Though it appear as if there were no reward to the righteous, yet I hold this as a secret imparted to me, that it will be well with them; and although the wicked think that they will escape, yet I know that they will not pass unpunished.” But as this ingenuity appears to be too far-fetched, I prefer a more simple interpretation; and, besides, there immediately follows an interjection expressive of lamentation, אוי, (ōī,) Wo! so that I do not think that Isaiah speaks here about the righteous or about their reward.

Others more correctly explain it leanness; as if he had said, that through grief he shrinks and grows lean; for as the prosperous and flourishing condition of that people might be called “fatness,” so its wretched and distressed condition might be called “leanness.” Here the Prophet stands forth as the representative of the whole race; and when the Lord cuts it down, he justly complains of his “leanness.” This interpretation, I have said, is probable; for when the Prophet saw the people diminishing in numbers, he had good reason for bewailing that diminution. We know that, when the grace of God was very abundantly poured out, the ancient people was greatly diminished, and the posterity of Abraham was almost annihilated.

But we must see if the Prophet does not look farther than to the rejection of his nation, so as to bewail the condition of his bowels, when he foresees that the Church will be heavily distressed; for רז (rāz,) which some translate secret, may properly be understood to denote the internal part of the body. In this way the exclamation would be, “My bowels, or my entrails, are pained;” for in a pathetic discourse there is no absurdity in supposing that a word is supplied. When the Lord has extended his Church, it appears to be in a flourishing state, and free from all danger; but when its very inwards or bowels, that is, its own members, give it uneasiness, it is grievously tormented. Hypocrites arise, by whom it is more annoyed than by enemies who “are without.” (Revelation 22:15.)

Such is also the import of those groanings, אוי, (ōī,) wo to me; and Isaiah, I have no doubt, intended to intimate that the godly should not think that they will be happy in this world, but should believe that they must maintain a continual strife, even when they might imagine that there is nothing to hinder them from enjoying uninterrupted tranquillity and peace. He wishes to express the feeling of poignant grief which torments the Church inwardly, even in her very bowels; and this affliction is the more deeply to be lamented, because it cannot be avoided; for, as some one says, the Church can neither flee from internal and domestic enemies, nor put them to flight. Isaiah can scarcely find terms adequate to express this miserly

The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously. These words abundantly confirm the expositions which have been already given. How heavy this affliction is, and how deeply it ought to be deplored, we ourselves have abundantly experienced, and still experience every day. Whence arose Popery, and all its corruption, but from this internal evil? for it was an imposthume (ἀπόστημα) bred in the very bowels of the Church, which sent forth offensive and diseased matter. How comes it also that, when the Church begins to revive, we see doctrine corrupted and discipline overturned not only by the common people, but by those who ought to have given a good example to others? Is it not because the Church is always subject to this evil?

17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare. The Prophet here discourses against the sins of the people. Formerly he declared that not only one nation, but very many and very distant nations, would have abundant grounds of thanksgiving. He now passes to another doctrine; for I think that these words ought to be separated from what goes before, because Isaiah again threatens the wicked, that they may know that amidst the highest prosperity of the Church they will be miserable. For the sake of cherishing their indifference, wicked men are accustomed rashly to apply the promises of God to themselves, though they do not at all belong to them; and therefore the prophets usually mingle threatenings with them. It is also possible that Isaiah delivered this discourse separately from the rest, and on a different occasion; for neither the prophets themselves nor other learned men divided the chapters. We have often seen different subjects joined together, and others divided which ought to have been joined, which was undoubtedly done through ignorance. However that may be, the Prophet returns to the wicked, and threatens against them severe and dreadful judgment.

This description of “fear, the pit, and the snare,” is intended to touch the feelings; for if he had said, in a single word, that destruction awaits the wicked, they would not have been greatly moved. But there is room for doubting if he addresses the Jews alone. For my own part, I should not be much inclined to dispute about this matter; but I think it is more probable that these threatenings related also to other nations, and even to the whole world, of which he had formally prophesied.

O inhabitant of the earth. By “the world” we understand those countries which were known to the Jews, as we have already explained. The meaning is, “Thou art pressed by afflictions so diversified, that thou hast no means of escape.” Amos gives a similar description: “He who shall flee through dread of a lion shall meet a bear; and if he go into the house, when he leaneth on a wall, a serpent shall bite him.” (Amos 5:19.) Isaiah formerly said that lions would be sent against the Moabites who had escaped from the battle. (Isaiah 15:9.) God has an endless variety of scourges for punishing the wicked. It is as if he had said, “Know that you cannot escape the hand of God; for he has various methods by which he takes vengeance on their crimes, and thus overtakes those who had hoped to escape by a variety of contrivances. He who escapes from the battle shall be tormented with hunger; and when he is freed from hunger, he will meet some other calamity, as if nets had been laid on all sides to ensnare you.”

For the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. This argument confirms what had been already said, that it is impossible for them to escape the vengeance of God, who has prepared for it a free course in heaven and in earth, from the utmost height of heaven down to the depths of the earth. Some think that he alludes (Genesis 7:11) to the deluge; but, in my opinion, the meaning is simpler, that the wrath of God will be revealed above and below; as if he had said, “The Lord will arm heaven and earth to execute his vengeance against men, that wherever they turn their eyes, they may behold nothing but destruction.”

19. By breaking down is the earth broken down. He heightens his description of punishments by using various modes of expression. A little afterwards he will point out the cause of this “shaking,” which is, that men by their sins had drawn down on themselves such destruction. He now declares that this evil is incurable. We have formerly said that the Prophet explains the same thing in various ways, and for the purpose of striking and arousing those minds which are naturally very sluggish; for there is in the flesh a carelessness which produces contempt of God, and we have too much experience of it both in ourselves and in others. In order, therefore, that the prophets might arouse those who were careless and asleep in their vices, they adorn their style; not because they cared about being thought eloquent, but that they might make their hearers more attentive, and sting them to the quick. Hence the allusions of which these verses are full; hence the brilliant metaphors in the style; hence the threatenings and terrors announced in various ways; the object of all is, that careless men may be aroused.

Now, this doctrine ought to be limited to the wicked; not because the godly are exempted from those evils, for they are afflicted as well as other men; but because, when the godly betake themselves to God, and rely wholly upon him, they are not shaken in this manner, and remain firm and steadfast against every assault; while wicked men, who despised the judgments of God, and took unbounded liberties in transgression, are terrified and alarmed, and never find rest.

20. And shall be removed like a tent. This does not mean that any change will take place in the position of the earth; but these words, as we have already said, must be referred to men; as if he had said, that there would be no kingly power and no regular government. In short, he intended to describe those changes which he had spoken of in the tenth chapter.

And the transgressions thereof shall be heavy upon it. When he says that “the earth is laden with its iniquity,” he has very appropriately assigned this reason, that we may understand that God is never angry with men without a cause; for we ourselves are the authors of all the evils which we suffer. God is by nature disposed to kindness, and regards us with a father’s love; and therefore it is our own fault that we are treated with sharpness and severity, and we have no reason to blame him. {Bogus footnote}

And it shall fall, and not rise again. He at length repeats what he briefly stated a little before, that there will be no remedy for those evils. Some think that this relates to the Jews, whose form of government was entirely taken away, so that they were broken down and scattered, and were scarcely reckoned in the rank of men. But I give a more extensive interpretation, that the distresses of the world will be so severe, that it cannot be restored to its original condition. Men always contend against adverse events, and their minds are full of confidence. Having endured calamities, they think that there will be some room for breathing, and their minds are swelled with false hopes, which the Prophet therefore takes away, that they may not in future deceive themselves by unfounded expectation. Yet it ought to be observed, that this general statement does not set aside the exception which Isaiah formerly made.

21. And it shall come to pass. This passage has tortured the minds of many commentators, and various interpretations have been offered by various writers. Some think that this relates to the sun and the stars, and others, that it relates to the devils, who will be punished along with the wicked. Others refer it to the Jews, on whom God had bestowed a remarkable privilege. But I cannot adopt any of those interpretations. {Bogus footnote} The simple and genuine meaning, therefore, appears to me to be, that no power will be so high as to be exempted from those scourges of God; and though they raise themselves above the clouds, yet the hand of God will reach them; as it is said in the Psalm,

“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? and whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, there also shall thy hand pursue me.” Psalm 139:7-10.

Jehovah will visit upon the army on high. {Bogus footnote} This is a metaphor by which he denotes kings and princes, who shine and sparkle in the world like stars; and he afterwards explains this metaphor in direct language, by adding upon the kings of the earth; for I do not think that they ought to be separated, as if he were speaking of different subjects, but that there is a repetition of the same statement, so that the latter clause explains the former. But perhaps it will be thought preferable to explain it thus: “he will visit on the kingdoms of the earth,” even on those things which appear to surpass the rank of men; for some things rise so much above others, that they appear as if they did not belong to the ordinary rank. The word visit must relate to punishment, as even the context shews plainly enough.

22. And they shall be gathered together, and shall be shut up in prison. He continues his subject in the beginning of the verse. The mode of expression is metaphorical; for they were not all captives, but God reduced them to servitude, as if a man held in his hand the enemies whom he subdued. He therefore brings forward God as a conqueror, who shuts up enemies in prison, as captives are commonly shut up. We know that men, as it were, flee from God, and despise him, so long as he spares them, and exercises any forbearance towards them; and on this account also he threatens that they shall be thrown into prison in large masses, that they may not solace themselves with their multitude.

Afterwards they shall be visited. When he adds that after a time “they shall be visited,” it is not simply a promise, but includes also a threatening to this effect, “As formerly by their obstinacy they mocked God, and excessively prolonged the time of sinning, so God will punish without making haste, till at length, though late, they acknowledge the cause of their distresses.” Thus earthly judges frequently do not deign to admit into their presence the malefactors who have offended them, but plunge them into darkness and filth, and gradually wear them out, in order to subdue their obstinacy. Again, as there are two ways in which God visits the world, either when he punishes the wicked, or when he shews to the elect the tokens of a Father’s kindness, the word visit here signifies “to look upon;” and thus the Prophet softens the harshness of the threatening. It was necessary that the hearts of the godly should be supported amidst these distresses, that they might not faint; and on their account, therefore, after various threatenings, the prophets are wont to add consolations. As these statements tended to support believers, they were undoubtedly addressed to the Jews, among whom chiefly faith was found, or rather, there was none to be seen anywhere else.

After many days. This also deserves attention. It was intended to try the faith of the godly; {Bogus footnote} for we are hasty in our desires, and would wish that God should immediately perform his promises: we complain that he is slow, and we cannot brook any delay. It is therefore our duty to wait patiently for that mercy; and no delay, however long, should make us lose heart. Yet it ought also to be observed, that this does not refer to all; for, as we saw a little before, God had determined to save but a small remnant; and this ought to quicken us the more, that, being humbled by slow and long-continued punishments, we may meet God who visits us.

23. The moon shall be confounded. Many commentators think that the Prophet waxes still more wroth against the Jews, so far as to say, that the sun and moon and stars are ashamed of their unbelief, and that not only men, but creatures devoid of speech, will abhor them; but this appears to be far removed from the meaning and design of the Prophet. I have no doubt that he continues to give the consolation which he had glanced at in the former verse; “When the Lord shall visit his people, and cleanse the Church from its defilement, he will establish a kingdom so illustrious that it will darken the sun and stars by its brightness.” This mode of expression is frequently employed by the prophets, and we have formerly seen it. Since, therefore, God will establish your kingdom on Mount Zion, so great will be its splendor in the restoration of the people, that those things which dazzle the eyes of men, will be dark in comparison of it; and, for the purpose of expressing this, he has mentioned those objects which surpass all others in brightness.

When the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion. Some think that the word reign denotes God’s vengeance; but this is inaccurate, for although the Lord is said to reign when he discharges the office of a Judge, yet the complex phrase, “the reign of God in Mount Zion,” always denotes mercy and salvation. He speaks of the restoration of the Church, and hence it follows, that it is only in Christ that those things are fulfilled.

And before his elders glory. By expressly mentioning the “elders,” he employs a figure of speech frequently used in Scripture, by which the chief part of the Church is taken for the whole body of it. And yet it is not without a special design that he denotes, by the term “elders,” not only the priests, but other governors who preside over discipline and morals, and by whose moderation and prudence others ought to be guided. Under their name he includes the whole nation, not only because they represent the whole body, and because the common people are in some measure concealed under their shadow, but likewise that believers may entertain hope of future restoration; for otherwise it would have been of little or no avail that a scattered multitude should be left like a mutilated body or a confused mass. Not without good reason did he use the phrase, “and before his elders,” that the Jews might know that the power of God would be visibly and strikingly displayed; not that it can be perceived by the bodily senses, but by faith. He reigns in such a manner, that we feel that he is present with us; and if we did not comprehend this, it would yield us no consolation.

Glory. {Bogus footnote} Instead of “glory” some read “gloriously,” and others, “glorious.” I prefer to take it simply as a substantive, though there is little difference in the meaning. He shews how great will be the splendor and glory of God, when the kingdom of Christ shall be established, because all that is brilliant must be obscured, and the glory of Christ alone must hold a high and prominent place. Hence it follows, that then only does God receive his just rights, and the honor due to him, when all creatures are placed in subjection, and he alone shines before our eyes.

CHAPTER 25

Isaiah Chapter 25:1-12

1. O Lord, thou art my God: I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name: for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

1. Iehova Deus meus es tu; exaltabo te: celebrabor nomin tuum; quia fecisti rem mirificam; consilia iam olim decreta, veritatem firmam.

2. For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

2. Quia posuisti ex urbe acervum, urbem munitam in ruinam; palatium extraneorum, ut non sit civitas, nec unquam ædificetur.

3. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

3. Propterea glorificabit te populus fortis; civitas gentium robustarum timebit te.

4. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

4. Nam fuisti fortitudo pauperi; fortitudo, inquam, egeno in afflictione ejus; refugium ab inundatione, umbra ab æstu, quia spiritus fortium (aut, violentorum) quasi turbo (vel, inundatio) contra murum.

5. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

5. Sicut æstum in arido, strepitum alienorum humiliabis, æstum in umbra nubis; clamorem (vel, cantum, vel, excisionem) fortium humiliabit.

6. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees; of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

6. Et faciet Iehova exercituum cunctis populis in monte isto convivium pinguium, convivium defecatorum; pinguium, inquam, medullatorum; defecatorum liquidorum.

7. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

7. Et destruet in monte isto faciem involucri quo involuti sunt populi omnes, et operimentum quad expansum est super omnes gentes.

8. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

8. Destruxit mortem in æternum. Et absterget Dominus Iehova lachrymam a cunctis faciebus, et opprobrium populi sui auferet ab universa terra; quia Iehova locutus est.

9. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

9. Et dicetur in die illa: Ecce Deus noster iste; expectavimus eum, et salvabit nos. Iste Iehova; expectavimus eum, exultabimus, et lætabimur in salute ejus.

10. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

10. Nam quiescet manus Iehovæ in monte isto; et triturabitur Moab subter eum, sicut trituratur palea in sterquilinio.

11. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim; and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.

11. Et extendet manum suam sub medio ejus, sicut extendit natator ad natandum; et humiliabit superbiam ejus, cum brachiis manuum suarum.

12. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

12. Et munitionem sublimitatis murorum tuorum sternet, humiliabit, dejiciet in terram, ad pulverem.

CHAPTER 24

Is 24:1-23. The Last Times of the World in General, and of Judah and the Church in Particular.

The four chapters (the twenty-fourth through the twenty-seventh) form one continuous poetical prophecy: descriptive of the dispersion and successive calamities of the Jews (Is 24:1-12); the preaching of the Gospel by the first Hebrew converts throughout the world (Is 24:13-16); the judgments on the adversaries of the Church and its final triumph (Is 24:16-23); thanksgiving for the overthrow of the apostate faction (Is 25:1-12), and establishment of the righteous in lasting peace (Is 26:1-21); judgment on leviathan and entire purgation of the Church (Is 27:1-13). Having treated of the several nations in particular--Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Edom, and Tyre (the miniature representative of all, as all kingdoms flocked into it)--he passes to the last times of the world at large and of Judah the representative and future head of the churches.

1. the earth--rather, "the land" of Judah (so in Is 24:3, 5, 6; Joe 1:2). The desolation under Nebuchadnezzar prefigured that under Titus.

2. as with the people, so with the priest--All alike shall share the same calamity: no favored class shall escape (compare Eze 7:12, 13; Ho 4:9; Re 6:15).

4. world--the kingdom of Israel; as in Is 13:11, Babylon.

haughty--literally, "the height" of the people: abstract for concrete, that is, the high people; even the nobles share the general distress.

5. earth--rather, "the land."

defiled under ... inhabitants--namely, with innocent blood (Ge 4:11; Nu 35:33; Psa 106:38).

laws ... ordinance ... everlasting covenant--The moral laws, positive statutes, and national covenant designed to be for ever between God and them.

6. earth--the land.

burned--namely, with the consuming wrath of heaven: either internally, as in Job 30:30 [Rosenmuller]; or externally, the prophet has before his eyes the people being consumed with the withering dryness of their doomed land (so Joe 1:10, 12), [Maurer].

7. mourneth--because there are none to drink it [Barnes]. Rather, "is become vapid" [Horsley].

languisheth--because there are none to cultivate it now.

8. (Re 18:22).

9. with a song--the usual accompaniment of feasts.

strong drink--(See on Is 5:11). "Date wine" [Horsley].

bitter--in consequence of the national calamities.

10. city of confusion--rather, "desolation." What Jerusalem would be; by anticipation it is called so. Horsley translates, "The city is broken down; it is a ruin."

shut up--through fear; or rather, "choked up by ruins."

11. crying for wine--to drown their sorrows in drink (Is 16:9); Joe 1:5, written about the same time, resembles this.

12. with destruction--rather "crash" [Gesenius]. "With a great tumult the gate is battered down" [Horsley].

13. the land--Judea. Put the comma after "land," not after "people." "There shall be among the people (a remnant left), as the shaking (the after-picking) of an olive tree"; as in gathering olives, a few remain on the highest boughs (Is 17:5, 6).

14. They--those who are left: the remnant.

sing for the majesty of the Lord--sing a thanksgiving for the goodness of the Lord, who has so mercifully preserved them.

from the sea--from the distant lands beyond the sea, whither they have escaped.

15. in the fires--Vitringa translates, "in the caves." Could it mean the fires of affliction (1Pe 1:7)? They were exiles at the time. The fires only loose the carnal bonds off the soul, without injuring a hair, as in the case of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Lowth reads, in the islands (Eze 26:18). Rather translate for "fires," "in the regions of morning light," that is, the east, in antithesis to the "isles of the sea," that is, the west [Maurer]. Wheresoever ye be scattered, east or west, still glorify the Lord (Mal 1:11).

16. Songs to God come in together to Palestine from distant lands, as a grand chorus.

glory to the righteous--the burden of the songs (Is 26:2, 7). Amidst exile, the loss of their temple, and all that is dear to man, their confidence in God is unshaken. These songs recall the joy of other times and draw from Jerusalem in her present calamities, the cry, "My leanness." Horsley translates, "glory to the Just One"; then My leanness expresses his sense of man's corruption, which led the Jews, "the treacherous dealers" (Jr 5:11), to crucify the Just One; and his deficiency of righteousness which made him need to be clothed with the righteousness of the Just One (Psa 106:15).

treacherous dealers--the foreign nations that oppress Jerusalem, and overcome it by stratagem (so in Is 21:2) [Barnes].

17. This verse explains the wretchedness spoken of in Is 24:16. Jeremiah (Jr 48:43, 44) uses the same words. They are proverbial; Is 24:18 expressing that the inhabitants were nowhere safe; if they escaped one danger, they fell into another, and worse, on the opposite side (Am 5:19). "Fear" is the term applied to the cords with feathers of all colors which, when fluttered in the air, scare beasts into the pitfall, or birds into the snare. Horsley makes the connection. Indignant at the treatment which the Just One received, the prophet threatens the guilty land with instant vengeance.

18. noise of ... fear--the shout designed to rouse the game and drive it into the pitfall.

windows ... open--taken from the account of the deluge (Ge 7:11); the flood-gates. So the final judgments of fire on the apostate world are compared to the deluge (2Pe 3:5-7).

19. earth--the land: image from an earthquake.

20. removed like a cottage--(See on Is 1:8). Here, a hanging couch, suspended from the trees by cords, such as Niebuhr describes the Arab keepers of lands as having, to enable them to keep watch, and at the same time to be secure from wild beasts. Translate, "Shall wave to and fro like a hammock" swung about by the wind.

heavy upon it--like an overwhelming burden.

not rise again--not meaning, that it never would rise (Is 24:23), but in those convulsions it would not rise, it would surely fall.

21. host of ... high ones--the heavenly host, that is, either the visible host of heaven (the present economy of nature, affected by the sun, moon, and stars, the objects of idolatry, being abolished, Is 65:17; 60:19, simultaneously with the corrupt polity of men); or rather, "the invisible rulers of the darkness of this world," as the antithesis to "kings of the earth" shows. Angels, moreover, preside, as it were, over kingdoms of the world (Da 10:13, 20, 21).

22. in the pit--rather, "for the pit" [Horsley]. "In the dungeon" [Maurer]. Image from captives thrust together into a dungeon.

prison--that is, as in a prison. This sheds light on the disputed passage, 1Pe 3:19, where also the prison is figurative: The "shutting up" of the Jews in Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and again under Titus, was to be followed by a visitation of mercy "after many days"--seventy years in the case of the former--the time is not yet elapsed in the case of the latter. Horsley takes "visited" in a bad sense, namely, in wrath, as in Is 26:14; compare Is 29:6; the punishment being the heavier in the fact of the delay. Probably a double visitation is intended, deliverance to the elect, wrath to hardened unbelievers; as Is 24:23 plainly contemplates judgments on proud sinners, symbolized by the "sun" and "moon."

23. (Jr 3:17). Still future: of which Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem amidst hosannas was a pledge.

his ancients--the elders of His people; or in general, His ancient people, the Jews. After the overthrow of the world kingdoms. Jehovah's shall be set up with a splendor exceeding the light of the sun and moon under the previous order of things (Is 60:19, 20).

The world languisheth - The world is the same with the land; that is, the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, orbis Israeliticus. See note on Isa 13:11 (note).

The laws "The law" - תורה torah, singular: so read the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee.

Are burned "Are destroyed" - For חרו charu, read חרבו charebu. See the Septuagint, Syriac, Chaldee and Symmachus.

The mirth, etc. - שאון sheon, the noise. גאון geon, the pride, is the reading of three of De Rossi's MSS., with the Septuagint and Arabic.

Strong drink "Palm wine" - This is the proper meaning of the word שכר shechar, σικερα. See note on Isa 5:11. All enjoyment shall cease: the sweetest wine shall become bitter to their taste.

All joy is darkened "All gladness is passed away" - For ערבה arebah, darkened, read עברה aberah, passed away, transposing a letter. Houbigant, Secker. Five of Dr. Kennicott's and five of De Rossi's MSS., several ancients add כל col, all, after משוש mesos: the Septuagint adds the same word before it.

They shall lift up their voice "But these shall lift up their voice" - That is, they that escaped out of these calamities. The great distresses brought upon Israel and Judah drove the people away, and dispersed them all over the neighboring countries: they fled to Egypt, to Asia Minor, to the islands and the coasts of Greece. They were to be found in great numbers in most of the principal cities of these countries. Alexandria was in a great measure peopled by them. They had synagogues for their worship in many places, and were greatly instrumental in propagating the knowledge of the true God among these heathen nations, and preparing them for the reception of Christianity. This it what the prophet seems to mean by the celebration of the name of Jehovah in the waters, in the distant coasts, and in the uttermost parts of the land. מים mayim, the waters; ὑδωρ, Sept.; ὑδατα, Theod.; not מים miyam from the sea.

In the isles of the sea "In the distant coasts of the sea" - For בארים beurim, in the valleys, I suppose we ought to read באיים beiyim, in the isles, which is in a great degree justified by the repetition of the word in the next member of the sentence, with the addition of הים haiyam, the sea, to vary the phrase, exactly in the manner of the prophet. איים iyim is a word chiefly applied to any distant countries, especially those lying on the Mediterranean Sea. Others conjecture ביארים biorim, בהרים beharim, באמים beummim, בעמים beammim, בחורים bechorim, באורים beurim, a באר bar, illustrate - Le Clerc. Twenty-three MSS. of Kennicott's, many of De Rossi's, and some of my own, read באורים beorim, in the valleys. The Septuagint do not acknowledge the reading of the text, expressing here only the word איים iyim, εν ταις νησοις, in the islands, and that not repeated. But MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. 2 supply in this place the defect in the other copies of the Septuagint thus, Δια τουτο ἡ δοξα Κυριου εσται εν ταις νησοις της θαλασσης· εν ταις νησοις το ονομα του Κυριου Θεου Ισραηλ ενδοξον εσται· "Therefore the glory of the Lord shall be in the isles of the sea: in the islands shall the name of the Lord God of Israel be glorified."

Kimchi says, that by באורים beurim, in the valleys is meant the cities, because they were generally built in valleys. The Vulgate has in doctrinis, and so my old MS., in techingis. Coverdale translates, Praise the name of the Lord God of Israel in the valleys and in the floodis. It should not be revered in the fires; none of the ancient Versions understood it thus. According to which the Septuagint had in their Hebrew copy באיים beiyim, repeated afterwards, not בארים beurim.

But I said - The prophet speaks in the person of the inhabitants of the land still remaining there, who should be pursued by Divine vengeance, and suffer repeated distresses from the inroads and depredations of their powerful enemies. Agreeably to what he said before in a general denunciation of these calamities: - "Though there be a tenth part remaining in it;

Even this shall undergo a repeated destruction." Isa 6:13 (note). See the note there. - L.

My leanness, my leanness - Or, my secret; so the Vulgate, Montanus, and my old MS; רזן razan has this meaning in Chaldee; but in Hebrew it signifies to make lean, to waste. This sentence in the Hebrew has a strange connection of uncouth sounds: ואמר רזי לי רזי לי אוי לי בוגדים בגדו ובגד בגדים בגרו Vaomer, razi li razi li, oi li, bogedim bagadu, ubeged bogedim bagadu. This may be equalled by the translation in my Old MS. Bible: And I seide, my priveye thinge to me: my priveye thinge to me: woo to me: The lawe breykynge thei breken: and in lawe brekynge of the overdon thingis, they breken the lawe.

The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously "The plunderers plunder" - See note on Isa 21:2.

Fear, and the pit "The terror, the pit" - If they escape one calamity, another shall overtake them. "As if a man should flee from a lion, and a bear should overtake him:

Or should betake himself to his house, and lean his hand on the wall,

And a serpent should bite him." Amo 5:19. "For," as our Savior expressed it in a like parabolical manner, "wheresoever the carcass is there shall the eagles be gathered together," Mat 24:28. The images are taken from the different methods of hunting and taking wild beasts, which were anciently in use. The terror was a line strung with feathers of all colors which fluttering in the air scared and frightened the beasts into the toils, or into the pit which was prepared for them. Nec est mirum, cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta contineat, et in insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta formido. Seneca de Ira, 2:12. The pit or pitfall, fovea; digged deep in the ground, and covered over with green boughs, turf, etc., in order to deceive them, that they might fall into it unawares. The snare, or toils, indago; a series of nets, inclosing at first a great space of ground, in which the wild beasts were known to be; and then drawn in by degrees into a narrower compass, till they were at last closely shut up, and entangled in them. - L.

