And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall. Which may signify everything that serves to support and defend the antichristian hierarchy, particularly the secular powers. The Targum paraphrases it, "and upon all that dwell in a high tower, and upon all that reside by a fortified wall.' read more
And upon all the cedars "Even against all the cedars" - Princes, potentates, rulers, captains, rich men, etc. - So Kimchi. These verses afford us a striking example of that peculiar way of writing, which makes a principal characteristic of the parabolical or poetical style of the Hebrews, and in which the prophets deal so largely, namely, their manner of exhibiting things Divine, spiritual, moral, and political, by a set of images taken from things natural, artificial, religious, historical,... read more
Retribution and its results. In this noble prophetic passage, as charged with poetic grandeur as it is full of religious zeal, we have our thought directed to— I. Two HEINOUS SINS WHICH BELONG TO EVERY AGE AND CLASS . They are these: 1. Disobedience . The divination to which reference is made ( Isaiah 2:6 ) is expressly prohibited in the Law ( Deuteronomy 18:10-12 ); alliance with strangers ( Isaiah 2:6 ) is also forbidden ( Exodus 34:12 ; Dent; Exodus... read more
The Lord's day for the proud. Any time of specific judgment or mercy is in the Scriptures called a "day of the Lord." The day of the Lord has come for the antediluvian world, for Sodom, for the Canaanites, for Babylon, for Israel. It is ever coming to nations, in the corruption or the calamity that follow on national sin. It will come as long as the world endures; that is, so long as God needs, by external judgments, to mark the evil of sin. The sin of all others that calls for a "day of the... read more
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE DAY OF THE LORD . The prophet, now, having announced that God is about to visit his people in anger ( Isaiah 2:10 , Isaiah 2:11 ), proceeds to describe in highly rhetorical language the visitation itself, read more
The terrors of the day of the Lord. Every visitation of man by God is typical of his coming to judgment. "That day" is, in its deepest and truest sense, the day whereon Christ shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead. Of "that day and that hour knoweth no man" ( Matthew 24:36 ); and the terror is increased by the mystery. The prophet sees God descend to judge Israel. The particular features are local; but through them may be discerned without much difficulty the... read more
The day of judgment. Here follows a grand picture, in which a few simple thoughts are set. I. THE DAY OF JEHOVAH . This stands for any and every epoch of clearer light which reveals the relative worth of things. False estimates of life and its objects have become by custom fixed. The imagination has been under a delusion. A false idea of greatness and goodness has become so fixed that nothing but a revolution will subvert it. The criticism of words may be defied; but the... read more
Upon every high tower . Uzziah and. Jotham had, both of them, paid much attention to fortifications, and had especially "built towers," both at Jerusalem and in other parts of Judaea ( 2 Chronicles 26:9 , 2 Chronicles 26:10 ; 2 Chronicles 27:4 ). Isaiah means to pour contempt on these indications of "trust in an arm of flesh," and to say that they will be of no avail when the time of calamity arrives. Every fenced wall. "On the wall of Ophel" Jotham had "built much" ( 2 Chronicles... read more
Every high tower - Towers, or fortresses, were erected for defense and protection. They were made on the walls of cities, for places of observation (compare the note at Isaiah 21:5), or in places of strength, to be a refuge for an army, and to be a point from which they might sally out to attack their enemies. They were “high” to afford a defense against being scaled by an enemy, and also that from the top they might look abroad for observation; and also to annoy an enemy from the top, when the... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 2:10-22
The prophet here goes on to show what a desolation would be brought upon their land when God should have forsaken them. This may refer particularly to their destruction by the Chaldeans first, and afterwards by the Romans, or it may have a general respect to the method God takes to awaken and humble proud sinners, and to put them out of conceit with that which they delighted in and depended on more than God. We are here told that sooner or later God will find out a way, I. To startle and... read more