Isaiah 24:1-23

2. All class distinctions are obliterated and confused.

5. Defiled] i.e. desecrated by bloodshed (Numbers 35:33). Everlasting covenant] The phrase seems to allude to Genesis 9:16, the covenant with Noah and his sons. The bloodshed, upon which the great world-empires were founded, was a violation of this primitive covenant.

7-9. The meaning is that every form of enjoyment has ceased.

10. Confusion] or, ’chaos’ (Genesis 1:2), so called because of the desolation awaiting it. No man, etc.] the entrance being blocked with ruins,

11. Crying for, etc.] i.e. ’because of wine, the vintage having failed (Joel 1:5).

13. When.. people] RY ’For.. peoples.’ Omit ’there shall be.’

14. They] i.e. the escaped remnant, figuratively described in Isaiah 24:13: cp. Isaiah 17:6. The majesty] as shown in their deliverance. They shall cry.. from the sea] i.e. the dispersed remnant shall raise their cry of praise from the far West. The sea, as usual, denotes the Mediterranean.

15. Fires] RV ’east.’ Songs of praise arise both in E. and W. (the isles).

16. Glory, etc.] i.e. splendid is the lot of the righteous. My leanness, etc.] RV ’I pine away, I pine away, woe is me! ’Songs of joy are premature; the barbariair has yet to complete the desolation.

17f. The desolation yet to come.

18. Windows, etc.] a judgment like the deluge (Genesis 7:11).

20. Removed, etc.] RV ’moved to and fro like a hut.’

21. Host, etc.] i.e. the guardian spirits of the nations (Daniel 10:13; Daniel 12:1), who are responsible for their respective nations, and whose fate is bound up with theirs.

22. Visited] i.e. favourably, and set free.

23. The prophet has passed in thought to the final convulsion of nature, and the manifestation of Jehovah’s kingdom in all its glory.