Verses 2-4
B.—The first prophetic lamp, which in the light of the divine eminence that shall finally appear, makes known the things falsely eminent of the present time
1. The First Prophetic Lamp
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days,
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established1 in the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;And all 2nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many 3people shall go and say,
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,To the house of the God of Jacob;And he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:For out of Zion shall go forth the law,And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations,
And shall 4rebuke many people:
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,And their spears into 5pruning hooks:
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,Neither shall they learn war any more.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
It is now admitted by almost all expositors that this passage is borrowed from Micah. It is old orthodox opinion that the passage may be original as well with Isaiah as with Micah. This view occurs in Abarbanel, with the additional notion that the passage is indeed older in Isaiah, but taken from Isaiah, not by Micah himself, but that it was brought to him in the way of inspiration from the older prophet. (Micha visionem suam enarravit illis verbis, quœ tunc ex Jesaia ori ipsius erant indita). That the passage is original with Isaiah and borrowed from him by Micah is maintained by Calmet, Beckhaus (Integr. d. proph. Schr. d. Alten Bundes, 1798), Umbreit. Some recent expositors (Koppe, Rosenmueller, Hitzig, Maurer. Ewald), are of the opinion that our passage is the expression of a third person, from whom Isa. and Micah have drawn in common. Hitzig and Ewald even indicate Joel as the third person, and Joel 4:10 as the source of our text. If there were an expression of essentially the same import in any older prophet, this hypothesis might have some ground. But such a passage is not to be found. Joel 4:10 contains in fact precisely the opposite. For there Israel is summoned to forge its mattocks into swords, and its pruning hooks into spears, for a war of destruction against the heathen. In as much as a third place from which both may have drawn, is actually non-existent, this hypothesis is in itself superfluous and null. The question can only be, which of the two contemporaries has drawn from the other? And there everything favors the view that Micah is original. In the first place the form of the text in both points that way. For the text of Isaiah, although in the main sounding the same, has still some modifications that characterize it as a free citation, drawn, not from the manuscript original, but from memory. “All nations shall flow unto it,” Isaiah 2:2, certainly comes from the harder, “people shall flow unto it,” Micah 4:1, and not the reverse. And if Isaiah 2:4 is compared with Micah 4:3, the unusual עֲצֻמִים, strong, and the still more unusual עַד־רָחוֹק afar off, certainly do not make the impression of being additions. Rather the language of Isaiah. “And he shall judge among the nations, and rebuke many people,” appears as an abbreviation that reproduces only what is essential. In the second place the passage in Micah stands in the closest connection with what precedes. For with the threatening prophecy that for the sake of Judah’s sins “Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places öf the forests,” Micah 3:12, the promise is connected…by way of contrast, that this desolation of the divine mount shall be superseded by a wonderful glory (comp. Caspari, Micah der Morasthite s. 444 sqq.). It is most intimately connected with this that וְהָיָה, Micah 4:1, has a motive in what goes before, whereas, Isaiah 51:2 it has no motive, and is without example in so abrupt a position (comp. Delitzsch). In the third place the passage in Isaiah appears, in reference to what follows, as a motto, or a torso, prefixed theme-like, whereas in Micah it forms a well-rounded whole with two following verses. Hengstenberg is wrong when he refers the words Micah 4:4 to the Israelites. The heathen, too, according to Isaiah 2:2-3 are Israelites, and thereby partakers