Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 26:19

19 Thy dead men shall live , together with my dead body shall they arise : awake , and sing, ye that dwell in the dust : for thy dew is as the dew of herbs , and the earth shall cast out the dead r.

The Prophet here turneth his Speech to God's People, and gives them a Cordial to support them in their deep Distress, expressed in the foregoing Verse. Thy dead Men are not like those v. 14. for they shall not live, as I there said; but thine shall live. You shall certainly be delivered from all your Fears and Dangers. Nothing is more frequent, both in Scripture and other Authors, than for great Calamities to be compared to death▪ and Deliverance from them to life, and reviving, and resurrection: And particularly the Captivity of the Iews in Babylon, and their Deliverance out of it, is largely expressed by this very Similitude, Ezek. 37. 11, &c.

As I my self, who am one of your number, and of these Dead men, shall live again. You shall be delivered together with me. Which he might add, to meet with an Objection; for they might think that God would take some special Care of this Holy Prophet, and would preserve him when they should be destroyed. No, saith he, As I am at present like a dead Carkass no less than you, so you shall be restored to Life no less than I. If the Supplement of our Translation seems to be too liberal, it may be rendred to the same purpose, as my body, the Particle as being oft understood, as I have divers times observed: As my dead Body shall rise, so shall theirs also; we are equally dead, and shall equally live again.

Unto Life, as appears from the former Clause.

Out of your sleep, even the sleep of death, as it is called Psal. 13. 3. Death being oft compared to a Sleep, as Ioh. 11. 11. Act. 7. 60. and Restauration to Life unto awaking, as 2 Kings 4. 31.

You that are dead and buried in the Dust, as the Dead are said to sleep in the dust, Dan. 12. 2.

The Favour and Blessing of God upon thee, which is oft compared to the dew, as Hos. 14. 5. Mich. 5. 7. The Pronoun thy is here taken not efficiently, but objectively, as thy curse, Gen. 27. 13. is the Curse coming upon thee.

Which gently refresheth and reviveth them, and maketh them to grow and flourish.

qAs an abortive Birth is cast out of the Womb, to which the Grave is compared, Iob 1. 21. But because the Verb here used doth not signifie to cast out, but to cast down, which seems not proper here, these Words may be and are, both by ancient and later Interpreters, rendred otherwise, and thou wilt cast down the land of the giants, or of the violent ones, of the proud and potent Tyrants of the World. For the Word here rendred dead, is elsewhere rendred giants, as 2 Sam. 21. 16. 18. See also on Iob 26. 5. Prov. 9. 18. & 21. 16. But then the Words seem to be better rendred, and thou wilt cast the giants down to the ground: Either, 1. thou, O God, who is oft understood in such Cases▪ or rather, 2. thou, O my People, to whom he speaks in the foregoing Clauses of the Verse, thy dead body, and thy dew, and here continueth his Speech, thou wilt or shalt cast, &c. thou shalt subdue even thy most Giant-like and mighty Enemies. Which, though it be properly God's Work▪ the Church is oft said to do, because she by her Prayers engageth God to do it. And so as the former Clauses of the Verse speak of the Deliverance and Prosperity of God's Church and People, so this Clause speaks of the Destruction of their Enemies, which usually accompanieth it.