Verses 1-4
FOURTH SUBDIVISIONTHE CONCLUSION OF PART FIRST
Chapters 34–35 are the proper conclusion of the first part of Isaiah’s prophecies. For chaps. 36–39 are only an historical supplement, though a very important one. Hence I do not think that chaps. 34–35. are only the finale of chaps 28–33; for that we have already found in chap. 33. rather chaps. 34–35 form a conclusion of the first half of the book that sums up and finishes the announcements of judgment and salvation of the first part, and prepares for and introduces those of part second. For we notice already in these chapters the language of 40–66. First of all the Prophet carries us in chap. 34 to the end of days. As if to make an end corresponding to the beginning, 1, 2, he summons the earth and all its inhabitants to notice the announcement of the final judgment that is to comprehend heaven and earth (Isaiah 34:1-4). But he is not in condition to represent the how of the world’s destruction. As remarked in the introduction to 24–27 he can only paint that remote judgment in colors of the present. He gives at once a vivid and an agreeable picture of it by representing it as a judgment against Edom. For the negative base of Israel’s hope of salvation is that its enemies shall be destroyed. That the Prophet means here to conclude all announcement of judgment against their enemies appears from the demand of Isaiah 34:16 that they shall search “the book of the Lord,” and compare the prediction there with the fulfilment. We shall try to show that this appeal to “the book of the Lord” implies the entire foregoing book.
In chap. 35 the Prophet presents the other side of the judgment of the world, viz., the final redemption of Israel. It appears as a return home to Zion out of exile. Not a word intimates that the Prophet has in mind only the return from Babylon. He names no land; he speaks only of return (יֵשֻׁבוּן, Isaiah 34:10) in general. Already in Deuteronomy 30:3 sqq. it is promised that the Lord will gather the Israelites and bring them back out of all lands, even though driven out to the end of heaven, thence too the Lord will fetch them. On the ground of this passage Isaiah had already held out a similar prospect (Isaiah 11:11 sqq.; Isaiah 19:23 sq.; Isaiah 27:12 sq.), and after him Jeremiah especially deals much in this particular of the glorious last time (Jeremiah 16:14 sqq.; Jeremiah 23:3; Jeremiah 29:14; Jeremiah 32:37; Jeremiah 40:12; Jeremiah 46:27). Therefore the Prophet promises here glorious and joyful return home—that to the Israelite must be dearest of all—and the object of his greatest longing (Psalms 137:5-6), and in that home eternal joy (Isaiah 34:10). One may say that he draws here the outline of the picture that he afterwards carries out in chaps. 40–66. in all the varieties of its forms.
Their contents show that the two chapters belong together. Chap. 35 is the necessary obverse of 34. The expressions נוה תנים חציר ל׳ Isaiah 35:7, which manifestly contrasts with Isaiah 34:13, form a close bond between the two chapters; and it is to be noted that חָצִיר in the sense of חָצֵר occurs only in these two places. Also the metonymic use of נקע (Isaiah 34:15; Isaiah 35:6) which occurs beside only Isaiah 58:8; Isaiah 59:5, is a peculiarity of language that points to the correlation of the two chapters.
Eichhorn, Gesen., Rosenmueller, De W., Maur., Hitzig, Ew., Umbr., Knobel and others ascribe these chapters to a later author that lived in the time of the captivity. They only differ in that some (Gesenius, Rosenmueller, Hitzig, Ewald) put this unknown author at the end of the exile, the others at an earlier period. We will show in the exposition, by exact investigation of the language, that both the contents and the form of language of these chapters connect them intimately with 40–66, yet that in both these respects there is also a common character with part first. This view is confirmed by the undeniable fact that these chapters are variously quoted by prophets before the exile. This will be proved in respect to Jeremiah 46:10 in the comment on Isaiah 34:5 sqq. I have shown the connection between these chapters and Jeremiah 50:27; Jeremiah 50:39; Jeremiah 51:40; Jeremiah 51:60 sqq. by an extended examination in my work: “Der Prophet Jer. und Babylon, Erlangen, 1850.” Comp. Kueper, Jerem. libr. sacr. interpr. atque vindex, Berolini, 1837, p. 79 sqq. Caspari, Jerem., ein Zeuge für d. Echtheit von Jes. 34, etc., Zeitschr. von Rudelbach und Guericke, 1843, Heft. 2, p. 1 sqq. The proof that Jer. has drawn on our chapters carries with it the proof that the resemblances noticed between Zephaniah 1:7-8 and Isaiah 34:6, and between Zephaniah 2:14 and Isaiah 34:11, are to be regarded as a use of these chapters by Zephaniah, the older contemporary of Jeremiah, and not a quotation of Zephaniah by these chapters.