of the promise given to Israel (Leviticus 26:5). For (such is evidently the meaning of Isaiah 2:5), while Israel holds to its God forever as the rightful one, the heathen shall hold to their gods, only for a season, viz., until the revolution announced, Isaiah 2:1, takes place. The imperfect ילכו, ver 5 a. is therefore not future, but signifies continuance in the present. At present the prophet would say, all people walk after their gods, but they will not do this forever as Israel. For, Isaiah 2:1-3, he had expressly announced that all heathen shall flow to the mountain of Jehovah. As, therefore, Isaiah 2:4 completed the all-comprehensive portrait of peace in the old theocratic sense, according to passages like Leviticus 26:5; 1 Kings 4:25, Isaiah 2:5 assigns the reason for the glorious promise made in Isaiah 2:1-4. Israel has already now the true way, therefore it needs only to persevere on its way. But the heathen, that are now in the false way, will one time forsake this false way and turn to the right way. The same construction proceeds, and the Isaiah 2:1-5 appear completely as one work from one mould. In the fourth place, the characteristics of the language in several respects bear the decided impress of Micah. The expression “in the last days,” occurs in Isaiah as in Micah, only in this one place. The expression הר בית י׳ is an evident connection with הר הבית Micah 3:12, a designation that occurs only here, therefore is peculiar to Micah. 2 Chronicles 33:15 הַר בית י׳ occurs again for a special reason, and possibly with reference to our passage. נכון only here in both Isaiah and Micah: likewise נִשָּׂא ּבראשׂ הה׳ in Micah only here: in Isaiah three times beside, evidently occasioned by our text in Isaiah 2:2 : see Isaiah 2:12-14 : beside these Isaiah 6:1; Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 57:7; Isaiah 57:15.—נָהָר with the meaning confluere only here in Isaiah and Micah.—The expression גוים רבים does not occur in Isaiah except Isaiah 2:2; on the other hand in Micah twice; here and 4:11, (comp. the remark on עמים רבים at Isaiah 2:3). Later prophets, following Micah’s example, make use of it, especially Ezek. (Ezekiel 27:33; Ezekiel 27:33; Ezekiel 32:3; Ezekiel 32:9-10. etc.). הר יהוה only here in Micah; and also in Isaiah only once beside, Isaiah 30:29.—אלהי יעקב in Isaiah and Micah only here. Isa. always says אלהי ישׂראל, once מֶלֶןְ יעקב (Isaiah 41:21); twice אֲבִיד יעקב (Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16). יורנו מדרכיו in both prophets only here (comp. Micah 3:11; Isaiah 28:9; Isaiah 28:26). Likewise נלכה בא׳.—The pairing of Zion and Jerusalem occurs in Micah in 3, 4, relatively often;Micah 3:10; Micah 3:12; Micah 4:2; Micah 4:8. But in Isaiah, too, it occurs often; Isaiah 4:3-4; Isaiah 10:12; Isaiah 10:32; Isaiah 24:23; Isaiah 30:19; Isaiah 31:9; Isaiah 33:20; Isaiah 37:22; Isaiah 37:32; Isaiah 41:27; Isaiah 52:1-2; Isaiah 62:1; Isaiah 64:9.—עַמִּים רַבִּים occurs in Isaiah in only one other place, Isaiah 17:12. whereas it occurs in Micah four times: Micah 4:3; Micah 4:13; Micah 5:6; Micah 5:27.—The use of רַבִּים and עצומים together does not occur again in Micah; on the other hand once in Isaiah 53:12. The singular גוי עצום once in Isaiah 60:22. The words עד־רחוק are wanting in Isaiah. In fact they occur only here. כתת in Micah again Isaiah 1:7; in Isaiah 24:12; Isaiah 30:14. Plural of חרב in Isaiah only Isaiah 21:15.—אּתִּים only here and Joel 4:10. חנית nowhere in Isaiah.—מזמרות in Isaiah again Isaiah 18:5. The other words have no specific importance. The following expressions, therefore are decidedly peculiar to Micah: 1) הַר בֵּית י׳; 2) גוֹים רַבִּים; 3) עַמִּים רַבִּים; 4) אלהי יעקב; for Isa. constantly says, אלהי ישראל, and יעקר is generally a favorite expression of Micah, which he uses eleven times (comp. Casp. Mic. d. Mor. ss. 412, 444). Only once in Micah and Isaiah, and that in our passage, do the expressions occur; נָהַר בְּרֹאשׁ הֶהָרִים נָכוֹן באחרית הימים, confluere, &נֵלְכָה בְאֹדְחֹתָיו יוֹרֵנוּ מִדְּרָכָיִו, At most נִשָּׂא and the use of רַבִּים and עֲצוּמִים remind us of Isaiah’s style. But it is to be considered that owing to the difference in the size of the books, a single occurrence in Micah has relatively much more weight in settling the usus loquendi.
