Isaiah 9:3

Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. THOU HAST MULTIPLIED THE NATION - primarily, the rapid increase of Israelites after the return from Babylon: more fully the rapid spread of Christianity at first: ultimately and exhaustively the multiplication of Israel in the last days, when it shall be restored as a nation (Isaiah 66:8). (AND) NOT INCREASED THE JOY. By a slight change in the Hebrew [ low (H3807a)], its (joy) is substituted by the Qeri' for NOT [ lo' (H3808)], because "not increased the joy" seems opposite to what immediately follows, "they joy," etc. Hengstenberg retains not (the K...

3._Thou hast multiplied. _This passage is somewhat obscure, both in itself, and on account of the diversity of interpretations; for it appears to be absurd to say that _the joy was not increased_, seeing that he immediately afterwards adds, _they rejoiced_. On this account the Jews interpret לא (_lo_) not negatively, but as if ו (_vau_) had been substituted for א (_aleph_); for sometimes, though rarely, it has this meaning in the Scriptures. (141) (Exodus 21:8.) The Jews do this, because they cannot reconcile the words of the Prophet with their opinion. Again, some view these words as referring to Sennacherib, because his army, though it was large, brought him no ground of _joy_, but rather of grief. ...

1-7 The Syrians and Assyrians first ravaged the countries here mentioned, and that region was first favoured by the preaching of Christ. Those that want the gospel, walk in darkness, and in the utmost danger. But when the gospel comes to any place, to any soul, light comes. Let us earnestly pray that it may shine into our hearts, and make us wise unto salvation. The gospel brings joy with it. Those who would have joy, must expect to go through hard work, as the husbandman, before he has the joy of harvest; and hard conflict, as the soldier, before he divides the spoil. The Jews were delivered from the yoke of many oppressors; this was a shadow of the believer's deliverance from the yoke of Satan. The cleansing the souls of believers from the power and pollution of sin, would be by the influence of the Holy Spirit, as purifying fire. These great things for the church, shall be done by th...

Verse Isaiah 9:3. _AND NOT INCREASED THE JOY_ - "Thou hast increased their joy"] _Eleven_ MSS. of _Kennicott's_ and _six_ of _De Rossi's, two_ ancient, read לו _lo, it_, according to the Masoretical correction, instead of לא _lo, not_. To the same purpose the _Targum_ and _Syriac_. _THE JOY IN HARVEST_] כשמחת בקציר _kesimchath bakkatsir_. For _bakkatsir one_ MS. of _Kennicott's_ and _one_ of _De_ _Rossi's_ have קציר _katsir_, and another הקציר _hakkatsir_, "the harvest;" one of which seems to be the true, reading, as the noun preceding is _in regimine_....

THOU HAST MULTIPLIED THE NATION - Thou hast rendered the nation strong, powerful, mighty. Several interpreters, as Calvin, Vitringa, and Le Clerc, suppose that the prophet here, and in the two following verses, speaks in the first instance of the prosperity near at hand, and of the rapid increase of the Israelites after the return from the Babylonian exile, in which the inhabitants of Galilee must have participated, as may be inferred from the accounts of Josephus respecting the great population of that province in his time; see Jewish Wars, i. 20, 23. Vitringa also directs our attention to the fact, that the Jewish people, after the exile, not only filled Judea, but spread themselves into Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. But there seems to be no necessity for referring it to such an increase of the inhabitants. It may refer to the great increase of the Messiah’s...

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 9:1 THE TROUBLES OF ISRAEL SHALL END THROUGH THE BIRTH OF A MARVELOUS CHILD. The section of the prophecy commencing with Isaiah 7:1 terminates in this glorious burst of glad and gracious promise. The gist of the whole section is: "Israel shall not suffer from Pekah and Rezin; her oppressors shall be Assyria and Egypt, more especially the former; Assyria shall overwhelm her, crush her, lay her low; she shall remain awhile in gloom and darkness; but at length the darkness shall be dispelled; a 'great light' shall shine forth, first in the north, then over all th

THOU HAST MULTIPLIED THE NATION,.... With light, knowledge, honour, and glory, even Galilee of the nations before mentioned, the land of darkness, and of the shadow of death, where the people dwelt; on whom Christ, the light, shone in the ministration of his Gospel to them; whereby the number of believers in Christ were multiplied; and indeed, as he conversed, preached, and wrought his miracles most here, he had here the greatest number of disciples and followers; here were the five hundred brethren by whom he was seen at once, after his resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:6 for this is not to be understood of the Assyrian nation, whose army under Sennacherib was very large; nor of the Jewish nation enlarged by the destruction of that army, or of their increase after their return from the Babylonish captivity; nor of the church of God by the accession of Gentiles to it; but of the land

The last verses of the eighth chapter picture a horrible state of wretchedness and despair: «And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth, and behold trouble and darkness dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness. But see what a change awaits them! Isaiah 9:1. _Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vacation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations._ Read the fine translation of the Revised Version: «But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish.» What a marvelous light from the midst of a dread

NOT Omit, not. Isaiah complains that despite the wickedness of the northern kingdom her afflictions are light, her prosperity great....

CHAPTER 9 The Message of Hope Concerning Israel's Future and the Impending Judgments 1. _The Messiah, His Name, His rule, His kingdom (Isaiah 9:1)_ 2. _Judgment upon Israel (Isaiah 9:8)_ 3. _The impenitent nation (Isaiah 9:13)_ 4. _The wrath of Jehovah (Isaiah 9:18)_ 5. _Unrighteous judges and three questions (Isaiah 10:1_ Matthew 4:12 quotes the opening verses of this chapter. This applies to His double advent. The first and second coming