Isaiah 24:13-23

2. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE GLOBE

Isaiah 24:13-23

13     6When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people,

There shall be as the shaking of an olive tree,

And as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

14     They shall lift up their voice,

They shall sing for the majesty of the Lord,

They shall cry aloud from the sea.

15     Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the [7]8fires,

Even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

16     From the 9uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs,

Even glory to the righteous.

But I said,

10My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!

The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously;Yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.

17     Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee,

O inhabitant of the earth.

18     And it shall come to pass,

That he who fleeth from the noise of the fear

Shall fall into the pit;And he that cometh up out of the midst of the pitShall be taken in the snare:For the windows from on high are open,And the foundations of the earth do shake.

19     The earth is utterly broken down;

The earth is clean dissolved,The earth is moved exceedingly.

20     The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard,

And shall 11be removed like a cottage;

And the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;And it shall fall,And not rise again.

21     And it shall come to pass in that day,

That the Lord shall 12punish the host of the high ones that are on high,

And the kings of the earth upon the earth.

22     And they shall be gathered together, 13as prisoners are gathered in 14the pit,

And shall be shut up in the prison,And after many days shall they be 15visited.

23     Then the moon shall be confounded,

And the sun ashamed,When the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem,And 16before his ancients gloriously.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 24:13. The impersonal expression כה יהיה is to be understood as וְהָיָה Isaiah 17:5.

Isaiah 24:19. רֹעָה is a substantive as בֶּגֶד in Isaiah 24:16 and אֲסֵפָה in Isaiah 24:22; three examples in this chapter of the infin. abs. being represented by a substantive formed from the same stem. Isaiah 24:22. Many would connect אַסִּיר with אֲסֵפָה; but אַסִּיר is really in apposition to the subject involved in אֻסִּפוּ. The singular אַסִּיר need not cause surprise; comp. Isaiah 20:4. The case before us comes under the category of the ideal number treated of, Naegelsbach Gr., § 61, 1 sq. עַל stands in the signification of אֵל. Comp. on Isaiah 10:3.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The Prophet depicts here the second stage of the world’s destruction. This consists substantially in the shattering of the globe of the earth itself. The transition is formed by the thought, Isaiah 24:13, that only few men, a gleaning, as it were, will survive the first catastrophe. But these saved ones are the pious, the elect of God. These flee to the promised land, to Jerusalem. From the sea, i.e., from the west, the prophet hears the song of praise (Isaiah 24:14). He answers by calling on east and west to praise the name of the Lord (Isaiah 24:15). This summons is obeyed. We perceive from this, that the elect of God are hidden in a safe place (Isaiah 24:16 a). But that is just the occasion for the signal to be given for the occurrence of the last and most frightful catastrophe. The Prophet announces it with an exclamation of anxiety and terror. At the same time he declares why it must be so; the sin of men provokes the judgment of God (Isaiah 24:16 b). He characterizes beforehand the catastrophe as one which shall take place in different successive acts, each more severe than the preceding, so that he who has escaped the first blow will certainly fall under the second or the third (Isaiah 24:17-18 a). For, as at the deluge, the windows of heaven will be opened, and the foundations of the earth will be broken up (Isaiah 24:18 b). The globe of the earth will then rend, burst, break (Isaiah 24:19), reel like a drunken man. The earth cannot bear the load of sin. It must, therefore, fall to rise again no more (Isaiah 24:20). But the judgment of God is not confined to the earth: The angelic powers that are hostile to God will, as well as the representatives of the worldly power on earth, be cast into the abyss, and there shut up for a time; but after a certain term has expired, they will again be liberated (Isaiah 24:21-22). Sun and moon, too, will lose their brightness, so that only in one place of the world can safety be found, namely, in Zion. For, although the rest of the earth be shattered, Zion, the holy mount, remains uninjured. For there Jehovah rules as king, and through the heads of His people there gathered round Him will He communicate His glory to His people also (Isaiah 24:23).