For מכול mikkol, a MS. reads מפני mippeney, as it is in Jer 48:44, and so the Vulgate and Chaldee. But perhaps it is only, like the latter, a Hebraism, and means no more than the simple preposition מ mem. See Psa 102:6. For it does not appear that the terror was intended to scare the wild beasts by its noise. The paronomasia is very remarkable; פחד pachad, פחת pachath, פך pach: and that it was a common proverbial form, appears from Jeremiah's repeating it in the same words, Jer 48:43, Jer 48:44.

Out of the midst of the pit "From the pit" - For מתוך mittoch, from the midst of, a MS. reads מן min, from, as it is in Jer 48:44; and so likewise the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

The earth "The land" - הארץ haarets, forte delendum ה he, ut ex praecedente ortum. Vid. seqq. - Secker. "Probably the ה he, in הארץ haarets, should be blotted out, as having arisen from the preceding."

Like a cottage "Like a lodge for a night" - See note on Isa 1:8.

On high - upon the earth - That is, the ecclesiastical and civil polity of the Jews, which shall be destroyed. The nation shall continue in a state of depression and dereliction for a long time. The image seems to be taken from the practice of the great monarchs of that time; who, when they had thrown their wretched captives into a dungeon, never gave themselves the trouble of inquiring about them; but let them lie a long time in that miserable condition, wholly destitute of relief, and disregarded. God shall at length revisit and restore his people in the last age: and then the kingdom of God shall be established in such perfection, as wholly to obscure and eclipse the glory of the temporary, typical, preparative kingdom now subsisting.

Before his ancients gloriously - In the sigt of their olde men he schal ben glorified. Old MS. Bible. "The figurative language of the prophets is taken from the analogy between the world natural and an empire or kingdom considered as a world politic. Accordingly the whole world natural, consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people; or so much of it as is considered in prophecy: and the things in that world signify the analogous things in this. For the heavens and the things thereto signify thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; and the earth with the things thereon, the inferior people; and the lowest parts of the earth, called hades or hell, the lowest or most miserable part of them. Great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, are put for the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract and overthrow them; the creating a new heaven and earth, and the passing away of an old one, or the beginning and end of a world, for the rise and ruin of a body politic signified thereby. The sun, for the whole species and race of kings, in the kingdoms of the world politic; the moon, for the body of the common people, considered as the king's wife; the stars, for subordinate princes and great men; or for bishops and rulers of the people of God, when the sun is Christ: setting of the sun, moon, and stars. darkening the sun, Turning the moon into blood and falling of the stars, for the ceasing of a kingdom." Sir 1. Newton's Observations on the Prophecies, Part I., chap. 2.

These observations are of great consequence and use, in explaining the phraseology of the prophets.

The land - Of Canaan. Waste - He will shortly make it waste, first by the Assyrians, and then by the Chaldeans. Turneth - Brings it into great disorder and confusion.

It shall be - The approaching calamity shall be universal, without any distinction of persons or ranks; the priests themselves having been partakers of the peoples sins, shall also partake with them in their plagues. The seller - The purchaser of lands shall have no more left than he that hath sold all his patrimony; and all persons shall be made equal in beggary and slavery.

The world - The land of Judea. The majesty - Not only common people, but the high and lofty ones.

Defiled - By the wickedness of its people. The laws - The laws of God. Ordinance - God's ordinances concerning his worship and service; the singular being put for the plural. Covenant - The covenant made between God and Abraham, and all his posterity, which was everlasting, both on God's part, who, upon the conditions therein expressed, engaged himself to be a God to them and to their seed forever; and on Israel's part, who were obliged thereby to constant and perpetual obedience thro' all generations.

The curse - The curse of God threatened to transgressors. Burned - Are consumed by the wrath of God, which is commonly compared to fire.

Mourneth - Because there are none to drink it. Grief is ascribed to senseless creatures by a figure usual in all authors. Languisheth - Because there are no people left to dress it, or gather its grapes. The merry - hearted - That made their hearts merry with wine.

Tabrets - Which they used in their feasts. The noise - The word properly signifies a confused clamour, such as drunken men make.

Bitter - Because of the fears and miseries wherewith it is mixed.

The city - Jerusalem, and other cities; for the singular word may be here taken collectively. A city of confusion or disorder, breaking all the laws and orders which God had established among them. Shut up - Because the inhabitants are either dead, or gone into captivity.

A crying - Such was their gross sensuality and sottishness, that instead of crying for their sins, they did only howl for their corn, and wine, and oil, Hosea 7:14.

When - When this judgment shall be executed, there shall be left a remnant; as there are some few olives or grapes left after the vintage is over.

They - The remnant shall sing for the glorious power and goodness of God, manifested in their deliverance. The sea - From the isles of the sea; from those parts beyond the sea into which, they were carried captive.

In distress - When you are in the furnace of affliction. In the isles - In remote countries, beyond the sea, which in scripture are commonly called isles.

From - From all the parts of the earth in which the Jews are or shall be. Songs - Of joy and praise. Glory - Or, glory be to the righteous. The Lord, the righteous one. But - In the midst of these joyful tidings, I discern something which gives me cause of lamentation. My leanness - I faint and pine away for grief, for the following reason. Treacherously - The Jews, who have been frequently guilty of great perfidiousness towards God, are now acting the same part. Even the Hebrew doctors expound this place of the perfidiousness of some Jews in the times of the Messiah. And it is not strange that so sad a sight made the prophet cry out, My leanness, &c. He repeats it to shew the horridness of the crime.

The snare - Great and various judgments, some actually inflicted, and others justly feared.

Fleeth - Upon the report of some terrible evil. The foundations - Both heaven and earth conspire against him. He alludes to the deluge of waters which God poured down from heaven, and to the earthquakes which he often causes below.

The earth - This is repeated again, to shew the dreadfulness and, certainty of these judgments, and to awaken the stupid Israelites.

A tent - Which is easily and commonly carried from place to place.

Gathered - By God's special providence, in order to their punishment. And thus the unbelieving Jews were generally gathered together at Jerusalem, to their solemn feast, when Titus came and besieged, and destroyed them. Shut up - As malefactors, which are taken in several places, are usually brought to one common prison. After - After the apostate Jews shall have been shut up in unbelief, and in great tribulations for many ages together, they shall be convinced of their sin in crucifying the Messiah, and brought home to God and Christ by true repentance.

The sun - All earthly powers and glories shall be obscured with the far greater splendor of Christ, the king of kings, at whose feet even the kings of the earth shall fall down and worship. The Lord - The Messiah, who, tho' man, yet is also God, and the Lord of hosts. Shall reign - Shall come in the flesh, and set up his kingdom, first in Jerusalem, and afterward in all other nations. Before - Before his ministers, who are in some sort the courtiers of the King of Glory. But the ancients are here put for the whole church, in whose name and for whose service they act.

BEhold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

Or, the land, to wit, of Canaan, or Israel, or Iudaea. It is usual with all Writers, when they write of their own Country, to call it the land, by way of eminency. There are many things in this Prophecy which manifestly concern this Land and People; and nothing, at least before v. 21. which may be taken as a new and additional Prophecy, which is necessarily to be understood of other Nations. But this I speak with submission, and due respect to those Learned and Judicious Interpreters who take this to be a Prophecy against Iudaea, and all the neighbouring Nations.

He will shortly make it waste, first by the Assyrians, and then by the Chaldeans.

Bringeth it into great disorder and confusion.

Marginal references: Heb. perverteth the face thereof.

2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury; so with the giver of usury to him.

The approaching Calamity shall be universal, without any respect or distinction of Persons or Ranks of Men; the Priests themselves having been Partakers of the Peoples Sins, shall also partake with them in their Plagues.

The Purchaser of Lands shall have no more left than he who hath sold all his Patrimony; and all Persons shall be made equal in Beggary and Slavery.

Marginal references: Or, prince▪; Hos. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 9.; Ezek. 7. 1[illegible: 1+ letters], 13.

4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.

From this Word some infer, That this Prophecy concerns not onely the Land of Iudaea, but also the neighbouring Countries: But if the proper Signification of that Word be urged, this Prophecy must be extended to all the Parts of the World, which these Learned men will not allow. And the world, both in Scripture, and other Authors, is oft used Synechdochically for that which is in truth but a small part of it, at least in comparison with the Whole; as it is not onely of the Roman Empire, as Luk. 2. 1. Act. 11. 28. but also of Babylon, Isa. 13. 11. and, which cometh nearer to the point, of this very Land of Iudaea, as Ioh. 12. 19. & 18. 20. and elsewhere. And therefore it may well be so understood here, especially when this Word world is explained by those other Words the earth, and the land, which the very next Verse sheweth to be meant of Israel or Iudaea, as we shall there discover.

Not onely Common People, who use to be of low Spirits; but the High and Lofty ones, who use to be stout in their Words and Carriages towards me, and to deride my Threatnings.

Marginal references: Heb. the heighth of the people.

5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance , broken the everlasting covenant.

Heb. And the land, or, this land; for here is an emphatical Article in the Hebrew Text.

By the Wickedness of its People; of which see Levit. 18. 25, 27, Numb. 35. 33. &c.

The Laws of God revealed to them, and pressed upon them in a singular manner, called simply the laws, as the Word of God is oft-times called the word by way of eminency.

God's Ordinances concerning his Worship and Service; the Singular being put collectively for the Plural.

The Covenant made between God and Abraham, and all his Posterity, renewed with the Israelites at Sinai, which was everlasting, both on God's part, who, upon the Conditions therein expressed, engaged himself to be a God to them and to their Seed for ever; and on Israels part, who were obliged thereby to constant and perpetual Obedience through all Generations. All these Clauses clearly prove, that the earth or land which this Prophecy concerns, is no other than the Land of Israel and Iudah.

Marginal references: Gen. 3. 17.

6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned , and few men left.

The Curse of God threatned to Transgressours, Deut. 28. 15. &c. and 29. 20. and imprecated by and upon themselves, if they should not persist in their Obedience to God, Deut. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. 26. and elsewhere.

Are consum'd by the Wrath of God, which is commonly compared to Fire.

7 The new wine mourneth , the vine languisheth , all the merry-hearted do sigh.

Because there are either none, or none but the Enemies of God and Israel, to drink it. Grief is ascribed to senceless Creatures by a Figure usual in all Authors.

Either because there are no People left to dress it, or gather its Grapes; or because it is broken down and spoiled by the Enemy.

That made their Hearts merry with Wine, Psal. 104. 15.

Marginal references: Chap. 16. 8, 9. Joel 1. 10, 12.

8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoyce endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

Which they used in their Feasts and Revellings.

The Word properly signifies a roaring Noise and confused Clamour, such as drunken men make, Psal. 78. 65. Zech. 9. 15.

Marginal references: Jer. 7. 34. & 16. 9. & 25. 10. Ezek. 26. 13. Hos. 2. 11.

9 They shall not drink wine with a song, strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it .

Because of the Fears and Miseries wherewith it is mixed.

10 The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up , that no man may come in.

Ierusalem, and other Cities; for the Singular Word may be here taken collectively.

Or, of vanity, or emptiness, or desolation; for this Hebrew Word signifies all these things. And the City may be thus called, either, 1. in regard of the Judgments of God coming upon it, as if he had said, a City devoted to Desolation or Destruction, to be emptied of its Goods and People: or, 2. for its Sin, a City of Confusion or Disorder, breaking all the Laws and Orders which God had established among them; or a City that walketh with or after vanity, as the Scripture speaks, Iob 31. 5. Ier. 2. 5. that loveth and speaketh vanity, as they did Psal. 4. 2. & 12. 2. And this may seem most convenient, that the Sin of the City should be noted in this Word, as the Punishment is expressed in the next.

Either for fear of the Enemy who have entred the City; or rather, because the Inhabitants are either fled, or dead, or gone into Captivity, and so there are none to go into it, or come out of it.

Marginal references: Or, emptiness.

11 There is a crying for wine in the streets, all joy is darkned, the mirth of the land is gone.

For the want or loss of their Wine, and spoil of their Vines, whereby they were deprived of the Means both of their Delight and Profit. Whereby he intimates their gross Sensuality and Sottishness, that in stead of crying for their Sins, and humbling themselves under God's Judgments, did onely howl for their corn, and wine, and oil, as they did Hos. 7. 14.

12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction .

The Gates of the City are totally ruined, that the Enemy may enter when and where they please.

13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive-tree, and as the gleaninggrapes when the vintage is done .

When this Judgment shall be executed.

In the Land: But withal this Phrase may intimate, that the Judgment should not be sleight and superficial, and in the Skirts of the Land; but that it should reach their very Heart, their most inward and best defended Parts.

There shall be left a Remnant, and that but a very small Remnant; as there are some few, and but a few Olives or Grapes left after the Vintage is over. Which, by comparing this with the following Verse, seems to be added by way of mitigation, to signifie, that God would in Judgment remember Mercy.

Marginal references: Chap. 17. 5, 6.

14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD , they shall cry aloud from the sea .

The Remnant preserved.

For his glorious Power and Goodness manifested in their Deliverance.

In way of Exultation and Thanksgiving to God.

From the Isles of the Sea, as this is explained in the next Verse; from those Parts beyond the Sea into which they were carried Captive, and in which they were miraculously preserved.