The reasons adduced against Isaiah’s authorship of these chapters will not stand examination. Knobel thinks the hatred of Edom in the degree shown in Isaiah 34:5 sqq. is to be found only in passages that belong to the time after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. But not to mention Obadiah (especially Isaiah 34:10-14), there are found in Joel (Joel 4:19) and Amos (especially Amos 1:11 sqq.) proofs enough that there could be in Isaiah’s time a hatred like that expressed in our chapter 34 We will show in the exposition of 35 that it does not presuppose the Babylonish exile, but the second, great and last exile in general. It is incomprehensible how the announcement of a great judgment on the heathen generally (Isaiah 34:2-3; Isaiah 34:5 sqq.; Isaiah 35:8) can denote a later authorship, seeing the same is announced in the acknowledged prophecies of Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 2:11 sqq., and even in Isaiah 30:25 sqq. (see comm. in loc.). But we may refer in this matter to the entire liber apocalypticus (24–27), by assaulting which the critics of course becloud for themselves the conspectus of Isaiah’s field of vision. What Knobel further urges of the extravagant expectations (Isaiah 34:3-4; Isaiah 34:9; Isaiah 35:1-2; Isaiah 35:5 sqq.), affects only the bold and grand images in which the Prophet utters these expectations. And these images are too bold, too hyperbolical for Isaiah! If the genuineness of chs. 13, 14, 24–27 is denied, then the analogies for the dissolution of the heavens (Isaiah 34:4) and for the goblins of night and wild beasts (Isaiah 34:11-17) are surrendered. On this subject we can only refer back to our defence of the genuineness of chap. 13, 14. Finally Knobel mentions a number of expressions in these chapters which in general, or at least, in their present meaning, occur only in later writers, putting in the latter class some expressions that are peculiar to this author. One may admit that many expressions occur in Isaiah that only later writers employ, or that are analogous to expressions of later use. But is this any proof of the later origin of these chapters? Isaiah is so opulent a spirit, he reigns with such creative power even in the sphere of language, and his authority is so great with his successors, that we may confidently affirm, that very many later words and expressions are to be referred to him as the source or exemplar. Moreover that argument loses weight when we consider that in our chapters much ancient linguistic treasure occurs, e.g., בּאֹשׁ Isaiah 34:3; רְאֵם Isaiah 34:7; נָקָם and שְׁלּוּם Isaiah 34:8.
Isaiah, then, is doubtless the author of our chapters. But he wrote them in his later period, when Assyria was for him a stand-point long since surmounted, and when, withdrawn from the present, he lived, with all his prophetic seeing and knowing, in the future. I agree with Delitzsch in assuming that Isaiah, in preparing the book as a whole (if he actually himself attended to this matter), put these chapters here as a conclusion of the first part of his prophetic discourses. I only add that on this occasion Isaiah must have added Isaiah 34:16-17 with their reference to the now completed “book of the Lord.”
The division of the chapters is simple:—
1. The judgment on all nations, Isaiah 34:1-4.
2. The judgment on Edom as representation of the whole in one particular example, of especial interest to Israel, Isaiah 34:5-15.
