Out of the midst of the pit "From the pit" - For מתוך mittoch , from the midst of, a MS. reads מן min , from, as it is in Jeremiah 48:44 ; and so likewise the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. read more
The earth "The land" - הארץ haarets , forte delendum ה he , ut ex praecedente ortum . Vid. seqq. - Secker. "Probably the ה he , in הארץ haarets , should be blotted out, as having arisen from the preceding." read more
Like a cottage "Like a lodge for a night" - See note on Isaiah 1:8 . read more
On high - upon the earth - That is, the ecclesiastical and civil polity of the Jews, which shall be destroyed. The nation shall continue in a state of depression and dereliction for a long time. The image seems to be taken from the practice of the great monarchs of that time; who, when they had thrown their wretched captives into a dungeon, never gave themselves the trouble of inquiring about them; but let them lie a long time in that miserable condition, wholly destitute of relief, and... read more
Before his ancients gloriously - In the sigt of their olde men he schal ben glorified. Old MS. Bible. "The figurative language of the prophets is taken from the analogy between the world natural and an empire or kingdom considered as a world politic. Accordingly the whole world natural, consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people; or so much of it as is considered in prophecy: and the things in that world signify the analogous things... read more
SECTION VI . GOD 'S GENERAL JUDGMENTS UPON THE EARTH (Isaiah 24-27.). GOD 'S JUDGMENTS ON THE WORLD AT LARGE . From special denunciations of woe upon particular nations—Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Syria of Damascus, Egypt and Ethiopia, Arabia, Judea, Tyre—the prophet passes to denunciations of a broader character, involving the future of the whole world. This section of his work extends from the commencement of Isaiah 24:1-23 . to the conclusion of ... read more
God's final judgment upon the earth. In striking contrast with man's self-complacent theories of continual progress and improvement in the world, resulting in something like the final perfection of our race, is God's prophetic announcement that, as the years roll on, mankind will go from bad to worse, plunge deeper and deeper into wickedness, bring calamity after calamity upon themselves, and finally so provoke him that he will destroy the very earth itself as " defiled ' by its... read more
Prophecy of judgment. The difficulties, historically considered, of this chapter must be left to the exegete. We concern ourselves with the larger sense it contains of a prophecy of a judgment upon the whole world. I. THE APPROACHING DESOLATION . ( Isaiah 24:1-3 .) The figures of emptying , draining , are employed to denote the utter depopulation and impoverishment of the earth; also that of turning upside down , to denote disorganization and demoralization in every civil... read more
The voice of the chastened. We learn— I. THAT GOD TEMPERS JUDGMENT WITH MERCY . ( Isaiah 24:13 .) There will be some fruit spared, though the olive tree be terribly shaken, though the grapes have been gathered. All will not be taken from the holy land; a remnant shall be left. Though God strip a man or a nation of his (its) resources, yet will he leave him (it) a remainder, something to console him, something with which he may start anew. A starry night succeeds a stormy... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 24:17
Fear, and the pit "The terror, the pit" - If they escape one calamity, another shall overtake them. "As if a man should flee from a lion, and a bear should overtake him: Or should betake himself to his house, and lean his hand on the wall, And a serpent should bite him." Amos 5:19 . read more