_If thou wilt return, O Israel, return unto me_ Israel having promised repentance in the latter part of the preceding chapter, they are here directed what sort of a repentance it must be; that it must not be hypocritical and feigned, but real and hearty; not deferred to another time, but immediate,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And thou shalt swear_, &c. In taking a solemn oath, thou shalt appeal, not to dead and vain idols, but to Jehovah, the living and true God. This is put here for the whole worship of God, acknowledging and owning God as the only God, which is strongly expressed by this act: see Isaiah 48:1; Isaiah 6... [ Continue Reading ]
_For thus saith the Lord_ The prophet now addresses himself to the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, and exhorts them to repentance and reformation in metaphorical language. _Break up your fallow ground,_ &c. That is, purge and purify the field of your hearts, by godly sorrow for your sins, and ha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blow ye the trumpet_ The Lord, being now about to bring enemies upon them, speaks in martial language, warning them of the nature of their approaching judgment. It is the beginning of a new discourse, in which the prophet describes the dreadful preparations of war, such as _blowing a trumpet, and s... [ Continue Reading ]
_The lion is come up from his thicket_ Nebuchadnezzar, so called from his fierceness and strength, shall come up from Babylon, where his chief seat is, as lions are principally among the thickets of the forests, in coverts. Babylon being remote and little known to the Jews, they did not expect troub... [ Continue Reading ]
_At that day the heart of the king shall perish_ Both his wisdom and his courage: despairing of success, he shall have no spirit to do any thing, and if he had, he would be at a loss what to do; _and the heart of the princes_ His privy counsellors, who ought to animate and advise him, shall be as mu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then said I, Ah, Lord God!_ The Hebrew word, _Aha_, is a word expressive both of admiration and lamentation. _Surely thou hast greatly deceived this people_ Hast suffered them to be deceived by their false prophets. These pretenders to prophecy studied only to speak pleasing things to the people, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_At that time_ When that calamity commences; _shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem_ There shall be tidings brought both to the country and city; _A dry wind of the high places_ “The prophet here describes the Chaldean army coming up for the destruction of Judea, under the metaphor of a h... [ Continue Reading ]
_O Jerusalem, wash thy heart_ O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, cleanse your inward parts; not your hands only, as hypocrites do, but your hearts, James 4:8; _from wickedness_ Namely, from _all filthiness_ of flesh and spirit, 2 Corinthians 7:1. See note on Isaiah 1:16. _That thou maye... [ Continue Reading ]
_Make ye mention to the nations_ Tell the nations that now inhabit the cities of the ten tribes, that the Chaldean army is approaching, that they may provide for their own safety. _Behold, publish against Jerusalem_ Let her be made acquainted with what is coming upon her. Let her have notice beforeh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy way and thy doings_ Thy manner of life, and particularly thy idolatries; _have procured these things unto thee_ Have been the causes of this thy grievous affliction, of bringing such a bitter enemy against thee, which hath reached unto thy very heart. “Whatsoever happens to you,” says Jerome on... [ Continue Reading ]
_My bowels_, &c. Or, as Dr. Waterland renders it, _My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at the centre, or in the midst, of my heart; my heart is tumultuous within me!_ It is an exclamation of the prophet, moved beyond measure at the calamities coming on his country, in being made the seat of war, and u... [ Continue Reading ]
_How long shall I see the standard_, &c. This dreadful war continued a great while, not in the borders, but in the bowels of the country; for the people were very obstinate, and would not submit to, but took all opportunities of rebelling against, the king of Babylon, which did but lengthen out and... [ Continue Reading ]
_I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void_ “The images under which the prophet here represents the approaching desolation, as foreseen by him, are such as are familiar to the Hebrew poets on the like occasions.” See note on Isaiah 13:10, and Bishop Lowth, _De Sac. Poesi Hebrews_, Præ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet will I not make a full end_ That is, say some commentators, neither shall the punishment suffice, nor my anger stop here: but it rather seems to be a word of comfort, signifying that they should not be utterly destroyed, but that, in the midst of judgment, God would remember mercy, and preserve... [ Continue Reading ]
_For this shall the earth mourn_, &c. More expressions to set forth the dreadfulness of the judgment: he makes the elements to personate mourners. _And the heavens above be black_ Under sad calamities every thing looks dismal; even the heavens themselves do not seem to shine with their usual brightn... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when thou art spoiled_ When this destruction shall come upon thee, which is very near; _what wilt thou do?_ When thou, O daughter of Zion, art besieged by the Babylonians, what course wilt thou take? As if he had said, Thy condition will be desperate. _Though thou clothest thyself_, &c. The pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I have heard a voice of a woman in travail_ Here Jerusalem is very pathetically described by the character of a woman under the pangs of her first child-bearing, when her pains as well as her fears are usually greatest. Such, saith the prophet, shall be the anguish of Jerusalem, bewailing the l... [ Continue Reading ]