3. Concluding remark: summons to compare the prophecy with the fulfilment, Isaiah 34:16-17.
4. The obverse of the judgment: Israel’s redemption and return home, 35.
1. THE JUDGMENT ON ALL NATIONS
1 Come near, ye nations, to hear;
And hearken, ye people:Let the earth hear, and 1all that is therein;
The world, and all things that come forth of it.
2 For 2the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations,
And his fury upon all their armies:
He 3hath utterly destroyed them,
He hath delivered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out,
And their stink shall come up out of their carcases,And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll:And all their host shall 4fall down,
As the leaf falleth off from the vine,And as a 5falling fig from the fig tree.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
[For the sake of economy in labor and space we will omit in this and subsequent chapters the Author’s abundant and laborious citations of texts illustrative of Isaiah’s style, and involving proof of the common authorship of parts first and second. The Author has prepared a comprehensive list of the words and texts concerned in these chapters, which appears at the close of the volume and, except where the commentary furnishes additional matter, we shall refer to that list by the sign see list.—Tr.].
Isaiah 34:1. הקשׁיכ לאמים קרבו see list.—גוים occurs often in both parts, e.g., Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 10:7; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 40:15; Isaiah 41:2. The expression ארץ ומלאה occurs Deuteronomy 33:16; Psalms 24:1; Micah 1:2, and often; in Isaiah only here. Comp. הים ומלאו Isaiah 42:10; Isaiah 6:3; Isaiah 8:8; Isaiah 31:4.—תבל (comp. on Isaiah 13:11) occurs only in part first.—צאצאים (plur tant.) are τἄ ἔκγονα, “the products.” The expression is based on Genesis 1:12; Genesis 1:24 (תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ). The Prophet thus does not mean only men, as many, influenced by the LXX. and Chald., have supposed. The word, being made parallel with מלאה denotes everything that as production of the earth fills it.
Isaiah 34:2-3. חללים טבח צבא קצף see list.—פנריהם casus absolutus, comp. Ewald, § 309 b. בְּאֹשׁ only here in Isaiah. Comp. Joel 2:20; Amos 4:10.
Isaiah 34:4. מקק (as verb only here in Isaiah), is used Psalms 38:6 of a festering wound, in Zechariah 14:12 of rotting flesh, i.e., eyes and tongues rotting in their natural place. In Leviticus 26:39; Ezekiel 24:23; Ezekiel 33:10 it is used in the more general sense of passing away, disappearing; Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 5:24. מַק is “that which has rotted, mouldered.” Add to this that מָכַךְ Psalms 106:43; Job 24:24; Ecclesiastes 10:18, denotes corruere, collabi; מוּךְ Leviticus 25:25; Leviticus 25:35; Leviticus 25:39; Leviticus 25:47 means “to collapse, decline, wax poor,” but מוּג (Amos 9:5; Amos 9:13; Psalms 65:11, etc.), diffluere, dissolvi. Thus we must recognize as the fundamental meaning of this family of words “decomposition, dissolution, rotting, mouldering, turning to dust” occasioned by the departure of the spirit of life. But this effect may be variously brought about. Fire, e.g., can produce it in a tree by scorching it. Such appears the sense here. Thus 2 Peter 3:12 οὐρανοὶ πυρούμενοι λυθήσονται seems to me to correspond to our נָמַקּוּ—נָגֹל for נָגַל see Green’s Gram., § 140, 2. Niph. only here in Isaiah; Polal. Isaiah 9:4.—נבל comp.Isaiah 1:30; Isaiah 24:4; Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 28:4; Isaiah 40:7-8; Isaiah 64:5, especially as regards נבלת see on Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 28:4.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. It is a mighty matter, the concern of all nations that the Prophet has to announce: hence he summons all to hear his address (Isaiah 34:1). For the wrath of the Lord is kindled against all nations and all that belongs to them. They are all to be given up to the slaughter (Isaiah 34:2), and shall be cast out so that the stench shall mount up, and whole mountains shall run with blood (Isaiah 34:3). Yea, the heavens shall roll up as by strong heat, and the heavenly bodies shall fall like dry leaves (Isaiah 34:4).
