INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 9 This chapter contains a prophecy, partly of comfort to the church and people of God, against the calamities predicted in the preceding chapter Isaiah 8:1; and partly of punishment, to be inflicted upon the ungodly Israelites by their enemies. The comfort promised arises fro... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS, THE DIMNESS [SHALL] NOT [BE] SUCH AS [WAS] IN HER VEXATION,.... The words may be rendered, "for there shall be no weariness to him that straitens" or "afflicts" them f; so Jarchi, who interprets it of the king of Assyria; but it is better to understand it of Titus Vespasian, who would... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE THAT WALKED IN DARKNESS,.... Meaning not the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, in the times of Hezekiah, when Sennacherib besieged them, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; and much less the people of Israel in Egypt, as the Targum paraphrases it; but the inhabitants of Galilee in the ti... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST MULTIPLIED THE NATION,.... With light, knowledge, honour, and glory, even Galilee of the nations before mentioned, the land of darkness, and of the shadow of death, where the people dwelt; on whom Christ, the light, shone in the ministration of his Gospel to them; whereby the number of bel... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU HAST BROKEN THE YOKE OF HIS BURDEN,.... Of Galilee, of the nation multiplied, of the spiritual inhabitants of it, whose joy was increased; and this is one reason of it, because they were delivered by the Lord from the burdensome yoke of the ceremonial law, which was broken off and abolished... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR EVERY BATTLE OF THE WARRIOR [IS] WITH CONFUSED NOISE,.... With the sound of the trumpet and as now with beating of drums, and the huzzas and shoutings of the soldiers, the stamping and neighing of horses, the rushing of chariots, and rumbling of wheels, and the clashing of swords, spears, and sh... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN,.... This is a reason of all that is said in the context; of the great light that shone upon and was seen by those that sat in darkness, and in the land of the shadow of death; of the great joy among the people; of the breaking off of the yoke, rod, and staff of the oppre... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THE INCREASE OF [HIS] GOVERNMENT,.... That is, of the Prince of peace, on whose shoulders it is; which, from small beginnings, will rise to a very great pitch and height of glory; this is signified by the stone cut out of the mountain without hands; that smote the image, became a great mountain,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SENT A WORD UNTO JACOB,.... The prophet, having comforted Judah with the promise of the Messiah, returns to denounce the judgments of God upon the ten tribes, under the names of Jacob and Israel, which signify the same; for the "word" here is not the word of promise, the comfortable word co... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE PEOPLE SHALL KNOW,.... The word of the Lord, and that it is his; and by sad experience shall feel the weight of it; or, "the people shall know the whole of it" y; shall find that the whole of it will be accomplished, every punctilio in it; whatever is said is done, everything predicted b... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BRICKS ARE FALLEN DOWN,.... Houses made of bricks, which were without the cities besieged and destroyed by the Assyrians; of which the haughty Israelites made no account, looking upon such a desolation as little, or no loss at all: BUT WE WILL BUILD WITH HEWN STONE, so that the houses will be b... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE LORD SHALL SET UP THE ADVERSARIES OF REZIN AGAINST HIM,.... Set them up on high, as the word a signifies; exalt them above him, and make them superior to him, and conquerors of him, meaning the Assyrians; who, being sent for by Ahab, went up against Damascus, took it, and carried the p... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SYRIANS BEFORE, AND THE PHILISTINES BEHIND,.... Rezin, king of Syria, the confederate of the Israelites, being slain, his people joined the Assyrians against Israel; and they, with others mentioned, beset them on all sides, before and behind, east and west; and so the Targum, Septuagint, and oth... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE PEOPLE TURNETH NOT TO HIM THAT SMITETH THEM,.... Who was the Lord of hosts, as it is explained in the next clause; it was he that had smote the people with the rod of correction and chastisement, by various afflictions and distresses which he had brought upon them; in order to bring them to... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE LORD WILL CUT OFF FROM ISRAEL HEAD AND TAIL,.... The former of these is afterwards interpreted of "the ancient and honourable", men in high places, civil magistrates, judges, governors, and elders of the people, the king as supreme, and all subordinate officers; and so the Targum, "th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE, HE [IS] THE HEAD,.... The elder in office, not in age; and who, on account of his office, dignity, and riches, is honoured by men, is of a venerable countenance himself, and is reverenced when seen and looked upon by others, and received by persons with pleasure and cheer... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LEADERS OF THIS PEOPLE CAUSE [THEM] TO ERR,.... Or, "who bless this people", as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; and so the Targum, "who praise this people;'' that call them blessed, pronounce them happy, see Malachi 3:15 and promise them happiness, both in this world and that to come,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE LORD SHALL HAVE NO JOY IN THEIR YOUNG MEN,.... Take no delight and pleasure in them; but, on the contrary, detest and abhor them, and so destroy them, being depraved and corrupted by the bad instructions and examples of their parents: NEITHER SHALL HAVE MERCY ON THEIR FATHERLESS AND W... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WICKEDNESS BURNETH AS THE FIRE,.... That is, the punishment of their sins, as the Targum interprets it; the wrath of God for sin, which is poured out like fire, and consumes as that does; unless wicked men are meant, who are consumed with the fire of divine vengeance; the sense is the same: IT... [ Continue Reading ]
THROUGH THE WRATH OF THE LORD OF HOSTS IS THE LAND DARKENED,.... Brought into great distress and affliction; sore judgments and calamities being upon it; for not darkness in a natural, but in a figurative sense, is intended, see Isaiah 8:22 the allusion is to the ascending of the smoke before mentio... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL SNATCH ON THE RIGHT HAND, AND BE HUNGRY,.... Either with his hand, and rob and plunder all within his reach; or, with his teeth, as cannibals, or beasts of prey, catch at, tear, and rend in pieces, whatever comes in their way; and yet hungry after more, and unsatisfied, as follows: AND... [ Continue Reading ]
MANASSEH, EPHRAIM; AND EPHRAIM, MANASSEH,.... That is, "Manasseh" shall eat or devour "Ephraim"; and "Ephraim" shall eat or devour "Manasseh"; as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it; which is to be understood of their quarrels, contentions, and wars among themselves, whereby they b... [ Continue Reading ]