Isaiah 2:20

In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; IN THAT DAY A MAN SHALL EAST HIS IDOLS ... TO THE MOLES - others translate mice. The sense is, under ground, in darkness. AND TO THE BATS - unclean birds (), living, amidst tenantless ruins, which shall result from 'the Lord terribly shaking the earth' ()....

20._In that day a man will cast away his idols _Idolaters are amazingly delighted with their own superstitions and ungodly worship; for although they abound in enormities and crimes, still they betake themselves to this refuge, that they imagine that their worship appeases God. Just as in the present day, if we should represent the crimes and lawless passions of every kind which abound among the papists, they certainly will not be able to deny our statements, but will flatter themselves on this ground, that they have a plausible form of worship, and will believe that this vail covers all their crimes. Accordingly, the Prophet deprives idolaters of this cloak, and threatens that they will no longer be able to conceal their pollution; for the Lord will compel them to throw away their idols, that they may acknowledge that they had no good reason for placing their hope and confidence in them...

10-22 The taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans seems first meant here, when idolatry among the Jews was done away; but our thoughts are led forward to the destruction of all the enemies of Christ. It is folly for those who are pursued by the wrath of God, to think to hide or shelter themselves from it. The shaking of the earth will be terrible to those who set their affections on things of the earth. Men's haughtiness will be brought down, either by the grace of God convincing them of the evil of pride, or by the providence of God depriving them of all the things they were proud of. The day of the Lord shall be upon those things in which they put their confidence. Those who will not be reasoned out of their sins, sooner or later shall be frightened out of them. Covetous men make money their god; but the time will come when they will feel it as much their burden. This whole passage may b...

Verse Isaiah 2:20. Isaiah 2:19. Ver. 20. Which they made each one for _HIMSELF TO WORSHIP _- "Which they have made to worship"] The word לו _lo, for himself_, is omitted by two ancient MSS., and is unnecessary. It does not appear that any copy of the _Septuagint_ has it, except MS. _Pachom_, and MS. I. D. II., and they have εαυτοις, להם _lahem, to_ _themselves_. _TO THE MOLES_] They shall carry their idols with them into the dark caverns, old ruins, or desolate places, to which they shall flee for refuge; and so shall give them up, and relinquish them to the filthy animals that frequent such places, and have taken possession of them as their proper habitation. _Bellonias, Greaves,_ _P. Lucas_, and many other travellers, speak of bats of an eno

IN THAT DAY - That is, in the time when God would come forth to inflict punishment. Probably the day to which the prophet refers here was the time of the captivity at Babylon. A MAN SHALL CAST ... - That is, “all” who have idols, or who have been trusting in them. Valuable as they may be - made of gold and silver; and much as he may “now” rely on them or worship them, yet he shall then see their vanity, and shall cast them into dark, obscure places, or holes, where are moles and bats. TO THE MOLES - פרות לחפר _lachepor_ _pērôth_. Probably this should be read as a single word, and it is usually interpreted “moles.” Jerome interprets it as mice or moles, from חפר _châphar_, “to dig.” The word is formed by doubling the radical letters to give “intensity.” Simi

SECTION II. DENUNCIATION OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS UPON HIS PEOPLE (CH. 2-5.). EXPOSITION ISAIAH 2:1 TITLE OF THE CHAPTER. It is generally allowed that the heading belongs, not to this chapter only, but to a section of the work, beginning here and ending at the close, either of Isaiah 4:1. or of Isaiah 5:1. It is probable that the section was originally published separately....

IN THAT DAY A MAN SHALL CAST HIS IDOLS OF SILVER, AND HIS IDOLS O[GOLD,.... Being frightened at the terrible shaking of the earth, and at the glory and majesty of Christ, which will be seen in his witnesses and people, at the time of his spiritual coming, and the destruction of antichrist; insomuch that they shall cast away their idols, and relinquish their idolatrous practices, and give glory to the God of heaven, Revelation 11:11: WHICH THEY MADE [EACH ONE] FOR HIMSELF TO WORSHIP; everyone having their peculiar idol, the work of their own hands; which shows their gross ignorance and wretched stupidity: TO THE MOLES, AND TO THE BATS; that is, either they shall leave them to persons as blind and ignorant as moles and bats; or rather they shall cast them into the holes which moles make, and bats have recourse unto. The Targum makes these the obj

Isaiah 2:1. _The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it._ What grand hopes are kindled in our bosoms by words like these. The church has always been as a city set on a hill that cannot be hid, but still she has not been known in all parts of the world, and she has never been known with that universal eminence which attaches to the things of this world the things of pomp and show. But the day shall come when she shall be the highest of the high. Her mountain shall be established «on the tops of the mountains,» when she shall be best known of all the known, and shall become what she was always meant to be the metropolis of the whole world, the center to wh

CHAPTER 2 Zion's Future Glory and the Day of Jehovah 1. _The glories in the latter days (Isaiah 2:1)_ 2. _Exhortation to walk in the light (Isaiah 2:5)_ 3. _The corruption of the people (Isaiah 2:6)_ 4. _The day of Jehovah (Isaiah 2:10) _ The vision of verses 1-4 is altogether future. When Israel is converted and in possession of the land, when once more a house of Jehovah will stand in Israel's land, then this great prediction will be fulfilled. Compare withMicah 4:1-5 5. The Day of the Lord (Jehovah) is the day of His visible manifestation to deal with the earth in judgment. Compare with...

THE DAY OF YAHWEH. A poem dating from Isaiah's earliest period, dealing first with the sin, then with the judgment, of Israel. The text has been badly preserved. Probably the refrain which we find in various forms in Isaiah 2:10; Isaiah 2:19; Isaiah 2:21, stood at the beginning of the poem, before Isaiah 2:6 (Isaiah 2:5 being an editorial link). Another refrain occurs in Isaiah 2:11; Isaiah 2:17, and a variant o