Isaiah 31:1-4

IV.—THE FOURTH WOE

Isaiah 31-32

1. EGYPT CANNOT PROTECT WHAT THE LORD DESTROYS

Isaiah 31:1-4

1     Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help;

And stay on horses,And trust in chariots, because they are many;

And in horsemen, because they are very strong;But they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,Neither seek the Lord!

2     Yet He also is wise,

And will bring evil, and will not 1 call back His words:

But will arise against the house of the evil-doers,And against the help of them that work iniquity.

3     Now the Egyptians are men, and not God;

And their horses flesh, and not spirit.

2 When the Lord shall stretch out his hand,

3 Both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down,

And they all shall fail together.

4     For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me,

Like as the lion and the young lion 4 roaring on his prey,

When 5 a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him,

He will not be afraid of their voice,

Nor abase himself for the 6 noise of them:

So shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight 7 for mount Zion,

And for the hill thereof.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 31:1. לעזרה comp. on Isaiah 10:3; Isaiah 20:6.—Note the structure of sentence in this verse. First a participle depends on הוֹי, which, according to familiar Hebrew usage, in the second clause immediately changes to a verb. finitum, and that the Imperfect, because a continuous, not concluded action is meant; to this is joined the third clause by the Vav consecutivum, because it contains a special consequence of the preceding general clause; whereas the two negative concluding clauses are in the perfect, because they express the fundamental fact, complete and present, that conditions all that precedes. Comp. Isaiah 5:8; Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 5:18; Isaiah 5:20 sqq.——פרשׁים comp. on Isaiah 21:7; Isaiah 21:9; Isaiah 22:6 sq.; Isaiah 28:28.—שׁעה comp. on Isaiah 17:7 sq.; Isaiah 22:4.—קדושׁ י׳ comp. on Isaiah 1:4.

Isaiah 31:2. The aorist ויבא depicts the certainty.—הסיר comp. Joshua 11:15.—The expression בית מרעים occurs only here: yet comp. Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 14:20; Psalms 22:17; Psalms 26:5; Psalms 64:3.—עזרה stands here as abstractum proconcreto: the help for the totality of those helping.

Isaiah 31:4. הגה of the growling of a lion only here; comp. on Isaiah 8:19.—מלא, comp. Isaiah 6:3 : Isaiah 8:8, is the full number the totality.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Woe to them——the hill thereof.

Isaiah 31:1-4. The Prophet raises anew his warning voice against trusting to Egyptian help, by representing its uselessness; on the other hand, he promises most glorious help from the grace of Jehovah, on condition of turning back from idols. For the fourth time from 28. on הוי, “woe,” appears here at the head of a section, so that we may regard this resemblance as a sign that these chapters belong together. We must understand by “those that go down,” not only those physically going down to Egypt, but also those that accompanied them in spirit and shared their intention. Five clauses depend on “woe,” which all belong to one and the same degree of time, and in our way of speaking depend on one relative notion: woe to those who go down … lean on … trust … but look not to God … and seek not the Lord. See Text. and Gramm.

The sending to Egypt seemed to the friends of this policy a particularly prudent measure. They plumed themselves far too much on their penetration. In antithesis to it the Prophet says: Jehovah, too, who opposes that policy, is wise. [The comparison is double-edged: “God was as wise as the Egyptians, and ought therefore to have been consulted; He was as wise as the Jews, and could therefore thwart their boasted policy.”—J. A. A.] This statement, humble as it appears, contains, however, only a divine irony. For if God, comparing His wisdom with that of men, says: “I am wise also,” it means in effect: “I am wise and ye are fools.” The words that the Lord will not recall must be threatenings that He had uttered against the Egyptian alliance (comp. Isaiah 29:14 sqq.; Isaiah 30:12 sqq.). That God keeps His word under all circumstances is declared Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29. The people in Egypt are indeed persons, therefore רוּחוֹת, yet only finite, creature persons, thus not of a divine sort, and no equals of God. But their horses are not even spirit, not even creature spirit, but only weak, perishable flesh. Therefore neither man nor horse in Egypt is to be relied on, and Jehovah has but to stretch forth His hand, and both Egypt that is called to help and Judah that is supported by this help will be laid low.

Isaiah 31:4 proves the statement of Isaiah 31:3 by a comparison. It might, for instance, seem strange that the Lord, Isaiah 31:3, made no difference between Judah and Egypt, as if the former were no more to Him than the latter. Therefore He assures most expressly that no power will be able to deter Him from the judgment determined against Judah. The formula of transition, “for thus hath the Lord spoken unto me,” we had identically or at least similarly Isaiah 8:11; Isaiah 10:24; Isaiah 18:4; Isaiah 21:16; Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 30:15. For when a lion has stolen one of the flock, all the shepherds are called to help (note the allusion to the calling on Egypt to help) and save it. But the lion is not alarmed (comp. Isaiah 7:8; Isaiah 30:31; Isaiah 51:6 sq., etc.) by their cry and does not crouch (Isaiah 25:5) at their noise. He does not let them deprive him of his prey. From Bochart (Hieroz. I, cap. 44) on, expositors here recall similar images in Homer,Il. XII. 298 sqq.; XVIII. 161 sqq. So the Lord does not suffer Jerusalem, in as far as He has made it the object of His wrath, to be seized from Him by the mutual aid of Judah and Egypt. Mount and hill of Zion are put antithetically, also Isaiah 10:32. It is seen from this passage that the Prophet understands by the mount the highest summit, the places of the temple and of the king’s house; but by the hill the other dwelling-places of the people. But most expositors understand Isaiah 31:4 of the protection that the Lord would extend to Jerusalem. [Thus Barnes, J. A. Alexander, Birks,etc.] The meaning would then be, not that Egypt, but that He, the Lord, would protect Zion and not suffer His city to be taken from Him. But (with Hitzig, Hendewerk, Delitzsch) I am decidedly of the opinion that the Prophet would say that the Lord will not suffer Jerusalem, as the prey of His anger, to be taken from Him (comp. Isaiah 29:1 sqq.; and regarding צבא with על, Isaiah 29:7-8; Numbers 31:7). In Isaiah 31:3 He has emphatically said, in fact, that both, the protector and the protected, should be destroyed. To this thought the “For” (כִּי, init.) of Isaiah 31:4 must relate. For did it only relate to כשׁל עזר (“the helper shall stumble”), there would arise a direct contradiction between Isaiah 31:3-4. It is urged that Isaiah 31:5 requires Isaiah 31:4 to be taken in a sense favorable to Jerusalem [see Translator’s note on Isaiah 31:5]. But then the fact is overlooked that Isaiah 31:5 has no sort of connecting word that joins it to Isaiah 31:4. It follows abruptly, whereas Isaiah 31:4 is closely joined to Isaiah 31:3 by כִּי. The Prophet purposes here an abrupt transition from darkness to light. In all preceding chapters night and sunshine alternate. All begin with severe threatening, that is to change to glorious promise. This transition is effected in the preceding chapters in a variety of ways. But it accords with the facile spirit of our Prophet once, in the present case, to effect this transition with a leap, as I might say. Would he thereby intimate, perhaps, that the deliverance also shall presently come, with a leap, quite suddenly and unexpected?

Footnotes:

[1]Heb. remove.

[2]But.

[3]And.

[4]growling.

[5]the totality.

[6]Or, multitude.

[7]against.