2. When thus it shall be—treacherously.

Isaiah 24:13-16. In the olive and grape harvest the great mass of the fruit is shaken or plucked off and cast into the press. Only few berries remain on the olive tree or vine. The few remaining olives are struck off with a stick. The few grapes remaining on the vine are afterwards cut off. When, then, at the close of the catastrophe depicted in Isaiah 24:1-13, only few persons survive, that is a proof of the extent of the catastrophe, and a measure whereby to estimate it. This by the way of explaining the כִי. [Translate, “For thus it shall be;” not as in the E. V. “When thus it shall be,” etc.]. But few escape destruction. These are the elect. To these few, who are by implication supposed in Isaiah 24:13 b, הֵמָּה, Isaiah 24:14, refers. They exult at their deliverance, which they owe to the majesty of Jehovah, רנן is found as here connected with צָהַל12:6; Isaiah 54:1. רנן occurs frequently in the first and second part of Isaiah. גָאוֹן is an expression very common in Isaiah. But why does the Prophet hear from the sea, i.e., from the west the exulting shout of them that have escaped? We cannot, with Drechsler and some older interpreters, take מִיָּם in the comparative sense (they shall cry aloud more than the sea); for צהל, an onomatopoetic word, denotes a clear sound (like the neighing of a horse) which cannot be compared with the thunder of the sea. Does there lie in the expression מים something like a foreboding of the fact that the Church of the Lord would spread especially in the lands of the west, and that, therefore, the great mass of the redeemed would come from that quarter? From the moment when the Prophet announced the comforting word (Isaiah 24:13-14), all the godly dwelling in the east and west are to praise the name of the Lord who has given to them, in place of the terrible day of judgment, the promise of deliverance. There can be no doubt that the word אֻרִים is connected with &אוּר אוֹר (ignis, flamma, a word peculiar to Isaiah; for beside Isaiah 31:9; Isaiah 44:16; Isaiah 47:14; Isaiah 50:11, it is found only Ezekiel 5:2, and there probably as a reminiscence from Isaiah) and with אוּרִים (on the breastplate of the high-priest). As the light rises daily in the east of the earth, as in opposition to it the north is conceived as צָפוֹן (plaga abscondita, caliginosa), as the Greeks too designate the eastern region of the heavens by πρὸς ἠῶ τ’ ἠέλιόν τε (Il. xii. 239 et saepe), we are justified in understanding by אֻרִים the countries of light, or the sun, i.e. the east. The meaning “eastern countries” answers well to the “islands of the sea” in the parallel clause. There is no need for altering the text. In Isaiah 24:14 those who are saved are described as coming with jubilation, and in Isaiah 24:15 all who desire deliverance are summoned to shout for joy. This explains how the Prophet, Isaiah 24:16, actually hears songs of praise (comp. Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 51:3; Isaiah 25:5) from the end of the earth (כָּנָףala, ora, extremity; כנף הארץ only here, yet comp. Isaiah 11:12). The theme of the songs is צְבִי לַצַּדִּיק. If it were said כָּבוֹד ל׳, I would unhestitatingly refer צדיק to God. But, as Delitzsch well remarks, Jahve bestows צְבִי4:2; Isaiah 28:5; but to him כּבוֹד is given. The thought is like that in Romans 2:6 sqq. Every one is rewarded according to his works. Therefore praise (צְבִיornatus, decus, splendor4:2; Isaiah 13:19; Isaiah 23:9; Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 28:4-5) is to the righteous, but tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil. The fundamental idea of the divine judgment is thus expressed. The Prophet has seen the one side “glory to the righteous” fulfilled. These, the righteous, have arrived at their hiding place. They are gathered on the holy mountain, and find there protection (Isaiah 4:5 sq.). But thereby the sign is given that now the judgment can begin, and has to begin on the ungodly. This prospect agitates the Prophet exceedingly. He sees himself in that fatal moment fear and quake, and hears himself breaking out into the words רזי לי וגו׳. This he introduces with ואמר רָזי. is ἅπ. λεγ. But the signification is clear. The verb רָזָה denotes attenuare, maciare (Isaiah 17:4). The Prophet feels his powers wasting away as the effect of the extraordinary terror (comp. Daniel 7:28; Daniel 8:27; Daniel 10:16 sqq.). He next declares that the צדיק has his counterpart on earth in the בֹכֵּד. As the former has glory for his portion from a just God, so the latter receives “fear and the pit and the snare.” It will have been seen that I do not take בגד in the sense of “robber,” but retain its proper signification of perfidy, faithlessness, falling away (Isaiah 21:2; Isaiah 33:1; Isaiah 48:8). The Prophet by the accumulation and repetition of verbal and substantive forms of בָּנד indicates that this perfidy and faithlessness were exercised in the highest degree, and in all forms.

