_GOD'S HEAVY JUDGMENT UPON JERUSALEM. THE UNSATIABLENESS OF HER ENEMIES. THE SENSELESSNESS AND DEEP HYPOCRISY OF THE JEWS. A PROMISE OF SANCTIFICATION TO THE GODLY._ _Before Christ 712._ THE second section of the discourse, contained in the present chapter, directed wholly to the Jews of Jerusalem... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE TO ARIEL, &C.— It is evident from Isaiah 29:8 and all interpreters have agreed, that this prophesy is directed against Jerusalem; and it has been commonly thought that אריאל _Ariel,_ which signifies _the lion of God,_ and was the name of the altar of burnt-offerings, is here put for the city of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL CAMP, &C.— This second article explains the former. The prophet had said that Jerusalem should be straitened and distressed; which he here expresses plainly, Isaiah 29:3 declaring that the consequence of this siege should be, a reduction of the proud and self-confident inhabitants to that... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, THE MULTITUDE— Vitringa is of opinion, that this passage sets forth the event of these hostile attempts against Jerusalem, particularly with respect to the Assyrians; in which view it is extremely clear: while others think that these words should be connected with those preceding, and that... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MULTITUDE OF ALL THE NATIONS— These verses contain the event of the siege of Jerusalem, with respect to the Chaldees and Romans; and the meaning of the parable appears to he this, that the joy of the enemies, after the destruction of Jerusalem, shall not be of a long continuance, but imagina... [ Continue Reading ]
STAY YOURSELVES, AND WONDER— Or, _Stay,_ &c._—Make blind and be ye blind; they are drunken,_ &c. The prophet here proceeds to describe the _spiritual judgment;_ the first gradation of which is contained in Isaiah 29:9. The two former expressing this judgment both mystically and properly; the two lat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE VISION, &C.— These words set forth the consequence of the common blindness of the whole Jewish nation, learned and unlearned, teacher and people; namely, their universal incapacity to interpret and to understand the word of God, especially the prophetic word; which incapacity Isaiah exposes... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE THE LORD SAID— This second article is so connected with that preceding as to explain it. It contains the fault, Isaiah 29:13 and the punishment, Isaiah 29:14. Our prophet every where excellently sets forth both in his usual manner; for no colours can more fully express the state of the Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO THEM, &C.— _Woe unto them who with deep dissimulation seek to hide their counsel,_ &c. Isaiah 29:16. _This perverseness of yours is as if the potter were reputed as clay; that the work should say of its maker, He made me not; or the thing framed, say of him that framed it, He hath no unders... [ Continue Reading ]
IS IT NOT YET A VERY LITTLE WHILE, &C.— The prophet here proceeds to set forth this spiritual judgment upon the greater part of the Jewish nation obliquely, by foretelling the call of the Gentiles, who should be substituted in their place; an event, which he first proposes in general in this verse,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THAT DAY— See Luke 2:32.Acts 11:18. Ephesians 4:18 and other similar passages of the New Testament, for the best comment upon these words, _JESUS gave ears to the deaf, and sight to the blind,_ as figurative of that spiritual deafness and blindness which he removes by his grace.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE TERRIBLE ONE, &C.— The _terrible_ and fierce were such as Herod Agrippa, who persecuted the apostles; the _scorners_ and blasphemous, such as those who reproached the apostles when filled with the Spirit, as being drunk with wine. The _watchers for iniquity,_ or _of iniquity_ were such as th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD— These verses contain the third consequence of turning Lebanon into a fruitful field;—the Gentiles being called to the privileges of the Christian dispensation. The prophet foretels that many spiritual children should be born to the church; in whom the true image of Abr... [ Continue Reading ]