A series of Oracles dealing with the Egyptian Alliance and its consequences; the present state and future prospects of israel, and the destruction of the Assyrians i. _Isa 30:1-7_. A "Woe" against the treaty with Egypt, which is here for the first time referred to in express terms. The Judæan embas... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe to the rebellious children_ See on Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 1:4 and Isaiah 1:23; cf. Isaiah 30:9. The "sons" are "rebellious" inasmuch as they have taken this step without consulting Jehovah, their Father. _that take counsel_ Rather, THAT CARRY OUT A PLAN. _that cover with a covering_ R.V. gives in... [ Continue Reading ]
The futile alliance with Egypt denounced. Comp. Isaiah 29:15; Isaiah 31:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and have not asked at my mouth_ "have not consulted my prophet" (for the expression cf. Joshua 9:14; Genesis 24:57). _to strengthen themselves … Egypt_ Rather: TO TAKE REFUGE IN THE REFUGE OF PHARAOH, AND TO HIDE IN THE SHADOW OF EGYPT.... [ Continue Reading ]
_strength … trust_ REFUGE … HIDING; as Isaiah 30:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
On _Zoan_, see on ch. Isaiah 19:11. _Hanes_is identified with Heracleopolis magna (Egyptian _Hnes_, still called _Ahnâs_), situated to the south of Memphis on an island in the Nile. Zoan and Hanes thus mark the extreme limits of Lower Egypt, which was at this time ruled by a number of petty potentat... [ Continue Reading ]
_trouble and anguish_ Better perhaps DISTRESS AND HARDSHIP, cf. Deuteronomy 8:15; Jeremiah 2:6. _the young and old lion_ R.V. THE LIONESS AND THE LION. Hebrew (like Arabic) possesses a superfluity of synonyms for the lion. _fiery flying serpent_ WINGED SARAPH. See on Isaiah 6:2; Isaiah 14:29; cf.... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses are marked as an independent oracle by a heading in the enigmatic style of those in ch. 21, 22. Some commentators regard the title as an editorial note which has crept into the text from the margin; but the substance of the oracle, which is a parallel to, rather than a continuation of,... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the Egyptians … purpose_ Render AND AS FOR EGYPT THEIR HELP IS VAIN AND EMPTY. Cf. Isaiah 30:3_; Isaiah 30:5_. _have I cried concerning this_ Better, HAVE I CALLED HER (R.V.). _Their strength_is _to sit still_ R.V. RAHAB THAT SITTETH STILL, lit. "Rahab, they are a sitting still," or "Rahab are... [ Continue Reading ]
What is it that Isaiah is here directed to commit to writing? According to Delitzsch, the contents of the short oracle, Isaiah 30:6; according to others, merely the pithy sentence with which it closes. That is not impossible; the mention of a "tablet" indicates some short and striking inscription. B... [ Continue Reading ]
The documents (as in Isaiah 8:16) are a protest against the persistent disobedience of the people. Render with R.V. FOR IT IS, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
_lying children_ or FAITHLESS SONS; see on ch. Isaiah 1:2, cf. Malachi 1:6 _the law_ THE INSTRUCTION, as ch. Isaiah 1:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the seers_ (1 Samuel 9:9.) _the prophets_ The word rightly rendered "seer" in Amos 7:12 and elsewhere. See on Isaiah 1:1. The prophets referred to can hardly (in view of Isaiah 30:11) be merely the false prophets, who were at the beck and call of the people, but all representatives of the prophetic... [ Continue Reading ]
_Get ye out of the way, turn aside_ i.e. "Discontinue your hackneyed methods: adopt a more conciliatory tone, and do not seek to influence us by reiterated prophecies of evil." _cause the Holy One of Israel to cease_ The meaning is not, of course, that the people disown Jehovah as the national deit... [ Continue Reading ]
_this word_ the warnings against the Egyptian alliance. _oppression and perverseness_(lit. "crookedness")] The first word is explained of the oppressive war taxation necessitated by the policy now finally decided on; this is not altogether obvious, and some prefer, by transposing two consonants, to... [ Continue Reading ]
The answer of "Israel's Holy One," whose revelation is thus challenged.... [ Continue Reading ]
Disaster will follow their policy with the necessity of a natural law. The best translation seems to be: THEREFORE THIS GUILT SHALL BE TO YOU AS A RENT DESCENDING (lit. "falling") ( AND) BULGING OUT IN A HIGH WALL, WHOSE CRASH COMES, &c. The slight beginnings of transgression, its inevitable tendenc... [ Continue Reading ]
_he shall break it_ or: IT SHALL BE BROKEN. _that is broken … spare_ R.V. "breaking it in pieces without sparing"; better: SHIVERING IT UNSPARINGLY (Cheyne). _in the bursting of it_ AMONG ITS FRAGMENTS. So completely will the Jewish state be shattered by the crooked policy of its leaders. For _pi... [ Continue Reading ]
The true policy contrasted with the false. 15 re-echoes the great ruling principle of Isaiah's statesmanship: comp. ch. Isaiah 7:4; Isaiah 7:9; Isaiah 28:16. For _saith_read with R.V. SAID. _returning and rest … quietness and in confidence_ The first expression describes the external policy, the s... [ Continue Reading ]
_we will flee_ Translate: WE WILL FLY (against the enemy). The word, which in the next clause (as in every other instance) means "flee," is chosen because in Hebr. it resembles in sound the word for "horses." _upon the swift_ (coursers). In ch. Isaiah 36:8 the Rabshakeh seems to taunt the Judæans w... [ Continue Reading ]