3. Fear and the pit——rise again.

Isaiah 24:17-20. By three assonant words which sound in accord not only with one another, but also with the immediately preceding symphony, the Prophet characterizes, first in general terms, the terrible catastrophe, the second act of the judgment of the world. By the threefold series of punishments the impossibility of escaping judgment is effectively set before the eyes. And then, in particular, the all-embracing character of the judgment which lets nothing escape, is exhibited by showing how the earth is affected above, below, and in the midst, and shaken till it is broken down. First, the windows (ארבותcancelli, fenestrae, Genesis 7:11; Genesis 8:2 comp. Isaiah 60:8) from on high,i.e., from heaven, are opened, not to let rain fall in order to produce a deluge; for the earth shall not be destroyed again by water (Genesis 9:11). But the Lord has yet other weapons. Wind, fire, thunder and lightning, drought, pestilence, etc., are also God’s instruments of punishment, and they also in a certain sense come from on high (comp. Psalms 78:49). The foundations of the earth (Isaiah 58:12, comp. Isaiah 40:21) are the foundations on which the earth rests. These shall be shaken (Isaiah 13:13; Isaiah 14:16). Then the globe of the earth, assailed from above, and from beneath deprived of its supports, must feel in itself the powerful hand of Almighty God. Four times in succession is the word “the earth” or “earth” used with emphasis. Terrible, not merely local, but universal earthquakes shake the earth. It receives rents, becomes full of breaks, totters (Isaiah 40:20; Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 54:10), reels (Isaiah 6:4; Isaiah 7:2; Isaiah 19:1; Isaiah 29:9; Isaiah 37:22) as the drunkard (generic article) and oscillates to and fro as the hammock shaken by the wind (Isaiah 1:8). Who could deem it possible that there is a burden which the earth that sustains everything, cannot bear, by which it is crushed as a house too heavily burdened? This burden is sin (Isaiah 1:4; Psalms 38:5). This is the destruction of men and of things. Where God’s creation is tainted with it, it must come to naught. As man, the lord of creation, fell by sin, so must the earth also, the theatre of human history, fall by sin never again to rise in its previous form. The words It shall fall and not rise again, are a clear proof that the total destruction of the globe of the earth in its present form is the subject treated of. In its present form! For the earth shall rise again in a higher, holy form beyond the range of sin and its consequence, death. For there is a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1).

4. And it shall come—gloriously.

Isaiah 24:21-23. The Prophet now lifts up his eye to the super-terrestrial sphere. As the lot of the earth is affected by the influence of that sphere, so the swoop of the judgment that falls upon the earth must reach even to it. That צבא המרום are not earthly powers (Luther“hohe Ritterschaft,”Targum, Calvin, Haveernick and others), may be inferred even from the expression צבא; for the high ones of the earth do not form a צָבָא. Moreover צבא חמרום is evidently identical with “the host of heaven,” Isaiah 34:4, and by the addition בַּמָּרום this צבא המרוֹם is more than sufficiently distinguished from every conceivable צבא המרום upon the earth. That the host of the height are only the stars, as Hofmann (Schriftbeweis II. 2, p. 522) would have it, seems to be rendered by the context incredible. For how could the irrational glories of heaven be put in conjunction with the rational glories of the earth? The former correspond not to our kings, but to our earth itself. How, too, can we conceive a judgment executed on a world, without its affecting at the same time those intelligent beings that stand in any connection with that world? It seems to me to be likewise one-sided to refer צבא המרום merely to the angels, who are said to be heads and guardians of the separate kingdoms (Daniel 10:13; Daniel 10:20; Rosenmueller, Hitzig, Delitzsch, and others), or to the heathen gods conceived of as angels (Knobel). The judgment of God falls certainly on every thing that can be called צבא המרום, so far as it has at all merited the judgment. The expression is found only here; but the nearly related expression, “the host of heaven,” is frequently used to designate, sometimes, the host of the stars (Isaiah 40:26; Isaiah 45:12; Jeremiah 8:2; Jeremiah 33:22; Daniel 8:10), sometimes, the angelic world (1 Kings 22:19; Psalms 103:21; Nehemiah 9:6, and the expression צְבָאוֹת), sometimes, perhaps, both together (Deuteronomy 4:19; Deu 17:3; 2 Kings 17:16; 2 Kings 21:3; 2 Kings 21:5; Isaiah 34:4; Zephaniah 1:5). The host of the height and the kings of the earth are both the subject of אספו, Isaiah 24:22. As now we have shown that the host of the height can designate the world of angels, and as the Scripture clearly testifies that the angels are bound as a punishment for their apostasy (2 Peter 2:4; Judges 6:0; Revelation 20:1-3), can not the Prophet’s eye have perceived this feature of the picture of what will take place at the end of the world? The invisible, extramundane heads of the worldly power, as well as their earthly, visible organs, will, according to the statement of the Prophet, be collected as prisoners in the pit, and shut up in it. The pit is here used for Sheol as oftentimes (Isaiah 14:15; Isaiah 14:19; Isaiah 38:18). But not merely the binding of those angelic and worldly powers, their being set loose for a time is also announced by the Prophet. Only by a brief, obscure word, probably not seen through by himself, does the Prophet intimate this. Even we should not understand this word if the revelation of the New Testament, which is nearer the time of the fulfilment, did not throw light on this dark point. It declares expressly that after a thousand years Satan should be loosed out of his prison (Revelation 20:7). Isaiah uses here an indefinite announcement of time—after many days—and an indefinite verb. פקד stands here as Isaiah 23:17 of a visiting which consists in looking again after some one who has remained for a time neglected (Jeremiah 27:22). This ἐπισκέπτειν can be a gracious visitation, but it can also be a new stage in the visitation of judgment. That we have to take the word here in the latter sense is seen from the place quoted from the Revelation of John. The setting loose of Satan is only the prelude to his total destruction, Revelation 20:10. Then follows the last, highest and grandest revelation of God. The earth now becomes what it ought originally to have been, but which it was hindered from being by sin, viz., the common dwelling-place of God and of men. The heavenly Jerusalem, the tabernacle in which God dwells with men (Revelation 21:3) descends upon the renovated earth. This is the Jerusalem in which according to Isaiah 24:23, Jehovah Zebaoth reigns as King. This city needs no sun and no moon any more—for the Lord Himself is its light (Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5). Before this light the earthly sun (חַמָּה, Isaiah 30:26) and the earthly moon (ibid.) grow pale (comp. Isaiah 1:29); they which were created to rule the day and to rule the night, resign their dominion to Him who alone and everywhere from this time on will from mount Zion rule the earth. Here too is the place where the redeemed of the Lord (Isaiah 24:13-16) find everlasting rest and protection (Isaiah 4:5 sq.). The Prophet has already (Isaiah 1:22 sqq.) shown the importance of rulers for the moral condition of the people. The whole history of the people is a proof of their importance. In the new Jerusalem the new Israel will have new elders also, who will not be the promoters of wickedness and misery any more, but of all that is good and glorious (Isaiah 3:14). The elders of the Apocalypse, who perhaps bear their name from this place before us, are, therefore, in my opinion, not angels, as Hofmann will have them to be, but representatives of the people of God. For why should there not be order and organization even in the kingdom of glory?

