Isaiah 51:19

These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? THESE TWO (THINGS) ARE COME UNTO THEE ... DESOLATION, AND DESTRUCTION, AND THE FAMINE, AND THE SWORD - two classes of evils, because he enumerates four-namely, desolation and destruction to the land and state; famine and the sword to the people. WHO SHALL BE SORRY FOR THEE? - so as to give thee effectual relief; as the parallel clause, BY WHOM SHALL I COMFORT THEE? shows (Lamentations 2:11)....

19._These two things have happened to thee. _Nearly the same thing was already asserted concerning Babylon, “These two things shall befall thee suddenly in one day, childlessness and widowhood.” (Isaiah 47:9.) But here Isaiah promises to the Church that there shall eventually be a different issue; for the Lord will rescue her from the deepest abyss. He threatens extreme wretchedness, that believers may gird themselves for patience, and not cease to send upwards prayers and supplications from the depth of their distresses. The general meaning is, that the Church shall be burdened with afflictions of every kind, so that she shall appear to be on the brink of utter ruin; because from without she shall endure very heavy calamities, and from within shall obtain no aid or sympathy from her own children. These are two very sore evils which the Prophet relates. But it appears as

17-23 God calls upon his people to mind the things that belong to their everlasting peace. Jerusalem had provoked God, and was made to taste the bitter fruits. Those who should have been her comforters, were their own tormentors. They have no patience by which to keep possesion of their own souls, nor any confidence in God's promise, by which to keep possession of its comfort. Thou art drunken, not as formerly, with the intoxicating cup of Babylon's idolatries, but with the cup of affliction. Know, then, the cause of God's people may for a time seem as lost, but God will protect it, by convincing the conscience, or confounding the projects, of those that strive against it. The oppressors required souls to be subjected to them, that every man should believe and worship as they would have them. But all they could gain by violence was, that people were brought to outward hypocritical confor...

Verse Isaiah 51:19. _THESE TWO_ THINGS - _DESOLATION, AND DESTRUCTION, AND THE_ _FAMINE, AND THE SWORD_] That is, desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword, taking the terms alternately: of which form of construction see other examples. _De S. Poesi_, Heb. Prael. xix., and Prelim. Dissert. p. xxx. The _Chaldee_ paraphrast, not rightly understanding this, has had recourse to the following expedient: "Two afflictions are come upon thee, and when _four_ shall come upon thee, _depredation_, and _destruction_, and the _famine_, and the _sword_ - " Five MSS. הרעב _haraab_, without the conjunction ו _vau_; and so the _Septuagint_ and _Syriac_. _BY WHOM SHALL I COMFORT THEE_ - "Who shall comfort thee"] A MS., the _Septuagint, Syriac, Chaldee_, and Vulgate

THESE TWO THINGS ARE COME UNTO THEE - Margin, ‘Happened.’ That is, two sources of calamity have come upon thee; to wit, famine and the sword, producing desolation and destruction; or desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword (see Lowth on Hebrew Poetry, Lect. xix.) The idea here is, that far-spread destruction had occurred, caused by the two things, famine and the sword. WHO SHALL BE SORRY FOR THEE? - That is, who shall be able so to pity thee as to furnish relief? DESOLATION - By famine. AND DESTRUCTION - Margin, as Hebrew, ‘Breaking.’ refers to the calamities which would be inflicted by the sword. The land would be desolated, and famine would spread over it. This refers, doubtless, to the series of calamities that would come upon it in connection with the invasion of the Chaldeans....

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 51:1 AN ADDRESS TO FAITHFUL ISRAEL, SUGGESTING TOPICS OF COMFORT. The address consists of three nearly equal strophes or stanzas, each commencing with a call, _Shim'u elai_,_ _"Hearken unto me," or _Haqshibu elai_,_ _"Attend to me." The prophet appears to be the speaker, and to address himself to the more faithful portion of the people. ISAIAH 51:1 YE THAT FOLLOW AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS; _i.e. _"ye that endeavour to lead righteous lives" (comp....

THESE TWO THINGS ARE COME UNTO THEE,.... Affliction from the hand of God, though by means of enemies, and no friends to help, support, and comfort, as before hinted: or else this respects what follows, after it is said, WHO SHALL BE SORRY FOR THEE? lament or bemoan thee? they of the earth will rejoice and be glad, and others will not dare to show any concern outwardly, whatever inward grief may be in their breasts, Revelation 11:10, DESOLATION, AND DESTRUCTION, AND THE FAMINE, AND THE SWORD; which may be the two things before mentioned, for though there are four words, they are reducible to two things, desolation, which is the sword, and by it, and destruction, which is the famine, and comes by that, as Kimchi observes: or the words may be rendered thus, "desolation, and destruction, even the famine and the sword"; so that there is no need of m

CHAPTER 51 Jehovah Encourages His Faithful People, the Remnant of Israel 1. _The call to remember Abraham (Isaiah 51:1)_ 2. _Zion to be comforted (Isaiah 51:3)_ 3. _His righteousness near and His arm to judge the people (Isaiah 51:4)_ 4. _Fear ye not (Isaiah 51:7)_ 5. _The prayer of faith (Isaiah 51:9)_ 6. _Jehovah answers (Isaiah 51:12)_ 7. The suffering of the nation to end ...

ISAIAH 51:17 TO ISAIAH 52:12. THE SORROW OF JERUSALEM, WHICH SHALL GIVE PLACE TO JOY. Isaiah 51:17. The prophet, obviously familiar with the vision of Jeremiah 25:15, pictures Jerusalem as staggering under the stupefaction caused by the draught which Yahweh in His anger has compelled her to drink. Two pairs of evils (expressed in Heb. by word-plays) have befallen her, and who is there to comfort her (read who shall for how shall I with VSS). Under the fury of Yahweh her sons are like an antelope exhausted by its vain struggles in the net....

The description of Jerusalem's degradation. The rhythm is that of the _qínah_, and the resemblances to the book of Lamentations are so striking that Ewald has conjectured that the passage is taken from one of the elegies composed during the Exile. _Awake_ Better AROUSE THEE (Cheyne); the verb being a reflexive as distinct from the simple "Awake" of Isaiah 52:1 (and Isaiah 51:9). _which hast drunk … the cup of his fury_ The image of the cup of the Divine wrath originated in Jeremiah's great vision of judgement (ch. Jeremiah 25:15 ff.), where the prophet hands the cup to all nations, beginning with Jerusalem. Cf. also...