Jesus Christ, shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, a Shelter against windstorms, and a Covert from the tempest, a Protector against oppression; as rivers of water in a dry place, giving refreshment to the souls of the poor and wretched, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, where dense shade brings welcome relief to the heated traveler. This sounds the merciful invitation of the Savior, extended to all those that are heavy laden, to come unto Him and find rest for their souls, Matt. 11, 28-30. V.3. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken, that is, the spiritual understanding of the Lord's people will be in proper order for realizing and appreciating the blessings of God's mercy. V. 4. The heart also of the rash, such as judge hastily and superficially concerning the great facts of man's redemption, shall understand knowledge, so as to weigh religious truth aright, and the tongue of the stammerers, those who do not think and speak clearly on divine matters, but are always confused, shall be ready to speak plainly, in proper agreement with the Word of God. V. 5. The vile person shall be no more called liberal, a fool, given to wickedness as he is, will no longer be called noble, nor the churl said to be bountiful, the swindler will no longer be called a baron. In the outward, visible form of the kingdom of Christ the fraudulent person, the hypocrite, may deceive himself and others, but in the estimation of Christ such a person will be given the position which his hypocrisy deserves. V. 6. For the vile person will speak villainy, the wicked mocker cannot but give expression to the mockery of his heart, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, prof. ligacy and malice, and to utter error against the Lord, arguments of unbelief and impiety, which are intended to mislead, to make empty the soul of the hungry, taking away the foundation of belief which will satisfy the needs of the spiritually hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail, namely, of him who hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of the Lord. V. 7. The instruments also of the churl, of the fraudulent, of the hypocrite, are evil; he deviseth wicked devices, plots of every kind, to destroy the poor with lying words, to bring destruction upon the afflicted with words of falsehood, even when the needy speaketh right, when he pleads with full justice, when his claims are just. V. 8. But the liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand, that is, a person of noble mind and of high moral character will not only conceive noble things, but will also persevere in them, will carry them out, with the approval of the righteous King. DESOLATION AND RESTORATION. - V. 9. Rise up, ye women that are at ease, who lived a life of self-indulgence, without regarding the dangers of their times; hear my voice, ye careless daughters, heedless of the larger issues of life; give ear unto my speech. V. 10. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, literally, "days upon a year," that is, an indefinite number of days, at the most a year, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come, there would be no harvest of fruit, since the enemy would occupy all the land about Jerusalem. V. 11. Tremble, ye women that are at ease, resting in smug self-satisfaction; be troubled, ye careless ones, who fondly imagined that the circumstances to which they were accustomed would never change; strip you and make you bare, laying aside the costly garments in which they delighted, and gird sackcloth upon your loins, as a sign of trouble, sorrow, and mourning. V. 12. They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, rather, "Upon their breasts they will strike over the fields of pleasantness or desire, over the vine of fruitfulness," deeply grieving on account of the desolation which had come upon their fertile land. V. 13. Upon the land of my people, which formerly had been a type of unexampled fruitfulness, shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy, which were so abundant in the capital city, in the joyous city. The prophet, as in chapter 3, has in mind women who have never known any want, but have continually lived in abundance and luxury. His purpose was to frighten them out of their secure and proud repose and to make them realize the condition in which their land was on account of the sins of its inhabitants. V. 14. Because the palaces, in which the rich were then living, shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left, the noisy din of the large city, that is, the city with its noisy multitude, forsaken; the forts and towers, Ophel, the rocky prominence of Moriah with its watchtower, shall be for dens forever, homes of wild animals, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks, all this being a picture and type of spiritual desolation which had taken hold of the Jewish people, v. 15. until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, in the time of the Messiah, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest, that is, men now barren of true religion would become fruitful as a result of the regeneration wrought in them, while those already converted would bring forth fruit in such rich abundance as to make their former life seem like a wilderness by comparison. V. 16. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, the justice of God being acknowledged where it was formerly unknown, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field, since the believers grow both in the knowledge of the Lord and in good works. V. 17. And the work of righteousness, the condition which is produced by the application of the Lord's righteousness in all the affairs of the Church, shall be peace, a security resting upon the foundation of God's protection; and the effect of righteousness, its reward, quietness and assurance forever, a firm reliance upon the mercy and grace of the Lord. V. 18. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, from which all strife would be far removed, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet restingplaces, dwelling in the most fortunate and desirable circumstances of peace and security; v. 19. when it shall hail, coming down on the forest, when the forest shall fall under a storm of hail, and the city shall be low in a low place, the reference being to the overthrow of all hostile world-powers as the Church of the Messiah is established. V. 20. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, scattering their seeds in the fertile lowlands everywhere, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass, letting their beasts of burden roam freely on account of the great abundance of the harvest. This is again a picture of the prosperity and security of the Church under the blessing of the Lord in the New Testament: the world-powers, all spiritual enemies vanquished and the city of God with the fields of His Word happy and prosperous. The Fifth Woe. CHAPTER 33. THE PUNISHMENT STRIKES THE ADVERSARY. V. 1. Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled, the hostility of the Assyrian invader being a type of the worldpower's enmity toward the Church of God; and dealest treacherously, in invading the country for the purpose of robbery, and they dealt not treacherously with thee, the hostile act being altogether unprovoked. When thou shalt cease to spoil, when the measure of damage which the plans of God included had been reached, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. The text clearly indicates that the punishment of him who had been unpunished would certainly come upon him. The prophet's threat now turns into a pleading petition to the Lord. V. 2. O Lord, be gracious unto us! For the grace and mercy of the heavenly Father is the believers' only stay. We have waited for Thee, trustfully expecting the help which He alone can give; be Thou their arm every morning, for the danger is new every day, our salvation also in the time of trouble, bringing deliverance as the severest affliction looms up before the people. This intercessory prayer is made with the proper confidence, and therefore the prophet in spirit sees the fulfilment of his desire. V. 3. At the noise of the tumult, as Jehovah makes ready to punish the enemy, the people fled, as before the onset of a powerful army; at the lifting up of Thyself the nations were scattered, their armies fleeing in hopeless confusion. V. 4. And your spoil, so the prophet tells the adversaries, shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar, that is, the treasures which the invaders had robbed would be abandoned by them, to be collected by the Jews with the same eagerness exhibited by the wingless locust as it devours the vegetation; as the running to and fro of locusts shall He run upon them, as when hordes of grasshoppers clear off a har vest-field to the very last blade of grass. The consequence of all this would be that Jehovah is exalted. V. 5. The Lord is exalted, He who occupies the throne on high is given all glory for His triumph over the world-power, for executing righteousness and justice in the world; for He dwelleth on high, His victory is a glorious exhibition of His divine power; He hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. Cp. chap. 32, 15. 16. V. 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation, literally, "And there shall be security, a firm and lasting prosperity, of thy times, a treasure of salvation, of wisdom and knowledge"; that is, the times, the period here referred to, will be characterized by an absence of all disturbing and unstable elements, as the effect of the treasure of salvation given to the believers, and by wisdom and knowledge from on high; the fear of the Lord is his treasure, the treasure-trove of Judah, out of it all the other spiritual gifts and graces flow, as they are enumerated in this verse. Cp. chap. 11, 2. V. 7. Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without, namely, the men of rank sent to the Assyrian general at Lachish, to offer presents and sue for peace, 2 Kings 18, 14. 18. 37; the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly, since their proposals were treated with duplicity and scorn. V. 8. The highways lie waste, travel had been discontinued on account of the desolation spread by the invaders, the wayfaring man ceaseth, for the life of no traveler was safe on the roads; he, the enemy, hath broken the covenant, in accepting the ransom offered, yet refusing to retire to fulfil its stipulations, he hath despised the cities, his superior forces making a mockery of their resistance; he regardeth no man, rather sacrificing human lives without the slightest compunction. V. 9. The earth mourneth and languisheth, on account of the wickedness committed on its surface and in consequence of the devastation wrought by the invading hordes. Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down, its mighty forests withered; Sharon, of blackmail, that shaketh his hands, interthe fertile plain along the Mediterranean, south of Mount Carmel, is like a wilderness, for it was through its rich fields that the invaders marched; and Bashan and Carmel, the two fruitful elevations in the eastern and western part of the Promised Land, shake off their fruits, so that their great forests stand bare. This condition, which the Lord had apparently viewed sitting down, as though He were not interested in the devastation, He wants to change with a mighty arm. V. 10. Now will I rise, saith the Lord, getting up from the throne of His might; now will I be exalted, showing Himself in the might of His greatness; now will I lift up Myself, as a champion preparing for battle. He now addresses the enemies directly. V. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff, dry grass or hay, since the plans which they laid were not fresh and full of life, but utterly dry, without strength and sap, ye shall bring forth stubble, to which their futile ideas might well be compared; your breath, their own snorting anger, as they fretted and fumed, as fire, shall devour you, so that they would be destroyed as a result of their own foolish counsels. V. 12. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime, which consumes itself as it comes in contact with water; as thorns cut up, which burn with a bright flame, with loud crackling, and much smoke, shall they be burned in the fire. Thus are the adversaries of the Lord consumed by the fire of His anger, while His salvation shelters those who place their confidence in Him alone. THE SINNERS ALARMED, THE PIOUS COMFORTED.-V. 13. Hear, ye that are far off, all the distant nations of the world, what I have done; and, ye that are near, the Jews and the nations near them, acknowledge My might, so Jehovah calls out through His herald. V. 14. The sinners in Zion, those who falsely professed the religion of Israel, though their heart was not in their worship, are afraid, terrified because their hypocrisy is about to be revealed; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites, who were often addicted to secret idolatry while they continued their outward membership in the true Church. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Such is the cry of the sinners as they contemplate the devouring fierceness of Jehovah's anger. Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? They themselves realize and must admit it that they cannot endure the flames of God's divine anger which is bound to strike them in righteous judgment. The prophet himself, on the basis of Ps. 15; 24, 3-6, answers their question: v. 15. He that walketh righteously, practising the proper righteousness of life in every respect, and speaketh uprightly, without a trace of hypocrisy; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, repudiating the very idea of enriching himself by means which savor locking them tightly, from holding of bribes, his act being conducive to that end, helping him to refrain from accepting bribe money, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, refusing to listen to any plan which involves revenge, hatred, or violence, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, sanctioning wickedness or yielding to lust, in short, one who "rejoiceth not in iniquity" in any form, 1 Cor. 13, 6, v. 16. he shall dwell on high, in places inaccessible to the foe, his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks, the fastnesses of the mountains, where he dwells under the protection of Jehovah; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure, he will have both food and drink in rich abundance. Thus the prophet draws a sketch of one who, under the guidance and by the power of Jehovah, does not need to fear the judgment of wrath which will come upon those who delight in wickedness. The description causes the prophet to forget the sordid present and to look forward to the time when the congregation of the Lord would consist entirely of such desirable members. V. 17. Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty, the Messiah in the glory of His redemptive work; they shall behold the land that is very far off, for the Messiah's kingdom would extend over the whole earth. V. 18. Thine heart, once more conscious of the mournful condition of the present, so unlike the future glorious state, shall meditate terror, considering what fearful things have been left behind. Where is the scribe? the man who supervised the paying of tribute according to the assessments entered in his books. Where is the receiver? the weigher, who weighed the valuables received as tribute and was most exacting in his demands. Where is he that counted the towers? making a plan of the city, which was to be taken by storm. All these officers in the employ of the enemy were well known to the Jews, the mere mention of whose names filled their hearts with terror. But the prophet comforts his people with reassuring words: v. 19. Thou shalt not see a fierce people, for the terrible enemies will then have disappeared forever, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive, whose language is difficult to understand; of stammering tongue, indistinguishable to those not familiar with the dialect, that thou canst not understand. It is a picture of happy deliverance which the prophet paints before the eyes of the true Israel. V. 20. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities, where Jehovah dwells and the people assemble for worship, to praise the Lord and to keep His feasts; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, as was the case with the Tabernacle in the wilderness; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken, both the tent-pins and the guy-ropes remaining intact forever. The reference is to the security and stability of the Church of God, as established upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, the entire passage reminding one strongly of Ps. 46. V. 21. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, that is, by virtue of the indwelling of God in the midst of His people the Church would be like a great city, which is both defended and watered by rich streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship, one of the mighty sail-ships which ventured out on the mighty ocean, pass thereby, Jehovah Himself being the defense of His people and protecting them against all enemies. V. 22. For the Lord is our Judge, who watches over His people's rights and honor; the Lord is our Lawgiver, He who wields the general's staff in their midst; the Lord is our King, His throne of power and mercy being established in their midst; He will save us, to Him they could confidently look for deliverance from all harm and danger. And so the chapter concludes with a description of the City of God, the Church of Christ, its present distress being contrasted with its future glory. V. 23. Thy tacklings are loosed, Jerusalem being considered a ship whose cables and rigging have been torn by adverse winds; they could not well strengthen their mast, for the mast had no hold without the cables, they could not spread the sail, for the same reason, their vessel thus practically being at the mercy of wind and waves. Then is the prey of a great spoil divided, immense booty is distributed, at the very moment of the greatest helplessness the Lord grants victory; the lame take the prey, the very cripples being able to share in the plunder. V.24. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick, not one of them shall be subject to illness or weakness; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity, this, in fact, being the secret of their strength. And thus the Church of God is constituted - it consists of people who have come to the full realization of their own helplessness, who are deeply repentant, and who, as a consequence, have received the gift of the forgiveness of their sins and draw upon the Lord alone for all their strength. That is the abiding comfort of all believers. Judgments upon Idumea. CHAPTER 34. Isaiah is rightly called the evangelist of the Old Testament. Throughout his book of prophecies he refers to conditions as they would obtain in the time of the Messiah. In chapters 34 and 35 also, which form the conclusion of the first half of his book, he makes use of New Testament ideas and pictures. For this reason these chapters, at the same time, strike the introductory chords to the great Book of Consolations, chap. 40-66. - INTRODUCTORY PROCLAMATION. - V. 1. Come near, ye nations, to hear, and hearken, ye people! the prophet's proclamation being so great and momentous that he summons all nations to give attention. Let the earth hear and all that is therein, all creatures being concerned in this weighty announcement; the world, the entire circle of the inhabited globe, and all things that come forth of it. The invitation is like Ezek. 6, 3; Deut. 32, 1; Ps. 50, 4; Micah 6, 1. 2. V. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, His is a great wrath, which will result in punishment upon all His enemies, and His fury upon all their armies, upon which they, in the excess of their insolence, rely; He hath utterly destroyed them, doomed them, by a solemn curse, to destruction, He hath delivered them to the slaughter, appointed them to be slain. V. 3. Their slain also shall be cast out, left to lie unburied, and their stink, the odor of decay, shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood, washed away as by a mighty torrent. Cp. Matt. 24, 29; 2 Pet. 3, 7. 10. 12; Rev. 6, 13. 14. V. 4. And all the host of heaven, all the stars and heavenly bodies, shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, in the manner in which parchmentrolls were formerly rolled together; and all their host shall fall down, as the firmament of the heavens passes away, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, upon its fading in the autumn, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree, immature and useless. The prophet clearly has in mind the final dissolution of the universe, the end of the present dispensation, for which reason Peter makes use of the same picture in describing the end of the world, 2 Pet. 3, 10-12. IDUMEA AS A TYPE OF HOSTILITY AGAINST GOD.