XXXI. (1) WOE TO THEM THAT GO DOWN... — The Egyptian alliance was, of course, the absorbing topic of the time, and Isaiah returns to it yet again. As in Isaiah 30:16, the princes of Judah were attracted by the prospect of strengthening themselves in their weakest point, and reinforcing the cavalry... [ Continue Reading ]
YET HE ALSO IS WISE. — The words have a ring of sarcasm in them. Isaiah admits ironically that the counsellors of Hezekiah were wise in their generation. He reminds them that there might be some little wisdom in Jehovah, and in the prophet by whom He spake. AND WILL NOT CALL BACK HIS WORDS. — Such... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EGYPTIANS ARE MEN... — We hear again the key-note of Isaiah’s teaching. The true strength of a nation lay in its spiritual, not in its material, greatness: in seeking the Holy One of Israel by practising holiness. Without that condition the alliance with Egypt would be fatal both to those that s... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE AS THE LION... — The similitude is note worthy, as for its fulness and vividness, so also for the fact that the lion is made the symbol, not of destruction, but protection. As the king of beasts stands haughtily defiant over the prey which he has made his own against the shepherds who seek to r... [ Continue Reading ]
AS BIRDS FLYING... — The picture that follows (Æschylean, as the former was Homeric; see “Æsch. _Agam._ 49-54, though there the point is the wailing of the parent birds over the plundered nest) is, at least, not doubtful in its meaning, whether it be meant as a counterpart or antithesis to that whic... [ Continue Reading ]
TURN YE UNTO HIM. — Then, as ever, this was the sum and substance of the prophet’s teaching, conversion; with that, all was hope; without it, all was fear. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 30:6.)... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT DAY EVERY MAN SHALL CAST AWAY... — The act is the same as that of Isaiah 2:20, but with a marked difference of motive: there it springs from the terror of despair, here from the repentance which is the ground of hope.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT OF A MIGHTY MAN... — The Hebrew has no adjectives, but the nouns are those which are commonly opposed to each other in this way, as in Isaiah 2:9, like the Latin _vir_ and _homo._ The thought expressed is, of course, that the whole work would be of God, and not of man. The “sword” was that of th... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL PASS OVER TO HIS STRONG HOLD FOR FEAR. — Most recent critics translate, _His rock will pass away for terror,_ the “rock” (not the same word, however, as that elsewhere, _e.g.,_ Deuteronomy 32:31, used for God) being the symbol of Assyria’s strength. The laws of parallelism point to our taki... [ Continue Reading ]