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1.Isaiah 24:2. “When general judgments take place, no distinction is observed between man and wife, master and servant, mistress and maid, learned and unlearned, noble and plebeian, clergy and laity; therefore let no one rely on any external prerogative or superiority, but let every one without distinction repent and forsake sin.”—Cramer. Though this is right, yet we must, on the other hand, remember that the Lord declares in reference to the same great event, “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left” (Matthew 24:10 sq.). There is no contradiction in these two statements. Both are true: outward relations will make no difference; there shall be no respect of persons. But the state of the heart will make a difference. According to the inward character there will, in the case of those whose external position in the world is perfectly alike, be some who enter life, others whose doom is death.

2.Isaiah 24:5; Isaiah 24:5 sq. “The earth is burdened with sins, and is therefore deprived of every blessing. The earth must suffer for our guilt, when we have as it were spoilt it, and it must be subject to vanity for our sakes (Romans 8:20). What wonder is it that it should show itself ungrateful toward us?”—Cramer.

[3.Isaiah 24:13; Isaiah 24:13 sq. “Observe the small number of this remnant; here and there one who shall escape the common calamity (as Noah and his family, when the old world was drowned), who when all faces gather blackness, can lift up their head with joy. Luke 21:26-28.” Henry.—D. M.].

4.Isaiah 24:17-20. Our earth is a volcanic body. Mighty volcanic forces were active at its formation. That these are still in commotion in the interior of the earth is proved by the many active volcanoes scattered over the whole earth, and by the perpetual volcanic convulsions which we call earthquakes. These have hitherto been confined to particular localities. But who can guarantee that a concentration and simultaneous eruption of those volcanic forces, that is, a universal earthquake, shall not hereafter occur? The Lord makes express mention of earthquakes among the signs which shall precede His second coming (Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11). And in 2 Peter 3:5 sqq. the future destruction of the earth by fire is set over against the destruction of the old world by water. Isaiah in our place announces a catastrophe whose characteristic features will be that, 1) there will be no escape from it; 2) destructive forces will assail from above and below; 3) the earth will be rent asunder; 4) it will reel and totter; 5) it will suffer so heavy a fall that it will not rise again (Isaiah 24:20 b). Is there not here a prophecy of the destruction of the earth by volcanic forces? And how suddenly can they break loose! The ministers of the word have every reason to compare this extreme exposedness of our earth to fire, and the possibility of its unexpectedly sudden collapse with the above-cited warnings of the word of God, and to attach thereto the admonition which is added in 2 Peter 3:11.