Isaiah 2:2. This beginning of the discourse with וְהָיָה is unexampled. As is well known, several books begin with וַיְהִי, (Josh., Judges, 1 Sam., 2 Sam., Ezek., Jonah, Neh.). But nowhere except here does והיה stand at the beginning of a discourse without a point of support given in what precedes. We recognize in that, as shown above, a proof that Isaiah took the words, Isaiah 2:2-4, from Micah 4:1-4 as the basis of his discourse. Unmoved, fixed‘ Such is the meaning of נָכוֹן, comp. &בַּיִת נָכוֹן כִּסֵּא נָכוֹן 2 Samuel 7:16; 2 Samuel 7:26; 1 Kings 2:45; Psalms 93:2. נָהַר is probably denom. from נָהָר, and does not occur again in Isaiah in the sense of “flowing.” For וְנָהַרְתְּ Isaiah 60:5, comes from another root, kindred to נוּר, comp. Psalms 34:6. The word occurs in Jeremiah 31:12; Jeremiah 51:44, with the meaning of “flowing, streaming,” but also only in regard to nations.
Isaiah 2:4. שָׁפַט with בֵּין is found again in Isa. only Isaiah 5:3. הוֹכִיחַ is a juridical term as well as שָׁפַט. The fundamental meaning is “εὐθύνω,” “make right, straight,” and corresponds to our “richten und sclichten.” Comp. Isaiah 11:3-4. In the latter place we find the construction with לְ (direct causative Hiphil). Comp. Job 16:21; Job 9:33; Genesis 31:37. אִתִּים, which, as already remarked, excepting here occurs only Micah 4:3 and Joel 4:10. is, doubtless, radically related to &אֵתים אֵת, which occurs 1 Samuel 13:20-21. The first the LXX translate in all cases by ἄροτρα, the Vulgate by aratra (in Joel) or vomeres (in Isa. and Mich.); the latter the LXX translates σκεῦος, Vulgate, ligo. It is uncertain whether the distinction between אֵתִים and אִתִּים is only to be referred to the Masoretic pointing, or to a real etymological difference. In the latter case it is not agreed whether the roots of the words in question are עוּט–אוּת, from which עֵט, style, “engrave, draw,” thence &אוֹת אֵת, not. acc., or אָנָה, from which on the one hand, is אֳנִי, ship=σκεῦος on the other hand &את אֵנֶת, or still another root.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. At the end of days shall the mountain of the house of Jehovah be higher than all mountains, and all peoples shall flow to it, (Isaiah 2:2). They shall encourage themselves to walk thither in order to be instructed in the law of Jehovah. For the law going forth from Zion shall be acknowledged as the right lamp of truth (Isaiah 2:3). Then shall all strife among nations be decided by the application of this law, and therefore, so to speak, by the Lord Himself, so that there shall be no more war, but rather weapons of war, and warlike exercises, shall cease.
2. And it shall come to pass … from Jerusalem.
Isaiah 2:2-3. אחרית הימים, last days, which Isaiah never uses, is a relative conception, but always of eschatological significance, whence the LXX correctly translate it by “ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις,” or by “ἐπ’ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν,” or by “ἐπ’ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν.” It is therefore not = in the time following, but = in the last time. Yet it is to be remarked herewith, that, as Oehler says: “Also the nearer future is set in the light of the last development of the divine kingdom.” Comp. the admirable exposition of this by Oehler, Herzog’sR. Encycl. XVII. S. 653.—In this last time now shall the mountain of the house of Jehovah (comp. Micah 3:12) for all time stand unmoved on the top of the mountains, and be exalted above all hills. The mountains are the protuberances of the earth, in which, so to speak, is embodied its effort upwards, its longing after heaven. Hence the mountains also appear especially adapted as places for the revelation of divinity, and as places of worship for men adoring the divinity. (What is great generally, in contrast with little human works, is conceived of as divine work, compare הַרְרֵי־אֵלPsa 36:7; Psalms 68:16, אַרְזֵ־אֵלPsa 80:11, עִיר גְדֹלָה לֵאלֹהִיםJon 3:3). But there are mountains of God in a narrower sense; thus Horeb is called Mount of God, Exodus 3:1; Exodus 18:5; and Sinai, Numbers 10:33. But above all the mountain of the temple, to which per synecdochen the name of Zion is given, is called the “Mount of God,” the “holy mountain of God,” Psalms 2:6; Psalms 3:5; Psalms 24:3, etc.;Jeremiah 31:23; Joel 2:1; Joel 3:17, etc. But the idols compete with the Holy God for possession of the mountains. For the high places of the mountains are also consecrated by preference to their worship, so that Israel is often reproached with practising fornication with the idols on every high mountain, 1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 17:10; Isaiah 57:7; Isaiah 65:7; Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:6; Jeremiah 17:2; Jeremiah 50:6; Ezekiel 6:2-3; Hosea 4:13. But the Scripture recognizes still another rivalry between the mountains. Psalms 68:16 speaks of the basalt mountains of Bashan with their many pinnacles that look down superciliously upon the lowly and inconsiderable Mount Zion. All these rivalries shall come to an end. It is debated, how does the prophet conceive of the exalting of Mount Zion over the others? Many have supposed he conceives of Mount Zion as piled up over the others, (aliis