15 Wherefore, glorifie ye the LORD in the fires , even the Name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea .

These are the Words either, 1. of the Remnant, who being themselves delivered, do encourage and exhort their Brethren to glorifie God with them: or, 2. of the Prophet, directing and exciting God's People to glorifie God in their Afflictions, because of that Deliverance which he had promised, and would assuredly give to them.

When you are in the Furnace of Affliction; although this Word is never used in Scripture in this sence. Others therefore render the Word, in the valleys; and others, in the holes, you that are now forced to hide your selves in Holes. Possibly it may be better rendred, for light or illumination; which may be understood either of the Light of the Truth which God would reveal to them; or for the Comfort and Felicity which God would confer upon them; Light being frequently taken both ways in Scripture. For this Hebrew Word, in all other Places of Scripture where it is found, signifies that Urim which was in the High-Priest's Breastplate, and which properly signifies illumination, as both Jews and Christians render it, whereof that was both a Sign and an Instrument; of which see on Exod. 28. 30. Add to this, that this part of the Prophecy seems to concern the Days of the Gospel, and that Light which the Jews should then receive by the Messias, of whom the High-Priest with his Ephod and Urim was a Type. And so this is an Exhortation to the converted Jews to bless God for the true Urim, even for Christ and the Gospel. And some of the ancient Translators had this Signification of the Word in their Eye, as the Vulgar Latin, who render it, in doctrines; and the Chaldee, who translate it, when light shall come to the just. But this I propose with submission.

In remote Countries, beyond the Sea, which in Scripture are commonly called isles, as hath been formerly and oft observed. Whereby he seems to imply, that he here speaks not so much of a Temporal Felicity which the Jews should receive and enjoy in their own Country, as of a Spiritual Advantage which they should have by the Messias in the Places where they were dispersed.

Marginal references: Or, valleys.; Ezek. 39. 6.

16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs , even glory to the righteous : but I said , My leanness, my leanness , wo unto me: the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously , yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously .

From all the Parts of the Earth or Land in which the Jews are or shall be.

Songs of Joy and Praise.

Or, glory be to the righteous; which may seem to be the Matter of the Song. By the righteous may be here understood either, 1. the Generation of Righteous and Holy Men, who formerly were despised, but now, upon this eminent Deliverance, shall be highly honoured: or, 2. the Lord, whom they were exhorted to glorifie in the foregoing Verse, and who may well be called the righteous one, as he is frequently stiled the holy one, as Hos. 11. 9. Habak. 3. 3. &c. or, 3. the Messiah, to whom this Title of just or righteous is frequently given, as Isa. 53. 11. Ier. 23. 5. Zech. 9. 9. &c. And the believing Jews call him righteous emphatically, partly to intimate that he is the Author and Procurer of all true Righteousness, and partly in opposition to their unbelieving Brethren, who rejected and condemned him as a Malefactor. All which the Prophet foresaw by the Spirit of Prophecy.

But in the midst of these joyful Tidings, I discern something which interrupts my Joys, and gives me cause of bitter complaint and lamentation.

I saint and pine away for grief, for the following Reason.

The Jews, who have been frequently guilty of great perfidiousness towards God, are now acting the same Part. Which he speaks either, 1. of those who lived in his time; or rather, 2. of those who should live when the Messias was upon Earth, of whom he foresaw by the Spirit, that they would forsake God, and reject their Messiah, and thereby bring utter Destruction upon themselves. For even the Hebrew Doctors expound this Place of the Perfidiousness of some Jews in the times of the Messiah. And it is not strange that so sad a sight made the Prophet cry out, My leanness, &c.

He repeats it, to shew the horridness of the Crime, and how deeply he was affected with it.

Marginal references: Heb. wing.; Heb. Leanness to me. Or, My secret to me.

17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

Great and various Judgments, some actually inflicted, and others expected and justly feared, as the punishment of their last-mentioned Treachery.

Marginal references: Jer. 48. 43, 44. See 1 Kin. 19. 17. Amos 5. 19.

18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear , shall fall into the pit ; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit, shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake .

Upon the Report of some terrible Evil coming towards him, the Act fear, being here put for the Object, or the thing feared, as it is in many places. And thus this very Phrase is taken Iob 15. 21.

When he designs to avoid one Danger, by so doing he shall plunge himself into another, and a greater Mischief.

Both Heaven and Earth conspire against him. He alludes to the Deluge of Waters which God poured down from Heaven, and to the Earthquakes which he oft-times causeth below.

Marginal references: Gen. 7. 11.; Psal. 18. 7.

19 The earth is utterly broken down▪ the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly .

This is repeated again, partly to shew the dreadfulness and certainty of these Judgments, and partly to awaken and affect the stupid Israelites, who greatly needed it.

20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard , and shall be removed like a cottage , and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it , and it shall fall, and not rise again.

The People of the Earth.

Shall be sorely perplexed and distressed, not knowing whither to go, nor what to do.

Or, like a lodge in a Garden, of which this Word is used Isa. 1. 8. which is soon taken down, and set up in another place, as occasion requires. Or, as others render it, like a tent, which is easily and commonly carried from place to place.

Those Sins which they formerly esteemed light and pleasant, shall now be most burdensom and grievous to them, because of the dreadful punishments which shall follow them.

Marginal references: Chap. 19. 14.

21 And it shall come to pass in that day , that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high , and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

Either when God shall punish the Apostatical Jews; or, about or after that time; or, in a time known to God: for this Phrase is oft used indefinitely, and without any respect to the time designed in the foregoing passages.

The proud and potent Enemies of God, and of his People, who possess the High-places of the Earth.

Either, 1. the great Monarchs of the World, who now scorn and trample upon God's People; or, 2. the Princes and Rulers▪ of Israel or Iudah: for the Name of king is frequently▪ given in Scripture unto mean and inferiour Rulers, as Iudg. 1. 7. 1 Kings 20. 1, 12. Psal. 119. 46. and elsewhere.

Marginal references: Heb. visit upon.

22 And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit; and shall be shut up in the prison ; and after many days shall they be visited .

By God's special Providence, in order to their punishment, as the following Words shew. And thus the unbelieving Iews were generally gathered together at Ierusalem, to their Solemn Feast, when Titus came and besieged, and after some time took and destroyed them. Which was a very remarkable Hand of God, as [illegible: 1 word] and other Historians observed. And I know nothing to the contrary, but this very thing may be meant in this place; it being confessed, that divers Passages of this Chapter concern the times of the Messiah.

As Malefactors, which are taken in several Places, are usually brought to one common Prison, where they are reserved in order to their Trial and Punishment.

Either, 1. in Judgment, as visiting is oft used. So the sence is, After they have been punished with long Imprisonment, and tormented with Expectation and Fear, they shall be [illegible: 1 word] forth to receive co[illegible: 1+ letters]ign Punishment. Or rather, 2. [illegible: 1 word] Mercy▪ And so the sence may be either, 1. After the Jews shall have suffered many and grievous things from the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, and others, at last their Messiah and Deliverer shall come into the World, &c. Or, 2. After the Unbelieving and Apostate Jews shall have been shut up in Unbelief, and in great Tribulations for many Ages together, they shall be convinced of their Sin in crucifying their Messiah, and brought home to God and Christ by true Repentance.

Marginal references: Heb. with the gathering of prisoners.; Or, dungeon.; Or, found wanting.

23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed , when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion and in Jerusalem , and before his ancients gloriously .

The sun and moon are here considered either, 1. as they were abused to Idolatry; for these two were most eminent Idols, and most generally worshipped, especially in those Eastern Countries, Deut. 4. 19. & 17. 3. Iob 31. 26. &c. and so may be put for all Idols, which were confounded by Christ at his coming, as was foretold in Scripture, and verified by the Testimony of Ancient, yea even of Heathen Historians: Or, 2. as they were the most eminent and glorious Lights of the World, and were oft used, both in Scripture and other Authors, to signifie the great Kings and Potentates and Glories of the World, as hath been formerly noted, and we shall have further occasion to remember. So the sence is, That all Earthly Powers and Glories should be obscured with the far greater Splendour of Christ the King of Kings, at whose Feet even the Kings of the Earth shall fall down and worship, as we shall see in other parts of this Prophecy.

The Messiah, who, though Man, yet is also God, and the Lord of Hosts, and is so called Zech. 2. 8, 11.

Shall come in the Flesh, and set up his Kingdom, first in Ierusalem, and afterward in all other Nations.

Before his Ministers, who are in some sort the Courtiers of this King of Glory, as being continually attending upon him, and enjoying his Presence, and executing the Powers and Offices of his Kingdom; and especially before his Apostles, who were the Witnesses of his Divine Words and Works, and particularly of his Resurrection and Ascension, by which he entred upon his Kingdom; and of the Exercise of his Royal Power, in subduing both Jews and Gentiles to himself. The Word ancient or elder is not a Name of Age, but of Office, as it is in very many Texts of Scripture. And the ancients are here put Synechdochically for the whole Church, in whose Name and for whose Service they act.

Heb. in glory; for that Preposition is very frequently understood.

Marginal references: Chap. 13. 10. Ezek. 32. 7. Joel 2. 31. & 3. 15.; Or, there shall be glory before his ancients.

Isa 24:1-3

It is thoroughly characteristic of Isaiah, that the commencement of this prophecy, like Isa 19:1, places us at once in the very midst of the catastrophe, and condenses the contents of the subsequent picture of judgment into a few rapid, vigorous, vivid, and comprehensive clauses (like Isa 15:1; Isa 17:1; Isa 23:1, cf., Isa 33:1). “Behold, Jehovah emptieth the earth, and layeth it waste, and marreth its form, and scattereth its inhabitants. And it happeneth, as to the people, so to the priest; as to the servant, so to his master; as to the maid, so to her mistress; as to the buyer, so to the seller; as to the lender, so to the borrower; as to the creditor, so to the debtor. Emptying the earth is emptied, and plundering is plundered: for Jehovah hat spoken this word.” The question, whether the prophet is speaking of a past of future judgment, which is one of importance to the interpretation of the whole, is answered by the fact that with Isaiah “hinnēh” (behold) always refers to something future (Isa 3:1; Isa 17:1; Isa 19:1; Isa 30:27, etc.). And it is only in his case, that we do meet with prophecies commencing so immediately with hinnēh. Those in Jeremiah which approach this the most nearly (viz., Jer 47:2; Jer 49:35, cf., Isa 51:1, and Eze 29:3) do indeed commence with hinnēh, but not without being preceded by an introductory formula. The opening “behold” corresponds to the confirmatory “for Jehovah hath spoken,” which is always employed by Isaiah at the close of statements with regard to the future and occurs chiefly,Vid., Isa 1:20; Isa 21:17; Isa 22:25; Isa 25:8; Isa 40:5; Isa 58:14; also compare Isa 19:4; Isa 16:13, and Isa 37:22. though not exclusively,Vid., Oba 1:18, Joe 3:8, Mic 4:4; 1Ki 14:11. in the book of Isaiah, whom we may recognise in the detailed description in Isa 24:2 (vid., Isa 2:12-16; Isa 3:2-3, Isa 3:18-23, as compared with Isa 9:13; also with the description of judgment in Isa 19:2-4, which closes in a similar manner). Thus at the very outset we meet with Isaiah’s peculiarities; and Caspari is right in saying that no prophecy could possibly commence with more of the characteristics of Isaiah than the prophecy before us. The play upon words commences at the very outset. Bâkak and bâlak (compare the Arabic ballūka, a blank, naked desert) have the same ring, just as in Nah 2:11, cf., Isa 24:3, and Jer 51:2. The niphal futures are intentionally written like verbs Pe-Vâv (tibbōk and tibbōz, instead of tibbak and tibbaz), for the purpose of making them rhyme with the infinitive absolutes (cf., Isa 22:13). So, again, caggebirtâh is so written instead of cigbirtâh, to produce a greater resemblance to the opening syllable of the other words. The form נשׁה is interchanged with נשׁא) (as in 1Sa 22:2), or, according to Kimchi’s way of writing it, with נשׁא) (written with tzere), just as in other passages we meet with נשׁא along with נשׁה, and, judging from Arab. ns', to postpone or credit, the former is the primary form. Nōsheh is the creditor, and בו נשׁא אשׁר is not the person who has borrowed of him, but, as נשה invariably signifies to credit (hiphil, to give credit), the person whom he credits (with ב obj., like בּ נגשׂ in Isa 9:3), not “the person through whom he is נשׁא)” (Hitzig on Jer 15:10). Hence, “lender and borrower, creditor and debtor” (or taker of credit). It is a judgment which embraces all, without distinction of rank and condition; and it is a universal one, not merely throughout the whole of the land of Israel (as even Drechsler renders הארץ), but in all the earth; for as Arndt correctly observes, הארץ signifies “the earth” in this passage, including, as in Isa 11:4, the ethical New Testament idea of “the world” (kosmos).

