Isaiah 63:13

That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble? DEEP - literally, the tossing and roaring sea. AS AN HORSE IN THE WILDERNESS - the open plain (Horsley), wherein there is no obstacle to cause a horse in its course the danger of stumbling....

13._Who made them walk through the depths. _These things are added for the purpose of setting that benefit in a stronger light. He likewise brings forward comparisons, in order to describe that extraordinary power of God: “As a horse in the desert, As a beast into a plain;” that is, he led out his people as gently as if one were leading a horse into a plain. By the word “desert” is not meant the wilderness of Paran in which the people dwelt forty years; but, in accordance with the ordinary usage of the Hebrew tongue, it denotes pasture, in which herds and flocks wander at large. This is still more evident from the following verse, —...

7-14 The latter part of this chapter, and the whole of the next, seem to express the prayers of the Jews on their conversation. They acknowledge God's great mercies and favours to their nation. They confess their wickedness and hardness of heart; they entreat his forgiveness, and deplore the miserable condition under which they have so long suffered. The only-begotten Son of the Father became the Angel or Messenger of his love; thus he redeemed and bare them with tenderness. Yet they murmured, and resisted his Holy Spirit, despising and persecuting his prophets, rejecting and crucifying the promised Messiah. All our comforts and hopes spring from the loving-kindness of the Lord, and all our miseries and fears from our sins. But he is the Saviour, and when sinners seek after him, who in other ages glorified himself by saving and feeding his purchased flock, and leading them safely throug...

Verse 13. - 14. _THAT LED THEM THROUGH THE DEEP - AS A BEAST GOETH_ _DOWN INTO THE VALLEY_] In both these verses there is an allusion to the Israelites going through the Red Sea, in the bottom of which they found no more inconvenience than a horse would in running in the desert, where there was neither _stone_ nor _mud_; nor a beast in the valley, where all was _plain_ and _smooth_....

THAT LED THEM THROUGH THE DEEP - They went through the deep on dry land - the waters having divided and left an unobstructed path. AS AN HORSE IN THE WILDERNESS - As an horse, or a courser, goes through a desert without stumbling. This is a most beautiful image. The reference is to vast level plains like those in Arabia, where there are no stones, no trees, no gullies, no obstacles, and where a fleet courser bounds over the plain without any danger of stumbling. So the Israelites were led on their way without falling. All obstacles were removed, and they were led along as if over a vast smooth plain. Our word ‘wilderness,’ by no means expresses the idea here. We apply it to uncultivated regions that are covered with trees, and where there would be numerous obstacles to such a race-horse. But the Hebrew word (מדבר _midbâr_) rather refers to “a desert, a waste” - a place

SECTION IX.—THE JUDGMENT OF GOD ON IDUMAEA (Isaiah 63:1). EXPOSITION ISAIAH 63:1 A JUDGMENT ON IDUMAEA. Isaiah had already, in the first portion of his prophecy, announced" a great slaughter in the land of Idumaea" as resolved on in the counsels of God (Isaiah 34:5). He now recurs to the subject, and represents Jehovah ,as a warrior with blood-stained garments, fresh from the field of battle in Edom, where he has trodden down his foes and taken a fierce vengeance on them. The Idumaeans probably

THAT LED THEM THROUGH THE DEEP,.... The depths, the bottom of the sea; not through the shallow, but where the waters had been deepest, the descent greatest; and at the bottom of which might have been expected much filth and dirt to hinder them in their passage, yet through this he led them: AS AN HORSE IN THE WILDERNESS; or rather, "in a plain", as the word b sometimes signifies; and so Kimchi renders it a plain land, and Jarchi smooth land. The sense is, that the Israelites passed through the sea with as much ease, and as little difficulty, as a good horse will run over a plain, where there is nothing to stop his course: THAT THEY SHOULD NOT STUMBLE? there being no clay to stick in, no stone to stumble at, but all like an even plain. b במדבר "in planitie", Calvin, Gataker, Vitringa; "in campis", Grotius....

Isaiah 63:1. Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me; for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them into my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength...

CHAPTER 63:7-19-64:12 The Great Intercessory Prayer 1. _Jehovah's loving kindness and power in the past remembered (Isaiah 63:7) _ 2. _Their deepest need (Isaiah 63:15) _ 3. _The cry of faith, Thou art our Father (Isaiah 63:16) _ 4. _The increasing plea (Isaiah 63:17) _ 5. _The prayer for Jehovah's manifestation (Isaiah 64:1) _ 6. _Confession and humiliation (Isaiah 64:5) _ 7. The cry for mercy and help ...

A RECITAL OF YAHWEH'S KINDNESS TO HIS PEOPLE OF OLD. This passage seems to be a liturgy of thanksgiving: resemblance to Pss. is obvious. I will recount Yahweh's acts of love, His deeds of renown, in accordance with all that Yahweh, great in goodness (_cf._ LXX), has done for us. He thought, Surely they are My people, sons that will not play Me false. So He became their deliverer in all their distress. Following LXX, connect the first four words of Isaiah 63:9 with Isaiah 63:8, and continue: No messenger or angel, but His own presence delivered them.) Yahweh Himself, no intermediary, _delivered,_ ransomed, and led them with tender care. But, disappointing His thought (Isaiah 63:8), they were perverse, and pained His