Their flight will be disgraceful. The words _at the rebuke of five_seem to weaken the force of the preceding hyperbole; hence some critics would insert "a myriad" in the second clause, after Leviticus 26:8; Deuteronomy 32:30. _beacon_means "flag-staff" (elsewhere "mast"), cf. ch. Isaiah 33:23. 18 i... [ Continue Reading ]
The answer to prayer. _For the people shall dwell …_ Rather FOR, O PEOPLE IN ZION THAT DWELLEST IN JERUSALEM. _thou shalt weep no more … gracious_ WEEP THOU SHALT NOT, HE WILL SURELY BE GRACIOUS.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction_ (cf. 1 Kings 22:27) the most meagre necessities of existence. The reference is to the period of distress (perhaps the siege) which _precedes_the great deliverance. _shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner_ Rather: SHALL NOT THY TEACHER (G... [ Continue Reading ]
The restoration of religious privileges and instruction.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thine ears shall hear a word behind thee_ that of Jehovah, walking like a Father behind His children. Cf. Isaiah 29:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
The renunciation of idolatry. _Ye shall defile_ i.e. "desecrate" (2 Kings 23:8 ff.). _covering … ornament_ OVERLAYING … PLATING, as R.V. An idol consisted of a core of wood or inferior metal, overlaid with a costly layer of silver or gold. The latter part was of course the most valuable, and perha... [ Continue Reading ]
_the rain of thy seed_ the "early rain" falling in the month of October. _bread of the increase of the earth_ Perhaps: "bread-corn (Isaiah 28:28) the produce of the ground." Cf. ch. Isaiah 37:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
The temporal blessings of the new dispensation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. Paul's "Doth God take care for oxen?" (1 Corinthians 9:9). _that ear_ (the obsolete English word for "plough"), strictly TILL, R.V. _clean provender_ SALTED FODDER, i.e. the best fodder (Job 6:5) mixed with grains of salt. The devotion of cattle to salt in any form is well known. Gesenius qu... [ Continue Reading ]
Even the arid slopes of the hills of Palestine shall then flow with water. _slaughter, when the towers fall_ cf. ch. Isaiah 2:12 ff. It is a vague poetic allusion to the day of the Lord, when all His enemies are destroyed.... [ Continue Reading ]
_moon_and _sun_are, in the original, poetic epithets (see on Isaiah 24:23). _as the light of seven days_ the light of a whole week concentrated in one day. But the clause is wanting in the LXX., and being redundant is probably a late gloss. _bindeth up the breach … wound_ Cf. ch. Isaiah 1:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the name of the Lord_ appears here to be synonymous with what is elsewhere called the "glory of Jehovah" (cf. the parallelism, ch. Isaiah 59:19; Psalms 102:15) i.e. the visible manifestation of His presence. It may have the same sense in ch. Isaiah 18:7, the Temple of the future being conceived as... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses describe the Theophany, in which Jehovah appears to destroy the Assyrians, cf. Judges 5:4-5; Psalms 18:7 ff. Psalms 50:3-5.... [ Continue Reading ]
Render with R.V. AND HIS BREATH IS AS AN OVERFLOWING STREAM THAT REACHETH (lit. "divideth") EVEN UNTO THE NECK, &c. (cf. ch. Isaiah 8:8). _to sift_(lit. "swing") [_the nations with the sieve of vanity_(or "ruin")] i.e. to sift them until they are annihilated. _and_there shall be _a bridle … err_ B... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye shall have a song_ lit. "the song shall be to you." Undoubtedly, the song is sung by the Israelites, not by an angelic choir, as is strangely suggested by Duhm. The song will be like that IN THE NIGHT WHEN A FEAST IS HALLOWED (R.V. marg.). The feast is probably the Passover, the only festival wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Songs of rejoicing arise within the city, while the Assyrians are slaughtered under its walls.... [ Continue Reading ]
_his glorious voice_ Perhaps: THE MAJESTY OF HIS THUNDER (Psalms 29:3 ff.). _the lighting down_ The word probably comes from the (Aramaic) verb used in Psalms 38:2. It may, however, be derived from the verb "to rest," the causative of which is rendered "lay upon" in Isaiah 30:32. _with the indigna... [ Continue Reading ]
Assyria is here named for the first time as the object of the judgment. The _voice_of Jehovah is the thunder, as in Isaiah 30:30. For _beaten down_render PANIC-STRICKEN. which _smote with a rod_ (cf. ch. Isaiah 10:24) Or "when He (Jehovah) smites with the rod.... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse may be translated as in R.V. AND EVERY STROKE OF THE APPOINTED STAFF WHICH THE LORD SHALL LAY UPON HIM SHALL BE WITH TABRETS AND HARPS; AND IN BATTLES OF SHAKING WILL HE FIGHT WITH THEM. The expression "grounded staff" is, however, barely intelligible; the emendation "staff of correction... [ Continue Reading ]
_For Tophet is ordained of old_ Render: FOR A BURNING-PLACE IS ALREADY LAID OUT. Tophet is the name of a spot in the valley of the son of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where human sacrifices were offered to the god Melek or Molek (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31 f., Isaiah 19:6; Isaiah 19:13). According... [ Continue Reading ]