Isa 24:4-9

That this is the case is evident from Isa 24:4-9, where the accursed state into which the earth is brought is more fully described, and the cause thereof is given. “Smitten down, withered up is the earth; pined away, wasted away is the world; pined away have they, the foremost of the people of the earth. And the earth has become wicked among its inhabitants; for they transgressed revelations, set at nought the ordinance, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they who dwelt in it make expiation: therefore are the inhabitants of the earth withered up, and there are very few mortals left. New wine mourneth, vine is parched, all the merry-hearted groan. The joyous playing of tabrets is silent; the noise of them that rejoice hath ceased; the joyous playing of the guitar is silent. They drink no wine with a song; meth tastes bitter to them that drink it.” “The world” (tēbēl) is used here in Isa 24:4, as in Isa 26:9 (always in the form of a proper name, and without the article), as a parallel to “the earth” (hâ'âretz), with which it alternates throughout this cycle of prophecies. It is used poetically to signify the globe, and that without limitation (even in Isa 13:11 and Isa 18:3); and therefore “the earth” is also to be understood here in its most comprehensive sense (in a different sense, therefore, from Isa 33:9, which contains the same play upon sounds). The earth is sunk in mourning, and has become like a faded plant, withered up with heat; the high ones of the people of the earth (merōm; abstr. pro concr., like câbōd in Isa 5:13; Isa 22:24) are included (עם is used, as in Isa 42:5; Isa 40:7, to signify humanity, i.e., man generally). אמללוּ (for the form, see Comm. on Job, at Job 18:16-19) stands in half pause, which throws the subjective notion that follows into greater prominence. It is the punishment of the inhabitants of the earth, which the earth has to share, because it has shared in the wickedness of those who live upon it: chânaph (not related to tânaph) signifies to be degenerate, to have decided for what is evil (Isa 9:16), to be wicked; and in this intransitive sense it is applied to the land, which is said to be affected with the guilt of wicked, reckless conduct, more especially of blood-guiltiness (Psa 106:38; Num 35:33; compare the transitive use in Jer 3:9). The wicked conduct of men, which has caused the earth also to become chanēphâh, is described in three short, rapid, involuntarily excited sentences (compare Isa 15:6; Isa 16:4; Isa 29:20; Isa 33:8; also Isa 24:5; Isa 1:4, Isa 1:6, Isa 1:8; out of the book of Isaiah, however, we only meet with this in Joe 1:10, and possibly Jos 7:11). Understanding “the earth” as we do in a general sense, “the law” cannot signify merely the positive law of Israel. The Gentile world had also a torâh or divine teaching within, which contained an abundance of divine directions (tōrōth). They also had a law written in their hearts; and it was with the whole human race that God concluded a covenant in the person of Noah, at a time when the nations had none of them come into existence at all. This is the explanation given by even Jewish commentators; nevertheless, we must not forget that Israel was included among the transgressors, and the choice of expression was determined by this. With the expression “therefore” the prophecy moves on from sin to punishment, just as in Isa 5:25 (cf., Isa 5:24). אלה is the curse of God denounced against the transgressors of His law (Dan 9:11; compare Jer 23:10, which is founded upon this, and from which אבלה has been introduced into this passage in some codices and editions). The curse of God devours, for it is fire, and that from within outwards (see Isa 1:31; Isa 5:24; Isa 9:18; Isa 10:16-17; Isa 29:6; Isa 30:27., Isa 33:11-14): chârū (milel, since pashta is an acc. postpos.),In correct texts châr has two pashtas, the former indicating the place of the tone. from chârar, they are burnt up, exusti. With regard to ויּאשׁמוּ, it is hardly necessary to observe that it cannot be traced back to אשׁם = ישׁם, שׁמם; and that of the two meanings, culpam contrahere and culpam sustinere, it has the latter meaning here. We must not overlook the genuine mark of Isaiah here in the description of the vanishing away of men down to a small remnant: נשׁאר (שׁאר) is the standing word used to denote this; מזער (used with regard to number both here and in Isa 16:14; and with regard to time in Isa 10:25 and Isa 29:17) is exclusively Isaiah's; and אנושׁ is used in the same sense as in Isa 33:8 (cf., Isa 13:12). In Isa 24:7 we are reminded of Joel 1 (on the short sentences, see Isa 29:20; Isa 16:8-10); in Isa 24:8, Isa 24:9 any one acquainted with Isaiah’s style will recall to mind not only Isa 5:12, Isa 5:14, but a multitude of other parallels. We content ourselves with pointing to עלּיז (which belongs exclusively to Isaiah, and is taken from Isa 22:2 and Isa 32:13 in Zep 2:15, and from Isa 13:3 in Zep 3:11); and for basshir (with joyous song) to Isa 30:32 (with the beating of drums and playing of guitars), together with Isa 28:7. The picture is elegiac, and dwells so long upon the wine (cf., Isa 16:1-14), just because wine, both as a natural production and in the form of drink, is the most exhilarating to the heart of all the natural gifts of God (Psa 104:15; Jdg 9:13). All the sources of joy and gladness are destroyed; and even if there is much still left of that which ought to give enjoyment, the taste of the men themselves turns it into bitterness.

Isa 24:10-13

The world with its pleasure is judged; the world’s city is also judged, in which both the world’s power and the world’s pleasure were concentrated. “The city of tohu is broken to pieces; every house is shut up, so that no man can come in. There is lamentation for wine in the fields; all rejoicing has set; the delight of the earth is banished. What is left of the city is wilderness, and the gate was shattered to ruins. For so will it be within the earth, in the midst of the nations; as at the olive-beating, as at the gleaning, when the vintage is over.” The city of tohu (kiryath tōhu): this cannot be taken collectively, as Rosenmüller, Arndt, and Drechsler suppose, on account of the annexation of kiryath to tohu, which is turned into a kind of proper name; for can we understand it as referring to Jerusalem, as the majority of commentators have done, including even Schegg and Stier (according to Isa 32:13-14), after we have taken “the earth” (hâ'âretz) in the sense of kosmos (the world). It is rather the central city of the world as estranged from God; and it is here designated according to its end, which end will be tohu, as its nature was tohu. Its true nature was the breaking up of the harmony of all divine order; and so its end will be the breaking up of its own standing, and a hurling back, as it were, into the chaos of its primeval beginning. With a very similar significance Rome is called turbida Roma in Persius (i. 5). The whole is thoroughly Isaiah’s, even to the finest points: tohu is the same as in Isa 29:21; and for the expression מבּוא (so that you cannot enter; namely, on account of the ruins which block up the doorway) compare Isa 23:1; Isa 7:8; Isa 17:1, also Isa 5:9; Isa 6:11; Isa 32:13. The cry or lamentation for the wine out in the fields (Isa 24:11; cf., Job 5:10) is the mourning on account of the destruction of the vineyards; the vine, which is one of Isaiah’s most favourite symbols, represents in this instance also all the natural sources of joy. In the term ‛ârbâh (rejoicing) the relation between joy and light is presupposed; the sun of joy is set (compare Mic 3:6). What remains of the city בּעיר is partitive, just as בּו in Isa 10:22) is shammâh (desolation), to which the whole city has been brought (compare Isa 5:9; Isa 32:14). The strong gates, which once swarmed with men, are shattered to ruins (yuccath, like Mic 1:7, for yūcath, Ges. §§67, Anm. 8; שׁאיּה, ἁπ λεγ, a predicating noun of sequence, as in Isa 37:26, “into desolated heaps;” compare Isa 6:11, etc., and other passages). In the whole circuit of the earth (Isa 6:12; Isa 7:22; hâ'âretz is “the earth” here as in Isa 10:23; Isa 19:24), and in the midst of what was once a crowd of nations (compare Mic 5:6-7), there is only a small remnant of men left. This is the leading thought, which runs through the book of Isaiah from beginning to end, and is figuratively depicted here in a miniature of Isa 17:4-6. The state of things produced by the catastrophe is compared to the olive-beating, which fetches down what fruit was left at the general picking, and to the gleaning of the grapes after the vintage has been fully gathered in (câlâh is used here as in Isa 10:25; Isa 16:4; Isa 21:16, etc., viz., “to be over,” whereas in Isa 32:10 it means to be hopelessly lost, as in Isa 15:6). There are no more men in the whole of the wide world than there are of olives and grapes after the principal gathering has taken place. The persons saved belong chiefly, though not exclusively, to Israel (Joh 3:5). The place where they assemble is the land of promise.

Isa 24:14-15

There is now a church there refined by the judgment, and rejoicing in its apostolic calling to the whole world. “They will lift up their voice, and exult; for the majesty of Jehovah they shout from the sea: therefore praise ye Jehovah in the lands of the sun, in the islands of the sea the name of Jehovah the God of Israel.” The ground and subject of the rejoicing is “the majesty of Jehovah,” i.e., the fact that Jehovah had shown Himself so majestic in judgment and mercy (Isa 12:5-6), and was now so manifest in His glory (Isa 2:11, Isa 2:17). Therefore rejoicing was heard “from the sea” (the Mediterranean), by which the abode of the congregation of Jehovah was washed. Turning in that direction, it had the islands and coast lands of the European West in front (iyyi hayyâm; the only other passage in which this occurs is Isa 11:11, cf., Eze 26:18), and at its back the lands of the Asiatic East, which are called 'urim, the lands of light, i.e., of the sun-rising. This is the true meaning of 'urim, as J. Schelling and Drechsler agree; for Döderlein’s comparison of the rare Arabic word awr, septentrio is as far removed from the Hebrew usage as that of the Talmud אור אורתּא, vespera. Hitzig’s proposed reading באיים (according to the lxx) diminishes the substance and destroys the beauty of the appeal, which goes forth both to the east and west, and summons to the praise of the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, על־כּן, i.e., because of His manifested glory. His “name” (cf., Isa 30:27) is His nature as revealed and made “nameable” in judgment and mercy.

Isa 24:16-20

This appeal is not made in vain. Isa 24:16. “From the border of the earth we hear songs: Praise to the Righteous One!” It no doubt seems natural enough to understand the term tzaddı̄k (righteous) as referring to Jehovah; but, as Hitzig observes, Jehovah is never called “the Righteous One” in so absolute a manner as this (compare, however, Psa 112:4, where it occurs in connection with other attributes, and Exo 9:27, where it stands in an antithetical relation); and in addition to this, Jehovah gives צבי (Isa 4:2; Isa 28:5), whilst כבוד, and not צבי, is ascribed to Him. Hence we must take the word in the same sense as in Isa 3:10 (cf., Hab 2:4). The reference is to the church of righteous men, whose faith has endured the fire of the judgment of wrath. In response to its summons to the praise of Jehovah, they answer it in songs from the border of the earth. The earth is here thought of as a garment spread out; cenaph is the point or edge of the garment, the extreme eastern and western ends (compare Isa 11:12). Thence the church of the future catches the sound of this grateful song as it is echoed from one to the other.

The prophet feels himself, “in spirit,” to be a member of this church; but all at once he becomes aware of the sufferings which will have first of all to be overcome, and which he cannot look upon without sharing the suffering himself. “Then I said, Ruin to me! ruin to me! Woe to me! Robbers rob, and robbing, they rob as robbers. Horror, and pit, and snare, are over thee, O inhabitant of the earth! And it cometh to pass, whoever fleeth from the tidings of horror falleth into the pit; and whoever escapeth out of the pit is caught in the snare: for the trap-doors on high are opened, and the firm foundations of the earth shake. The earth rending, is rent asunder; the earth bursting, is burst in pieces; the earth shaking, tottereth. The earth reeling, reeleth like a drunken man, and swingeth like a hammock; and its burden of sin presseth upon it; and it falleth, and riseth not again.” The expression “Then I said” (cf., Isa 6:5) stands here in the same apocalyptic connection as in Rev 7:14, for example. He said it at that time in a state of ecstasy; so that when he committed to writing what he had seen, the saying was a thing of the past. The final salvation follows a final judgment; and looking back upon the latter, he bursts out into the exclamation of pain: râzı̄-lı̄, consumption, passing away, to me (see Isa 10:16; Isa 17:4), i.e., I must perish (râzi is a word of the same form as kâli, shâni, ‛âni; literally, it is a neuter adjective signifying emaciatum = macies; Ewald, §749,g). He sees a dreadful, bloodthirsty people preying among both men and stores (compare Isa 21:2; Isa 33:1, for the play upon the word with בגד, root גד, cf., κεύθειν τινά τι, tecte agere, i.e., from behind, treacherously, like assassins). The exclamation, “Horror, and pit,” etc. (which Jeremiah applies in Jer 48:43-44, to the destruction of Moab by the Chaldeans), is not an invocation, but simply a deeply agitated utterance of what is inevitable. In the pit and snare there is a comparison implied of men to game, and of the enemy to sportsmen (cf., Jer 15:16; Lam 4:19; yillâcēr, as in Isa 8:15; Isa 28:13). The על in עליך is exactly the same as in Jdg 16:9 (cf., Isa 16:9). They who should flee as soon as the horrible news arrived (min, as in Isa 33:3) would not escape destruction, but would become victims to one form if not to another (the same thought which we find expressed twice in Amo 5:19, and still more fully in Isa 9:1-4, as well as in a more dreadfully exalted tone). Observe, however, in how mysterious a background those human instruments of punishment remain, who are suggested by the word bōgdim (robbers). The idea that the judgment is a direct act of Jehovah, stands in the foreground and governs the whole. For this reason it is described as a repetition of the flood (for the opened windows or trap-doors of the firmament, which let the great bodies of water above them come down from on high upon the earth, point back to Gen 7:11 and Gen 8:2, cf., Psa 78:23); and this indirectly implies its universality. It is also described as an earthquake. “The foundations of the earth” are the internal supports upon which the visible crust of the earth rests. The way in which the earth in its quaking first breaks, then bursts, and then falls, is painted for the ear by the three reflective forms in Isa 24:19, together with their gerundives, which keep each stage in the process of the catastrophe vividly before the mind. רעה is apparently an error of the pen for רע, if it is not indeed a n. actionis instead of the inf. absol. as in Hab 3:9. The accentuation, however, regards the ah as a toneless addition, and the form therefore as a gerundive (like kob in Num 23:25). The reflective form התרעע is not the hithpalel of רוּע, vociferari, but the hithpoel of רעע (רצץ), frangere. The threefold play upon the words would be tame, if the words themselves formed an anti-climax; but it is really a climax ascendens. The earth first of all receives rents; then gaping wide, it bursts asunder; and finally sways to and fro once more, and falls. It is no longer possible for it to keep upright. Its wickedness presses it down like a burden (Isa 1:4; Psa 38:5), so that it now reels for the last time like a drunken man (Isa 28:7; Isa 29:9), or a hammock (Isa 1:8), until it falls never to rise again.

