Isaiah 31:2

Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. YET HE ALSO IS WISE - as well as the Egyptian priests, so famed for wisdom (), but who are "fools" before Him (). AND WILL NOT CALL BACK HIS WORDS. He not only devises, but executes what He devises, without 'calling back His words' (). HOUSE OF THE EVIL-DOERS - the whole race. THE HELP - the Egyptian succour sought by the Jews....

2._Yet he also is wise. _By calling God “wise,” he does not merely bestow on him the honor of an attribute which always belongs to him, but censures the craftiness of those whom he saw to be too much delighted with their own wisdom. He said a little before, (Isaiah 29:15,) that they “dug caves for themselves,” when they thought that, by hidden plans and secret contrivances, they avoided and deceived the eyes of God. He now pours witty ridicule on this madness, by affirming that, on the other hand, wisdom belongs also to God; indirectly bringing against them the charge of believing that they could shut God’s mouth as not knowing their affairs. As if he had said, “What shall become of your wisdom?” Will the effect of it be that God shall cease to be “wise?” On the contrary, by reproving your vanity, he will give practical demonstration that “he taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

1-5 God will oppose the help sought from workers of iniquity. Sinners may be convicted of folly by plain and self-evident truths, which they cannot deny, but will not believe. There is no escaping the judgments of God; and evil pursues sinners. The Lord of hosts will come down to fight for Mount Zion. The Lion of the tribe of Judah will appear for the defence of his church. And as birds hovering over their young ones to protect them, with such compassion and affection will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. He will so defend it, as to secure its safety....

Verse Isaiah 31:2. _HIS WORDS _- "His word"] דברו _debaro, singular_, without י _yod_, two MSS. of Dr. _Kennicott's_ the _Septuagint_, and _Targ. Hieros_. דרכיו derachaiv, his ways, is found in one MS....

YET HE ALSO IS WISE - God is wise. It is in vain to attempt to deceive him, or to accomplish such purposes without his knowledge. AND WILL BRING EVIL - The punishment which is due to such want of confidence in him. BUT WILL ARISE AGAINST THE HOUSE OF THE EVIL-DOERS - This is a general proposition, and it is evidently just as true now as it was in the time of Isaiah....

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 31:1 A FURTHER WARNING AGAINST SEEKING THE ALLIANCE OF EGYPT. This prophecy seems to be quite independent of the last (Isaiah 30:1). It may have been given earlier or later. The chief point brought out, which had not distinctly appeared previously, is the value set on the horses and chariots of Egypt in the conflict with Assyria. ISAIAH 31:1 WOE TO THEM THAT GO DOWN TO EGYPT FOR HELP (comp. Isaiah 30:1,...

YET HE ALSO [IS] WISE,.... That is, God, the Holy One of Israel, is, whom they disregarded; and wiser too than the Egyptians, to whom they sought for help, and who were thought to be a wise and political people; and wiser than themselves, who imagined they acted a prudent part, in applying to them; so wise as to know all their schemes, and able to confound them, as well as most certainly and fully to complete his own; and it would have been therefore the highest wisdom to have sought to him, and not to men: AND WILL BRING EVIL; the evil of punishment or affliction on wicked men, which he has threatened, and which they could in no wise escape, by taking the methods they did: AND WILL NOT CALL BACK HIS WORDS; his threatenings delivered by the prophets: these, as he does not repent of, he will not revoke or make void, but fulfil and accomplish; what he has said he will do, and what he has...

CHAPTER 31 The Fifth Woe Against Them that Go Down to Egypt 1. _The Egyptian Alliance condemned again (Isaiah 31:1)_ 2. _Jehovah promises to deliver Jerusalem (Isaiah 31:4) _ All looks forward towards the future. It is Jerusalem's glorious future. The Lord will deliver it; He will preserve it (Isaiah 31:5)....

ISAIAH 31. THE FOLLY OF RELIANCE ON EGYPT. JERUSALEM WILL BE PROTECTED, AND ASSYRIA OVERTHROWN. vv. Isaiah 31:6 f. seems to be an interpolation. Isaiah 31:4 f_._ creates serious difficulties. Isaiah 31:4 apparently represents Yahweh as attacking (_mg._) Zion, undismayed by its rulers as a lion is undismayed by the shepherds, whereas Isaiah 31:5, with an abrupt change of metaphor, represents Him as Jerusalem's protector. By drastic measures we can remove the discrepancy; the passage then represented Yahweh either as hostile to Jerusalem or as its protector. Of the two the latter is preferable, but it involves the omission of so shall..

EVIL. EVILDOERS. Hebrew. _ra'a'_. App-44. INIQUITY. Hebrew. _'aven._ App-44....