XL. (1) COMFORT YE... — I start with the assumption that the great prophetic poem that follows is the work of Isaiah himself, referring to the _Introduction_ for the discussion of all questions connected with its authorship and arrangement. It has a link, as has been noticed, with the earlier colle... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEAK YE COMFORTABLY... — Literally, _Speak ye to the heart._ The command is addressed to the prophets whom Isaiah contemplates as working towards the close of the exile, and carrying on his work. In Haggai 1:13; Haggai 2:9, and Zechariah 1:13; Zechariah 2:5; Zechariah 9:9, we may rightly trace the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VOICE OF HIM THAT CRIETH... — The laws of Hebrew parallelism require a different punctuation: _A voice of one crying, In the wilderness, prepare ye_ ... The passage is memorable as having been deliberately taken by the Baptist as defining his own mission (John 1:23). As here the herald is not na... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY VALLEY SHALL BE EXALTED. — The figure is drawn from the titanic engineering operations of the kingly road-makers of the East, but the parable is hardly veiled. The meek exalted, the proud brought low, wrong ways set right, rough natures smoothed: that is the true preparation for the coming of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHALL BE REVEALED. — Did the prophet think of a vision of a glory-cloud, like the Shechinah which he had seen in the Temple? or had he risen to the thought of the glory of character and will, of holiness and love? (John 1:14.) ALL FLESH. — The revelation is not for Israel only,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VOICE SAID, CRY. — Literally, A voice saith, _Cry._ The questioner (“and _one_ said”) is probably the prophet himself, asking what he is to proclaim. The truth which he is to enforce thus solemnly is the ever-recurring contrast between the transitoriness of man and the eternity of God and of His... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD BLOWETH UPON IT. — Better, _the breath,_ or _the wind_ of Jehovah, as we are still in the region of the parable, and the agency is destructive, and not quickening. A “wind of Jehovah” would be a mighty storm-blast, tearing up the grass and hurling it to destruction. The image... [ Continue Reading ]
O ZION, THAT BRINGEST GOOD TIDINGS. — A new section begins. In some versions (LXX. and Targum) and by some interpreters “Zion_”_ is taken as in the objective case, _O thou that bringest glad tidings to Zion;_ but as the participle, “thou that bringest,” is in the feminine, and a female evangeliser o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD GOD. — _Adonai Jehovah;_ each word commonly translated Lord. The combination is characteristic both of 1 and 2 Isaiah (Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 30:15). WITH STRONG HAND. — Literally, _with,_ or _in strength of hand,_ as the essence of His being. The “arm” of the Lord is a favourit... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL FEED HIS FLOCK... — Psalms 23 is the great embodiment of the thought in the Old Testament, as John 10 is in the New, but the thought itself is everywhere (Psalms 77:20; Psalms 80:1; Jeremiah 13:17; Jeremiah 31:10; Jeremiah 1:19; Ezekiel 34:11;... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH MEASURED...? — Another section opens, expanding the thought of the eternal majesty of Jehovah, as contrasted with the vanity of the idols, or “no-gods,” of the heathen. The whole passage in form and thought supplies once more a parallelism with Job 38:4; Job 38:25; Job 38:37. The whole imag... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH DIRECTED THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD? — The term, which had been used in a lower sense in Isaiah 40:7, is here clothed as with a Divine personality, answering, as it were, to the wisdom of Proverbs 8:22, with which the whole passage has a striking resemblance. Eastern cosmogonies might represent... [ Continue Reading ]
COUNSEL... JUDGMENT. — The cluster of words belonging to the sapiential vocabulary of the Book of Proverbs is to be noted as parallel with Proverbs 11:23; Isaiah 33:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NATIONS ARE AS A DROP... — “Nations” and “isles” bring us into the region of human history, as distinct from that of the material world. “Isles” as elsewhere, stands vaguely for _far-off lands,_ or _sea-coasts._ The word is that of one who looks on the Mediterranean, and thinks of the unexplored... [ Continue Reading ]