Isa 24:21

But if the old earth passes away in this manner out of the system of the universe, the punishment of God must fall at the same time both upon the princes of heaven and upon the princes of earth (the prophet does not arrange what belongs to the end of all things in a “chronotactic” manner). They are the secrets of two worlds, that are here unveiled to the apocalyptic seer of the Old Testament. “And it cometh to pass in that day, Jehovah will visit the army of the high place in the high place, and the kings of the earth on the earth. And they are imprisoned, as one imprisons captives in the pit, and shut up in prison; and in the course of many days they are visited. And the moon blushes, and the sun turns pale: for Jehovah of hosts reigns royally upon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders is glory.” With this doubly expressed antithesis of mârōm and 'adâmâh (cf., Isa 23:17) before us, brought out as it is as sharply as possible, we cannot understand “the army of the high place” as referring to certain earthly powers (as the Targum, Luther, Calvin, and Hävernick do). Moreover, the expression itself is also opposed to such an interpretation; for, as Isa 24:18 clearly shows, in which mimmârom is equivalent to misshâmaim (cf., Isa 33:5; Isa 37:23; Isa 40:26), מרום צבא is synonymous with השּׁמים צבא; and this invariably signifies either the starry host (Isa 40:26) or the angelic host (1Ki 22:19; Psa 148:2), and occasionally the two combined, without any distinction (Neh 9:6). As the moon and sun are mentioned, it might be supposed that by the “host on high” we are to understand the angelic host, as Abravanel, Umbreit, and others really do: “the stars, that have been made into idols, the shining kings of the sky, fall from their altars, and the kings of the earth from their thrones.” But the very antithesis in the word “kings” (malchē) leads us to conjecture that “the host on high” refers to personal powers; and the view referred to founders on the more minute description of the visitation (pâkad ‛al, as in Isa 27:1, Isa 27:3, cf., Isa 26:21), “they are imprisoned,” etc.; for this must also be referred to the heavenly host. The objection might indeed be urged, that the imprisonment only relates to the kings, and that the visitation of the heavenly host finds its full expression in the shaming of the moon and sun (Isa 24:23); but the fact that the moon and sun are thrown into the shade by the revelation of the glory of Jehovah, cannot be regarded as a judgment inflicted upon them. Hence the commentators are now pretty well agreed, that “the host on high” signifies here the angelic army. But it is self-evident, that a visitation of the angelic army cannot be merely a relative and partial one. And it is not sufficient to understand the passage as meaning the wicked angels, to the exclusion of the good. Both the context and the parallelism show that the reference must be to a penal visitation in the spiritual world, which stands in the closest connection with the history of man, and in fact with the history of the nations. Consequently the host on high will refer to the angels of the nations and kingdoms; and the prophecy here presupposes what is affirmed in Deu 32:8 (lxx), and sustained in the book of Daniel, when it speaks of a sar of Persia, Javan, and even the people of Israel. In accordance with this exposition, there is a rabbinical saying, to the effect that “God never destroys a nation without having first of all destroyed its prince,” i.e., the angel who, by whatever means he first obtained possession of the nation, whether by the will of God or against His will, has exerted an ungodly influence upon it. Just as, according to the scriptural view, both good and evil angels attach themselves to particular men, and an elevated state of mind may sometimes afford a glimpse of this encircling company and this conflict of spirits; so do angels contend for the rule over nations and kingdoms, either to guide them in the way of God or to lead them astray from God; and therefore the judgment upon the nations which the prophet here foretells will be a judgment upon angels also. The kingdom of spirits has its own history running parallel to the destinies of men. What is recorded in Gen 6 was a seduction of men by angels, and one of later occurrence than the temptation by Satan in paradise; and the seduction of nations and kingdoms by the host of heaven, which is here presupposed by the prophecy of Isaiah, is later than either.

Isa 24:22-23

Isa 24:22 announces the preliminary punishment of both angelic and human princes: 'asēphâh stands in the place of a gerundive, like taltēlâh in Isa 22:17. The connection of the words 'asēphâh 'assir is exactly the same as that of taltēlâh gâbēr in Isa 22:17 : incarceration after the manner of incarcerating prisoners; 'âsaph, to gather together (Isa 10:14; Isa 33:4), signifies here to incarcerate, just as in Gen 42:17. Both verbs are construed with ‛al, because the thrusting is from above downwards, into the pit and prison (‛al embraces both upon or over anything, and into it, e.g., 1Sa 31:4; Job 6:16; see Hitzig on Nah 3:12). We may see from 2Pe 2:4 and Jud 1:6 how this is to be understood. The reference is to the abyss of Hades, where they are reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day. According to this parallel, yippâkedu (shall be visited) ought apparently to be understood as denoting a visitation in wrath (like Isa 29:6; Eze 38:8; compare pâkad followed by an accusative in Isa 26:21, also Isa 26:14, and Psa 59:6; niphkad, in fact, is never used to signify visitation in mercy), and therefore as referring to the infliction of the final punishment. Hitzig, however, understands it as relating to a visitation of mercy; and in this he is supported by Ewald, Knobel, and Luzzatto. Gesenius, Umbreit, and others, take it to indicate a citation or summons, though without any ground either in usage of speech or actual custom. A comparison of Isa 23:17 in its relation to Isa 23:15Cf., Targ., Saad., “they will come into remembrance again.” favours the second explanation, as being relatively the most correct; but the expression is intentionally left ambiguous. So far as the thing itself is concerned, we have a parallel in Rev 20:1-3 and Rev 20:7-9 : they are visited by being set free again, and commencing their old practice once more; but only (as Isa 24:23 affirms) to lose again directly, before the glorious and triumphant might of Jehovah, the power they have temporarily reacquired. What the apocalyptist of the New Testament describes in detail in Rev 20:4, Rev 20:11., and Rev 21:1, the apocalyptist of the Old Testament sees here condensed into one fact, viz., the enthroning of Jehovah and His people in a new Jerusalem, at which the silvery white moon (lebânâh) turns red, and the glowing sun (chammâh) turns pale; the two great lights of heaven becoming (according to a Jewish expression) “like a lamp at noonday” in the presence of such glory. Of the many parallels to Isa 24:23 which we meet with in Isaiah, the most worthy of note are Isa 11:10 to the concluding clause, “and before His elders is glory” (also Isa 4:5), and Isa 1:26 (cf., Isa 3:14), with reference to the use of the word zekēnim (elders). Other parallels are Isa 30:26, for chammâh and lebânâh; Isa 1:29, for châphēr and bōsh; Isa 33:22, for mâlak; Isa 10:12, for “Mount Zion and Jerusalem.” We have already spoken at Isa 1:16 of the word neged (Arab. Ne'gd, from nâgad, njd, to be exalted; vid., opp. Arab. gâr, to be pressed down, to sink), as applied to that which stands out prominently and clearly before one’s eyes. According to Hofmann (Schriftbeweis, i. 320-1), the elders here, like the twenty-four presbuteroi of the Apocalypse, are the sacred spirits, forming the council of God, to which He makes known His will concerning the world, before it is executed by His attendant spirits the angels. But as we find counsellors promised to the Israel of the new Jerusalem in Isa 1:26, in contrast with the bad zekēnim (elders) which it then possessed (Isa 3:14), such as it had at the glorious commencement of its history; and as the passage before us says essentially the same with regard to the zekēnim as we find in Isa 4:5 with regard to the festal meetings of Israel (vid., Isa 30:20 and Isa 32:1); and still further, as Rev 20:4 (cf., Mat 19:28) is a more appropriate parallel to the passage before us than Rev 4:4, we may assume with certainty, at least with regard to this passage, and without needing to come to any decision concerning Rev 4:4, that the zekēnim here are not angels, but human elders after God’s own heart. These elders, being admitted into the immediate presence of God, and reigning together with Him, have nothing but glory in front of them, and they themselves reflect that glory. The Fourfold Melodious Echo - Isaiah 25-26

A. First Echo - Isa 25:1-8

Salvation of the Nations after the Fall of the Imperial City

There is not merely reflected glory, but reflected sound as well. The melodious echoes commence with Isa 25:1. The prophet, transported to the end of the days, commemorates what he has seen in psalms and songs. These psalms and songs not only repeat what has already been predicted; but, sinking into it, and drawing out of it, they partly expand it themselves, and partly prepare the way for its further extension.

General Desolation Announced. (b. c. 718.)

1 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. 2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. 3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. 4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. 5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. 7 The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. 8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. 9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. 10 The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. 11 There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. 12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

It is a very dark and melancholy scene that this prophecy presents to our view; turn our eyes which way we will, every thing looks dismal. The threatened desolations are here described in a great variety of expressions to the same purport, and all aggravating.

I. The earth is stripped of all its ornaments and looks as if it were taken off its basis; it is made empty and waste (v. 1), as if it were reduced to its first chaos, Tohu and Bohu, nothing but confusion and emptiness again (Gen. i. 2), without form and void. It is true earth sometimes signifies the land, and so the same word eretz is here translated (v. 3): The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled; but I see not why it should not there, as well as v. 1, be translated the earth; for most commonly, if not always, where it signifies some one particular land it has something joined to it, or at least not far from it, which does so appropriate it; as the land (or earth) of Egypt, or Canaan, or this land, or ours, or yours, or the like. It might indeed refer to some particular country, and an ambiguous word might be used to warrant such an application; for it is good to apply to ourselves, and our own hands, what the scripture says in general of the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend all things here below; but it should seem designed to speak what often happens to many countries, and will do while the world stands, and what may, we know not how soon, happen to our own, and what is the general character of all earthly things: they are empty of all solid comfort and satisfaction; a little thing makes them waste. We often see numerous families, and plentiful estates, utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, by one judgment or other, or perhaps only by a gradual and insensible decay. Sin has turned the earth upside down; the earth has become quite a different thing to man from what it was when God made it to be his habitation. Sin has also scattered abroad the inhabitants thereof. The rebellion at Babel was the occasion of the dispersion there. How many ways are there in which the inhabitants both of towns and of private houses are scattered abroad, so that near relations and old neighbours know nothing of one another! To the same purport is v. 4. The earth mourns, and fades away; it disappoints those that placed their happiness in it and raised their expectations high from it, and proves not what they promised themselves it would be. The whole world languishes and fades away, as hastening towards a dissolution. It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves too much with it, and lay it in their bosoms. And, as the earth itself grows old, so those that dwell therein are desolate; men carry crazy sickly bodies along with them, are often solitary, and confined by affliction, v. 6. When the earth languishes, and is not so fruitful as it used to be, then those that dwell therein, that make it their home, and rest, and portion, are desolate; whereas those that by faith dwell in God can rejoice in him even when the fir-tree does not blossom. If we look abroad, and see in how many places pestilences and burning fevers rage, and what multitudes are swept away by them in a little time, so that sometimes the living scarcely suffice to bury the dead, perhaps we shall understand what the prophet means when he says, The inhabitants of the earth are burned, or consumed, some by one disease, others by another, and there are but few men left, in comparison. Note, The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears, and a dying world; and the children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble.

II. It is God that brings all these calamities upon the earth. The Lord that made the earth, and made it fruitful and beautiful, for the service and comfort of man, now makes it empty and waste (v. 1), for its Creator is and will be its Judge; he has an incontestable right to pass sentence upon it and an irresistible power to execute that sentence. It is the Lord that has spoken this word, and he will do the work (v. 3); it is his curse that has devoured the earth (v. 6), the general curse which sin brought upon the ground for man's sake (Gen. iii. 17), and all the particular curses which families and countries bring upon themselves by their enormous wickedness. See the power of God's curse, how it makes all empty and lays all waste; those whom he curses are cursed indeed.

III. Persons of all ranks and conditions shall share in these calamities (v. 2): It shall be as with the people, so with the priest, &c. This is true of many of the common calamities of human life; all are subject to the same diseases of body, sorrows of mind, afflictions in relations, and the like. There is one event to those of very different stations; time and chance happen to them all. It is in a special manner true of the destroying judgments which God sometimes brings upon sinful nations; when he pleases he can make them universal, so that none shall escape them or be exempt from them; whether men have little or much, they shall lose it all. Those of the meaner rank smart first by famine; but those of the higher rank go first into captivity, while the poor of the land are left. It shall be all alike, 1. With high and low: As with the people, so with the priest, or prince. The dignity of magistrates and ministers, and the respect and reverence due to both, shall not secure them. The faces of elders are not honoured, Lam. v. 12. The priests had been as corrupt and wicked as the people; and, if their character served not to restrain them from sin, how can they expect it should serve to secure them from judgments? In both it is like people, like priest, Hosea iv. 8, 9. 2. With bond and free: As with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress. They have all corrupted their way, and therefore will all be made miserable when the earth is made waste. 3. With rich and poor. Those that have money before-hand, that are purchasing, and letting out money to interest, will fare no better than those that are so impoverished that they are forced to sell their estates and take up money at interest. There are judgments short of the great day of judgment in which rich and poor meet together. Let not those that are advanced in the world set their inferiors at too great a distance, because they know not how soon they may be set upon a level with them. The rich man's wealth is his strong city in his own conceit; but it does not always prove so.

