The Lord will come with fire "Jehovah shall come as a fire" - For באש baesh , in fire, the Septuagint had in their copy קאש kaesh , as a fire; ὡς πυρ . To render his anger with fury "To breathe forth his anger in a burning heat" - Instead of להשב lehashib , as pointed by the Masoretes, to render, I understand it as להשב lehashshib , to breathe, from נשב nashab . read more
THE GODLY EXILES ENCOURAGED . The scoffs which have long greeted those who believed God's promises and expected the restoration of Zion, will be put to shame. The silence in which Zion has lain will be broken; she will be once more a city "full of stirs, a tumultuous city" ( Isaiah 22:2 ). Suddenly, without any pains of travail, she will bring forth; and her offspring will be "a nation born at once" ( Isaiah 66:8 ). The godly exiles are called upon to rejoice at the prospect ( ... read more
Rejoice ye with Jerusalem … all ye that love her . The call to rejoicing is general. Restored Jerusalem is to be hailed with joy "by all who love her," whether her own children or foreigners. To both she will be a blessing ( Isaiah 66:11-13 ). read more
The blessedness of the restored Church. The restored Church is to Isaiah the Church that will endure from the return of the captives to the end of the world. The later Jewish period and the entire Christian period are with him blended into one, and present themselves to him as constituting a single phase of the Church's life. Here he speaks to encourage the exiles, and dwells especially, though not exclusively, on the immediate blessings. I. THE CHURCH WILL TEACH HER ... read more
Sympathy with the Church's joy. I. SYMPATHY SHOULD BE FELT WITH THE PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH . Zion stands for the Church of the ages; in her weal is wrapped up the weal of the world. If we love humanity, we love the institution created for the good and salvation of humanity. Every revival of religion at home, every fresh conquest in the fields of heathendom, affords fresh occasion of such joy. "Those who have no true joy when souls are born into the kingdom of God; when... read more
That ye may suck . Restored Jerusalem will be as a mother to all who love her, to all who have mourned for her when she lay as it were dead ( 1 Samuel 15:35 ; 2 Samuel 14:2 ). She will have "milk" to give to all—"the sincere milk of the Word" ( 1 Peter 2:2 )—and from her both Jew and Gentile will "suck out no small advantage" ( Psalms 73:10 ). She will also impart to them from the abundance of her glory. read more
I will extend peace to her like a river ; literally, I will direct peace to her , like a river. The waters of streams are in the East directed hither and thither by the agriculturist. God would have given his people "peace, as a river," long previously, had they permitted him ( Isaiah 48:18 ). And the glory of the Gentiles (comp. Isaiah 60:5 , Isaiah 60:11 ; Isaiah 61:6 , etc.). Like a flowing stream; literally, as an overflowing torrent. There is perhaps a contrast intended... read more
Peace like a river. "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river." The prophet used the image of a river by intention, and in contrast with the figure of the sea. In ancient times, and Eastern lands, the sea was a terrible thing; so the prophet figures the wicked as like the "troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." The sea is restless, is storm-test, is a devourer. In ancient times there seemed to be no music in her ripple, her wave-swell, or the bass of her ceaseless... read more
As one ; literally, as a man. Israel is now looked upon as grown up, and receiving comfort from God himself in Jerusalem. read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 66:12
Like a river, and - like a flowing stream "Like the great river, and like the overflowing stream" - That is, the Euphrates, (it ought to have been pointed כנהר cannahar , ut fluvius ille , as the river), and the Nile. Then shall ye suck "And ye shall suck at the breast" - These two words שד על al shad , at the breast, seem to have been omitted in the present text, from their likeness to the two words following; צד על al tsad , at the side. A very probable conjecture of... read more