LEBANON IS NOT SUFFICIENT. — The thought is the same as that of Psalms 50:10. Lebanon is chosen as the type of the forests that supply the wood for burnt-offerings, in which Judah was comparatively poor. In Nehemiah’s organisation of the Temple ritual the task of supplying wood for this purpose was... [ Continue Reading ]
LESS THAN NOTHING. — Literally, _as things of nought._ VANITY. — Once more the _tohu,_ or chaos, of Genesis 1:2 — one of Isaiah’s favourite phrases (Isaiah 24:10; Isaiah 29:21; Isaiah 34:11).... [ Continue Reading ]
TO WHOM THEN WILL YE LIKEN GOD... — The thought of the infinity of God leads, as in St. Paul’s reasoning (Acts 17:24), to the great primary argument against the folly of idolatry. It is characteristic, partly of the two men individually, partly of the systems under which they lived, that while the t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORKMAN MELTETH... — The reign of Ahaz, not to speak of that of Manasseh, must have supplied the prophet with his picture of the idol factory not less fully than if he had lived in Babylon or Nineveh. SPREADETH IT OVER WITH GOLD. — The image of lead was covered over, as in the well-known story... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT IS SO IMPOVERISHED... — The transition is abrupt, but the intention apparently is to represent idolatry at its opposite extremes of the elaborate art in which kings and princes delighted, and the rude rough image, hardly more than a _fetiche,_ the _inutile lignum_ of Horace, “which cannot be... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE YE NOT KNOWN?... — Strictly speaking, the first two verbs are potential futures: _Can ye not know_ ... We note that the prophet appeals to the primary intuitions of mankind, or, at least, to a primitive revelation, rather than to the commandments of the Decalogue. (Comp. Romans 1:20; Psalms 19:... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CIRCLE OF THE EARTH — i.e., the vault of heaven over-arching the earth (Job 22:14; Proverbs 8:27). AS GRASSHOPPERS. — The word indicates some insect of the locust tribe. The comparison may have been suggested by Numbers 13:33. THAT STRETCHETH OUT THE HEAVENS. — A favourite phrase of 2 Isaiah ... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT BRINGETH THE PRINCES TO NOTHING. — The words imply, like those of Isaiah 14:9, the prophetic strain of experience. The past is full of the records of kingdoms that are no more; so also shall the future be; _mortalia facta peribunt._ In “vanity” we have the familiar t_ohu_ once more.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL NOT BE PLANTED... — Better, _Hardly are they planted, hardly are they sown._ Such are empires before the eternity of Jehovah: so soon withered that we cannot say that they were ever really planted (Psalms 129:6).... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH CREATED... — The verb may be noted as a characteristic of 2 Isaiah, in which it occurs twenty times. THAT BRINGETH OUT THEIR HOST... — The words expand the idea implied in Jehovah-Sabaoth (comp. Psalms 147:4). He marshals all that innumerable host of stars, as a supreme general who knows b... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY SAYEST THOU, O JACOB. — The eternity and infinity of God is presented not only as rebuking the folly of the idolater, but as the ground of comfort to His people. His is no transient favour, no capricious will. (Comp. Romans 11:29.)... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU NOT KNOWN?... — The questions are parallel to those of Isaiah 40:21, but are addressed to the Israel of God, rather than, as those were, to mankind. THE CREATOR OF THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. — The word emphasises the thought that the whole earth, from the Euphrates to the “islands” of the sea... [ Continue Reading ]
HE GIVETH POWER TO THE FAINT... — _i.e.,_ to them pre-eminently — their very consciousness of weakness being the condition of their receiving strength. (Comp. Matthew 5:6; Luke 1:52; Luke 6:21.)... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN THE YOUTHS... — The second word implies a nearer approach to manhood than the first, the age when vigour is at its highest point.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD. — The waiting implies, of course, the expectant attitude of faith. SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS. — Better, _shall lift up their wings,_ or, _shall put forth wings’ feathers,_ the last, like Psalms 103:5, implying the belief that the eagle renewed its plumage in extreme ol... [ Continue Reading ]