5.Isaiah 24:21. The earth is a part of our planetary system. It is not what it appears to the optical perception to be, a central body around which worlds of a different nature revolve, but it, together with many similar bodies, revolves round a common centre. The earth according to that view of the account of the creation in Genesis 1:0, which appears to me the true one, has arisen with all the bodies of our Solar system out of one primary matter, originally united, common to them all. If our Solar System is a well-ordered, complete organism, it must rest on the basis of a not merely formal, but also material unity; i.e., the separate bodies must move, not only according to a principle of order which governs all, but they must also as to their substance be essentially like. And as they arose simultaneously, so must they perish simultaneously. It is inconceivable that our earth alone should disappear from the organism of the Solar System, or pass over to a higher material condition. Its absence, or ceasing to exist in its previous form and substance, would necessarily draw after it the ruin of the whole system. Hence the Scripture speaks every where of a passing away and renovation of the heaven and the earth (Psalms 102:26; Isaiah 51:6; Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22; Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:29; Mat 24:35; 2 Peter 3:7; 2Pe 3:10; 2 Peter 3:13; Hebrews 12:26; Revelation 20:11; Revelation 21:1). The heaven that shall pass away with a great noise, whose powers shall be shaken, whose stars shall fall, is the planetary heaven. The same lot will happen to the companions of our earth, to the other planets, and to the centre, the sun, and to all other co-ordinate and subordinate stellar bodies, which will befall the earth itself. This is the substance of the view which serves as a basis for our place. But personal beings are not thereby by any means excluded from the צבא מרום. The parallel expression מלכי האדמה, and the use in other places of the related expression צבא השׁמים lead us rather to suppose personal beings to be included. But I believe that a distinction must be made here. As the heavenly bodies which will pass away simultaneously with the earth, can only be those which arose together with it, and which stand in organic connection with it, so also the angelic powers, which are judged simultaneously with us men, can be only those which stand in connection with the heavenly bodies of our Solar System, i.e., with the earthly material world. There are heavenly bodies of glorious pneumatic substance. If personal beings stand in connection with them, they must also be pure, glorious, resplendent beings. These will not be judged. They are the holy angels, who come with the Lord (Matthew 25:31). But it is quite conceivable that all the bodies of our Solar System are till the judgment like our earth suffered to be the theatre of the spirits of darkness.

6. Isaiah 24:21-23, It seems to me that the Prophet has here sketched the chief matters pertaining to eschatology. For the passing away of heaven and earth, the binding of Satan (Revelation 20:1-3), the loosing of Satan again (Revelation 20:7), and finally the reign of God alone, which will make sun and moon unnecessary (Revelation 21:23)—are not these the boundary-stones of the chief epochs of the history of the end of the world?

7. Isaiah 25:6. [“The Lord of hosts makes this feast. The provision is very rich, and every thing is of the best. It is a feast, which supposes abundance and variety; it is a continual feast to believers: it is their fault if it be not. It is a feast of fat things and full of marrow; so relishing, so nourishing are the comforts of the Gospel to all those that feast upon them and digest them. The returning prodigal was entertained with the fatted calf; and David has that pleasure in communion with God, with which his soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness. It is a feast of wines on the lees; the strongest-bodied wines, that have been long kept upon the lees, and then are well refined from them, so that they are clear and fine. There is that in the Gospel which, like fine wine, soberly used, makes glad the heart, and raises the spirits, and is fit for those that are of a heavy heart, being under convictions of sin, and mourning for it, that they may drink and forget their misery (for that is the proper use of wine; it is a cordial for those that need it, Proverbs 31:6-7) may be of good cheer, knowing that their sins are forgiven, and may be vigorous in their spiritual work and warfare, as a strong man refreshed with wine.” Henry.—D. M.]

8. Isaiah 25:9. “In the Old Testament the vail and covering were before men’s eyes, partly because they waited for the light that was to appear, partly because they sat in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luke 1:79). The fulfilment of this prediction has in Christ already begun, and will at last be perfectly fulfilled in the Church triumphant where all ignorance and sorrow shall be dispelled (1 Corinthians 13:12).” Cramer.