IV. It is sin that brings these calamities upon the earth. The earth is made empty, and fades away, because it is defiled under the inhabitants thereof (v. 5); it is polluted by the sins of men, and therefore it is made desolate by the judgments of God. Such is the filthy nature of sin that it defiles the earth itself under the sinful inhabitants thereof, and it is rendered unpleasant in the eyes of God and good men. See Lev. xviii. 25, 27, 28. Blood, in particular, defiles the land, Num. xxxv. 33. The earth never spues out its inhabitants till they have first defiled it by their sins. Why, what have they done? 1. They have transgressed the laws of their creation, not answered the ends of it. The bonds of the law of nature have been broken by them, and they have cast from them the cords of their obligations to the God of nature. 2. They have changed the ordinances of revealed religion, those of them that have had the benefit of that. They have neglected the ordinances (so some read it), and have made no conscience of observing them. They have passed over the laws, in the commission of sin, and have passed by the ordinance, in the omission of duty. 3. Herein they have broken the everlasting covenant, which is a perpetual bond and will be to those that keep it a perpetual blessing. It is God's wonderful condescension that he is pleased to deal with men in a covenant-way, to do them good, and thereby oblige them to do him service. Even those that had no benefit by God's covenant with Abraham had benefit by his covenant with Noah and his sons, which is called an everlasting covenant, his covenant with day and night; but they observe not the precepts of the sons of Noah, they acknowledge not God's goodness in the day and night, nor study to make him any grateful returns, and so break the everlasting covenant and defeat the gracious designs and intentions of it.

V. These judgments shall humble men's pride and mar their mirth. When the earth is made empty, 1. It is a great mortification to men's pride (v. 4): The haughty people of the earth do languish; for they have lost that which supported their pride, and for which they magnified themselves. As for those that have held their heads highest, God can make them hang the head. 2. It is a great damp to men's jollity. This is enlarged upon much (v. 7-9): All the merry-hearted do sigh. Such is the nature of carnal mirth, it is but as the crackling of thorns under a pot, Eccl. vii. 6. Great laughters commonly end in a sigh. Those that make the world their chief joy cannot rejoice ever more. When God sends his judgments into the earth he designs thereby to make those serious that were wholly addicted to their pleasures. Let your laughter be turned into mourning. When the earth is emptied the noise of those that rejoice in it ends. Carnal joy is a noisy thing; but the noise of it will soon be at an end, and the end of it is heaviness. Two things are made use of to excite and express vain mirth, and the jovial crew is here deprived of both:—(1.) Drinking: The new wine mourns; it has grown sour for want of drinking; for, how proper soever it may be for the heavy heart (Prov. xxxi. 6), it does not relish to them as it does to the merry-hearted. The vine languishes, and gives little hopes of a vintage, and therefore the merry-hearted do sigh; for they know no other gladness than that of their corn, and wine, and oil increasing (Ps. iv. 7), and, if you destroy their vines and their fig-trees, you make all their mirth to cease, Hosea ii. 11, 12. They shall not now drink wine with a song and with huzzas, as they used to, but rather drink it with a sigh; nay, Strong drink shall be bitter to those that drink it, because they cannot but mingle their tears with it; or, through sickness, they have lost the relish of it. God has many ways to embitter wine and strong drink to those that love them and have the highest gust of them: distemper of body, anguish of mind, the ruin of the estate or country, will make the strong drink bitter and all the delights of sense tasteless and insipid. (2.) Music: The mirth of tabrets ceases, and the joy of the harp, which used to be at their feasts, ch. v. 12. The captives in Babylon hang their harps on the willow trees. In short, All joy is darkened; there is not a pleasant look to be seen, nor has any one power to force a smile; all the mirth of the land is gone (v. 11); and, if it was that mirth which Solomon calls madness, there is no great loss of it.

VI. The cities will in a particular manner feel from these desolations of the country (v. 10): The city of confusion is broken, is broken down (so we read it); it lies exposed to invading powers, not only by the breaking down of its walls, but by the confusion that the inhabitants are in. Every house is shut up, perhaps by reason of the plague, which has burned or consumed the inhabitants, so that there are few men left, v. 6. Houses infected are usually shut up that no man may come in. Or they are shut up because they are deserted and uninhabited. There is a crying for wine, that is, for the spoiling of the vintage, so that there is likely to be no wine. In the city, in Jerusalem itself, that had been so much frequented, there shall be left nothing but desolation; grass shall grow in the streets, and the gate is smitten with destruction (v. 12); all that used to pass and repass through the gate are smitten, and all the strength of the city is cut off. How soon can God make a city of order a city of confusion, and then it will soon be a city of desolation!

Hope in the End. (b. c. 718.)

13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. 14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord , they shall cry aloud from the sea. 15 Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

Here is mercy remembered in the midst of wrath. In Judah and Jerusalem, and the neighbouring countries, when they are overrun by the enemy, Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar, there shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. And this method God usually observes when his judgments are abroad; he does not make a full end, ch. vi. 13. Or we may take it thus: Though the greatest part of mankind have all their comfort ruined by the emptying of the earth, and the making of that desolate, yet there are some few who understand their interests better, who have laid up their treasure in heaven and not in things below, and therefore can keep up their comfort and joy in God even when the earth mourns and fades away. Observe,

I. The small number of this remnant, v. 13. When all goes to ruin there shall be as the shaking of an olive-tree, and the gleaning grapes, here and there one who shall escape the common calamity (as Noah and his family when the old world was drowned), that shall be able to sit down upon a heap of the ruins of all their creature comforts, and even then rejoice in the Lord (Hab. iii. 16-18), who, when all faces gather blackness, can lift up their heads with joy, Luke xxi. 26, 28. These few are dispersed, and at a distance from each other, like the gleanings of the olive-tree; and they are concealed, hid under the leaves. The Lord only knows those that are his; the world does not.

II. The great devotion of this remnant, which is the greater for their having so narrowly escaped this great destruction (v. 14): They shall lift up their voice; they shall sing. 1. They shall sing for joy in their deliverance. When the mirth of carnal worldlings ceases the joy of the saints is as lively as ever; when the merry-hearted do sigh because the vine languishes the upright-hearted do sing because the covenant of grace, the fountain of their comforts and the foundation of their hopes, never fails. Those that rejoice in the Lord can rejoice in tribulation, and by faith may be in triumphs when all about them are in tears. 2. They shall sing to the glory and praise of God, shall sing not only for the mercy but for the majesty of the Lord. Their songs are awful and serious, and in their spiritual joys they have a reverend regard to the greatness of God, and keep at a humble distance when they attend him with their praises. The majesty of the Lord, which is matter of terror to wicked people, furnishes the saints with songs of praise. They shall sing for the magnificence, or transcendent excellency, of the Lord, shown both in his judgments and in his mercies; for we must sing, and sing unto him, of both, Ps. ci. 1. Those who have made, or are making, their escape from the land (that being emptied and made desolate) to the sea and the isles of the sea, shall thence cry aloud; their dispersion shall help to spread the knowledge of God, and they shall make even remote shores to ring with his praises. It is much for the honour of God if those who fear him rejoice in him, and praise him, even in the most melancholy times.

III. Their holy zeal to excite others to the same devotion (v. 15); they encourage their fellow-sufferers to do likewise. 1. Those who are in the fires, in the furnace of affliction, those fires by which the inhabitants of the earth are burned, v. 6. Or in the valleys, the low, dark, dirty places. 2. Those who are in the isles of the sea, whither they are banished, or are forced to flee for shelter, and hide themselves remote from all their friends. They went through fire and water (Ps. lxvi. 12); yet in both let them glorify the Lord, and glory him as the Lord God of Israel. Those who through grace can glory in tribulation ought to glorify God in tribulation, and give him thanks for their comforts, which abound as their afflictions do abound. We must in every fire, even the hottest, in every isle, even the remotest, keep up our good thoughts of God. When, though he slay us, yet we trust in him—when, though for his sake we are killed all the day long, yet none of these things move us—then we glorify the Lord in the fires. Thus the three children, and the martyrs that sang at the stake.

Encouraging Prospects; Degeneracy Predicted. (b. c. 718.)

16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. 17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. 18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. 19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. 20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. 22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. 23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

These verses, as those before, plainly speak,

I. Comfort to saints. They may be driven, by the common calamities of the places where they live, into the uttermost parts of the earth, or perhaps they are forced thither for their religion; but there they are singing, not sighing. Thence have we heard songs, and it is a comfort to us to hear them, to hear that good people carry their religion along with them even to the most distant regions, to hear that God visits them there and gives encouragement to hope that he will gather them thence, Deut. xxx. 4. And this is their song, even glory to the righteous: the word is singular, and may refer to the righteous God, who is just in all he has brought upon us. This is glorifying the Lord in the fires. Or the meaning may be, "These songs redound to the glory or beauty of the righteous that sing them." We do the greatest honour imaginable to ourselves when we employ ourselves in honouring and glorifying God. This may have reference to the sending of the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, as far as this island of ours, in the days of the Messiah, the glad tidings of which are echoed back in songs heard thence, from churches planted there, even glory to the righteous God, agreeing with the angels' song, Glory be to God in the highest, and glory to all righteous men; for the work of redemption was ordained before the world for our glory.

II. Terror to sinners. The prophet, having comforted himself and others with the prospect of a saved remnant, returns to lament the miseries he saw breaking in like a mighty torrent upon the earth: "But I said, My leanness! my leanness! woe unto me! The very thought of it frets me, and makes me lean," v. 16. He foresees,

1. The prevalency of sin, that iniquity should abound (v. 16): The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; this is itself a judgment, and that which provokes God to bring other judgments. (1.) Men are false to one another; there is no faith in man, but a universal dishonesty. Truth, that sacred bond of society, has departed, and there is nothing but treachery in men's dealings. See Jer. ix. 1, 2. (2.) They are all false to their God; as to him, and their covenant with him, the children of men are all treacherous dealers, and have dealt very treacherously with their God, in departing from their allegiance to him. This is the original, and this the aggravation, of the sin of the world; and, when men have been false to their God, how should they be true to any other?

2. The prevalency of wrath and judgment for that sin. (2.) The inhabitants of the earth will be pursued from time to time, from place to place, by one mischief or other (v. 17, 18): Fear, and the pit, and the snare (fear of the pit and the snare) are upon them wherever they are; for the sons of men know not what evil they may suddenly be snared in, Eccl. ix. 12. These three words seem to be chosen for the sake of an elegant paranomasia, or, as we now scornfully call it, a jungle of words: Pachad, and Pachath, and Pach; but the meaning is plain (v. 18), that evil pursues sinners (Prov. xiii. 21), that the curse shall overtake the disobedient (Deut. xxviii. 15), that those who are secure because they have escaped one judgment know not how soon another may arrest them. What this prophet threatens all the inhabitants of the earth with another makes part of the judgment of Moab, Jer. xlviii. 43, 44. But it is a common instance of the calamitous state of human life that when we seek to avoid one mischief we fall into a worse, and that the end of one trouble is often the beginning of another; so that we are least safe when we are most secure. (2.) The earth itself will be shaken to pieces. It will be literally so at last, when all the works therein shall be burnt up; and it is often figuratively so before that period. The windows from on high are open to pour down wrath, as in the universal deluge. Upon the wicked God shall rain snares (Ps. xi. 6); and, the fountains of the great deep being broken up, the foundations of the earth do shake of course, the frame of nature is unhinged, and all is in confusion. See how elegantly this is expressed (v. 19, 20): The earth is utterly broken down; it is clean dissolved; it is moved exceedingly, moved out of its place. God shakes heaven and earth, Hag. ii. 6. See the misery of those who lay up their treasure in the things of the earth and mind those things; they place their confidence in that which will shortly be utterly broken down and dissolved. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard; so unsteady, so uncertain, are all the motions of these things. Worldly men dwell in it as in a palace, as in a castle, as in an impregnable tower; but it shall be removed like a cottage, so easily, so suddenly, and with so little loss to the great landlord. The pulling down of the earth will be but like the pulling down of a cottage, which the country is willing to be rid of, because it does but harbour beggars; and therefore no care is taken to rebuild it: It shall fall, and not rise again; but there shall be new heavens and a new earth, in which shall dwell nothing but righteousness. But what is it that shakes the earth thus and sinks it? It is the transgression thereof that shall be heavy upon it. Note, Sin is a burden to the whole creation; it is a heavy burden, a burden under which it groans now and will sink at last. Sin is the ruin of states, and kingdoms, and families; they fall under the weight of that talent of lead, Zech. v. 7, 8. (3.) God will have a particular controversy with the kings and great men of the earth (v. 21): He will punish the host of the high ones. Hosts of princes are no more before God than hosts of common men; what can a host of high ones do with their combined force when the Most High, the Lord of hosts, contends with them to abase their height, and scatter their hosts, and break all their confederacies? The high ones, that are on high, that are puffed up with their height and grandeur, that think themselves so high that they are out of the reach of any danger, God will visit upon them all their pride and cruelty, with which they have oppressed and injured their neighbours and subjects, and it shall now return upon their own heads. The kings of the earth shall now be reckoned with upon the earth, to show that verily there is a God that judges in the earth and will render to the proudest of kings according to the fruit of their doings. Let those that are trampled upon by the high ones of the earth comfort themselves with this, that though they cannot, dare not, must not, resist them, yet there is a God that will call them to an account, that will triumph over them upon their own dunghill: for the earth they are kings of is in the eye of God no better. This is general only. It is particularly foretold (v. 22) that they shall be gathered together as prisoners, convicted condemned prisoners, are gathered in the pit, or dungeon, and there they shall be shut up under close confinement. The kings and high ones, who took all possible liberty themselves, and took a pride and pleasure in shutting up others, shall now be themselves shut up. Let not the free man glory in his freedom, any more than the strong man in his strength, for he knows not what restraints he is reserved for. But after many days they shall be visited, either, [1.] They shall be visited in wrath; it is the same word, in another form, that is used (v. 21), the Lord shall punish them; they shall be reserved to the day of execution, as condemned prisoners are, and as fallen angels are reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day, Jude 6. Let this account for the delays of divine vengeance; sentence is not executed speedily, because execution-day has not yet come, and perhaps will not come till after many days; but it is certain that the wicked is reserved for the day of destruction, and is therefore preserved in the mean time, but shall be brought forth to the day of wrath, Job xxi. 30. Let us therefore judge nothing before the time. [2.] They shall be visited in mercy, and be discharged from their imprisonment, and shall again obtain, if not their dignity, yet their liberty. Nebuchadnezzar, in his conquests, made many kings and princes his captives, and kept them in the dungeon in Babylon, and, among the rest, Jehoiachin King of Judah; but after many days, when Nebuchadnezzar's head was laid, his son visited them, and granted (as should seem) some reviving to them all in their bondage; for it is made an instance of his particular kindness to Jehoiachin that he set his throne above the throne of the rest of the kings that were with him, Jer. lii. 32. If we apply this to the general state of mankind, it imports a revolution of conditions; those that were high are punished, those that were punished are relieved, after many days, that none in this world may be secure though their condition be ever so prosperous, nor any despair though their condition be ever so deplorable.