2. Come—fig tree.
Isaiah 34:1-4. The expression צאצאים occurs only in Job and Isaiah (see on Isaiah 22:24). The use nearest like the present Isaiah 42:5. In Isaiah 34:2 only the nations are mentioned as the object of the judgment. Though impersonal nature shares in it, still this is only the means to an end. כל־שבאם, having a similar relation to that of כל־צאצאיה (see Text. and Gram.), denotes not the host merely, but the host of mankind in general. Already, by virtue of the decree of wrath determined against them, the Lord has laid on them His curse or ban (החרים11:15; Isaiah 37:11), and devoted them to slaughter.
On the description Isaiah 34:3 comp. Isaiah 14:19; Isaiah 37:36; Isaiah 66:24; Isaiah 10:18; Isaiah 13:7; Isaiah 19:1. The passages Matthew 24:29; 2Pe 3:7; 2 Peter 3:10; 2 Peter 3:12; Revelation 6:13-14 are founded on the present text. For that the Prophet has in mind the destruction of the world, is manifest from this description comprehending the earth and heavens.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isaiah 34:1-4. Because Revelation 6:12-17 has express reference to this passage, some would conclude that the Prophet here has in view only that special event of the world’s judgment (the opening of the sixth seal). But that is not justified. For other passages of the New Testament that do not specially relate to the opening of the sixth seal are based on this passage (Matthew 24:29; 2 Peter 3:7 sqq.; Revelation 14:11; Revelation 19:11 sqq.). It appears from this that the present passage is, as it were, a magazine from which New Testament prophecy has drawn its material for more than one event of fulfilment.
2. On Isaiah 34:16. The word of God can bear the closest scrutiny. Indeed it desires and demands it. If men would only examine the Scriptures diligently and with an unclouded mind and love of truth, “whether these things are so,” as did the Bereans (Acts 17:11; John 5:39)!
3. On Isaiah 35:3. “The Christian church is the true Lazaretto in which may be found a crowd of weary, sick, lame and wretched people. Therefore, Christ is the Physician Himself (Matthew 9:12) who binds up and heals those suffering from neglect (Ezekiel 34:16; Isaiah 61:1). And His word cures all (Wis 16:12). His servants, too, are commissioned officially to admonish the rude, to comfort the timid, to bear the weak, and be patient with all (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Therefore, whoever feels weak, let him betake himself to this Bethania; there he will find counsel for his soul,” Cramer.
4. [On Isaiah 35:8-9. “They who enter the path that leads to life, find there no cause of alarm. Their fears subside; their apprehensions of punishment on account of their sins die away, and they walk that path with security and confidence. There is nothing in that way to alarm them; and though there are many foes—fitly represented by lions and wild beasts—lying about the way, yet no one is permitted to ‘go up thereon.’ This is a most beautiful image of the safety of the people of God, and of their freedom from all enemies that could annoy them.” “The path here referred to is appropriately designed only for the redeemed of the Lord. It is not for the profane, the polluted, the hypocrite. It is not for those who live for this world, or for those who love pleasure more than they love God. The church should not be entered except by those, who have evidence that they are redeemed. None should make a profession of religion who have no evidence that they belong to “the redeemed,” and who are not disposed to walk in the way of holiness. But for all such it is a highway on which they are to travel. It is made by leveling hills and elevating valleys; across the sandy desert and through the wilderness of this world, infested with the enemies of God and His people. It is made straight and plain, so that none need err; it is defended from enemies, so that all may be safe; because ‘He,’ their Leader and Redeemer, shall go with them and guard that way.” Barnes in loc.]
Footnotes:
[1]Heb. the fulness thereof.
[2]the Lord has wrath on.
[3]hath cursed.
[4]wilt.
[5]Or, wilted leaf-fall.
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