9. Isaiah 25:8. “God here represents Himself as a mother, who presses to her bosom her sorrowful son, comforts him and wipes away his tears (Isaiah 66:13). The righteous are to believe and appropriate this promise, that every one may learn to speak with Paul in the time of trial: the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, Romans 8:18.” Cramer.

10. Isaiah 25:10. “This is now the hope and consolation of the church that the hand of the Lord rests on this mountain, that is, that He will be gracious, and let His power, help and grace be there seen and felt. But the unbelieving Moabites, i.e., the Jews, with all others who will not receive the gospel, shall be threshed to pieces as straw in the mire; these the Lord’s hand will not rescue, as it helps those who wait on Him, but it shall press them down so that they will never rise, according to the saying, Mark 16:16.” Veit Dietrich.

11.Isaiah 25:0 Three thoughts contained in this chapter we should hold fast: 1) When we see the world triumph over every thing which belongs to the Lord and His kingdom, when our hearts are anxious about the preservation in the world of the Church of Christ, which is sore oppressed, let this word of the Prophet comfort our hearts. The world-city which contains all that is of the world, sinks into the dust, and the church of Christ goes from her chains and bands into the state of freedom and glory. We have often seen that it is the Lord’s way to let every thing come to maturity. When it is once ripe, He comes suddenly with His sentence. Let us comfort ourselves therewith, for thus will it happen with the world and its dominion over the faithful followers of Christ. When it is ripe, suddenly it will come to an end. 2) No one who has a heart for the welfare of the nations can see without the deepest pain how all hearts are now seduced and befooled, and all eyes closed and covered. The simplest truths are no longer acknowledged, but the more perverse, brutal and mean views and doctrines are, the more greedily are they laid hold of. We cannot avert this. But our comfort is that even this seduction of the nations will reach its climax. Then men will come to themselves. The vail and covering will fall off, and the Gospel will shine with new light before the nations. Therewith let us comfort ourselves. 3) Till this happens, the church is sorrowful. But she shall be full of joy. The promise is given to her that she shall be fully satisfied with the good things of the house of the Lord. A life is promised to her which neither death nor any pain can affect, as she has rest from all enemies. The word of the Lord shall be fulfilled in her: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The Church that has such a promise may wait in patient quietness for its accomplishment, and praise the Lord in affliction, till it pleases Him to glorify her before all nations.” Weber, The Prophet Isaiah. 1875.

12.Isaiah 26:1. “The Christian church is a city of God. God has built it, and He is the right Master-builder. It is strong: 1) on account of the Builder; 2) on account of the foundation and corner-stone, which is Christ; 3) on account of the bond wherewith the living stones are bound together, which is the unity of the faith.” Cramer. [The security and happiness of true believers, both on earth and in heaven, is represented in Scripture under the image of their dwelling in a city in which they can bid defiance to all their enemies. We dwell in such a city even now, Psalms 46:4-5. We look for such a city, Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 11:16; Revelation 21:0—D. M.]

13.Isaiah 26:2. [These words may be taken as a description of the people whom God owns, who are fit to be accounted members of the church of the living God on earth, and who will not be excluded from the celestial city. Instead of complaining that only the righteous and the faithful will be admitted into the heavenly city, it should rather give us joy to think that there will be no sin there, that none but the just and true will there be found. This has been a delightful subject of reflection to God’s saints. The last words written by Henry Martyn were: “Oh! when shall time give place to eternity? When shall appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? There, there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth; none of that wickedness which has made men worse than wild beasts—none of their corruptions which add to the miseries of mortality shall be seen or heard of any more.”—D. M.]

14.Isaiah 26:4. “The fourth privilege of the church is trust in God the Rock of Ages, i.e., in Christ, who not only here, but also Matthew 16:0; 1 Corinthians 10:0; 1 Peter 2:0, is called a rock in a peculiar manner, because no other foundation of salvation and of the church can be laid except this rock, which is here called the rock of ages on account of the eternity of His being, merit and office. Hence a refutation can be drawn of the papistical fable which makes Peter and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, to be the rock on which the church is built.” Foerster. [“Whatever we trust to the world for, it will be but for a moment. All we expect from it is confined within the limits of time; but what we trust in God for will last as long as we shall last. For in the Lord Jehovah, Jah, Jehovah, in Him who was, and is, and is to come, there is a rock of ages, a firm and lasting foundation for faith and hope to build upon; and the house built on that rock will stand in a storm.” Henry.”—D. M.]

