Isaiah 2:4

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. HE SHALL JUDGE AMONG THE NATIONS - as a sovereign umpire and governor, settling all controversies (cf. Isaiah 11:4). AND SHALL REBUKE MANY PEOPLE - argue so as to convince (Gesenius). (Job 32:12; Hebrew, howkiyach (H3198).) Lowth translates, work conviction. THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES - in the East resembling a short sword ...

4._And he shall judge among the nations _He means that the doctrine will be like a king’s scepter, that God may rule among all nations; for, by a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, the Hebrew word שפט, (_shaphat_,) _to judge_, means _to govern _or_to reign_. since, therefore, God had not taken more than one nation to be subject to his reign, the Prophet here shows that the boundaries of his kingdom will be enlarged, that he may rule over various nations. He likewise notices indirectly the difference between the kingdom of David, which was but a shadow, and this other kingdom, which would be far more excellent. At that time God ruled over his chosen people by the hand of David, but after the coming of Christ he began to reign by himself, that is, in the person of his only-begotten Son, who was truly _God manifested in the flesh_. ...

1-9 The calling of the Gentiles, the spread of the gospel, and that far more extensive preaching of it yet to come, are foretold. Let Christians strengthen one another, and support one another. It is God who teaches his people, by his word and Spirit. Christ promotes peace, as well as holiness. If all men were real Christians, there could be no war; but nothing answering to these expressions has yet taken place on the earth. Whatever others do, let us walk in the light of this peace. Let us remember that when true religion flourishes, men delight in going up to the house of the Lord, and in urging others to accompany them. Those are in danger who please themselves with strangers to God; for we soon learn to follow the ways of persons whose company we keep. It is not having silver and gold, horses and chariots, that displeases God, but depending upon them, as if we could not be safe, and...

Verse Isaiah 2:4. _NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR ANY MORE._] If wars are necessary, how deep must that _fall_ be that renders them so! But what a reproach to humanity is the _trade of war_! Men are regularly instructed in it, as in any of the necessary arts. "How to dislodge most souls from their frail shrines By bomb, sword, ball, and bayonet, is the art Which some call great and glorious!" And is this a necessary part of a finished education in civilized society? O Earth! Earth! Earth!...

AND HE SHALL JUDGE - Or he shall exercise the office of a judge, or umpire. This “literally” refers to the God of Jacob Isaiah 2:3, though it is clear that the meaning is, that he will do it by the Messiah, or under his reign. One office of a judge is to decide controversies; to put an end to litigations, and thus to promote peace. The connection shows that this is the meaning here. Nations that are contending shall be brought to peace by the influence of the reign of the Messiah, and shall beat their swords into plowshares. In other words, the influence of the reign of the Messiah shall put a period to wars, and reduce contending nations to peace. AND SHALL REBUKE - Shall “reprove” them for their contentions and strifes. Lowth: ‘Shall work conviction in many peoples.

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....

AND HE SHALL JUDGE AMONG THE NATIONS,.... Or, "it shall judge"; either the mountain of the Lord's house, as Abarbinel thinks, that is, the church; for in the spiritual reign of Christ, in the latter day, the judgment shall be given to the saints of the most High, and they shall possess the kingdom; the power of civil government will be in their hands, and they shall judge the world; for kings will then be nursing fathers to them, and queens nursing mothers. Or the law and word of the Lord, the Gospel, which judges men now, and declares who are condemned, and who are not; and will judge them at the last day: or, "he shall judge", that is, the Messiah, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech interpret it; he shall be King over all the earth; the kingdoms of this world will become his, and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the end of the earth: AND SHALL REBUKE MANY...

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...

ZION THE WORLD'S RELIGIOUS CENTRE, AND THE REIGN OF UNIVERSAL PEACE. The title in Isaiah 2:1 is a later addition, unrelated to the important oracle Isaiah 2:2. This oracle, with verbal differences, occurs in Micah 4:1 *. It is probably post-exilic. The very high significance attached to Zion is strange in the eighth century; the idea of its physical exaltation is akin to Apocalyptic rather than prophecy. Moreover, Jeremiah 26:18 suggests that Micah predicted irretrievable doom for Zion. Duhm thinks that, like Isaiah 9:2;...