Isaiah 29:3-8

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 29:1-8

That it is Jerusalem which is here called Ariel is agreed, for that was the city where David dwelt; that part of it which was called Zion was in a particular manner the city of David, in which both the temple and the palace were. But why it is so called is very uncertain: probably the name and the reason were then well known. Cities, as well as persons, get surnames and nicknames. Ariel signifies the lion of God, or the strong lion: as the lion is king among beasts, so was Jerusalem among the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 29:3

And I will camp against thee round about ,.... Or as a "ball" or "globe" F15 כדור "quasi pila", Piscator; "instar globi", Gataker. ; a camp all around; the Lord is said to do that which the enemy should do, because it was by his will, and according to his order, and which he would succeed and prosper, and therefore the prophecy of it is the more terrible; and it might be concluded that it would certainly be fulfilled, as it was; see Luke 19:43 , and will lay siege against thee... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 29:4

And thou shalt be brought down ,.... To the ground, and laid level with it, even the city of Jerusalem, as it was by the Romans; and as it was predicted by Christ it would, Luke 19:44 though some understand this of the humbling of the inhabitants of it, by the appearance of Sennacherib's army before it, and of which they interpret the following clauses: and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust ; which some explain of the submissive language of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 29:5

Moreover, the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust ,.... Or "of those that fan thee" F17 זריך "ventilantium te", V. L. "dispergentium te", Vatablus, so Targum; "hostium tuorum", Pagninus, Cocceius. , as the Vulgate Latin Version; and so the Targum, "of those that scatter thee;' or of thine enemies, as others; meaning the Romans, who were a strange people to them, who got the dominion over them, and scattered them abroad in the world: and the simile of "small dust",... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 29:6

Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise ,.... That is, not the multitude of strangers and terrible ones, unless they could be understood of the wicked among the Jews; but thou Ariel, or Jerusalem, shalt be punished by the Lord of hosts; for this visitation or punishment was from him, for their sins and iniquities; the Romans were only the instruments he made use of, and the executioners of his vengeance; which was attended with thunder in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 29:7

And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel ,.... The Roman army, which consisted of men of all nations, that fought against Jerusalem; the city in which was the altar, as the Targum paraphrases it: even all that fight against her, and her munition, and that distress her ; that besieged it, and endeavoured to demolish its walls, towns, and fortifications, as they did: shall be as a dream of a night vision : meaning either that the Roman empire should quickly fall,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 29:8

It shall be even as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth ,.... That is, he dreams of food, and imagines it before him, and that he is really eating it: but he awaketh, and his soul is empty ; his stomach is empty when he awakes, and he finds he has not ate anything at all: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh : who fancies that he has got a cup of liquor in his hand, and at his mouth, and is drinking it with a great deal of eagerness and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 29:3

And I will camp against thee round about "And I will encamp against thee like David" - For כדור caddur , some kind of military engine, כדוד kedavid , like David, is the reading of the Septuagint, two MSS. of Kennicott's, if not two more: but though Bishop Lowth adopts this reading, I think it harsh and unnecessary. Forts "Towers" - For מצרת metsuroth , read מצדות metsudoth : so the Septuagint and five MSS. of Dr. Kennicott's, one of them ancient, and four of De Rossi's. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 29:4

And thy speech shall be low out of the dust "And from out of the dust thou shalt utter a feeble speech" - That the souls of the dead uttered a feeble stridulous sound, very different from the natural human voice, was a popular notion among the heathens as well as among the Jews. This appears from several passages of their poets; Homer, Virgil, Horace. The pretenders to the art of necromancy, who were chiefly women, had an art of speaking with a feigned voice, so as to deceive those who... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 29:5

The multitude of thy strangers "The multitude of the proud" - For זריך zarayich , thy strangers, read זדים zedim , the proud, according to the Septuagint; parallel to and synonymous with עריצים aritsim , the terrible, in the next line: the ר resh was at first ד daleth in a MS. See note on Isaiah 25:2 . The fifth, sixth, and seventh verses contain an admirable description of the destruction of Sennacherib's army, with a beautiful variety of the most expressive and... read more

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