15.Isaiah 26:5. “It is very common with the prophets, when they prophesy of the kingdom of Christ to make reference to the proud and to the needy, and to represent the latter as exalted and the former as brought low. This truth is directed properly against the self-righteous. For Christ and His righteousness will not endure spiritual pride and presumption; but the souls that are poor, that hunger and thirst for grace, that know their need, these Christ graciously receives.” Cramer.

16. Isaiah 26:6. “It vexes the proud all the more that they will be overcome by those who are poor and of no consequence. For example, Goliath was annoyed that a boy should come against him with a staff (1 Sam. 13:43) Cramer.

17. Isaiah 26:8-10. That the justice of God must absolutely manifest itself that the majesty of the Lord may be seen, and that the wicked may learn righteousness, must even from a new Testament view-point be admitted. But the New Testament disputes the existence of any one who is righteous when confronted by the law, and who is not deserving of punishment. [But that there is none righteous, no not one, is taught most emphatically in the Old Testament also.—D. M.]. But it (the New Testament) while it shuts up all, Jews and Gentiles, without exception, under sin (Galatians 3:22; Romans 3:9; Romans 11:32), sets forth a scheme of mediation, which, while it renders full satisfaction to justice, at the same time offers to all the possibility of deliverance. This mediation is through the Cross of Christ. It is only when this mediation has not been accepted that punitive justice has free course. It should not surprise us that even the Evangelist of the Old Covenant, who wrote chap. 53, did not possess perfect knowledge of this mediation. Let us remember John the Baptist (Matthew 3:7; Matthew 11:11) and the disciples of the Lord (Luke 9:54). [Let us not forget that Isaiah was a true Prophet, and spoke as he was moved by the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul did not find fault with the most terrible denunciations of judgment contained in the Old Testament, or affect a superiority over the men who uttered them. On the contrary, he quotes them as words which could not be suffered to fall, but which must be fulfilled in all their dreadful import. See e.g. Romans 11:9-10.—D. M.].

18. Isaiah 26:12. “It is a characteristic of true, sincere Christians, that they give God the glory and not themselves, and freely confess that they have nothing of themselves, but everything from God (1 Corinthians 4:7; Philippians 2:13; Hebrews 12:2).” Cramer.

19. Isaiah 26:16. The old theologians have many comforting and edifying thoughts connected with this place: “A magnet has the power to raise and attract to itself iron. Our heart is heavy as iron. But the hand of God is as a magnet. When that hand visits us with affliction, it lifts us up, and draws us to itself.” “Distress teaches us to pray, and prayer again dispels all distress. One wedge displaces the other.” “Ex gravibus curis impellimur ad pia vota.” “Ex monte myrrhae procedimus ad collem thuris (Cant. 9:6). In amaritudine crucis exsurgit odor devotae precationis (Psalms 86:6 sq.).” “Ubi nulla crux et tentatio, ibi nulla vera oratio. Oratio sine mails est tanquam avis sine alis. Optimus orandi magister necessitas. Τὰ παθήματα μαθήματα. Quae nocent, docent. Ubi tentatio, ibi oratio. Mala, quae hic nos premunt, ad Deum ire compellunt. Qui nescit orare, ingrediatur mare.” “When the string is most tightly drawn, it sounds best. Cross and temptation are the right prayer-bell. They are the press by which God crushes out the juice of prayer.” Cramer and Foerster.

20. Isaiah 26:20. As God, when the deluge was about to burst, bade Noah go into his ark as into his chamber, and Himself shut the door on him (Genesis 7:6); so does the Lord still act when a storm is approaching; He brings His own into a chamber where they can be safe, either for their temporal preservation and protection against every might (Psalms 91:1), or, on the other hand, to give them repose by a peaceful and happy death.” “His anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life (Psalms 30:6).” Cramer.

21.Isaiah 27:1. [“Great and mighty princes [nations] if they oppose the people of God, are in God’s account, as dragons and serpents, and plagues of mankind; and the Lord will punish them in due time. They are too big for men to deal with, and call to an account; and therefore the great God will take the doing of it into His own hands.” Henry.—D. M.].

22.Isaiah 27:2-5. “It seems to the world that God has no concern for His church and Christians, else, we imagine, they would be better off. But certain it is, that it is not the angels but God Himself that will be watcher over this vineyard, and will send it gracious rain.” Veit Dietrich. [“The church is a vineyard of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating the reformation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto God, whereas before it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth wild grapes, Isaiah 5:4.” “God takes care (1) of the safety of this vineyard; I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this, as glorying in it, that He is, and has undertaken to be, the keeper of Israel; those that bring forth fruit to God are, and shall be always, under His protection. (2) God takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard: I will water it every moment; and yet it shall not be over watered. We need the constant and continual waterings of the divine grace; for if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither and come to nothing.” Henry. D. M.].