montibus veluti superimpositum,Vitr.), or thus, that “the high places run together toward it, which thus towers over them, seem to bear it on their heads” (Hofmann,Weisz. u. Erf. II. p. 101). But, comparing other passages, it seems to me probable that Isaiah would say: there will be in general no mountain on earth except Mount Zion alone. All will have become plain; only the mount of God shall be still a mountain. One God, one mountain. If, for example, we consider the words below, Isaiah 2:12-17 the prophet says there that divine judgment shall go forth upon all that is high in the world, and all human loftiness shall be humbled, that “the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” Just so, too, we read Isaiah 40:4, “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain.” When hills and vallies disappear, the land becomes even. To be sure, it seems as if 40 treats only of a level road for the approaching king. But this level road is prepared for the Lord precisely and only thereby, that in all the land, all high places shall disappear upon which idols could be worshipped. Zechariah expresses still more clearly the thought that the sole dominion of the Lord is conditioned on the restoration of a complete plain in the land. He says, Isaiah 14:9-10. “And the Lord shall be king over all the land; in that day shall be oneLord, and His name one. All the land shall turn to lowness from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; But this itself shall be lifted up, and shall abide in its place,” etc. It may be objected to this explanation that Isaiah 2:2, the presence of mountains and hills is in fact presupposed, because it says, “at the top of the mountains,” and “higher than the hills.” But must the prophets in the places cited above, have thought of the restoration of a plain in a mathematical sense? Certainly not. The notion of a plain is relative. There shall, indeed, remain therefore, mountains and hills, but in comparison with the mountain of the Lord, they shall no more deserve these names; they shall appear as plains.
From this results that בראשׁ is not=upon the head (this must be expressed by עַל רֹאשׁ, comp. Exodus 34:2. 1 Samuel 26:13; Isaiah 30:17) but=at the top or head (comp. Amos 6:7; Deuteronomy 20:9; 1 Samuel 9:22; 1 Kings 21:9; 1 Kings 21:12). This latter however, cannot mean that the mountain of the Lord shall have the other mountains behind it, but under itself. Without doubt “the mountain of the house of the Lord,” and the הַר מְרוֹם יִשְׂרָאֵל and הַר גַּבֹהּ of Ezekiel are identical, (Ezekiel 17:22 sq.; Ezekiel 20:40, Ezekiel 34:14; Ezekiel 40:2).
This high mountain shall be exactly the opposite of that “tower whose top may reach unto heaven” Genesis 11:4, which, being a self-willed structure by die hands of insolent men, separated mankind. For our divine mountain, a work of God, reunites mankind again. They all see it in its glory that is radiant over all things, and recognize it not only as the source of their salvation, but also as the centre of their unity. Therefore they flow from all sides to it. These “Many people,” i.e., countless nations, which are essentially the same as the “all nations” mentioned before, shall mutually encourage one another “to go up,” (the solemn word for religious journies, comp. Caspari,Micha, p. 140), for which a fourfold object is named: the mountain of Jehovah; on the mountain the house of the God of Jacob; in the house the instruction out of the ways of God (the ways of God are conceived of as the source of the instruction, comp. Isaiah 47:13; Psalms 94:12); and, in consequence of this instruction, the walking in the paths of God. Only the words from “Come ye” to “his paths” contain the language of the nations. The following phrase “for out of Zion,” gives the reason that shall determine the nations to such discourse and conduct. תּוֹרָה, law, is neither the (Sinaitic) law, for it must then read חַתּוֹרָה, nor the law of the king ruling in Zion. For what goes forth from Zion is just what the nations seek. They do not seek a political chief, however, but one that will teach them the truth, תּוֹרָה is therefore to be taken in the sense of the preceding יֹרֵנוּ, he will teach us. It is therefore primarily doctrine, instruction in general, but which immediately is limited as דְּבָד י׳word of the Jehovah. But shall the nations, turn toward Zion only because “law” goes forth from thence? Did not then, even in the Prophet’s time and before that, law go out from Zion; and did the nations let themselves be determined by that to migrate to Zion? We shall then need to construe “law” and “word of the Lord” in a pregnant sense: that which deserves the name of divine doctrine in the highest and completest sense, therefore the absolute doctrine, which alone truly satisfies and therefore also irresistibly draws all men. This doctrine, i.e., the gospel of Jesus Christ is, true enough, gone forth out of Jerusalem, and may be called the Zionitic Tora, in contrast with the Sinaitic. (Comp. Delitzschin loc.). Therefore that “preaching repentance and remission of sins in the name of Christ to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem,” Luke 24:47, is the beginning of the fulfilment of our prophecy. Comp. Zechariah 8:20 sqq.