3. Glory to God in all this, v. 23. When all this comes to pass, when the proud enemies of God's church are humbled and brought down, (1.) Then it shall appear, beyond contradiction, that the Lord reigns, which is always true, but not always alike evident. When the kings of the earth are punished for their tyranny and oppression, then it is proclaimed and proved to all the world that God is King of kings—King above them, by whom they are accountable—that he reigns as Lord of hosts, of all hosts, of their hosts,—that he reigns in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, in his church, for the honour and welfare of that, pursuant to the promises on which that is founded, reigns in his word and ordinances,—that he reigns before his ancients, before all his saints, especially before his ministers, the elders of his church, who have their eye upon all the out-goings of his power and providence, and, in all these events, observe his hand. God's ancients, the old disciples, the experienced Christians, that have often, when they have been perplexed, gone into the sanctuary of God in Zion and Jerusalem, and acquainted themselves with his manifestations of himself there, shall see more than others of God's dominion and sovereignty in these operations of his providence. (2.) Then it shall appear, beyond comparison, that he reigns gloriously, in such brightness and lustre that the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, as the smaller lights are eclipsed and extinguished by the greater. Great men, who thought themselves to have as bright a lustre and as vast a dominion as the sun and moon, shall be ashamed when God appears above them, much more when he appears against them. Then shall their faces be filled with shame, that they may seek God's name. The eastern nations worshipped the sun and moon; but, when God shall appear so gloriously for his people against his and their enemies, all these pretended deities shall be ashamed that ever they received the homage of their deluded worshippers. The glory of the Creator infinitely outshines the glory of the brightest creatures. In the great day, when the Judge of heaven and earth shall shine forth in his glory, the sun shall by his transcendent lustre be turned into darkness and the moon into blood.

CHAP. XXIV.

Ver. 1. BEhold the Lord emptieth] It muſt needs be a matter of ſome rare and marvellous conſequence, that Behold (the O-yes of the Holy Ghoſt) is thus ſet before.

The Lord emptieth] i. e. Will empty, an Idiom proper to Gods Prophets, who ſaw in the Spirit things to come as if they were even then done.

The earth] Or, the land, ſc. of Jury, by a woefull deſolation, Lege & Luge: Some hold it to be a Metaphor from ſhips over-laden: which therefore muſt be diſburdened: ſo was the Land to be eaſed of her Inhabitants, which ſhe could hardly ſtand under.

And waſte] Making havock of perſons, and things of worth.

Turneth it upſide-down] Ferens, agens ſurſum deorſum omnia, turning all things topſy turvy, as they ſay.

Ver. 2. And it ſhall be as with the people, ſo with the Prieſt] Or, Prince. Digninity and Wealth hindereth him not (Doth he eſteem nobility or riches, or any thing that fortifieth ſtrength?) Poverty or meanneſs findeth no favour with him. In a common calamity, all, commonly, ſhare and fare alike.

Ver. 3. The Land ſhall be utterly emptyed] See on ver. 1.

For the Lord hath ſpoken this word] And his words are not in vain: Doth he ſay, and ſhall he not do it? Numb. 23.23.

Ver. 4. The earth mourneth and fadeth away] Luxit & diffluxit, waileth and ſaileth: gallant Rhetorick in the original, as this is a ſtately Chapter all along: all the rowlings of Demoſthenes are but dull ſtuffe to it.

The world languiſheth] As a ſick man, ſo enfeebled that he cannot ſtand high-lone.

Nempe contactu ſcelerat[illegible: 1 letter] rum hominum. Piſc. Ver. 5. The earth alſo is defiled] Viz. With ſin, and therefore ſo decayed: yea the very viſible Heavens are defiled with mans ſin, and ſhall therefore be purged by the fire of the laſt day: like as the veſſels that held the ſin-offering was to paſs the fire.

Becauſe they have tranſgreſſed the Laws] Natural and moral; thoſe bounds and banks ſet to keep men within the compaſs of obedience: but the unjuſt knoweth no ſhame, Zeph. 3.5. is Lawleſs, Awleſs, Yokeleſs, untameable, untractable, as the wild Aſs-colt, as the Horſe and Mule, &c.

Changed the Ordinances] Or paſſed by the Ordinances, ſc. By ſins of omiſſion, as before by commiſſion: ſo Heb. 2.2. every tranſgreſſion and diſobedience, i. e. every commiſſion and omiſſion.

Broken the everlaſting Covenant] Diſannulled, vacated the Covenant founded in Chriſt, when coming unto his own, his own received him not; when the Phariſees and others by ſlighting holy offers and Ordinances of Grace, rejected the counſel of God againſt themſelves, Luke 7.30. This laſt eſpecially brought the curſe, ver. 6. Some by Lawes here underſtand the judicial Lawes: by Ordinances the ceremonial; and by everlaſting Covenant the Decalogue: Others by Lawes, the municipal Lawes of the Common-wealth: by Ordinances the Lawes of Nations, as not to violate an Embaſſadour, &c. by everlaſting Covenant the Law of Nature, which is that Light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, John 1.9.

Ver. 6. Therefore hath the curſe devoured the earth] The Chaldee and Vatablus render it the perjury, viz. in tranſgreſſing the Laws, &c. which they had covenanted and ſworn to obſerve; See Pſalm 119.106. That dreadful curſe of the Jews, Matth. 27.25. is come upon them to the utmoſt, devouring their Land, and deſolating the Inhabitants thereof: Though the curſe cauſeleſs come not, yet God ſometimes ſaith Amen to other mens curſes, as he did to Jothams upon the Shechemites, Judg. 9.57. How much more to mens banning themſelves?

Ver. 7. The new wine mourneth] As being ſpilled and ſpoiled by the enemy.

All the merry-hearted do ſigh] Who were wont to ſing away care, and to call for their cups.

Ver. 8. The mirth of Tabrets ceaſeth] Quicquid laetitiarum fuit, in luctum vertitur.

Ver. 9. They ſhall not drink wine with a ſong] Revel it as they had wont to do▪ non convivabuntur pergroecando. We uſe to call ſuch merry-griggs: that is, Greeks.

Ver. 10. The City of confuſion] Ʋrbs deſolanda, deſtined to deſolation: whether it be Babylon, Tyre, Jeruſalem, or any other, Mundum intellige in quo nihil niſi vanum, ſaith Oecolampadius: that is, by this City of vanity (ſo the Vulgar tranſlateth it) underſtand the world, according to that of the Preacher, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Auſtin in the beginning of that excellent work of his De Civitate Dei maketh two oppoſite Cities: the one the City of God, the other the City of the Devil; the one a City of Verity, the other a City of vanity.

Ver. 11. There is a crying for Wine] The Drunkards weep, the Ale-ſtakes yell, becauſe the new Wine is cut off from their mouthes, Joel 1.5.

All joy is darkened] Heb. It is eventide with joy. As the ayr in the evening waxeth dark, ſo ſhall their mirth be turned into heavineſs.

The mirth of the land is gone] Together with their liquor. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Wine is by Simonides called the expeller of ſadneſs.

Ver. 12. In the City is left deſolation] There is nothing of any worth left, but havock made of all; it is plundered to the life, as now we phraſe it; ſince the Swediſh Wars Cuſtom is the ſole Mint-Maſter of currant words.

Ver. 13. When thus it ſhall be in the midſt of the Land] Or, for ſo it ſhall be in the land among the people, as in the beating of an Olive-tree, &c. En miſericordiae ſpecimen, ſtill there is a remnant reſerved for royal uſe; quando omnia paſſim peſſum [illegible: 1 letter]unt: God never ſo puniſheth but he leaveth ſome matter for his mercy to work upon: A Church on earth he will ever have.

Ver. 14. They ſhall lift up their voyce, &c.] Laudabunt Deum & laetabuntur: this Elect remnant in all Countries ſhall be filled with ſpiritual joy and peace through the belief of the Truth, which ſhall vent it ſelf by ſinging praiſes to God. And here we have the very mark of the true Church, which is to celebrate and profeſs the great and glorious Name of the God and Father of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt.

For the Majeſty of the Lord] Or, for the magnificence: that great work of his eſpecially of divulging his Goſpel all the world over; and thereby gathering his Church out of all Nations.

They ſhall cry aloud from the ſea] i. e. From the Iſlands and tranſmarine parts, as we do now from great Brittain (thanks be unto God for his unſpeakable gift) calling to our Neighbour-nations, and ſaying,

Ver. 15. Glorifie ye God in the fires] In ipſis ignibus, in the hotteſt fires of afflictions, rejoyce in hope, be patient in tribulation, praiſe God for croſſes alſo: this is Chriſtianorum propria virtus, ſaith Hierom.

Jun. In the Iſles of the ſea] Quicun que quocun que loco, & inter quoſcunq ſitis.

Ver. 16. From the uttermoſt part of the land have we heard ſongs] Or Pſalms, aliquid Davidicum: The Martyrs ſang in the fire; Luther in deep diſtreſs called for the 46. Pſalm to be ſung in contemptum Diaboli, in deſpight of the Devil.

Maerore ac macie conficior. Even glory to the Righteous] To Jeſus the juſt One, 1 John 2.2.

But I ſaid, my leanneſs, my leanneſs] The Prophets fleſh was waſted and conſumed with care and grief for his graceleſs Country-men. See the like in David, Pſalm 119.158. and Paul, Rom. 9.1, 2.

Wo unto me] Or, Alaſs for me.

The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherouſly] They have crucified the Lord of Glory, upon a deſperate and deep malice, out of moſt notorious contumacy and ingratitude. This was with moſt treacherous treachery to deal treacherouſly: this was to do evil as they could.

Ver. 17. Fear and the pit and the ſnare are upon thee] Metaphora à venatoribus, a Metaphor from Hunters, elegantly expreſſed in the original by words of a like ſound. God hath variety of plagues at command: his quiver is full of ſhafts: neither can he poſſibly want a Weapon to beat his Rebels with. If the Amorites eſcape the Sword, yet they are brain'd with Hail-ſtones, Joſh. 10. If the Syrians get into a walled Town, yet there they are baned by the fall of a Wall upon them, 1 King. 20.

Ver. 18. He who fleeth from the noiſe of the fear] See Am. 5, 19. with the Note, and learn to fear God, the ſtroke of whoſe arm none may think to eſcape.

For the windows from on high are opened] The cataracts or ſluces of the clouds, as once in the general Deluge.

The foundations of the earth do ſhake] Heaven and earth ſhall fight againſt them, and conſpire to miſchieve them.

Ver. 19. The earth is utterly broken down] This he had ſaid before. Oyl, if not well rub'd in, pierceth not the skin: Menaces muſt be inculcated, or elſe they will be but little regarded. Let Preachers preſs matters to the utmoſt, drive the nayl home to the head: not forbearing through faint-heartedneſs, nor languiſhing through luke-warmneſs.

Ver. 20. The earth ſhall reel too and fro like a drunkard] As the Inhabitants thereof had drunk in iniquity like water, Job 15.17. ſo they ſhould now drink and be drunk with the Cup of Gods wrath.

And ſhall be removed like a cottage] Or lodge, but or tent, ſo ſhall they be toſſed and tumbled from one place to another.

And the tranſgreſſion] i. e. The puniſhment of your tranſgreſſion. Obſerve here the wages and the weight of ſin.

Ver. 21. The Lord ſhall puniſh the hoſt of the high-ones that are on high] Altitudinis in excelſo: Hereby he may mean the Jews Gods firſt-born, and therefore higher then the Kings of the earth, Pſalm 89.27. though now for moſt part degenerated, and therefore in the next words alſo heavily threatened: for verſum viceſimum primum ſecundus explicat, ſaith Scultetus.

Ver. 22. And they ſhall be gathered together, &c.] Id quod de poenis Judaeorum intelligimus, ſaith an Interpreter: that is, This we underſtand of the puniſhment of the obſtinate Jews, whoſe bodies after death were clapt up cloſe priſoners in the grave, their ſouls held faſt in hell till the laſt day: when after many dayes they ſhall be viſited, i. e. in the whole man puniſhed, with eternal torments. Caveamus, ſi ſapimus, à deſtinata peccandi malitia. Origen was certainly out when he argued from this Text, that the damned in Hell ſhould after a time be viſited, that is, delivered. There are that begin the promiſe at theſe words,

And after many dayes ſhall they be viſited] i. e. In mercy and favour (as chap. 23.17.) thorow Chriſt. This gracious viſitation began in Iſrael, Luke 1.68. and then came abroad to the Gentiles alſo, Act. 15.14, 15.16, 17.

Ver. 23. Then the Moon ſhall be confounded] The glory of Chriſts Kingdom ſhall be ſo great, that in compariſon of it the Sun and Moon ſhall caſt no light. See Iſa. 54.11, &c. and 60.12.

When the Lord of hoſts] The Lord Chriſt, ſummus coelitum Imperator.

And before his Ancients] The whole Church, and eſpecially her Officers, which are the glory of Chriſt, 2 Cor. 8.23.