Isaiah 29:17

Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? LEBANON SHALL BE TURNED - As contrasted with your 'turnings of things upside down' (Isaiah 29:16), there shall be other and better turnings or revolutions-the outpouring of the Spirit in the latter days (Isaiah 32:15); first, on the Jews, which shall be followed by their national restoration (note, Isaiah 29:2; Zechariah 12:10); then on the Gentiles (Joel 2:28)....

17._Is it not yet a little while? _The Lord now declares that he will make those wicked men to know who they are; as if he had said, “You are now asleep in your pride, but I shall speedily awake you.” Men indulge themselves, till they feel the powerful hand of God; and therefore the Prophet threatens that the judgment of God will overtake such profound indifference. _And Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel. _(278) Under the names “Lebanon” and “Carmel” he intended to express a renovation of the world and a change of affairs. But as to the object of the allusion, commentators differ widely from each other. As Mount “Lebanon” was clothed with trees and forests, and “Carmel” had fruitful and fertile fields. Many think that the Jews are compared to “Carmel,” because they will be barren, and Christians to “Lebanon,” because they will yield a great abundance of fruits. That opinion is certainl...

17-24 The wonderful change here foretold, may refer to the affairs of Judah, though it looks further. When a great harvest of souls was gathered to Christ from among the Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruitful field; and the Jewish church, that had long been a fruitful field, became as a deserted forest. Those who, when in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall soon have cause greatly to rejoice in him. The grace of meekness contributes to the increase of our holy joy. The enemies who were powerful shall become mean and weak. To complete the repose of God's people, the scorners at home shall be cut off by judgements. All are apt to speak unadvisedly, and to mistake what they hear, but it is very unfair to make a man an offender for a word. They did all they could to bring those into trouble who told them of their faults. But He that redeemed Abraham out of his snares...

Verse Isaiah 29:17. _AND LEBANON SHALL BE TURNED INTO A FRUITFUL FIELD_ - "Ere Lebanon become like Carmel"] A mashal, or proverbial saying, expressing any great revolution of things; and, when respecting two subjects, an entire reciprocal change: explained here by some interpreters, I think with great probability, as having its principal view beyond the revolutions then near at hand, to the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles. The first were the vineyard of God, כרם אל _kerem El_, (if the prophet, who loves an allusion to words of like sounds, may be supposed to have intended one here,) cultivated and watered by him in vain, to be given up, and to become a wilderness: compare Isaiah 5:1. The last had been hitherto barren; but were, by the grace of God, to be rendered fruitful. Se...

IS IT NOT YET A VERY LITTLE WHILE - The idea here is, ‘you have greatly perverted things in Jerusalem. The time is at hand when there shall be “other” overturnings - when the wicked shall be cut off, and when there shall be poured out upon the nation such judgments that the deaf shall hear, and the blind see, and when those who have erred in spirit shall come to understanding’ Isaiah 29:18. AND LEBANON SHALL BE TUTORED INTO A FRUITFUL FIELD - This is evidently a proverbial expression, denoting any great revolution of things. It is probable that in the times of Isaiah the whole chain of Lebanon was uncultivated, as the word is evidently used here in opposition to a fruitful field (see the note at Isaiah 2:13). The word which is rendere

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 29:1 A WARNING TO JERUSALEM. Expostulation is followed by threats. The prophet is aware that all his preaching to the authorities in Jerusalem (Isaiah 28:14) will be of no avail, and that their adoption of measures directly antagonistic to the commands of God will bring on the very evil which they are seeking to avert, and cause Jerusalem to be actually besieged by her enemies. In the present passage he distinctly announces the siege, and declares that it will commence within a year. ISAIAH 29:1 WOE TO ARIEL, TO ARIEL, THE CITY WHERE DAVID DWELT! "Ariel' is clearly a myst

[IS] IT NOT YET A VERY LITTLE WHILE,.... In a short space of time, in a few years, what follows would come to pass; when there would be a strange change and alteration made in the world, and by which it would appear, that the Lord not only knows, but foreknows, all things: AND LEBANON SHALL BE TURNED INTO A FRUITFUL FIELD; the forest of Lebanon should be as Carmel. The meaning is, that the Gentile world, which was like a forest uncultivated, and full of unfruitful trees, to which wicked men may be compared, should through the preaching of the Gospel be manured, become God's husbandry, and be like a fruitful field, abounding with people and churches, fruitful in grace and good works: AND THE FRUITFUL FIELD SHALL BE ESTEEMED AS A FOREST? the people of the Jews, who once had the word and ordinances of God, and were a fruitful and flourishing people in religion; through their rejection of...

CHAPTER 29 The Second Woe Against Ariel and the Third Woe 1. _The fall of Ariel (Jerusalem) predicted (Isaiah 29:1)_ 2. _Their enemies dealt with by Jehovah (Isaiah 29:5)_ 3. _The people's condition: Blinded and religious formalists (Isaiah 29:9)_ 4. _The third woe (Isaiah 29:15)_ 5. _In that Day: joy and blessing for the meek and iniquity punished (Isaiah 29:17) _ Ariel means “the lion of God.” It is one of the names of Jerusalem. A great siege of Jerusalem is predicted. Neither Sennacherib's invasion nor the sie

Isaiah 29:15-24 A Messianic forecast The third "Woe" (Isaiah 29:15), directed against the political intrigue with Egypt, merely serves as a point of attachment for a glowing description of the regenerated Israel. The course of thought is as follows: The prophet, having unmasked the designs of the conspirators, expostulates with them for pitting their foolish plans against the purpose of the Almighty (Isaiah 29:15). Ere long, Jehovah will prove His power by a marvellous transformation of nature and society; the word of the Lord will be received by the people, now deaf and dumb to spiritual things; the poor and oppressed shall rejoice in their God ...

DISCOURSE: 901 THE MILLENNIAL PERIOD FAST APPROACHING Isaiah 29:17. _Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?_ OUR blessed Lord reproved the Scribes and Pharisees of his day; because when, from particular appearances in the atmosphere, they could judge with considerable accuracy what the state of the weather would be, they could not discern, from the clear evidences before them, that their Messiah was indeed come [Note: Matthew 12:28. with 16:2, 3.]. We will not say that a similar reproof is due to those who see not the near approach of the Millennium now, because the evidences of it are by no means so clear and strong: but I think there is abundant ground for the appeal which the Prophet