3. And he shall judge—learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4. The consequences of this divine instruction, sought and received by the nations, shall be, that the nations shall order their affairs and compose their judicial processes according to the mind of him that has taught them. So shall God appear as that one who judges between the nations and awards a (judicial) sentence. The Spirit of God that lives in His word is a Spirit of love and of peace. The God of peace sanctifies, therefore, the nations through and through (1 Thessalonians 5:23) so that they no more confront one another in the sense and spirit of the brute power of this world, but in the mind and spirit of the Kingdom of God. They are altogether children of God, brothers, and are become one great family. War ceases; the implements of war become superfluous; they shall be forged over into the instruments of peace. The exercises at arms, by which men in peace prepare for war, fall of themselves away. The meaning “plowshare” evidently corresponds best to the context, in which the contrast between agriculture and war is the fundamental idea; at the same time it may be remarked that a scythe, mattock, or hoe, does not need to be forged over again to serve for arms, Joel 3:10.—The מַזְמֵרָה (Isaiah 18:5) is the vine-dresser’s knife. A lance head may easily be made out of it. It is remarkable, that excepting this place, Isaiah, who speaks so much of war, uses, none of the words that in Hebrew mean “spear, lance.”
As regards the fulfilling of our prophecy, the Prophet himself says that it shall follow in the last time. If it now began a long time ago; if especially the appearance of the Lord in the flesh, and the founding of His kingdom and the preaching of the gospel among all nations be an element of that fulfilment, yet it is by no means a closed up transaction. What it shall yet bring about we know not. If many, especially Jewish expositors have taken the words too coarsely, and outwardly, so, on the other hand, we must guard against a one-sided spiritualizing. Certainly the prophets do not think of heaven. Plows and pruning hooks have as little to do with heaven, as swords and spears. And what has the high place of Mount Zion to do in heaven? Therefore our passage speaks for the view that one time, and that, too, here on this earth, the Lord shall appropriate the kingdom, (Isaiah 60:21; Matthew 5:5), suppress the world kingdoms and bring about a condition of peace and glory. That then what is outward shall conform to what is inward, is certain, even though we must confess our ignorance in regard to the ways and means of the realization in particulars.
[Regarding the question of Isaiah 2:2-4 being original to Isa. or Micah, J. A. Alexander says: “The verbal variations may be best explained, however, by supposing that they both adopted a traditional prediction current among the people in their day, or, that both received the words directly from the Holy Spirit. So long as we have reason to regard both places as authentic and inspired, it matters little what is the literary history of either.”
Barnes says: “But there is no improbability in supposing that Isa., may have availed himself of language, used by Micah in describing the same event.”
At Isaiah 2:2. “Instead of saying, in modern phraseology, that the church, as a society, shall become conspicuous and attract all nations, he represents the mountain upon which the temple stood as being raised and fixed above the other mountains, so as to be visible in all directions.”—J. A. A.
Isaiah 2:4. “Volney states that the Syrian plow is often nothing but the branch of a tree, cut below a bifurcation, and used without wheels. The plowshare is a piece of iron, broad but not large, which tips the end of the shaft. So much does it resemble the short sword used by the ancient warriors, that it may with very little trouble, be converted into that deadly weapon; and when the work of destruction is over, reduced again to its former shape.”—Barnes.]
[So we have seen it—ploughing on Mount Zion.—M. W. J.]
Footnotes:
[1]Or, prepared.
[2]peoples.
[3]nations.
[4]award sentence.
[5]Or, scythes.
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