XXIX. (1) WOE TO ARIEL, TO ARIEL. — The name belongs to the same group of poetic synonyms as Rahab (Psalms 87:4; Psalms 89:10) and the Valley of Vision (Psalms 22:1). It may have been coined by Isaiah himself. It may have been part of the secret language of the prophetic schools, as Sheshach stood f... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL BE UNTO ME AS ARIEL. — Better, _But she_ (the city) _shall be unto me as Ariel._ That name would not falsify itself. In the midst of all her “heaviness and sorrow,” Jerusalem should still be as “the lion of God,” or, taking the other meaning, as the “altar-hearth” of God. (Comp. Ezekiel... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL ENCAMP AGAINST THEE... — The words describe the strategy of an Eastern siege, as we see it in the Assyrian sculptures — the mound raised against the walls of the city, the battering-ram placed upon the mound, and brought to bear upon the walls. (See Jeremiah 33:4; Ezekiel 4:2.)... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALT SPEAK OUT OF THE GROUND. — The words paint the panic of the besieged, the words pointing probably to Sennacherib’s invasion. They spoke in whispers, like the voice of the spectres which men heard in the secret chambers of the soothsayers. The war-cry of the brave was changed into the feeble to... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER THE MULTITUDE... — Better, _But._ The words interpret those of Isaiah 30:28. The tribulation should be great, but it should last but for a while. As in Isaiah 25:5, the “strangers” — _i.e.,_ the “enemies,” and the “terrible ones” — should be brought low. A sudden catastrophe, pointing, prob... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT BE VISITED... — Better, _She_ (_i.e.,_ Jerusalem). The words may be figurative, but they may also be literal. Some terrific storm, acting as an “angel of the Lord” (Isaiah 37:36; Psalms 104:4), should burst at once upon Jerusalem and the hosts that were encamped against her, bringing to h... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAINST HER AND HER MUNITION. — The word is a rare one, but probably stands here for the new fortifications by which Uzziah and Hezekiah had defended Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL EVEN BE AS WHEN AN HUNGRY MAN... EATETH. — The foes of Jerusalem were greedy of their prey, eager to devour; they thought it was already theirs. The rude awakening found them still empty. The lion of Judah was not to be devoured even by the strong bull of Assyria.... [ Continue Reading ]
STAY YOURSELVES... — Better, _Astonish yourselves._ We can perhaps best understand the words by picturing to ourselves the prophet as preaching or reciting the previous prediction to his disciples and to the people. They are staggered, startled, incredulous, and he bursts into words of vehement repr... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH POURED OUT UPON YOU... — The prophet sees in the stupor and panic of the chief of the people what we call a judicial blindness, the retribution of those who had wilfully closed their eyes against the light. (Comp. Romans 11:8.) YOUR RULERS. — Literally, _your heads,_ the word being in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VISION OF ALL... — Better, _the whole vision, i.e.,_ the entire substance of Isaiah’s teaching. The words perhaps imply that this had been committed to writing, but that to the unbelievers they were as “the roll of a sealed book.” The same imagery meets us in Revelation 5:2. The wise of this wor... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE THE LORD SAID... — We pass from the effect to the cause. The blind stupor was the outcome of a long hypocrisy. Lip-homage and an estranged heart had been the notes of the religious life of Israel, and they could bear no other fruit. THEIR FEAR TOWARD ME... — The words point to what we may... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL PROCEED TO DO A MARVELLOUS WORK... — The sure doom of hypocrisy would come upon the hypocrites: not loving the light, they would lose the light they had, and be left to their self-chosen blindness. Here, again, history was to repeat itself, and the words of Isaiah were to be fulfilled in an a... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO THEM... — The words sound like an echo of Isaiah 5:8; Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 5:18, and show that Isaiah had not lost the power of adding to that catalogue of woes. The sins of which he speaks here may have been either the dark sensualities which lay beneath the surface of religion, or, more pr... [ Continue Reading ]
SURELY YOUR TURNING OF THINGS UPSIDE DOWN. — The words are better taken as exclamatory, _O your perversity!_ Isaiah was indignant at that habit of always taking things at their wrong end, and looking on them from the wrong side. SHALL BE ESTEEMED AS THE POTTER’S CLAY... — Better, _Shall the potter... [ Continue Reading ]
IS IT NOT YET A VERY LITTLE WHILE...? — The image of the potter does not suggest to Isaiah the thought of an arbitrary sovereignty, but of a love which will in the long run fulfil itself. He paints as not far off the restoration at once of the face of nature and of the life of man. Lebanon, that had... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT DAY SHALL THE DEAF HEAR THE WORDS OF THE BOOK. — The open vision of the future is contrasted with the self-chosen ignorance of Isaiah 29:11. The “book” (the Hebrew has, however, no definite article) is, perhaps, the prophet’s own message, or the book of the law of the Lord, which will then b... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MEEK ALSO SHALL INCREASE THEIR JOY IN THE LORD. — A new element enters into the ideal restoration of the future. Men had been weary of the name of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 30:11). In that better time it should be the source of joy and peace for the poor and the lowly, on whom Isaiah looked... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TERRIBLE ONE. — The word stands, as in Isaiah 29:5, for the Assyrian invader; the “scorner,” for the prophet’s enemies who derided his message, and sought, “watching for iniquity,” to find an accusation against him.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT MAKE A MAN AN OFFENDER FOR A WORD... — The words indicate that Isaiah had been accused, as Jeremiah was afterwards (Jeremiah 37:13), of being unpatriotic, because he had rebuked the sins of Israel and its rulers. Another interpretation gives, “that make men sinners in word,” _i.e.,_ suborn fals... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD, WHO REDEEMED ABRAHAM. — The words gain in vividness if we think of them as referring to the Jewish tradition that Abraham had been accused by his kinsmen before Nimrod for not worshipping the host of heaven. That history was for the prophet the assurance that Jehovah would not a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORK OF MINE HANDS. — Possibly the direct object of the verb “seeth,” the word “his children” being an interpretative insertion, to explain the change from the singular to the plural. The joy of the patriarch as he watched his people centred in the fact that they repented, and once more worshipp... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT MURMURED SHALL LEARN DOCTRINE. — Better, _instruction._ The word is prominent in the sapiential books of Israel, and is therefore adapted to describe the process of growth and education that followed on conversion. The word, too, “murmured” is noticeable, as occurring only in Deuteronomy 1... [ Continue Reading ]