Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 9:19
The Lord of armies uses human sin to consume sinners, and people consume one another trying to satisfy their own desires. read more
Isaiah 9
Thomas Constable
Thomas Constable
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 9:20-21
They even consume themselves to satisfy themselves. The tribes of Israel were consuming each other for the same purpose, even brother tribes like Ephraim and Manasseh that had come from one father, Joseph (cf. Judges 12:1-6). The Hebrews described the members of their own tribe or family as their "arm" because they supported and sustained them. Whereas Judah had defended his brothers in the days of the patriarchs (Genesis 44:18-34), now the descendants of Joseph were trying to destroy the... read more
John Dummelow
John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 9
Divine Judgments on the Kingdom of IsraelThis section relates throughout to the kingdom of Israel. It belongs to the same period as the chapters immediately preceding, and treats of the ruin which Isaiah foresaw would shortly overtake the kingdom of the Ten Tribes: cp. Isaiah 7:16; Isaiah 8:4. The prophet traces the fall of Israel to the moral and social condition of its people. His prophecy was speedily fulfilled in the conquest of Syria and Israel by the Assyrian armies. The prophecy falls... read more
John Dummelow
John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 9:1-7
1. RV ’But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time hath he made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations.’ By the contempt brought upon the land of Zebulun and Naphtali the prophet signifies the spoiling of the country and deportation of the inhabitants by Tiglath-pileser (narrated 2 Kings 15:29). Galilee of the nations] lit. ’the... read more
John Dummelow
John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 9:1-21
(continued)8. Jacob.. Israel] Both names here stand for the northern kingdom, as is made clear by what follows in the next v. 9. Shall know] i.e. shall be taught by experience (Numbers 14:34).10. If the language is to be understood literally, the allusion is to the way in which the people set themselves to repair, and more than make up for, the devastation caused by invasion. But it is more likely that the prophet refers in a figure to the frequent changes of dynasty in the N. kingdom; no... read more
John Dummelow
John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 9:8-21
Divine Judgments on the Kingdom of IsraelThis section relates throughout to the kingdom of Israel. It belongs to the same period as the chapters immediately preceding, and treats of the ruin which Isaiah foresaw would shortly overtake the kingdom of the Ten Tribes: cp. Isaiah 7:16; Isaiah 8:4. The prophet traces the fall of Israel to the moral and social condition of its people. His prophecy was speedily fulfilled in the conquest of Syria and Israel by the Assyrian armies. The prophecy falls... read more
Charles John Ellicott
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 9:1
IX.(1) Nevertheless the dimness . . .—It is obvious, even in the English version, that the chapters are wrongly divided, and that what follows forms part of the same prophetic utterance as Isaiah 8:0. That version is, however, so obscure as to be almost unintelligible, and requires an entire remodelling:—Surely there is no gloom to her that was afflicted. In the former time he brought shame on the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter he bringeth honour on the way by the... read more
Charles John Ellicott
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 9:2
(2) The people that walked in darkness . . .—The words throw us back upon Isaiah 8:21-22. The prophet sees in his vision a light shining on the forlorn and weary wanderers. They had been wandering in the “valley of the shadow of death” (the phrase comes from Psalms 23:4; Job 3:5), almost as in the gloom of Sheol itself. Now there breaks in the dawn of a glorious day. Historically the return of some of the inhabitants of that region to their allegiance to Jehovah and the house of David (2... read more
Charles John Ellicott
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 9:3
(3) Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy . . .—Better, following the marginal reading of the Hebrew: Thou hast increased its joy. The picture is one of unmingled brightness; the return as of a golden age, the population growing to an extent never attained before (comp. Isaiah 26:15; Jeremiah 31:27; Ezekiel 36:11), and scarcely admits of the dark shadow introduced by the reading of the text, unless, with some critics (Kay), we see in the words a contrast between the outward... read more
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Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 9:18-21
The selfishness of everyone 9:18-21 read more