23.Isaiah 27:4. “Est aurea promissio, qua praecedentem confirmat. Indignatio non est mihi, fury is not in me. Quomodo enim is nobis irasci potest, qui pro nobis est mortuus? Quanquam igitur appareat, eum irasci, non tamen est verum, quod irascatur. Sic Paulo immittitur angelus Satanae, sed non est ira, nam ipse Christus dicit: sufficit tibi gratia mea. Sic pater filium delinquentem castigat, sed non est ira, quanquam appareat ira esse. Custodia igitur vineae aliquando cogit Deum immittere speciem irae, ne pereat luxurie, sed non est ira. Est insignis textus, which we should inscribe on all tribulations: Non est indignatio mihi, non possum irasci. Quod autem videtur irasci est custodia vineae, ne pereas et fias securus. Luther. “In order to understand fully the doctrine of the wrath of God we must have a clear perception of the antithesis: the long-suffering of God, and the wrath of God, wrath and mercy.” Lange.

24.Isaiah 27:7-9. “Christ judges His church, i.e., He punishes and afflicts it, but He does this in measure. The sorrow and cross is meted out, and is not, as it appears to us, without measure and infinite. It is so measured that redemption must certainly follow. But why does God let His Christians so suffer? Why does He not lay the cross on the wicked? God answers this question and speaks: the sin of Jacob will thereby cease. That is: God restrains sin by the cross, and subdues the old Adam.” Veit Dietrich.

25.Isaiah 27:13. [“The application of this verse to a future restoration of the Jews can neither be established nor disproved. In itself considered, it appears to contain nothing which may not be naturally applied to events long past.” J. A. Alexander.—“This prediction was completely and entirely fulfilled by the return of the Jews to their own country under the decree of Cyrus.” Barnes.—D. M.].

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Isaiah 24:4-6. Fast-day sermon. Warning against dechristianization of the life of the people. 1) Wherein such dechristianization consists: a, transgression of the commandments that are in force; b, alteration of the commandments which are essential articles of the everlasting covenant, as e.g. removing of all state institutions from the basis of religion. 2) Its consequences: a, Desecration of the land (subjectively, by the spread of a profane, godless sentiment; objectively, by the secularization of relations hitherto held sacred); b, the curse consumes the land, Isaiah 24:4.

2. On Isaiah 25:1-5. The Lord, the refuge of the needy. 1) He has the power to help. This we perceive a, from His nature (Lord, God, Wonderful); b, from His deeds (Isaiah 25:1 b, Isaiah 25:2). 2) He gives His strength even to the feeble, (Isaiah 25:4). 3) These are thereby victorious, (Isaiah 25:5).

3. On Isaiah 25:6-9. Easter Sermon, by T. Schaeffer (Manch. Gab. u. ein Geist III. p. 269):—“The glorious Easter-blessing of the Risen One: 1) Wherein it consists? 2) who receive it? 3) what are its effects? Christmas Sermon, by Romberg [ibid. 1869, p. 78): Our text represents to us Christmas joy under the image of a festive board. Let us consider, 1) the host; 2) the guests; 3) the gifts.”

4. On Isaiah 26:1-4. Concerning the church. 1) She is a strong city in which salvation is to be found. 2) The condition of having a portion in her is faith. 3) The blessing which she is instrumental in procuring is peace.

5.Isaiah 26:19-21. The comfort of the Christian for the present and future. 1) For the present the Christian is to betake himself to his quiet chamber, where he is alone with his Lord and by Him made cheerful and secure. 2) For the future he has the certain hope, a, that the Lord will judge the wicked, b, raise the believer to everlasting life.

6. Isaiah 27:2-9. How the Lord deals with His vineyard, the church. 1) Fury is not in Him towards it; 2) He protects and purifies it; 3) He gives it strength, peace and growth; 4) He chastens it in measure; 5) He makes the chastisement itself serve to purge it from sins.

Footnotes:

[6]For thus it shall be.

[7]Or, valleys.

[8]the lands of light, the east.

[9]Heb. wing.

[10]Heb. leanness to me, or, my secret to me.

[11]shake like a hammock.

[12]Heb. visit upon.

[13]Heb. with the gathering of prisoners.

[14]Or, dungeon.

[15]Or, found wanting.

[16]Or, There shall be glory before his ancients.