Isaiah 30:19-26

19-26. Having opened thus the ever-pleasing thought of the prophet namely, the divine forbearance the way is prepared now for comfort to the devout class of people in Jerusalem.

The people shall dwell in Zion He yearns for all to become devout, which, if they will, safety is a sure thing for the whole nation. The nation is between two fires Egypt and Assyria. Worldly court partisans waver as to policy between these. The religious party denounce every object of trust but Jehovah. The prophet is their uncompromising leader. He encourages in no faint terms. The nation is kept down by the powers on either side, but he claims it is not extinct, with Mount Zion in their midst. Jehovah is ready to reinstate the nation in its true glory. Weeping shall cease! Crying to Jehovah shall be heard as soon as uttered! The prophet uses soaring words. He addresses the future as well as the present.

Though This is not in the Hebrew, yet the complete sense requires it, else neither member of the sentence is intelligible.

Bread of adversity, and the water of affliction Expressions for doled out bread and water, as is customary in sieges because of their scarcity: but on condition of return to Jehovah, these shall pass away, and plenteousness take their place.

Shall not thy teachers be removed Their “teachers,” or true prophets, were also often removed, or obliged to hide themselves, in times when the idolatrous anti-reformers were in complete power, but this evil should also come to an end.

A word behind thee “Behind thee” may be a figure drawn from shepherd life, and seems to intimate that some of the flock, instead of strictly following the shepherd as is the Eastern custom, had gone in front, and were wandering aside of the true way, when the shepherd’s voice “behind them” is heard in warning.

Defile… images The true people are seen by the prophet in the glorious times, putting away idolatry as a polluted abomination. Ahaz had not been slow in filling Jerusalem with it. The images thus worshipped are to be cast away with utter disgust, as is also expressed in the final words,

Get… hence. Then shall he [Jehovah] give the rain of thy seed The rains needed to insure an ample harvest the first rains in autumn, after seed sowing, the latter in the spring. Earthly images of this sort are figures of grand spiritual blessings to the people of Israel.

Fat and plenteous Fatness, fertility, plenty for man and beast, and every thing contributing to these, yield, in the Old Testament, the richest descriptions for conceptions spiritual.

Light… sun… sevenfold The sevenfold increase of the light of heaven’s luminaries, and the concentrated light of seven days into one, represent the advanced spiritual state of the children of Jehovah.