Isaiah 5:26

And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: HE WILL LIFT UP AN ENSIGN TO THE NATIONS FROM FAR - to call together the hostile nations to execute his judgments on Judea (Isaiah 10:5; ). But for mercy to it, in ; . Even in announcing judgments He uses the very language which He employs to announce the subsequent visitation of His people in everlasting mercy. AND WILL HISS UNTO THEM - (.) Bees were drawn out of their hives by the soun...

26._And he will lift up an ensign to the nations. _In this and the following verses he describes the nature of the punishment which the Lord would inflict on his people; namely, that they were about to suffer from the Assyrians a similar, or even a heavier calamity, than that which their brethren the Israelites had lately endured. Many distresses had indeed been suffered by themselves from the Assyrians, though the kingdom of Judah was not yet overturned. Besides, what had befallen the kingdom of Israel might be viewed as a mirror in which they could behold God’s wrath and righteous chastisement. And yet this prediction, though it was accompanied by clear proofs, must undoubtedly have appeared to be incredible; for at that time they enjoyed repose, and the slightest truce of any kind easily laid them asleep. He says, therefore, that this calamity will come to them from distant nations, f...

24-30 Let not any expect to live easily who live wickedly. Sin weakens the strength, the root of a people; it defaces the beauty, the blossoms of a people. When God's word is despised, and his law cast away, what can men expect but that God should utterly abandon them? When God comes forth in wrath, the hills tremble, fear seizes even great men. When God designs the ruin of a provoking people, he can find instruments to be employed in it, as he sent for the Chaldeans, and afterwards the Romans, to destroy the Jews. Those who would not hear the voice of God speaking by his prophets, shall hear the voice of their enemies roaring against them. Let the distressed look which way they will, all appears dismal. If God frowns upon us, how can any creature smile? Let us diligently seek the well-grounded assurance, that when all earthly helps and comforts shall fail, God himself will be the streng...

Verse Isaiah 5:26. _HE WILL - HISS_ - "He will hist"] "The metaphor is taken from the practice of those that keep bees, who draw them out of their hives into the fields, and lead them back again, συρισμασι, by a hiss or a whistle." - _Cyril_, on this place; and to the same purpose _Theodoret_, ib. In Isaiah 7:18, the metaphor is more apparent, by being carried farther, where the hostile armies are expressed by the fly and the bee: - "JEHOVAH shall hist the fly That is in the utmost parts of Egypt; And the bee, that is in the land of Assyria." On which place see...

AND HE WILL LIFT UP AN ENSIGN ... - The idea here is, that the nations of the earth are under his control, and that he can call whom he pleases to execute his purposes. This power over the nations he often claims; compare Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1; Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 9:11; Isaiah 8:18. An “ensign” is the “standard,” or “flag” used in an army. The elevation of the standard was a signal for assembling for war. God represents himself here as simply raising the standard, expecting that the nations would come at once....

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 5:1 ISRAEL REBUKED BY THE PARABLE OF A VINEYARD. This chapter stands in a certain sense alone, neither closely connected with what precedes nor with what follows, excepting that it breathes throughout a tone of denunciation. There is also a want of connection between its parts, the allegory of the first section being succeeded by a series of rebukes for sins, expressed in the plainest language, and the rebukes being followed by a threat of punishment, also expressed with plainness. The resemblance of the parable with which the chapter opens to one of those delivered by our Lord, and recorded in the three synoptic Gospels, has been frequently noticed....

AND HE WILL LIFT UP AN ENSIGN TO THE NATIONS FROM FAR,.... Not to the Chaldeans or Babylonians, for they were not nations, but one nation, and were a people near; but to the Romans, who consisted of many nations, and were afar off, and extended their empire to the ends of the earth; these, by one providence or another, were stirred up to make an expedition into the land of Judea, and besiege Jerusalem: and this lifting up of an ensign is not, as sometimes, for the gathering and enlisting of soldiers, or to prepare them for the battle, or to give them the signal when to begin the fight; but as a direction to decamp and proceed on a journey, on some expedition: AND WILL HISS UNTO THEM FROM THE END OF THE EARTH, or "to him" i; the king, or general of them, wherever he is, even though at the end of the earth: and the phrase denotes the secret and powerful influence of divine Providence, in...

CHAPTER 5 The Song of the Vineyard and the Six Woes 1. _The song of the vineyard and Jehovah's lament (Isaiah 5:1)_ 2. _The judgment upon the vineyard (Isaiah 5:5)_ 3. _The wild grapes (Isaiah 5:8)_ 4. _First woe against covetousness (Isaiah 5:8)_ 5. _Second woe against fleshly lusts (Isaiah 5:11)_ 6. _Third woe against mockers (Isaiah 5:18)_ 7. Fourth woe against moral insensibility ...

THE LAST STROKE. It is generally agreed that this belongs to Isaiah 9:8 to Isaiah 10:4, each strophe of which closes with the same refrain as Isaiah 5:25. Unhappily, except for this closing verse, the strophe of which Isaiah 5:25 is the conclusion has been lost, unless indeed Isaiah 5:25, apart from the refrain, is an addition. There is no refrain at the end of Isaiah 5:26 ff., so this will form the close of the poem. After each stroke of Yahweh's wrath a fresh judgment has been announced;

HISS UNTO. hiss for (as men call bees). THEY SHALL COME. Note the Figure of speech _Hypotyposis_ in Isaiah 5:26....