-V. 5. For My sword shall be bathed in heaven, intoxicated, as it were, as it prepares to execute His punishment; behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, as in a drunken frenzy, and upon the people of My curse, those doomed to experience His condemnation, to judgment. The Lord has an unparalleled slaughter and sacrifice in mind, to be carried out upon Edom, the apostate brother nation of Israel, and upon all those who followed Edom in his enmity against the chosen of the Lord. V. 6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, glutted with heavy slaughter; it is made fat with fatness, as it engages in bringing sacrifice, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams, those parts being named which were especially devoted to God in the sacrifices, 2 Sam. 1, 22; for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, the capital of Auranitis, east of Jordan, for thus far Edom had extended its dominion at that time, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea, whose territory extended from the southern end of the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. V. 7. And the unicorns, the Asiatic buffaloes, shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls, representing the sacrificial animals of the herds, the powerful men in Edom to be slain with the ordinary people; and their land shall be soaked with blood and their dust made fat with fatness, the entire country, as it were, glutted, drunken with the great amount of blood and fat of the slain. V. 8. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion, the time when Jehovah will retaliate on those who have contended with Zion, in order to give justice to Zion, the people of His choice. Cp. chap. 43, 4; Deut. 32, 35. 41. V. 9. And the streams thereof, of Idumea, shall be turned into pitch, in agreement with the volcanic and sulphurous character of the country near the Dead Sea, and the dust thereof into brimstone, which is still found in large quantities in that neighborhood, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch, a place where a fearful fire would rage. V. 10. It shall not be quenched night nor day, the smoke thereof shall go up forever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste, as the result of the terrible volcanic upheavals by which its fertility was destroyed; none shall pass through it forever and ever. The first act of the final destruction is shown in the fact that to this day one may travel for days through former Idumea without finding one inhabited city, and the final act will come with the fire of eternity. Cp. Rev. 14, 11; 18, 18; 19, 3. V. 11. But the cormorant, the pelican, and the bittern, the porcupine, shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it, the description of the desolation wrought agreeing with that in other parts of the prophets, chap. 13, 20-22; 14, 23; Zeph. 2, 14; and He, Jehovah, shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, His measuring-line being used with deliberate intent in working ruin, and the stones, the weights at the end of the plumb-lines, of emptiness, resulting in utter destruction. With the same rigorous exactness which marks the carpenter's construction the Lord carries out His program of destruction, thus reducing Edom to a state of desolation. V. 12. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, literally, “As to her nobles, there are none there that call out a monarchy," that is, none are left to elect a new king or to succeed to the throne, and all her princes shall be nothing, none being there, none could be elected by the nobility to assume the power of a reigning monarch. V. 13. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, growing up in the midst of their ruins, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof, where formerly magnificent castles stood; and it shall be an habitation of dragons, wild cats or dogs, and a court for owls, a place where ostriches will find their food. V. 14. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, the marten rivaling the jackal in his attempts to find food, and the satyr, spirit of the desert, shall cry to his fellow; the screech-owl, a night-specter believed to be dwelling in the wilderness, also shall rest there and find for herself a place of rest, for this evil spirit felt at home in the midst of desolation. V. 15. There shall the great owl, rather, the arrow-snake, make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow, cherishing her young in the shadow of the ruins; there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. In short, all the animal dwellers of the wilderness, whose shaggy appearance by day and whose melancholy cries by night made them objects inspiring fear and superstition, would be found in the desolate wastes of the former rich Idumean cities. Moreover, the people who would then compare prophecy and fulfilment would find that they agree most exactly. V. 16. Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord, the prophecies as preserved by the command of Jehovah, who inspired them, and read, such searching being commanded to this day; no one of these shall fail, every point brought out in the prophecy would find its fulfilment, none shall want her mate, the corresponding prediction; for My mouth, it hath commanded, and His spirit, His breath, as God inspired His servants to write, it hath gathered them, so that the prophecy came to pass literally. V. 17. And He, Jehovah, hath cast the lot for them, for all the wild beasts of the desert, and His hand hath divided it unto them by line, distributed it to them, given it to them for a possession; they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein, these doleful creatures occupying the land which had been the pride of Edom. Thus Jehovah ever is the Protector of His children over against all enemies. |